Founder Thesis

"The sooner you can get to a level where you can actually make yourself redundant, I think that's when you start building an institution." This powerful insight from Rohit M A encapsulates a core theme of our conversation: sustainable growth isn't just about a visionary founder, but about building systems and teams that can thrive independently. It's about transitioning from being the indispensable force to the architect of an enduring enterprise. Rohit M A is the Managing Partner at PeerCapital, an early-stage tech-native venture capital fund. Before co-founding PeerCapital, he was instrumental in scaling Cloudnine Group of Hospitals from a single unit to a national leader with 42 locations and revenues exceeding ₹1200 crores. With over 23 years of entrepreneurial and management experience, and having angel invested in 70-75 companies, Rohit brings a deep operator's perspective to venture investing. PeerCapital's first fund is close to $40 million, focusing on "consumption enablers" and providing "valuable capital" to founders. Key Insights from the Conversation:

"Founders often wear a mask of 'irrational optimism' for their team; a necessary front when leading through uncertainty." This insight from Ashish Munjal delves into the often unspoken psychological aspect of entrepreneurship, where maintaining a strong, positive exterior is crucial for team morale and navigating the startup journey's inherent challenges, even when founders internally grapple with difficulties. Ashish Munjal is the Co-Founder & CEO of Sunstone, one of India's leading higher education service providers. Recognized in the Times 40 under 40 (2022), he is steering Sunstone to impact nearly 20,000 students across 14 cities and over 27 colleges, with projected gross sales of around ₹300 crore by the end of the year discussed in the podcast. His mission is to make quality, job-oriented higher education accessible, particularly for students in Tier II & III cities. Key Insights from the Conversation:

"SaaS as we know it is DEAD." This might sound controversial, but as Manav Garg explains, the old model of simple workflow automation is being rapidly superseded. AI agents are now capable of executing complex tasks based on simple commands, fundamentally changing how businesses operate and what they expect from technology. Manav Garg is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Together Fund, an operator-led VC firm managing over $250M AUM and backing ambitious early-stage Indian SaaS and AI startups. Before this, he founded Eka Software Solutions in 2004, building it over nearly two decades into a global leader in commodity management software. He scaled Eka to $34 million in revenue with $9 million in profit by 2014, raised over $55 million, navigated a complex pivot to the cloud, and ultimately exited the company. He is also a co-founder of SaaSBOOMi, Asia's largest SaaS community, and is passionate about building India as a Product Nation. Key Insights from the Conversation:

"Raising more money often means you made more mistakes."This counter-intuitive take from Vinod Kumar Meena challenges the common startup narrative where fundraising equals success. He argues that true success lies in capital efficiency and building a sustainable business, not just chasing the next round. Vinod Kumar Meena is the Co-Founder & COO of KukuFM, India's leading audio content platform. An IIT Jodhpur graduate and Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia honoree, he has scaled Kuku FM to over 6 million paying subscribers, targeting over ₹1000 Crore ($150M) in ARR, demonstrating phenomenal growth in the vernacular content space after raising over $70M. Key Insights from the Conversation:

"When people think of AI, they think it's probably happened in the last 10 years or 20 years, but it's a journey of 70 plus years." This quote from Vinay Sankarapu challenges the common perception of AI as a recent phenomenon.Vinay Sankarapu is the Founder & CEO of Arya.ai- An Aurionpro Company, one of India's pioneering AI companies established in 2013. An IIT Bombay alumnus, Vinay led Arya.ai to become a profitable (EBITDA positive for 3+ years) enterprise AI player focusing on the BFSI sector, achieving significant scale (~₹50-100 Cr revenue range) before its acquisition by Aurionpro Solutions. He was named in Forbes 30 Under 30 (Asia) and is now also leading AryaXAI, focusing on making AI interpretable and safe for mission-critical applications. Key Insights from the Conversation:

"B2B sales is not selling a product. It's building up a relationship." This insight from Dhruv Verma underscores a core theme of our conversation: in the high-stakes world of B2B, particularly with large enterprises, trust and deep understanding built through relationships are paramount, often trumping product features alone. Dhruv Verma is the Founder & CEO of Thriwe, a global B2B consumer benefits marketplace he started in 2011 (initially as GolfLan). Facing extreme hardship early on, including selling his house to keep the company alive, Dhruv pivoted and built Thriwe into a leader serving over 15 million customers globally. The company is profitable and achieved revenues of ~$32 million (approx. 300 Cr INR), while Dhruv and his team retained ~65% equity. Key Insights from the Conversation:

"If you're going to find something, think of building this for the next 20 years. Think very long term." This powerful advice from Tarun Mathur underscores the importance of long-term vision in entrepreneurship, reminding founders that enduring companies aren't built overnight but over decades. Tarun Mathur is the Co-Founder & Chief Business Officer at Policybazaar for Business, India's leading online insurance marketplace. With an impressive 17-year journey since co-founding the company in 2008, Tarun has been instrumental in its growth, including the launch and leadership of its B2B arm, Policybazaar for Business. His experience spans analytics, revenue management, strategic initiatives, and various insurance verticals within the company. Key Insights from the Conversation:

"Behind the scenes, it's a Climate AI. It's a very deep Climate AI engine that we have built, which drives all of these workflows." Rohit Toshniwal pulls back the curtain on the sophisticated technology needed to tackle complex environmental challenges, highlighting how Artificial Intelligence is becoming essential for managing sustainability data and driving climate action. Rohit Toshniwal is a serial tech entrepreneur and Co-Founder of Sprih, which builds a Carbon Intelligence and Management platform using Climate AI to help organizations catalyze climate action. An IIT Kanpur graduate, Rohit previously co-founded Arkin Net, acquired by VMware for over $100 million, and helped scale that business within VMware to ~$250 million in revenue. Key Insights from the Conversation:

"The customer is the CEO of the company; he can fire everyone." This core belief drove Harshvardhan Lunia's journey in building Lendingkart. He emphasizes that obsessively solving the customer's problem—be it the need for speed, transparency, or convenience—is the ultimate key to building trust and a successful financial services business. Harshvardhan Lunia is the Founder & CEO of Lendingkart, a fintech platform transforming SME lending in India. An ISB graduate and Chartered Accountant, he leveraged his background in banking and SME credit advisory to launch Lendingkart in 2014. Lendingkart has since disbursed over ₹20,000 crores to more than 3 lakh customers across 4,500+ towns and cities in India, achieving a total AUM of ₹7,500 crores (with ₹5,500 crores via co-lending) by FY24. Key Insights from the Conversation: ✅SME Lending Pain Points: Traditional lending for SMEs suffered from slow processes (3-4 months) and lack of transparency, creating a market gap. Lendingkart focused on speed (hours/days) and transparency from day one. ✅Data Over Tradition: Realizing traditional financial statements were often adjusted for tax purposes, Lendingkart pioneered using bank statement analysis and cash flow data for underwriting. ✅Tech-Driven Underwriting: The platform evolved from rule-based systems to sophisticated algorithms trained on billions of data points to assess risk and determine loan terms, achieving high predictive accuracy (97.5%). ✅The Rise of Co-Lending: Partnering with banks and larger institutions (co-lending) became crucial post-COVID, allowing Lendingkart to scale distribution while sharing risk and capital. By March 2022, 80% of business was co-lending, reaching a 25/75 (own books/co-lending) AUM split in FY24. ✅Distribution is Key: While underwriting and collections tech are vital, building trust and reaching customers across India (distribution) is the ultimate differentiator in the absence of a large legacy brand or branch network. ✅Fundraising Conviction: Raising capital involves storytelling and unwavering conviction in your vision, especially when building something new. It's an exam where you must clearly articulate why your approach will work. Harshvardhan even shared his unique approach of pitching using a whiteboard instead of presentations. #Lendingkart #HarshvardhanLunia #FintechIndia #DigitalLending #SMEFinance #MSME #NBFC #StartupIndia #Entrepreneurship #IndianStartups #FounderThesis #BusinessPodcast #VCFunding #CoLending #DataAnalytics #Underwriting #FinancialInclusion

"ESOPs aren't lottery tickets; they're a calculated risk with a potential for real wealth creation." This seemingly simple statement from Satish Mugulavalli, Founder and Managing Partner of Hissa, encapsulates the core message of this episode: shifting the perception of ESOPs from "paper money" to a strategic tool for both companies and employees. We unpack the often-confusing world of ESOPs, going beyond the jargon to reveal the real-world mechanics and benefits. Satish Mugulavalli is the Founder and Managing Partner of Hissa, a platform revolutionizing private market transactions in India. Hissa facilitates ESOP liquidity for employees and provides access to growth-stage private companies for investors. Satish is building a 150Cr fund with a 150 Cr greenshoe option. They have already closed 30 crores in their first round. The platform has generated over 5Cr in revenue till date. Key Insights from the Conversation: ✅Discounts are Normal: Understand why ESOP transactions often happen at a discount to the last valuation, and why it's not necessarily a red flag. ✅Tax Implications: Learn the crucial difference between perquisite tax and long-term capital gains, and how it impacts your decision to exercise. ✅The Founder's Perspective: Discover why companies offer ESOPs in the first place, and how they view them as a strategic tool. ✅The Employee's Perspective: Get practical advice on evaluating an ESOP offer and understanding your potential upside. ✅Building the Future: Hear Satish's ambitious vision for creating a transparent and efficient private market exchange in India. ✅The right questions to ask as an employee. Chapters: 0:00:00 - Introduction: Demystifying ESOPs and the Rise of Hissa 0:03:15 - Satish's Journey: From Startup Ecosystem to Private Markets 0:05:36 - Hissa's Dual Approach: SaaS Platform and Investment Fund 0:11:05 - Target Market: Identifying the Right Companies for ESOP Liquidity 0:20:30 - The Hissa Fund: Investment Strategy and Fundraising 0:39:23 - Understanding Valuation Discounts in Secondary ESOP Transactions 0:58:11 - ESOP 101: Grant, Vesting, Exercise, and Tax Implications 1:02:37 - The "Why Exercise?" Question: Balancing Risk and Reward 1:07:38 - Employee friendly ESOPs 1:11:51 - Building the "NSE/BSE of Private Markets": Hissa's Long-Term Vision 1:18:00 - Hissa's Go-To-Market Strategy: Reaching Founders and Companies 1:25:00- Future of ESOPs#ESOPs #StartupIndia #PrivateMarkets #Hissa #SatishMugulavalli #FounderThesis #Equity #Compensation #Vesting #StockOptions #Startups #Investing #Finance #India #Liquidity #TaxPlanning

"You have to be good at collections if you want to be a good lender." This was just one of Shruti Aggarwal's amazing insights in this episode: lending profitability relies on responsible repayment, not just customer acquisition. Shruti Aggarwal is the Co-Founder of Stashfin, a digital lending platform in India. She has built a profitable fintech with a loan book of ₹2000 crores and monthly disbursements of ₹300-400 crores. Stashfin operates with remarkable efficiency, generating ₹800 crores in revenue with only 170 employees. Shruti is a CA, holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, and has experience at Merrill Lynch. Key Insights from the Conversation: ✅Underserved Market: Stashfin focuses on the Indian middle class, often underserved by traditional banks, with small-ticket, unsecured personal loans. ✅RBI Regulations: The evolving regulatory landscape has impacted growth and capital requirements but ultimately promotes a more sustainable lending environment. ✅Technological Efficiency: Stashfin leverages technology for extreme operational efficiency, automating processes to minimize costs. ✅Customer Retention: 90% repeat business demonstrates the success of Stashfin's customer-centric approach and product convenience. ✅Leverage Control: Understanding and managing leverage is crucial for NBFCs, and recent RBI guidelines aim to limit risk. Chapters: 0:00:00 - Introduction: Shruti Aggarwal's Entrepreneurial Journey 0:05:51 - Returning to India & Identifying the Credit Gap 0:11:18 - Choosing the NBFC Model: Control and Responsibility 0:17:01 - Stashfin's Profitability and Unit Economics 0:23:43 - Impact of RBI's PPI Guidelines on Credit Line Cards 0:28:58 - Overview of RBI's Fintech Regulations (2016-2024) 0:41:17 - The Chinese Loan Apps Issue and Regulatory Response 0:48:36 - The Importance of Leverage in Lending 0:53:54 - Stashfin's Funding Strategy: Diverse Sources 01:15:04 - Technology-Driven Efficiency at Stashfin 01:27:20 - Stashfin's Underwriting and Fraud Prevention 01:33:36 - Future Opportunities in Indian Fintech#FintechIndia #DigitalLending #NBFC #RBI #PersonalLoans #IndianEconomy #StartupIndia #Entrepreneurship #FinancialLiteracy #LendingRegulations

"The solution to every problem lies in the market, not the boardroom." Ashok Vashist shares a powerful lesson on the importance of staying grounded and understanding customer needs directly, rather than relying solely on theoretical discussions in boardrooms. This principle has guided WTI's success. Ashok Vashist is the Founder of WTI Cabs (Wise Travel India), one of India's leading B2B mobility solutions providers. He built WTI from scratch, starting with ad-hoc services in 2009, to a 400Cr revenue company which had an IPO in 2024, and is now expanding globally. Ashok's story is a testament to resourcefulness, customer-centricity, and the power of a "hungry" team. Key Insights from the Conversation:

"We realized that just lending is not the answer. You need to solve a problem for the small business owner." This quote from Tashwinder Singh encapsulates the core philosophy driving Niyogin's approach. It's not just about providing capital; it's about understanding and addressing the holistic needs of small businesses in India, moving beyond simple transactions to genuine problem-solving. This sets the stage for a discussion about a more nuanced and impactful approach to fintech. About Tashwinder Singh: Tashwinder Singh, CEO of Niyogin, is a financial services veteran with a track record of building and scaling businesses. He spent 18 years at Citibank, culminating in leadership roles before transitioning to the world of private credit at KKR, where he managed ~$1 billion in annual disbursements in India. Now, he's leading Niyogin's ambitious journey to revolutionize lending for small businesses, growing their loan book from ₹100 crores to a targeted ₹800 crores in the near future. His experience spans corporate finance, consumer banking, and the complexities of the Indian credit market. Key Insights from the Conversation:

From a $10,000 first customer to multi-million dollar contracts, hear the incredible growth story of Locus!In this episode of the Founder Thesis podcast, Founder and CEO Nishith Rastogi shares key strategies on how a shift from B2C to B2B helped fuel its success in the on-demand economy. Gain key insights into their go-to-market strategy, AI integration, and the importance of building strong customer relationships. Get actionable insights for your own entrepreneurial journey!Akshay Datt, a serial entrepreneur who has run ventures in employability training and hiring, hosts the Founder Thesis podcast. He has interviewed 500+ founders to date.Connect:Nishith Rastogi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishithrastogi/Akshay Datt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akshay-datt/Founder Thesis: www.founderthesis.com

Yamini Bhat is a rare breed - a female founder of a tech startup, but beyond that her achievements are simply phenomenal - Vymo is a global Saas company doing double digit million in ARR, and has raised $45mn till date. In this episode of the Founder Thesis podcast Yamini Bhat recounts her fascinating transition from McKinsey consultant to the founder of Vymo, a cutting-edge sales automation platform. Learn about the challenges she faced, the lessons learned, and the breakthroughs and strategies that helped her scale the company globally. Akshay Datt, a serial entrepreneur who has run ventures in employability training and hiring, hosts the Founder Thesis podcast. He has interviewed 500+ founders to date.Connect:Yamini Bhat: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yamininatti/Akshay Datt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akshay-datt/Founder Thesis: www.founderthesis.com

In this episode, we dive into the entrepreneurial journey of Arvind Parthiban, CEO & Co-Founder of SuperOps, a $50M SaaS company. Arvind highlights the critical role of product marketing in startup success and emphasizes the importance of purpose-driven entrepreneurship.Akshay Datt, a serial entrepreneur who has run ventures in employability training and hiring, hosts the Founder Thesis podcast. He has interviewed 500+ founders to date.Connect:Arvind Parthiban: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arvind-parthiban/ Akshay Datt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akshay-datt/Founder Thesis: www.founderthesis.com

The global cross-border payments market is on a remarkable growth trajectory, expected to hit $290 trillion by 2030. Amidst this booming landscape, discover how Srivatsan Sridhar successfully navigated the challenges and founded Skydo, a platform which addresses traditional pain points around high fees, delayed settlements, and compliance hurdles and makes international transactions hassle-free.Akshay Datt, a serial entrepreneur who has run ventures in employability training and hiring, hosts the Founder Thesis podcast. He has interviewed 500+ founders to date.Connect:Srivatsan Sridhar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srivats80/ Akshay Datt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akshay-datt/ Founder Thesis: www.founderthesis.com

In this episode, Divakar Vijayasarathy shares his inspiring entrepreneurial journey, from overcoming early struggles to building a global financial powerhouse. Tune in for invaluable lessons on scaling businesses, mastering tax dynamics, and creating lasting value in the professional services sector. Divakar is the Founder of DVS Advisory Group, a tax advisory, business advisory and PE firm that has grown to an annual revenue of $300mn and has 18,000 clients across 40 countries. He is a published author of 17 books related to Tax. Akshay Datt, a serial entrepreneur who has run ventures in employability training and hiring, hosts the Founder Thesis podcast. He has interviewed 500+ founders to date.Connect:Divakar Vijayasarathy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/divakar-dvs/ Akshay Datt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akshay-datt/ Founder Thesis: www.founderthesis.com

In this episode, we delve into Rajul Garg's inspiring journey from his beginnings as a budding entrepreneur to a successful venture capitalist.Rajul is the founder and managing partner of Leo Capital, a venture fund that invests in early-stage technology companies. A serial entrepreneur turned investor, Rajul co-founded GlobalLogic, a digital engineering services company that was acquired by a Japanese company for $10 billion. He also co-founded Pine Labs, a merchant commerce platform valued at $6 billion, which plans to launch an IPO soon. In addition, he ventured into the edtech space by co-founding Sunstone Eduversity.Akshay Datt, a serial entrepreneur who has run ventures in employability training and hiring, hosts the Founder Thesis podcast. He has interviewed 500+ founders to date.

Anand Jain lost his father when he was just 12. This experience caused him to step into an entrepreneurial role very early in life and Anand has literally done it all - from selling detergent door-to-door, to repairing and assembling computers to writing software. Despite no academic track record to speak of, Anand ended up getting hired by a tech company in the Silicon Valley in peak dot com era. And while he could have settled for the American dream and made big dollars, he decided to come back to India and chase impact instead. In India, he set up the original restaurant discovery website before Zomato, and if things had worked out differently - that startup would be a peer of Zomato and Swiggy today. But the best is yet to come and Anand is currently the co-founder and product head at Clever Tap - which is a 100-million-dollar Saas company with a strong focus on serving India. This puts CleverTap into a category of its own with hardly any peers. This conversation is proof that adversity leads to the best kind of resilience and Anand's humility and depth of insights will leave you hungry for more.Stay tuned for this very special episode of the Founder Thesis podcast with your host Akshay Datt.

It's no secret that the business model of the internet is basically advertising. Think about what you spend time doing online - there's a high chance that 80% of the time you are viewing ads. And you might think that the business of serving ads to consumers is done and dusted, but there are still opportunities for startups to win ad dollars away from the googles and the Metas of the world, and one such startup is Adonmo.Adonmo started life as a company converting cabs into ad spaces by installing screens on them. And this was a smart move if you think about it - the offline advertising market is the last great untapped opportunity, and cabs are the perfect way to run hyperlocal ads that dynamically change based on location and time of day. But life had different plans for this young startup, and they went through multiple near-death experiences before finally emerging as a dominant offline hyperlocal ads platform that has raised more than 40 million dollars from the likes of Zomato and others.Listen to the rollercoaster story of Adonmo's journey straight from its amazing founder Sandeep Bommireddi in this episode of the Founder Thesis podcast, with your host Akshay Datt.

I can bet that almost all of you who are listening to this episode of the Founder Thesis podcast would have interacted with Vehant's products. The next time you go into an airport or an office building, take a look at the brand name on the baggage scanner that they are using - there's a very high chance that you will see Vehant's logo on it. But Vehant is so much more than a company that makes X Ray baggage scanners, and in this episode of the Founder Thesis podcast, your host Akshay Datt interviews Kapil Bardeja who founded the company pretty much straight out of college. The humble startup that was born in the dorm rooms of IIT Delhi is today helping the government power futuristic smart city projects and bring India at par with the western world in terms of the security infrastructure. Stay tuned for a deep dive into the business of security and safety and subscribe to the Founder Thesis podcast on Youtube or any audio streaming app.

Globally, the market research industry is at least worth a hundred billion dollars! We really are living in a world where everything is market researched. The ads you watch on TV, the packing designs of products you use, even the movies you watch - they have all gone through a validation process using market research. The reason for this is simple really. When a company intends to spend millions of dollars on a product, they want to reduce the risk of failure. In this episode of the Founder Thesis podcast, your host Akshay Datt speaks with Rajiv Lamba - the founder of the market research tech company - Neurosensum and Surveysensum. In this freewheeling chat about entrepreneurship and market research, Rajiv shares valuable insights about the business of market research, building a business with profitability as the primary goal, and b2b sales. Stay tuned for the conversation and subscribe to the Founder Thesis podcast on any Youtube, Spotify or any streaming app

If you want to understand the evolution of Entrepreneurship in India over the decades, then there is really no better story than this. Srikumar Misra is the son of an entrepreneur who made the mistake of taking a bank loan backed by him home, and his untimely death ended up teaching the young Sri a valuable lesson about the risks of entrepreneurship. And you might think that this experience would scar him for life, but it was actually the opposite - despite having a successful global career in the Tata Group, he decided to quit his well-paying job and come back to India to set up a consumer brand in the dairy industry in his home state of Odisha. And after a 2-year struggle to raise funds to get his business off the ground - Sri finally succeeded in launching Milk Mantra which sells its products under the Milky Moo brand name and is one of the few profitable players in the premium dairy segment. After scaling Milk Mantra, Sri was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug again and he is currently building Aarna Protocol - the first of its kind AI powered crypto investing platform. This conversation is a gem in which Sri took us from the very offline and traditional world of selling dairy products to building a tokenized decentralised finance platform to invest in crypto currency. Stay tuned and subscribe to the Founder Thesis podcast with Akshay Datt.

Whenever we have featured founders who have scaled their businesses meaningfully, it is typically because they have been good at acquiring customers and increasing their lifetime value. But Mayur Abhaya, our guest in this episode, has scaled LifeCell to an annual revenue of about 800 crores on the back of its strong supply chain & delivery capabilities. Mayur's father was a serial entrepreneur in the pharma and healthcare space and built Shasun Pharma into a 500-million-dollar global pharma manufacturing player. He also set up Lifecell as he saw the gap in the market for stem cell banking. Mayur joined the business when the topline was just 20 crores and over the last 16 years has expanded the business both geographically and in terms of product lines. Today just one fourth of their turnover comes from the original business line of stem cell banking, and some of their business lines are around delivering cutting edge healthcare products to the Indian consumer at amazingly affordable prices.If you care about health-tech then there is no better episode than this for a deeper understanding of the space. Stay tuned and subscribe to the Founder Thesis podcast with your host Akshay Datt.

For a lot of people, hospitality is their ultimate entrepreneurship dream, and they aspire to start a restaurant or a cafe and quit their stressful corporate world career.In this episode of the Founder Thesis podcast - we speak to a hospitality founder who has built and scaled a truly unique hospitality business and given a new age avatar to a very old business.Most of you would be aware of the concept of clubs. Iconic clubs like the Gymkhana club in Delhi have a membership wait time that is measured in decades!!!Vivek saw that there is a massive gap between such old-world clubs and the young India which also aspired for a third place where they can belong to a community, work, experience culture or just unwind. And that is the space that The Quorum club is filling. In this fascinating conversation, Vivek explains what this industry looks like, the business model of Clubs, and the playbook of scaling a very heavily service oriented business. Stay tuned to get a peek into the fascinating world of clubs and subscribe to the Founder Thesis podcast for more such sector specific deep dives.

Some founders are born lucky - and some founders are born to fight against tremendous odds and adversities. This is the story of Vinod Singh who was born in a village in UP which did not even have electricity, and yet through sheer grit and willpower - ended up becoming the CTO of a startup in the UK. And you might think that this is the happy ending of the story, but like they say - picture abhi baaki hai. Vinod then started a business that was initially built around leveraging the potential of IOT technology, and which eventually pivoted to selling software to speciality insurance companies. And that was the birth of Concirrus which went on to raise more than $40mn over the next couple of years. But that is when things fell apart and the founders realised that they had diluted so much of their equity that they no longer had any control over the future of Concirrus and they were on the verge of declaring bankruptcy.Stay tuned to learn what happened next as your host Akshay Datt speaks to Vinod Singh about his amazing journey as a founder and don't forget to subscribe to the Founder Thesis podcast.

If there is one takeaway from this conversation, then it's simply this - Boring is beautiful.ProcMart is in the boring business of managing non-core indirect procurements for manufacturers. And by taking care of this simple but time intensive task for companies, ProcMart will cross 1000 crores in turnover this year. The credit for this massive achievement goes to Anish Popli - the founder of ProcMart who loves all things boring. In fact - he shares that their profit margins are actually much higher on simple boring products than on complex products.This episode is proof that as a founder, you must have the maturity to not get distracted by shiny new things and sexy ideas but just keep your head down and execute well. Stay tuned for this insightful conversation and subscribe to the Founder Thesis podcast for more such counterintuitive insights from successful entrepreneurs.

It is rare for D2C startups to be bootstrapped because they need to burn cash to acquire customers initially. But the Just Herbs story is proof that there are clever growth hacks that can help you grow your D2C brand while remaining bootstrapped.Arush Chopra was an aspiring actor who stumbled into a role in private equity which led to the start of his journey in the world of startups. He started Just Herbs with his wife and mother in 2014 out of his family home in Chandigarh. Today, Just Herbs outsells brands like Maybelline and Lakme in the lipsticks category and counts Marico as its primary backer.This conversation is a gem for D2C founders and Arush shares some amazing insights around product channel fit, co-building with customers and running a profitable D2C startup.Stay tuned for tons of insights and subscribe to the founder thesis podcast on any audio streaming app

Some of the best interviews on the Founder Thesis podcast have been ones in which we feature founders of VC funds, and this one is no different. Arjun Malhotra is the founder and general partner of Good Capital - a high conviction early stage VC fund. Arjun has gone through his own journey of pivots in building Good Capital, with some unexpected turns along the way. In this candid chat with Akshay Datt, Arjun not only shares how they built up Good Capital, but also explains the strategic choices in front of VC funds which ultimately determines the kind of companies they invest in. He talks about his process of building conviction in a startup and some of the hits and misses in his journey as an investor. Stay tuned and subscribe to the Founder Thesis podcast if you want to learn some of the best kept insider secrets of the startup ecosystem. #For more such interesting founder journeys, subscribe to our newsletter https://www.founderthesis.com/

Regular listeners of the Founder Thesis podcast would have heard so many stories of young founders who build their venture straight out of college and keep at it for a decade until they find success.This episode is the exact opposite of that kind of Story.Rajesh Shet had more than two decades of experience in the corporate world when he started SahiBandhu, and that is the reason why in just 4 years SahiBandhu has overtaken much older and better funded rivals to become the gold loan aggregator with the largest monthly disbursements. In fact, their closest competitor has raised almost 200 million dollars over the last nine years.This phenomenal achievement is on the back a hyper focussed strategy that was executed to perfection by Rajesh and his team.This phenomenal conversation is a deep dive into the market of gold loans in India, the gaps in the market, and how SahiBandhu hyper scaled by smartly filling those gapsStay tuned and subscribe to the Founder Thesis podcast for more such deep dive conversations

There are two types of entrepreneurs that we celebrate. The first one is the founder who raised a lot of money and built a highly valued startup on the back of investor money. The second type of entrepreneur - which we think is really the more special type of entrepreneur, is one who started from scratch and built up a business brick by brick on the back of his hustle and grit. HP Singh is a great example of the second type of entrepreneur. He was a CA who accidentally got a chance to start a lending business in the nineteen nineties and has since then built up Satin Creditcare into one of the few listed micro finance companies in India - which today employs about 12 thousand people and has a market capitalization of 2,000 crores.This is truly a story of the old-fashioned approach of building a business using grit, resilience and a bit of luck and HP Singh shares tons of lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs.Stay tuned and subscribe to the Founder Thesis podcast on any audio streaming app.

What's the first thing that comes to your mind when I tell you that in this episode, we are featuring a Patel who built a business in the US? The stereotype says that he would be running a motel or a convenience store - but this Patel has built a b2b SaaS company that is almost a unicorn. Nishant Patel moved to the US when he was just 14, and then went on to become a techie in the San Francisco Bay area at the peak of the dot com bubble in the year 2000. He was there when the term cloud was coined, and he was so fascinated by the promise of the cloud that he quit his job and started Raw Engineering - which was helping companies adopt cloud technologies. He then achieved the rare feat of building not one but three product businesses within that services business, and the biggest of them is Contentstack. Contentstack is a fascinating business - it's a pioneer in the space of the headless CMS, and this episode is a deep dive that will help you understand the content space and how it has evolved over the last decade, and what is the secret sauce behind Contentstack because of which it has raised almost 180 million dollars and is near a unicorn valuation.Subscribe to the Founder Thesis podcast for more such deep dives with tech leaders.

Amit Koshal's entrepreneurial journey began while working on a groundbreaking product at Intuit. Now, at TWID, he's disrupting payment networks by turning reward points into a currency for transactions—an idea refined over five years of experimentation and failures, eventually leading to the product-market fit. This conversation delves into his path as a founder and his vision for a "happily ever after."Get notified about the latest releases and bonus content by subscribing to our newsletter at www.founderthesis.comRead more about Twid:-1.Twid Unveils Industry-First 'Reward Mandates' to Revolutionise Subscription Payment Setups, Anticipates 15 per cent-20 per cent Reduction in Payment Failures2.From Points To Payments: Transforming Loyalty Programs For The Digital Age3.How rewards-based payment app Twid lets you use loyalty points to shop, eat out, and travel

After a career in U.S. investment banking, Nikhil returned to India to build Imarticus, offering offline-focused boot camps to upskill fresh graduates. Unlike many in the space, Nikhil views Imarticus as an education business rather than an edtech company, with a fundamental focus on delivering real learning outcomes. This approach has helped the company grow and reach an annual revenue of 300 crores with very little outside funding. In this episode, Nikhil talks about how he built a successful education business and discusses the future of offline learning in today's digital world.Get notified about the latest releases and bonus content by subscribing to our newsletter at www.founderthesis.comRead more about Imarticus Learning:-1.Success Stories: How Data Science and Data Analytics Courses Have Transformed Careers?2.Winning Stroke: Interview With Nikhil Barshikar, MD, Imarticus Learning3.MY STARTUP IDEA: Imarticus Learning founder on his Eureka moment4.Bridging the industry-academia gap: Minimizing wrong career choices5.Celebrating a decade of excellence in professional education: Imarticus Learning completes 10 years6.Imarticus Learning the first and only approved provider for world's top 4 accounting certifications

Every year millions of young people migrate for jobs or education, creating a big market for hostels and paying guest accommodations. However, succeeding in this business depends on managing the operational complexities and getting the small details right. Zolo, one of India's largest co-living companies, has mastered this challenge, currently managing living spaces for 60,000 people. In this episode, Nikhil shares the management mantra that helps him lead Zolo's 2,500 employees and explains how he made operational excellence the company's core strength.Get notified about the latest releases and bonus content by subscribing to our newsletter at www.founderthesis.comRead more about Zolo Stays:-1.Zolo Stays redefines living experience for students and singles2.How Zolostays is using customer experience to create its niche in the crowded co- living market3.We provide 60-70% more value to the stay compared to local PGs: Dr. Nikhil Sikri, Co-founder and CEO of Zolo Stays4.Handling large teams across multiple verticals, we need to ensure that they are involved and know they are part of the team: Nikhil Sikri, Zolo Stays5.A fresh take on urban living

Neeraj Khandelwal is a passionate Indian who aspired to serve his country as a civil servant. When his initial plan fell through, he channelled his determination into exploring new ways to fulfil this objective. He saw the transformative potential of cryptocurrency and invested in building India's crypto infrastructure, leading to the creation of CoinDCX. In this episode, he decodes how crypto will change the world and how CoinDCX is paving the way for this future.Read more about CoinDCX:-1.Blockchain critical for India: 40u40 2024 Neeraj Khandelwal, CoinDCX2.Revolutionising Web3 integration: CoinDCX's Neeraj Khandelwal reveals Okto Web3 SDK's game-changing role in India's Web3 mass adoption3.CoinDCX's money minters4.Revolutionising Finance- AMA with Neeraj Khadelwal5.Regulation, conducive environment among top factors to fuel crypto trading among Indian investors: Sumit Gupta of CoinDCX6.Celebrating 6 years of building the future of Internet in India.7.4 observations on India's booming crypto sector from CoinDCX co-founder Neeraj Khandelwal

Anand is an IT veteran who started his career three decades back and in his last role was heading an IT services company. Noticing the pain his customers were facing in searching and interpreting data, he recognized the need for a fundamentally new approach to insight generation, which led to the creation of Findability Sciences. In this episode, he talks about how AI is impacting large enterprises and the value it can bring to businesses.Get notified about the latest releases and bonus content by subscribing to our newsletter at www.founderthesis.comRead more about Findability Sciences:-1.AI is key for business growth as it enables data-driven decisions: Findability Sciences CEO Anand Mahurkar2.Exclusive Interview with Anand Mahurkar, Founder and CEO, Findability Sciences3.Fortune Magazine recognizes Findability Sciences as one of America's Most Innovative Companies4.India's AI roadmap in 2023: From CAGR 20% growth to creating endless job opportunities

Deepak Sahni shares his remarkable journey of building one of the largest diagnostics companies in the preventive space. Starting his entrepreneurial journey as a teenager, Deepak has consistently dared to dream bigger with each venture over the last two decades. In this episode, he reveals the secrets behind scaling Healthians to a revenue run rate of over 500 crores and raising 80 million dollars. This conversation is nothing short of a masterclass in entrepreneurship—perfect for anyone looking to take their big leap.Get notified about the latest releases and bonus content by subscribing to our newsletter at www.founderthesis.comRead more about Healthians:-1.How a College Dropout Fought Back, Completed His Degree, and Built a Rs 240 Crore Turnover Health Lab Chain2.How One Man's Dream is Making India Healthier3.Once A College Dropout, Now The CEO Of India's Leading Diagnostics Firm, Healthians, Meet Health-Tech Veteran, Deepak Sahni4.COVID 19 – How a Crisis is Nudging us to Reinvent

Small businesses in India often face delays in payments from large corporations due to complex bureaucratic processes and stringent payment terms. The TReDS system, developed by the RBI, aims to resolve this. With TReDS, businesses can receive immediate payment by selling their invoices to a financier, who then collects the payment from large corporations. In this episode, Sundeep shares his experiences as a serial entrepreneur and provides insights into how TReDS is transforming B2B payments. Listen to learn more about this exciting development and its potential to reshape the business landscape.Get notified about the latest releases and bonus content by subscribing to our newsletter at www.founderthesis.comRead more about M1xchange :-1.TReDS is financial lifeline for MSMEs, remedy for problem of late payments: Sundeep Mohindru, M1xchange2.M1xchange Surpasses INR 1,00,000 Crore in Invoice Discounting Throughput3.In conversation with Mr. Sundeep Mohindru- CEO , M1xchange4.With 28 banks and NBFCs on board, how TReDS platform M1xchange financed Rs 3,000 Cr worth MSME invoices in 2 years5.M1xchange offers cross-border bill discounting from GIFT city, says TReDS will boom

Priyanka Salot's entrepreneurial journey began with her search for a good night's sleep. As a senior marketing leader at P&G, she made the bold decision to leave her corporate role and start The Sleep Company to help India sleep better. Drawing on her experience in building legacy brands at P&G, she guided The Sleep Company to the top of the market, securing over $50 million in funding. In an insightful conversation, she breaks down what it takes to build a strong brand and discusses the strategic decisions that enabled The Sleep Company's rapid growth.Get notified about the latest releases and bonus content by subscribing to our newsletter at www.founderthesis.comRead more about The Sleep Company:-1.Work, sleep, repeat: The Sleep Company & the right doze2.The Sleep Company Reaches 500 Cr Annual Recurring Revenue Milestone3.How The Sleep Company is disrupting the way people sleep and sit in India4.The Sleep Company's comfort quotient

As solar panels become more affordable and government subsidies make them attractive, homeowners can now switch to solar energy for the same cost as their current electricity bills. In this episode, Shreya Mishra provides practical advice and insights from her entrepreneurial journey- she talks about her first venture, Flyrobe, and how she joined SolarSquare to build its retail side. She also sheds light on its go-to-market strategy, the challenges of scaling up quality and talks about India's target to equip 1 crore households with solar panels in the next 3 years.Get notified about the latest releases and bonus content by subscribing to our newsletter at www.founderthesis.comRead more about SolarSquare:-1.Startup by IIT Grads Helps Indian Homes Run on Zero Electricity, Earns Rs 200 Crore in Revenues2.How SolarSquare Is Helping Indians Harvest Solar Power With Its Full-Stack Solutions3.‘Simplification, policy push has turbocharged residential rooftop solar': SolarSquare co-founder4.This Startup Earns Rs 200 Crore By Enabling Zero Electricity Cost For Households

Edul Patel founded Mudrex with a strong belief in cryptocurrency as the future of money. For the past 7 years, he has been building the infrastructure for its mass adoption. He estimates it might take another 10 years to see widespread use. This episode dives into the concept of money and the potential future of currency, offering thought-provoking insights for those curious about how the world works.Read more about Mudrex:-1.Bitcoin Pizza Day today: Mudrex CEO Edul Patel explains the significance2.Rapid fire with YS Life: Edul Patel, CEO and Co-founder, Mudrex3.The Crypto 'Kuber': Edul Patel, CEO and Co-founder, Mudrex4.Explore Mr.Edul Patel's Views on Recent Crypto Market Developments and their Effect

Every few years, a new trend in the startup world catches the attention of VCs and this episode features a founder who has successfully navigated multiple such trends in the Indian startup scene. Gaurav Agarwal began his entrepreneurial journey with ZipGo, a ride-hailing startup that competed with industry giants like Ola and Uber. After an exciting journey with ZipGo, which eventually led to its acquisition, Gaurav hopped on his next big adventure in the D2C space. With Nat Habit, he and Swagatika are building a brand dedicated to providing fresh and natural skincare products to Indians.Get notified about the latest releases and bonus content by subscribing to our newsletter at www.founderthesis.comRead more about Nat Habit:-1.Nat Habit's Personal Care Range Is Made From Fresh Ingredients To Nurture Natural Wellness2.Nat Habit's Swagatika Das on being an online brand and the road ahead….

Sriram started his journey solving security problems for Texas Instruments, but his passion for tackling hard issues led him to the world of entrepreneurship. Now, 17 years later, he's taken on the challenge of building a platform enabling companies to provide convenient, safe transportation for their employees while minimising the number of vehicles needed. In this conversation, he talks about building Routematic and the innovative solutions he's developing to revolutionize employee transport.Get notified about the latest releases and bonus content by subscribing to our newsletter at www.founderthesis.comRead more about Routematic:-1.Routematic bets on artificial intelligence to tap corporate commuters2.Meet Routematic, a startup solving your daily office commute problems3. App-based, exclusive office commute cabs enter city4.Routematic makes corporate commutation stress-free5.Meet Sriram Kannan, an architect of no-GPS tech, who's Uber-ising employee transportation

Kunal is reimagining banking with Freo, a digital platform that covers all three key financial services: payments, savings, and lending. In this conversation, he spills the tea on the rollercoaster journey of his first business in talent assessments, which eventually got acquired, teaching him valuable lessons along the way. He talks how these experiences helped him hit the bullseye with Freo and also shares his take on the future of banking in India!Get notified about the latest releases and bonus content by subscribing to our newsletter at www.founderthesis.comRead more about Freo:-1.Freo's UPI credit: The new- age fintech redefining financial access2.Freo: Aiming For The Digital Banking Hot Seat3.From MoneyTap To Freo: How This Fintech Startup Is Tapping Into The Global $722 Bn Neobanking Opportunity

Romita was working as an analyst for a VC fund when she started working on weekends to build Foxtale. Foxtale quickly became a successful D2C brand, reaching a 250 crore ARR within 2 years of its launch. In this conversation, she explains how her background as an investor helped her become a successful founder and shares her big goals for the future.Get notified about the latest releases and bonus content by subscribing to our newsletter at www.founderthesis.comRead more about Foxtale:-1.Where product reigns supreme: The story of skincare D2C startup FoxTale2.Battling stereotypes, Romita Mazumdar of Foxtale is now a proud woman entrepreneur3.How Foxtale is Aiming to Take a Bigger Share in the Skincare Market4.What Strategy D2C Skincare Brand Foxtale is Following to Dominate In-Person Shopping Experience5.This woman entrepreneur ditched investment banking to start a D2C skincare startup

Explore the critical role of high-quality schools in addressing the root causes of low education standards in India. While Edtech solutions provide temporary relief, Kunal argues that building and running schools is a lasting solution. He shares his journey, his significant challenges, and how he successfully scaled JBCN Education.Get notified about the latest releases and bonus content by subscribing to our newsletter at www.founderthesis.comRead more about JBCN Education:-1.JBCN International School Expands its Footprint with the Inaugration of a New Campus in Mulund, Mumbai2.Kunal Dalal

Hear how a pivotal moment during his child's school admission led Pankaj Bansal to create PeopleStrong, a pioneering HRTech company. In this conversation, Pankaj shares his journey, from winning prestigious clients to facing tough business challenges. Today, PeopleStrong competes with the biggest global names in HRTech, boasting massive profitability and putting Indian HRTech on the world map.Get notified about the latest releases and bonus content by subscribing to our newsletter at www.founderthesis.comRead more about PeopleStrong:-1.PeopleStrong recognized as a Customers' Choice in the 2024 Gartner® Peer Insights™ Voice of the Customer for Cloud HCM Suites for 1,000+ Employee Enterprises Report 2.PeopleStrong leverages Google AI to transform HR in Asia3.This HR tech platform has adopted generative AI across employee lifecycle

Rohit Bhayana, founder of Lumis Partners, one of India's oldest venture investment firms, discusses his latest project, Oister Global. Oister Global is a leading institutional investor endeavouring to invest in a curated selection of top-tier alternative funds in India. Rohit talks about how private investing became mainstream in India, his journey building Lumis Partners, the operator mindset and the massive Indian alternative growth opportunity they're targeting at Oister Global!Disclaimer: All references to data and numbers are based on publically available sources. Nothing in this interview is intended to be an offer or solicitation to invest in private markets.Get notified about the latest releases and bonus content by subscribing to our newsletter at www.founderthesis.comRead more about Oister Global:-1.Oister Global Rolls Out INR 440 Cr Fund To Back VC/PE Funds2.India's AIF Landscape Surges Towards Maturity: Bright Prospects Ahead

Once a tech wizard at Intel, Bhaktha Keshavachar shifted gears to co-found Ezetap that shook up India's fintech scene with its innovative digital payment solutions, and was eventually acquired by Razorpay. Now, at Chara Technologies, he is engineering a revolutionary Reluctance motor engine that's free of toxic rare-earth minerals.This nifty invention is not just eco-friendly and cost- effective, but is also set to slash India's import dependency and give a turbo boost to the nation's electric mobility dreams!Get notified about the latest releases and bonus content by subscribing to our newsletter at www.founderthesis.comRead more about Chara Technologies:-1. Why India's Chara Technologies is Ditching Rare-Earth Materials in Electric Motors - CEO, Bhaktha Keshavachar2.As the EV market vrooms, this Bengaluru start-up tries to get its motor running3.Trio Builds EV Motors With No Toxic Rare-Earth Metals, Cut Dependency on Imports