Someone who quit his well paying job at a billion-dollar company in order to make the heartland of India a financially stable place. Our guest today on The Spotlight is Manish Kothari, the man on a mission to create an investment mindset in the people of India. His venture, Zfunds, is successfully selling financial services. 

Growing up in a Marwari family hailing from the city of Kolkata, he was always aiming for starting his own business one day. He recollects his corporate days, where he worked in companies like Citibank, IIFL, and was the business head for mutual funds at PolicyBazaar before starting Zfunds. 

In this episode, Manish shares with us his expertise in banking, investing, insurance, financial advising and mutual funds. With a vision to educate more and more people, he wishes to expand the overall investor base and encourage consumers to invest their wealth properly. 

Tune in to the full conversation for insightful facts from the man disrupting the Indian investment mindset. 

From the Episode: 

• What an MBA teaches you, beyond academics
• How to invest your wealth in the right place 
• Understanding ‘mutual funds’
• How to scale up the mutual fund distribution space

Well, we all have been confused at one point or the other, when it comes to making career choices. A commerce student, our guest today was, in his own words, an average student at school. The freedom from his parents, of making his own choices and paving his own path, shaped him as an individual. Like any other commerce student, he had applied for the CA exam but ended up with the realisation that he did not like it. As a football enthusiast, he wanted to pursue the sport full-time but unfortunately, things didn’t turn out as planned.

Anand Sinha went on to pursue his graduation from Christ University, Bangalore. He gives us a gist of life in Bangalore in this candid chat. 

Previously a National Sales Head of Zomato, he eventually started his own. 

His company, Pressplay, a media-tech startup didn’t go very far but it did get 1 MN+ app downloads and 100+ content partners on board.  He shares the experience of rejoining Zomato and becoming the Global Head of Zomato Gold. In the quest for his calling, however, he further went on to build Leapclub, a powerful, private network for women leaders that changed the game. 

Anand shares with us impactful insights and the journey of building this professional network of women role models. 

Let’s hear it from him in this intuitive conversation. 

1. Working in early-stage startups
2. Perseverance and resilience- the qualities that make an entrepreneur 
3. Significance of having a route map and a vision as an entrepreneur 
4. Lessons for up and coming founders 
5. Scaling up your business 
6. Taking feedback from potential users and creating lasting connections

"Every idea is a billion dollar idea in India, but execution separates success from failure."

This profound insight from the late Rajeev Karwal, a visionary leader, encapsulates the core challenge for every entrepreneur. In this candid conversation, he reveals that while groundbreaking ideas are abundant, it's the relentless, strategic, and often gritty work of execution that truly forges lasting success and builds impactful ventures.

The late Rajeev Karwal was the pioneering founder of Milagrow Robots and a celebrated "turnaround specialist" in the Indian business landscape. Before his entrepreneurial journey, he held leadership positions at giants like Onida, LG, Philips, and Electrolux, orchestrating remarkable business turnarounds. With Milagrow, he ventured into the nascent field of service robotics in India, achieving a phenomenal 1200% growth in FY 2020-21 and establishing Milagrow as a key player with a significant market share in robotic cleaning, all driven by his "humane tech" philosophy.

Key Insights from the Conversation:

• The Power of Execution: Ideas are common; the ability to execute effectively is the true differentiator between startup success and failure.
• Resilience in Crisis: Navigating severe economic shocks like demonetization and GST requires strategic pivots and unwavering resolve.
• Ethical Foundations: Building a business on strong ethical principles, such as a commitment to never paying bribes, is a sustainable long-term strategy.
• Long-Term Vision: Identifying and investing in industries with the potential for growth over decades, even centuries, is key to building a lasting legacy.
• "Humane Tech" Philosophy: The belief that technology, particularly robotics, should serve humanity by automating menial tasks, thereby freeing up human potential.
• The Value of Ownership: Taking complete ownership of your work and your company's mission is crucial for driving success.

Chapters:

• 0:00:00 - Introduction: Rajeev Karwal's Early Life & Choosing Marketing
• 0:04:10 - Overcoming a Traumatic Accident & The IMT Ghaziabad Journey
• 0:10:00 - Self-Discovery at IMT: Conquering Lies & The Power of Planning
• 0:15:06 - Joining Onida: Strategy, Storytelling & Early Career Growth
• 0:24:21 - Lessons from Onida & The Importance of Ownership
• 0:43:20 - The LG Story: Disrupting the Market with Honest Branding & Product Innovation
• 1:02:17 - Turnaround Stints: Leading Change at Philips & Electrolux
• 1:28:45 - The Brief Reliance Stint & The Unshakeable Entrepreneurial Bug
• 1:42:10 - Founding Milagrow: From SME Consulting to Pioneering Robotics
• 2:00:11 - Why Robotics? The Vision for "Humane Tech" & a 100-Year Industry
• 2:05:05 - Navigating Challenges: Demonetization, GST, and Strategic Pivots
• 2:10:37 - The Pandemic Tipping Point & The Future of Robotics in India

Hashtags:

#FounderThesis #RajeevKarwal #MilagrowRobots #StartupIndia #IndianEntrepreneur #LeadershipLessons #BrandBuilding #RoboticsIndia #MakeInIndia #TurnaroundStrategy #BusinessInsights #TechInnovation #StartupJourney #VisionaryFounder #LegacyBuilding #MadeInIndia #EntrepreneurialMindset

“It pays to stay authentic and talk to millennials in the language they understand” - Hitesh Dhingra. 

Hitesh Dhingra is the founder of The Man Company - an exclusive men’s only grooming brand. He is a 4x Entrepreneur who has been a pioneer across various industries. Right from starting an eCommerce site, a dating site & now The Man Company Hitesh has a proven track record of identifying unmet consumer needs and capturing the early adopters market. 

In this episode of The Spotlight, our host Akshay is in conversation with Hitesh to learn more about what it takes to capture the millennial market. 

Key takeaways from the show: 

1. How to bootstrap and save resources. 
2. Generating VC Funding. 
3. How to connect with the Millenial consumer

"Renting is something like lending itself."

This single, powerful insight from Geetansh Bamania reframes an entire industry. It shifts the perspective of renting from a simple service to a scalable financial product, allowing a capital-heavy business to be built with an innovative, asset-light approach.

Geetansh Bamania is the Founder and CEO of RentoMojo, India's largest furniture and appliance rental company. He has scaled the company to nearly 450,000 customers, generating ₹195.8 crore in revenue and ₹22.1 crore in profit in FY24 alone. An alumnus of IIT Madras, Geetansh has grown RentoMojo's assets under management by over 150x, cementing his place as a pioneer in India's rental economy.

Key Insights from the Conversation:

• The Asset-Light Innovation: RentoMojo's scalable model was born from necessity, partnering with financiers to fund assets rather than owning them, which significantly reduced capital expenditure.
• Resilience Forged in Failure: Before RentoMojo, Geetansh built and shut down two startups, learning invaluable lessons about product-market fit, the importance of sales, and market timing that he applied to his future success.
• The Criticality of Market Size: A key reason for exiting his second venture was the realization, gained while fundraising, that the market was too small for his ambitions—a crucial lesson for any founder.
• The Founder to CEO Evolution: Geetansh discusses the personal journey from being a hands-on founder who solves every problem to becoming a CEO who builds a great team to solve those problems.

[00:00:00] - Introduction: Geetansh Bamania's Vision for Renting

[01:32] - Early Life & First Entrepreneurial Hustles

[03:59] - The IIT Madras Experience & The First Big Idea

[09:17] - First Failed Startup: Lessons from Click2Skill

[15:25] - Second Venture: Why Market Size is Everything

[24:14] - The "Aha!" Moment: Seeing Renting as a Financial Product

[27:46] - Cracking the Asset-Light Business Model

[32:25] - The Journey of Raising Venture Capital

[41:21] - The Personal Evolution from Founder to CEO

[43:47] - How COVID Became an Inflection Point for the Rental Market

[55:04] - The Next Big Challenge: Taking RentoMojo Public

[57:11] - Actionable Advice for Aspiring Founders

#GeetanshBamania #RentoMojo #FounderThesis #StartupIndia #Entrepreneurship #RentalEconomy #AssetLight #BusinessModel #VentureCapital #Bootstrapping #FounderJourney #StartupAdvice #CircularEconomy #Fintech #Ecommerce #Leadership #IITMadras #StartupLessons #MakeInIndia #IndianStartups

“Normal is Boring.”

As a 16-year old boy, he was fascinated by business stories and forging a different path. Fueled by his curious mind, our guest today, Krishna Jonnakadla went on to explore a variety of sectors from accountancy to technology to media and fashion. He is now the Founder of Maharajas of Scale, a not-for-profit podcast focused on Indian Entrepreneurs and co-founder of FLIT, the Fashion Locator In Town which he set up to scale independent and designer brands in Fashion and Lifestyle in India. He also happened to venture into a successful online media company and was the Co-Founder and Member of the Board at Mango Mobile TV. 

His maternal family being of a business background, as a kid, he would enjoy his summers at his mother’s native place in Tirupati, city in Chittoor district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. From a very young age, Krishna was negotiating with high-end people and had a strong conviction to become an entrepreneur as he grew up. Interestingly, he also possesses skills like editing, dubbing, distribution and on the economics of the film-making world. 

In our conversation with him, Krishna shares with us his not so linear rather a tortuous journey. Having undergone a few messy situations in life, he has bounced back from them courageously. Listen to our candid conversation with the unbeatable guy. 

Here are our insightful takeaways from the episode:

1. How to scale your startup BIG.
2. Being unstoppable and experimenting with new ventures. 
3. Changing between streams and handling transitions in your career.
4. Tips on content delivery, monetizing and setting up a subscriber base. 
5. Birthing a business model that disrupts. 

To get notified about new episodes join our Whatsapp community here: http://bit.ly/podmwhatsapp  

"Money cannot solve problems. You cannot business model your way out of a shitty product."

This powerful insight from Bharat Sethi gets to the heart of his entrepreneurial philosophy. In this episode, he explains that while capital is a tool, it can never fix a flawed business model or an undesirable product. True, sustainable growth comes from building a strong foundation, a lesson he learned through the highs and lows of his own journey.

Bharat Sethi is the Founder of Rage Coffee, a D2C brand that pioneered "caffeine innovation" in India. Starting his first online business at just 16, Bharat went on to build and exit the successful online marketplace PosterGully. With Rage Coffee, he has raised over $10M in funding, crossed ₹100 crores in cumulative sales, and is now aiming to build a ₹500 crore brand by 2025.

• The 10-Year Plan: Bharat emphasizes building a brand that can stand the test of time, operating on a 10-year plan for Rage Coffee rather than focusing on short-term exits.
• Fundraising is a Byproduct, Not the Goal: He candidly describes fundraising as a "strenuous, tough journey" and advises entrepreneurs that raising capital is an after-effect of building a great business, not the first step.
• Building Defensible Moats: Rage Coffee was a deliberate move into a large market with high entry barriers (like instant coffee manufacturing), a strategy to build a business that is defensible in the long run.
• The Power of a Singular Focus: After exiting his second venture, Bharat decided to shut down a parallel nutraceuticals business he had started, choosing to focus all his energy on winning the coffee market.

00:00 - Intro

01:41 - An Athlete's Mindset: The Roots of an Entrepreneur

04:36 - The First Venture: Selling Art on eBay at 16

18:24 - Building PosterGully: From Side Hustle to Profitability

33:13 - The Truth About VC Money & Exiting PosterGully

43:41 - The Rebirth: Crafting the Vision for a D2C Brand

47:45 - Deconstructing the Coffee Market & Finding a Moat

58:50 - Why Focus is Everything: The Decision to Go All-In on Coffee

1:01:42 - The Fundraising Trap: "It's a Very Strenuous Journey"

1:12:20 - The 10-Year Plan: What's Next for Rage Coffee?

#BharatSethi #RageCoffee #FounderThesis #AkshayDatt #Entrepreneurship #StartupIndia #D2C #ConsumerBrands #FMCG #Bootstrapping #VentureCapital #Fundraising #PosterGully #StartupJourney #BusinessLessons #Ecommerce #CoffeeBusiness #MadeInIndia #FounderStories

It is said that “the secret to life is to fall seven times and get up eight times”. This is especially true if you are an entrepreneur - and our guest this week is a testament to this. 

Growing up in Indore, Ankur Joshi of Nuclei had simple dreams of earning a salary of 2-3 lakhs and living an independent life. To his surprise, his first job via his college placement was with Deutsche Bank with a salary that blew his mind! Nevertheless, 4 years down the line, Ankur felt uninspired and restrained in his job and hence quit to explore new avenues. 

Over some beers with friends he made the bold decision to start his first venture, a food-tech company in Pune. With 3 other co-founders and rating himself a 1 on 10 in business planning, Ankur failed to scale his business, learning some valuable lessons in the process. 

Not defeated by his failure, he launched his second venture - a tech product that was aimed at the Pharma Industry. But it was not long before Ankur realised his solution while a great product lacked the potential to be scaled. And he had to quit again. 

Still determined to keep going, he moved to Bangalore and started working for Tapzo. A company that was India’s first all-in-one app product. Although unprofitable, Tapzo was eventually acquired by Amazon.

By now Ankur had already seen a few failures. However, with failure comes learning, and after all the setbacks Ankur had faced he had some solid learnings to back him up. Thus with an undeterred spirit, and powered by his learnings Ankur once again started a new tech venture - Nuclei. 

Today Nuclei is going strong with several clients not just in India but also in SEA and Middle East. Their vision - "To build a well respected global product company out of India."

Tune into our candid conversation with Ankur to know more about his journey - about all the ups and the downs. Here are our key takeaways from this chat: 

1. Is it wise to have multiple Co-Founders?
2. Should one start a business with friends?
3. How to get VC funding in the early stages of your business. 
4. Ankur’s learnings that are now his guiding principles. 

“You cannot chase success at the cost of your personal happiness” - Parthip Thyagarajan

Chasing his passion for writing, Parthip Thyagarajan started his career in media with a summer job at The Independent - a newspaper. It is here that he realised his true calling was media and he single mindedly pursued his passion. This led to a 4 year stint with the Times of India Group and then to the genesis of WeddingSutra.com - India’s first Wedding Portal. 

In this episode of The Spotlight, we chat with Parthip about his journey of transition from a successful corporate career to starting his own dot-com business. Something that Parthip had never thought he would be doing, until a call from a friend swayed his mind!

Launching WeddingSutra in the year 2000 and growing it from a team of 2 to now a team of 30, Parthip talks about his exciting entrepreneurial journey as a publisher and being the voice of India’s Wedding Industry. 

Here are our key takeaways from this conversation: 

1. Career opportunities for the youth in media & publishing 
2. The future of the events industry
3. Chasing happiness and success