Contra VC

In this pod, we speak to Sravanth, co-founder of Adonmo that has turned India's chaotic, fragmented out-of-home advertising market into a programmatic, data-driven network spanning 13+ cities, backed by Zomato and Ant Financial's Bace Capital. Sravanth gets candid about the grind from zero to one — from finding their customer to building a team. Then he takes us through the harder, less-talked-abo...

I sat down with Nathaniel, Principal at Betatron Venture Group — a VC operating out of Hong Kong & Singapore that's been backing Asia's most promising B2B tech companies since 2016. Nathaniel has been with Betatron since its days as an accelerator and has evaluated over 4,000 deals. He knows what separates the real from the noise. We talked about: → His journey and the ups and downs of company...

I sat down with Gursimran , co-founder of Minus Zero —one of India's most ambitious deep tech startups building autonomous driving models. Their goal isn't just to launch a flashy driverless car. It's bigger: They want to make Indian roads safer. We went deep on: 🧠 What it really takes to build deeptech in India (not for the faint-hearted) 💰 How to prioritize when every resource counts 🤝 Solvin...

Nuha Hashem grew up in the Middle East. Was doing her PhD in the US. Had it all figured out. Then she dropped it all to build AI employees. Her company, Cozmo AI, has already done 1 million minutes of calls—and their agents don't just execute tasks, they handle nuance. Like the time one discovered a customer had passed away and offered condolences instead of pushing a sale. In this episode, we dis...

How do you break into the world of high-growth international startups? Many wonder but hit a wall. I started my career in a back office in India, facing that same barrier. My guest, Faiyaz, found a way in— without a conventional pedigree. In this personal conversation, he shares his actionable playbook for building that career leap yourself. He also pulls back the curtain on driving growth at the...