The Neon Show

This episode is not just about Kerala; it is about how a state with limited land, strict environmental regulations, and a long history of outmigration is approaching investment and growth.Kerala is a small, densely populated state with limited land to spare, not the typical site for industrial expansion. Yet it’s taking a distinct approach to building a knowledge based economy.P. Rajeev (Minister for Industries, Law and Coir, Govt of Kerala) joins us to break this down.We discuss how Kerala rose from the bottom to become the top-ranked state in Ease of Doing Business, what’s behind the ₹1.5 lakh crore in investment pledges, and why the state is prioritizing high-value industries over land and labour-intensive manufacturing. We also unpack how Kerala plans to convert MOUs into functioning factories and real jobs, and why startups that once moved away are now beginning to stay. Tune in if you’re curious about how Indian states are attracting investment and rethinking their development models.0:00 – Trailer1:18 – Is Kerala Still Fighting Old Perceptions?5:59 – Kerala to Focus on Value-Added Manufacturing7:45 – How to Start an IT Firm in Kerala & Where It Missed the Tech Bus10:35 – What’s Blocking Startups from Scaling in the State?11:15 – Can Kerala Retain Its Best Talent?14:20 – Kerala’s Vision for a Free-Thinking Knowledge Economy16:36 – Repositioning as an Investor-Friendly Destination19:22 – What the “Nature, People, Industry” Motto Really Means22:22 – Will Kerala Deliver on Its Investor Summit Promises?23:42 – Why Vizhinjam Could Be a Game-Changer26:00 – How Indian States Are Competing for Investments28:47 – Is Stagnation in Productive Sectors Slowing Development?32:38 – Is Kerala’s Geography a Barrier to Growth?33:24 – Are Its Environmental Rules Too Rigid for Industry?34:22 – Is Communism Holding Kerala Back?37:48 – When the Communist Govt funded a Private Co.41:17 – The Real Kerala Story43:28 – The History Behind Kerala’s Education Revolution45:14 – What the Kerala Model Must Fix48:06 – Internet as a Basic Citizen Right48:56 – Kerala’s Health Workers on the Global Frontlines51:19 – Can Outsiders Easily Buy Land in Kerala?53:01 – The State’s Only Unicorn Company54:21 – Can Startups from Kerala Go Public?-------------India’s talent has built the world’s tech—now it’s time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It’s about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that’s done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we’re doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us a text

AI is changing how companies build and scale. But most pitch decks haven’t caught up.Karthik Chakkarapani, CIO of Zuora, has heard plenty of startup pitches but only a few stand out. He shares why most pitches fall flat, how to fix them, and how to present both the founder and the company in a way that drives real interest.We unpack what should go into your 30-second elevator pitch, why “Time to Value” needs its own slide, and how to bring up AI without sounding like everyone else.SaaS is changing fast and it’s no longer just about features, but about speed, clarity, and proof of value. We explore how the next wave of SaaS companies can truly differentiate themselves.Building a startup is different in a post-UI world, where users don’t click through screens but simply prompt systems to act. We discuss what it takes to build in a world of API-driven AI agents, along with real lessons on what most founders get wrong about working with large companies.If you're building SaaS in 2025, this conversation is for you.0:00 – Trailer1:05 – How the CIO Role Has Changed3:21 – How Zuora Enables the Subscription Economy5:45 – Is SaaS Becoming Headless?7:55 – Are We Entering a Post-UI World?10:37 – What’s the New Competitive Advantage?12:31 – Will Entry-Level Jobs Be Replaced by Tools?14:05 – What Metrics Will Matter in an Agentic AI World?15:55 – How to Measure AI Adoption in Your Company18:38 – What’s the Hype-to-Reality Ratio for AI?20:19 – What Is the Biggest ROI AI Has Delivered?23:53 – How Startups Can Get Deployed in Enterprises27:10 – How Founders Should Use AI in Their Pitch28:45 – Bolt-On AI vs. Built-In AI32:26 – Most Common Myth About CIOs35:03 – Why You Need a Prompt Library36:04 – What to Avoid in Your Pitch Deck37:21 – How Atomic Work Came Onboard42:47 – The Underrated Soft Skills Founders Need47:55 – 3 Examples of Killer 30-Second Elevator Pitches51:59 – The “Time-to-Value” Slide Explained53:46 – What Founders Get Wrong About Enterprises54:58 – Top SaaS Misconceptions About Enterprise57:00 – Where Enterprises Adopt AI the Fastest59:45 – How the Next SaaS Companies Will Differentiate1:00:33 – Bay Area vs. Bangalore vs. Chennai1:03:33 – Rapid Fire Round-------------​​India’s talent has built the world’s tech—now it’s time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It’s about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that’s done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we’re doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us a text

Three failed startups. One of India’s biggest B2B exits. Then returning 75% of investor money in the next venture. An entrepreneur who’s lived that arc is bound to have insights for anyone building or thinking of building.Paras Chopra, founder of Wingify (sold for $200 million), Nintee, and now Lossfunk, joins us this week.We discuss the small decisions that quietly define your startup: what product to build, how to structure your team, and why setting the right communication culture early can help.Paras shares what most founders overlook early on : Pricing isn’t about effort you put but about the value you create, why having competitors might actually be better than having none, and how financial metrics often distract from what really matters to customers.Paras talks about what changed between each attempt of building his startups, and why some lessons only reveal themselves the hard way and what shifts after you’ve seen both failure and success. Whether you're launching your first company or planning your next, this conversation will give you the clarity needed to tilt the odds in your favor.Check out The Book of Clarity by Paras Chopra.00:00 – Startups Should Be Like Cults02:25 – Building a Founder’s Value System03:25 – Bet on What Won’t Change in 10 Years05:15 – What AI Can’t Do Well (Yet)10:00 – Do Humans Even Want Accuracy?10:57 – What Founders Should Not Build or Sell13:35 – Are many competitors better than none?19:47 – Why Repeating Success Is Hard21:20 – Customer Value Metrics > Financial Metrics23:35 – Why Paras’s Startup after Wingify Didn’t Work27:00 – What Is Micro Communication?30:41 – Writing Culture in a Startup32:50 – Obsess Over Organisational Design37:15 – Is Luck in Our Hands?41:24 – Why Bias Is Risky for Entrepreneurs42:35 – Great Startups Look Like Toys at First44:00 – Why Deep Tech Startups Struggle to Succeed46:09 – Paras’s New Venture Lossfunk49:23 – Why Uncertainty Is a Startup Moat55:56 – What Most Founders Get Wrong About Pricing57:36 – Should Price be on Effort or Value?59:23 – Wingify Innovated on Just One Metric1:00:25 – What Is Failure for Paras?1:04:08 – Diversify Your Self-Worth Like a Portfolio1:05:21 – The Startup Game Is a Mental Game1:06:43 – Did Wingify Create Wealth or Just Money?---​​India’s talent has built the world’s tech—now it’s time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It’s about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that’s done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we’re doing it all at Neon.---Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7---This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us a text

Krishna (Vasanth) Namasivayam, founder of Featurely and ex-AI product developer at NVIDIA, Meta, and Dropbox, shares invaluable insights into product design. He reveals that half of all features go unused and emphasizes the need to address real problems accurately. Vasanth discusses the elitism in tech and the importance of simulation with synthetic users to enhance decision-making. He also contemplates the future of AI agents and their role in understanding human behavior, making products truly user-centric.

Geopolitics is now measured in Nanometers. Anything with a battery or a plug has a semiconductor inside. But these chips aren’t just tech anymore, they’re shaping who becomes the next Superpower.In the 1980s, India was just two years behind the world in semiconductors. Today, we’re 12 generations behind. What went wrong?India’s top semiconductor expert, Raja Manickam, returns to The Neon Show to break it all down.We discuss how the U.S. lost the chip race it started, China’s strategic rise, and how one visionary turned Taiwan into the most valuable island in the world.Raja Manickam dives into what the $10B India Semiconductor Mission is getting right and where we may fall behind. He explains why <$5 chips might be India’s best shot, and how founders can enter semiconductors with just ₹1 Crore.This episode isn’t just about chips, it’s about who gets to shape the next decade of tech, trade, and power. From the role of the government to private capital and Mr. Raja’s own vision through his company iVP Semiconductor, this episode tells you how semiconductors are deciding India’s Future.0:00 – Trailer1:26 – Masters of Chips will rule the world8:24 – Why US is falling behind despite its head start11:22 – Does the US have the talent to win?12:54 – How Taiwan became World’s most valuable island18:51 – The US vs China dilemma for Taiwan22:21 – China’s rise is strategic, not accidental29:09 – Will India only be a chip-outsourcing hub?32:41 – Does India want to build for itself or others?34:07 – Why the US wants to kill the Chips Act38:21 – US-China chip war for global power40:16 – How can India win in <$5 chips?43:31 – Should the Indian govt give grants or take equity?45:05 – Semiconductor will not create jobs47:50 – What went wrong for India post-80s?50:11 – Why Mr. Raja returned to India52:04 – Can India democratise chips too?55:23 – How India’s govt is supporting chip startups58:06 – India’s $10B Semiconductor Mission1:03:19 – Why Raja is disappointed with Private sector1:08:48 – iVP’s ambition to be a chip giant from India1:10:47 – What’s India still missing?1:16:39 – Is India not ready for 3nm Chips?1:21:43 – How can new founders enter semiconductors?-------------​​India’s talent has built the world’s tech—now it’s time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It’s about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that’s done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we’re doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us a text

There are No Checklists or Frameworks on HOW TO BE A VC?So how do you even know if it’s the right path for you?Unlike most jobs, venture capital comes with an extremely long feedback loop. It can take years before you know whether the bets you made actually worked out. That’s why most seasoned VCs say: only choose this path if you're in it for the long haul.This conversation will help you think through that choice. Whether you’re considering VC as a career, love building businesses, or just want to understand who really calls the shots on a cap table.On The Neon Show, we have with us two operators turned investors:Gaurav Ranjan, Principal at Prime Venture Partners, has led deals including Dozee, Hitwikcet, Poshn and Gallabox.Naman Lahoty, Partner at Stellaris Venture Partners has been part of investments like Zouk, Nestasia, Dashtoon and Lumio.They share lessons from evaluating thousands of startups - what they’ve unlearned about pattern-matching in investing, why Excel projections mostly fail and why founder empathy might be the most underrated edge in venture capital.It’s truly a conversation between three VCs on what it really takes to be a VC today.0:00 – Stellaris Partners X Prime Ventures0:43 – How Founders Turn Into VCs4:19 – Do VCs Need an MBA or Consulting Background?6:32 – Why Startup Projections Rarely Come True8:43 – Are VCs Naturally Good Founders?11:19 – Startups we Evaluated & Founders we Met14:51 – From First Pitch to Deal Close19:02 – Why VC Feedback Loops Are Extremely Long21:00 – No Checklists. No Frameworks.25:27 – Why On-Demand Rebranded as Quick Commerce Won?29:20 – The Stellaris Framework to Evaluate Founders35:53 – Why Indian VCs Must Think Independently38:28 – Rapid Fire: The Big One We Missed39:16 – The One We Loved But Didn’t Back42:23 – Startups We Wish We’d Invested In43:55 – Investors We Admire the Most47:20 – Do We Believe Peter Thiel’s Theory?52:35 – Startup Stories: Slack, Flickr, Dozee, Rupicard57:15 – The GTM Hack That Led to Product Discovery58:15 – Babygogo & Atomic Work59:55 – All-Nighter Code Sprint for the Demo1:00:55 – Lessons Founders Taught Us1:06:30 – What We Miss About Being a Founder1:10:28 – When Do You Decide If You Are a Good VC?1:13:28 – Building a Fund V/S Building a Startup-------------​​India’s talent has built the world’s tech—now it’s time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It’s about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that’s done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we’re doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us a text

Vertical SaaS customers don’t buy software for 10 months, they buy it for 10 years. That’s the opportunity and the challenge. Switching costs are high, which makes it hard to get in but once you’re in, you’re in.But regular SaaS playbooks don't work here. Forget PLG. Forget design partners. These industries have been burned too many times by bad software. Here, Trust defines GTM. Think warm introductions and on-site meetings, not cold emails and Zoom calls.But for founders building in vertical SaaS, there’s little to learn from. So in this episode of The Neon Show, we bring together three founders who are building in the trenches of Vertical SaaS.Omkar Patil, Co-founder of Pienomial, helping biopharma companies run faster clinical research and unlock insights from complex drug data.Kumar Siddhartha, Co-founder of Merlin, rebuilding ERP from the ground up for the US construction industry.Divyaanshu Makkar, Co-founder of WizCommerce, modernising sales and commerce tools for wholesale distributors.If you’re building SaaS for niche markets or wondering why traditional playbooks are failing, this episode is for you.0:00- Pienomial X WizCommerce X Merlin0:51 – What are we building in Vertical SaaS?4:29 – Vertical SaaS buyers are sticky by nature6:57 – How to build for industries used to Below-Par Tech?10:46 – Fix what your customer hated about the last vendor12:17 – Why these industries pay billions for implementation?13:38 – How we got our First customers?20:03 – Warm intros and word-of-mouth still win23:56 – Why Design Partners don’t work in Vertical SaaS?27:17 – Why you should never sell your first product for free?30:29 – Can you Co-build products with early customers?34:33 – Building Your Own Platform Vs Building on Top of one39:33 – Building alongside Legacy players or innovating around them?44:31 – SaaS isn’t going anywhere, AI will amplify it46:49 – Can AI agents really be reliable?48:42 – Which roles shouldn't be automated?52:16 – How to approach GTM where users guide you?54:43 – Why trust is everything here?58:54 – How to sell softwares used for 10 years?1:01:02 – How to win when the product demo comes last?1:03:16 – Why NOW for traditional industries with unsolved problems1:09:17 – Thoughts on agentic workflows1:13:02 – Why be Bearish on the “AI Employee Concept”?1:16:57 – Rapid Fire : Google or Perplexity?1:17:37 – LLMs: Open-source or Closed?1:18:19 – Favorite work software + We're hiring!1:19:42 – One business buzzword that should disappear1:20:55 – A Vertical SaaS company we admire (and why)-------------​​India’s talent has built the world’s tech—now it’s time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It’s about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that’s done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we’re doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are thosSend us a text

Saurya Prakash Sinha, co-founder of Recko, a pioneering financial reconciliation platform acquired by Stripe, dives into his entrepreneurial journey. He shares the struggles of nearly running out of cash and the process of finding product-market fit amidst skepticism from investors. Saurya underlines the importance of customer validation, explaining how usage trumps annual recurring revenue in early-stage B2B success. He also reflects on the dynamics of high-profile acquisitions and the key role of effective communication in fostering a strong company culture.

The dollar will lose its status as the world’s reserve currency & the greatest wealth transfer in history is already underway - warns the founder of one of India’s fastest-growing unicorns!In this episode, Deepak Garg, founder of Rivigo and AnywhereJobs shares why Rivigo's iconic Relay model succeeded, and what ultimately limited it. He predicts Zomato's dominance, questions funding choices of startups and shares why India may miss the AI revolution without a radical energy shift.From Bitcoin vs. gold and Trump’s potential Nobel Peace Prize to Tesla becoming a $30 trillion company, Deepak’s predictions are bold and grounded in years of pattern recognition.If you're a founder, investor, or macro nerd, this is an episode you won’t forget.0:00- Rivigo & Anywhere Jobs02:16 – When your business outgrows the market04:18 – Capital raising is a Double-edged sword05:02 – Which ideas truly need funding?07:33 – Build teams with Accuracy, not Kindness09:39 – How to know if you've chosen the right market?10:41 – Why Zomato is India's best Consumer tech bet16:00 – How the Power is shifting b/w nations today?20:18 – Will Dollar cease to be a Reserve currency?22:36 – Is Bitcoin better than Gold?26:59 – Who will be the Next global Superpower?31:56 – India in the Next 20 years34:22 – When 2 players control 80% of India’s Private sector35:52 – Why China is far ahead of India in Nuclear Energy?40:17 – Will Trump win a Nobel Peace Prize in 2025?42:01 – How Tesla could become a $30 trillion company?47:15 – Wealth transfer from Wall Street to Main Street50:30 – Where India should focus in AI-------------​​India’s talent has built the world’s tech—now it’s time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It’s about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that’s done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we’re doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us a text

Kushal Bhagia, Fund Manager at All In Capital, and Karthik Prabhakar, Founder of Peer Capital, share their unique journeys from engineers to venture capitalists. They discuss why not all builders should become VCs and how curiosity drives success in this field. The duo explores the evolving fundraising landscape in India, emphasizing the need for strategic partnerships. They also examine qualities needed in VCs, like patience and resilience, and reflect on the challenges facing emerging managers in a competitive market.