Founder Thesis

The most successful businesses are the ones that are built around solving a problem for others. In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Kunal Popat, Founder, R For Rabbit. Inspiration knocked at his door when he became a father and couldn’t find any certified and safe baby gear in India. He realized the massive potential this segment had and started R For Rabbit in 2014, al...

"Education is about addiction, not content." This provocative insight from Anshuman Singh challenges the very foundation of modern education. He argues that the secret to effective learning isn't just delivering the best lectures or materials, but creating a highly engaging, motivating, and supportive ecosystem that gets students "addicted" to the process of self-improvement, leading to incredible...

When it comes to innovation, India has come a long way. But there is still a lot to be achieved! In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Vidit Jain and Shridhar Gupta, Founders, LocoNav. They have worked together at ClearTax before starting with their entrepreneurial journey. Intrigued by the complex nature of the fleet management business and to make the life of fleet owners ea...

‘Karna hai, toh karna hai!’ – This is one mantra that our guest today lives by! In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Sasidhar Nandigam, Co-founder and CEO, CredR, an omnichannel platform for buying and selling used two-wheelers. With more than a decade of experience with various venture capitalist funds, his eureka moment came when he had an unpleasant experience in buyi...

With a huge market opportunity to grab, it’s a golden age for digital-first businesses. And with plans to accelerate growth for the digital-first economy is Klub. In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Anurakt Jain, Co-founder and CEO, Klub, a Bengaluru-based start-up that is pioneering revenue-based financing in India. Anurakt, a graduate of IIT Delhi and The Wharton Scho...

The universe is made up of stories, where everyone is a storyteller. In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Ranjeet Pratap Singh, Co-founder and CEO, Pratilipi. He is an alumnus of FMS, Delhi and has worked with Vodafone before starting off with his entrepreneurial journey. Belonging to a modest background, Ranjeet has always been a voracious reader and preferred reading conten...

It’s 2022! By now, everyone knows that FinTech has taken India by storm and fascinating things will happen when such disruptive technology finds its applications in other sectors. In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Chris George, Co-founder and CEO, Qube Health. A serial entrepreneur and an alumnus of NYU’s Stern School of Business, Chris started his entrepreneurial journey...

Thanks to COVID, Creators’ economy has boomed in the past two years. Worldwide, there are more than fifty million creators. But most of them do not get paid. In this edition of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Nipun Goyal, Founder and CEO, LikeMinds. He is a serial entrepreneur who has worked in corporate before venturing on this journey. An alumnus of IIT Delhi, Nipun launched his first ve...

In this era of start-ups in India, invention, innovation, and disruption have become a reality. Founder Thesis presents you the journey of one such duo of techies who are on a mission to enable robots with human-like vision, which could unlock endless possibilities. In a candid conversation with Akshay Datt, Nikhil Ramaswamy and Gokul NA, Founders, CynLR, have taken us through their journeys. Nikh...

Is first mover really an advantage! In this episode of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Abhinav Sinha, Co-founder, Eko India Financial Services, a company that envisioned the innovations FinTech brought in recent years, more than a decade ago. Eko started operations in 2007 with an aim to bring banking to consumers 24X7 through a network of business correspondents. After numerous pivot...

Passion, patience, and perseverance are the ingredients to be a successful entrepreneur. In this episode of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Rashi Narang, Founder and Creative Director, Heads Up For Tails (HUFT), whose entrepreneurial journey is nothing but perseverance and grit. Rashi, an ardent animal lover, found her calling when she realized that the Indian market has nothing to offer w...

"This monthly salary is nothing but a trap... you need to come out of this comfort... take some risk." This powerful statement from Amit Agarwal captures the core dilemma for many successful professionals dreaming of entrepreneurship. It’s a call to action to escape the "golden handcuffs" of a stable, high-paying job and embrace the uncertainty of building something new, a leap Amit himself took t...

"What does it really take to build a D2C brand from zero in today's market?" This episode unpacks the challenging yet rewarding journey of building a D2C brand with Anurag Kedia. Go beyond the headlines and learn about the grit, strategic decisions, and relentless execution required to take an idea like Pilgrim from concept to reality. Anurag Kedia is the Co-Founder of the D2C beauty brand Pilgrim...

‘To crypto or not to crypto?’ remains a burning topic for the regulators in the country, but for start-ups and investors, it is definitely a hot currency. Founder Thesis brings you the journey of one such founder, who is riding high on this crypto wave. In this edition, Akshay Datt speaks with Ashish Singhal, Founder and CEO, CoinSwitch Kuber, one of India’s largest cryptocurrency exchan...

‘Grind in your 20s… Hustle in your 30s… Retire in your 40s.’ Sounds like a perfect plan, right! Founder Thesis brings you the journey of Amit Gupta, the mind behind India’s first unicorn InMobi, who in his current avatar is heading Yulu, the country’s leading shared micro-mobility service provider. In a candid conversation with Akshay Datt, Amit harks back to his earlier days, when he aspired to s...

Pivoting is not the end of the disruption process but the beginning of the next leg of your journey. This is exactly the essence of the journey of our next guest on Founder Thesis. In this episode, Akshay Datt speaks with Raghu Ravinutala, Co-founder and CEO, Yellow.ai, a hardcore techie who has worked with Texas Instruments and Broadcom before charting his entrepreneurial path. In 2014, he met hi...

Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for more than half of India’s population. And with more than 3/5th of land under cultivation, the scope of incorporating technology becomes even more evident. In this episode of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt talks with Shashank Kumar, Co-founder and CEO, DeHaat. He is an alumnus of IIT Delhi and has previously worked in the management consulting domain...

As joyful as it sounds, motherhood can also be a painful journey. The extent of decisions taken by new mothers is bound to make them nervous and apprehensive. In this episode of the Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Tamanna Dhamija, Co-founder, Convosight. She is an alumnus of MDI, Gurgaon and has previously worked in the Investment Banking domain. But like many entrepreneurs, she realised t...

While numerous FinTech start-ups have started working towards empowering rural India, Spice Money is one such start-up that is working categorically towards the financial inclusion of rural India. Founder Thesis brings you the inspirational journey of Dilip Modi, Founder, Spice Money, where he tells Akshay Datt about his experiences, from setting up a business in the then-nascent Telecom Indu...

‘Innovation happens when you work on a problem, but adoption happens only during a crisis.’ – Nimish Sharma (WorkEx) The pandemic tested us in unimaginable ways. Many around us lost jobs, and as the economy slowed down, unemployment became a serious issue. In a candid conversation with Akshay Datt, Nimish Sharma, Co-founder and CEO, WorkEx, takes us through his journey. He started his entrepreneur...

Most of us love animals. But is it easy to live in balance with other living beings without harming them? Founder Thesis brings you the journey of a bureaucrat who has taken his love for animals to the next level. In a candid conversation with Akshay Datt, Abhishek Sinha, Co-founder and CEO, Good Dot, takes us through his journey. He has served the Indian Revenue Service before exploring the entre...

As busy as it can get, health, in these times, has taken a back seat. We often fail to consume a proper diet which leads to numerous deficiencies. Founder Thesis brings you the journey of one such founder who has made it his mission to make Ayurveda an integral part of the day-to-day life of the modern consumer. In a candid conversation with Akshay Datt, Ameve Sharma, Co-founder, Kapiva, has taken...

Neobanks are one such disruptor that one day will completely eclipse the traditional banking system. In this episode of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Vinay Bagri, Co-founder and CEO, Niyo Solutions Inc, which is one of India’s fastest growing neobanks. After spending more than a decade in banking companies like Standard Chartered, ING and Kotak, Vinay took a leap of faith and started Niy...

Financial independence is an essential life skill, and it has been a concept dominated by men. But not anymore! In this episode of Founder Thesis, Akshay Datt speaks with Priti Rathi Gupta, Founder, LXME, who is spearheading the mission to bridge the gap between women and finance. A self-proclaimed financial feminist, Priti has been heading Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers Ltd. It was through...

Getting access to loans, that too timely is a painful process in India. There are numerous parameters for approval and one’s request might be denied for reasons which are nowhere related to a borrower’s credibility. In this episode of the Founder Thesis podcast, Akshay Datt speaks with Bhavin Patel, Co-founder and CEO, LenDenClub, which is one of India’s pioneer Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending pla...