The Startup Operator

After having worked with Deloitte's Identity and Access Management practice in India and later in Australia as a Senior Analyst, Rasima joined BFA in 2017. Currently, she is India Country Manager for BFA's Catalyst Fund, focused on accelerating startups geared towards financial inclusion.  In this episode of The Startup Operator Podcast, Roshan talks to Rasima about impact investing and how startu...

Welcome to the first ever panel discussion, aka Huddles, of The Startup Operator Podcast!  We hosted Rajeev & Rajkumar, Co-Founders of Payagri, and Alekh Sanghera, Co-Founder & CEO of Farmart to understand the rapidly evolving agritech space in India - from adding value across the value chain to mobilizing innovation & initiatives to improve the farming economy.  Tonnes of insights & inspiring sto...

Aviral is a senior associate at Guild Capital, focusing primarily on early-stage startup investments. He has led Guild's investments into Wink&Nod, MegaExams, Qrius, and NurseryLive.   On the side, he also runs a fascinating blog www.ajuniorvc.com focused on startup and investing trends, and regularly posts on Linkedin and Twitter.   In this episode of The Startup Operator Podcast, Roshan talks to...

Akshay was one of the first hires from Uber's expansion to India. A lawyer turned operator turned 'Solepreneuer', Akshay currently works with founders of high-growth startups on their external affairs and strategy.   In this episode of the Startup Operator Podcast, Roshan talks to Akshay about his days from Uber and how the cab aggregator managed to build such a successful business in India. --- S...

Veena Somareddy is pioneering efforts to bring virtual reality to healthcare. She is the co-founder and CTO at NeuroRehabVR, a VR healthcare start-up aimed at building virtual/augmented reality training exercises for patients with neurological disorders.   Today, Roshan talks to Veena about how virtual reality can be used for therapy and her journey to inspire women in tech. --- Send in a voice me...

While working with Google India after college, Vargab would write to the exec team at Shopify to express his admiration for the company, Soon later, he went on to become Shopify's first Indian hire. From 2010 to 2014, Vargab has helped hundreds of small and medium scale businesses take their business online and guided them in the digital space.  Join Roshan in conversation with Vargab as we unrave...

Ganesh and Utkarsh had earlier started MomoE, a fintech startup, which was acquired by Shopclues in 2016. In 2018, the duo started a D2C brand - Flatheads -  poised to revolutionize the footwear industry in India. In this episode of The Startup Operator, Roshan talks to Ganesh & Utkarsh on how they are bringing Flatheads to the masses, their learnings from a successful exit, and building a D2C bra...

We are back with another great interview with none other than Pradeep Soundararajan of Moolya Testing. An author, evangelist, and founder, Pradeep brings the X-factor to software and quality testing.   Today, Roshan talks to Pradeep about his journey as a testing guru over the last 2 decades. Amazing insights for every programmer and tester out there, in this episode of The Startup Operator Podcas...

Abhishek leads strategic initiatives at India's India's largest Co-Living platform - Zolo Stays. He was a full-time trader with Deutsche Bank for 5+ years before transitioning to become a startup operator.  In this episode of The Startup Operator, Roshan talks to Abhishek regarding this transition and his perspectives on executing at hyper-growth startups. --- Send in a voice message: https://anch...

In this episode, Roshan invites Thiyagarajan Maruthavanan, or Rajan, to The Startup Operator Podcast. Rajan has been an engineer, CEO of an early-stage startup, product manager & head of product & innovation in multiple successful startups.   In 2018,  he co-founded Upekkha to help founders build Value SaaS business. Value SaaS means capital-efficient from the start. These businesses get to the fi...

Santosh is the co-founder & CEO of Explara.com - India’s leading experiences marketplace. An operator turned founder, turned mentor - he founded Explara with a shoe-string budget, and now the company serves millions of customers around the globe. Currently, he leads customer success & growth for Thrivly.  In this episode of The Startup Operator, we talk to Santosh about his journey from being an o...

Co-founder & CEO of Aim High Consulting, Ravi has led some of the best-known PR campaigns for startups in India, ranging from the likes of Flipkart and Ola, to Blackbuck and Livspace. Seven different industry associations have recognized Aim High Consulting as the ‘Best Communication Consulting Company / PR Agency of the Year’, in just the past five years. In this episode, we talk to him about why...

We had to talk to Aakash after hearing rave reviews from Sidu Ponappa. He joined Gojek in 2016 as Chief Product Officer with the acquisition of C42 Engineering -  a startup he founded in 2010. Aakash oversaw the launch of 18 products in 18 months, each product worth millions of dollars in valuation. Who better to talk to about the key ingredients of building a super-app? --- Send in a voice messag...

One of Asia's leading SaaS startups, Capillary Technologies has rapidly expanded its footprint across the Asia Pacific. Abhijeet has assisted the company in achieving 200% YoY growth and establish Capillary as an emerging market leader in the Omnichannel Customer Engagement & Commerce space.  In this episode of The Startup Operator, we talk to Abhijeet about scaling sales function.  --- Send in a...

Rahul Mathur works as a Startup Lead at Accenture's Fintech Innovation Lab. In this episode of The Startup Operator Podcast, we talk to Rahul about how the insurtech ecosystem is rapidly evolving. At 22, Rahul also hosts his own show called the Asia InsurTech Podcast. Prior to joining Accenture, he had worked with multiple consulting firms such as Willis Towers Watson, Insuranceblocks, and Laka. -...

Sidu Ponnappa spearheads engineering efforts for one of the world's most valuable startup - Gojek. His LinkedIn bio mentions that he is an engineer by training, manager by profession, and a programmer for pleasure.   In this brand new episode of The Startup Operator, we talk to him about his transition from being a founder to an operator, powering Gojek's hyper-growth story, building winning produ...

Chartered Accountant turned entrepreneur, Pradyumna Nag calls himself a growth-focused outsourced CFO helping CxO's achieve their goals in a fast and efficient manner. Prior to starting Prequate, he has worked with the Big-4s, enterprises, and startups alike.   In this episode of The Startup Operator Podcast, we talk to Pradyuma about market entry strategies, new-age business models, fund-raising,...

What makes a winning startup?  Having been a founder before becoming a venture capitalist, Anand Datta, Vice President of Nexus Venture Partners, shares his thoughts and insights on what makes a startup successful. Tune in to this episode of the startup operator as we understand more about the current startup ecosystem.--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startup-operator/message

What is it like to be on the other side of the table while raising funds?  We spoke with Dhruv Ranjan and Ajay Anand of Anicut Capital to understand how angel investors decide which companies to invest in. Ajay and Dhruv were earlier a part of the Indian Angel Network and were managing portfolios across the board. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startup-operator/message

Varun co-founded Eccentric Engine - a creative tech company, in 2012. Eccentric Engine currently partners with leading Automotive OEMs and their Dealers, across the world. In this episode, we get some amazing insights from Varun about EE's journey from an agency building VR experiences for OEMs to pivoting to a product company.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startup-operator/messa...

Jayadevan PK is an evangelist at Freshworks for startups. He has worked in the media for over 10 years now and has also started his media house - FactorDaily. Jayadevan has witnessed the startup ecosystem from multiple lenses having transitioned from being a journalist to a founder and finally to an Operator. In this episode, we will be talking to him about media, story-telling, and startups. ---...

How do you build a new market category?  In this episode, we will be taking with Narayan Subramaniam & Niraj Ram, co-founders of Ultraviolette Automotive. Narayan & Niraj are carving out a new market for electric mobility in India by translating engineering principles to build what customers desire - a vehicle that is desirable that also comes with a sense of pride.  --- Send in a voice message: h...

Ravdeep leads the Product Function for Berlin-based startup, HelloFresh. Prior to joining HelloFresh, he has been part of multiple leading consumer-tech brands such as Cleartrip, Myntra, Freecharge, and Bookmyshow. In this episode, we spoke to Ravdeep about how consumer internet & product space is evolving, what are the trends in which consumers adopt new products, and much more. --- Send in a voi...

Over the weekend, we hosted Hari TN. - Head of Human Resources at Bigbasket. Hari has been a part of the management team at multiple startups and has helped shape four successful exits in different industries.  In this episode, Hari talks about his approach to building a winning team, scaling people in high-growth startups, and much more. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startup-oper...

Driving growth for mid-sized businesses via GTM and integrated marketing strategies, Devdutt, or Dev, heads enterprise marketing for cloud communication startup - Exotel. The unique thing about him is that he has both demand gen and branding skills in equal measure.  In this episode, we spoke to him about his tenure at Talisma & then transitioning to Exotel, optimizing marketing campaigns for ente...