Best Varun Vummidi Podcasts (2024)

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EP56: Jai Jawan to Jai Dukan. Serving the country via corner stores {Karthik of Jumbotail} 41:30

3y ago41:30

41:30

{Karthik Venkateswaran, Co-founder & CEO of Jumbotail} Karthik served with the Indian army in hard combat and had successful stints with marketplaces such as eBay in the US and Flipkart in India before launching Jumbotail along with his Stanford University batchmate Ashish Jhina. On this episode I chat with why Karthik & Ashish united behind this p…

1
EP55: Creating a Multi-Million $$ Fitness Business with a Whatsapp Group {Jitendra of FITTR} 40:26

3y ago40:26

40:26

{Jitendra Chouksey, Co-Founder of FITTR} The latest episode is with Jitendra Chouksey, aka JC, Founder & CEO of FITTR. FITTR has a highly engaged 2 million strong community focused on getting healthy and transforming themselves with the help of FITTR coaches, using the resources available. On this episode we chat about the journey from a small What…

1
EP54: World of crypto & the path to 5 Million Users in 6 months {Ashish of CoinSwitch} 43:50

3y ago43:50

43:50

EP54: {Ashish Singhal, Co-Founder of CoinSwitch} Hi Stars! Apologies for the sporadic episodes and the long gap between the last episode! Hope you and your family are safe and well during this crazy time. Go get vaccinated, please don’t wait. — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — → Go Subscribe to the Newsletter via stars.su…

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EP53: Pivots and the story to selling a majority stake to Reliance {Harsh of Fynd} 54:51

3+ y ago54:51

54:51

EP53: Pivots and the story to selling a majority stake to Reliance {Harsh Shah, Co-Founder of Fynd} Are you enjoying the new episodes of S&S? Do write to me! Also, do recommend amazing founders & stories that are worth spreading from the Startup scene in India. On the episode, I speak with someone I have known a while from the early days of ecommer…

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EP52: 600k users & creating a Brand for Generations starting on Amazon {Ankit of Wakefit} 48:29

3+ y ago48:29

48:29

EP52: 600k users & creating a Brand for Generations {Ankit Garg, Co-Founder of Wakefit} Ever wondered what the deal was with foam mattresses? Is it better that coir? Listen in. Ankit Garg of Wakefit is on the show this week, Wakefit is a mattress brand that has been offering Indian customers the ability to buy a mattress online and have it home del…

1
EP51: Building a Customer Centric Furniture Brand {Rajiv of Urban Ladder} 48:55

3+ y ago48:55

48:55

Yes, been a while but we're back with a packed episode! On this episode, episode 51, I speak with Rajiv Srivatsa a co-founder of a well loved consumer brand in the digital age, UrbanLadder. — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — → Don’t forget to subscribe to the Newsletter via stars.substack.com so that you can receive futur…

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EP50: Future of Gaming & Biohacking for founders {Rahul of Junglee Games} 55:00

3+ y ago55:00

55:00

EP50: {Rahul Bhardwaj, Co-Founder & COO of Junglee Games}On the blockbuster 50th episode, we chat with my friend and mentor Rahul of Junglee. Junglee Games has seen tremendous success in eights years since founding in 2012, with millions of users across multiple skill based games on Web and Mobile. Junglee today has over 25 million users and clocks…

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EP49: 5M users, ₹ 150 crore in Cashbacks and Affiliate marketing {Rohan of CashKaro} 53:00

3+ y ago53:00

53:00

EP49: {Rohan Bhargava, Co-Founder of CashKaro} I speak with Rohan on building a business offering cashbacks that works with over 1500+ e-commerce websites. Famously, Cashkaro is a Ratan Tata backed startup. Rohan shares why he & his wife Swati gave up lucrative jobs in finance, moved back to India from London in the early days of starting up, how a…

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EP48: Affordable Real Estate Ownership & Fractional Assets {Sudarshan of StrataProp} 41:32

3+ y ago41:32

41:32

EP48: {Sudarshan Lodha, Co-Founder of StrataProp} On the episode I have Sudarshan to chat about Strata. The startup is bringing a new innovative approach to investing in real estate, one that is data-driven and allows the investor to own a fraction of a highly desirable asset and also a way to make it the most accessible real estate investment you …

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EP47: 100M deliveries and building AI for Logistics {Nishith of Locus} 47:51

4y ago47:51

47:51

EP47: {Nishith Rastogi, Co-Founder of Locus} Nishith is a BITS Grad and was an engineer at Amazon where he met his co-founder Geet, an IIT grad. They set out to launch a chat network that morphed into what is today Locus. Locus is a tool that plugs into the supply chain of an enterprise and starts automating all human decisions in the process; they…

1
EP46: Freelancer Marketplaces & Building Gupshup for over 16 years {Beerud of Elance & Gupshup} 52:58

4y ago52:58

52:58

EP46: {Beerud Sheth, Founder of Elance & Gupshup} On this episode I speak with Beerud Sheth, who was the co-founder & CEO of the poplar freelancing work platform Elance in 1998, that is now Upwork. Beerud went on to found Gupshup a could messaging platform that has seen its share of twists and turns in the messaging and communications space since 2…

1
EP45: Humanizing the Sales Process using AI {Shruti of Wingman} 51:48

4y ago51:48

51:48

EP45: {Shruti Kapoor, Co-founder & CEO of Wingman} Wingman offers a virtual assistant that assists sales reps close deals faster, guiding the rep with exact information they need in real-time. Shruti Kapoor, an IIM alumn, chats with me about sales and ofcourse Wingman. We discuss how Wingman is humanizing the sales process, where the sales person c…

1
EP44: Consumer & Fintech Investing, and 54x returns from angel investing {Vikram of 8i Ventures} 46:55

4y ago46:55

46:55

EP44: {Vikram Chachra, Co-Founder of 8i Ventures} We’ve had 4 of Vikram’s portfolio companies on this show already. Madhu of YAP, Ankit of Signzy, Rajan of Slice and Matt of BlueTokai!! Vikram’s in the process of launching his $ 50 million fund and took the time to have a chat with me about his investment philosophy and the journey being a founder.…

1
EP43: Pre-owned Car Business in India, a $ 32Billion opportunity {Amit of OLX CashMyCar & OLX Autos} 38:48

4y ago38:48

38:48

EP43: {Amit Kumar, BusinessHead of OLX CashMyCar} On this episode I catch up with Amit to discuss the state of the Used Car business in India and its increasing relevance to the audience while organizing an unorganized segment. — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — → Don’t forget to subscribe to the Newsletter via stars.subs…

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EP42: RegTech & Moving on from Blockchain {Ankit of Signzy} 53:07

4y ago53:07

53:07

EP42: {Ankit Ratan, Co-Founder of Signzy} Regulation is probably one of the key pillars of banking. Sometimes it does become an excuse for being the thing that ails the experience. All that is changing now with the emergence of Reg-Tech. The use of Video KYC, Aadhar authentication layer, digital lockers & the India Stack is enabling a lot of that c…

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EP41: Serving the the Millennial Customer {Rajan of Slice} 44:35

4y ago44:35

44:35

EP41: {Rajan Bajaj, Founder of Slice} On the episode I speak with Rajan Bajaj, the founder of Slice, an IIT grad who spent a few months in Flipkart before wanting start out on his own. He went on to start a business that morphed into what is today Slice - a credit line that caters to first time job seekers. Slice is targeting 5 million first time c…

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EP40: Investing in InsurTech & Early Stage Investing {Shwetank of Leo Capital} 56:32

4y ago56:32

56:32

EP40: {Shwetank Verma, General Partner of Leo Capital} Shwetank Verma is a General Partner and co-Founder of Leo Capital, an early-stage venture investor operating in India and SouthEast Asia. Leo Capital focuses on Digital Health, InsurTech and FinTech. Shwetank, prior to founding Leo Capital he headed open innovation at MetLife Asia, where he cre…

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EP39: Telemedicine in India & taking it to 101 countries {Dhruv of iCliniq} 50:17

4y ago50:17

50:17

EP39: {Dhruv Suyamprakasam, Co-founder & CEO of iCliniq} I speak with a founder who moved his company from Bangalore to his hometown Coimbatore to start health care venture iCliniq. We talk about Telemedicine, starting up in Coimbatore, the struggles of to signing up the first doctor in India and convincing thousands of doctors from across the worl…

1
EP38: Electric Vehicle Opportunity for India & the Whatsapp connection {Bharath of Bounce} 52:17

4y ago52:17

52:17

EP38: {Bharath Devanathan, SVP of Bounce} On this episode, EP38 of the podcast we chat with Bharath about Electric Vehicles and how India is on the path to start seeing a lot more action in the EV space as governments have now stepped in to accelerating the switch from ICE to EVs. We also chat a little about Bharath’s time at Yahoo! On the email te…

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EP37: Making Trekking Accessible in India & Making a Difference {Sandhya C. & Arjun M. of IndiaHikes} 51:04

4y ago51:04

51:04

EP37: {Arjun Majumdar & Sandhya Chandrasekharayya, Founders of IndiaHikes} On this episode, I’m changing it up a little as I catch up with the founders of India Hikes. India’s premier hiking company that started way back in 2008. With the hope of making hiking accessible to more Indians so that they can enjoy the nature that India has in abundance,…

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EP36: ₹ 350 Crore Profit, 3M users & Rainmatter Investments {Nithin of Zerodha} 1:06:53

4y ago1:06:53

1:06:53

EP36: {Nithin Kamath, Co-founder & CEO of Zerodha} 0 + rodha = Zero Barrier Nithin is an avid poker player and a CEO who still blogs and interacts with his customers to stay in touch and stay on the pulse of the customer. Recently Zerodha been in the news for being a bootstrapped Unicorn along with the likes of ZOHO, homegrown tech companies that h…

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EP35: Re-Commerce, 1M Refurbished Mobiles & Chinese Investors {Mandeep of Cashify} 1:15:56

4y ago1:15:56

1:15:56

EP35: {Mandeep Manocha, Co-founder & CEO of Cashify} ----------- ALERT: Remember to participate in Donate your Old Phones initiative run by Cashify - https://www.cashify.in/donate-for-education; save the planet and support kids who are unable to participate in online classes. ----------- Have you ever wondered what to do with that old phone that yo…

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EP34: Zynga, 1MG & making healthcare affordable and accessible in India {Gaurav of 1MG} 1:02:41

4y ago1:02:41

1:02:41

EP34: {Gaurav Agarwal, Co-founder of 1MG} Healthcare is a coveted space for tech startups in India, not because it’s hard but because of the enormity of challenges you could solve. And the sheer size of white spaces that are available to be solved. 1MG is probably at the forefront of really understanding Indian health data with over 90 million user…

1
EP33: Neo Banking & the Evolution of Banking {Vinay of NiYO} 1:04:18

4y ago1:04:18

1:04:18

EP33: {Vinay Bagri, Co-founder & CEO of NiYO} On the episode we discuss Vinay's fascination with Salary Accounts, banking and its evolution and what’s Neo about Niyo. We chat with Vinay Bagri, the co-founder & CEO of NiYO, a Fintech that was founded in 2016 offering a digital banking solution for salaried employees. NiYO started off by digitizing t…

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EP32: 100M users, 400k apps and the Vernacular OS journey {Akash of IndusOS} 1:01:13

4y ago1:01:13

1:01:13

EP32: {Akash Dongre, Co-founder of IndusOS} I chat with Akash Dongre, the CPO and cofounder at IndusOS - the creators of the largest App Store outside of the play store with over 100 million users and thousands of apps created for the vernacular audience. They currently power the App Store on many of the Samsung phones and have been through quite t…

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EP31: One Billion devices, Nokia & the 8 C's of Entrepreneurship {Sreevathsa of Servify} 1:02:27

4y ago1:02:27

1:02:27

EP31: {Sreevathsa Prabhakar, Founder of Servify} This startup likely covers the premium smartphone on which you’re likely listening to or watching this episode of the Podcast! Very few companies give service capabilities much thought. Indians too are not very demanding of service and service requests arise for less than 3% of all mobile handset sal…

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EP30: Chatbots, 2 Billion Conversations & Reliance Industries {Aakrit of Haptik} 38:18

4y ago38:18

38:18

EP30: {Aakrit Vaish, Co-founder & CEO of Haptik} We chat with Aakrit on the conversational AI space, his startup journey and the sale to Reliance Industries in April 2019, in a very candid conversation. The conversational AI, chatbot space has seen a lot of action across the world after messaging services like the Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp ha…

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EP29: Gig economy & the Future of Work {Niranjan of Futwork} 55:56

4y ago55:56

55:56

EP29: Gig economy & the Future of Work {Niranjan Nakhate, Co-founder of Futwork previously called Frapp} On the episode we speak with a founder who has built a company in a space that has now been coined as the "Future Of Work." A space that means the future is driven by the gig economy, an array of jobs offered to those willing to perform it at th…

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EP28: Building Growth teams, Scaling & Marketing for Startups {Daman, Marketing at WeCash, MilkBasket, Mobikwik} 1:23:55

4y ago1:23:55

1:23:55

EP28: {Damandeep Singh Soni, Marketing at WeCash, MilkBasket, Mobikwik} This episode is going to be a little different from other Stars & Startups Episodes. Think of this episode as a Growth Masterclass for Startups. Startups all too often don’t identify how to grow their users, plan acquisition and do things that help them scale during the early d…

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EP27: Venture & Angel investing, and Navigating through times of Uncertainty {Alok of Indifi} 53:55

4y ago53:55

53:55

EP27: {Alok Mittal, Co-founder & CEO of Indifi} Entrepreneur turned Investor turned Entrepreneur Alok is on this episode of the Stars & Startups Podcast. Alok Mittal is an IIT Delhi graduate who you can say has become a fixture in the Indian startup ecosystem. Alok is currently the cofounder and CEO of Indifi, a debt financing platform for Indian S…

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EP26: Value SaaS, Indian SaaS landscape and why its the best time to build SaaS {Prasanna of Upekkha} 1:04:35

4y ago1:04:35

1:04:35

EP26: {Prasanna Krishnamoorthy, Partner & CEO of Upekkha} My guest from EP04 Krishi Fawani had spoken highly about Upekkha Accelerator that his company Hashtag Loyalty was participating in. Had a chance meeting with Prasanna and loved what they had to say and invited him to be on the Podcast. We talk about what it means to build a Value SaaS busine…

1
EP25: 2 Unicorns, 1 Decacorn and the process of building the muscle to pick a winner {Sameer of NexusVP} 1:22:05

4y ago1:22:05

1:22:05

EP25: 2 Unicorns, 1 Decacorn and the process of building the muscle to pick a Winner {Sameer Verma, MD of NexusVP} Sameer has been an early-stage investor in over 38 companies that include 2 Unicorns & 1 Decacorn. On the episode I speak with Sameer Verma of NexusVP about some of his investments, the startup ecosystem, and we get a chance to dig dee…

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EP24: {Varun & Anand of 91 Springboard} Co-working & Remote-working will be the new normal 1:05:01

4y ago1:05:01

1:05:01

EP24: Co-working & Remote-working {Varun Chawla & Anand Vemuri, Co-founders of 91Springboard} For the first time on the Stars & Startups show I host 2 guests, it was a lot more complex than I expected but I think we did quite well to pull this off! In the conversation with the co-founders of the contemporary co-working pioneers in India - 91 Spring…

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EP23: {Rahul of Arkam Ventures} on solving for the needs of Middle-India via a Rs. 700 Crore Fund 55:21

4y ago55:21

55:21

EP23: {Rahul Chandra, Co-founder of Arkam Ventures} On the latest episode of Stars & Startups we have Rahul Chandra, who was earlier the Managing director at Helion Ventures, a USD 600 million India focused fund, where Rahul led investments into some popular internet investments including Toppr, MoEngage and some of the others he discusses on the s…

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EP22: {Raghav of UrbanClap} Services-at-Home segment, 10 million downloads and $175M fund 1:02:08

4y ago1:02:08

1:02:08

EP22: Solving for the services at home segment, 10 millions downloads and $175M fund {Raghav Chandra, Co-founder & CPO of Urban Company} On this episode I chat with Raghav Chandra, co-founder of Urban Company, formerly called Urban Clap, where we discuss building products for millions of engaged users and creating a unique platform that now serves …

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EP21: {Girish of Magzter} on 55 million app downloads and the business of digital magazines and newspapers 1:13:46

4y ago1:13:46

1:13:46

EP21: 55 million app downloads, business of magazines & newspapers and starting with apps early {Girish Ramdas, Co-founder & CEO of Magzter} If you’ve had a smart phone since early days you’d likely recognise Magzter. Along with Zinio they were they apps that you could find your favourite magazines from across the world to access and read. They hav…

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EP20: {Matt - Blue Tokai Coffee} COVID, Coffee, Cafés and the Third Wave 51:29

4y ago51:29

51:29

EP20: Coffee, Cafes and the Third Wave {Matt Chitharanjan, Co-founder of Blue Tokai Coffee} With Episode 20, we’re ending week 10 on the podcast with the story of a popular coffee shop and coffee company that has seen demand for premium Indian coffee grow and capture the mind space of Indians looking to consume GOOD coffee. With that they have also…

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EP19: ItzCash journey, Mindfulness & GetVantage {Bhavik Vasa, Founder of GetVantage} 57:12

4y ago57:12

57:12

On today’s episode I chat with Bhavik Vasa , he’s the Ex - Chief Growth officer at ItzCash and managed the business after the acquisition by EBIX. He was instrumental in the ItzCash journey to acquisition. Bhavik & I discuss his journey, the acquisition, mindfulness & his latest venture GetVantage. ----- > Don't forget to subscribe to the Newslette…

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EP18: Building a sports league in India, first with Futsal & now in racing {Abhinandan of X1 Racing} 51:37

4y ago51:37

51:37

Abhinandan (Abhi) is a Vellore Inst of Tech & Warwick grad who has built 3 businesses, Altflo, Chefhost & Liquity right from the moment he graduated. He also launched Premier Futsal prior to X1 Racing. In his latest entrepreneurial venture Abhi has teamed up with 2 young racing drivers Aditya Patel and Armaan Ebrahim to launch the league X1 Racing …

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EP17: {Aloke of IXIGO} 170 million users and a 14 year journey building the Google for travel 56:53

4y ago56:53

56:53

EP17: {Aloke Bajpai, Co-founder & CEO of IXIGO} On the episode I chat with Aloke Bajpai, CEO of IXIGO, a business that can be called a Travel industry veteran. Aloke & Rajnish have been in the travel ecosystem since the time they graduated from IIT in 2001, first jobs working at the Spanish travel major Amadeus and then building IXIGO as a travel s…

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EP16: {Mukul of Classplus} on Power of teachers in a coaching centre, raising US$ 9M to support offline Ed 46:09

4y ago46:09

46:09

We have a deep conversation with Mukul Rustagi of Classplus, and IIT Roorkee grad who had the intent to solve problems right through college, just like his co-founder Bhaswat. ------------- > Don't forget to subscribe to the Newsletter so that you can receive future podcasts delivered to your inbox! We explore the world of coaching institutes, how …

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EP15: {Vikas of Social Beat} on Social commerce, an award winning digital agency, and launching 4 businesses 53:18

4y ago53:18

53:18

We speak with Vikas Chawla a friend of mine from my time at Loyola College - Chennai , who founded digital agency called Social Beat. He along with his brother Suniel Chawla have built a sought after agency that has won numerous awards as a Premier Google Partner & as a recommended Facebook agency. ------------- > Don't forget to subscribe to the N…

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EP14: {Sarvesh of Sarva} on IPL cricketer to Yogi and taking yoga to the world - 130k downloads in 75 days 36:15

4y ago36:15

36:15

EP14: Cricketer to Yogi and taking yoga to the world — 130k downloads in 75 days {Sarvesh Sashi, Co-founder & CEO of Sarva} Sarvesh Sashi was a cricketer from Chennai who was picked in 2 IPL squads. Yep, he put IPL fame aside to pursue his love for Yoga. Sarvesh talks about how he met his guru and how he took up Yoga. He also shares how the app has…

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EP13: {Prasanna of Hipbar} on building a "bar on the cloud" to enabling payments & deliveries for wine-shops 43:59

4y ago43:59

43:59

On the EP13 we explore the world of alcohol and how an app from Chennai making it possible to buy alcohol from neighbourhood wine shops as well as enabling deliveries for these shop owners. Prasanna Natarajan & Prashant Adurty are the founders of Hipbar. Prasanna and I chat about the state of country spirits, and the business of delivering alcohol.…

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EP12 : {Jitendra - Citrus Pay} on exiting for $130M cash & raising $26M to launch Jupiter on an idea 48:20

4y ago48:20

48:20

EP12 : {Jitendra of Citrus Pay & Jupiter Money} Exiting to PayU for a cool US$ 130 million cash deal, Angel Investing and on raising US$ 26 million to launch Jupiter with only an idea On this special episode of Stars & Startups I chat with my ex-boss and mentor Jiten Gupta, Founder of Jupiter Money. Jiten was the co-founder of Citrus Payments an on…

1
EP11: {Aneesh of Svami} on putting Indian Tonics on the map & dabbling with an app for Wines & Beers 1:13:26

4y ago1:13:26

1:13:26

On the episode I catch up with award winning photographer Aneesh Bhasin of Svami drinks. Svami is a beverages brand that’s part of the latest wave of Indian consumer brands that is catering to a premium audience and offers variety in a segment that has long lacked innovation. Aneesh and I chat about coffee, his experience building his earlier start…

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EP10: {Bala of Kawa Space} on creating applications for enabling easy use of satellite data and Space tech 49:28

4y ago49:28

49:28

EP10: Writing code at the age of 12 to now creating applications that enables easy use of satellite data {Bala Menon, Co-founder of Kawa Space} Bala Menon is a tech entrepreneur who started writing code at the age of 12 and has built products across various industries and now, space. As the co-founder & Chief Product Officer he speaks about how Kaw…

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EP09: {Jaspreet of Visual AI} on hacking drones to having three-fourth of all Indian solar businesses as clients 57:26

4y ago57:26

57:26

Jaspreet talks candidly about how he started hacking together quadcopters for the fun of it in the college lab & sold those crude copters to make some pocket money. When quadcopters started becoming accessible and extremely powerful there were very few who knew how to monetize and even fewer who went ahead and tried their hand at it. Now Visual AI …

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EP08: {Sanna of The Wedding Brigade} building a content business, Zoom & the future of 12m annual weddings in India 56:55

4y ago56:55

56:55

EP08: Building a content business, Zoom weddings and the future of the ~ 12 million annual weddings in India; and the commerce around the occasion We speak with Sanna, CEO of The Wedding Brigade, a platform that has carved a niche for itself by gathering a highly engaged audience and produces high quality content to stay connected and relevant to i…

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EP07: {Amit of InnerHour} on Mental Wellness using technology & supporting half a million users in India 51:44

4y ago51:44

51:44

Amit Malik, founder of InnerHour, speaks about how Indians are taking to mental health, the stigma around it and how technology is playing role in bridging the gap. ------------- > Don't forget to subscribe to the Podcast and Newsletter This week we speak about something that’s become the topic of discussion during the pandemic, given job losses, e…

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