Building It Up With Bertelsmann

In an environment where funding comes fairly easy, IPO remains the gold standard of recognition for a company coming of age. But even after being home to various billion dollar companies, Indian startup ecosystem is yet to mature as compared to its peers in the west.  So what’s holding back Indian ventures from going public? Is it the slow, arduous process or just the non-willingness to take the risk? When is a a start-up ready to go public, even-so how and where?  In this episode of Building it up with Bertelsmann, we delve into all this and more with Sanjeev Bikhchandani, the man behind India’s first dotcom IPO. Sanjeev takes us through the transactional and tangible aspects of the IPO journey, while also sharing how to make those tough choices of NSE or BSE vs. NASDAQ, growth vs. profitability and many others.

Stories are an essential part of our day-to-day communications and an effective story-telling has the potential to breathe life into your brand. Apart from helping shape how people view your brand, a powerful story can create legacies, generate profit and help win loyalty of audiences. Simply put, it’s an asset that your business must create keeping in mind your product, customers, profits and investors. It must be a part of setting up a successful, thriving business.  “Therefore, what founders need to do is understand their story and integrate it in a way that it becomes an essential component of your existence,” says Google Venture’s Shernaz Daver in this episode of the Building it up Podcast. The discussion goes beyond the art of compelling storytelling to learning some traits from the effective storytellers such as Netflix’s Reed Hastings.  How does the business growing from 10 to 100 alter its narratives while communicating to the broader audience? And how should founders, especially those who are not

Starting a start-up has never been easier, but building it up into an iconic brand is harder than ever. As a start-up founder aiming to take your start-up from 10 to 100, you can definitely relate to this! But what often gets lost is the fact that behind every successful start-up, exists a fair share of research, trial-and-error, and even failed attempts.  Even the most iconic start-ups of our times began with concepts that were new to the industry and the product that had few or even no takers in the beginning. But what determined their success was a close correlation between the product, team and market, believes the guest on this podcast.  Deep Kalra, the man behind India’s largest travel website shares how he created, grew and perfected a product in the market where no-one bought online. He share how to go about building the right product, what to do when a competitor enters the market with a tried and tested discount play, what should the team that’s scaling the magical product look like? Deep Kalra ta

When an organization grows from 10 to 100, how to scale communication, team & culture along with it? While there’s a lot of knowledge out there on what to do in the early stages of a company, there’s little on taking the next big step such as hiring, product management, funding or raising money, among others. In this episode of Building It Up, Pankaj Makkar- Managing Director of Bertelsmann India Investment, shares insights on this elusive growth journey of a start-up, why some startups shouldn’t raise VC money, boards role, India’s next big tech idea and of course, why he launched this growth-focused podcast.

Plug in the headphones, pull up a chair and get ready to take notes as we gear up to launch our first-ever podcast, Building It Up with Bertelsmann. #BuilidngItUp will bring honest conversations and never-shared before stories straight from the people wending India’s startup ecosystem!