The Neon Show

Welcome Back Neon Tribe!

This week’s episode is an extraordinarily explosive one as we welcome Mohandas Pai, ex-CFO of Infosys, to the Neon Show!

In this week’s episode, we learn about the “rebellious” man behind India’s largest midday meal programme, Akshaya Patra, and his highly inspiring journey from childhood days to Infosys and way beyond!

How did Jawaharlal Nehru set India back 30 years as a country and why is PM Modi, India’s best prime minister till date?

India vs America! Who do you think is better at Marketing?

Why are Indians incomparable to any other population in the world?!

All these fiery topics and more in this UNFILTERED conversation with one of India’s most proud citizens! Unlike any conversation we’ve ever had on the Neon Show… Tune in NOW!


*Sponsor Shoutout!*

Looking to build a differentiated tech startup with a 10X better solution? Prime is the high conviction, high support investor you need. With its fourth fund of $120M, Prime actively works with star teams to accelerate building great companies. To know more, visit Primevp.in! 

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Welcome back Neon Tribe!   

This week’s episode features one of the most resilient founders we’ve ever met. We welcome Vinay Singhal, co-founder of STAGE, to the Neon Show!  

In this week’s episode, we learn about the tough tenacity of small-town entrepreneurs and the extreme strength they have to pick themselves up after failures. 

Many may know our guest from his emotional segment on Shark Tank but how many of you know his heartbreaking story about WittyFeed, his first company, which got shutdown by Facebook overnight? 

Why is depression such a silent killer in the Indian startup ecosystem? How did Vinay tackle his own battle with it?  

Want to know more about how Vinay and his co-founders created India’s very own NETFLIX?  

Well to find out all this and much more, join us on this rollercoaster ride of a conversation! Trust us when we say this is the most emotional conversation we’ve had yet!

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Welcome back Neon Tribe! 

This is an episode we have been waiting years to make happen and the dream has finally come true! We welcome Vineeta Singh and Kaushik Mukherjee, co-founders of SUGAR on the Neon Show as we delve into the depths of the beauty industry in India.

In this week’s episode, we learn about the electric duo’s combined entrepreneurship journey which began in 2012 with Fab-Bag, a subscription platform that provided deliveries of beauty products.

Ever wondered what it is like to be husband & wife as well as being co-founders of a company? The answer to that question will be found here as Vineeta and Kaushik discuss finding the right balance between their personal and professional lives!

Curious to find out how big of an impact Shark Tank has had on SUGAR’s overall growth? 

Join us to find out about all this and more as we discuss in detail with perhaps the most dynamic duo in India’s entrepreneurship landscape currently!

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Neon Tribe!

Get ready for another gripping episode as we welcome Tarun Mehta, the founder of Ather Energy on the Neon Show! Tune in as we thoroughly delve into the inner workings of the two-wheeler and EV industry in India.

In this week’s episode, we learn about a truly one-of-a-kind backstory which began from deep within IIT Madras’s engineering department! Get ready as you will find out exactly how Tesla inspired Ather and whether Ather would have still reached the same heights it has today, if Tesla never existed.
 

Equipped with an abundance of knowledge on the EV industry, Tarun also shares his understanding of the market dynamics for EVs in India as well as the current state of the Indian scooter market.

Curious as to why a career in software engineering is more rewarding than one in hardware engineering? Well, look no further as Tarun explains in detail why college students would prefer the former over the latter! 

Join us for all this and more as we candidly engage with the genius mind responsible for turning a 20 crore ARR business from five years ago into a colossal 1800 crores as of today!  

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Today I have with me the entrepreneur who I’ve always looked up to. I consider him the Dronacharya of the Indian startup ecosystem.

This man has never shied away from expressing himself freely.

His company was the first tech company in India to go public and inspired a generation of companies to go public like MakeMyTrip, Zomato, and PolicyBazaar.

All entrepreneurs dream of taking their companies public and the very few who reach that milestone remain busy managing that company or end up taking retirement.

But this man never rested. He is responsible for many startups in India that have gone public.

Today I have with me Padma Shri awardee Sanjeev Bikhchandani Sir. 

This episode is about the unconventional choices of Sanjeev Sir and his philosophy of making India great.

I would also like to thank our sponsors Prime Venture Partners for sponsoring the Neon Show.

Hope you enjoy it.

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Today we have with us Jigar Shah, co-founder 82 Degree East, a skin care brand that he started along with Deepika Padukone.

Jigar's journey, from an investment manager at a VC firm to managing investments for Deepika Padukone and finally co-founding a self-care brand with her, is nothing short of captivating.

Jigar shares how the idea of starting 82°E came to life. Despite having Deepika Padukone as a co-founder, Jigar and Deepika veered away from banking solely on star power.

They concentrated on creating a unique skincare brand committed to satisfying real consumer needs. From establishing an R&D center in Bangalore, catering to a global audience, Jigar also talks about how he and Deepika tackled the design and marketing aspects of their brand to differentiate it in a saturated marketplace.

Subscribe to the 100x Entrepreneur podcast today for more inspiring and informative episodes on the entrepreneurial journey!🚀✨

CHAPTERS: -
00:00:00 - Intro
0:02:21 - 0:04:59 - Jigar's Skincare Routine
0:05:00 - 0:07:58 - Life as a Founder
0:07:59 - 0:13:59 - Indian Entrepreneurs Jigar Admires
0:14:00 - 0:15:11 - How Jigar Met Deepika Padukone
0:15:12 - 0:16:33 - Jigar's First Investment Endeavors
0:16:34 - 0:22:09 - The Birth of 82E
0:22:10 - 0:23:49 - Managing Consumer Expectations with a Celebrity Co-founder
0:23:50 - 0:27:37 - Jigar's Business Relationship with Deepika
0:27:38 - 0:30:43 - Mistakes to Avoid as a Founder
0:30:44 - 0:33:50 - Rapid Fire Questions
0:33:51 - 0:37:41 - Unique D2C Processes at 82E
0:37:42 - End - Unexpected Challenges in the Business Journey 

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In today’s episode of the 100x Entrepreneur podcast, we're joined by our very own co-founders, Nansi Mishra, and Siddhartha Ahluwalia. 

Did you know that behind the scenes, these founders have been cooking up some incredible strategies? While many listeners might not be aware, Nansi will reveal how Siddhartha's passion for investing led him on an extraordinary journey. 

Siddhartha shares his quest of understanding the VC world from close quarters, his struggle to get into the world of VC, and his final landing at Prime Ventures Capital as the community head.  Nansi and Siddhartha also throw light on the dynamic landscape of second-time founders , Siddhartha’s preference for companies and why SaaS companies are securing funding with relative ease nowadays. 

Whether you're an entrepreneur, an aspiring founder, or just curious about the startup space, this episode is your one-stop resource for all things venture capital. Learn what it takes to attract VC attention and raise that crucial funding.

Subscribe to the 100x Entrepreneur podcast today for more inspiring and informative episodes on the entrepreneurial journey!🚀✨

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In this episode of the 100x Entrepreneur podcast, we have Mr. Shripati Acharya, Managing Partner of Prime Venture Partners, one of India’s top early-stage venture capital funds.

Throughout his career, be it as a business lead at Cisco or as a co‐founder of Snapfish, the world's largest photo site acquired by HP, or at Transarc, which was acquired by IBM, Shripati has combined his passion to build great teams, an extraordinary desire to excel and a keen eye for spotting the tales. He is known for being astute with a razor-sharp intellect and a Zen‐like devotion to data-driven decision‐making.

Shripati has also worked alongside Mr. Nandan Nilekani on the UIDAI project. Having spent substantial parts of working career in the United States and India addressing worldwide markets, Shripati brings a global management perspective.

During the podcast, Shripat shares valuable insights on raising funds,early stage investing, avoiding mistakes as a founder, maintaining a healthy work-life balance and missed investment opportunities too.

If you are an early-stage entrepreneur, we recommend that you tune in to the podcast for a wealth of insights from the startup ecosystem. Be sure to hear the podcast to the end and leave a comment with your favorite parts! 

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Welcome to this exciting podcast ep, where we will delve into the world of Prafull Billore, the most famous Chaiwala. In our conversation, we highlight various aspects of his life that have contributed to his success. From understanding how he gets his passion and self-confidence to discussing short-term versus long-term goals, we cover it all!

We also talk about Prafull's journey post-COVID and how he has been able to recover after facing several challenges that helped him mature with experience despite being only 26 years old. As you listen further, you'll discover why Prafull believes that bigger struggles lead to bigger successes and how he constantly strives towards improvement every day.

So come join us on this thrilling ride where we learn more about what else Prafull is planning in store for the future!

Notes - 

00:00 - Highlights of the conversation

01:12 - Prafull Billore, the most famous Chaiwala

03:05 - What makes him so confident

06:58 - Having short-term goals v/s long-term goals

09:25 - Opening his 2nd outlet

12:33 - Recovering post COVID

15:21 - Current scale of opening new outlets

17:58 - Challenges while scaling

21:17 - How do his thoughts become inspiring?

25:42 - Emulating successful people like Jeff Bezos

28:33 - Maturing with experiences at the age of 26

30:09 - “Bigger the struggle, bigger the success.”

32:23 - How is Prafull of today better than the Prafull of yesterday? 

34:13 - Best quality - “Learning How to ask for help!”

40:14 - Bias for action - Content creator vs Entrepreneur

42:12 - What more is he planning for?

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Whatfix has a user base of over 10 million people and has been used to create over 1.5 million digital walkthroughs and tutorials. It has 500+ enterprise customers worldwide, including companies like HP, Schneider Electric, and Autodesk. Since its launch in 2014, Whatfix has become a go-to solution for businesses across multiple industries.

The platform has also received the "Best SaaS Product for Web/App Development" at the 2021 SaaS Awards.

In this episode, we have Whatfix founders Khadim Batti and Vara Kumar Namburu share the journey of Whatfix from their first offline Dreamforce event to reaching 10 Million people, their vision, clients, scale, culture and more. 

Notes - 

00:00 - Highlights of the conversation

02:06 - What’s Whatfix and how it’s unique

04:07 - Strategy of CTO moving to the US and CEO being in India

06:31 - Bringing Vispi Daver as an Angel Investor

10:18 - Avoid falling into the trap of following someone else’s playbook as a first-time founder

14:13 - Getting the first few Enterprise customers

15:57 - Taking Counter-intuitive bets

19:40 - Their first big event Dreamforce 

25:02 - Going one step back, would they do a 10-15 member round table for their most interested CIOs post Dreamforce event?

26:49 - Focusing on farming with Account Managers

31:36 - Advice to SaaS founder: When to focus on Brand? 

34:10 - Brand-building after their first Dreamforce

36:45 - Their initial Ideal customer profile

37:58 - Challenges & Hurdles in their 1 to 10 journey

39:23 - Examples where the deal got stuck at IT Security or CFO-level

43:55 - Enabling multiple stakeholders in a sales decision

46:30 - Traditional profile of a sales person

47:24 - Hiring profile of their initial senior sales team

49:28 - How to deal with people’s Title expectation?

54:23 - Building their culture early-on

56:28 - Mistakes in their early journey

58:06 - Guiding the early team in current journey

1:00:05 - Time & efforts in recent rounds of fundings

1:04:27 - Raising from Stellaris Venture Partners

1:05:32 - Changing path amongst the founders

1:06:59 - Account plan review with customers

1:08:50 - Having set accounts with every leader to help the customers succeed

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