First Principles

Sometime in the early 1970s a young Harsh Mariwala joined Bombay Oil Industries, a company set up by his grandfather in 1948, just a year after India’s independence. The company would trade in spices, oils and chemicals.Over the next two decades Harsh learnt the ropes of the family business. Till in 1991 - two decades after he had joined Bombay Oil - he left it to start his own company, Marico.He had already seen the power of quality and brand in a category that was still almost entirely commoditized and unbranded. For instance, the huge 15 liter tin cans of Parachute coconut oil Bombay Oil sold to shopkeepers were resold in smaller quantities at much higher prices. Harsh rightly wondered, why should someone else capture the margin and premium for my product? The company that Harsh founded - Marico - had two powerful brands at its core - Parachute Coconut Oil and Saffola cooking oil. That is true even today, 33 years later. Nearly 1 in 3 Indians use Parachute oil, our research tells us. Of course, a lot else has changed since then. Marico, which went public just 5 years after being founded in 1991, today boasts a turnover of over 1.2 billion dollars. And Harsh is 72, but still learning, exploring, experimenting and unable to take it easy.Earlier this week, I had the chance to speak to Harsh about his entire (and might I add still evolving) professional journey!It’s a long time, but Harsh talks about the day Marico was separated from Bombay Oil just like it was yesterday. He talked about how in 1991 they attracted talent by positioning themselves as the disruptive outsiders. Sample one of the headlines from Marico’s ads: 200 employees walk out of Bombay Oil. Harsh had a lot of stories for me – from creating differentiation in consumer products even when the market is crowded, to how he fought back and won against the much larger Hindustan Unilever when it wanted to acquire Marico. And then he switched back to the present – and how he’s focussing all his learnings, experience, attention into cultivating innovation in India. This is an episode packed with anecdotes and lessons – you’ll hear Harsh talking about a ‘right to win’ in the market, strategizing acquisitions, and making ‘a difference without expectations’ to the shareholders. All in the context of Harsh’s years at Marico, the Mariwala Health Initiative, Ascent foundation and Marico Innovation Foundation! Let’s go!This is episode 42 of First Principles–a weekly leadership podcast from The Ken. Join The Ken as a Podcast Producer and work with India's most ambitious storytellers! We’re creating a podcast about India’s biggest companies, with each episode backed by weeks of deep research. You’ll lead the workflows that turn that research into exceptional narratives and bring the show to listeners around the world. Join us to help shape something exceptional. Check out the details and apply here. 

Join Girish Mathrubootham, CEO and Co-Founder of Freshworks, as he dives into the art of heart-led leadership and its profound impact on workplace culture. He shares his unique journey from a product manager to a visionary CEO, emphasizing that success isn't just about numbers. Discover his insights on navigating change, the evolving landscape of VC-backed startups, and how Freshworks cultivates a nurturing environment for its employees. Plus, Girish reflects on his deep connection to Chennai, blending heritage with innovative business practices.

Vaibhav Gupta, Co-founder and CEO of Udaan, navigates the thrilling yet chaotic waters of hyper-growth startups. He discusses the delicate dance of making high-stakes decisions without relying on patterns. Listeners will hear about Udaan's warehouse innovations, maintaining intellectual honesty in valuations, and the need for transparent leadership. Gupta also shares insights on adapting to an evolving B2B landscape while balancing professional ambitions with personal life, emphasizing the importance of continuous learning and feedback.

Exploring how 5 founders prioritize patience and trust in building company culture. Topics include empowering teams through delegation, embracing work as a game, fostering constructive feedback, long-term dedication, selfless leadership, and intentional leadership styles. Each founder shares insights on navigating early business challenges, markers of effective leaders, and the virtue of patience in organizational success. They emphasize the hands-on approach founders take in shaping company culture over time.

Aneesh Reddy, CEO and Co-Founder of Capillary Tech, reflects on his leadership journey shaped by challenges and transformation. He shares how being labeled a 'bully' prompted him to seek executive coaching and embrace vulnerability in leadership. Aneesh discusses the profound insights gained from Vipassana meditation, emphasizing resilience and personal growth. He also touches on his transition to a healthier lifestyle while balancing parenting and business, revealing how these experiences have redefined his understanding of success and purpose.

Vaibhav Gupta, CEO and co-founder of Udaan, discusses evolving from a marketplace to a first-party business, Udaan's culture pillars, and daily conversations within the leadership team. They also explore Udaan's mission to transform India's trade ecosystem, challenges faced by retailers and traders, and how Udaan improves access and efficiency in wholesale purchasing.

Welcome back to Episode 37 of First Principles.If you’re here to find our latest edition of the First Principles Newsletter, here you go!A few weeks ago, we had a wonderful conversation with Viren Shetty – the executive vice chairman of Narayana Health.  Narayana Health – formerly called Narayana Hrudalaya – is a hospital network that’s also listed on the stock exchanges. Today’s episode is the second part of our conversation with Viren. In part 1, Viren talked about healthcare in India – something he described as an “assembly line.” If you remember listening to it, you’ll know that Viren has both intricate knowledge and undeniable intuition about the healthcare landscape in India. We discussed Viren’s ambitions to fix healthcare in India and where Narayana Health is headed. That led us to why Viren holds this mission so close to his heart, in this second part of our conversation.What led him to healthcare? What drives him to wake up and do this, day after day? In our opening, you heard about Viren’s innate pattern recognition superpower, which is very different from his father Dr. DeviShetty’s.So, how did he build this intuition? And how does he use it to run a vast hospital network?Viren answers all of these questions with stories from his life, career and even from the hospitals where he grew up. This is episode 37 of First Principles—The Ken’s weekly leadership podcast.P.S. Please recommend your favourite books for the First Principles community here! Join The Ken as a Podcast Producer and work with India's most ambitious storytellers! We’re creating a podcast about India’s biggest companies, with each episode backed by weeks of deep research. You’ll lead the workflows that turn that research into exceptional narratives and bring the show to listeners around the world. Join us to help shape something exceptional. Check out the details and apply here. 

Aneesh Reddy, the Co-founder and CEO of Capillary Technologies, shares his inspiring journey from corporate life to leading a global SaaS company specializing in customer loyalty. He discusses the ups and downs of building a tech giant, including strategic pivots and battling economic downturns. Aneesh provides insights into how they foster brand loyalty through focused solutions and the critical role of team dynamics in a startup's evolution. Hear about the challenges of retaining talent and the importance of company culture in navigating growth.

A few weeks ago, we published an episode with Soumya Rajan of Waterfield Advisors. We discussed what it was like to bet your future on an idea that no one had tried before, in India.  In Soumya’s case, that idea was a business model around wealth management.You might remember Soumya saying it really wasn’t easy. Her peers had doubts. Her clients had doubts. Her family had doubts. She had doubts. But she dug her heels in. 12 years in, Waterfield Advisors is now India’s largest multi-family office and wealth advisory, managing over 40,000 crores for its clients. We covered a lot of ground around Waterfield’s early years. And then, we took a break. We had some coffee, looked around the studio offices, and came back in to record again. And slowly, the next hour of our conversation became about looking ahead. Soumya detailed her vision to me. Waterfield is planning to expand to Dubai this year. And perhaps even more international offices after that. In fact, Soumya said, she wants to build an organization like J.P. Morgan – out of India.JP Morgan traces its history nearly 150 years back. So naturally, I asked Soumya: how do make sure you build a company that’s around for 10, 20…even 50 years? How do you build a truly defensible and lasting moat?Her answer was very interesting. Soumya said Waterfield will continue what it started with – never manufacturing their own products, and continuing to remain only an advisory.She explained, Waterfield would never go into distribution – which is where the money is. It will always be an advisory. Again, Soumya has a big bet – she believes that Waterfield needs to give up growth and scale in the short term, to succeed in the long term. And in this episode, she explains why this will work. We also talk about: --> Being unapologetic about entrepreneurship--> Learning to let go as a CEO--> How to use AI as a friend --> Building a ritualistic work ethic This is episode 35 of First Principles—The Ken's weekly leadership podcast.P.S.: If you have any submissions for book recommendations, interesting reads, #SilentSunday pictures or songs for the First Principles newsletter, send them here.  Join The Ken as a Podcast Producer and work with India's most ambitious storytellers! We’re creating a podcast about India’s biggest companies, with each episode backed by weeks of deep research. You’ll lead the workflows that turn that research into exceptional narratives and bring the show to listeners around the world. Join us to help shape something exceptional. Check out the details and apply here. 

Welcome to the first 2024 episode of First Principles! Though we’re only 15 months old, we’re also technically into our third calendar year, after our first episode in August 2022. A happy new year to you. Here’s to many more years of wonderful conversations, learning and growing.Our guest today is Viren Shetty, the executive vice chairman of Narayana Health—the publicly listed healthcare group that operates over two dozen hospitals across India. Refreshingly, Viren thinks about healthcare…as an assembly line. And there are many, many steps in this line. Many of these are very small...they seem unimportant. Even forgettable. Like scheduling an annual healthcare checkup. Or filling out a feedback form at your clinic. Or just waiting in line for your doctor's appointment. When I asked Viren how healthcare can be fixed in India, he pointed to this assembly line. Basically, what if you tweak every small step of this line a little bit? Small, unnoticeable changes at every step? He’s confident that the result will be a smooth, well-oiled machine that takes care of your health end-to-end. This is what, Viren says, Narayana Health is trying to do. It reminded me of Apple. Take existing technologies and make improvements while putting the user at the centre of the experience. Narayana Health is a name you might have heard, especially if you’re from Bangalore. It was founded in 2000 by Dr. Devi Shetty. It went public in 2016 and is valued at over US$1 billion.But what we know as Narayana Health today began as Narayana Hrudayalaya, a super speciality hospital with a laser-sharp focus on cardiac health. Twenty years on, however, it's changed a lot.In addition to its numerous hospitals across India, it's also venturing into health insurance policies, partnering with clinics and pharmacies, and building an ambitious bundled subscription plan for its customers. This episode is a first in more ways than one. It’s not just our first episode of 2024. It’s also the first episode with a guest from the healthcare sector. And it’s the first episode which may sound a little different to you. In this episode, I ask Viren:Why are health checkups such a hassle?Is the answer to better healthcare in hardware or software?What are the health tech startups doing right?And then there is the unshakable mistrust that the Indian population holds against hospitals and doctors. Can this even be solved?Patiently and confidently, Viren answers every one of my questions. He talks about building sticky habits in customers, changing the messaging in healthcare, and becoming “worse” as an insurance company to be better as a healthcare one.In this episode, we truly get down to the first principles of healthcare in India.Check out the First Principles Newsletter, a weekly Sunday read on entrepreneurship, mental models, leadership and reflection here.Send in submissions for book recommendations, interesting reads, Silent Sunday pictures or songs for the First Principles newsletter here.This is Episode 34 of First Principles, Viren Shetty—The Ken’s fortnightly leadership podcast.The Ken is India’s first subscriber-only business journalism platform. Check out our deeply reported long-form stories, insightful newsletters, original podcasts and much more here. Join The Ken as a Podcast Producer and work with India's most ambitious storytellers! We’re creating a podcast about India’s biggest companies, with each episode backed by weeks of deep research. You’ll lead the workflows that turn that research into exceptional narratives and bring the show to listeners around the world. Join us to help shape something exceptional. Check out the details and apply here.