The Indian Dream

Kicking off Season 2 of The Indian Dream with Satish Shukla, Co-Founder of Addverb Technologies! They build Robots (a lot of them) & make a few hundred crores by selling them all over the world! From transforming Indian warehouses to going global —and now building India's first humanoids — their story is incredible! We dive deep into automation, manufacturing mindset, R&D, hiring & more!This was one of the most fascinating conversations I’ve had about India’s future in automation, robotics, and deep tech. If you’re an entrepreneur, engineer, or just someone excited about AI, this one’s for you!Here’s what we talked about:00:00 Teaser01:47 Sid's Prologue03:54 Podcast Begins04:00 The Future of Humanoids in Manufacturing04:46 Addverb's Robotics Innovations06:15 Humanoids in Indian Context11:58 Automation in India: The Beginning16:21 Addverb's Journey and Achievements17:28 Types of Robots in Warehouses19:44 Challenges and Success in Indian Manufacturing25:54 Competing with China: The Automation Blueprint32:48 The Importance of R&D41:58 Going Global: Addverb's International Expansion43:59 Creating a Multicultural Workforce45:09 Challenges in Different Markets46:48 Addressing Skill Shortages in India49:28 Government's Role in Supporting Startups53:51 Navigating Bureaucracy and Corruption55:55 The Entrepreneurial Spirit in India01:00:05 Personal Stories of Resilience01:04:41 Adapting to Policy Changes01:13:32 AI and Robotics at AddVerb01:15:07 AI in Robotics and Fleet Management01:15:52 Partnership with Reliance and Innovation01:17:13 Strategic Investors vs. Venture Capitalists01:17:43 Top Problems for Entrepreneurs to Solve01:18:32 Automation in Healthcare01:21:38 Education and Training in Robotics01:23:31 Robotics in Agriculture01:25:30 Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs01:31:13 Building a Strong Team01:40:34 Funding for Robotics and Automation Startups01:44:19 Lights Out Warehouses and Factories01:45:54 Automation in Indian Warehousing01:50:32 Conclusion and Final ThoughtsSiddharth Betala:Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharth-betala/Twitter: https://x.com/sidbetalaSatish Shukla:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/satish-shukla-addverb/If you want to stay updated about our latest episodes or just want to say hi, you can join our No Spam WhatsApp group here: https://bit.ly/3Q0To2K

Masterclass on how investing in Research & Development (R&D) can lead to compounding... I sat down with Mr. Rishi Aggarwal, Managing Director at JCBL Limited to talk about the multi-decade journey of expanding the manufacturing business. From Buses to Trucks, from Tractors to Defense Armored Vehicles, JCBL is now a key manufacturer of all types of vehicles. From starting out as a contract manufacturer of bus bodies to manufacturing bus bodies under their own brand name to diversifying the business into 5 different industries and countless different products, this is episode is a masterclass on how to do forward and backward integration to build a large manufacturing business. If you want to stay updated about our latest episodes or just want to say hi, you can join our No Spam WhatsApp group here: https://bit.ly/3Q0To2K

We're back with Season 2 of The Indian Dream Podcast This season going to be all about talking to founders who have built manufacturing or manufacturing related businesses in India! On this episode, we have Swagatika Das, the founder of Nat Habit joining us to talk to us about how they built a Manufacturing & D2C business together! Nat Habit is a beauty and personal care brand that took a different approach to building this business from Day 1. From investing in R&D to create new and innovative products to doing all the manufacturing in-house, Nat Habit isn't your usual Beauty and Personal Care D2C Brand. On the episode, we double click on the R&D Approach and the decision to do in-house manufacturing and how they navigated solving these tough problems to build a Rs. 100 Crore Revenue business! If you want to stay updated about our latest episodes or just want to say hi, you can join our No Spam WhatsApp group here: https://bit.ly/3Q0To2K

Sukrit Bharati, an expert in scaling manufacturing businesses in India, discusses the journey of Virtuoso Optoelectronics in scaling up and becoming profitable. They explore the significance of manufacturing in society, the risks and benefits of investing in tangible and intangible assets, challenges and risks in scaling a manufacturing business, and the importance of new product development in manufacturing growth.

A conversation with Ashi Dua, Founder of Flying Unicorn Entertainment, about movie production. They discuss her journey in the industry, the challenges and responsibilities of being a producer, bringing together different filmmakers for anthologies like 'Bombay Talkies' and 'Lust Stories', trends in Bollywood, and advice for aspiring filmmakers.

India has 64 Million Micro, Small & Mid Sized Businesses (MSMEs) in India. However, only 12% of them have access to formal credit. There's a massive $530 Billion Credit Gap in this market. In simpler terms, the total demand for formal loans by MSMEs in $819 Billion, out of which $530 Billion is unmet. The problem is that banks don't have the right products and the right business model to serve the MSMEs. That's where Indifi is revolutionizing the market with its Digital Loans made based on Alternative Sources of Data. I host Mr. Alok Mittal, Founder of Indifi Technologies on understanding the problems in the market and how they are solving it. If you want to stay updated about our latest episodes or just want to say hi, you can join our No Spam WhatsApp group here: https://bit.ly/3Q0To2K

Pranav, Founder of OpraahFx, discusses the rise and evolution of Influencer Marketing. Topics include: identifying the opportunity in 2016-17, challenges faced by legacy agencies, first Bollywood x Influencer Marketing campaign, ROI calculation, disrupting the micro-influencer space, focusing on gaming creators, and the future of creator-led brands.

About time that Indian Direct to Consumer Brands make a global impact...I talk to Akshay Ghulati - Co-Founder of Shiprocket, who is currently working with many Indian D2C Brands to help them go global!Episode Timeline:(00:00) - Introduction to ShiprocketX & Indian D2C brands going global(03:01) - Why should Indian brands go global now? (07:21) - Experience of taking a Indian brand global.(19:13) - The product market fit on successful Indian brands in the global market(24:08) - How to select the marketplaces or which market you want to sell in?(27:45) - What’s the mindset with the pricing?(30:01) - Possibilities with the upside of global selling (33:04) - Pushback from the entrepreneurs (36:49) - Compliance laws of selling oversees(41:52) - The segments who will want to take the brand global(42:56) - High potential categories to get high global success(48:22) - What are the opportunities to build agency type of businesses in this ecosystem?(52:18) - What are the steps I need to take to run an experiment of taking my brand global?If you want to stay updated about our latest episodes or just want to say hi, you can join our No Spam WhatsApp group here: https://bit.ly/3Q0To2K

Artificial Intelligence will change the way our food is grown. Want to know how?In this fascinating conversation with Dr. Pratik Desai, a Computer Scientist and Artificial Intelligence Expert, we talk about his startup KissanAI and how it's helping the farmers in India get much needed information about all aspects of farming - from fertilisers to crop diseases to ideal crop to grow given soil conditions. If you want to know about the future of humanity powered by AI, this episode is a must listen! Episode Timeline: (00:37)  Introduction to KissanAI and AI in Agriculture(03:05) How did KissanAI start?(04:26) What kind of problems do the farmers face?(06:25) Traditional ways a farmer can seek help(09:42) How KissanAI help the farmers?(11:40) The backend of KissanAI(15:17) How did KissanAI get the attraction?(25:25) Possible ways to monetize it(33:54) Product market fit of KissanAI(40:25) Possibilities of how AI will impact Agriculture(46:58) Success story of a farmerIf you want to stay updated about our latest episodes or just want to say hi, you can join our No Spam WhatsApp group here: https://bit.ly/3Q0To2K

Artificial Intelligence will change the way how we live. In this episode, I host Prayank Swaroop, Partner at Venture Capital firm Accel, who invests in AI startups in India. We talk about how AI will have a massive impact on Agriculture, Education,  Healthcare, Infrastructure Development and more and fuel India's journey towards a $10 Trillion GDP. This isn't a technical episode, it's an episode focus on the use cases and about the startups that are being built in India. Episode Timeline: 3:12 - What is Artificial Intelligence? 5:43 - AI for Bharat 6:40 - AI in Agriculture8:38 - WhatsApp help for Indian Farmers through AI9:59 - Impact of AI In Agriculture10:51 - Use case of AI in Agriculture - Image Identification11:19 - Attention is all you Need- Paper written by Mr.Vaswani11:38 - Evolution of AI13:33 - AI in Education 15:29 - Use case of Khan Academy17:15 - AI in Creative Fields18:58 - Use Case of Descript19:58 - Impact of AI on Productivity20:16 - Use case of Wokeio21:40 - AI in Healthcare23:08 - Use Case of AI in Healthcare in helping a man walk who had never walked before25:25 - AI as an assistant to a doctor26:00 - AI for Mental Health29:10 - The Negative impact of AI30:26 - AI for Infrastructure Development31:13 - Use case of AI for Infrastructure33:06 - Use case of AIDash34:26 - How can satellite images can be useful35:15 - AI for Renewable Energy 37:42 - How can India make sure that we don’t miss the boat for AI?39:32 - Who should invest in R&D of AI?41:39 - Can AI function on Regional languages present in India?45:25 - AI for Defence48:20 - AI for Businesses 1:03:50 - Where will be India in the AI race, 15 years from nowIf you want to stay updated about our latest episodes or just want to say hi, you can join our No Spam WhatsApp group here: https://bit.ly/3Q0To2K