How was Puma India built, how did Virat Kohli’s one8 come about, and what is Agilitas trying to build in India’s sportswear market?

Abhishek Ganguly spent 17 years at Puma, joining when the brand was virtually unknown in India and helping build it into the country’s largest sportswear brand. Puma India went on to cross ₹2,000 crore in revenue, ahead of Nike and Adidas combined in India. Then, after nearly two decades in the industry, Abhishek chose to start again.

Today, as Co-founder & CEO of Agilitas, he is pursuing a much bigger idea: can a sports brand from India compete with the best in the world?

In this episode of the Prime Venture Partners Podcast, Amit Somani speaks with Abhishek about the journey from Puma to Agilitas and one8, how Indian consumers have changed over the last two decades, why past success can become a disadvantage, and what it takes to build a brand people genuinely care about.

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction

00:59 Building Puma India From Scratch

05:29 How the Indian Consumer Has Evolved

12:06 Staying Close to the Consumer

16:36 Why Consumers Don’t Need More Products

18:33 “Made in India, Unfinished on Purpose”

21:19 Why Start Agilitas?

24:20 The Risk of Past Success

25:12 “Disruptors Don’t Disrupt Again”

28:16 Building With Virat Kohli

32:09 Why India Needs a Global Sports Brand

34:16 Why Virat Kohli Backed Agilitas

36:45 Building a Brand From India

37:32 Virat Kohli Rejected 17 Prototypes

39:28 The Future of one8

41:35 Advice for Entrepreneurs

A major thread in the conversation is Abhishek’s long-standing relationship with Virat Kohli. He goes back to 2016, when he proposed that Virat should build a brand of his own rather than remain only a brand ambassador. That idea became one8.

Years later, when Abhishek left Puma to start Agilitas, Virat became one of the company’s early believers, investing in the business and merging one8 with Agilitas.

The conversation also explores why Abhishek believes Indian consumers are evolving too quickly for old global playbooks, why founders need to stay close to the consumer, and why experience can sometimes become baggage. His own reminder to himself is simple: “Disruptors don’t disrupt again.”

At the heart of Agilitas is a larger ambition: to build a sports brand from India that can compete with the best in the world, not on price, but on product, performance and brand.

Connect with Abhishek Ganguly

LinkedIn: https://in.linkedin.com/in/abhishekganguly

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abhishekganguly/?hl=en

X: https://x.com/gangulyabhishek

Follow Amit Somani

X (Twitter): https://x.com/amitsomani?lang=en

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

Read the transcript for the entire podcast here: https://bit.ly/Abhishek-Ganguly-Agilitas

About Prime Venture Partners

Prime Venture Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm backing exceptional founders building category-defining technology companies across SaaS, fintech, AI, healthcare, consumer internet, and enterprise software.

Learn more: Prime Venture Partners

Follow Prime Venture Partners:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2780448/admin/dashboard/

X (Twitter): https://x.com/Primevp_in

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/primevp_in/

Learn more about Agilitas

Website: https://agilitas.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/agilitas-sport/home/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/agilitas_sports/?hl=en

#SportsEntrepreneurship #BrandBuilding

Episode 255 - Autopsy Report: Kim Il-Sung

The Deprogram

Kim Il-sung’s Origins and Revolutionary Family

The AI-powered Podcast Player