The Neon Show

What are some of the valuable learnings and inspirations Siddhartha and Nansi got after recording 200+ episodes with the most successful entrepreneurs, VCs, and creators on the 100x Entrepreneur podcast?The new episode with our duo is out now! Tune in to learn how to start a podcast, what you can expect after a certain number of podcast episodes, how you grow with each conversation, and which guests inspired Nansi & Siddhartha the most!We hope you enjoy this short, crisp and insightful episode from 100x! Notes - 00:22 - Intro01:15 - Learning Consistency: Publishing episodes every Monday02:26 - Learning Networking: Bringing Top-notch guests06:24 - Learnings from Gaurav Munjal, Unacademy: 10000+ Notes on his iPad08:40 - “A Startup Team is Sports Team, not a family.”09:34 - Learnings from Vidit Attrey, Meesho: Listening to your customers12:35 - Realising that you know nothing and absorbing the best of your guests14:02 - Shoutout with Prashant Ganti, Head of Product, Zoho on where do founders struggle with Payroll and how can they fix it?16:12 - Learnings from creators who’ve cracked distribution17:42 - Being professional with people you work withAlso, try out a 30-day free trial of Zoho Payroll, and simplify your Payroll journey as an entrepreneur!https://zoho.to/zoho-payrollSend us a text

In 2021, 125 Indian companies raised over $18 Bn through initial public offerings (IPO) in public markets.Out of $18 Bn, over $7.3 Bn was raised by 11 Indian Tech Startups from Nazara to MapmyIndia.In today’s episode, we talk with Abhishek Goyal & Neha Singh, Co-founders, Tracxn, which recently went IPO.But unlike the other major tech startups which went IPO in recent years, at Tracxn, they decided to go IPO at a probably early stage, considering their ARR of $10 Mn.During the episode, they share there view point on why they chose to do it on an initial ARR rather than going IPO, once they’ve grown big enough and more.Notes - 00:37 - Intro to ​​Tracxn01:27 - Feeling of going IPO02:27 - Preparing for an IPO 05:06 - Splitting the roles within team to be prepared from Day 105:41 - Documents which they had to submit to SEBI or any other regulator for the DRHP06:46 - Trendsetter by going public at $10 Mn ARR08:44 - Convincing VCs for going IPO-early11:33 - Mentors from whom they took advice for going public12:59 - Is it possible to time the market for IPO? 14:58 - Raising an Anchor allocation Pre-IPO16:17 - Most stressful part of going IPO: Market Uncertainty18:34 - Rollercoaster set of emotions they went through22:24 - Moments of giving up during the whole process24:16 - How to prepare mentally before entering the IPO-process?24:33 - Zoho Sponsored – Prashant Ganti on Where do founders struggle with Payroll and how can they fix it?26:01 - IPO-Checklist and learnings31:26 - What does it requires for tech companies to go public?35:03 - Playbook where companies can go public and build in long-term35:54 - Founder aspiration beyond becoming UnicornAlso, try out a 30-day free trial of Zoho Payroll, and simplify your Payroll journey as an entrepreneur!https://zoho.to/zoho-payrollSend us a text

What are those 5 key decisions Siddhartha and Nansi took to building 100x Entrepreneur?The new episode with our duo is out now! Tune in to hear their journey, learnings, and the hard work they put into bringing the best startup podcast to you all! We hope you enjoy this podcast. Make sure to watch it till the very end and share it with your friends!Also, try out a 30-day free trial of Zoho Payroll, and simplify your Payroll journey as an entrepreneur!https://zoho.to/zoho-payrollSend us a text

The number of retail grocery retailers across India in 2022 amounted to about 13 million. Grocery retail account for about 65% of India's overall retailers.And the most common problems faced by these retailers on a financial front up until a few years back were - Accepting digital payments such as UPI or CardsEasy & Quick access to loans for expanding business or in the form of working capital for buying new stock.In 2018, BharatPe was started to cater to these problems faced by every day retailers in India. Since then the company has grown to enable 10 million merchants in 400+ cities, processing US$ 20 bn of annualized TPV in payments.During the peak of Covid, they also joined hands with ICICI Lombard to launch Coronavirus insurance cover for shopkeepers. To enable hands-free checking of transactions they also launched Speaker. To know how digital payments turned out as a big break for them, we’ve got BharatPe founder Shashvat Nakrani  & CEO Suhail Sameer on our guest seats this time.In this episode we discuss-How they’ve scaled BharatPe over the past 4 years?Does the age gap between them affect the decision-making at the top level?What do they keep in mind while building or scaling any new product?And much moreNotes - 01:35 - Expectations with BharatPe’s current scale03:17 - Joining a Rocket Ship as a CEO05:10 - Changes in culture and customer offerings in the last 2 years12:19 - Very less attachment to a particular role amongst founders & CEOs16:30 - Dealing and coming out the challenging times at BharatPe18:17 - Zoho Sponsored – Prashant Ganti on Where do founders struggle with Payroll and how can they fix it?19:33 - Helping the team innovate faster and plan Go-To-Market strategy25:37 - Strengths & Weakness of Shashvat29:33 - Strengths & Weakness of Suhail31:03 - Handling the firing decisions35:17 - What are the things they bond over? 36:38 - Processes v/s Hustle in 0 to 1 and 1 to 10 journey40:49 - Secret recipe behind success at 0 to 1 on a product-level44:02 - Idea behind building distribution network47:33 - Suhail’s top priorities while joining BharatPe49:29 - Biases and things Suhail had to unlearn55:21 - Listening to Younger v/s Older Team members while decision making 58:39 - Next Chapter of BharatPe01:01:00 - What is being IPO-ready? 01:07:39 - Things which they could have explored outside of Fintech?Send us a text

As per Statista, Market size of the cosmetics industry across India which was at $3 Bn in 2010 is expected to grow to atleast $20 Bn by 2025.In today’s episode, we talk with Manish Taneja, Co-founder and CEO, Purplle, which was started back in 2012.During the podcast Manish talks in detail about - How he along with his Cofounders have always thought for the long-term?Problems they faced back in 2012 in Vertical Ecommerce.How MOATs against competitors are mostly in the minds of the founders? rather than being actually relevant to Indian customers, who are most price and value sensitive.What’s unique about their culture that has helped them retain as well as hire new talent? And more…Lastly before we dive deeper into the podcast, something that Manish mentioned during the episode - “Our 2nd part of the journey has been about, believing in yourself, doing things that are contradictory to the world but at the same time, we think could create massive value in the future.”Notes - 03:19 - Intro to Manish & Purplle04:57 - Being from a Finance background what got him to start his 2nd venture in Online Beauty space? 10:32 - Challenges in Vertical Ecommerce back in 201212:29 - Challenges in delivery, cash flow and more in the first 5-6 years17:30 - Two defining characteristics in their fund raising journey2!:52 - Zoho Sponsored – Prashant Ganti on Where do founders struggle with Payroll and how can they fix it?22:55 - Learnings while his exit from Avendus Capital24:18 - Major changes in the 2nd part of their journey from 2016-17 onwards28:34 - Launching their own brands with 65%+ Gross Margin31:08 - How has he evolved as a founder during Purplle’s journey? 33:21 - Shaping Purplle’s culture over the years38:34 - “MOATs aren’t as relevant for consumers, as they are for founders against competition.”42:23 - Opportunity to build a $20-30 Bn FMCG company from India45:26 - Not succumbing to external pressures around GrowthAlso, try out a 30-day free trial of Zoho Payroll, and simplify your Payroll journey as an entrepreneur!https://zoho.to/zoho-payrollSend us a text

Thinking about Entrepreneurship or Startups which of the following do you think really matters -  # Having Degree from a Tier-1 college?# Having or finding the right Co-founder?# Sky-rocketing your scale up as soon as you secure funding? # Pouring in your resources to get as many customers as fast as possible via Ads?Well the short answer to all the above questions is, IT DOESN’T.In today’s episode we’ve with us Vaibhav Sisinty, Founder, GrowthSchool. And in this episode, while sharing his experiences of building and scaling GrowthSchool, he busts all the above myths one-by-one.For all of you, who’ve been active on Linkedin, in the past few years, especially around themes like marketing and growth hacking, you would have surely noticed a post or an Ad by Vaibhav, or his perfect case of personal branding and self-curated courses on Sisinty.com.During the episode, we talk with Vaibhav about how he learnt and grew his marketing skills during his job at Uber and Klook, how he used a brilliant growth hacking method even while raising his first round and much more.Lastly before we dive deeper into the podcast, something that Vaibhav mentioned during the episode - “True Product Market Fit is, If I shut down my product today, will 25 people line out of my office, requesting to please turn it ON.”Notes - 00:54 - Intro01:55 - Starting in Growth Journey: From his 1st Venture to Uber05:24 - Helping other startups: His playground to learn06:29 - Building Organic v/s Paid Channels of Growth12:02 - Founder-Market Fit towards starting GrowthSchool16:02 - 0 to $1 Mn ARR before first round of funding20:36 - Zoho Sponsored – Prashant Ganti on Where do founders struggle with Payroll and how can they fix it?22:33 - Running Lean & Shrewd to achieve profitability23:58 - Scale & format of courses before and after the funding29:00 - Growth Hacking his way to raise funding from Sequoia, Owl & 80+ Angels36:15 - “Blitzscaling right after funding will break things.”39:17 - Focus & Internal goals in near future41:46 - What’s his definition of PMF for GrowthSchool?49:15 - Managing his time as a Solo Founder52:55 - Various process which he has built in his lifeAlso, try out a 30-day free trial of Zoho Payroll, and simplify your Payroll journey as an entrepreneur!https://zoho.to/zoho-payrollSend us a text

As per Statista, globally there are more than 2.6 Mn Apps on Google Play Store, and when you’re building in today’s age of internet, you need as much as visibility possible around - # Accurately measuring the impact of your marketing initiatives# Actionable insights on your user behaviour# Potential Competitors & on what metrics do they compare with you and where do you & your team needs to focus more.To understand mobile marketing analytics better in this episode we’ve with us Oren Kaniel, CEO & Co-founder, AppsFlyer.Founded in 2011, AppsFlyer has grown leaps and bounds and is currently amongst the top choices of marketers to mobile marketing analytics.In today’s episode, we talk with Oren about how they built and grew AppsFlyer where there was almost a free option like Google Analytics available to the masses, also what’s their focus triangle about Privacy, Users Value and Safety.Lastly before we dive deeper into the podcast, something that Oren’s mentioned during the episode - “Do not fall in love with your product, fall in love with the ecosystem, with the problem-statement.”Notes - 03:09 - Intro to AppsFlyer03:55 - Starting with Entrepreneurship05:53 - Identifying the opportunity and starting AppsFlyer09:18 - How well positioned is Israel for capturing Asian and Global markets? 12:55 - $300 Mn ARR from the US & rest of the Global market13:46 - Journey from 0 to 1 and 1 to 1020:13 - Zoho Sponsored – Prashant Ganti on Where do founders struggle with Payroll and how can they fix it?22:25 - Ensuring faster growth by balancing pricing and revenue model27:53 - Evolving of Go-To-Market insights over time38:19 - Building the team and cultureAlso, try out a 30-day free trial of Zoho Payroll, and simplify your Payroll journey as an entrepreneur!https://zoho.to/zoho-payrollSend us a text

Today being an entrepreneur and starting with a new idea, you can take either of the two approaches - 1. You can build on top of an existing category in the market and bring your unique offerings2. You can take the riskier bet and create an entire category. In India, companies like Flipkart, Oyo, Ola etc. are the ‘Regional’ first movers. Although their concept was inspired from the global companies, however, being the first mover in the Indian subcontinent region gave them an advantage.In today’s episode we have Bala Srinivasa, Managing Director, Arkam Ventures, who has a great focus on identifying and investing in such Category Creators for Middle India.  Prior to Arkam, Bala, was part of the founding team at Vistaar, which in simple words helps companies like Cisco, Dell, GE, Ford, and Hitachi to make better, faster, and more profitable business decisions.Post that he became one of the founding members of Amba research, which was acquired for $100 Mn by Moody’s. After Amba, he was also with Kalaari Capital for over 3 years, post which he co-founded Arkam Ventures, a Venture Capital firm with a focus on “Category Creators for Middle India” and “Enablers for the Global”.In today’s episode, we talk with Bala about key ingredients of building a Category Creator, Solving for the pricing problem in SaaS startups, taking SaaS to the mass audience in Tier-3 cities and towns and much more.Notes - 02:01 - Intro04:05 - Essential ingredients to build a $10 Mn ARR company06:29 - Why focus on category creators for Middle India? 18:38 - Zoho Sponsored – Prashant Ganti on Where do founders struggle with Payroll and how can they fix it?20:08 - Evolving from a single problem statement to a platform with multiple offerings22:23 - Razorpay’s gameplan for trust building for Small town customers24:06 - His thesis around investing in enablers like Signzy and Spotdraft30:26 - His thoughts on India-focused SaaS with regards to pricing33:24 - Themes and Thesis which didn’t worked out38:42 - What gave him an edge into the middle India consumer?Also, try out a 30-day free trial of Zoho Payroll, and simplify your Payroll journey as an entrepreneur!https://zoho.to/zoho-payrollSend us a text

Divyaanshu Makkar, Co-Founder of Sourcewiz, shares his journey from being an Entrepreneur to becoming a VC and then going back for Entrepreneurship. He discusses learnings from his previous venture and mistakes observed as a VC, key criteria for selecting a market, and getting their first paying customer. The podcast also explores difficulties SaaS startups face when pitching to VCs, finding customers for an Indian manufacturers marketplace, transition to exploring the manufacturing space, decision-making process, initial pricing strategy, and Matrix's support and alignment with vision.

The Indian market is seeing several startups offering innovative products in the D2C & FMCG segment. One such innovative brand is Rage Coffee. Founder Bharat Sethi launched Rage Coffee in the year 2018. It offers a variety of vegan-friendly, vitamin-infused instant coffee flavours. The brand is currently present in 2,500+ retail outlets pan-India and plans to expand its offline presence 5X within a year by strengthening its distribution channels.In today’s episode, we talk with Bharat Sethi who has been a serial entrepreneur about his entire journey so far and how does Rage Coffee stands out as a brand, the mistakes he made being a founder and what are his future plans for Rage Coffee. Notes - 02:02 - Intro02:47 - Family background & what led him to entrepreneurship?06:35 - Conceptualising PosterGully in 201211:09 - Exit from PosterGully11:50 - Zoho Sponsored – Prashant Ganti on Where do founders struggle with Payroll and how can they fix it?12:59 - Mistakes and learnings from iDecorama18:45 - Ideating for Rage Coffee25:55 - Milestones & Growth over the yearsAlso, try out a 30-day free trial of Zoho Payroll, and simplify your Payroll journey as an entrepreneur!https://zoho.to/zoho-payrollSend us a text