UpStreamVoice

In this episode of theUpStreamLife.com we speak with Raghu Mohan the founder of BuildersTribe, a place to find mentors for Web3 startups and much more. Raghu Mohan has been championing the blockchain industry for several years and he believes that India has so many builders who can build for the Web3 world.

00:00 - the Buidl for Web3 summit and the business of BuildersTribe
01:45 - Why blockchain is an engineer's movement 
02:35 - BuildersStack and LumosLabs
04:45 - What is decentralisation and where is it heading?
06:30 - Blockchain as the new internet, will it get there.
08:50 - Conundrums of making the technology mainstream
14:00 - The talent in blockchain
22:12 - The old world embracing crypto
23:00 - Experimenting with DApps

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In this interview with Pavan Govindan, the co-founder of Cultos Global, a Dubai based Web3 entity, theUpStreamLife discusses how brands can move their loyalty points from a centralised system to working in a decentralised system which use blockchains and tokens to offer interoperability of such points across brands and thereby retaining customers.

02:04 - Cultos Global and its business
05:53 - Working with brands.
11:00 - Building the Web3 talent
17:45 - Listing through an ICO and managing tokens
20:00 - Scaling the business in the Middle East and Asia.
27:00 - Incentivising the customer and the brand.
30:00 - Expansion.
35:00 - Impact of being an entrepreneur.

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In this episode of theUpStreamLife.com we talk to Nitya Shah, lead WebEngage Startup Program and Anand Lunia from India Quotient who talk about annual demo days and their importance.

00:00 - Introduction
01:25 - Customer acquisition and retention marketing, what is important?
05:27 - Reviewing startups on a demo day.
09:00 - Retention metrics and why its important.
15:00 - Why WebEngage curates great startups?
23:50 - The example of Carwale's success.
25:55 - The demo day.

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In this interview we have Murali S, who is the co-founder of Incept.Green. He talks about how the platform allows retail investors to participate in the renewable energy movement. Investors get fractional ownership in large renewable energy projects. The platform also also enables renewable project developers to build and exit fast rather than being locked in for years.

00:00 - Introduction.
02:00 - Bringing climate change action to individuals with solar.
03:25 - The four founders of Incept.Green and their mission.
05:07 - The advantage for the builder and the investor.
10:10 - Pipeline of assets
14:25 - The regulatory complexity and the technology of Incept.Green
20:18 - The advantage for small developers to work with Incept.Green
23:24 - Talking about bio-fuel and other renewables.
29:36 - Unwinding as a co-founder.

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It is time for a deep technology podcast focused only on India. Why? India has a tradition of deep science and one only has to look at its academic work to realize that there is a celebrated history of deep technology. 

To further enable the Deep Tech community in India, TDK Ventures is setting up an “Innovation Hub”, a shared office space in Bengaluru to bring together deep tech investors committed to contributing to society. If that resonates with you, we would love to chat on how we partner on the “Innovation Hub.”  

In our first episode we will be talking to Vishesh Rajaram, the Managing Partner of Speciale Invest, a fund that has taken multiple bets on the Indian deep technology ecosystem. 

Siddharth Mehta, Investment Director, TDK Ventures, broadly talks to Vishesh about the ecosystem, opportunities it presents and advice to entrepreneurs. 

In this podcast, Siddharth and Vishesh discuss how universities are catalyzing deep tech startups in India — just like how MIT and Stanford catalyzed the U.S. startup ecosystem. Indian universities are seeing a shift from working only on research to solution orientation and working with corporates. 

The podcast enunciates why deep technology startups and the founders must note the key pillars of diligence. Founders need to be strong in their domain knowledge (founder moat), they need to know why this is the right time for their technology and the company. They should understand their IP strategy and look at technology and business models which are exponential versus incremental changes with high gross margins. 

The next 10 years is about building deep tech from India and is the next wave of attracting large capital. Since the opportunity is so fresh, there is no single standard deep tech playbook across all the sectors and investors and founders need to carve their own path to success. Vishesh mentions the key deep tech trends to look for in India — material science, synthetic biology and manufacturing. He shares key advice with global VCs entering India: “Unlearn what you know about India and work with Indian institutions, investors and partners to acclimatize”. 

Guide to the podcast.

00:00 — Introduction
00:57 — What is deep technology? Vishesh defines the meaning of it.
04:10 — India’s deep technology, its history and the present.
10:00 — Doing diligence on an early stage deep tech company.
13:14 — Making deep tech investments mainstream — a VC’s outlook.
21:54 — India’s deep tech strengths. 
25:31 — Limited Partners and their mindset on deep tech investments.
28:29 — Top three deep tech trends in India.
30:36 — India for the world with deep technology.
33:00 — Advice to deep tech entrepreneurs.

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In this episode of theUpStreamLife.com we talk to Suranjana Ghosh, head of the Marico Innovation Foundation, who tells us how startups can build a vision towards social impact and profit. In this interview the audience will understand how to build processes for social innovation.

00:00 - Introduction
01:06 - A quick peek into the journey of Suranjana.
03:50 - Joining the Marico Innovation Foundation.
07:03 - Being different from other incubators and accelerators.
17:06 - Startup playbook for social impact.
21:23 - Path to sustainability, the playbook to reduce plastic waste.
30:33 - Weaving in sustainability into the business model.
39:10 - Building for a short fix versus first principles thinking
44:40 - Finding startups that can be coached on sustainability.
46:23 - Impact of technologies for social impact.
53:33 - The Foundation focuses only on startups.
57:38 - Being resilient as an individual.

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India has around 250 million kids in school and India has dreams of becoming a $10 trillion economy. Getting to that GDP number is not an herculean task if the education system can make children go to good schools with curriculum that makes them aspire for higher education. The inspiration for that aspiration comes from founders of schools, teachers, parents and government, it's an all around team effort. 

These dreams have to be enabled by funding and theUpStreamLife.com met with Steve Hardgrave who in his capacity as entrepreneur of Varthana has aided several schools to scale up by financing them. The story of Varthana is filled with hardships and is testimony to how entrepreneurs build companies, it is a long road. Enjoy this interview like we have.

00:00 - Introduction
01:36 - The business of Varthana and its origins.
09:44 - Financing schools in India & how these businessmen work.
16:39 - Varthana's first customer a decade ago.
22:44 - Clients that come to Varthana are the small schools and colleges.
28:00 - Making schools successful in India.
29:10 - Managing NPAs pre and post COVID-19.
33:35 - Being inspired by music.

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In this episode with theUpStreamLife you will discover why the youngest life insurance player in the country wants to start from rural regions and make impact. Listen to the MD and CEO, Diwakar Ram Boddupalli, discuss how insurance plays a vital role in changing lives in rural regions.

00:00 - Introduction
01:55 - CEO speaks about his experience, the opportunity in rural regions.
05:00 - The differentiation of CreditAccess Life.
10:00 - Getting people to save and secure their loved ones.
17:18 - Low income groups run on risks everyday
23:29 - Bringing costs of insurance down for rural communities.
35:33 - Building trust in life insurance.
40:40 - The market expansion of CreditAccess Life going forward.

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In this interview with theUpStreamLife.com, Prashanth Doreswamy of Continental India talks about platforms, data, AI and other technology that is going to make cars and bikes safer and cooler.

00:00 - Introduction
03:00 - Daily life of Prashanth at Continental.
05:00 - The Continental legacy and why it matters.
07:00 - 200 million lines of code in a car, making cars safe and clean.
11:59 - Software defined cars and their evolution.
20:35 - Reducing emissions in a car.
25:49 - Indian car and bike market's evolution with the world market.
29:41 - Advice to people who have to handle AI.
35:26 - Managing talent in a world of technology.
40:00 - Industrial IOT and how modern factories use AR/VR
43:26 - Staying relevant in an era of multitudes and leadership style
51:20 - What inspires Prashanth?

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In this interview with theUpStreamLife.com Rohit M A, the managing partner of Peer Capital, talks about how India can become a $5 trillion economy. He talks about betting on ideas whose business model can build long term businesses. He talks about building for positive outcomes. 

00:00 - Introduction to Peer Capital.
01:46 - From being a business operator to running a fund.
04:42 - Rohit's stint as a young entrepreneur before building a business.
09:36 - The Peer Capital team and early investments.
18:56 - What happens when India hits $5 trillion GDP?
23:14 - Processes and systems are necessary while building a company.
29:35 - Building a calibrated portfolio for the fund.
36:30 - Turning into an investor - the transformation.
41:00 - The importance of domestic capital.
49:13 - Managing daily life and being inspired.

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