The Startup Operator

Rajamanohar is a serial entrepreneur and is currently the founder and CEO of Aquaconnect. In this episode he spoke about why he decided to startup in this space after having been in the Tech space for several years. He also spoke about what Aquaculture is and where India is globally in this space, the nuances of operating here and several such topics in his conversation with Roshan Cariappa. 00:00 Introduction 01:45 The Aquaculture Ecosystem 03:29 Insights on operating in the space 05:25 Standardizing fish & shrimp production 07:29 What is Aquaconnect? Use cases  12:48 Being a full stack solution from Day 1 15:22 Raj's background and how he get started 20:53 Building trust with the stakeholders 24:54 Team structure at Aquaconnect 25:54 Raising Debt v/s equity funding 26:35 High level challenges Raj is solving 27:07 Nuances of operating in the space 28:57 Books and podcasts recommendations ------------------------------------- Click here to get regular WhatsApp updates: https://wa.me/message/ZUZQQGKCZTADL1 ------------------------------------- Connect with Raj : Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajamanohar/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/rajamanohar ------------------------------------- Connect with Us:  Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startup-operator ​Twitter: https://twitter.com/OperatorStartup​​ ------------------------------------- If you liked this episode, let us know by hitting the like button and share with your friends and family. Please also remember to subscribe to our channel and switch on the notifications to never miss an episode! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startup-operator/message

Welcome to #63 episode of The Startup Operator Roundup. Today we have Roshan Cariappa and Gunjan Saha discussing -  1. Zomato announces 10-minute delivery service in top cities 2. Ola: invests in StoreDot; acquires Avail Finance 3. RBI unveils new innovation hub in Bangalore 4. Netcore invests $100mn in Unbxd 5. Unicorns: CommerceIQ, Oxyzo and more! Click here to get regular updates on WhatsApp: https://wa.me/message/ZUZQQGKCZTADL1 Hit the like button if enjoyed this roundup, and do not forget to share among your operator friends!  Listen to our interviews and conversations with investors, operators, and founders on your favourite podcast platforms. #startups #unicorns  #technology #roundup #podcast #news --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startup-operator/message

Jen Abel, co-founder of JJELLYFISH, is a B2B go-to-market strategist helping Indian founders break into the US market. In this engaging discussion, she emphasizes the value of empathy in sales, advocating for genuine customer interactions instead of scripted pitches. Abel highlights the importance of asking the right questions to qualify leads effectively. She also delves into the complexities of enterprise sales, stressing the need for champions within large organizations, and explores the strategic use of free trials in communicating product value.

Saurabh Saxena is a serial entrepreneur and has co founded startups like Lakshya and Vedantu and is currently the founder of Uable. In this episode he spoke about making the decision to pivot Uable from an edtech to a teens only social app, the nuances of managing such a pivot, how to build for teenagers and more in his conversation with Roshan Cariappa. 00:00 Introduction  01:36 Why Saurabh decided to Pivot 06:28 Selling a pivot to your stakeholders  09:33 Nuances of managing a pivot 13:53 Advice to entrepreneurs on pivoting 16:34 Best advice Saurabh received on Pivoting 18:26 Uable 2.0  21:43 Nuances of building for teenagers 24:53 User acquisition for a teen app 26:57 The "AHA" moment for a Uable user 30:28 Content moderation 33:53 Saurabh's thoughts on Content Community and Commerce 36:20 High level challenges Saurabh is solving 39:20 Saurabh's thoughts on the Indian startup ecosystem ------------------------------------- Click here to get regular WhatsApp updates: https://wa.me/message/ZUZQQGKCZTADL1 ------------------------------------- Connect with Saurabh : Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saurabh-learn/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Saurabh_Learn ------------------------------------- Check out our old episode with Saurabh Building in Edtech: https://youtu.be/hPRBeCatC2A ------------------------------------- Connect with Us:  Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startup-operator ​Twitter: https://twitter.com/OperatorStartup​​ ------------------------------------- If you liked this episode, let us know by hitting the like button and share with your friends and family. Please also remember to subscribe to our channel and switch on the notifications to never miss an episode! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startup-operator/message

Welcome to Roundup #62 of The Startup Operator. Today we have Roshan Cariappa and Gunjan Saha discussing -  1. Tax reforms on Capital Gains 2. IT Raid on startup founders 3. Falguni Nayar: Richest self made Woman billionaire 4. Manipal hospitals partnering with Connected Life 5. Amagi Turning unicorn 6. Acquisitions and fundings and more! Click here to get regular updates on WhatsApp: https://wa.me/message/ZUZQQGKCZTADL1 Hit the like button if enjoyed this roundup, and do not forget to share among your operator friends!  Listen to our interviews and conversations with investors, operators, and founders on your favourite podcast platforms. #startups #unicorns  #technology #roundup #podcast #news --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startup-operator/message

Jen Abel, Co-founder of JJELLYFISH and a B2B go-to-market expert, shares her insights on early-stage sales for startups. She emphasizes the importance of balancing product development with customer needs, stressing that founders must listen to market pain points. The discussion highlights creating urgency in B2B sales by addressing 'why now'. Jen warns against premature hiring of sales leadership, advocating for direct founder involvement in understanding market dynamics to ensure product-market fit.

Swapan is the co-founder and CTO of Haptik, a conversational AI platform founded in 2013 and was acquired by Reliance in 2019. In this episode he spoke about the founding story of Haptik, the nuances of building a conversational AI, building a good org culture and what being a part of the jio revolution is like and more in his conversation with Roshan Cariappa. Topics: 00:00 Introduction 00:59 Founding story of Haptik 08:25 Lessons from the journey 12:28 Building for B2C v/s B2B 17:07 Building for users v/s businesses 17:49 Nuances of building Conversation AI 22:07 Building context aware AI 25:18 How customer expectations evolved  28:29 New use cases for NLP &  AI  32:32 Building a good org culture 37:41 Being part of the Jio revolution 42:13 Insights for new entrepreneurs in conversational AI 46:11 Books and podcast ------------------------------------- Click here to get regular WhatsApp updates: https://wa.me/message/ZUZQQGKCZTADL1 ------------------------------------- Connect with Swapan : Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/swapan-rajdev-64a0591a/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/SRajdev ------------------------------------- Connect with Us:  Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startup-operator ​Twitter: https://twitter.com/OperatorStartup​​ ------------------------------------- If you liked this episode, let us know by hitting the like button and share with your friends and family. Please also remember to subscribe to our channel and switch on the notifications to never miss an episode! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startup-operator/message

Welcome to #61 episode of The Startup Operator Roundup. Today we have Roshan Cariappa and Gunjan Saha discussing -  1. RBI's ban on PayTM payments bank 2. IPOs: EbixCash and Navi Technologies  3. Edtech News: Byju's fundraise & Unacademy opens store 4. Ather Energy partners with Foxconn India  and more! Episodes mentioned: Atlan: https://youtu.be/bs93nW1PMik Kuku FM: https://youtu.be/fQ5brqhTT58 Click here to get regular updates on WhatsApp: https://wa.me/message/ZUZQQGKCZTADL1 Hit the like button if enjoyed this roundup, and do not forget to share among your operator friends!  Listen to our interviews and conversations with investors, operators, and founders on your favourite podcast platforms. #startups #unicorns  #technology #roundup #podcast #news --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startup-operator/message

Kirti Jangra is the Co-founder & COO of Animall Technologies, an online platform that facilitates the buying and selling of cattle and empowering farmers to usher in a new era of white revolution. In this episode she spoke about solving a full stack of problems, what it takes to enable the next white revolution, the nuances of scaling a managed marketplace and more in her conversation with Roshan Cariappa. Topics: 00:00 Introduction 01:00 Founding story of Animall 03:21 Solving a full stack of problems  06:10 Lessons from building for the Bharat user 09:38 Enabling the next White Revolution 11:00 Nuances of scaling a managed marketplace 13:55 Nuances of managing a cattle marketplace 15:13 Nuances of onboarding users  16:40 Educating the customer 18:21 North Star Metric for Animall  19:46 The next couple of years for Animall 21:41 Animall: the next Amul? 22:40 High level challenges Kirti is solving 24:55 Importance of having a co-founder 25:46 Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs ------------------------------------- Click here to get regular WhatsApp updates: https://wa.me/message/ZUZQQGKCZTADL1 ------------------------------------- Connect with Kirti : Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirtijangra/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/KirtiAnimall ------------------------------------- Connect with Us:  Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startup-operator ​Twitter: https://twitter.com/OperatorStartup​​ ------------------------------------- If you liked this episode, let us know by hitting the like button and share with your friends and family. Please also remember to subscribe to our channel and switch on the notifications to never miss an episode! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startup-operator/message

Malika is the founder and CEO of The Moms Co., a natural beauty and personal care D2C brand. In this episode she spoke about validating the problem, educating consumers, consumer acquisition and more in her conversation with Roshan Cariappa. Topics 00:00 Introduction 01:00 Validating the problem and consumer research 07:11 Asking the right questions to your prospects 11:51 Articulating the brand promise  15:55 Educating the customer 18:36 Levers for customer acquisition in the 0-100cr journey 23:11 Going up against larger incumbents 25:37 Building trust in the community 27:56 How do modern buyers make decisions 31:00 What changes post acquisition 33:27 Advice for new entrepreneurs in D2C space 35:45 Best piece of advice Mallika has received 38:40 Books & Podcasts ------------------------------------- Click here to get regular WhatsApp updates: https://wa.me/message/ZUZQQGKCZTADL1 ------------------------------------- Connect with Malika : Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/malikasadani/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Malika_Sadani ------------------------------------- Connect with Us:  Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startup-operator ​Twitter: https://twitter.com/OperatorStartup​​ ------------------------------------- If you liked this episode, let us know by hitting the like button and share with your friends and family. Please also remember to subscribe to our channel and switch on the notifications to never miss an episode! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startup-operator/message