India, April 24 -- I wasn't looking to buy a phone holder for my car. But Instagram sneaked an ad for one into my feed. It showed a small device that pressed onto a car dashboard. The phone snapped into place. Then the flourish: "Sticks anywhere." It was less a product demonstration and more a proposition about frictionless living. The brand was Auriglo.

Now, curiosity is an occupational hazard. I clicked on the ad, and it did what you would expect from a modern direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand: clean design, aggressive discounts, products at various price points, such as Rs.5,999 now available for Rs.999, uniformly enthusiastic reviews, and a sense that you had stumbled upon something both premium and urgent.

Something about this product...