
The Startup Operator
The best-curated wisdom from founders, operators, & investors on executing at startups | Hosted by Roshan Cariappa | Head down, execute hard. đĽ Millions of listeners seek out Bingepods (Ideabrew Studios Network content) every day. Get in touch with us to advertise, join the network or click listen to enjoy content by some of India's top audio creators. studio@ideabrews.com Android | Apple
Latest episodes

Aug 9, 2021 ⢠32min
Roundup #36 : Nykaa readies IPO, UPI sets new records, Mindtickle turns unicorn and more!
If you're a passionate listener of our podcast, then please do share your feedback with us - https://tinyurl.com/sopfeed (takes 5 mins or less). Help us publish more of your favourite content every week! Welcome to another episode of The Startup Operator Roundup, where Roshan Cariappa and Gunjan Saha discuss - đđ˝ Mindtickle turning unicorn đđ˝ Nykaa files DRHP for IPO đđ˝ UPI sets new record 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

Aug 5, 2021 ⢠56min
EP 114 : Building for Indian Retail - Kumar Vembu (CEO, GoFrugal) | Digital Transformation | Scaling SaaS
Kumar Vembu is a product manager and a serial entrepreneur and has founded multiple startups over the past 3 decades. He founded GoFrugal in 2004 to provide services for the Indian Retail industry with the aim of getting Indian businesses to go digital. In this episode he spoke about Building SaaS for the India market, the nuances of building and selling to Indian retailers, advantages of scaling from India and more with Roshan Cariappa. Key Highlights: (00:00) Introduction (01:52) Founding Journey of GoFrugal (06:46) Building with the customer (12:37) Building SaaS for the India market (16:48) Advantages of scaling from India (19:18) Digital Transformation for SMBs (27:31) Improving customer experience through digital (34:05) Impact on business with gofrugal (40:33) Evolution of the retail market & pandemic impact (45:17) Nuances of building and selling to indian retailers (48:40) Bootstrapping v/s Fundraising (51:56) Optimisim for future of B2B SaaS (55:08) Closing Remarks ------------------------------------- Connect with Kumar: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kumar-vembu-a0a45710/ ------------------------------------- Connect with Us: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startup-operator âTwitter: https://twitter.com/OperatorStartupââ ------------------------------------- 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

Aug 3, 2021 ⢠49min
EP 113 : Building for Real Estate - Ajay Kumar (Co-founder & CEO, TheHouseMonk) | Vertical SaaS | Zero to One | Growth
Ajay Kumar is a serial entrepreneur. He founded Cozee Homes and sold it a brokerage firm and then went on to found TheHouseMonk, a service that provides a growth and management platform for the rental real estate industry. In this episode he spoke about the challenges and the opportunities in the real estate market, the nuances of building for this market and more in his interview with Roshan Cariappa. Key Highlights: (00:00) Introduction (01:41) Going from Idea to Product to Company (05:41) Trends in the real estate space (09:24) Use cases TheHouseMonk solves (10:57) Nuances of building for Real Estate (12:02) Impact of covid on the Real Estate industry (17:08) Challenges and Opportunities in the Real Estate Market (21:42) Being relevant to multiple personas (25:14) Nuances of working with the Real estate industry (31:30) High Level Challenges & Next stage of evolution (37:22) Advice for Founders on discovering problems to solve (43:02) Building a lifestyle business in SaaS (47:40) Closing Remarks ------------------------------------- Connect with Ajay: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajay-kumar-thehousemonk/ ------------------------------------- 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

Aug 1, 2021 ⢠30min
Roundup #35 : Droom and OfBusiness turn unicorns, Unacademy's new acquisition and more!
If you're a passionate listener of our podcast, then please do share your feedback with us - https://tinyurl.com/sopfeed (takes 5 mins or less). Help us publish more of your favourite content every week! Welcome to another episode of The Startup Operator Roundup, where Roshan Cariappa and Gunjan Saha discuss - đđ˝ Droom and OfBusiness turning unicorn đđ˝ Unacademy's new acqusition 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

Jul 29, 2021 ⢠52min
EP 112 : Building Products for Scale - Kaushik Subramanian (Product Leader) | Product Principles for B2B & B2C | Hiring Product Talent
Kaushik is a product leader and has worked at some of the world's largest tech companies. He is also an investor/advisor at several firms. In this episode he spoke about building scalable products, his pet peeves for products and how to influence communities with authority and more in his interview with Roshan Cariappa. Key highlights: (00:00) Introduction (01:52) Kausik's career journey (03:00) Moving from B2C to B2B (06:00) Guiding principles to build scalable products (09:33) Maintaining holistic end product experience (14:14) Prioritising less obvious, more realistic things (17:20) What is the benchmark for a product release? (20:23) Focussing on the big picture (23:19) Differences from B2B and B2C (32:04) Kaushik's favourite products (36:03) Kaushik's pet product peeves (38:39) Making products more intelligent (41:10) Zero to One of product building (45:21) Influencing without authority (49:10) Product talent in the ecosystem (52:30) Hiring Great talent (53:12) Kaushik's advice to The Startup Operator community ------------------------------------- Connect with Kaushik: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaushikpsub/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheHolyKau ------------------------------------- Connect with Us: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startup-operator âTwitter: https://twitter.com/OperatorStartupââ ------------------------------------- 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

Jul 27, 2021 ⢠58min
EP 111 : Enabling Enterprises with Data - Suresh Shankar (Founder & CEO, Crayon Data) | Selling to large enterprises | Being a 2x founder
Suresh is a two time founder, podcaster and more. He first founded RedPill solutions in 2000 and then Crayon Data, a big data and AI company. He also hosts a podcast called "Slaves to the Algo". In this episode he talks about building affinity models, impact of AI and the nuances of building and selling to large enterprises and more in his interview with Roshan Cariappa. Key Highlights: (00:00) Introduction (01:33) Going from idea to product to company (04:31) The story of the Chinese Bamboo Tree (09:03) Building Affinity models (19:19) Working with Data teams (24:14) How can large enterprises offer a Netflix-like experience? (36:18) How will Banks and Fintechs partner in the future? (38:30) Impact of AI (43:23) Nuances of building and selling to large enterprises (49:00) Hacks to break into large enterprises (53:37) What do you do differently as a second-time founder? (56:58) Closing Remarks ------------------------------------- Connect with Nagraj: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sureshshankar/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/sureshshankar ------------------------------------- Connect with Us: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startup-operator âTwitter: https://twitter.com/OperatorStartupââ ------------------------------------- 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

Jul 25, 2021 ⢠32min
Roundup #34 : Byju's Acquisition spree, Blackbuck's new unicorn status and more!
Welcome to another episode of The Startup Operator Roundup, where Roshan Cariappa and Gunjan Saha discuss - đđ˝ Byju's acquisition spree đđ˝ Policybazaar's IPO plans đđ˝ Blackbuck turning Unicorn 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

Jul 22, 2021 ⢠31min
EP 110 : Nagaraj Mylandla (Chairman & MD, FSS - Financial Software & Systems) | Evolution of Payments | Working with Banks | Growing through Partnerships | Building for Tomorrow
Nagraj is a banker turned entrepreneur, he created FSS in 1991, envisaging a phenomenal growth of the payments industry in India. FSS is a one stop entity for payment products, development & support services and third party processing expertise across all payment delivery channels like ATM,PoS,Internet ,Mobile and IVR. In this episode Nagraj spoke about how the payments industry has evolved, working with banks, future of fintech and payments and more in his interview with Roshan Cariappa. Key Highlights: (00:00) Introduction (01:19) Lessons from a 3 decade journey (05:15) Getting the first customer (10:30) Journey of building IP (12:44) Having Banking domain knowledge (16:00) Lessons from working with banks (19:19) Evolution of payments (22:48) Future of fintech & payments (26:22) Experience with regulators and policymakers (27:30) Making decisions in a balanced way (29:49) Future plans for FSS (32:37) Advice for founders to build a sustainable business (34:23) Closing Remarks ------------------------------------- Connect with Nagraj: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nagarajmylandla/ ------------------------------------- Connect with Us: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startupoperator 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

Jul 20, 2021 ⢠41min
EP 109 : Snehil Khanor (CEO, Truly Madly) | Building in the Dating Market | Sustainable Growth | Acquisition, Retention & Monetization & more
Mr. Snehil Khanor is a serial tech entrepreneur who has founded startups from early in his career and is currently the Co-Founder & CEO of TrulyMadly. He believes in creating sustainable business practices or as he likes to call it âFrugile Methodologyâ (Frugal+Agile) for startups. In this episode he spoke about his process of going from Idea to Product to Company and his furgile Methodology, how online dating has changed and more in his interview with Roshan Cariappa. Key Highlights: (00:00) Introduction (01:03) Going from Idea to Product to Company (02:56) Building a profitable and sustainable startup (06:16) Snehil's Frugile Methodology for Growth (08:26) Growth v/s Profitability (12:48) Doing the 0-1 journey (14:43) Evolution of Online Dating (20:26) Challenges and Opportunities of building in a competitive space (22:39) Validating and building for scale (26:53) Decoding the match making model (31:52) User Acquisition (33:33) User retention and monetization (35:08) Changes in user behaviour post covid (37:55) High level challenges Snehil is solving now (39:31) Advantages of being an investor and a founder ------------------------------------- Connect with Snehil: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/snehilkhanor/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/snehilkhanor ------------------------------------- Connect with Us: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startupoperator âTwitter: https://twitter.com/OperatorStartupââ ------------------------------------- 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

Jul 18, 2021 ⢠30min
Roundup #33 : Zomato and Paytm's IPOs, Ola Electric's scooter launch and more!
Welcome to another episode of The Startup Operator Roundup, where Roshan Cariappa and Gunjan Saha discuss - đđ˝ Zomato and Paytm's IPOs đđ˝ Ola Electric's scooter launch 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