In this episode, we have Ashish Jain, Partner at WaterBridge Ventures, in conversation with Sankalp Jain, Mohit Mittal and Nitin Agrawal, Founding team at Paavan.

As young IIT Delhi graduates, the team at Paavan is leaning upon 1000 years of well-researched Indian knowledge systems to extract valuable lessons. The company's vision is to solve our day-to-day problems using these lessons and help us lead better lives.

Key Segments:

(1:22): From college friends to co-founders

(4:36): Working with friends

(6:23): Why this space?

(10:33): Ancient text and spirituality

(14:03): Building a business around this space 

(19:05): Unbundling of Youtube

(21:01): The target audience

(26:34): Long-term roadmap

(29:42): Defining scale

(32:07): Getting expert advice on the platform

(34:38): The marketing efforts

(38:16): Building the product

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 Ashish Jain, Partner at WaterBridge Ventures, in conversation with Ankit Bagaria, Co-Founder, Loopworm. Loopworm specializes in extracting proteins from insects. Yes, you heard it right, protein from insects. The team wants to solve a sustainable, traceable, and scalable supply of protein alternatives. The team wants to solve a sustainable, traceable, and scalable supply of protein alternatives. Let's hear from Ankit on what it takes build, when both the space and venture is at an early nascent stage.

Key Segments:

(2:20): Ankit and Abhi as a team

(7:15): Research behind the business

(12:54): Raising money for an unconventional business

(18:55): Understanding the alternate protein space

(23:40): Environmental benefits associated with insect protein 

(29:50): Challenges associated with being category creator

(43:50): Defining scale

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 Ashish Jain in conversation with Mukund and Vineet, co-founders of Muvin. Muvin has identified a lack of financial awareness and access to financial products amongst Indian teens and young adults as a key problem statement. The Muvin team is building a digital first neo bank to fill this white space and provide their TG a full stack financial solution.

We dive deep into their journey and the series of experiences and events that led to him building Muvin.

Key Segments:

(1:20):  Early days at Mindtree

(4:37): Second-time founders

(8:54): Origin of the name 'muvin'

(12:31): The problem statement and the TG 

(18:24): Late entrant in the neo-banking space

(22:40): Building a full-stack solution 

(28:07): Rebranding exercise

(34:09): Getting Hardik Pandya on board

(37:04): Vision 2030

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 Gautam Sinha, Founder & CEO  of CBREX talking to Anjali Sosale Partner at WaterBridge Ventures. CBREX is a HR-Tech company that enables enterprises to source and deploy talent at scale anywhere in the world. CBREX is set up as a B2B platform with over 4,000 recruiting agencies using the platform to view job openings and upload CV’s.  The CBREX platform is well positioned to address these pain points and make the hiring process for global enterprise companies simple, on-demand and cost-effective.

We dive deep into Gautam’s journey and the series of experiences and events that led to him building CBREX.

Key Segments:

(1:59): Early days and decision to join XLRI

(3:52): Recruitment at Wipro

(8:07): The Aha moment to start TVA

(11:08): Getting the first customer

(11:57): Scaling up the business at TVA 

(14:34): Meeting Sanjeev and his role

(16:00): Allegis's acquisition of TVA 

(19:51): The ideation of CBREX

(22:14): Global recruitment landscape

(25:13): Sourcing talent globally

(27:59): Stickiness of the suppliers

(30:12): Job boards and recruitment agencies

(33:44): Pivot to American markets

(36:37): Driving product innovation 

(38:28): The team at CBREX

(40:55): Raising money for the business

(43:11): Why the time is right for CBREX? 

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.

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.

Anjali Sosale of Waterbridge Ventures chats with Tejas Jain of BimaKavach. BimaKavach is disrupting the Indian general insurance industry with an MGA-like model, which would enable them to customize and co-create policies with general insurers. BimaKavach can underwrite, price and distribute insurance exclusively to small Indian businesses. 

We dive deep into Tejas’s journey and the series of experiences and events that led to him building BimaKavach.

Key Segments:

(1:50): Early childhood and breakfast and dinner table board meets

(3:28): Learnings from father and grandfather

(5:43): Decision to start an e-commerce startup

(7:50): Importance of founder market fit

(9:09): Journey from Indore to Bangalore 

(11:03): Decision to go back to insurance

(13:27): Selling insurance to small businesses

(18:40): Initial days building BimaKavach

(25:16): New risks that threaten businesses today

(31:49): Regulatory landscape around general insurance

(35:50): Underwriting general insurance

(45:48): Rising demand from the MSME sector beyond metro cities

(50:05): The hardest thing to crack in the insurance business

(52:42): Future of general insurance 

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.

Anjali Sosale of Waterbridge Ventures chats with Rahul Boggaram 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 Rahul and Nikhils's journeys and the series of experiences and events that led to them to building Yellow Metal.

(1:09) Upbringing and early years

(3:14) Why gold loans for rural india?

(5:04) Rahul's journey after leaving home at 16

(7:10) 0 to 1 at Flipkart, Treebo, Groww and Myntra

(9:51) How has consumer app design changed in the last 10 years?

(11:36) UPI as the game-changer for rural India

(12:41) How did Rahul and Nikhil's paths converge during the pandemic in 2020?

(15:41) Early challenges in transitioning from a corporate job to a startup?

(17:15) The role of empathy in the goal loan business

(18:44) The story behind the name "Yellow Metal"

(20:22) Yellow Metal's customer service ethos since day zero

(22:43) Company culture at Yellow Metal

(24:37) How to hire people when solving for rural India?

(26:07) Parents' view on starting up

(27:43) A day in the life of an early-stage startup founder

(28:32) Transparency in gold loans pricing

(30:46) Building a tech platform for rural India

(33:12) 2022 and beyond

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.

Anjali Sosale of Waterbridge Ventures chats with Jaydip Biniwale and Abhishek Doshi of Downtown Club. Downtown Club is an e-commerce platform for discovery of D2C brands. The Downtown app enables users to browse new brands and products every day through a personalized virtual shopping experience.


They dive deep into Abhishek and Jaydip's journeys and the series of experiences and events that led to them to building Downtown Club.
 

Sections:

(1:11) Born and raised   

(5:58) Rejecting IIT and dropping out of Purdue

(8:33) The first startup bug

(12:29) The CEPT experience and finding each other

(20:13) Flirting with entrepreneurship

(23:11) The decision to finally start up

(28:11) Pandemics, plans and pivots

(31:39) 3 steps to epiphany

(35:04) The story behind the name "Downtown"

(37:02) From idea to initialization - Downtown’s early days

(40:05) Building Downtown’s MVP

(48:29) Conscious culture building

(50:53) Abhishek’s & Jaydip’s sleepless nights

(52:44) A day at Downtown

(54:52) Downtown - then vs now

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.

Nilesh Balakrishnan of Waterbridge Ventures chats with Amit Shekhar, Janishar Ali and Mridul Sahu - the founders of CuriousJr. CuriousJr is a mobile-first, vernacular-based coding platform that helps kids learn the fundamentals tenets of coding. Powered by strong product innovation, the CuriousJr app democratizes coding for students who might not have access to a desktop by focusing on the mobile phone user interface and using a combination of gamified and experiential learning to make coding fun. They dive deep into their founder journeys and the series of experiences and events that led to them building CuriousJr
 

Sections -

(1:27) - Early years

(5:01) - The IIT Connection(s)

(12:01) - How early struggles moulded the founding team

(16:33) - The journey from civil engineering to coding

(19:20) - MindOrks & building a 2M+ Android developer community

(22:45) - The birth of Curious Jr.

(28:27) - The intersection of mobile tech and vernacular education

(29:36) - Putting together the dream team

(35:37) - Skills vs counter-skills

(37:09) - Story behind the name “CuriousJr”

(38:48) - Entrepreneurship Ups and Downs

(41:15) - The Covid19 push to education

(42:37) - From MindOrks to CuriousJr - building products for children

(46:44) - Culture & learning at CuriousJr

(58:32) - Why is Curious r “That One Idea”?

(1:01:07) - Conviction around the market for learning code

(1:03:06) - Mridul’s experience with OYO

(1:04:58) - Experiential learning via Curious Jr

(1:06:57) - Entrepreneurship isn’t as romantic as it sounds

(1:08:03) - When did you want to be a founder?

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.

Nilesh Balakrishnan of Waterbridge Ventures chats with Manish Shara and Yash Desai - the founders of OneCode. OneCode is a hyperlocal network of direct sellers for digital-first brands. Through their unique phygital approach, OneCode is building a demand funnel for brands by acting as a bridge for end-consumers that need physical touch points and in-person interactions before buying a product or service.

They dive deep into Manish's and Yash's journeys; the series of experiences and events that led to them to building OneCode.

Sections -

Backgrounds: (1:15)

Dineout : Journey (8:59)

OneCode : The Genesis (11:20)

Leaving DineOut (14:15)

Family Reactions (16:06)

Raging Pandemic (20:48)

Offline distribution in an online world (29:46)

Bharat Market Drivers (31:50)

Tech Levers at OneCode (34:38)

Culture at OneCode (38:33)

Running India's Largest sales team (42:38)

A day in the life at OneCode (46:21)

OneCode : The name (49:20)

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.

Anjali Sosale of Waterbridge Ventures chats with Gunjan Kejriwal and Utsav Tiwary of BitClass. BitClass is India’s largest platform for live-learning for the passionate and curious. With over 1 million learners on the platform, they were recently crowned App of the Year by Google Play.

They dive deep into Gunjan’s and Utsav's journeys; the series of experiences and events that led to them to building BitClass.

Where Gunjan and Utsav grew up - (1:10)

How Gunjan & Utsav met - (6:05)

Third time lucky - (7:34)

While everyone was partying, we were starting up - (11:38)

Biggest challenges in the early days - (17:22)

Unique customer insights - (21:07)

Building to create impact - (23:59)

A Hogwarts culture - (27:24)

BitClass, today - (31:30)

Early influences - (33:52)

Breaking out of the mould - (35:45)

War and Marriage: co-founder relationships - (40:31)

Sneak peak into 2022 - (42:16)

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.