Startup founder's journey from Germany to India - Vittal Ramakrishna podcast

Vittal Ramakrishna Podcast - A journey of innovation and entrepreneurship
In this podcast, hosts of the Indian Community Podcast, Rahul Mehra and Amit Gupta, have a conversation with the innovator and entrepreneur, Vittal Ramakrishna. Vittal discusses his journey starting from Bangalore, moving and working in Germany, where he built successful crowdfunding platforms, and ultimately returning to India. He talks about the ventures he initiated, the role of hope in entrepreneurship, and the transformations in the startup ecosystem in India.

Transcript

Track 1: 0:00

Welcome to Indian Community Podcast, where we explore stories of innovation and entrepreneurship. I'm Rahul Mehra with my co-host, Amit Gupta. Today we are joined by Vittal Ramakrishna, the force behind Kreate empowering 20,000 plus creators to sell their homemade or handmade products directly to consumers. Vittal also founded Pod a marketplace democratizing funding and fundraising, and has previously launched a successful crowdfunding platform in Germany earning accolades as the fastest growing startup. We are eager to dive into Vittal's journey, uncovering the inspirations and challenges behind this ventures. So let's get started with some thought provoking questions.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 0:51

Hey, Namaste Vittal Thank you and welcome to the Indian Community Podcast.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 0:55

Thank you. Thanks so much.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 0:57

Great. Let's, let's start from the beginning. We all know you had a very successful business in Germany and you, you stopped all of that and you came back to India. So what brings you back to India?

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 1:10

I, I would rather with how I moved out of India to begin with,

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 1:15

Okay.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 1:16

then what

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 1:16

Okay,

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 1:17

me to come back to India. Right. I think on that small note I am from Bangalore in India. born and brought up in Bangalore. I graduated out of one of the not nicest years. One can graduate out of that was the year of 2008 where there was the financial depression happening across the globe. I had to find something on my own means and built a small company websites and doing web developments for a lot of I would say retail stores back in Bangalore. Knocking literally on their doors asking them if they want a website.'cause that was something which was very fashionable back then. It was an eight, nine, and 10. So literally knocked on the doors, got in a couple of orders after several months of knocking on these doors. And we built a small prototype for a fashion retail giant currently under the umbrella. But back then it was a standalone company called Madura Governments, built a small fashion, management system for them and we sold that in 18 months.

Track 1: 2:24

Mm-Hmm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 2:24

that was, I still consider my first successful exit of building a product and selling it. I'm mentioning this as a product, not a business.'cause I had no clue how to run a business back then, you know, so all started from there. And later on, although I come from an electronic engineering background. I was somebody who was passionate of electronics, still passionate about it. got into investment management project financials totally flipped, 180 degree into the industry. Got into KPMG, started traveling across India. of the client was outside of India, and one of them was Robert Bosch in Germany. Looking at my work, they said, don't you get in either Germany or us? I loved road trips and I've always heard that Europe was a fascinating place for road trips. and most of my friends were moving to us, so I thought, let me do the unconventional thing and move to Germany. this happened end of 2010 and after that, definitely there's no looking back. I was part of investment management projects across the globe and several clients. Started off freelancing when I chanced upon somebody was doing very interesting projects in crowdfunding. touch base of that term was in 2013 I met somebody from the US and he was working out of a cafe. Met him, he said, you are in investments. I am doing something in helping ideas raise funds, which was unheard of back then, even for somebody coming from the investment. So that struck me. I that a lot of passion, which people bring in one to start some ideas, and there are equally passionable people who are funding those ideas, you know? So that me to another level and I got involved with him freelancing by little. The bureaucratic process in Germany did not allow me to freelance right away. I had to do a lot of paperwork to go through as an immigrant there get some approvals by the federal authorities just to become a freelancer. post that I understood that is a niche which I could capture in the German speaking countries alone I spoke fluent German. I built a small platform just to streamline the inflow of my request from German speaking countries and host those fundraising campaigns in us, which was typically Kickstarter and Indiegogo. I still remember one of my personal favorite crowdfunding projects, which happened to raise a million dollar on Kickstarter, was Swat Kats. You know, as a child, loved Sweat Cats as a comic cartoon, which was coming on Cartoon Network, if I remember. And we used to run back from school, watch the cartoon. I think that was for me the most important impact which happened in my life that my favorite cartoon able to get funded through some little efforts of mine back in us. So that, for me, now triggered multiple things, of course. And I became a full-time crowdfunding consultant in Germany later on. Started off a platform in Germany for only the German speaking countries, which is the dark region, what we call Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. So that was one of the first platforms which started off early 2016. Got good amount of

Track 1: 6:14

Okay.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 6:14

organically bootstrapped, I was the solo founder. Again, being a solo founder in a very document oriented bureaucratic country like Germany was definitely not easy. It wasn't one of the most founder friendly countries as well. being an immigrant, I took a long route to get a lot of approvals you know, I eventually went on to hold a seat in the crowdfunding council, by the end of 2019. So that was something which was really good defining policies of how Europe looks at crowdfunding. And that was also the formation of European which happened. So that for me was very interesting. Of course, as a business, I understood the nuances of what is profitability very early on because I was not spending a lot on burning my expenses and stuff. So profitability was very early into my venture increased. And by the time that got acquired by a large media house in Germany, we were already profitable. And, you know, a couple of million dollars in the exit is something which happened all in. For me, and wide eye opener for me that there's plenty of money in the startup ecosystem. And I was investing from that time into multiple startup ventures. So I think 2016 onwards startup as a terminology became a lot more mature in the European markets. I had very little to do with the Indian markets even back then. I became the ambassador for the German Side of Startup Exchange program, which wanted to have a trade talk with the Indian Foreign Ministry. So they took me along as an ambassador. that was an interesting move for me. And 2020s where I came to India when I chanced upon meeting these delegates from both the startup ecosystems between India and Germany, I understood that a lot of potential was happening in India. Of course I didn't know what to do, but I started investing in those startups, which I found interesting. And some of them were really unconventional startups, which I invested in something which I wanted to learn the domain as well. So post entry to India, which was still not a permanent move, I think I was just exploring what was happening here. And then covid happened, right? We all went into our lockdown. And during this time, my whole road trip saga in India, just before the lockdown happened, you know, I had changed upon meeting an artisan selling handmade dolls at one 10th of the price, which was available in the city limits of Bangalore. so this was in the coastal city of you know, in,

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 9:10

Mm-Hmm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 9:11

so this was for

Track 1: 9:13

Okay.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 9:13

genesis of something. Extraordinary of what happened in the next several years called Create. Yeah. So that was my entry to India, I would say, and I never looked back.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 9:27

That's a wonderful story. Vitel there were, there were so many elements of that story, which which are also nostalgic to me. SWAT cats is also one of my favorites. In fact. Let me ask you a swat cat question. So, do you like Razor or T-bone better? Which,

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 9:42

Yeah,

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 9:42

one was your favorite,

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 9:43

my, my favorite was T-One, he was more of the happy go lucky kind of guy.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 9:51

think we're lucky. Yes, exactly. Razor meant business and T-Bone was you know, the one, the one with the, with a little bit of humor in him. So that's, that's cool. I, you know, my personal favorite was also T-Bone. So I think there's some synergy there. You, you spoke a lot about you know, the, the, the process that you went through to become who you are.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 10:13

Yeah,

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 10:13

so that, that is also very inspirational. And it also tells us that there's, there's so much of hard work that has gone in, right. To, to build this, especially with all that documentation that you had to do in Germany.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 10:27

yeah,

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 10:27

that, that was a, that was a very interesting piece of insight. Speaking about Germany we all know German engineering is, is very famous for you know, precision, reliability,

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 10:38

yeah.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 10:39

innovation. What do you think Indian Engineering is famous for or is going to be famous for in the future?

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 10:47

See, I, I definitely would look at two segments. You know, who put it out in German way, Germany's, Iraq, industrialization, you know, took them to where they are today. Very, I would, I would still say during our independence, Indian independence is where all the wars ended. Even for Germany, the unification still had not happened. The industrialization had just begun to them. Correct. So you just look at them. They're still as equivalent to how old we are as India. Correct. But what drove them entirely is phenomenal. Their passion to do best of what they're doing. So for them, why they're very proud of their engineering is, I'll just give you a small example. When I was working with Germans, they come into the office at eight sharp. Okay. start working from 8 1 8 2, they start working absolutely no deviations at all the lunch break. Their lunch is from 12 to 1230. 30 minutes, not beyond it. Again, I'm not trying to generalize everybody, but this is what I experienced till 12. There's no shift of their head from left to back. Okay. They're just doing what they're able to do and the best way you speak to anybody, they say, I'm here for this reason. I've got this opportunity to work and deliver this. My role is to deliver this. Right. So they were very clear on their roadmap. They were very clear on their project management aspect in delivering what had to be delivered in the best way. So this is what took their medium scale industries to those heights. If you talk of Germany, it's their medium scale industries, which is the backbone for their economy. You know, so

Track 1: 12:45

Mm-Hmm

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 12:46

at the same perspective from the Indian side, Indian economy is not entirely dependent on engineering alone. So that is how I would like to put it always. We are not rebuilding a nation unlike other countries, you know, we did not go through

Track 1: 13:06

mm-Hmm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 13:07

war to aspect. We were colonized. If you just look at it from historical part, we understood what was straight much before people carry it. So this is why medium scale industry still holds good to India and Indian engineering. When you look at it, are people who try to play smart in the work, what we do that sometimes backfires. That also leads to some more into innovation. Correct. So there is always that risk and rewards how we put it out from the Indian perspective, you have two sets of people when you look at it. Even I think in the US Indian diaspora, when you set it out, there are people who have been working in the corporate decades together. They've been doing good at what they've been doing. They don't want any new challenges in their life because they're settled. Then there are certain set of people which is increasing of course, right? Who don't want to keep doing the same way conventionally again. They want to move over that. They want to keep trying out new things. Now this passion risk taking ability is something which is higher in Indians as compared to Germans. Germans are very happy with eight to five workloads. don't want any deviation. One company, two companies forever, nothing else. are always hungry. I very recently in one of the TED talks you know, where I put out was there is also that philosophical significance because they say that we are a land of seekers. We always seek music. You know, we are never content with certain aspects. That is why we don't stop at one thing. We keep looking what after this? What? After this? No, it just cannot keep us contented. So this is why I would say we are at that era we have started looking inward. I think one of that brilliantly put out was made in India, make in India a campaign. I think Indians have realized that a lot has to be looked within than rely on outside. So

Track 1: 15:18

Right.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 15:18

when you look at a lot of foldings now it says, you know, made in Germany as an engineering part, or even the kitchen where, where we have been seeing in holdings in India is slowly being moved away

Track 1: 15:31

mm-Hmm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 15:32

shown as proudly made in India.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 15:35

Correct.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 15:35

I think that whole thing shows that we are moving into an era which will be completely owned the Indian side, but of course, hard work cannot be substitute.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 15:48

That is very true. In fact I, I, I. I like the fact that Indians are not content with what they have. And, and that makes them also move forward, right? So you, you, you think that you can do better than this. You think you can achieve more than this. And, and that's the spirit which is going to keep fueling more innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship, right? Because once you settle into that contentment zone that's, that's where things start hitting a plateau, right? Because you know, you are not going to go beyond, over and beyond what you, your potential is, right? So I think that's, that's where things are changing dramatically. In fact, when I look at the entrepreneurship circle within India these days, and I've been actively following a lot of these brands I'm so surprised at how much. A lot of these companies have been able to achieve in how little of time. Right? And that's just because of a new kind of passion and energy that's being putting in. Right? I I think maybe our work culture may not be as let's say laser focused as the German culture is right to, to not look left or right. We will continue to look left and right and have chai and all that stuff with our colleagues in the morning. But the energy and the enthusiasm is, is really there. And the whole making India made by Indians the brand India is, is really shining in that

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 17:23

Yeah. Yeah. Cool. And I,

Track 1: 17:26

Right. And you know, I, yeah, it's okay. Please carry on.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 17:30

to add a small thing. A lot of,

Track 1: 17:33

Yeah.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 17:34

for the German economy also comes from the government side where prominence is given to r and d. Right? So in every sector, when you

Track 1: 17:43

Okay.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 17:44

that is only happening now when you see in the Indian perspective, I've seen in a lot of startups earlier is including me, I've done copycat of models, which I worked on the western side the Indian audience, tweaking those models. But now people are talking of what is IP protected? What is a patent solution, right? I think that is increasing now as compared to what it was couple of years ago, and I'm super happy about.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 18:15

Very true. I think the whole UPI concept, right? you see how it has come out from India and now is being adopted across the world. So that, that is one of one such great example, which is also supported by the, the government. You know, so there is, there's this dramatic support there. And it's also an innovation which is fueling global recognition.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 18:38

Hmm.

Track 1: 18:40

And also, you know creators like you, you know, who are actually I mean, you know, I was very inspired by you finding a doll, you know, in the coastal region of Karnataka. And then you know, that giving the idea of creation, of create. So, you know, I mean, how do you see its role in transforming the creator economy?

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 19:00

See, I, I would, I would put it this way. Now, once you have the mindset of being a founder, or somebody who wants to start on their own. Becomes more like that gamble, like Vikram Baitaal, it is not going to leave you, That whole ideology,

Track 1: 19:19

Okay.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 19:20

always keep haunting you to keep looking at new

Track 1: 19:23

Right.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 19:24

And once you have been bitten by that entrepreneurial bug, start thinking everything is a problem and you start bringing solutions for everything. when you're on the

Track 1: 19:35

Mm-Hmm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 19:36

oh, this is the issue. I would like to see. Wow, okay, this is the issue. I would like to bring a solution for this. You know, that is how I would look at it. So I think for the creators side, it, I don't come from the domain at all. For me, it was all about creating a simple solution, you know? So a simple solution for an existing problem. That is all I wanted to look at. And how scalable is the solution is something which we always look at. We are doing things, might be not a unicorn idea. It is fine. At the end of the day, it is impacting lives. It is solving for somebody's I think it's absolutely fine. It may not be a unicorn. always tell people instead of one unicorn, there can be a hundred mini unicorns, right? A hundred

Track 1: 20:29

Right,

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 20:29

can do a hundred pro business is absolutely good worth it than having and routing for just one unicom. So something which I am a big advocate of.

Track 1: 20:38

absolutely

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 20:39

So I would say when we started off onboarding these small handmade sellers, there were earlier restrictions with multiple platforms that certain registration is mandatory, including the big e-commerce platforms. we were one of the first to introduce a threshold limit for such sellers selling. If you are able to sell

Track 1: 21:01

mm-Hmm

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 21:02

threshold limits, you don't need a lot of documentation

Track 1: 21:05

mm-Hmm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 21:06

That is how we started off that took us in a

Track 1: 21:11

Okay.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 21:12

and started pouring in from all across communities. I think it spreads like a rapid fire, it spreads like a wildfire when one seller is selling, you know, what, I'm able to sell through this platform. end of the day, what these sellers want, they need sales, nothing else. They don't need fancy technology. They want to make a sale, make livelihood. If we are able to address that at scale, that's the best what we have done that. think we have touched close to around 26 and a half thousand sellers and their lives through which I am able to think, because of this platform or because of this idea, and their family are able to tend to their livelihoods now. I think no joy is greater to me than that. sellers call and talk about that, I think that for me is much more superior feeling than anything else compared to other, I would say know, businesses which have run and have been running as well. So yeah,

Track 1: 22:19

So money is not needed beyond an extent. That's true.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 22:22

absolutely.

Track 1: 22:22

You know, and if you have to give back so you are giving back.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 22:25

Kind of, yes.

Track 1: 22:28

Yeah. Kind.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 22:29

The one thing that I noticed vitel is in Germany when you had to establish your company, you had a lot of documentation and paperwork and let's say the, the whole red tap or bureaucracy, if you, if you may say or the process oriented or the, the level of detail that they required. I think with create, you've eliminated. So you, you, you, you could sense a similar sort of an scenario over here. And you eliminating those barriers is is empowering people. So that, that is, I think a phenomenal approach. Mm-hmm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 23:03

I think when, when you just touch upon the entry barrier, see any problem, any solution, 50% is always the entry barrier,

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 23:12

Correct.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 23:13

if you're able to reduce that friction and eliminate that, I think that is where most of the solutions can always be scalable. That is how I look at it. And with documentation later on. GST came into place and mentioned that you are able to sell any of your goods up to a certain limit of 20 lax, you are exempted from filing for GST, so you would need not have a G SST registration. This happened very recently. I was like, we already did this three years ago, four years ago. Right. Certain. So that

Track 1: 23:47

It, but it was required for online registration, even for Amazon and

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 23:53

as a business, yes. But as a person who's sitting at home. These people are not businesses. They're simply selling product from their home. Convenience to some set of people alone. So these are not, like I said, going to be big brands, but there are many brands which have started off from us, went on to grow at scale, became full-fledged businesses, raised funds on, you know, shark Tank, go pitch on there. So

Track 1: 24:24

Right,

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 24:25

something which is more like conversion for all of those people who want to take it to those levels. There are some sellers who are content with selling medium quantity make to order as, and when the order comes, they're happy to do it. Sitting at the comfort of their homes, being, you know, house makers, home makers. I think that kind of audience also you.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 24:48

So for and, and this is in the interest of people who are thinking of marketplaces, right? And you, you've successfully established a marketplace with is that number correct? 22,600 creators. 26 and half. Sorry. So that's, that's a really large number of creators. Right? But you would've to start with 1, 2, 3, 4. Right. So the, the first hundred would be the critical mass that you had to acquire. Now when you speak to those first hundred, you don't have customers buying on at your doorstep. So what was it that, that you spoke to them to convince them to come to this platform and sell here? Because it's a catch 22. Why should I come there? There is nobody buying, you know? So you would've seen that kind of resistance. How did you address that?

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 25:49

Marketplaces, like you already mentioned, right? Are the easiest to start, the hardest to run right? Because you always have the chicken and egg problem, right? Whom do you address first or whom do you solve first? So when, when we started off I would say that wanted to understand what these sellers are currently looking at avenues to sell. How are they selling and what are their

Track 1: 26:18

Mm-Hmm

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 26:19

points and what are they looking to achieve out of their sales? That is essentially how we put it.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 26:26

Mm-Hmm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 26:27

when we understood that, let's, for example, say payouts. Payouts happen. Minimum 30 days cycle. Okay? So they sell it

Track 1: 26:35

mm-Hmm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 26:36

Wait

Track 1: 26:36

Right.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 26:37

for the payment cycle. Second was. Lack of transparency in commission. So till they make a sale, till they got get money in their bank account, they still don't know how much of commission they have to pay to the marketplace or an agent.

Track 1: 26:53

mm-Hmm

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 26:54

And

Track 1: 26:55

mm-Hmm

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 26:55

marketplaces. they have to sell

Track 1: 26:58

mm-Hmm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 26:58

to consumer, they can't afford to have a storefront. of course not every storefront is going to catch eyeballs because of the location. Correct. Initial capital is needed, which they don't have. And when they

Track 1: 27:13

Right.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 27:14

agents, they need to see how many agents are getting involved. We understood there are three to four average number of agents involved to sell a decent homemade product. know, and these are from tier two cities. I'm not even going to the depth of rural India, So

Track 1: 27:31

Okay.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 27:31

agents, commission is all distributed. Finally, what they make is very small amount in terms of net. Sales. So we understood

Track 1: 27:41

Okay.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 27:41

are multiple problems, but we can't do everything at once. So we thought, let us solve one by one. What is it they want? They want faster payouts'cause they cannot wait for 30 days always. Right? So we said the

Track 1: 27:57

Mm-Hmm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 27:58

the day the customer says perfect product is fine. There is no breakage. I'm happy with the product. It usually takes two to three working days, maximum based on the product where it is being shipped across. India I'm talking to. They say, okay, real time payout gets generated with us.

Track 1: 28:18

Okay.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 28:19

what this happens is this encourages the seller to start telling in his network as compared to other people. Can you please buy only and create of all my products. I don't want to sell anywhere else because of convenience. Right. He says, I'm happy to pay you more if you're able to gimme this convenience. don't have to follow up with you 10 times like other places. I don't have to give away a lot of my commission because you have started off this way. So I think they all are fine with the monetary aspect. just not fine with the way convenience has been handled for them. this is how you start with

Track 1: 28:59

Okay.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 29:01

Look at some small community to begin with, then try to extrapolate

Track 1: 29:06

Mm-Hmm

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 29:07

region. Another region. need a lot of patients. I always tell first time entrepreneurs that you're launching any product, it should not be the best looking

Track 1: 29:17

mm-Hmm

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 29:18

or most technologically advanced product. You don't need that. You know, are you

Track 1: 29:24

mm-Hmm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 29:25

to your consumer? Is the consumer ready to pay? That is essentially all that matters.

Track 1: 29:31

Right,

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 29:32

Something, which I have always come up with is a four P 4P principle. If your problem is painful enough and you have paying people, your idea is going to take off crazy. That's all that matters. right. So this is how we start marketplaces.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 29:52

I have a follow

Track 1: 29:53

That's cool.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 29:53

on that because you, you you know, there was, there was an interesting point that you made about you are, if you're solving a problem and people are willing to pay for that,

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 30:03

Yeah.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 30:03

Just recently Uber, CEO made a statement,

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 30:06

Mm-Hmm.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 30:07

in, in fun. He said, Indians are very demanding and then they don't pay for anything.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 30:14

Okay.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 30:15

And, and, and, and that happens with customers, right? So even if you are solving their problems and you're you are, you are taking away their pain. Sometimes they just don't want to pay. And, or they, they want to pay you, but you, you, you don't agree on what they think is the value. So there is always this gap between value received and value perceived. Right. So there is this gap. How do you as a, as an entrepreneur, bridge that gap?

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 30:43

I think one when you are trying to address a problem through one of their solutions, right? We keep getting this a lot as well. people come and say, you know what? This product is very expensive. I can get this much cheaper elsewhere. You know,

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 30:58

Correct.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 30:59

we do say, see, it is not about a price disparity here you might get a product outside, it is what this artisan deserves at the end of the day.'cause they are putting in the efforts. We have stood by our ground. You know, we are definitely not the most economical platform in India. I keep telling this to multiple people also. We are not anywhere close to economical, the quality, what you get, you are gonna come back again. Our retention is at close to 60% month on month. people come back and keep making more purchases because of the quality of products. We also read these products when you talk of the Indian Audi audience and the consumer market overall. Now we are spoiled by choices, We are spoiled by choices.

Track 1: 31:48

Right.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 31:49

There are deep discounts which are being run by a lot of players, you know, which are eventually taken over by the company itself and passed on the

Track 1: 31:59

Mm-Hmm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 31:59

as a buyer, is one of the cheapest in the world, right? Internet for me, a GB cost, I would say roughly around 40 rupees, you know, just to put it out in that perspective, that's one of the cheapest in the world. So is at your fingertips. Once everything is at your fingertips, right? You have a lot of choices to look at and look at the segment where we are focusing on. These are non-essentials. These are non, these are not commodities for daily usage. We don't sell pulses. This is not grocery. Correct. once you are in that urgent need segment called groceries, daily deliveries, you know, like the Zepto Blinkit, which delivers groceries in 15 minutes, right? These are not food, which gets perish, in a couple of hours, are not fresh products. So the industry where we plan and are segmented to be in is a place which is for lifestyle at the end of day. You know, so when we put out lifestyle products, it comes with a lot of choice for these people. So I would say positioning quality is something which is very critical and it does take a lot of funneling to get these people to go try our products because there are some people who come and say, you know what? I purchased these products on so and so platform, we are not happy with the product, but now we would like to buy it here and see how it is. So they need to go through that lifecycle of a buyer. Marketing only takes you to the door of the consumer. At the end of the day, it is the decision of the consumer who says, I want to let this offer in versus that. So I would say it is hard to penetrate to consumers day to day. Like I said, spoiled by choices it also depends on how you keep branding yourself again and again, how you package it and deliver to those consumers. Finally, once it is delivered, you are now at the mercy of the consumer to say. Okay. This is a product which I wanted now that is only in your control, we want to deliver It is always a play and try method, which we keep trying.

Track 1: 34:25

That's.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 34:27

That I, I'm just absorbing everything that you said. Because as an entrepreneur this is also something that I am, I'm thinking every day, how do we deliver value? How do we determine what is valuable or what is going to be pursued value? You know, that's, that's like the first question that we keep asking, to ourselves. And, and then you speak with customers or potential customers and, and then you realize, okay, your interpretation of value versus their interpretation of value. You know, sometimes there's a mismatch and, and you have to bring as close as a alignment as possible. So that is, that is wonderful to hear directly from you on this.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 35:09

Cool.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 35:09

And you have a very interesting new startup, which is focusing on startups. I think it's called pod. You tell us a little bit about what is POD

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 35:20

Yeah.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 35:20

why are you so passionate about this new adventure that you have started on?

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 35:26

So the genesis of what is also interesting, it doesn't have fascinating story like Kreate Right. But it has gone more with my experience of how I was not able to invest in a systematic manner, as an angel investor

Track 1: 35:44

Mm-Hmm

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 35:45

day to day investor as well. Plus at the same time having raised funds on my previous startup, it was not

Track 1: 35:54

mm-Hmm

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 35:55

process, know, so.

Track 1: 35:58

mm-Hmm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 35:58

me a couple of months, a lot of follow ups, multiple rejections of course. And at the same time, the end of the day, money in the bank took much longer than what we had all anticipated. So we thought there is definitely a gap, which can be solved there are certain elements which can be producted. That is how we started off Invest as a platform, in India two years ago, almost two years ago now. And the intention was to streamline for founders to go and raise their first and second check, which is usually the most difficult stage to raise funds, I would usually say, because there you don't have a product yet. Maybe, maybe you don't have a lot of paying customers, it is just your passion, which ignites a potential investor to look at. back the founder, I usually say angel investors back, the founders, not the businesses.'cause the business is not yet built. It'll take a couple of years to build the business, right? So you are betting more on the founder. So wanted to build something where it is much more accessible, streamlined the

Track 1: 37:14

Mm-Hmm

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 37:15

to focus only on fundraising and no extra gimmicks involved and an everyday investor who has some disposable income, right? I, myself being an NRI earlier, you know, was looking at multiple avenues to invest in the Indian markets. And only when you are away from India, your to India also strengthens something which I have experienced myself, so start thinking, what can I contribute back into the Indian economy? Right? So all of those things add to

Track 1: 37:47

mm-Hmm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 37:48

And we wanted to product that process, make it seamless. Make quality deals available to people who want to put money into those startups. So I will give you a short example. There was one doctor in Germany who wanted to, you know, invest in a tech company in India, didn't know where to approach.

Track 1: 38:10

Mm-Hmm

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 38:10

did find a couple of

Track 1: 38:12

mm-Hmm

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 38:12

approach them. He then understood that it is just the money they take, but he wanted to play an active role. So that became a good match point for us to showcase that, hey, here is one health tech startup you can invest and go directly onto the cap table of that company. This way you are now a

Track 1: 38:34

mm-Hmm

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 38:34

in the company, through another vehicle. Right? So this added value by bringing skin in the game for that senior doctor was also one of the dean in a large medical institution. Through that he was

Track 1: 38:51

mm-Hmm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 38:52

in some money and the founder needed some distributor network in the health tech, industry, which this dean opened up. That company became profitable. So I think we add value being an angel investor by not just putting the money. I,

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 39:08

mm-Hmm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 39:09

I think that was something which we solved at a very minute level to begin with from the last two years. So far we have done around 38 deals on the platform. Paperless, transparent to everybody, compliant with all the regulations. We close deals

Track 1: 39:28

That's good.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 39:29

end in three to four weeks, which is unheard of, you know, including paperwork.

Track 1: 39:34

Mm-Hmm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 39:34

we have workflow set up

Track 1: 39:36

Right.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 39:37

All the transactions happen offline. It takes months together.

Track 1: 39:41

Mm-Hmm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 39:41

calls investors, multiple time investors is vacationing somewhere, doesn't want to pick the ball. found the investor reaches out to the founder as, where is my share certificate? Where is my agreement? I have sent you the money. Where are you, you're absconding. All of those things are something which are slowly getting eliminated through a platform like us.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 40:05

This

Track 1: 40:05

Okay.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 40:06

There's, there's this investors who express interest and then they start ghosting you also as a problem. Right? I, I've seen that personally many a times where people will express interest and still be like very curious about what you're doing. And you tell them everything and there is now a time when you have to shake hands, that's when people start ghosting you. So that,

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 40:30

I think

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 40:30

I, I think God is solving that problem

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 40:32

I, I tell the founders, you know, I don't pitch anything about the platform or technological use cases. I tell the founders in three days, you will get. or a no from us, you know, that you are not

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 40:46

is.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 40:47

around waiting for something to happen. Hope is a very powerful tool which can either catalyze your vision or destroy your you know? So this is something which I have understood as a founder, and I don't want to play around with that hope of a founder, which is why we say in four days maximum, we say, no, this is not gonna happen. So that he's at least clear that it is not gonna.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 41:13

Your last statement reminds me of this one quote in Hindi. And it's, it's, there's, there's a little bit of fun involved here, which says, Rulaayega Kya Pagle you know, so Tumse na Ho paayega no, but the hope, the hope, I think the hope is the. essential where Especially with entrepreneur first time founders, yes, they they, they are hopeful. But then there are also second time and third time and fourth time founders of people who have tried this models in the past. They've, they've knocked on doors not seen those doors open. So there's, they're always you know, their hopes are very thin and, and their, their, the motivation that they need at that time is, is really important because as an entrepreneur, I think I. don't worry as much as about how much did I sell, right? I'm, I'm more worried about how many doors was I able to open or how many people were interested in what I was talking about, right? So that interest and that hope, the, the support that, that comes along with it. And, and sometimes it's not about the money, it's also about getting the right advice at the right time.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 42:33

Yeah.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 42:34

So that is so if you're able to give somebody a response in three days

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 42:39

Hmm.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 42:40

really actionable and they, they can also adjust and, and, you know, change strategies.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 42:44

Yep.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 42:45

Whi you mentioned it's not about the idea or the company, it is about the founder. So you're looking at the founder. So are you looking for, achievements of the founder, or you're looking for certain traits.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 42:58

Yep.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 42:59

you know, because that's, they, they, somebody may have achievements in the bank, you know, in the sense been to the IITs or the IIMs of the world, or they've, they've come from a, a very rich history of you know, achievements that are celebrated and somebody is just out of college with, with a great idea good energy but they don't have that kind of history. So what do you look for? Or is it a mix of everything? Or you are looking for strong credentials or strong aspiration?

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 43:30

I, I am never been a fan of strong credentials because one, I don't have those credentials, so I don't know what to look for in a credential oriented person. Right. So that is one of the thing. But said that, most of this level of investments, you know, at this stage where prese typically, or very early seed stage startups, you know, it, it drives down to intuition, So when, when I am able to relate and investing is all driven by perspectives also and motivation. It's very simple. In the donation world, you donate because you feel good about it, you know, or you have gone through some journey like that. Correct. when it comes to investing, there are returns involved, is certain level of expectations involved and there are much more levels of motivations too. Correct. So when I look at investing in founders, I look if the founder one is aware and clear what he's actually looking to do, or not or she's looking to do or not, that clarity is for me, very important, So I don't look at fancy tools. I don't look at chat. GPT, AI driven, nothing of that sort. Are you able to put a pen and paper together and explain me what you are trying to build? why you are the person who's trying to build this, right? So that convincing ability is what I look at. And how much sellable is this founder? At the end of the day, it does not matter whether you're this founder, co-founder, C-E-O-C-E-O, nothing. You are the first and the last salesperson of the company. is what I keep telling you. If you are not able to sell it to people, nobody will be able to buy it. Very simple. You sell it to your employees, you sell

Track 1: 45:25

Right,

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 45:27

sell it to consumers. Forget everybody. You sell this idea to yourself first. you are not convinced of your own

Track 1: 45:35

right.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 45:35

you'll not take it anywhere. 90%, I rely on those intuitions see if are actually having that possibility to gauge those things. We don't have any metrics defined to gauge if the founder is fundable or not. There are some principles, which I am sure lot of people in this world have been following. They look at certain traits, but for me, hunger to do things is what I look at. was hungry at a particular point in time in my life and I didn't have a job. The same hunger. I look for people. able to relate to that quickly. I get attached to that quickly. So that is one

Track 1: 46:16

Mm

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 46:16

the things which I look for

Track 1: 46:17

mm-Hmm

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 46:18

And of course the rest of the things which are already mentioned in the investments that we like the market. How big is the market? Are this, are these

Track 1: 46:27

mm-Hmm mm-Hmm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 46:28

If there is a downfall in the market because no business starts the same and ends the same, it never happens that way. There is pivoting happens. Are they able to accept feedback? Are they able to accept rejection? all of these things goes in one conversation or two conversation or couple of hours with them. At the end of the day, still. The risk, right? It might turn out to be true or it might turn out to be false, but you always have to believe that was my decision to go for this and there should not be any regrets.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 47:03

That is excellent. So hunger and clarity,

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 47:06

Yeah.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 47:07

those are the two most important traits that you're looking for wi and it's interesting you mentioned this. So our last guest was Brendan Rogers, the founder of 2:00 AM vc. I, I, I know you have you have some history with him and if you wanna talk about what that was. And he also is, you know, mentioned the same sort of traits. So he's also looking for that hunger and the passion

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 47:33

Yeah.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 47:33

the founder. And it is also the clarity of thought. Interestingly, both of you are not so focused on how revolution. Is the idea, right? So you're not looking at revolutionary ideas. Of course, there has to be some some, a aspect to of that in, in the idea or in the business, right? It has to make sense in that sense. But you are, your stronger focus is more on who's running this business and why are they running this business and how clear are they about their vision. So I, I think that's, that's a very important message that goes back to our listeners. And, and can you tell us a little bit about you and Brendan.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 48:15

Yeah, I, I think one, I don't know him in person. He doesn't know me in person, but there was this common crowdfunding campaign which he had run. Several years ago on Kickstarter and I was part of that, funding team, know, which was working back to fund those campaigns. So that is how I know of his campaign. And later on that got acquired. went on to move from that campaign to becoming a full pledge company, which then got acquired. And he made good amount of exit through that company. then, he's been investing through VC through his own terms as an angel investor as well. And I think a couple of months back when I saw some of his Posts as well, I think it all resonated to a point that India is the country to be India is the destination. What are you doing elsewhere? India is the place. I think that narrative is something which we have been seeing from the last couple of years. I will give you another example, which is non-business oriented or non startup oriented is you see a lot of. Influencers who are on the content creation side, be it YouTube or Instagram, these are the people who have no connection with India, are reviewing Indian movie trailers and movie reactions, and they're able to be the substantial number of followers, right? So see the whole trend is moving towards that side you put it out that way. And why? Because we all have understood, and we have shown that the passion is just out of India entirely. And that has caught waves across the world you look at it. And definitely a good point where you do get good people, you do get not so good people as well to invest in. at the end of the day, it is your call to decide when you want to invest. Like I said, there are multiple stages to invest. Are you that risk taker Or are you foolish enough to believe that somebody can get you good enough returns? It all depends on your decision making. That is how I look at it. You do it the structured way through a vc. You do it the unstructured way. Being an angel investor, again, is your call. Nobody pushes you to that, but there is enough content already in the markets to make you an educated investor. is for sure. if it is not there, you should always reach out to somebody in the ecosystem to keep asking people, Hey, am looking to invest in X, Y, Z company or X, Y, Z. This is my first investment. do you think I should look for? And I've always told people more than green flags. You should always look and award the red flags. You that is how I always put it out. If you are able to avoid the red flags, that is your first red flag.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 51:20

I, I love how you, you have a play with words vi you're, you're also a wordsmith in my head, right? I, I love how how you spun that. it is, it is, it is very powerful to be in, in, in a position where you are able to think about you know, these sort of strategies, right? To be able to invest, to be able to, to bring change. Now. When you look at India, or, you know, when we even spoke with Brendan he mentioned, like you mentioned, that there's, there's active interest in India. There was one thing that he also mentioned about Haat. So he said, I look at India as the tier one the Mumbai, Bangalore Delhi and Chennai circuit. That's, that's my, that's the India that a lot of people outside of India are familiar with. But then there is this concept of barat, which is in the tier two, tier three, tier four, and the, the, the villages. think when you look at the work that you did with create that has gone into that and you, you've been able to. Bring visible and substantial change in, in that space. do you see that space? Because you're so close to I would say okay. Because that's, that's the the terminology that he has used. And I I think you are also in that you, you are pretty strong in that space. Where do you see that space evolving? Because when we, when we look at tier one enterprises, they're all about, we are doing, you know, commerce and, and we are doing ai and there's so much of technology heavy,

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 53:08

Yeah,

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 53:09

conversations in that tier one circuit.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 53:12

right.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 53:12

sectors are most, evident in that tier two, tier three ecosystem?

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 53:19

So see that's, I would say that's also driven by perspectives and I'm definitely no expert to generalize a country of, you know,$30 trillion economy kind of a model, right? So I'm too small, but from what I've understood at the ground level you can put it in couple of stages. There was a time where we focusing, you just consider how we all grew up, right? So, and our parents grew up from that era. So there was a time where getting a government job was priority number one, right? job life, secure, family, secure. Right, and then move to a state where, okay, now there are some corporates which are non-government, but high paying. Are you willing to take that risk? It might be unstable. Are you willing to take the risk? There are some people who moved that stage. Then there were some people who are passionate on studying. They knew that there are some constraints to study in the homeland and they could prosper much where much more outside of India. So these people took that risk and moved out of India. Right? So it was a small revolution within families itself, started off, and then you had these tire four, five, all these places who started telling, you know, these are the farmers and their children are moving out to cities to find jobs, whatever jobs it was. You know, some people were like, I am in the city. Some, some people would be like, okay, I moved out of the country so that I'm getting a job. So people started looking at this which has happened in a way where now tier three, tier four people are telling, you know what? My father is a farmer. He has these many acres of land. He spends 20 hours

Track 1: 55:21

Mm

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 55:21

only solving these certain aspects, are very manual

Track 1: 55:26

mm-Hmm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 55:26

to do. I now have a solution, which interestingly can be replicated in multiple other farmlands and can reduce 20 hours of

Track 1: 55:37

Mm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 55:38

12 hours of efforts. So they're trying to solve their own problems end of the day. And this put out on a business model canvas. This essentially turns out to be a startup. So this is how. People are looking inward, and when I mean inward, this is really inward, but they're trying to solve their own backyard problems. They are not trying to impress the society. They're not trying to impress somebody else or for peer pressure doing something. are real world problems which

Track 1: 56:08

Mm-Hmm

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 56:10

which is why everybody says the gold mine is in two, tier three, tier four cities. Consumer market is in tier

Track 1: 56:18

mm-Hmm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 56:19

which is where it's the market, and you divide India into that segment. India itself has gone to that startup model, so India itself is going into a startup mode currently, which is now in three seed to seed stage funding internally trying to bootstrap and grow out whole world market, and they're trying to make the world, this is how I.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 56:45

That's, that's beautiful tel And again, you're reminding me of CK Prahalad book The Fortune the of the pyramid right. It is, it is essentially where we are seeing India change dramatically and, and solving your own problems, right? So solving your backyard first and, and then winning the backyard of the year award to then replicate that. Especially in, in, in, in the US over here there is this tough war for the front yard of the year or the yard of the year. And, you know, so with, with the upcoming summer all me and my neighbors, we are all going to get into that competition. So, and every time I am going to be in my garden, this is a code that's going to be in the back of my mind is to solve the problems of my backyard first, right? And, and that becomes a model or that hopefully becomes a startup that that can scale.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 57:39

Absolutely.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 57:40

so that's, that's beautiful. So where do you see pod. In the next five years from now.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 57:46

So I, I would like to put this in a different way, right? So what, like I said, the genesis was to streamline the existing unorganized markets for the founder to raise funds, their first or second check, and for the investors to put their first or second check. is essentially how it all started for us five years. The way I

Track 1: 58:11

Mm-Hmm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 58:12

it has to be the point where a founder. Who wants to start his company or has an idea, of POD as that first entry point to build his business. That is how I would like to see Ford is, of course, priority number one. It has to be in a way where, you know what? I am listed on pod. That itself brings him level of, of merit to say that I am listed on board purely because we do have a stringent process to get listed, know, so out of thousands of applications we receive, we have still now only accepted around 78, 80, 80 applications alone. So that is why we want to set a gold standard compliance, be it filings, because these are the things which will come back and bite you the most later on, not at the beginning. This is why we want to make startups investible at first. Sec sec. Second, check. And as a plug and play to larger funds who then say, Hey, you know what, these are these startups which are funded through Paul, I'm sure they would've had at least 20, 30% more better compliance than what we will actually be spending time on now that reduces their time to fund this startup from six to nine months to maybe three to six months. And that, I would say, could be a phenomenal shift in building businesses as a whole in India.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 59:44

So as seen on Pod is, is going be an interesting tagline that I'm going be out in.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 59:51

True? Absolutely.

Track 1: 59:52

So I think do you think we are ready for our rapid?

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 59:56

Yes. Always. I think as a founder, I.

Track 1: 1:00:05

You have so many people, you know, you ask for Rapid to so many people, the startup that come to you. Okay? So it's a very simple one. We have, you know, very few questions and very simple ones for you. So coffee or tea. Okay. Okay. Bird or night?

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 1:00:24

I think we should stop asking this question to people in Bangalore. Because, because I, I, I, I lived in in Bangalore wi so in fact, I, I also traveled that dupe Al were that ur felt the coastal. But it is so beautiful. And I, I also have some really good memories about and filter coffee. So I, I think moving forward, we have to stop asking this question to anybody in Bangore because it has to be coffee and it has to be coffee.

Track 1: 1:00:57

Yeah. Okay. So the next one is Early Bird or NightOwl. Okay. One book that has inspired you the most.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 1:01:08

I think the psychology of selling

Track 1: 1:01:13

The psychology of selling in. Okay. So that's an important one for the startups, the psychology of selling, because it's coming from a, yeah. Okay. Favorite city for tech startups outside Silicon Valley. Bangalore.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 1:01:29

yes.

Track 1: 1:01:31

Okay. One startup or tech you are excited about right now?

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 1:01:40

There are a lot of startups which are in the health tech space. I would say one industry, which I am really loving the way artificial intelligence has assisted in. So there are certain startups which are in genome sequencing, which are able to

Track 1: 1:01:59

mm-Hmm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 1:02:00

stage cancer. So I think that is going to create a lot of impact and I'm rooting for such startups.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 1:02:08

In

Track 1: 1:02:08

Okay, good. Good.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 1:02:10

ironic that you mentioned that. Brittle. Just yesterday I was reading about a startup by Vive.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 1:02:17

Okay.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 1:02:18

a, he's a, he, he's a very strong influencer in North America. And he's coming up with a, a startup called Vionix Biosciences.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 1:02:29

Okay.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 1:02:30

Over there the, their aim is to create, or, you know, their, create a breathalyzer, sort of a device where you breathe into it and it detects cancer. So the early detection of cancer without being you know, it's not invasive. You're able to get results in real time and is is is really game changing. So there's a lot of machine learning and ai that is being invoked into or invested into that platform. But yeah, that's, that's definitely something that I was very interested in when I read that.

Track 1: 1:03:09

Okay. Alright. Okay, so one leisure activity that sparks creativity.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 1:03:16

I play with my dogs. I also rescue some injured dogs on the street, so I love. Dogs.

Track 1: 1:03:23

Yeah, that's a very caring attitude nowadays. A lot of people are against dogs. You see it in TV and in the press. So that's you know, it's, I love dogs myself, so that's a good one.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 1:03:36

a.

Track 1: 1:03:37

Favorite India. So favorite tool or app for productivity.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 1:03:44

I have been a little old school. I love Trello and its automation, simple. T.

Track 1: 1:03:50

Okay. Okay. That's a good one. Yeah. So the last one is a dream collaboration or partnership for your business

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 1:03:58

Doing collaboration.

Track 1: 1:04:02

or partnership for pod.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 1:04:06

I think integrating government initiatives through the platform is going to be perfect in alignment. They would act as the PR layer and the marketing campaign layer. We would act as the transactional layer.

Track 1: 1:04:19

Mm-Hmm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 1:04:20

Profit, marriage,

Track 1: 1:04:22

Great. Great. So have you done anything about it? Have you taken any steps about it?

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 1:04:29

Have.

Track 1: 1:04:31

Okay.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 1:04:31

is excellent again, I think thanks for that Rahul and thank you so much whittle for sharing. So many insights. I think this, this is one episode that I'm gonna play back and listen to and, and also start making notes because it's, it's important for us in our entrepreneurial journey to learn from people like you. As, as the last piece of advice, what would you tell to an aspiring entrepreneur if, you know, forget everything else, this is that one thing that I would want you to do. What would that be?

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 1:05:08

I think believing in yourself is super underrated because as an entrepreneur, one of the things, not one of the things, many things you decide, you know, be it in terms of hiring, pivoting, building something, reaching out to consumers, lot of things revolve around you as a founder or as an entrepreneur. So small element of doubt in that is absolutely acceptable. always talk to yourself and say that will always be better, for you. If not, I've seen a lot of founders quit midway, know, demotivated halfway. It is something which I've seen a lot in very young entrepreneurs, especially the younger set of people, you know, we have seen. College kids, school kids starting their ideas. You know, something which is nice but they're not able to handle that rejection. rejection is fine. One of the TED talks, which I did was I put out a large display, you know, slide and showed the you Chile and Uri there to people say, this is what normal people eat for breakfast. We eat rejection for breakfast, lunch, dinner as entrepreneurs. So embracing that as a quality is very important. Accepting failure is absolutely fine and when you need help, please speak out. speak out. The worst you are gonna get is no, nothing worse can happen beyond that,

Track 1: 1:06:45

Right.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 1:06:46

speak out. There are certain set of people who will definitely worst case at least talk to you. If they're not gonna help you, it's fine, but there

Track 1: 1:06:55

Okay.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 1:06:55

going to talk to you. That is very much needed. If not entrepreneurship is super lonely. tells you that. So accept that loneliness and ensure there are people around when you are really feeling very low, is all that is needed. That will

Track 1: 1:07:11

Mm-Hmm.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 1:07:12

Businesses will figure it out. Absolutely know you, figure out yourself. The business will run automatically.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 1:07:20

That is beautiful. Vitel, think we all have to build that immunity for rejection. We have to, we have to develop that muscle in, in ourselves. It is it is a, it is, it is advice that I'm, I'm hearing very often from seasoned entrepreneurs, from investors like you. And I think we, we have to play this in loop in our heads that a rejection is, is not the end of this world, right? So we have to move on and we, we keep trying and, I think it the, is, there is always the silver lining that, that, you know, you'll get there.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 1:07:59

Yeah,

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 1:07:59

think

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 1:08:00

I usually get that small anecdote from, you know, this Rocky movie, right? Rocky Balboa, you know, he, he tells his son about it. He says, it's not about how hard you can hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done. That's, that's something which is very nice.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 1:08:19

That is beautiful. Once again, thank you so much Vitel for this wonderful session. We are really inspired and we look forward to coming back to you and talking to you more about all the great work that you're gonna be doing, and hopefully we'll have more sessions in the future.

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 1:08:35

Sure.

amit-gupta_1_02-29-2024_085434: 1:08:35

you once again on behalf of everybody on the Indian Community Podcast and from our listeners and viewers thank you so much once

vittal-ramakrishna_1_02-29-2024_192434: 1:08:42

Thanks. Thanks.

Track 1: 1:08:44

Thank you.