The Neon Show The story of India’s 100th Unicorn, Open ft. Founder, Anish Achuthan
We’ve heard inspiring stories of founders of Facebook and Microsoft who’ve dropped out of Harvard and even some of the well known Indian Entrepreneurs who’ve dropped out of IITs to build on their dream venture.
But in today’s episode we’ll talk with Anish Achuthan, who ran away from his hometown during his Class 11th with dreams to build something big in the Dotcom space and currently is the Cofounder of Open, which recently became Kerala’s first unicorn start-up.
Listen to Anish talk about his journey through his various ventures over the last two decades and how he’s building for Open to democratize the Neobanking space in India.
Notes -
02:42 - Being born in Govt service-oriented family in Kerala to getting inspired by Dotcom
06:11 - Meeting his cofounder & life partner
07:49 - Cumulative learnings from his previous companies
11:27 - Product Offerings by Open for SMEs, Banks and Fintech Entreprises
13:57 - Key milestones in Open’s journey
15:49 - Current metrics on the platform
16:56 - What are his plans with Open for the long term
19:17 - Their moat against other Neobanks and traditional banks
23:04 - Product & distribution strategy for the first 100 to 1000 users
31:46 - Licenses and certifications needed for Neo Banking
33:47 - Challenges while cracking the first banking partner
35:27 - Monetizing their services on Freemium model
36:55 - Advice to early-stage entrepreneurs