·Founder Journeys
The best stories of 2024
Scintillating, insightful conversations and incisive articles on business, entrepreneurship and geopolitical trends
#Scaling
96 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
·Founder Journeys
How mega founders unlock startup success - Part 1
Good delusions, irrational goals, marathon mindset. In Part 1 of their conversation, Rahul Chandra, author and MD of Arkham Ventures and Third Eyesight’s founder and CEO Devangshu Dutta discuss what sets outlier entrepreneurs apart
·Founder Journeys
The biggest non-Excelable part of the startup success puzzle
An extract from Rahul Chandra’s book, ‘Tightrope to the Moon: How Mega Founders Win the Startup War’
·Founder Journeys
From employee to entrepreneur
A message to young graduates: Don’t ignore regular salaried employment. It can gain you valuable business experience and serve as a springboard to an entrepreneurial career
·Founder Journeys
The Middle India consumer
Middle India has low trust for a new interface. Here’s how Razorpay, Smartstaff, Meesho, Dehaat and Krazybee are investing in gaining trust. An extract from ‘Winning Middle India: The Story of India’s New-Age Entrepreneurs’, by Bala Srinivasa and T.N. Hari
·Founder Journeys
FF Insights #674: Why some startups fail
June 16, 2022: Crypto matters; The toll of psychiatric drugs; Defining age
·Founder Journeys
The Contrarian
Sridhar Vembu built Zoho by questioning the conventional wisdom. For the longest time, no one took much notice. But now people are curious about what makes him—and Zoho—tick
·Founder Journeys
FF Insights #603: A fairy tale called startup
March 4, 2022: The state of nuclear fusion; Putin’s inner circle; Hooked
·Founder Journeys
How Sugar Cosmetics found its sweet spot
Vineeta Singh, CEO of Sugar Cosmetics, talks about turning fears into wins, taking an unconventional approach to succeed in a David & Goliath scenario, and building resilience from unexpected sources
·Founder Journeys
An edtech entrepreneur’s learning journey
Parul Gupta, co-founder and president of Springboard, talks about how to build a trusted education brand, cultivate a growth mindset and unlock the big opportunities that lie ahead in edtech
·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
·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
·Founder Journeys
An Indian beauty upstart in the West
A new breed of South Asian women entrepreneurs is leading Americans to embrace the Indian grandmother’s age-old beauty secrets in new easy-to-use ways. As a marketing strategy, it is Indian tradition marketed in digitally native formats
·Founder Journeys
FF Daily #365: What an entrepreneur needs to survive
May 5, 2021: How to increase the power of your voice; Statistics and stories; Music for the day: Naham janami
·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
·Social enterprise
The doughnut and the hole
A message for social change-makers seeking ‘impact on scale’ even as sources of funding dry up: Stay focused on the purpose (the doughnut) and not the scale and brand of your organisation (the hole). Innovate. And learn to be a catalyst
·Founder Journeys
WFH Daily #180: The Paytm playbook
September 19, 2020: How to say no; Climate change—a harder problem than the pandemic; Four Covid-19 personality types
·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.
·Founder Journeys
Everybody loves a startup…
Or maybe not, as Pallavi Desai found out when she told her dad she wanted to take the plunge. But dad Santosh Desai, CEO of Futurebrands, thinks it’s appropriate to ask any venture hard questions. And they’ve both learnt from Pallavi’s startup journey
·Founder Journeys
WFH Daily #105: Focus on how you are solving the problem
July 6: Be right, but also be helpful; thrive under constraints; spot the creative destruction
·Founder Journeys
WFH Daily #94: Are you measuring what matters?
June 25: Keep your eyes on the mission, measure what matters, plan ahead
·Product & Innovation
Six learnings on innovation from anti-Covid efforts
Organisations across the spectrum have been able to get their act together, focus, and solve tough problems quickly. This makes you wonder—why are they unable to muster even a fraction of this ability in normal times?
·Founder Journeys
Masterclass: Shaping startup culture
‘We are customer-driven’, ‘we are data-driven’. Those are typical refrains from companies. But are they really? It all boils down to culture
·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
·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
·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
·Founder Journeys
Behind Naresh Goyal’s wilful blindness
Naresh Goyal’s miscalculations, how technology amplifies human bias and what makes entrepreneurs entrepreneurial
·Founder Journeys
Founding Fuel at four
This Week: The metrics of success, higher purpose, five greatest TED Talks, the art of negotiating, and more
·Scaling & Execution
The cost of winning at all costs
This Week: Scaling fast vs. having a viable economic model, Tim O’Reilly on Silicon Valley’s favourite growth strategy, and Twitter's travails
·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
·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
·Founder Journeys
Paul Allen the artist versus Bill Gates the entrepreneur
There are artists and entrepreneurs. Their stories aren’t pretty. But tough calls must be taken. Their stories can be found across the world, India included where the IT Services business is staring at a tough time
·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
·Founder Journeys
Five publicity lessons Mahatma Gandhi teaches entrepreneurs
What you can learn about communicative agility from the salt satyagraha
·Founder Journeys
Speed and critics vs. velocity and the moon
Critics celebrated Team Indus’ for not making it to the moon. But that is the nature of critics. Those who can imagine and have muscle, continue to aim for the moon
·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
·Founder Journeys
Know when to step off the accelerator
This Week: Why not to pursue every new idea, perfection vs getting stuff done, bringing business education closer to practice, and more
·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
·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
·Founder Journeys
How variety store MINISO became a mega-success
MINISO co-founder Ye Guofu takes us inside his emerging retail empire
·Founder Journeys
The growth mindset
A roundup of the stories we wrote, the books we’re following and the podcasts we’ve been listening to
·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
·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
·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.
·Founder Journeys
Kunal Shah: ‘Understanding humans is core to great businesses’
In this video, Kunal Shah, founder and chairman of FreeCharge, talks about the behavioural insights behind FreeCharge and how trust in people gets you the best outcomes
·Founder Journeys
Paper Boat: Riding on a wave of nostalgia
In this video, Neeraj Kakkar, co-founder of the Paper Boat brand and Shripad Nadkarni, an investor in the brand, talk about the magic formula that got people hooked and which helped them create a new beverages segment—ethnic drinks
·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
·Founder Journeys
How TVF took the digital jungle by storm
In this video, Arunabh Kumar, founder of The Viral Fever, talks about what helps them stand out. In a word, content
·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?