Founder Thesis

"It's very hard to read a label when you're inside the bottle." This insightful quote from Mohit Sadani highlights a key theme of the conversation: the crucial role of external perspective, often from mentors, in navigating the intense, 'inside-the-bottle' experience of entrepreneurship. Founders need trusted advisors to see the bigger picture they might miss while deep in the daily grind. Malika...

"Money follows a very simple mathematical formula. Its magnitude multiplied by impact." This is the beautifully simple principle that Karan Bajaj landed on after years of searching for a path to financial independence. It cuts through the noise of online gurus and get-rich-quick schemes, arguing that true wealth is a direct byproduct of creating deep and wide-ranging value for people. In this epis...

Saransh Garg ’s journey represents the quintessential Silicon Valley founder story that began with his first venture being launched straight out of college. An alumnus of IIT-Bombay, Saransh has had a glorious career trajectory working with Boston Consulting Group, a prestigious global consulting firm and Accel, a leading VC fund. After a successful first inning as entrepreneur, he launched Nova B...

"MVPs are dead for mature markets - launch fully-formed." In a direct challenge to the "lean startup" gospel, Srikrishnan Ganesan argues that in today's crowded software landscape, launching a half-baked Minimum Viable Product is a recipe for failure. He reveals the "Clarity Before Code" strategy Rocketlane used to build a polished, full-featured product before launch, ensuring they made a massive...

"The conventional solution to healthcare gaps—building more hospitals and training more doctors—is simply not a viable solution." This powerful, contrarian view from Dr. Dhruv Joshi forms the basis of his entire mission. He argues that the traditional model of healthcare is too slow and expensive to scale , and the only way to provide quality care to everyone is through technology that acts as a "...

In this episode of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Abhishek Poddar, Founder and CEO of Plum , the startup helping companies provide unique & affordable employee health insurance plans. An alumnus of IIT Kanpur and Stanford University, Abhishek has had a glorious career working with global giants like McKinsey & Company & Google. Spotting a clear opportunity to reform the broken...

"Failure hurts, but it is the bitter medicine of failure that leads to a healthy and sustainable business." Ankit Garg's journey exemplifies this. His first venture failed miserably, teaching him invaluable lessons that paved the way for building Wakefit into a home solutions powerhouse. Embracing failure isn't just about bouncing back; it's about learning and building resilience. Ankit Garg is th...

In this episode of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Sanjeev Aggarwal, Founder and CEO of Amplus Solar, Asia’s leading distributed company, supplying clean energy solutions to Commercial & Institutional customers. An alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad, Sanjeev has spent more than a decade in the power sector. As part of his career, he has served various roles and responsibilities, including projec...

In this episode of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Madan Somasundaram, Founder of Sugar. Fit. Sugar. Fit is a healthtech startup that aims to reverse diabetes through a consumer-centric data-driven digital health experience. An alumnus of The Wharton School and Harvard Business School, Madan has a commendable career working with J.P Morgan as an investment banker. He started Sugar. Fit wit...

In this episode of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Swagat Sarangi, Founder of Smytten, one of India’s leading product discovery and trial platform that is revolutionising the way consumers interact with brands. An alumnus of Indian School of Business, Swagat worked with Google as the Head of Business Marketing before starting his entrepreneurial journey. His extensive 17 years of experienc...

"Energy is like money—it's a finite resource. When it's gone, we die. When it's there, we're bubbling with energy. So spend it judiciously." Deep Bajaj shares a powerful perspective on personal energy management, a critical factor often overlooked in the hustle of entrepreneurship. Conserving your energy and avoiding "energy vampires" is just as important as managing your finances. Deep Bajaj is t...

Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) safeguarded the Indian economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this segment's financial health used to suffer owing to the lack of a robust framework for logging data. In this episode of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Sumit Agarwal, Founder of Vyapar which is an easy-to-use software for business owners that provides billing, inventory, a...

This episode is a time capsule. We had the chance to sit down with Reshamandi's founder, Mayank Tiwari, at the peak of his company's hyper-growth. Listening to his vision now, after the company's widely-reported collapse, offers a unique and powerful lesson for every founder. It's a chance to understand the brilliance of a startup's dream, the conviction that drives it, and the hard realities that...

In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt talks with Dr. Anand Anandkumar, CEO and MD of Bugworks Research Inc., a remarkable drug discovery company focused on developing novel broad-spectrum antibiotics and immunotherapies that stand to transform the healthcare ecosystem worldwide. A veteran in the semiconductor industry with almost two decades of experience, Dr. Anandkumar wears many hats....

India is the second-largest internet market in the world with more than 70 million small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). But only a fraction of them is utilizing the advantages of digitization. The Founder Thesis podcast presents to you a two-part series, where Akshay Datt speaks with Rahul Raj, Founder and CEO of FloBiz. Rahul started his entrepreneurial journey in 2017, a year after graduati...

With one of the world's largest ageing populations, the eldercare market in India is estimated to be worth $5 billion. But still, a substantial chunk of this sector remains disintegrated and unorganised.   In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt talks with Vaibhav Tewari, Co-founder and CEO of Portea Medical. He is an alumnus of IIM Calcutta with more than two decades of experienc...

A few years ago, businesses were struggling to accept card payments, and this demanded a solution that could enable the smooth running of businesses across the country.   In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Akash Sinha, Co-founder and CEO, Cashfree Payments, a Bengaluru-based FinTech start-up which facilitates businesses in India to collect payments online and make...

The Indian auto industry is going through a gradual but essential change which will continue for the next 10 to 15 years. If the trends are to be believed, the Indian EV industry is estimated to reach USD17 billion in the next five years. In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Vikash Mishra, Founder and CEO, MoEVing, an electric mobility-focused tech platform working towards ac...

Digital Lending is having a substantial growth in India, with several start-ups availing loans to small and micro-enterprises that often get denied by banks and NBFCs. In this episode of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Ramaswamy Iyer, Founder and CEO, Vayana Network – an electronic network that provides easy, digital access to low-cost financing to every enterprise, from large corporations...

BNPL is a wide-open market with rooted players and start-ups securing the pole position. But a large chunk of retailers is still not covered by any of them. In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt talks with Vikas Garg, Co-founder, Paytail. He is an alumnus of Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management, New Delhi, and had a decade long experience in the BFSI sector before stepping into ent...

‘Milk is the largest crop on this planet and there is a strong need for technological interventions.’ Convinced by this, a group of ex-Wipro employees perceived digitizing the Agri-Dairy supply chain as an opportunity. In this episode of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Ranjith Mukundan, Co-founder and CEO, Stellapps Technologies Private Limited - an IIT-Madras incubated start-up which prov...

The country’s transportation sector is on the verge of a phenomenal change. Courtesy of EV-tech! In this episode of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Akash Gupta, Co-founder and CEO, Zypp Electric, India’s leading B2B Delivery and shared mobility app. After an extensive experience in the corporate sector, Akash started his entrepreneurial journey in 2017 with Mobycy, an electric rental mobil...

From being embroiled in controversies to becoming one of the leading companies in the real estate sector, this is the story of a remarkable turnaround! In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Dhruv Agarwala, CEO, REA India Pte. Ltd., a company that has Housing.com, Proptiger.com and Makaan.com under its umbrella. An alumnus of Harvard University, Dhruv started his entrepreneuria...

Recruiting talent has always been a tough nut to crack. And the pandemic proved to be one such trigger that has spiked unemployment rates globally. In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Raj Das, Co-founder and CEO, Hirect India, the country’s first chat-based hiring app. He is an alumnus of IIT Bombay and has worked as a product manager before starting his entrepreneurial jour...

In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Sandeep Jethwani, Co-founder, Dezerv.in. He is an alumnus of IIM Bangalore and has an extensive experience in the wealth management domain. Before starting his entrepreneurial journey, Sandeep worked with IIFL Wealth for more than a decade. In a bid to democratize access to investment expertise, he started Dezerv.in in 2021. This wealth te...