Episode 77- Turning Adversity into an Advantage: Building Wakefit, Importance of Sleep, How to build a great company, w/Chaitanya Ramalingegowda
Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, the co-founder of Wakefit, a household name in India synonymous with quality sleep. Chaitanya's journey to Wakefit is a testament to persistence and unwavering determination. Before starting Wakefit, Chaitanya had nineteen years of experience spanning entrepreneurship, management consulting and marketing. Wakefit, his third start-up stint, co-founded with Ankit Garg, has emerged as a game-changer in the world of sleep solutions. Crafting products that redefine comfort and wellness, Wakefit's journey parallels Chaitanya's own pursuit of excellence in entrepreneurship.
Episode 76: Early Life, Impact of IIM, Is success an outcome of Brilliance or Network? How to make career decisions? How to build teams? Best leadership advice w/Dhruvank Vaidya
Dhruvank is the Head of Podcasts for Spotify India. Over a career spanning 25 years, he has launched several media and technology businesses and held leadership positions (CxO/ Business head) in digital media, content, television and technology companies like Star TV, Times of India group, NDTV Imagine/ Turner Broadcasting etc.
In his entrepreneurial stint, Dhruvank co-founded ‘The Adaptation Company’- a content company focused on book-to-film/TV adaptations.
Episode 53: Anand Jain- From door to door sales to building CleverTap
Anand Jain is the Co-founder of CleverTap. CleverTap is the world's leading customer engagement and retention platform, valued at USD 775M and backed by Sequoia India, Tiger Global and others.
In this fascinating conversation, Anand talks about how curiosity and constant tinkering of an average student from a humble background have led him to build multiple successful businesses, the value of thinking in first principles, how understanding the customer is selling and much more.
Episode 46: James Keyes- Leadership through adversity
James served as the Chief Executive Officer of 7-Eleven and chairman and CEO of Blockbuster. James graduated cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor's degree from the College of the Holy Cross. He also obtained an MBA from Columbia Business School in 1980. James is the founder of the 'Education is Freedom' foundation
Episode 45: Sourjyendu Medda: DealShare- Building a social e-commerce unicorn for Bharat
Sourjyendu is the founder and Chief Business Officer at DealShare.
After spending 15+ years with leading Retail and FMCG organisations such as Metro, Raymond and Britannia, Sourjyendu kicked off his startup journey at the age of 40 to build Bharat's first social e-commerce unicorn.
Episode 44: Taru Kapoor: Tinder- Solving a Hard Problem
Taru Kapoor is the general manager of Tinder and Match Group in India. In her previous stints, she has worked with Sequoia Capital and The Boston Consulting Group. Taru graduated from IIT Delhi with a B.Tech and M.Tech in Chemical Engineering and received an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School.
Episode 43: Shrishti Sahu- Investing in early-stage founders
Shrishti is the Managing Partner at SSV. SSV is a sector-agnostic family-office investing in early-stage companies. Through SSV, she has invested in 30 companies such as Plum, Kutumb, Chingari, Rupifi, Jar and 10Club.
Episode 42: Abhinandan Sridhar- Building a screenwriting career in the New Media Age
Abhinandan is a screenwriter who kicked off his career as an assistant director to Andhadhun writer and National Award-winning filmmaker Hemanth M Rao. His writing credits include Netflix's Little Things Seasons 3 & 4 and Teen Tigada, a film for Prime Video's Unpaused anthology.
Episode 41: Jeffrey Paine- Being an Introverted Leader
Jeffrey Paine is the Managing Partner & Co-founder at Golden Gate Ventures and an Edmund Hillary Fellow. Jeff is one of the most thoughtful VCs I have come across. Last year, he launched an initiative called Coachable that focuses on founders' mental wellness by pairing them with experienced coaches and mentors. He wishes for other like-minded VCs and corporations to join this initiative so that more founders get the support they need while building their startups.
Episode 40: Ashwin Suresh- From Wall Street to India on a one way ticket
Ashwin kicked off his career as an investment banker landed up working on Walls Street. In 2011 he took a one-way ticket to India to explore the New Media industry and today he is the founder of Pocket Aces and Loco.
Pocket Aces is the production house behind the hugely successful web shows such as Little Things, What the Folks and Please Find Attached.