In this episode, we have Anjali Sosale, Partner at WaterBridge Ventures, chatting with Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, co-founder of Wakefit. 

Chaitanya graduated from the National Institute of Engineering, Mysore in 2002 and did his MBA from ISB Hyderabad in 2005. Wakefit is an innovation-driven sleep and home solutions company, aiming to revolutionize the quality of sleep among Indians. After building a successful line of sleep products, Wakefit has launched a line of home products, ergonomically designed for the modern Indian household. Till date, Wakefit has serviced over 800K customers, sold over 1800K products and spent 1500+ hours in R&D. 

We dive into Chaitanya's childhood, his tryst with failures in two startups, how his indomitable spirit to be an entrepreneur got him to give Wakefit a shot, his team and customer love that kept him going despite rejections from the initial 42 investors, how Ankit and his middle-class upbringing made the company focussed on building from first principles and his learnings from managing the diverse Wakefit board. 

Key Moments during this podcast - 

(00:00): Introduction of Chaitanya, co-founder of Wakefit 
(00:18): CR’s nomadic childhood across 16 schools 
(2:15): Finding the courage to start again after two failed startups 
(06:55): Customer love convincing CR to go all-in on Wakefit 
(11:03): Building Wakefit from first principles - sustainability, profitability and consumer focus 
(15:02): Relationship with Ankit, CR's co-founder 
(17:04): Finally convincing the 43rd investor on an “irrational” idea 
(20:10): Wakefit is a consumer-led product company 
(24:08): Why go offline, when online can give a non-linear scale? 
(26:59): Kumbhakaran’s LinkedIn, sleep internships and other marketing campaigns 
(30:24): Character traits that fit into the Wakefit hood 
(34:13): To listen, or not to listen, that is the question 
(36:27): Founder-to-founder ties form strong support systems 
(40:47): The real board meeting happens before the board meeting 
(43:23): What's in store for Wakefit in 2024?

Relevant Links: 

WaterBridge Ventures: https://www.waterbridge.vc/ 
Wakefit: https://www.wakefit.co/ 

Linkedin Profiles: 

Chaitanya Ramalingegowda: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chaitanyar/ 
Anjali Sosale: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pinkamma/ 
WaterBridge Ventures: www.linkedin.com/company/waterbridgeventures 

You can also listen to this podcast on 
YouTube: https://youtu.be/Q8_szqrtilk
Apple Podcast: 

Disclaimer: The information in this podcast (“Content”) is solely for educational and information purposes. The content does not reflect the views or opinions of WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members. The content is not intended to be legal or other expert advice or services and should not be used in place of consultation with appropriate professionals. The content shall not be reproduced, distributed, shared, or relied upon in any manner whatsoever, in whole or part, without prior written permission of WaterBridge Ventures. In no event shall WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members be liable for any liability, loss, injury or risk which is incurred or suffered as a direct or indirect result of the use of the contents.

In this episode, we have Anjali Sosale, Partner at WaterBridge, chatting with Vimal Sharma, founder of SMOOR. 

SMOOR opens up a world of True Couverture Chocolates made with authentic and high-quality ingredients concocted by master chocolatiers from around the world. Vimal’s passion for crafting SMOOR’s premium range of products stems from his extensive travels across the globe and exposure to best-in-class international products & experiences. Today SMOOR has world-class chocolate lounges and stores across Bengaluru, Mumbai and Gurgaon, and the brand is available in 50-plus cities in India.

We dive deep into Vimal's childhood in Fiji Australia and Tasmania, his journey building and scaling SMOOR as an EBO-led premium chocolate brand adapted to suit India, his advice to founders, his support system and his plans for a SMOOR 2.0 in 2024.

Key Moments -

(2:08): Childhood and early days of Vimal in Fiji, Australia and Tasmania
(3:45): How building a chocolate brand in India became That One Idea
(6:09): Why Vimal chose to position SMOOR as a premium chocolate brand
(8:11): Tailwinds for Smoor in the initial days
(10:05): Assembling the early team, at a time when India lacked skilled chocolate artisans
(14:24): Phenomenal growth story since 2013
(16:50): How offline first, EBO-led business model elevated Smoor to a luxury brand
(19:10): Smoor’s resilience in the face of challenges posed by Covid 
(24:07): Footprint of Smoor, two years after the pandemic
(25:53): How consumption patterns have evolved over the years
(28:21): Adapting the chocolate business to suit India
(32:16): Vimal’s robust support system
(35:37): Vimal on the dream team that built SMOOR
(37:17): Vimal’s advice to founders
(43:33): SMOOR 2.0 in the works for 2024

Disclaimer: The information in this podcast (“Content”) is solely for educational and information purposes. The content does not reflect the views or opinions of WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members. The content is not intended to be legal or other expert advice or services and should not be used in place of consultation with appropriate professionals. The content shall not be reproduced, distributed, shared, or relied upon in any manner whatsoever, in whole or part, without prior written permission of WaterBridge Ventures. In no event shall WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members be liable for any liability, loss, injury or risk which is incurred or suffered as a direct or indirect result of the use of the contents.

In this episode, we have Anjali Sosale, Partner at WaterBridge, chatting with Akshay Singhal, founder and CEO of Log9 Materials.

Log9, founded in 2015, is India's leading battery technology company, the only one to have ground-up developed Lithium-ion cell (both LFP and LTO) technologies for gigafactory production. Log9 is pioneering the development of specialised battery technology from cell to pack level with an advanced digital stack for applications in the tropical belt and is poised to be a battery leader across India, South East Asia, Middle East, Africa and LatAm. Log9 has India’s largest battery R&D team of 125+ members, and has a 250 Mega-Watt-hour Battery pack production capacity, which is equivalent to batteries for 40,000 3-wheelers.

Akshay is a 2019 Forbes "30 Under 30 Asia" Awardee - with a mission to solve the pressing global issue of climate change with the power of nanotechnology and innovation. He has spearheaded Log9 to make it a significant player in the EV battery space. 

Akshay graduated with honors in Materials Engineering from IIT Roorkee in 2015 and completed his Ph.D. in Nanotechnology at IIT Roorkee in 2021. He has research experience from University of Alberta, Canada and has published more than 6 scientific articles and filed 50+ patent applications. As an active supporter of progressive action on Climate Change, Akshay has begun angel investing in startups that positively impact the planet, through Climate9ers Capital.  Incidentally, he is also a seed investor in Loopworm - a WaterBridge Ventures portfolio company.

Disclaimer: The information in this podcast (“Content”) is solely for educational and information purposes. The content does not reflect the views or opinions of WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members. The content is not intended to be legal or other expert advice or services and should not be used in place of consultation with appropriate professionals. The content shall not be reproduced, distributed, shared, or relied upon in any manner whatsoever, in whole or part, without prior written permission of WaterBridge Ventures. In no event shall WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members be liable for any liability, loss, injury or risk which is incurred or suffered as a direct or indirect result of the use of the contents.

In this episode, we have Anjali Sosale, Partner at WaterBridge Ventures, chatting with Rajiv Kumaar, CEO of Adster, and Ketan Chandak, CPO of Adster.

Adster focuses on helping mobile app & web publishers monetize better through hyperscaling their revenue from Ads. With over 2 decades of experience in building Ad Tech platforms, the Adster founding team has a unique understanding of challenges faced by publishers.

Rajiv has previously worked in product management roles across Vizury, Truecaller, DailyHunt, and Melorra, and had served as the product and tech head for ads at Truecaller. Ketan gained extensive experience across data engineering during his stint at Truecaller, in addition to software and ML experience at Twitter in the Search and Home Timeline engineering teams.

We dive deep into Rajiv's journey that led him to meet his co-founders Ketan, Girish and Ranga, his learnings from Vizury, the work that he and Ketan did at Truecaller, Ketan's days at Twitter, the problem statement of Adster, and their grand plans for 2024.

Key moments in this episode:

(2:05): Childhood days and inspirations of Rajiv and Ketan
(5:21): Pioneering the practice of re-targeting ads, at Vizury
(7:11): Ketan’s learnings about scalable, productised Ads business at Truecaller
(9:17): How Rajiv pulled together the founding team of Adster
(11:04): Adster in a tweet
(16:10): Adster building solutions for programmatic as well as direct ads
(19:40): Top problem statements faced by publishers today
(23:02): What would publishers need today to set up a direct ads business
(25:52): Typical revenue split between programmatic and direct ads
(28:49): Adster products that are helping publishers and advertisers
(31:36): How Adster turbocharges revenue for advertisers and publishers
(35:50): Adster ICP
(41:33): Sneak peek into the Adster product pipeline
(43:16): Building the Adster org culture
(46:12): Goals for 2024

Disclaimer: The information in this podcast (“Content”) is solely for educational and information purposes. The content does not reflect the views or opinions of WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members. The content is not intended to be legal or other expert advice or services and should not be used in place of consultation with appropriate professionals. The content shall not be reproduced, distributed, shared, or relied upon in any manner whatsoever, in whole or part, without prior written permission of WaterBridge Ventures. In no event shall WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members be liable for any liability, loss, injury or risk which is incurred or suffered as a direct or indirect result of the use of the contents.

In this episode we have Anjali Sosale, Partner at WaterBridge chatting with Varun Sadana, co-founder of Supertails. Supertails.com’s full-stack platform offers pet supplies, online vet consultations, and online behavioural training. Varun, who is a pet parent himself, has always felt that the industry has not paid enough attention to the pet parenting journey and that there is a lack of an organised and easily accessible ecosystem for pet care needs. With Supertails.com, Varun is building a holistic pet care platform for India's growing pet care industry.

We dive deep into Varun's childhood, his learnings from Licious, Snapdeal and Unilever, his relationship with his co-founders, the journey to PMF at Supertails and the culture of friendship that he has built at Supertails.

(1:53): Childhood, early days and student life of Varun 

(6:17): Varun's first tryst at starting up 

(13:04): Varun's relationship with his co-founders Vineet and Aman 

(16:40): How Nifty, Varun's cat, made Varun think about Supertails as That One Idea 

(18:36): The problem statement of Supertails 

(25:13): Co-founder relationships are akin to professional Hammams 

(29:44): Raising capital in 2021 

(31:28): What changed from the Seed round to the Series A round? 

(35:38): Continuous experimentation in search of PMF at Supertails 

(39:48): Retention is the only north-star metric 

(41:09): Expectations from the board and investors 

(46:14): The culture of friendship and camaraderie at Supertails 

(51:07): What does it take to be a pet parent? 

(57:06): Varun's plans for 2024

Disclaimer: The information in this podcast (“Content”) is solely for educational and information purposes. The content does not reflect the views or opinions of WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members. The content is not intended to be legal or other expert advice or services and should not be used in place of consultation with appropriate professionals. The content shall not be reproduced, distributed, shared, or relied upon in any manner whatsoever, in whole or part, without prior written permission of WaterBridge Ventures. In no event shall WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members be liable for any liability, loss, injury or risk which is incurred or suffered as a direct or indirect result of the use of the contents.

In this episode of Founder Foreward, we have Anjali Sosale, Partner at WaterBridge Ventures, in conversation with Shruti Kapoor, Founder and CEO of Wingman. Having been a VC for most of her career, Shruti took the plunge into the arena from the sidelines when she decided to found Wingman. Her passion and enthusiasm resonated strongly with Murali and Srikar as they quit their fancy jobs in Silicon Valley and moved halfway across the world to align forces. Hearing Shruti's journey and experiences was truly a delight. She speaks about her unconventional journey of gathering a founding team and inculcating a high-trust and candid culture at Wingman. Being first-time founders, she speaks about the numerous learnings, trials, and tribulations they encountered on their path. Although their impressive backgrounds led them to procure funding even prior to incorporating their company, the path to product perfection was arduous, convoluted and long-winding. Shruti's learnings from various stakeholders such as VC's and even her own product Wingman are truly enriching. Shruti's path from multiple product iterations to achieving PMF to the point of less than 24 hour sales cycles is a testament to her and team Wingman's resilience and grit. Godspeed to Shruti and team Wingman as they continue to crush it and empower sales reps. Thank you for sharing your journey so candidly as we are in the middle of our FastForward seed program. Your insights, learnings and wisdom will enable early-stage founders to make more informed decisions as they power through from one day to day one. 

Disclaimer: The information in this podcast (“Content”) is solely for educational and information purposes. The content does not reflect the views or opinions of WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members. The content is not intended to be legal or other expert advice or services and should not be used in place of consultation with appropriate professionals. The content shall not be reproduced, distributed, shared, or relied upon in any manner whatsoever, in whole or part, without prior written permission of WaterBridge Ventures. In no event shall WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members be liable for any liability, loss, injury or risk which is incurred or suffered as a direct or indirect result of the use of the content.
 

Disclaimer: The information in this podcast (“Content”) is solely for educational and information purposes. The content does not reflect the views or opinions of WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members. The content is not intended to be legal or other expert advice or services and should not be used in place of consultation with appropriate professionals. The content shall not be reproduced, distributed, shared, or relied upon in any manner whatsoever, in whole or part, without prior written permission of WaterBridge Ventures. In no event shall WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members be liable for any liability, loss, injury or risk which is incurred or suffered as a direct or indirect result of the use of the contents.

In this episode of Founder Foreward, we have Anjali Sosale, Partner at WaterBridge Ventures, in conversation with Girish Redekar, Co-Founder of Sprinto As they embarked on a new beginning in the same market, Girish and his classmate cum co-founder Raghuveer consciously decided that this time they wanted to be on the revenue side of the equation for clients v/s the cost side. It was a pleasure speaking with Girish on his journey building out Sprinto. With the pandemic hitting just a few weeks after their seed raise, he speaks about building a remote company ground up and inculcating a culture of transparency and ownership. He elaborates on his unconventional initial approach of being auditor-obsessed as opposed to customer-obsessed given their critical role in the compliance value chain. He speaks about his focus on product and productising user journeys to make them as seamless and low-touch as possible. Being a second-time founder, his experience in entrepreneurship is reflected in his calm and determined demeanour. 

Disclaimer: The information in this podcast (“Content”) is solely for educational and information purposes. The content does not reflect the views or opinions of WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members. The content is not intended to be legal or other expert advice or services and should not be used in place of consultation with appropriate professionals. The content shall not be reproduced, distributed, shared, or relied upon in any manner whatsoever, in whole or part, without prior written permission of WaterBridge Ventures. In no event shall WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members be liable for any liability, loss, injury or risk which is incurred or suffered as a direct or indirect result of the use of the content.

Disclaimer: The information in this podcast (“Content”) is solely for educational and information purposes. The content does not reflect the views or opinions of WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members. The content is not intended to be legal or other expert advice or services and should not be used in place of consultation with appropriate professionals. The content shall not be reproduced, distributed, shared, or relied upon in any manner whatsoever, in whole or part, without prior written permission of WaterBridge Ventures. In no event shall WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members be liable for any liability, loss, injury or risk which is incurred or suffered as a direct or indirect result of the use of the contents.

In this episode of Founder Foreward, we have Anjali Sosale, Partner at WaterBridge Ventures, in conversation with Nisarg Shah, Founder and CEO of Affable.ai. Affable is a data-driven influencer marketing platform. He co-founded the company with Swayam Narain in 2007 as a part of Entrepreneur First Singapore. The platform leverages advanced machine learning and big data analytics to help brands find influencers, manage campaigns and measure campaign performance. The company claims to track more than 3 million influencers across Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok. Last May, it raised $ 2 million from Prime Venture Partners, Decacorn Capital, and SGInnovate, a follow on to the previous $750K in seed funding in 2018. 

Disclaimer: The information in this podcast (“Content”) is solely for educational and information purposes. The content does not reflect the views or opinions of WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members. The content is not intended to be legal or other expert advice or services and should not be used in place of consultation with appropriate professionals. The content shall not be reproduced, distributed, shared, or relied upon in any manner whatsoever, in whole or part, without prior written permission of WaterBridge Ventures. In no event shall WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members be liable for any liability, loss, injury or risk which is incurred or suffered as a direct or indirect result of the use of the content.

Disclaimer: The information in this podcast (“Content”) is solely for educational and information purposes. The content does not reflect the views or opinions of WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members. The content is not intended to be legal or other expert advice or services and should not be used in place of consultation with appropriate professionals. The content shall not be reproduced, distributed, shared, or relied upon in any manner whatsoever, in whole or part, without prior written permission of WaterBridge Ventures. In no event shall WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members be liable for any liability, loss, injury or risk which is incurred or suffered as a direct or indirect result of the use of the contents.

As a part of the fourth edition of Fast Forward, we are thrilled to launch Founder Foreword, a captivating series of conversations that takes you on a remarkable journey through the minds of industry leaders who have transformed their seed-stage ventures into scalable businesses. Founder Foreward offers an exclusive peek into the stories, experiences, and invaluable insights of these trailblazing entrepreneurs. 

In this episode, we have Anjali Sosale, Partner, WaterBridge Ventures, in conversation with Pankaj Vermani, Founder and CEO, Clovia

Clovia is a premier a premier fashion, lingerie and personal care brand in India that successfully exited to the Reliance Group. Beyond Clovia, Pankaj actively advises startups in the internet, mobile and ecommerce spaces and regularly writes for technology blogs on team building, scale and business strategy. His actively practices meditation and is a theatre buff performing in the professional theatre circle.

Key segments within the podcast:

0:50: The story of 5 founders starting a fashionable lingerie brand

4:35: Raising the first round

7:00: First 100 days post funding

9:12: Taking unconventional bets

11:43: Expanding the industry width

13:44: From internet to storefront

16:40: Lessons in Marketing

18:05: Moving beyond seed 

21:27: Building the culture at Clovia

25:50: Work-life balance

28:47:Investor-market fit and his exit to Reliance

31:32: Game-changing decisions

37:55: About WaterBridge Ventures

Disclaimer: The information in this podcast (“Content”) is solely for educational and information purposes. The content does not reflect the views or opinions of WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members. The content is not intended to be legal or other expert advice or services and should not be used in place of consultation with appropriate professionals. The content shall not be reproduced, distributed, shared, or relied upon in any manner whatsoever, in whole or part, without prior written permission of WaterBridge Ventures. In no event shall WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members be liable for any liability, loss, injury or risk which is incurred or suffered as a direct or indirect result of the use of the content.

Disclaimer: The information in this podcast (“Content”) is solely for educational and information purposes. The content does not reflect the views or opinions of WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members. The content is not intended to be legal or other expert advice or services and should not be used in place of consultation with appropriate professionals. The content shall not be reproduced, distributed, shared, or relied upon in any manner whatsoever, in whole or part, without prior written permission of WaterBridge Ventures. In no event shall WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members be liable for any liability, loss, injury or risk which is incurred or suffered as a direct or indirect result of the use of the contents.

In this episode, we have Anjali Sosale, Partner at WaterBridge Ventures, in conversation with Rahul and Nikhil Boggaram of Yellow Metal.

Yellow Metal is an asset-backed credit company that disburses gold loans in less than 30 minutes in the privacy of your home. Focused on rural India, Yellow Metal seeks to provide low-cost loans to small farmers and business owners who are otherwise not part of the formal credit eco-system.

We dive deep into their zero-to-one journey in building Yellow Metal.

Key Segments:

(1:18): The last 15 months building Yellow Metal

(3:19): Trust factor in the rural markets

(4:33): Building for the Bharat markets

(6:50): Understanding the users

(9:26): Leveraging tech to serve the users 

(10:51): Designing the application

(14:30): An omnichannel model of distribution 

(17:34): $4 Million AUM from $500k in funding

(19:11): The gold loan market

(21:42): The Yellow Metal playbook

(27:07): From brothers to co-founders

(29:44): Nikhi's favourite annual report

(30:31): $3 Million round

Disclaimer: The information in this podcast (“Content”) is solely for educational and information purposes. The content does not reflect the views or opinions of WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members. The content is not intended to be legal or other expert advice or services and should not be used in place of consultation with appropriate professionals. The content shall not be reproduced, distributed, shared, or relied upon in any manner whatsoever, in whole or part, without prior written permission of WaterBridge Ventures. In no event shall WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members be liable for any liability, loss, injury or risk which is incurred or suffered as a direct or indirect result of the use of the content.

Disclaimer: The information in this podcast (“Content”) is solely for educational and information purposes. The content does not reflect the views or opinions of WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members. The content is not intended to be legal or other expert advice or services and should not be used in place of consultation with appropriate professionals. The content shall not be reproduced, distributed, shared, or relied upon in any manner whatsoever, in whole or part, without prior written permission of WaterBridge Ventures. In no event shall WaterBridge Ventures and/or any of its members be liable for any liability, loss, injury or risk which is incurred or suffered as a direct or indirect result of the use of the contents.