The Neon Show

On our 102nd episode, we chat with Jon Sakoda, Founder, Decibel Partners, a Cisco-backed venture fund. Jon founded Decibel to push through the conventional boundaries of early-stage investing in SaaS startups. After being an entrepreneur for a few years and working as a General Partner at New Enterprise Associates, Jon decided to set up Decibel Partners. With Decibel, Jon’s vision was probably an industry-first approach to provide a way for entrepreneurs to get access to unparalleled resources at a time and stage when they need it most.In this episode, catch Jon talking about pivoting as an entrepreneur, finding the right coach to guide you through your startup journey, and much more. Notes - 01:39 - “I’m a recovering entrepreneur.”06:29 - Pivoting and finding product-market fit09:11 - Partnership with Cisco13:20 - Leveraging strongholds of industry dominant LPs in the VC firm17:20 - “What makes you great in getting you from 0 to 1, may not be great in getting you from 1 to 10 or 10 to 100.”23:10 - Coaching for early-stage founders; for Performance and Efficiency29:27 - Having an Advisor v/s having a Coach as an early-stage founder32:30 - “You should be more conscious about who you want to work with, rather than, where you want to work.”Send us a text

The guest for our 101st episode of 100xEntrepreneur is Abhishek Asthana, Founder, Ginger Monkey, and the man behind one of the most followed accounts on Twitter, @GabbbarSingh with 1.3 Million followers. He is amongst the few who have transitioned from an engineer to a successful marketer. He has been the brains behind some of the marketing campaigns at AirAsia, Bounce, Durex, and Urban Company among others.It was in 2019 when he decided to help companies with their branding and marketing strategies by founding Ginger Monkey. In this episode, catch Abhishek talking about starting GingerMonkey, working with AirAsia, Durex India, Urban Company, and much more. For anyone looking to explore digital marketing, this conversation would be of great value. From building an audience by tapping your creative side, to building a brand for a D2C company to reach your customers, this podcast will guide you through it all.Notes - 01:39 - Abhishek’s journey as an engineer03:28 - Corrupted by Twitter04:21 - Getting featured in Outlook while doing his MBA06:37 - Founding GingerMonkey as a first-gen Entrepreneur08:02 - Taking calculated risk while setting up the business09:17 - Key milestones of GingerMonkey’s journey11:12 - “We don’t have a BD team, our clients are our BD team. It’s a complete word of mouth.”16:39 - Viral campaigns for Schindler - Getting Ankur Warikoo & Ranveer Allahbadia19:17 - Creating and going viral with @GabbbarSingh on Twitter21:43 - “If you’re not able to monetize your hobby, it will die.”32:02 - Indian D2C brands leveraging digital marketing38:18 - Branding without burning money on advertising44:12 - Reaching out to early adopters being a new D2C brandSend us a text

Our guest for the 100th episode of 100x Entrepreneur Kunal Bahl is best known as the co-founder of Snapdeal & Titan Capital.He co-founded Snapdeal back in 2007 along with his high school friend Rohit Bansal. It initially started as a daily deals platform but soon expanded to become one of the largest online marketplaces in India. Over the years, Kunal has mentored and invested in several early-stage entrepreneurs. In 2011, he decided to formalize it by setting up Titan Capital. Titan Capital has invested in the likes of Ola, Urban Company, Mamaearth, and Bira among others.In this episode, catch Kunal talking about starting Snapdeal, guiding and investing in early-stage founders, having the drive to keep going as an entrepreneur, and much more. For anyone looking to explore entrepreneurship, this conversation is worth its weight in gold. From learning from your own mistakes & failures to keep going even when you want to give up your entrepreneurial dream, this podcast will guide you through it all.Notes - 01:43 - Launching Snapdeal after getting H1-B Visa rejected03:59 - Pivoting from coupons marketplace to a marketplace for physical products05:17 - “Identifying the type of businesses Rohit and I like to build”12:01 - Why not fearing being wrong/failing is important13:29 - “Our greatest powers will come from our greatest wounds”15:04 - What drives Kunal even after 13 years as an entrepreneur18:29 - Tectonic shifts in the Startup ecosystem over the last decade26:42 - Investing in D2C companies; Beardo, Mamaearth, & OZiva, etc39:02 - Investing in Urban Company based on their customer-first approach43:32 - Investing in companies prior to Product-Market Fit 51:48 - Starting up as an Angel Investor and eventually setting up Titan Capital56:59 - What has changed for Kunal after becoming a parentSend us a text

Kunal Kapoor is someone who dons many hats - an actor, director, and entrepreneur. Some of the well-known movies he has been a part of - Rang De Basanti, Don 2, and Dear Zindagi among others.In 2012, he joined hands with Varun Sheth & Zaheer Adenwala with a mission to create a change in society and connect people to access healthcare and share happiness and co-founded Ketto. Over the years, Ketto has emerged as Asia's most trusted crowdfunding platform with a network of over 55 lakh donors who have funded around 2 lakh, online fundraisers. So Ketto as a platform has successfully raised over ₹1100 crore in online donations since its debut in 2012.In this episode, catch Kunal talking about becoming an entrepreneur, what’s it like running an online crowd-funding platform, gaining the trust of investors in the vision, and much more. To anyone looking to get into the crowdfunding space, this conversation is a great place to start. From making the right use of technology to building a sustainable business model for investors, this podcast will guide you through all.Notes - 01:30 - Intro of Kunal Kapoor & Ketto02:16 - Becoming an Entrepreneur & Co-founding Ketto03:27 - Democratization of Capital04:12 - Initial challenges with Ketto05:17 - Building an online presence for NGOs09:41 - Future plans at Ketto around medical & health services12:15 - Ketto’s impact during the pandemic14:20 - Business model at Ketto (As a Profit venture)16:46 - “Building a tech company is like bodybuilding, but building a tech company with a celebrity is like bodybuilding on steroids.”18:47 - Growth & Scaling-up plans at Ketto23:24 - Essential mental models for Kunal as an entrepreneur25:31 - “Whether it’s acting or entrepreneurship, it’s not as glamorous as it looks.”Send us a text

In this episode of 100xEntrepreneur Podcast, we chat with Krishna Kumar, Founder & CEO, CropIn Technology- a leading "Full-Stack AgTech"​ organization that provides SaaS-based solutions to agribusinesses globally. CropIn serves 220+ agribusinesses and numerous governments and non-government organizations present in over 52 countries. CropIn has digitized over 5 million acres of farmland, enriched the lives of nearly 2.1 million farmers, and gathered data on 265 crops and 3,500 crop varieties. In this episode, Krishna shares his journey of being the change-maker and being one of the first entrepreneurs to step into Agritech in India.Listen to this podcast to learn about:01:57 - Intro of Krishna & his journey04:08 - Interacting with farmers and key-stakeholders within the Agri-Ecosystem05:10 - Identifying the problem statement06:43 - Building the team at CropIn10:30 - First project with Safal- a subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board15:12 - Pooling initial $10k from his friends19:50 - Scaling up from first few clients to going global in 52 countries28:56 - Enabling banking ecosystem for lending & insurance for farmers34:55 - Tech Products & offerings from CropIn for farmers42:49 - Leveraging AI to transforming agriculture at scale45:15 - Potential for upcoming Agritech startups in India47:18 - Adoption of Agritech offerings by EnterprisesSend us a text

In this episode of 100xEntrepreneur Podcast, we chat with Shailesh Ghorpade, Managing Partner and CIO, Exfinity Venture PartnersThroughout the podcast, Shailesh shares his deep understanding of the SaaS startups building for Enterprises from his close to two decades of experience working at Infosys, Suzlon & Azure Capital, and others.02:31 - Intro of Shailesh03:25 - Background in the VC ecosystem06:07 - Major milestones at Exfinity Venture Partners08:36 - Fund growth over-time & thesis change09:50 - Investing early-on in AI startups like Mad Street Den13:29 - Identifying Mega-trends while looking out for potential portfolio companies17:33 - Differentiating factor between top portfolio companies vs other portfolio companies funded around the same time19:59 - Essential fundamentals to get from 0 to $1Mn ARR early-on22:52 - Standing out amongst thousands of SaaS businesses in India25:47 - Approaching Enterprises to validate problem statements as a SaaS founder35:23 - Challenges restricting founders in between $1Mn to $10Mn ARR39:50 - India market not completely ready for SaaS offerings48:39 - Hiring the right people for Enterprise SaaS startups59:55 - Book Recommendation - Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard BachSend us a text

In this episode of 100xEntrepreneur Podcast, we take you through the journey of Pranav Pai. He early on in his career implemented learnings from his father’s (Mohandas Pai) in his work and curated new approaches to finding horizontal & uncommon investment ideas. Listen to this podcast to learn about:Notes - 00:11 - Intro of Pranav & 3one4 Capital01:50 - Influence of upbringing and early career choices05:25 - Background and setting up of Aarin Capital by Mohandas Pai08:17 - Learnings & practices at 3one4 Capital, inspired from Aarin Capital17:25 - Balancing the Venture fund performance & relationship with LPs18:33 - Investing early-on in uncommon ideas like - Licious & Yulu22:17 - Investing in horizontal businesses like Darwinbox27:48 - Fund-III - Lookout for New format for Indian digital citizens29:12 - Changes in Fund-III - More variance & verticals35:42 - “Not enough Indian capital is available for Indian funds to raise.” 38:21 - Top 3 advice from his father - T.V. Mohandas PaiSend us a text

In this special episode of 100xEntrepreneur Podcast, we have Sanjay Swamy & T.N. Hari with us who were once best friends in School. After many years, they reunited again to write a book - “Sailing Through a Storm: Making a Crisis Work for You”.Sanjay Swamy is the Founding Managing Partner of Prime Venture Partners. Sanjay who also co-founded ZipDial and EzeTap is known for his sense of humour and his impeccable expertise over fintech.T. N. Hari is the Chief People Officer at BigBasket. Hari is an advisor and mentor to numerous young entrepreneurs and startups. He is also a Strategic Advisor at Fundamentum, a growth Fund, co-founded by Nandan Nilekani and Sanjeev Aggarwal.Listen to this podcast to learn about:Notes - 00:31 - Intro of Sanjay and Hari01:52 - Background story of their friendship03:28 - Idea of writing a book together06:43 - “Socially nobody likes to talks about things which are not going well” - Sanjay Swamy07:31 - Biggest crisis faced in personal lives24:07 - Experiences/Lessons from the crises37:49 - Leadership traits a person must possess to make a crisis workSend us a text

In this episode of 100xEntrepreneur Podcast, we take you through the journey of Ashwini Asokan, Founder & CEO, Mad Street Den. During the conversation, Ashwini shares how she built the processes for scale while building the team, delivering the best value prop to customers, and more.Listen to this podcast to learn about:00:59 - Serendipity, luck, or intent? What initiated her journey in the creative field of AI?03:11 - Influence of Carnegie Mellon University on her career05:16 - Initial days of Mad Street Den07:51 - Challenges while building an AI startup in India08:08 - Building Vue.ai after 3 years of deep-research11:42 - Essence of storytelling in positioning their offerings14:28 - Building the team to scale to $1 Mn ARR24:32 - Getting Sequoia India, Exfinity, GrowX, and FalconEdge on board27:41 - Building processes to reach from $1 Mn to $10 Mn ARR35:31 - Learnings/Advice to early-stage SaaS founders38:18 - Early-stage founders comparing their journey vs some other founders’46:19 - Has her “Why” behind starting Mad Street Den changed during her journey?Send us a text

“Always make more mistakes but make sure to recover quickly & learn from them.”In this episode of 100xEntrepreneur Podcast, we take you through the journey of Beerud Sheth, Founder and CEO of Gupshup, the leading smart messaging platform. He previously founded Elance (now Upwork), which pioneered the gig economy and went IPO in 2018.Throughout the podcast, Beerud shares his experience of over 22 years as an Entrepreneur building Elance and Gupshup.Listen to this podcast to learn about:Notes - 00:30 - His journey from IIT Bombay & MIT to founding Elance & Gupshup05:21 - Transitioning from a Wall-Street trader to an entrepreneur07:55 - How did the idea of Elance come up?10:02 - Key pivotal moments during his early days of entrepreneurship13:57 - Scale at which Upwork was operating when he left & why did he leave?22:56 - How did the idea of Gupshup come up?26:50 - Growing Gupshup to $100 Million ARR and plans of taking it to IPO30:41 - Highlights of the recent partnership with WhatsApp Business45:09 - Grit, perseverance & mental fortitude necessary for an entrepreneur47:23 - Learnings from his mistakes from over 22 years as an entrepreneur49:33 - Looking at resume value vs other soft-attributes while hiringSend us a text