How to Hire, Train & Retain Talent to Build a Great Company | Vijay Rayapati | Khadim Batti

Apr 28, 2025

In this engaging discussion, Vijay Rayapati, Co-founder of Atomicwork, and Khadim Batti, Co-founder of Whatfix, share their entrepreneurial wisdom. They delve into the importance of cultivating a genuine company culture that balances humility and ambition. The conversation touches on innovative hiring strategies, the significance of mentorship for founders, and the challenges of AI adoption. They also address the need for flexibility in work hours and the evolving role of leaders in fostering a psychologically safe workplace, ultimately shedding light on how to build enduring companies.

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ANECDOTE

Vijay's Viral Founder-VC Meme

Vijay Rayapati shared a viral meme he created joking about founders and VCs being rappers on AI/ML concepts.
The meme humorously highlighted founder-VC relationships and made Vijay well-known among venture capitalists.

INSIGHT

Closing Deals Across Time Zones

Kadim Batti taught Indian founders to close deals in US time zones, not just code in India time zones.
He treats sales and account management like engineering problems, leading to million-dollar remote deal closures.

ADVICE

Discourage Joining After Offer

Disallow blind enthusiasm after offers by discouraging new hires to think over reasons not to join.
This filtering ensures new hires align with the startup's hard realities and mission.

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In this episode, we sit down with two exceptional founders. One who is going after the biggest category, and one who created a new category and became its leading player.

Vijay Rayapati (Co-founder, Atomicwork) and Khadim Batti (Co-founder, Whatfix) share their hard-earned insights on what it truly takes to build a great company.

From closing million-dollar deals remotely to building AI-native organisations and cultivating long-term leadership, this conversation goes deep into the real playbook behind enduring companies.

Watch if you’re a founder, a team builder, or simply someone who wants to understand how great companies are actually built.

0:00 – Trailer

01:37 – The Viral Meme Story

03:28 – What the Founders Admire About Each Other

07:20 – Navigating US–India Work Timings

08:39 – Hiring & Retaining Talent

15:54 – Why Founders Need Mentors

24:53 – When Employees Think Short-Term

31:48 – Building Organic Leadership

35:58 – Hunger vs Humility

39:58 – Building Company Culture

44:55 – Why Abolish Designations

51:38 – What is Founder’s Mentality?

54:44 – Large vs New Categories

01:00:44 – When Things Go Wrong

01:02:41 – Handling Board Pressure

01:06:45 – Never Compromise on Customer Service

01:13:58 – What to build is becoming harder

01:18:57 – FOMO in AI

01:25:10 – AI Will Remove Bureaucracy, Not Jobs

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Hi, I am your host Siddhartha! I have been an entrepreneur from 2012-2017 building two products AddoDoc and Babygogo. After selling my company to SHEROES, I and my partner Nansi decided to start up again. But we felt unequipped in our skillset in 2018 to build a large company. We had known 0-1 journeys from our startups but lacked the experience of building 1-10 journeys.

Hence was born The Neon Show (Earlier 100x Entrepreneur) to learn from founders and investors, the mindset to scale yourself and your company. This quest still keeps us excited even after 5 years and doing 200+ episodes.

We welcome you to our journey to understand what goes behind building a super successful company. Every episode is done with a very selfish motive, that I and Nansi should come out as a better entrepreneur and professional after absorbing the learnings.

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Check us out on:

Website: https://neon.fund/

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Connect with Siddhartha on:

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

Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7

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This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.

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