The Startup Operator

Ajey is a serial entrepreneur who has co-founded several startups over the course of his 25 year career and is currently an operating partner at Sequoia. In this episode he spoke about his journey so far, balancing speed versus quality and more in his interview with Roshan Cariappa and Augustus D'Souza. 

Key highlights:

00:00 Introduction

02:07 Ajey's Journey So far

07:13 High level challenges

16:45 Principles for build v/s buy

23:24 How does visibility factor into the Build v/s Buy decision

26:47 Balancing quality and speed

31:09 Refactoring and technical debt 

35:07 Microservices vs Monoliths

40:39 Advice on hiring CTOs

43:43 Downsides of Job Hopping

46:18 Prioritising and building hiring skillset

51:22 Key skills to transition to an Engineering Leader

53:42 What makes a great engineer?

57:00 Closing Remarks

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Connect with Ajey:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajeygore/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AjeyGore

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Connect with Us: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startupoperator

​Twitter: https://twitter.com/OperatorStartup​​

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If you liked this episode, let us know by hitting the like button and share with your friends and family. Please also remember to subscribe to our channel and switch on the notifications to never miss an episode!

Nellie is the founder and CEO of Tigerhall, a mentor media platform for people to learn from the best in their selected fields. In this episode she spoke about cohort based learning, why mentoring is important and high level challenges she is solving and more!

Key Highlights :

00:00 Introduction

01:02 Moving to Singapore 

02:06 How is Learning being disrupted

05:02 Cohort based Learning

08:33 Finding a great mentor

12:18 Why mentoring is important

15:07 What is TigerHall

19:23 Making user onboarding interesting

21:16 Choosing non functional topics

23:14 Tigerhall's Power users

26:32 Upskilling for middle managers

32:41 Working with HR Teams

35:25 High level challenges Nellie is solving 

37:12 Change in perspective at scale

38:49 Nellie's learning experience

40:18 Optimism for the future

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Connect with Nellie:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nelliewartoft/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nwartoft

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Connect with Us: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startupoperator

​Twitter: https://twitter.com/OperatorStartup​​

-------------------------------------

If you liked this episode, let us know by hitting the like button and share with your friends and family. Please also remember to subscribe to our channel and switch on the notifications to never miss an episode!

Nellie is the founder and CEO of Tigerhall, a mentor media platform for people to learn from the best in their selected fields. In this episode she spoke about cohort based learning, why mentoring is important and high level challenges she is solving and more!

Key Highlights :

00:00 Introduction

01:02 Moving to Singapore 

02:06 How is Learning being disrupted

05:02 Cohort based Learning

08:33 Finding a great mentor

12:18 Why mentoring is important

15:07 What is TigerHall

19:23 Making user onboarding interesting

21:16 Choosing non functional topics

23:14 Tigerhall's Power users

26:32 Upskilling for middle managers

32:41 Working with HR Teams

35:25 High level challenges Nellie is solving 

37:12 Change in perspective at scale

38:49 Nellie's learning experience

40:18 Optimism for the future

-------------------------------------

Connect with Nellie:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nelliewartoft/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nwartoft

-------------------------------------

Connect with Us: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startupoperator

​Twitter: https://twitter.com/OperatorStartup​​

-------------------------------------

If you liked this episode, let us know by hitting the like button and share with your friends and family. Please also remember to subscribe to our channel and switch on the notifications to never miss an episode!

Jasminder is the co-founder of NowFloats. Along with a number of founders from the ecosystem he created Covid Citizens to provide real time verified data for resources during the second wave of the pandemic. He spoke about building and selling to SMBs, building for the Bharat User and had some advice for founders on the startup journey in his interview with Roshan Cariappa.

Key highlights:

00:00 Introduction

01:50 Covid Citizens 

04:24 Founders and Startups involved

05:39 Looking back on Jas' Journey so far

07:27 Evolution of Startup ecosystem 

09:12 Building and selling to SMBs

11:31 Digital Desh - mission

14:19 Building for the Bharat User 

16:40 Working with Reliance Jio

18:11 Evolution of Founders in India

19:51 Advice for founders on the startup journey

21:48 Optimism for the future

24:21 Closing remarks

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Connect with Jasminder:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsgulati/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GulatiSinghJ

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Connect with Us: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startupoperator

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OperatorStartup

-------------------------------------

If you liked this episode, let us know by hitting the like button and share with your friends and family. Please also remember to subscribe to our channel and switch on the notifications to never miss an episode!

Jasminder is the co-founder of NowFloats. Along with a number of founders from the ecosystem he created Covid Citizens to provide real time verified data for resources during the second wave of the pandemic. He spoke about building and selling to SMBs, building for the Bharat User and had some advice for founders on the startup journey in his interview with Roshan Cariappa.

Key highlights:

00:00 Introduction

01:50 Covid Citizens 

04:24 Founders and Startups involved

05:39 Looking back on Jas' Journey so far

07:27 Evolution of Startup ecosystem 

09:12 Building and selling to SMBs

11:31 Digital Desh - mission

14:19 Building for the Bharat User 

16:40 Working with Reliance Jio

18:11 Evolution of Founders in India

19:51 Advice for founders on the startup journey

21:48 Optimism for the future

24:21 Closing remarks

-------------------------------------

Connect with Jasminder:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsgulati/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GulatiSinghJ

-------------------------------------

Connect with Us: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startupoperator

-------------------------------------

If you liked this episode, let us know by hitting the like button and share with your friends and family. Please also remember to subscribe to our channel and switch on the notifications to never miss an episode!

Welcome to another episode of The Startup Operator Roundup, where Roshan Cariappa and Gunjan Saha discuss - 

👉🏽 Browserstack turning unicorn and what it means for SaaS in India

👉🏽 Pharmeasy & Sharechat ESOP Buybacks 

👉🏽 Other fundraises and more

Hit the like button if enjoyed this roundup, and do not forget to share among your operator friends! 

Listen to our interviews and conversations with investors, operators, and founders on your favourite podcast platforms.

#startups #unicorns  #technology #roundup #podcast #news

Welcome to another episode of The Startup Operator Roundup, where Roshan Cariappa and Gunjan Saha discuss - 

👉🏽 Browserstack turning unicorn and what it means for SaaS in India

👉🏽 Pharmeasy & Sharechat ESOP Buybacks 

👉🏽 Other fundraises and more

Hit the like button if enjoyed this roundup, and do not forget to share among your operator friends! 

Listen to our interviews and conversations with investors, operators, and founders on your favourite podcast platforms.

#startups #unicorns  #technology #roundup #podcast #news

Yamini is the co-founder and CEO of Vymo. Prior to founding Vymo, Yamini was an engagement manager at McKinsey & Company. She spoke about picking the enterprise, creating a category, selling to enterprises and more in her interview with Roshan Cariappa.

Key Highlights:

00:00 Introduction

01:22 Picking the Enterprise

04:16 What makes the Enterprise different?

06:51 Important Self Evaluation Criteria for Enterprise

11:33 Creating a category

15:31 Selling to Enterprises

19:16 The Verticalization journey

22:28 Key learnings about Enterprise Customer Success

25:58 Balancing product vision v/s customer asks 

28:48 Managing customer requests

32:16 Building a Service Delivery function

37:18 Building Partnerships

41:14 Defining the North Star metric

44:56 Aligning functions & teams

48:42 Evolution of SaaS 

52:12 Advice to Founders

57:21 Closing Remarks

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Connect with Yamini:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yamininatti/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/yamini_bhat

-------------------------------------

Connect with Us: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startupoperator

​Twitter: https://twitter.com/OperatorStartup​​

-------------------------------------

If you liked this episode, let us know by hitting the like button and share with your friends and family. Please also remember to subscribe to our channel and switch on the notifications to never miss an episode!

Yamini is the co-founder and CEO of Vymo. Prior to founding Vymo, Yamini was an engagement manager at McKinsey & Company. She spoke about picking the enterprise, creating a category, selling to enterprises and more in her interview with Roshan Cariappa.

Key Highlights:

00:00 Introduction

01:22 Picking the Enterprise

04:16 What makes the Enterprise different?

06:51 Important Self Evaluation Criteria for Enterprise

11:33 Creating a category

15:31 Selling to Enterprises

19:16 The Verticalization journey

22:28 Key learnings about Enterprise Customer Success

25:58 Balancing product vision v/s customer asks 

28:48 Managing customer requests

32:16 Building a Service Delivery function

37:18 Building Partnerships

41:14 Defining the North Star metric

44:56 Aligning functions & teams

48:42 Evolution of SaaS 

52:12 Advice to Founders

57:21 Closing Remarks

-------------------------------------

Connect with Yamini:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yamininatti/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/yamini_bhat

-------------------------------------

Connect with Us: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startupoperator

​Twitter: https://twitter.com/OperatorStartup​​

-------------------------------------

If you liked this episode, let us know by hitting the like button and share with your friends and family. Please also remember to subscribe to our channel and switch on the notifications to never miss an episode!

Ram and Smita are the Co-Founders, Director and CEO of Rang De, a Peer-2-Peer lending platform. They started Rang De to solve the problem of low credit access  and bring the community together through social entrepreneurship. They spoke about their founding journey, finding product market fit, building a community through trust and communication and more in their interview with Roshan Cariappa. 

Key highlights:

00:00 Introduction

01:44 Founding journey of Rang De

09:24 Estimating size of the problem

11:05 Lessons from solving credit access

13:47 Misconceptions with P2P Lending

16:47 Finding Product Market Fit

21:48 Principles to curate supply and demand

26:35 Building a community

29:14 Learnings from working through covid

34:54 Picking a problem and solving it

37:27 Closing Remarks

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Connect with Ram:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramnk/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ram_nk

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Connect with Smita:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/smita-ram-7095358/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/smitaram

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Connect with Us: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startupoperator

​Twitter: https://twitter.com/OperatorStartup​​

-------------------------------------

If you liked this episode, let us know by hitting the like button and share with your friends and family. Please also remember to subscribe to our channel and switch on the notifications to never miss an episode!