Shunya One

On Shunya One this week, Shiladitya and Amit are joined by Kiran Menon. Kiran talks about how he started his journey towards Tydy, running Corporate Development for Opera Browser, and lots more. He tells us about how the idea of Tydy came from another product that they had at the time, and doing onboarding automation to offboarding alumni management for some of the corporates and startups globally. Shiladitya, Amit and Kiran also talk about how Tydy works, how the automation works making it completely digital, and much more. Shiladitya and Amit also ask Kiran about what already existed, how much of it is tech solutions vs Tooling solutions, what makes it suitable for large teams, who they sell to and what were some of the problems he came across working with big corporates. Tune in for this and a lot more on this informative chat with Kiran Menon, CEO & Co-Founder of Tydy.Follow Kiran Menon on Linkedin & Twitter:https://www.linkedin.com/in/kiranmenon/https://twitter.com/menon_kiranTweet to hosts @shil

It's a special episode on Shunya one with Varun Duggirala from Advertising is Dead joining Shiladitya and Amit for a candid chat on the rise of live streaming, social media laws, and D2C branding. They discuss how radio evolved into podcasts that further evolved into platforms like Clubhouse and Twitter spaces, how have the consumption patterns been so far, list their preferences and experiences on the mentioned platforms, etc. Then they go on to talk about the legality of these platforms, copyright issues that might arise, how brands can use them to their advantage, etc. And lastly, they shed light on D2C brands, their pros and cons and list some of their favourites.Follow Varun Duggirala on Instagram & Twitter:episode.To join the Shunya One slack channel, request for an invite here:

On today's episode of Shunya One, Shiladitya and Amit are joined by Dhrupad Karwa, Founder & CEO of Inspo, and HaikuJAM. He talks about coming to India from England, having the idea of starting a social writing game where strangers from all around the world write short 3-lined poems called Haikus, and the app was thus named 'HaikuJam'. This idea was created on part of a failed startup in the UK. He also talks about the attention the app started garnering from college fests to journalists reviewing it, realizing that to evolve they have to be serious about technology and invest in natural language processing and working with data scientists just to understand the corpse. He takes us through the journey of launching 'Inspo' and it being the search engine for design inspiration to enrich creative thinking and more. Shiladitya and Amit ask Dhrupad about the analysis on how people showed their creative expressions, what stood out for them in finding insights better than other companies, and how Inspo works. Tu

On this episode, Shiladitya and Amit talk to Ravish Agrawal. Ravish talks about his early entrepreneurial stint from his IIT Kanpur days and the struggles that shaped him to be able to start 'Able Jobs'.He also talks about identifying himself as a marketing or a growth person, calling people to teach them sales and then shifting the teaching to WhatsApp, how he ended up answering almost 300 chats every day while teaching people and solving their doubts, why they are going after jobs which are in the salary range of 15-50 thousand per month, why sales is the most important feature in any company and why businesses look after good talent rather than expensive talent. Shiladitya and Amit also ask Ravish about how long the journey has been, if he explores the two sides of the market where he has creators and teachers join him, and more. This and a lot more with Ravish Agrawal, Co-Founder & CEO of Able Jobs.Follow Ravish Agrawal on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/ravishagrawal/Tweet to hosts @shiladitya &

Every startup initially struggles with capital and eventually with payments. The fintech universe is so diverse and to regulate them such that transactions happen seamlessly, is an entrepreneur's nightmare. Juggling multiple technologies, at the same time keeping consumers happy requires a strong payment infrastructure and that is where companies like YAP come in. Joining Shiladitya and Amit is Madhusudan R who explains the challenges in start-up fintech and how his company has been providing solutions to the same.Follow Madhusudanan R on LinkedIn & Twitter :episode.To join the Shunya One slack channel, request for an invite here:

On this episode of Shunya One, Shiladitya and Amit are joined by Amit Lakhotia. Amit Lakhotia talks to us about his early stints from joining MakeMyTrip to working with Paytm, then later starting Park+, and how he came up with the idea for it. He talks about how, after scaling the business for over 4 years, he has seen the startup and the internet boom which has helped to get more ideas out. He discusses e-commerce, how we now have a wallet inside our smartphones, building his company with the goal to make it profitable, going to China and seeing people paying through QR codes and applying the same thing in India by giving it to local businesses and how that is massively taking off. Amit Lakhotia also talks about Uber coming onto Paytm and then doing half a million transactions in a day on Paytm, while Uber's own payment mode say only 5000 transactions in a day, and how Park+ plans to make car parking spaces more digital, be it in malls, corporates or housing societies. This and a lot more in this informative

Logistics is 14% of India's GDP, and transportation around 60-65%. On this episode of Shunya One, Shiladitya and Amit are joined by Md. Imthiaz. Imthiaz talks to us about how he started working for a pizza startup in Chennai, to then selling liquor, to setting up his first hyper-local commerce company in 2010 called Hopper and then later in 2017 starting Raaho. He further tells us about his dad being a trader, cycling for 2.5 km just for the food grain truck to arrive, and lots more. Imthiaz also talks about having 10 trucks at one point to later having only 6 and how most of the customers use trucks as moving warehouses. Shiladitya and Amit also ask Imthiaz about organized and unorganized trucking and the break-up between the market that he has and the larger trucking business. They also discuss how the trucking industry has not changed for 100 years, the dark side of it and how technology can work well in this space. This and a lot more with Md. Imthiaz, Co-Founder & CEO at Raaho.Follow Md. Imthiaz on L

Did you know 13% of India's population still commutes on cycle? On Shunya One this week, Shiladitya and Amit are joined by Aditya Oza to talk about electric bicycles. Aditya talks about meeting the other co-founders during his masters and founding a startup where they started by renting out vehicles (bikes). He talks about manufacturing e-bikes (bicycles) and also working on three models with the range of up to 50-70kms with paddling as an option. Aditya tells us about how India is going to be a 250 million market in electric cycles. Shiladitya and Amit also ask Aditya about why EMotorad opted for a paddle and EV bike rather than a pure EV bike, how difficult it is to manufacture, and the components that EMotorad are innovating on. Aditya also talks about inviting customers into their meetings for reviews and why that has been advantageous in this process. This and a lot more on this informative chat with Aditya Oza, CoFounder and Chief Marketing Officer at EMotorad.Follow Aditya Oza on LinkedIn & Twitte

Ensuring deep participation in the financial ecosystem and lowering the barriers to entry - that's what PayPal's mission is all about. On this episode of Shunya One, Shiladitya and Amit are joined by Guru Bhat, who talks about the role PayPal plays in India and how it's helping businesses of all shapes and sizes, and tons more. Guru calls the payments business as a crowded one as there are many players in the market currently. Guru talks about how PayPal has over 377 million customers and counting with 1000 joining them on a daily basis, how PayPal is very efficient in dealing with fraud that may take place over the internet, the global rise of cryptocurrency and what PayPal's plans around crypto are, and lots more. He also shares how every single employee at PayPal has the ability to own stocks. This and so much more with Guru Bhat, VP Customer Success Platform.Logon to PayPal.com and check out their jobs section nowhttp://bit.ly/ppindiajobsFollow Guru Bhatt on LinkedIn & Twitter :https://www.linkedin.c

Did you know that senior citizens lose their purpose in life after they retire? On Shunya One this week, Hemanshu Jain talks to us about how his parents have been the biggest influence in his life and how his struggles made him make something like Khyaal. Hemanshu speaks on various topics, including getting rejected by every investor in India, the issue that elder people have with loneliness once they retire, the idea behind building something like Khyaal to help solve the primary problems of senior citizens, and then build a product and learn from it, and tons more. Hemanshu also talks about subscriptions for kids living abroad and in India, how it seems like a gift from children to their elder ones and the benefits that they get on buying these subscriptions. Shiladitya and Amit ask Hemanshu about why he is going around a particular age bracket, what specific things he is doing to curb urban loneliness and also what questions he gets asked by kids. This and a lot more with Hemanshu Jain Founder and CEO of

Since millennial women were changing the way they were shopping, the fashion and make-up industries were going through a massive transition period around 2012/2013. Did you know makeup is 20% of the beauty market in India?. On Shunya One this week, Shiladitya and Amit speak to Vineeta and Kaushik from Sugar Cosmetics. Vineeta talks about how obsessed she was with the idea of bringing the best brands and products to women in India as they couldn't get the brands and products that women in Europe and in the US were using at that time. She also talks about doing subscription commerce, how beauty as a category worked very well for the subscription model, their concerns with doing business, and the clarity they had regarding wanting to build something unique. Shiladitya also asks them how their journey has been from the subscriptions days of 'FAB BAG' to building a brand like 'SUGAR'. This and a lot more with the CEO and COO of Sugar Cosmetics.Follow Vineeta Singh on LinkedIn & Twitter :https://www.linkedin.co

From working with Intel in Poland to travelling the world and setting up her entrepreneurial journey in AI, on this episode of Shunya One, Shiladitya and Amit are joined by Ashwini Asokan, Founder and CEO at Mad Street Den. They talk about her early days and the idea behind setting up the AI-based company 'Mad Street Den'. They also get into how companies and people can be made aware as to what AI technology is and how it can change the workflow around us. Ashwini also talks about how she had to find a way to build in this market by suspending some of their grand vision for a few years, waiting until the market got there. Shiladitya and Amit also talk to Ashwini about how AI is being used in the retail space by bringing in innovations. The tech they set up over the years, how difficult it was, and how they had to learn new things going into this industry and convincing the big Retailers of the world that this works. This and a lot more with Ashwini.Tune into #ShunyaOnePodcast for more!Follow Ashwini Asokan on

They say a strong vision and ambition take you on the journey of discovering something unique. On this episode of Shunya One, Shally Modi talks to us about how she met Ranjeet while working for Vodafone and how the idea of making a platform for authors came up and later was called Pratilipi. Shally tells us about working with a set of like-minded individuals who challenged her on a day-to-day basis, how even though she was not drawing any salary in the early days, she knew that all she needed was to learn her way around these new set of challenges. Shiladitya and Amit also talk to Shally about Pratilipi, from starting out to becoming the huge platform it is now - Did you know that there are almost 3 and a half lakh pieces of content being published and over 4 lakh writers who are writing for Pratilipi?. 70% of fresh writers coming in a month are hardened readers on the platform and want to try out something different. Shiladitya and Amit ask Shally about the ratio of readers to creators, how it is different f

As the internet becomes faster and data is getting cheaper, watching internet videos on smartphones has gone up by 60%. But did you know, if you're consuming 100 MB of data on a mobile phone, 60 MB of it is just being used for consuming videos? On this episode, Saurabh talks to us about the start of Flickstree - what the company is about, and how Flickstree differs from the other competitors in the same stream. Shiladitya and Amit also ask Saurabh about the amount of content Flickstree created during the last year, how he decided to go towards the distribution industry and building his network. This and a lot more in this informative chat with Saurabh Singh, Co-founder and CEO of Flickstree.Tune into #ShunyaOnePodcast for more!Follow Saurabh Singh on LinkedIn & Twitter :https://www.linkedin.com/in/saurabh-singh-8415b4a/s_saurabhTweet to hosts @shiladitya & @doshiamit for your questions or reactions to this episode.To join the Shunya One slack channel, request for an invite here: http://ivmpodcasts.com

95% of people in India in today's day and age need mental health support. The median time from somebody experiencing psychological difficulty to going and seeing a professional is 6 years in India. On this episode, Dr. Amit talks about coming up with the idea of 'Innerhour' in 2016 and what he's trying to achieve with it. Shiladitya asks Dr. Amit about the impact of the pandemic, the kind of people that have started using his services, praising the government for taking early steps in taking care of mental health and how stress causes backaches. This and a lot more in this informative chat with Dr. Amit Malik, Founder & CEO of 'Innerhour'.Tune into #ShunyaOnePodcast for more!Follow Dr Amit Malik on LinkedIn, Instagram & Twitter :https://www.linkedin.com/in/amit-malik-64690a25/https://www.instagram.com/amitmalik2014/DrAmitMalikFollow Innerhour on LinkedIn, Instagram & Twitter :https://www.linkedin.com/company/innerhour/https://www.instagram.com/innerhour/theinnerhourTweet to hosts @shiladitya &

On Shunya One Podcast this week, We have Mukul Rustagi Co-Founder and CEO Classplus. From taking 12 flights in 3 months to believing that in-person conversations cannot take over screen interviews, Shiladitya and Amit speak to Mukul Rustagi about 'Classplus' and how, in the era of the smartphone, teachers can benefit by learning a bit of technology, and how the online classroom cannot replace the offline touch. Shiladitya and Amit ask Mukul about how he went about with planning the initial teachers that he thought would be fit for the platform, the challenges he faced while launching it in India, and they also touch upon the users he was going after and the difficulties he had to overcome to build the platform. This and a lot more on this informative chat.Tune into #ShunyaOnePodcast for more!Follow Mukul Rustagi on LinkedIn :https://www.linkedin.com/in/mukul-rustagi-45462316/Tweet to hosts @shiladitya & @doshiamit for your questions or reactions to this episode.To join the Shunya One slack channel, reques

On Shunya One Podcast this week, We have Vikas Malpani Co-Founder and CEO Leher. Being a mobile-first population, have we lost our ability to socialize with people? As per a survey, 60% of people are lonely despite being the most connected population on the planet, so on this episode, Vikas speaks to us about the difference between social media and social networks. Vikas also talks about Leher being a live discussion network and shares how the idea was to replicate the physical form of socializing in the virtual world. Vikas also gets into to how, before 2015, people shared their life on social media but later it changed to people expressing and sharing their opinions and experiences on the social platforms. This and a lot more on this informative session.Follow Vikas Malpani on LinkedIn & Twitter:https://www.linkedin.com/vikasmalpani/vikasmalpaniTweet to hosts @shiladitya & @doshiamit for your questions or reactions to this episode.To join the Shunya One slack channel, request for an invite here: htt

On Shunya One Podcast this week, We have Ajey Gore Operating Partner - Technology Sequoia Capital, India/Building Companies to IPO and Beyond, Ajey talks to us about how he has always been uncomfortable, how that's what led him from one thing to another and what his next steps will be. He also talks about how he started his career as a graphics designer, then did screen printing, and then moved on to selling computers, etc. Ajey also speaks to us about how, in 2014 & 2015, there were many software startups coming up in India and what it was like when so many people around knew how to write software but didn't have the skills to take it into production. Shiladitya asks Ajey about his 5 years working with Go-Jek, how that road was full of challenges and hard work, and also discuss the kind of decision-making mechanism they used for privatization, handling so many products with different teams and much more.Ajey Gore on LinkedIn & Twitter:https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajeygore/https://twitter.com/AjeyGoreT

On Shunya One Podcast this week, We have Pulkit Jain co founder and product head at Vedantu. Pulkit calls himself the 'new age teacher' and shares with us the intensive journey of becoming a teacher and not just a tech founder. He talks about how, despite being just 22 year olds, he and his friends left their job to teach kids in Patiala in Punjab. Pulkit explains how teachers teach different concepts, and imbibe students with other facts of life like how to think, how to solve problems when under stress, how to (one more) and more. Pulkit also shares a brief about how Vedantu is a comprehensive learning system and not just a class, how it's a curation system for scheduling classes for assignments, assessment and mentorship. Shiladitya and Amit ask Pulkit about why Vedantu became online and why most other coaching classes in the industry are still just coaching classes. They also discuss some features or services available on a platform like Vedantu as opposed to going to school.Follow Pulkit Jain on LinkedIn

On Shunya One Podcast this week, we have Amit Somani, venture capitalist at Prime VP. Amit shares his story how he calls himself an accidental VC and the skills he learned on the way. He says the biggest thing of becoming a VC is that they themselves have to do all the fundraising too. Even with the recent startup burst only, 100 startups end up getting funded every year. Amit gives us an example of MyGate and tells us the stories behind how they started the company. Shiladtiya and Amit also discuss the various interactions and our experience with 2020 and Amit Doshi talks on how with COVID-19 pandemic, times have changed.Tune into #ShunyaOnePodcast for more!Follow Amit Somani on LinkedIn & Twitter:https://www.linkedin.com/in/thesomanihttp://www.twitter.com/amitsomaniTweet to hosts @shiladitya & @doshiamit for your questions or reactions to this episode.To join the Shunya One slack channel, request for an invite here: http://ivmpodcasts.com/shunyaoneYou can listen to this show and other awesome shows