Co-founder Disappears Overnight

In the summer of 2022, Parth Garg woke up in Bangalore to discover that his co-founder had fled the country and emailed their investors to tell them their company was dead. Just over three years later, Aspora is one of fintech’s fastest-growing startups. The company, which makes it faster and cheaper for India’s diaspora to send money home and access banking services, now processes close to half a billion dollars in volume every month and has earned a $500 million valuation with backing from elite investors like Hummingbird Ventures, Sequoia, and Greylock.

In this conversation, Parth shares his journey from physics prodigy to fintech founder, offering insights into what it really takes to build resilience as a founder and how to create a culture where feedback flows freely, even without a co-founder to provide checks and balances.

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We explore:

• The moment when Parth discovered his co-founder had left the country and told investors the company was shutting down

• How Parth’s childhood moving between cities in India and later to the UAE shaped his adaptability and entrepreneurial mindset

• His journey from physics prodigy to startup founder, including early ventures before Aspora

• The process of discovering product-market fit through structured experimentation after the initial business model failed

• Why the Indian diaspora represents a massive, underserved financial opportunity (1% of the population contributing 30% of deposits)

• How stablecoins dramatically reduced Aspora’s working capital requirements and transformed their business model

• The regulatory landscape for fintech and crypto in India and the impact of the GENIUS Act in the US

• Aspora’s vision to become a comprehensive cross-border bank serving multiple diaspora communities globally

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Thank you to the partners who make this possible

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Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(03:53) How Parth felt when his co-founder fled the country

(07:04) Parth’s early days in India and the UAE

(09:37) Parth’s love of physics and competitiveness

(12:15) The not-so-straightforward path from studying physics at Stanford to entrepreneurship

(14:13) Parth’s physics heroes

(16:24) The gap year that sparked Parth’s entrepreneurship journey

(18:36) Parth’s first startup: selling near-expired groceries

(21:58) Moving back to the United States and founding Vance

(28:00) Joining YC and finding early backers

(31:14) How Parth realized Vance needed to pivot

(35:22) How Parth moved forward after his co-founder fled

(37:37) Building psychological safety and open debate at Aspora

(40:15) How conversations with immigrants inspired Aspora’s idea

(45:13) How stablecoins solved Aspora’s biggest operational challenges

(46:57) Aspora’s current scale and why India was the perfect starting point

(51:34) How Aspora builds loyalty in a low-switching-cost market

(52:42) The GENIUS Act and the real opportunity in stablecoins

(55:52) The evolution of crypto and stablecoins in India

(56:50) The importance of partnerships for scaling Aspora in India

(58:18) The next phases of Aspora’s growth

(01:00:04) The role of Aspora’s new bets team

(1:01:20) Final meditations

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Follow Parth Garg

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/parth29

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Resources and episode mentions: https://www.generalist.com/p/banking-the-diaspora-parth-garg

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