In this episode of theUpStreamLife we speak with veteran startup enabler and co-founder of Monet, Abhay Tandon. He talks about why blockchain works for interoperability of loyalty points and the opportunities to get brands to work together in order to win loyal customers in the long run.

00:00 - Introduction.
01:26 - Abhay making the transition back to a startup.
04:28 - Monetising loyalty points and the difficulty in interoperability.
16:35 - Convincing brands to consent to share data.
22:48 - Saving the CFO of the brands costs and convincing them to work on interoperability.
25:30 - Blockchain and decentralisation - the need for decentralisation.
38:34 - The stakeholder management in Monet
45:33 - Convincing brands about tokens.

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In this episode we talk with Ragu Rajaram, EY’s Global Cloud Consulting Leader. Ragu talks about how EY GDS is helping organisations transform in the era of data and AI.

00:00 - Introduction to EY GDS
01:18 - What does EY GDS do?
02:56 - Board room to server conversations.
04:56 - Compliances and technology: blending the two
10:16 - Transformative nature of cloud 
15:06 - Conversations with the C-Suite.
21:08 - Building a strategy for hiring.
26:00 - Managing multiple markets.
31:07 - Being fit as a leader.
35:00 - Working with AI.
40:00 - Working in EY and training talented tech grads.
42:00 - Raj’s inspirations.

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In this episode we talk with Naganand Doraswamy the founder of Ideaspring Capital. He has been a champion of product innovation and deep tech in India for over eight years now. He talks about his journey and learning. He also believes that the deep tech India story has just begun and tells every founder to focus on the sales for success.

00:00 - Introduction to Ideaspring
02:00 - Differentiating between SaaS, deep tech and product innovation
05:20 - Raising capital today and the journey of Ideaspring
11:28 - Convincing LPs and the learning
17:04 - Helping founders to succeed with their product innovation
23:42 - Sales in India and the climb involved.
29:35 - Building companies generative AI
35:00 - The semi-conductor story in India
43:40 - Space and drones as an industry from India
47:40 - Setting the stage for good exits.

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In this episode we speak with Akash Sinha, the CEO and co-founder of Cashfree Payments. We discover how India is changing with digital payments and how the smart phone generation loves easy checkout experiences. 

00:00 - Introduction of Cashfree Payments.
01:05 - The early journey as a developer.
04:42 - Scaling up a company and a product.
05:50 - Transitions in the payment economy in India.
13:27 - Building industry first products.
19:30 - Innovating constantly as a fintech.
26:22 - How traditional businesses are going online in India?
32:00 - Going global as an Indian company.
37:00 - Becoming a leader and managing a large organisation.
41:16 - Payments and the evolution of tech, especially security.
44:30 - New technologies that Akash advices folks to learn.

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In this episode of the India Deep Tech Series, we host the MD of TDK Ventures, Anil Achyuta. Born and raised in Bengaluru, Anil went from being a sportsman to falling in love with deep tech - firstly as an academic and then as an investor. In this podcast he talks about an ever changing world with deep technology, what are the risks and rewards for startups in this community. The interview is a must watch for those who aspire to build businesses with deep tech ideas.

00:00 - Introduction to the podcast 
00:38 - Anil's love for science
01:47 - The TDK Ventures investment thesis
04:32 - Not every scientist should become an entrepreneur
07:07 - Transitioning from science to an investor
09:30 - The need for 'Dream Syndicates' to support deep tech
14:51 - Why we need to come together to solve bigger problems
17:24 - The Tesla example of beating all numbers and expectations
19:13 - Why TDK Ventures takes big bets?
22:47 - The 'Fit' principles of investing
24:59 - Business is about data: upstream, the supply chain, downstream
29:31 - Role of the government in deep tech
30:30 - Impact of Ascend Elements and AM Batteries in the EV industry
34:20 - Building a thesis around 'heat' applications.
36:33 - Quick responses on industries transforming themselves - automotive, energy, healthcare and many more.
44:49 - Impact of AI.
48:29 - The TDK Goodness and what it means for startups 
52:11 - Using sports and its competitive nature as a lesson in investing
55:34 - Learning a lot from people, inspirations and sport. 

In this podcast the startups I talk about are Ascend Elements (https://ascendelements.com), AM Batteries (https://am-batteries.com), Verdagy (https://verdagy.com), Autoflight (https://www.autoflight.com/en/), Ineratec (https://www.ineratec.de/en) & Fasal (https://fasal.co).

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In this episode with Pavan Sharma, the partner of BCL India, an advisory and audit firm, we decode India by the numbers just as the elections are underway. Please download the report (https://tinyurl.com/yxykv3pv) for you to understand what Pavan is analyzing. All data sources mentioned in the PDF.

We analyze the Centre versus State tax conflicts, climate change, income growth, rise of the middle-class, jobs and the conflicts within youth employability.

Part 1 - Tax bouts, realities of freebies and Consumption.

00:00 - Introduction
02:50 - The heart of the conflict between India States and the Centre.
05:35 - The formula for tax sharing between States - the fair or unfair ask.
08:30 - The opposition narratives when it comes to Tax.
13:00 - The Human Development index, tax incentives for States.
15:25 - No freebies to youth please - differentiate between necessity and needs.
16:33 - The narrative of freebies - where will the money come from.
21:55 - Income Classes in India: the real truth.
24:35 - What do our income classes own - 92 million Indians earn Rs 12 lakh per year and this is growing. This is what capital loves.

Download our analysis: https://bclindia.in/indeco-apr24/

Part 2: 

28:49 - Household consumption and its interesting numbers - India is spending and is typical of a growing economy.
31:40 - Unhealthy nation: falling cereal and vegetable consumption, rise of packaged product consumption.
38:10 - The new billionaires who earn Rs 13 lakhs per day.
41:00 - Indian disparities.
42:12 - Where is India's wealth locked up?
43:20 - Analyzing India can be daunting - different reports, different analysis and the future of wealth creation.
45:38 - Unemployment in India - 45 percent of graduates are unemployed and the need to invest in training or reskilling.
52:22 - Climate change, lack of water and more.
54:30 - Who pays in India to keep things moving?
58:45 - Our energy sustainability

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In this episode theUpStreamLife.com's speak with Zinnov's President, Globalisation Excellence, Nilesh Thakker who talks about how India has become the place for setting global capability centres or some may even call it excellence centres or innovation centres.

00:00 - Introduction.
01:20 - Globalisation is about innovation and leveraging talent.
02:08 - A bit of history, the cost arbitrage era.
05:30 - How Zinnov builds globalisation excellence.
08:30 - Productivity in excellence centres is higher.
10:15 - Looking at business within India.
11:40 - How India became a global product hub?
19:34 - Indian leadership is global.
22:30 - Staying close to the American time zone.
26:16 - IT Services have to add value going forward.
31:14 - The war for talent in India 
38:10 - Nilesh's personal story.

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In this episode we speak to Gagan Agarwal, the co-founder of Planet Electric. Their speciality is to work modular but create a centralised IP for vehicle manufacturing. As an EV OEM in the commercial vehicle industry they have to take on the Mahindras and the Tatas. Check out the podcast to know their aspirations.

00:00 - Introduction.
01:35 - From space to an OEM.
03:46 - Starting up Planet Electric and the modular approach.
10:00 - The economics of Planet Electric'd light weight EV.
16:25 - Second life of an EV.
22:13 - Pricing of the vehicle.
30:00 - Designing a functional vehicle.
35:41 - What would you do with the data generated from the EV?
39:40 - The early supporters of Planet Electric.
44:30 - EV first policy in India.
48:00 - Gagan's inspirations.

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In this podcast we talk about how CIEL-HR became a large business in nine years and is preparing for an IPO.

00:00 - Introduction
01:30 - The business of CIEL-HR
10:25 - Building end to end solutions for modern organisations.
15:55 - Early customers and value propositions.
23:40 - Managing the business in the early days.
27:00 - Going after the EV & manufacturing industry.
33:20 - AI and the HR function.
36:22 - Funding raising and IPO plans.
40:30 - Being in touch with Hindu philosophy.

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In this episode you will discover the skill of the Minus Zero engineering team in building world class software for the automotive world. If the world of AI led driving is real, then Minus Zero is building such technologies from India to the world's best automotive companies. They have already signed a couple of large commercial vehicle companies to use their platform. Discover the thoughts of the co-founder Gagandeep Reehal in taking his business to a market where automobile makers have to stay relevant.

00:00 - Introduction
01:27 - The early days of Minus Zero.
06:40 - The paradigm shift in the automotive world.
10:41 - Democratising the tech for all automotive.
15:45 - LLMs and hallucinations in the automotive world.
20:07 - Why Large Language Models are big in India.
21:10 - Talent for this tech in India
26:37 - Natured inspired AI
34:34 - GPUs in the automotive world
42:52 - Partnering with OEMs

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