Founder Thesis

Fireflies.ai is an AI powered app that is transforming meetings across the globe and is on a mission to derive actionable intelligence out of conversations.

It was 2016, Krish had got admission for a masters program at Cambridge University after completing a stint as a product manager at the tech giant Microsoft. In the few free months he had before he was to join the course, he created some products as fun experiments with his cofounder, and those few months ended up becoming the start of the journey to build Fireflies.

He realised that there was a lot of value in conversations, and ended up spending the next 8 years in building a product to truly help companies capture that value.

In this episode Krish talks about

• How to find Product Market Fit
• How to make Product Led Growth work for your business
• How to using pricing as a strategic lever for growth

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Explore a new way of building startups- unlike traditional methods, Venture Studios doesn't wait for founders to pitch ideas. Instead, they have a clear vision and find founders to bring it to life. Pankaj Jethwani offers valuable insights into this strategy. Leading India's pioneering Venture Studio and spearheading a health-tech startup named W Health Ventures, he possesses extensive expertise in the domain.

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Read more about 2070 Health and W Health Ventures:-

1.We build ventures in spaces with large unmet needs: 2070 Health

2. Healthcare startups must build trust through technology that keeps patients’ health at their fingertips: Namit Chugh, W Health Ventures

3.Pankaj Jethwani On W Health Ventures’ India Investment Playbook

4.W Health Ventures hosted an industry discussion on: Why time to scale healthcare in India is now

5.Ethical considerations in healthcare integration: Patient needs, consent, and safety – Dr Pankaj Jethwani, W Health Ventures

6. Healthtech start-ups are using digital touchpoints to enhance customer experience, complete continuum of care

Maneet Gohil, started Lal10 as a side hustle while in college and after a roller coaster journey of multiple pivots, scaled it to a ₹200cr ARR business.

Lal10 is an asset light manufacturer. Think of it as an Oyo Rooms model for Indian craft manufacturing. They build the market connection and generate demand, and in the back end, digitize small scale factories to manufacture, thereby helping Indian handcrafted textile suppliers to make their inventory available on global platforms.

He talks about:

• How to scale a side-hustle successfully
• How the ‘Jugaad’ culture works in the Indian creative manufacturing sector and how to use it to make a profitable ‘dhanda’
• How to sell in dollars and spend in rupees

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Delve into the evolution of cybersecurity in this episode- with firsthand experience, Kiran sheds light on the ever-changing landscape of cyber threats and recounts the journey of BluSapphire, a full-stack threat detection and response platform for enterprises. Tune in to gain insights into the frontline of defence against digital adversaries.

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Read more about BluSapphire:-

1.Cybersecurity platform BluSapphire in expansion mode, unveils new office in Hyderabad

2.Cybersecurity platform Blusapphire raises $9.2m funding in series A round

Discover the secrets powering India's D2C boom with Kannan Sitaram, the mastermind behind Fireside Ventures. With a track record of backing powerhouse brands like Mamaearth and Boat, Kannan draws from his consumer goods expertise to guide D2C founders towards success. Dive into his playbook for achieving the elusive 500 crores revenue milestone in the D2C landscape.

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Read more about Fireside Ventures:-

1.Fireside Ventures aims to birth Indian mega-brands

2.Fireside’s Kannan Sitaram on gaming bets, fund status, D2C trends and more

3.India’s high-income households fuel new, unique brands: Q&A with VS Kannan Sitaram, Fireside Ventures

Shankar Prasad, CEO and founder of Plum Goodness - India’s leading home-grown clean-beauty, vegan brand Plum talks about

1. The frugality mindset that every founder must have
2. When to raise funds and how to use them
3. How to scale while remaining true to your basic brand ethos.

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Read More:

1. One has to listen to the consumers: Shankar Prasad, Plum Goodness

2.  I am yet to come across a dressing shelf which does not have 5 or 6 brands: Shankar Prasad, Plum Goodness

3. Plum Goodness' Shankar Prasad's views on quick commerce beauty market and trends in the category

Discover Roshini Sanah Jaiswal's journey from starting Bangalore’s very first premium bar and night club to leading the India franchise of the global Hard Rock Cafe. Learn lessons in leadership and resilience as she recounts navigating countless challenges to turnaround one of India’s oldest liquor companies. Now, she's building Swanrose, a global D2C brand in the beauty and wellness space, her most ambitious project yet.

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Read more about Swanrose:-

1.From launching a preventive healthcare vertical to making a loss-making liquor company profitable amid the pandemic: the story of Roshini Sanah Jaiswal

2.The beauty business uses the most petrochemicals linked to numerous health problems: Roshini Sanah Jaiswal

3.Justhuman launches in India & the USA ushering in a new generation of clean beauty products, powered by Neurocosmetics

4.This Lady is Giving Her Male Counterparts a Run for Their Money

5. Swanrose eyes disruption in hygiene and personal care space

Arjun Nair, co-founded Great Learning, an ed-tech company by bootstrapping it and took it to a $600m acquisition by Byju’s. He speaks to Akshay Datt about:

1. Creating effective cohort based courses (using ‘flip classrooms’!)
2. Bootstrapping with a maniacal focus on profitability
3. Why they sold to Byju’s and the way forward

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Rohan Shravan’s journey is a testament to the never-say-die spirit of the Indian founder. He created the world's first Android tablet, Notion. And even though his dream of building a hardware devices company from India did not work out, he's now pioneering Tresa Motors, set to launch India's finest EV truck. Hear about his journey and his determination to make a difference on a big scale.

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Read more about Tresa Motors:-

1.Tresa Motors' axial flux motor, Lidar-enabled driver assistance aim at new standards for electric trucks in India

2.Tresa Motors unveils India's first electric truck for the global market: See Pics

3.Tresa Motors launches its first EV

Lokesh Daga built up what could arguably be called as the next generation of an Indian family run business. Nasher Miles makes cool and useful trolley bags for travelers who care both about looks and convenience. He shares D2C success hacks, the advantages of offline vs online, and the path to becoming a 1000 cr business.

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Read more about Nasher Miles:-

1.How Nasher Miles is Redefining Travel with Quality and Style

2.How luggage brands can drive engagement and sales through influencer marketing

3.Nasher Miles: Around the World on just eight wheels!

Shailesh Vickram Singh is an entrepreneur who believes that the current generation of global internet start-ups have reached their peak. His thesis is that the next generation of tech giants will be focussed on sustainability and tackling climate change.

He founded Climate Angels, a fund that focuses on investing in start-ups that are building a sustainable future through Innovation & Investment. Learn about what the future of climate-tech looks like from the lens of a seasoned investor.

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From college fest vendor to India's kitchen automation giant- Eshwar' tale embodies grit, hustle, and relentless optimism. He crafted Mukunda Foods from zero capital to Zomato-backed success. Learn how he revolutionised kitchen processes for leading restaurant chains.

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Read more about Mukunda Foods :-

1.Interview: Mukunda Foods CEO Eshwar K Vikas On Driving Innovation In Commercial Kitchen Technology

2.How Mukunda Foods' kitchen robots dish out dosas, noodles and more

3.‘Kitchen robotics will revolutionise food & beverages industry’

4.How Mukunda Foods is helping restaurants function smoothly in the current times

5.What transformation does the food-tech industry is looking at in 2023?

Wigzo is an automated customer data platform for D2C brands in which Shiprocket has acquired a majority stake. It has grown from an  automated personalized email marketing tool to a  platform that helps brands to understand massive customer data and use it intelligently.

What you can learn from this episode:

• The evolution of Mar-tech, from email automation to Customer Data Platform
• The journey of finding the right problem to solve
• Raising more funds vs getting acquired

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From personal skin allergy woes to pioneering India's first Ayurvedic start-up securing seed funding from industry leaders, The Ayurveda Company is bridging ancient wisdom with contemporary health to provide Ayurveda as a lifestyle choice. Param talks about the journey of discovering product- market fit and taking the brand from zero to one, and then from one to hundred.

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Read more about The Ayurveda Company:-

1.How The Ayurveda Co is bringing high quality, affordable ayurvedic solutions to the masses

2.Rapid fire with param bhargava, co-founder of the ayurveda company

3.How The Ayurveda Co carving a distinct path in the Ayurveda wellness landscape

4.Learning, wisdom and experience: How an ayurveda startup from India is winning on the global front

What began as a quest for efficiency is now a profitable solution trusted by Fortune 500 companies worldwide- Ganesh Shankar's journey from product manager to building Responsive is riveting. Responsive simplifies stakeholder communication, fostering trust, and strengthening brands for lasting success. Gain insights on B2B product development, sales strategies, and agile organizational building in this episode.

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Read more about Responsive:-

1.Responsive Extends Market-Leading AI Capabilities with Its Strategic Response Management Platform at Responsive Summit23.

2.RFPIO Rebrands Company to Responsive, Emerges as Breakout Category Leader in Strategic Response Management

Balance Hero is one of India’s largest lending apps for the underbanked. They are among the top market leaders in the small ticket loan providers.

And the most amazing thing about Balance Hero is that the founder (Charlie Lee) is a Korean who came to India to sell VAS services to telecom companies, and never left.

If you want to hear about the evolution of tech businesses and how to adapt to changing external circumstances, then this episode with @Charlie Lee of @BalanceHero is a must-listen.

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Read more about Balance Hero

Meet the entrepreneur from Gangnam whose True Balance …

Balance Hero banks on India's 1.3B with fintech

Balancehero India appoints ex-Hero FinCorp exec Jayesh Jain as Group CFO

Discover the incredible journey of an engineer turned healthcare innovator- Rohan Verma's entrepreneurial drive led to the creation of Breathe Well-being, a groundbreaking diabetes reversal platform. He talks about his roller coaster journey of building a bootstrapped health-tech business, facing multiple near death circumstances despite getting into the YC program, and eventually sticking through it to reach where they are today.

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Read more about Breathe Well-being:-

1.Healthtech Startup Breathe Well-being Secures $6 Mn+ To Help People Reverse Diabetes

Unlike its counterparts in the health-tech realm, Dozee doesn't just stop at powerful software. Equipped with a novel physical product, Dozee is a special technology that uses smart AI to watch over patient’s vital stats 24/7 without any physical contact. In this episode, Mudeet talks about cracking data collection in a data dark space, innovating using AI, perfecting the product, raising capital and future plans.

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Read more about Dozee:-

1.’Made-in-India Technology Dozee to Elevate Patient Safety Standards with RPM & EWS

2.Dozee bets on India's growing home healthcare market with new solution

3.How Dozee harnesses the power of AI for continuous patient monitoring and early warning system. 

As one of the oldest early stage startup investors, Mumbai Angels has funded more than 200 startups till date. In this episode, co-founder and CEO Nandini Mansinghka dives deep into the nuances of fund raising from the perspective of investors, thus helping startup founders to be well-prepared to pitch to investors. She talks about the legacy of Mumbai Angels and how it has evolved from an informal network to being a part of a larger corporate group now. She also shares learnings from her own journey as a founder of a media-tech startup.

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Read more about Mumbai Angels:-

1.Mumbai Angels CEO Nandini Mansinghka On What Matters Amid the Funding Crunch

2.Mumbai Angels aims to double start-up investments this fiscal

3.Investment platform Mumbai Angels Network steps up game with two new funds

4. 360 ONE acquires controlling stake in Mumbai Angels

In a country obsessed with beauty, hair and skin, Traya is a result when a wife decides to ensure that the husband needs to focus on his health. Founder duo Altaf and Saloni created an innovative product to prevent hairfall while focusing on technology for holistic healthy habits. They spill the beans on building Traya, using cohort marketing to innovate, navigating investor relations, fundraising tactics, and the art of cultivating a winning culture in a startup.

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Read more about Traya:-

1.Meet husband, wife who built healthcare company after facing personal health issues

2.Changing The Conversation Around Hair Loss: Saloni Anand Talks About Building Her Brand Traya

3.How Traya is Transforming Hair Health with a Holistic Approach

4.‘My Husband’s Hairfall Inspired These Hair Solutions’: Engineer’s Biz Finds 2.5 Lakh Customers

5.The Business Of Reversing Hair Loss; How Traya Is Fitting Into The Wellness Landscape