#362 – How Sharat Potharaju built a 50,000-customer business by saying "no" to endless opportunities

A story about finding entrepreneurial wisdom through a decade of patient persistence

This podcast interview focuses on the entrepreneurial journey to discovering powerful strategic frameworks through trial and error. My guest is Sharat Potharaju, CEO of Uniqode.

Sharat is a serial entrepreneur with 15 years of experience. He navigated through a decade of ventures that didn't scale before founding Uniqode in 2019. His company has since grown to serve over 50,000 businesses worldwide, including Fortune 500 companies, by creating innovative technology that connects physical and digital worlds through mobile experiences.

What makes Sharat's story remarkable is his methodical approach to business building, where he combines weekly deep strategic thinking with rapid experimentation frameworks, always maintaining that impact—both for employees and customers—is what drives his entrepreneurial energy.

And this inspired me, and hence I invited Sharat to my podcast. We explore how an entrepreneur's decade of failures can become the foundation for remarkable success. Sharat challenges conventional wisdom by dedicating specific time each week for deep thinking about long-term strategy while handling day-to-day operations. He reveals why being selective about advice is crucial for maintaining entrepreneurial confidence, and how balancing luck with persistence creates the conditions for breakthrough success. His approach makes products dead-simple for users while sticking to strict testing methods to know what works.

Here is a quote that captures one of Sharat's most striking business lessons:

"It's important to love your product, but it's even more important to be obsessed about the problem that you're trying to solve. Because if you're not obsessed about the problem, eventually you'll just fall in love with your product and lose your focus on vision."

By listening to this podcast you will learn:

• Why entrepreneurial success typically takes a decade, not overnight, and how to mentally prepare for this reality
• How to implement a "Wednesday deep thinking" practice that balances long-term vision with short-term execution
• The secret to filtering advice from well-meaning investors, mentors, and colleagues without losing your entrepreneurial confidence
• How to create frameworks for experimentation that prevent chaos while maximizing learning

For more information about the guest from this week:

Guest: ⁠Sharat Potharaju ⁠

Website: ⁠uniqode.com