The Startup Operator

Rohith Bhat is the founder of Robosoft technologies and is the founder and CEO of 99Games. He built Robosoft Technologies from a tier 2 city in India over 2 decades ago with Apple as their first client and recently got acquired by Technopro of Japan. In this episode he spoke about going from startup to getting acquired, how the process of it, what it is like to build a startup from a second tier city and more in his interview with Roshan Cariappa. Key Highlights: (00:00) Introduction  (01:35) Highs and Lows of getting acquired (02:14) That Day After Feeling  (04:21) The Process of Acquisition (08:52) Building in a tier 2-3 city like Udupi (13:19) Stories and Anecdotes from the early days of Robosoft (15:42) Building for the Apple Ecosystem (19:38) Working with Japanese clients (21:40) Choosing customers and projects  (23:05) Building customer empathy in your teams (25:06) Building an engineering culture (27:26) Genesis of 99 Games (32:11) Mindset shift required to move from services to products (35:14) Looking into the future of 99 Games (38:04) Optimism for the future (39:49) Advice for new founders (41:49) Closing remarks ------------------------------------- Connect with Amrit: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohithbhat/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/rohithbhat ------------------------------------- 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 #39 episode of The Startup Operator Roundup where Roshan Cariappa and Gunjan Saha discuss -  1. Freshworks files for IPO 2. Prime Venture Partners Raise $75Mn  3. Ola Electric to raise a Billion Dollars 4. Delhivery's Acquisition of Bengaluru startup Spoton Logistics 5. Khatabook raises $100mn in series C 6. Fundraises by indiagold, Bewakoof Curefood and others 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

Amrit is the co-founder and CEO of Zetwerk, a B2B marketplace focused on make-to-order custom manufacturing. In this episode Amrit spoke about transforming Indian manufacturing industry as the next go to destination for the world, simplifying complex sales cycles, increasing customers' life time value and more in his interview with Roshan Cariappa. Key highlights: (00:00) Introduction (01:06) Amrit's journey thus far (03:12) Controlling last mile delivery (05:41) Advice on building in the Manufacturing space (08:49) Zetwerk's value proposition to large enterprises (12:34) Simplifying complex sales cycles (15:01) Increasing LTV of customers  (17:18) Managing supply & demand  (19:01) Aligning different offerings to a single mission (20:29) Scaling an offline business (23:01) Funding the right experiments  (25:25) Hiring and Enabling people  (27:42) Amrit's mindset shift for Zetwerk to succeed (30:25) India as the next manufacturing destination of the world (33:11) Being part of the Indian startup ecosystem (35:26) Amrit's Books/Podcasts recommendations ------------------------------------- Connect with Amrit: Linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/in/amrit-acharya/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/acharyaamrit?s=20 ------------------------------------- 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

Raj is a serial entrepreneur and has founded several startups. He is currently the co-founder and the chief vibe officer at Stoa School, a business school that aims to induct people into startups and help people start their own business. In this episode he spoke about Building an audience before building the product, why setting a vibe is important, nuances of enabling a cohort based learning experience and more in his interview with Roshan Cariappa.  Key Highlights: (00:00) Introduction (01:08) Lessons from turning ideas into products and companies (14:28) Building an Audience before building Product (17:20) Why is Conventional B-School Education broken  (20:20) Necessary skills for a 21st century B-School Grad (23:22) Staying Relevant to your TG (26:46) Designing the Stoa School curriculum (29:27) Nuances of Enabling a cohort based learning experience (32:31) Working on a vibe and how they translate into everyday choices (35:38) Having people pay only for practical stuff (38:16) Stories from Stoa alums (40:26) Raj's optimism for the future (43:22) Raj's Books and Podcasts recommendations ------------------------------------- Connect with Raj: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kunksed/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/kunksed ------------------------------------- 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 #38 episode of The Startup Operator Roundup. Special guest Digjay Patel joins Roshan Cariappa and Gunjan Saha to discuss -  1. Fundraises by Ultrahuman, Rapido, Smallcase, Zupee 3. India's most valuable SaaS - Postman 4. Mint - Cred's latest lending product 5. MSME credit by Facebok 6. New Unicorn - Zetwerk 7. Behind the scenes of Food Delivery Business 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

Ankur is a serial entrepreneur and has founded startups in multiple fields. He is the founder and CEO of Nuclei, a fintech startup. In this episode he spoke about his decision making principles, building with the customer nuances of building for banks and more with Roshan Cariappa.  Key Highlights:  00:00 Introduction 01:05 Ankur's Decision making principles 05:46 Thinking big and building Sustainably  09:58 Delivering Consumer tech DNA to banks 11:55 Nuclei's common Usecases 13:29 Building with the customer 17:54 Choosing your stakeholders 20:57 Nuances of Selling and Building for banks 23:03 Domain knowledge 26:33 How have banks changed post pandemic 29:20 High level challenges Ankur is solving at Nuclei 31:19 Ankur's Go to market strategy 32:28 Optimism for the future 34:36 Key point to remember before stepping into the restaurant business 37:20 Ankur's books and Podcast recommendations 40:34 Closing Remarks ------------------------------------- Connect with Ankur: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/1ankurjoshi/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/_ankurjoshi ------------------------------------- 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

Abhishek Goyal is the co-founder of Tracxn, a startup enabling faster and easier deployment of Venture Capital to startups through their platform. He has also been an investor in several startups like flipkart, delhivery and the like. In this episode he spoke about going  from Idea to product to company, the nuaces of building a data and research platform, balancing human intervention and tech innovation and more with Roshan Cariappa. Key Highlight: (00:00) Introduction (01:25) What is driving the current fundraising frenzy (05:55) Are we at peak FOMO? (09:22) Abhishek's investment thesis (12:56) Difficult problems that startups CAN solve (14:08) Founders of 2008 vs Founders of 2021 (15:57) Abhishek's thoughts on SaaS (17:55) Abhishek's thoughts on Fintech (19:58) Abhishek's thoughts on Edtech  (22:26) Building Tracxn - going from Idea to product to company (24:45) Nuances of building a data & research platform (26:57) Balancing Human Intervention & Tech Innovation (28:39) How are teams structured at Tracxn (32:48) SaaS pricing Strategies (35:08) Nuances of Selling to VCs (37:07) The skill of Sourcing and Organizing proprietary data (38:33) High level challenges Abhishek is solving at Tracxn (39:39) Why should startups partner with tracxn? (41:17) What's coming up next at Tracxn (42:16) Books and Podcasts Abhishek recommends ------------------------------------- Connect with Abhishek: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhishekgoyal/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/AbhishekTracxn ------------------------------------- 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 #37 episode of The Startup Operator Roundup. Special guest Jayadevan PK joins Roshan Cariappa and Gunjan Saha to discuss -  👉🏽 Robosoft Acquisition 👉🏽 Hiring Frenzy in India 👉🏽 CoinDCX & Eruditus turn unicorns and more..! 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

Deepak Abbot is the Co-founder of indiagold, a gold based lending platform that aims to solve credit access in India. Deepak has been a product manager at several companies and has been in charge of growth and has witnessed scale at first hand. In this episode he spoke about the journey of growth, balancing the quantifiable v/s qualitative, what changes at scale and more with Roshan Cariappa! Key highlights: (00:00) Introduction (01:45) Deepak's startup journey so far (04:14) The Growth journey (23:13) Getting people to work together (30:08) Setting up a growth function in the consumer internet sector (40:52) Balancing the quantifiable v/s qualitative (45:30) How customer acquisition and retention truly change at scale (52:03) Idea to product to company   (1:01:44) Nuances of building for these users (1:08:42) Building trust with customers (1:13:40) Retaining passion to learn new things  ------------------------------------- Connect with Deepak: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dabbot/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/deepakabbot ------------------------------------- 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

Suresh is the co-founder of CoCreate ventures, a microfund for preseed investments. He also participates in building products in the companies. In this episode he spoke about his 2 decade journey in startups, getting customers to adopt innovative tech and more with Roshan Cariappa. Key Highlights: 00:00 Introduction 01:23 Suresh's 2 decade journey in startups  06:02 Pros and Cons of being early in a space 08:18 Getting Customers to adopt innovative tech 14:03 Making the best of personal biases 16:16 Founding journey of CoCreate 21:45 Talent in engineering colleges 28:42 Harmful startup advice to watch out for 30:19 Impact of alternate financing options 33:32 Advice to young founders ------------------------------------- Connect with Suresh: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cocreator Twitter: https://twitter.com/narasimhasuresh ------------------------------------- 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