EP#49 Rajan Bajaj – Building Slice, re-inventing payments & the pursuit of building a quality consumer product for India

In this episode, Rajan Bajaj (Founder & CEO, Slice), joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path leading up to entrepreneurship, the problem statement & need for a product like Slice today, pivots made since founding the company in 2016, how Slice differentiates itself - both on the product & distribution front, the fundraising challenges faced during early days of Slice and what according to him is the biggest value add from investors. 

Slice is a leading fintech startup that aims to build a smart, simple, and transparent financial platform to redesign the financial experience for millennials. Founded in 2016 by a then 22 year old Rajan, Slice went through multiple pivots before launching the physical cards business in 2019. The startup became the latest Indian unicorn after its recent $220mm fundraise led by Tiger Global & Insight Partners. Other existing investors in the startup include marquee VCs like Blume Ventures, Better Capital as well as angels like Kunal Shah, Sachin Bansal among others. An IIT Kharagpur alum, Rajan was part of the product team at Flipkart before founding Slice. You can connect with him here on Twitter or Linkedin. 

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Show notes – 

(01:41) Rajan’s background & path leading up to entrepreneurship 

(03:10) Problem statement & need for a product like Slice today 

(06:02) Pivots made over the past 5 years - From Buy Now Pay Later to a virtual credit card to a physical credit card 

(10:13) How Slice differentiates itself on the product & distribution front? 

(17:52) Thoughts on competition & growth potential of the market itself; Go-forward vision for Slice 

(22:42) What should founders optimize for when fundraising for their startup? 

(26:00) Challenges faced by Slice in it’s fundraising journey; Biggest value add from investors 

(32:53) Rapid fire and closing remarks 

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