The Neon Show

• Why the DARLING Edtech in 2021 became a taboo in 2022 for VCs?
• What do students really expect? 
• Why do Edtech entrepreneurs fail? 
• And what's the most important factor in EdTech Success?

Today we talk with Manan Khurma, Founder at Cuemath who answers all these questions for us. 

During our conversation he shares how building an Education venture is not like building on a rocket ship, but building with trust. 

He has been building Cuemath for almost the last decade and he highlights that unlike the common notion or FOMO behind going online being an Edtech venture, right before Covid, only 5% of their entire revenue came via Online classes.

His first question to any new entrepreneur looking to enter the Edtech space is if they are ready to give atleast two decades to build their educational venture. 

Further during the episode Manan shares their views on performance marketing in edtech, building trust for students and parents, and much more. 

Notes - 

02:21 - Manan’s journey to becoming a teacher and entrepreneur

04:31 - What’s his view of Edtech landscape both in India and globally?

08:08 - Which are the institutions that inspire him? 

11:55 - Going down the attention span of kids in the last decade

17:45 - Certain kids already being great at grasping new things

21:19 - Zoho Shoutout

23:30 - Getting answers has become really easy

27:39 - Real learning happens when a student puts their brain in isolation to a problem

29:07 - Increase in the number of screens in our home

33:11 - Thesis on how not to build an Education venture

39:31 - Mercenary category of Entrepreneur

45:15 - Current scale of Cuemath

47:55 - Their approach to starting coding courses

49:30 - Essence of Analytical thinking

50:54 - Goal to build a strong base and system

51:52 - Best way to build a 1,00,000 paid students base in Educational venture

54:22 - How have the customer acquisition channels evolved?

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Recently the trend in startups has been around growing fast, scaling faster, and becoming humongous with viral products, ideas & marketing. 

But in most cases, such ideas come crashing down in a short span of time, because of the lack of depth either in the product or the customer base.

In this episode, almost after a year and half since we published NoBroker Founder Amit Agarwal’s episode, we have with us his Co-founder Akhil Gupta to talk more about their journey of building NoBroker with depth in every market and focus on customers over the last 10 years. 

During the episode, Akhil shares the ups and downs in their journey, along with the initial response they got while they were trying to raise their first round, what are his thoughts about the current & future of the housing market in India, and more.

Notes - 

01:26 - Early Product Market Fit moment for NoBroker

07:19 - Clarity to make NoBroker the largest Real Estate solution in India 

08:53 - The most challenging obstacles

13:35 - Defining moments in their journey

15:19 - Mistakes they made being founders

16:46 - Key factors why they succeeded

 20:35 - Zoho Sponsored – Prashant Ganti on What does Zoho Payroll do and what’s the story behind it? 

21:36 - Future Plans

23:41 - How they become the Amazon of Real Estate

25:16 - Passion behind starting NoBroker

30:40 - Why they got rejected by so many VCs

32:29 - Realistic way of building a sustainable growing startup

38:07 - Reason behind the sky-rocketing of rentals in Bangalore

42:04 - Impact of global factors on the Indian Housing market

Also, try out a 30-day free trial of Zoho Payroll, and simplify your Payroll journey as an entrepreneur! https://zoho.to/zoho-payroll

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Where was the Indian Startup Ecosystem back in 2010-12, where is it now in 2022 and where is it headed 5 years down the line, in terms of - 
# Digital Infrastructure
# Tech Talent
# Innovative mindset amongst founders
# Investments from VCs and Angel Investors and more. 

In this episode, we will talk about all of it, with our guest, Santosh Panda, Co-founder, Foundership where he is Incubating & Accelerating Top Founders & Builders Launch Defining Web3 Startup of tomorrow.

Tune in to hear Santosh share his insights on the importance of finding a Co-founder, the opportunities of the Indian Startup Ecosystem in the years to come, the past, present & future of Web3, and much more.

Notes - 

00:00 - Bhai tu Co-founder banega?

01:55 - Meeting with Santosh for the first time

06:40 - Being compassionate

09:05 - Convincing someone to become your Co-founder

16:22 - Being within the Startup Ecosystem since 2008

19:57 - Zoho Sponsored – Prashant Ganti on how is Zoho Payroll solving problems beyond payroll. 

23:35 - Thoughts about the current Indian Startup Ecosystem

31:00 - How would 2025-2030 be like for Indian Startups?

34:47 - Tech Innovation in India for last mile connectivity

37:09 - The essence of having a Digital Infrastructure in India

41:18 - What is there for India in Web3?

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As of today, only 15% of India’s population lives in the top 50 cities, and the remaining 85% which accounts to around 119 crores, live in towns or villages. 

According to an ASER survey, the availability of smartphones in rural India was 67.6 % in 2021, primarily bought for kids’ studies amid the pandemic.

With this, we can make out that even in towns and villages, the penetration of smartphones and the internet is huge and people in villages are driven to spend higher to provide better learning resources to their children. 

This exact learning is what drove our guest, Lal Chand Bisu, Founder, Kuku FM, to build a product for Bharat.

In today’s episode, we talk with Lal Chand Bisu to understand, how he was able to build a subscription model product for the mass Indians and what have been his learnings over the years while scaling Kuku FM.

Notes - 

01:50 - Intro 

02:20 - Do the mass Indians pay for subscriptions?

03:46 - How do Indians define value? 

05:37 - How is Kukufm an aspirational product for the masses? 

08:05 - Indians consuming aspirational content

11:33 - Split of content on Kuku FM

12:36 - Starting Non-series content in form of Mini-episodes

16:25 - Popularity of Personal Finance on Kuku FM

18:24 - Family Background and the entrepreneurial path he chose

20:26 - Zoho Sponsored – Prashant Ganti on what makes Zolo Payroll different from its competitors? 

28:46 - How was he motivated to do something out of his league?

32:36 - Why do people in towns or villagers aspire for Government jobs?

36:44 - Convincing Indian consumers to pay for Non-fictional content subscriptions

Also, try out a 30-day free trial of Zoho Payroll, and simplify your Payroll journey as an entrepreneur! https://zoho.to/zoho-payroll

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The direct-to-consumer market, known as the D2C market had a size of about $33 billion in India in 2020. By 2025, the total addressable D2C market is forecast to grow almost threefold and reach $100 billion.

In today’s episode, we have with us, Abhishek Goenka, Head of Investments, RPSG Capital Ventures.

RPSG Capital Ventures is an early-stage consumer VC fund focused on investing in the D2C ecosystem including food & beverage, personal care, and lifestyle goods.

Some of their portfolio companies are mCaffeine, Plixlife, and The Souled Store among others.

In today’s episode, Abhishek shares the differentiating factor of what led them to invest in Plixlife, one of their portfolio’s profitable exits, and more. 

Notes - 

01:07 - Intro to RPSG and its investments in D2C space

02:42 - Largest portfolio companies and what helped them reach there

03:45 - What’s D2C from his perspective?

05:04 - What has helped D2C in India to have explosive growth?

13:51 - How does a D2C brand differentiate itself in today’s time?

20:39 - Zoho Sponsored – Prashant Ganti on what is their long-term vision with Zoho Payroll.

22:23 - Thesis which didn’t work out

29:41 - Why don’t we see many D2C unicorns in India?

32:14 - What are the moats for a D2C brand? 

34:54 - Doubling down on the Hero product

Also, try out a 30-day free trial of Zoho Payroll, and simplify your Payroll journey as an entrepreneur! https://zoho.to/zoho-payroll

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Karthik Jagannathan, after working for more than two decades across cross-functional experience in Telecom and Internet businesses, with a specific focus on SMBs, decided to build a solution to help SMBs scale faster with Gallabox.

In today’s episode, Karthik shares the backstory of what led him to starting up at the age of 50, building something for SMBs, and more. 

Notes - 

01:36 - Serving a business like it's your own

04:10 - Where do the roots of ownership come from in his life? 

06:27 - What other significant events in his life lead him to here today? 

08:58 - Building and growing sustainably in crisis

12:06 - India wasn’t a place of - “Grow fast, Break fast.”

18:34 - Landscape out there in Small & Medium Businesses in India

24:33 - Zoho Sponsored – Prashant Ganti on Where do founders struggle with Payroll and how can they fix it?

26:44 - Zeroing down on an idea to solve for SMBs

36:22 - Leveraging Whatsapp with Gallabox

39:06 - Themes that he wanted to solve for

40:49 - Scaling to over 500+ business

49:39 - Learnings from their journey so far

51:50 - What helped them grow faster?

57:49 - Advice for entrepreneur building for SMBs

Also, try out a 30-day free trial of Zoho Payroll, and simplify your Payroll journey as an entrepreneur! https://zoho.to/zoho-payroll

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With so much happening in our work and personal lives on a daily basis, how do you keep track of things? 

Which one of the following do you generally practice? 

1. Just try to remember all of it with your brain

2. Save reminders or alerts with a calendar or events management app

3. Maintain a daily diary

4. Some other way!

As argued and mentioned by most founders and VCs on our podcast so far, like Gaurav Munjal, Founder Unacademy, its futile to put so much pressure on your brain to try and remember everything all the time. 

Instead, its best to take notes of all the things that matter to you or you think would matter to you down the line, store it somewhere and refer it when needed, and just use your brain as a processor, rather than a hard drive.

In today’s episode, we have with us, Tiago Forte, Founder, Forte Labs and we’re going to talk in-depth about his book - “Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organise Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential”.

In simple words, taking and processing notes in an effective and efficient way.

During the episode, Tiago talks about our mental blockers which hold us back from taking effective notes, how to get back at reviewing them later, how to get started with step 1, and more.

Notes - 

00:36 - Intro

01:24 - Key takeaways from his book for a layman

03:30 - What’s his why behind writing his book and creating this system?

06:01 - Why or how do health issues triggers to write such an unconventional book? 

07:04 - Initial system of note-taking and how it has evolved. 

08:34 - What’s the App-stack that he relies on? 

10:00 - How has this journey transformed him as a person?

11:36 - First set of things anyone can do to get started? 

16:13 - How to review or revisit your notes effectively?

18:14 - His daily schedule: Between first brain & second brain

20:20 - Why is it difficult for people to take this 1-extra step?

22:26 - What can help our listeners help overcome procrastination and start note-taking?

25:39 - Zoho Sponsored – Prashant Ganti on Where do founders struggle with Payroll and how can they fix it?

26:55 - How to manage accountability in note-taking? 

31:23 - How to make note-taking frictionless?

34:18 - Three personas from his book where note-taking made a significant change to their life

Also, try out a 30-day free trial of Zoho Payroll, and simplify your Payroll journey as an entrepreneur!

https://zoho.to/zoho-payroll

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There’s been a high rise in global data breaches for several years, and 2022 has been littered with information thefts. 

As per Analytics India magazine, the data breach cost averaged Rs.176 million in 2022, reaching an all-time high.

In July, Twitter suffered a data breach of 5.4 million accounts, and throughout the year so far, there have been several cases of data theft of various scales.

Our today’s guest, Jaspreet Singh, Founder & CEO Druva, has built and scaled the company since 2008 to provide a solution in this space.

Druva is trusted by over 4,000 global organizations. The company has such strong faith in these data-protection systems, that they even offer a Data Resiliency Guarantee up to $10 Mn against five key data risks.

In today’s episode, Jaspreet shares with us the backstory of what led him to start Druva, move to the US, and more. 

Notes - 

00:42 - Intro

01:13 - Conceptualizing Druva

04:06 - What kept him going in the first 5-years?

05:37 - Reaching $1 Mn ARR

07:08 - Druva’s revenue till 2013 before getting their first large customer

07:49 - What were they building in the first 5 years and what did they transition into after 2013?

10:46 - Letting go of $8 Mn revenue 

11:45 - Milestones and evolving for revenue growth

14:19 - Critical requirement to shift to the US for scale

17:19 - Is a India Product-Market-Fit exactly replicable in the US?

19:26 - Zoho Sponsored – Prashant Ganti on Where do founders struggle with Payroll and how can they fix it?

20:26 - What worked well for Druva in the 10 to 100 journey? 

24:52 - His advice to SaaS entrepreneurs to reach $20 Mn ARR

Also, try out a 30-day free trial of Zoho Payroll, and simplify your Payroll journey as an entrepreneur!

https://zoho.to/zoho-payroll

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What are some of the valuable learnings and inspirations Siddhartha and Nansi got after recording 200+ episodes with the most successful entrepreneurs, VCs, and creators on the 100x Entrepreneur podcast?

The new episode with our duo is out now! 

Tune in to learn how to start a podcast, what you can expect after a certain number of podcast episodes, how you grow with each conversation, and which guests inspired Nansi & Siddhartha the most!

We hope you enjoy this short, crisp and insightful episode from 100x! 

Notes - 

00:22 - Intro

01:15 - Learning Consistency: Publishing episodes every Monday

02:26 - Learning Networking: Bringing Top-notch guests

06:24 - Learnings from Gaurav Munjal, Unacademy: 10000+ Notes on his iPad

08:40 - “A Startup Team is Sports Team, not a family.”

09:34 - Learnings from Vidit Attrey, Meesho: Listening to your customers

12:35 - Realising that you know nothing and absorbing the best of your guests

14:02 - Shoutout with Prashant Ganti, Head of Product, Zoho on where do founders struggle with Payroll and how can they fix it?

16:12 - Learnings from creators who’ve cracked distribution

17:42 - Being professional with people you work with

Also, try out a 30-day free trial of Zoho Payroll, and simplify your Payroll journey as an entrepreneur!

https://zoho.to/zoho-payroll

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In 2021, 125 Indian companies raised over $18 Bn through initial public offerings (IPO) in public markets.

Out of $18 Bn, over $7.3 Bn was raised by 11 Indian Tech Startups from Nazara to MapmyIndia.

In today’s episode, we talk with Abhishek Goyal & Neha Singh, Co-founders, Tracxn, which recently went IPO.

But unlike the other major tech startups which went IPO in recent years, at Tracxn, they decided to go IPO at a probably early stage, considering their ARR of $10 Mn.

During the episode, they share there view point on why they chose to do it on an initial ARR rather than going IPO, once they’ve grown big enough and more.

Notes - 

00:37 - Intro to ​​Tracxn

01:27 - Feeling of going IPO

02:27 - Preparing for an IPO 

05:06 - Splitting the roles within team to be prepared from Day 1

05:41 - Documents which they had to submit to SEBI or any other regulator for the DRHP

06:46 - Trendsetter by going public at $10 Mn ARR

08:44 - Convincing VCs for going IPO-early

11:33 - Mentors from whom they took advice for going public

12:59 - Is it possible to time the market for IPO? 

14:58 - Raising an Anchor allocation Pre-IPO

16:17 - Most stressful part of going IPO: Market Uncertainty

18:34 - Rollercoaster set of emotions they went through

22:24 - Moments of giving up during the whole process

24:16 - How to prepare mentally before entering the IPO-process?

24:33 - Zoho Sponsored – Prashant Ganti on Where do founders struggle with Payroll and how can they fix it?

26:01 - IPO-Checklist and learnings

31:26 - What does it requires for tech companies to go public?

35:03 - Playbook where companies can go public and build in long-term

35:54 - Founder aspiration beyond becoming Unicorn

Also, try out a 30-day free trial of Zoho Payroll, and simplify your Payroll journey as an entrepreneur!

https://zoho.to/zoho-payroll

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