Jaydeep Barman has settled into his role of being a CEO for quite some time now. He admits he was not always the nicest of people when they restarted or ‘actually started’ Faasos, which later became Rebel Foods, as a QSR chain in 2011. He would

Alok Mittal of Indifi on why org culture should not be defined but discovered

9 days ago 1h 14m

Alok Mittal has been on both ends of the startup ecosystem. He’s been a founder and a VC. These days he’s back in the founder’s seat but still enabling businesses but through his lending platform Indifi which lends money to Small and Medium Ent

Jaydeep Barman of Rebel Foods on why his business is 'misunderstood'—and why that's a good thing

16 days ago 1h 29m

Rebel Foods was incorporated in 2015. Before that it was Faasos and Faasos has been around since 2004. But co-founder and CEO Jaydeep Barman says back in 2004 when he and his co-founder Kallol Banerjee started it, they didn’t look at it as a me

Part 2: Chetan Maini of SUN Mobility on finding his 'true north', again

23 days ago 40m 29s

When Chetan Maini – co-founder and chairman of SUN Mobility – stepped down as Mahindra Reva CEO in 2015, he wasn’t thinking what was the next venture to start. In fact even though he stepped down he was still involved in the space.His time was

From succeeding in overcrowded markets to creating customer delight, five founders share their secrets

Apr 11th, 2024 1h 17m

What does your company do?There are many ways to answer this question.Most founders have a really good answer, some have a meandering one.Well, let’s just say it’s always a compelling answer.This week we have five founders to answer that questi

Part 2: Harsh Mariwala of Marico on experimenting with learning, fitness and leadership at 72

Apr 4th, 2024 40m 36s

Our guest for this episode has a very specific weekly routine. Pilates - once a week.Strength training - once a week.Aqua therapy - once a weekFunctional training, swimming, breathing exercises, meditating daily with just a little troubleGolfin

Why Chetan Maini of SUN Mobility stopped making EVs when it got cool

Mar 28th, 2024 1h 23m

Chetan Maini, the co-founder and Chairman of Sun Mobility has done a whole lot in his life. He’s been forever a tinkerer as you’re bound to find out if you read his father Dr.S.K.Maini’s book REVA: India’s Green Gift to the World.Chetan’s raced

Part 2: Girish Mathrubootham on Freshworks' trade secrets – and why he opened them up to competitors

Mar 21st, 2024 34m 25s

Girish Mathrubootham – founder and CEO of Freshworks – feels strongly about having the authority to take one’s own decisions, from a young age.He made a very apt example in our conversation with him earlier this month at his office in Chennai:

From Parachute to Saffola, Marico's Harsh Mariwala on building and branding India's biggest consumer products

Mar 14th, 2024 1h 3m

Sometime in the early 1970s a young Harsh Mariwala joined Bombay Oil Industries, a company set up by his grandfather in 1948, just a year after India’s independence. The company would trade in spices, oils and chemicals.Over the next two decade

Girish Mathrubootham of Freshworks on why he doesn't measure 'winning' by numbers

Mar 7th, 2024 1h 6m

If you're here to find out more about our brand new early careers podcast, check out The First Two Years and how you can join the TFTY community here! You can also listen to our trailer on Spotify and Apple. Welcome to Episode 41 of First Princ

Part 2: Why Vaibhav Gupta of Udaan doesn’t identify problems by patterns

Feb 29th, 2024 53m 44s

There is a cliche often associated with hyper growth startups. That running one is like learning how to fly a plane while you’re already up in the air. Or perhaps it's like learning to change an engine while you’re driving a car. There is anoth

Five founders on creating trust, patience and careers in their organisations

Feb 22nd, 2024 1h 26m

Welcome back to First Principles. I’m your host, Rohin Dharmakumar. Thank you for listening to us. We’re thankful that you choose to spend a few hours with us each week! Today we have a “supercut” episode. Normally our conversations go deep wit

Part 2: Aneesh Reddy of Capillary Tech on how being called a “bully” led him to be a better leader

Feb 15th, 2024 1h

Welcome back to Episode 39 of First Principles!A few weeks ago, you heard the first part of our conversation with Aneesh Reddy, the CEO and Co-Founder of Capillary Tech, a software company offering products and services in the customer experien

How Vaibhav Gupta of Udaan builds, scales and improves execution playbooks

Feb 8th, 2024 1h 7m

Welcome to Episode 38 of First Principles!If you're here to sign up for the First Principles Newsletter, here you go!In this episode, you will hear Vaibhav Gupta, the CEO and co-founder of Udaan, an online trade platform whose mission is to "tr

Part 2: How Viren Shetty of Narayana Health is building a career free of ‘groundhog days’

Feb 1st, 2024 1h 6m

Welcome back to Episode 37 of First Principles.If you’re here to find our latest edition of the First Principles Newsletter, here you go!A few weeks ago, we had a wonderful conversation with Viren Shetty – the executive vice chairman of Narayan

Aneesh Reddy of Capillary Tech on his wins, mistakes and a breakout SaaS model

Jan 25th, 2024 1h 16m

Welcome to Episode 36 of First Principles!If you're here to find our latest edition of the First Principles Newsletter, here you go!Our guest for this episode is Aneesh Reddy, the co-founder and CEO of Capillary Technologies, a Bangalore-headqu

Part 2: Soumya Rajan of Waterfield Advisors on entrepreneurship, liberation and legacy

Jan 11th, 2024 55m 24s

A few weeks ago, we published an episode with Soumya Rajan of Waterfield Advisors. We discussed what it was like to bet your future on an idea that no one had tried before, in India. In Soumya’s case, that idea was a business model around weal

Viren Shetty of Narayana Health on becoming ‘worse’ to become better and other ways to fix healthcare in India

Jan 4th, 2024 1h 9m

Welcome to the first 2024 episode of First Principles! Though we’re only 15 months old, we’re also technically into our third calendar year, after our first episode in August 2022. A happy new year to you. Here’s to many more years of wonderful

Part 2: Why Ritesh Agarwal is a 'peacetime CEO' despite OYO's many wars

Dec 28th, 2023 1h 1m

A couple of weeks ago, you heard our episode with Ritesh Agarwal, the founder and Group CEO of OYO rooms. If you remember, he talked to me about the atmosphere at the organization after COVID hit.To put it simply, it was wartime inside OYO.Cash

Soumya Rajan of Waterfield Advisors on turning a 'sceptical' idea into a resilient business

Dec 21st, 2023 1h 6m

“What is something you believe in, that no one else around you does?”If you’ve heard episode 30 with Ritesh Agarwal, the founder and CEO of OYO Rooms, then you’ll recognize this as a question that he had to answer while applying for the Thiel F

Part 2: Karthik Jayaraman of WayCool looks back on his career, starting up at 40 and building leaders

Dec 14th, 2023 41m 45s

Welcome to to episode 31 of First Principles! If you’ve been listening to us for a while, you’ll notice that this was supposed to be an off week for us as a fortnightly show. We used to release new episodes every other Thursday. And last Thursd

Ritesh Agarwal of OYO on building a business on differentiation, communication and resilience

Dec 7th, 2023 1h 25m

Welcome to Episode 30 of First Principles!We recorded this episode at Spacebot Studio, a new, sleek space overlooking the metro in IndiranagarOur guest, Ritesh, was already at the studio.Ritesh was asking the owners of the studio a bunch of que

Five founders on their childhood, choices and what drove them to start up

Nov 23rd, 2023 1h 25m

Welcome back to First Principles! If you’ve been listening to us for a while, you know that First Principles covers a lot of topics. Leadership, organization building, decision making, learning methods, careers, life principles, habits, people

Karthik Jayaraman of WayCool Foods on why disruption isn't always necessary for innovation

Nov 9th, 2023 1h 22m

Welcome to Episode 29 of First Principles.Our guest for this episode is Karthik Jayaraman, the co-founder and MD of WayCool Foods.Karthik's leadership style and philosophies differ from many of the earlier leaders and founders featured in the l

Niraj Singh of Spinny on standing out in an overcrowded market

Oct 25th, 2023 1h 44m

Read the full transcript for free here.Niraj Singh, the co-founder and CEO of Spinny, loves cars.So much so that when asked what would be the few things he would take with him to a deserted island, he hesitated a bit and then said: “I would tak