·Founder Journeys
The best stories of 2024
Scintillating, insightful conversations and incisive articles on business, entrepreneurship and geopolitical trends
FF
Founding Fuel
Entrepreneurship Startups And Innovation
89 results
·Founder Journeys
How mega founders unlock startup success - Part 2
Where do outliers come from? In Part 2 of their conversation Rahul Chandra, author and MD of Arkham Ventures and Third Eyesight’s founder and CEO Devangshu Dutta discuss the startup ecosystem, the power of storytelling, and building for Middle India
FF
Founding Fuel
·Venture Ecosystem
FF Insights #613: VCs and startup culture
March 21, 2022: Newspapers battle to go digital; Life outside Excel; The global world order
FF
Founding Fuel
·Founder Journeys
FF Daily #531: The right age for entrepreneurship
November 24, 2021: AR fights VR in the metaverse; How to choose a doctor; Fake news
FF
Founding Fuel
·Founder Journeys
From Bombay to the Bay Area: The journey of “becoming a VC from nothing”
Shruti Gandhi, general partner and founding engineer at Array Ventures, talks about the power of people and relationships in building an entrepreneurial career from nothing, how to hustle when you know it’s the right time for you, and what it takes to be a constant learner
AB
Aparajita (Opu) Bhattacharyya
Product Strategy & Monetization | Microsoft Azure, Seattle
·Founder Journeys
FF Daily #459: Why show not tell matters
August 26, 2021: Unbundling market infra & market governance; How Taliban used tech; Road signs for a polarized world
FF
Founding Fuel
·Founder Journeys
Gaining ‘Tracxn’ in the startup world
Neha Singh, co-founder of Tracxn Technologies, talks about why she chose to be a generalist despite her techie credentials; how the startup ecosystem is evolving in India; and what founders ought to know about venture capitalists
AB
Aparajita (Opu) Bhattacharyya
Product Strategy & Monetization | Microsoft Azure, Seattle
·Founder Journeys
Is it in the genes?
A conversation with Anu Acharya, CEO of Mapmygenome and former CEO of Ocimum Biosolutions, about why early influences matter, what it takes to scale two genomics companies in India, and everything else from Nutella cravings to an equal partnership at home and work
AB
Aparajita (Opu) Bhattacharyya
Product Strategy & Monetization | Microsoft Azure, Seattle
·Founder Journeys
The ant and the elephant
Designing for 100 million users is different from designing for 100 users and scaling it up for 100 million, says Shankar Maruwada, co-founder of EkStep Foundation
·Founder Journeys
FF Daily #303: Figures resemble their creators
February 19, 2021: When a big tech acquires a startup; Lessons from Paul Graham; What WFH really is
FF
Founding Fuel
·Founder Journeys
FF Daily #283: Technology and trust in agriculture
January 27, 2021: How to perform under pressure; Why you should throw away your Bucket List; The state of Machine Learning
FF
Founding Fuel
·Venture Ecosystem
FF Daily #282: How VC pitches are failing women entrepreneurs
January 25, 2021: The genius of RK Laxman; Why you should watch Disney-Pixar’s Inside Out; How to correct VC bias against women entrepreneurs; Where Bernie meets Gump
FF
Founding Fuel
·Venture Ecosystem
Trendspotting 2021: Inside India’s Great Digital Reset
A new set of winners and losers are poised to emerge from the ashes of the pandemic. And a wall of foreign capital is pouring in to fund a slew of digital startups. A peek into what 2021 portends
HC
Haresh Chawla
Investor | Entrepreneur
·Founder Journeys
Dad, I want to start up!
Pallavi Desai wanted to start up seven years ago. Her dad Santosh Desai had serious reservations. She finally launched Creatures of Habit in February 2020. In Episode #4 of TAMG, they share the passions and anxieties, the highs and lows, as Pallavi set up an apparel label.
FF
Founding Fuel
·Founder Journeys
What to copy from China
The Growth Factor: Local problems, global solutions; China strategy; MSME loans
NR
N S Ramnath
Senior Editor | Founding Fuel
·Product & Innovation
The walls of innovation
It requires sustained effort to move innovation from a poster on the wall to conversation and action in the hall
FF
Founding Fuel
·Founder Journeys
Growth forces you to take risks that are not always sensible
Ecosystems have consumers with problems, authorities seeking to facilitate resolutions, and entrepreneurs who see growth in attempting to resolve it. An interview with Anand Deshpande and Amit Ranjan
CA
Charles Assisi
Co-founder and Director | Founding Fuel
·Founder Journeys
Embrace chaos and ambiguity to build world class software products
Products often mean you are embarking on a choppy, risky, longish journey. You are thinking about a customer problem from first principles, with no sight of when you will get anywhere close to a business model, revenues, customers and profits
AR
Amit Ranjan
Architect for the National Digital Locker Project | Ministry of Electronics and IT
·Venture Ecosystem
The difficulty of entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs operate in an environment where consumers want the best a capitalist society can offer, but insist on protectionism of the kind only a socialist system confers
FF
Founding Fuel
·Founder Journeys
Nothing personal. Just business
Biryani has the attention of entrepreneurs, investors and consumers. Biryani by Kilo was among the first off the block. This is the story of the founding team. Thus far
CA
Charles Assisi
Co-founder and Director | Founding Fuel
·Founder Journeys
Founding Fuel at four
This Week: The metrics of success, higher purpose, five greatest TED Talks, the art of negotiating, and more
FF
Founding Fuel
·Venture Ecosystem
No, there is nothing called Angel Tax
India needs more startups and entrepreneurs. Antiquated sections of the Income Tax Act must be reworked
HC
Haresh Chawla
Investor | Entrepreneur
·Founder Journeys
How a startup grows up to be an enterprise
This Week: The story behind Binny Bansal’s exit, India's startup culture, why the digital elite adore Yuval Harari, and the punctured myth of Sheryl Sandberg
FF
Founding Fuel
·Founder Journeys
Flippin’ over backwards
Less than six months after their momentous deal with Walmart, both co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal are out of Flipkart. It is a sad commentary on the hubris and the immaturity that’s gripped India’s high-flying tech entrepreneurs
IG
Indrajit Gupta
Co-founder and Director | Founding Fuel
·Venture Ecosystem
The best of 2018
Walmart vs Amazon, how large firms and start-ups can partner for innovation, societal platforms, startups and the ease of doing business, dreamers vs entrepreneurs, the trouble with B-Schools, grand challenges, and the purpose of enterprise
FF
Founding Fuel
·Founder Journeys
Aadhaar and the three laws of tech for entrepreneurs
In listening to the Supreme Court pronounce its verdict on Aadhaar, some pointers emerge to the vagaries of entrepreneurship
CA
Charles Assisi
Co-founder and Director | Founding Fuel
·Founder Journeys
Aadhaar and tech entrepreneurs
In listening to the Supreme Court pronounce its verdict on Aadhaar, some pointers emerge to the vagaries of entrepreneurship
CA
Charles Assisi
Co-founder and Director | Founding Fuel
·Venture Ecosystem
How large firms and startups are partnering to drive the innovation agenda
What are the models of engagement and the challenges of such a partnership in India? A panel discussion with Qualcomm India’s Larry Paulson, Kellogg School of Management’s Prof Mohanbir Sawhney, True North’s Haresh Chawla, Anunta Tech’s Ananda Mukerji, and SPJIMR dean Dr Ranjan Banerjee
FF
Founding Fuel
·Venture Ecosystem
Smart people don’t work for you
The management thinker Prof. Mohanbir Sawhney on why it is important that large businesses partner with startups. And Dean Ranjan Banerjee of SPJMIR on thought leadership that can emerge when industry and academia engage
FF
Founding Fuel
·Venture Ecosystem
Big Data in the Age of Biology
Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple sound old. Investors have their eyes on startups invested into healthcare and personal medicine
CA
Charles Assisi
Co-founder and Director | Founding Fuel
·Venture Ecosystem
Agile start-ups, large firms and a jugalbandi for innovation
When the agility of start-ups is combined with the scale of a corporation, great things can happen. Snapshots from the SJPIMR Business – Academia Conclave 2018, hosted by SPJIMR in partnership with Founding Fuel
FF
Founding Fuel
·Product & Innovation
Those who see problems as opportunities
This Week: Frugal innovation and doing better with less, fixing affordable housing, what ails research in B-schools, and the world in 2018
FF
Founding Fuel
·Founder Journeys
How to solve the affordable housing conundrum
Smart entrepreneurs are best placed to solve the affordable housing crisis. But they need the government’s support
IG
Indrajit Gupta
Co-founder and Director | Founding Fuel
·Venture Ecosystem
China’s sharing economy is booming. It may be time for a reality check
The sharing economy exploded in China this year, with companies for bikes, umbrellas, toys and more all taking part in the hype. But with the concept reaching fever pitch, sharing could be in for a reality check
CK
CKGSB Knowledge
Knowledge Partner
·Venture Ecosystem
Chinese companies in India: Fighting for the next big market
For decades, China has been considered the biggest and most important emerging market in Asia. But now India is stepping into the spotlight, as opportunities for foreign companies grow
CK
CKGSB Knowledge
Knowledge Partner
·Founder Journeys
Life is unfair. Deal with it
History repeats itself and biology insists humans reproduce (or innovate). Else, death is inevitable. It is in an entrepreneur’s interest to study both themes closely
CA
Charles Assisi
Co-founder and Director | Founding Fuel
·Founder Journeys
Digital inclusion and the $30 billion opportunity
English dominates the internet, excluding crores of Indians. In this video, Reverie Language Technologies’ co-founders Arvind Pani and Vivekanand Pani talk about bridging the language barrier, what to look for in a co-founder, and why startups should not rush to get investors
RS
Rajesh Srivastava
Corporate Veteran, Thought Leader | Educator & Bestselling Author
·Venture Ecosystem
The ground beneath our feet
This Week: UPI and fintech—a historical perspective, business storytelling, monetizing innovation, essentialism and more
FF
Founding Fuel
·Product & Innovation
The Big Indian shopping cart
Watch a special Facebook Live conversation with Info-Edge’s Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Amazon India’s Amit Agarwal, and True North’s Haresh Chawla on the future of technology-enabled commerce in India
FF
Founding Fuel
·Venture Ecosystem
2017: The year of the Chinese internet bounty hunters
The Indian market frenzy has cooled down. And it is the perfect time for the Chinese internet giants to make their big moves. As they go head-to-head with the Silicon Valley giants, it could change the Indian internet landscape forever. The concluding part of a special two part series
HC
Haresh Chawla
Investor | Entrepreneur
·Founder Journeys
Why Indian e-commerce has hit the fork in the road
Indian e-commerce is entering a critical phase, as founders and venture capitalists give way to strategic investors. And that’s why 2017 will be a defining year. The first in a two-part series
HC
Haresh Chawla
Investor | Entrepreneur
·Founder Journeys
Innovation, sports and the art of focus
What had our attention this week: UPI and ICICI Bank vs PhonePe, reverse innovation, Australian Open Finals and high performance
FF
Founding Fuel
·Product & Innovation
What lessons does the Simputer hold for Make in India?
The Simputer showed that India can design an innovative tech product. What holds it back? Its capability in hardware manufacturing and very little experience in marketing a new category of devices.
ND
N Dayasindhu
Co-founder and CEO | itihaasa Research and Digital
·Founder Journeys
Agents of change
Literary agents in India can be more than a bridge between authors and publishers. They can add value to both at different stages of book creation.
KG
Kanishka Gupta
Founder and CEO | Writer's Side
·Venture Ecosystem
How India’s digital economy can rediscover its mojo
The recent crisis of confidence brought by the unicorn meltdowns isn't for real. India’s digital economy is actually poised for a bright future. Just that we need a new lens to look at the real opportunities
HC
Haresh Chawla
Investor | Entrepreneur
·Venture Ecosystem
A new manifesto for Indian entrepreneurship
A special Independence Day conversation with Arun Maira, Sundeep Waslekar and Nachiket Mor on what it might take to build a world that works for everyone—and how entrepreneurship can play its part in that transformation
FF
Founding Fuel
·Founder Journeys
So you want to join a startup, eh?
What makes you think you’re cut out for one? Do you have it in you? How will you measure yourself?
HC
Haresh Chawla
Investor | Entrepreneur
·Venture Ecosystem
With patient capital to fix basic problems, India too can think big
Having bijli-sadak-pani allows entrepreneurs to think big by dreaming up models that are built on platforms and marketplaces. To fix that, the quantum of capital and the timescale of investment are equally important.
TH
Tom Hyland
Co-Founder and Partner | Aspada Investment Advisors
·Product & Innovation
The Chinese way
Edward Tse argues in his book 'China's Disruptors' that innovation is happening in China at a pace that will influence the rest of the world sooner than later. Though he doesn’t mention Indian innovation, the comparison is inevitable
RK
Rishikesha T Krishnan
Former Director, IIMB | Professor of Strategy
·Founder Journeys
The importance of being Team Indus
If Team Indus succeeds in soft landing a spacecraft on the moon and wins the Lunar X Prize, it could set the stage for the company and India to be a big player in space engineering
RK
Rishikesha T Krishnan
Former Director, IIMB | Professor of Strategy
📚 Curated Collections
Explore hand-picked article collections in this category
War in the Middle East: Global Faultlines
Stories that place the Middle East’s conflicts in a wider global, historical and cultural context.
7 articles55
Journeys, Not Itineraries
Reflective travelogues on attention, place, and inner change.
8 articles112
Thinking Through India’s AI Moment
Essays and conversations on AI, institutions, and scale in India.
7 articles52
Leadership When Judgment Matters
A curated selection on leadership under uncertainty.
7 articles75
Best of FF Life 2025
Personal essays on work, learning, and the inner life.
11 articles161
Best of Founding Fuel 2025
A selection of our most enduring essays and conversations.
11 articles72