
The Startup Operator
The best-curated wisdom from founders, operators, & investors on executing at startups | Hosted by Roshan Cariappa | Head down, execute hard. 🔥 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

Nov 11, 2020 • 58min
EP 48 : Growth Stage Investing | Ashish Dave (CEO, Mirae Asset Venture Investments)
Ashish is the CEO at Mirae Asset Venture Investment (India) with a focus on opportunities in Mobile, Internet, Fintech space. With a fund size of USD 1.5 Billion, his investments at Mirae include the likes of Ola, BigBasket, Zolostays, Shadowfax, and more. Prior to Mirae, he was involved with Kalaari where he was actively involved in sourcing new opportunities and helping existing portfolio companies. Some of the noted portfolio firms he worked with include Zivame, Vyome, Crowdfire, Cashkaro, Truebil, and RKSV. Join Ashish in conversation with Roshan to understand more about India's booming startup investment scene. ---------- Connect with Ashish - Twitter - https://twitter.com/ashishdave Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/daveash/ **Software Testing & Quality with Pradeep Soundararajan | Moolya Testing ** https://youtu.be/gRJBI-RR4hU If you liked this episode, don't forget to subscribe to our podcast and leave us a review. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startup-operator/message

Nov 4, 2020 • 45min
EP 47 : Building in Edtech | Saurabh Saxena, Founder & CEO - Uable
Saurabh is a 3x Ed tech entrepreneur. He was earlier Co-founder at Vedantu, which is valued at $600M as of Nov 2020 and is one of the most successful Ed Tech startups in India. Saurabh founded Uable post his Vedantu journey to help children discover and develop their creative potential. In this fascinating conversation, we understand the contours of building in the Ed Tech space, how parents and institutions are impacted by current changes, and how one can retain their idealism while also building a sound business. This is a fascinating primer on building in Ed Tech. ---------------- Connect with Saurabh : Twitter: https://twitter.com/saurabh_learn LinkedIn: https://in.linkedin.com/in/saurabh-learn If you liked this episode, don't forget to subscribe to our podcast and leave us a review. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startup-operator/message

Nov 2, 2020 • 1h 5min
EP 46 : Being Future Ready | Harish & Ramanand, Co-Founders - Choose to Thinq
There is a lot of talk about "being future ready", but most of this centers around specific technologies or certifications and don't address higher order thinking and behaviors that will improve people's competitiveness at a more fundamental level. Choose to Thinq is an exception. Harish and Ramanand help individuals and teams inculcate systems that can 'uplevel' and transform them for the future. In this episode we talk about some of the programs and interventions that help achieve that and along the way, discuss reading habits and a few favourite recommendations. As a Startup Operator, you're used to operating at the edge. This is a great episode to help you think about small changes you can make to compound your results. ---------------- Connect with Ramanand : Twitter: https://twitter.com/quatrainman LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jramanand/. Connect with Harish : Twitter: https://twitter.com/bvhk LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harish-kumar-bhamidipati-b026881/ ---------------- If you liked this episode, don't forget to subscribe to our podcast and leave us a review. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startup-operator/message

Oct 28, 2020 • 41min
EP 45 : Building Engaged Communities | Sahiba Sethi - Founder CEO, HelloMeets
As a startup operator, you would have attended many events and meetups to connect with your counterparts from other startups. HelloMeets is one of the largest and most well-known startup community in India, having conducted over 800+ events in the last 5 years. But what makes a community interactive, engaging, and valuable for its members? Today, Roshan speaks to Sahiba Sethi, who started HelloMeets in 2015, to know more about the building blocks of an engaged community. ---------------- Connect with Sahiba : Twitter: https://twitter.com/sahibasethi7 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sahibasethifounderhellomeets If you liked this episode, don't forget to subscribe to our podcast and leave us a review. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startup-operator/message

Oct 26, 2020 • 1h
EP 44 : Evolution of SaaS | Srikanth Sunderarajan (General Partner, Ventureast)
Dr. Srikanth Sundararajan is an innovator, technologist, entrepreneur, professor, and investor. He has 30+ years of global experience in the software product and services space. He has worked at Hewlett Packard, Informix, his own startup(s) - Pretzel Logic software, and International Decision Systems in the USA. Prior to joining Ventureast, he was a venture partner at Helion Advisors. He has also served as the CTO of Cognizant & HCL. Join Roshan as he talks to Srikanth about enterprise technologies and how SaaS has evolved in India. --------------- Connect with Srikanth: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srikanth-99/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/sundarsrik or drop us an email at thestartupoperator@gmail.com --------------- If you liked this episode, don't forget to subscribe to our podcast and leave us a review. Follow us on - Twitter - https://twitter.com/OperatorStartup LinkedIn - https://in.linkedin.com/company/startup-operator --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startup-operator/message

Oct 22, 2020 • 1h 8min
EP 43 : Building in Healthcare | Rekuram Varadharaj (Co-founder, Healthi)
Rekuram Varadharaj, or RV as he is known to all, is the Co-founder and COO at Healthi, India’s fastest growing preventive healthcare company. At Healthi, RV leads sales, marketing and user experience and delight. Roshan engaged RV in an hour-long conversation to understand the fundamentals of the healthcare industry in India and how the sector is shaping up during this pandemic. Some of the things they discussed are - 👉 Gaps in the healthcare sector 👉Diagnostic vs Prescriptive analytics 👉 Customer Centricity 👉Future of healthcare in India ...+ more! Tune in for another exciting conversation! --------------- Connect with RV: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rekuramvaradharaj/ or drop us an email at thestartupoperator@gmail.com --------------- If you liked this episode, don't forget to subscribe to our podcast and leave us a review. Follow us on - Twitter - https://twitter.com/OperatorStartup LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/startup-operator --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startup-operator/message

Oct 19, 2020 • 60min
EP 42 : Investing in Insurtech | Shwetank Verma (Co-Founder, Leo Capital)
An operator turned founder turned investor, Shwetank has lived and experienced the entire spectrum of the startup journey. Based out of Singapore, he is currently an early-stage venture investor in India and South East Asia with Leo Capital focusing on Digital Health, Insurtech and Fintech. Shwetank's portfolio companies include the likes of WayForward, GetRia, CoverGenius, and BeatOApp to name a few. He also co-founded the India Insurtech Association which is a non-profit organization promoting innovation in the Indian insurance sector. Previously, Shwetank headed open innovation at MetLife Asia, where he created and led Collab - a platform for matching best of class technology startups to the right problem statement in the enterprise and bringing culture change to the main enterprise. He has also been an adviser on open innovation to Fortune 500 companies. In this episode of The Startup Operator, Roshan talks to Shwetank about his transition from an operator to a founder to an investor, his investment thesis, and his bets in the insurtech sector. Tune in for another exciting conversation! --------------- Connect with Shwetank - LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/shwetankv Twitter - https://twitter.com/shwetankv --------------- If you liked this episode, don't forget to subscribe to our podcast and leave us a review. Follow us on - Twitter - https://twitter.com/OperatorStartup LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/startup-operator --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startup-operator/message

Oct 7, 2020 • 47min
EP 41 : Making Life Better Off-Screen | Lal Chand Bisu (Co-Founder & CEO - KuKu FM)
People lose countless hours to mundane activities such as commuting, chores, and staring at their phones. What if we could turn these little blocks of unallocated time into memorable and precious moments of joy, learning, and reflection? Forbes Asia 30-under-30, Chand Lal Bisu co-founded KuKu FM to do exactly that. The online podcast platform has one-upped traditional radio with audio content that includes audiobooks, poems, news, jokes, ghost stories, and mythological tales. In this episode of The Startup Operator Podcast, Roshan talks to Bisu about the platform's outstanding growth and his journey as a second-time founder. Connect with Bisu - LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lal-chand-bisu-703b4b42/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/lcbisu If you liked this episode, don't forget to subscribe to our podcast and leave us a review. Follow us on - Twitter - https://twitter.com/OperatorStartup LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/startup-operator --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startup-operator/message

Oct 5, 2020 • 52min
EP 40 : Building an App Business | Snehanshu Gandhi (Co-founder, Sorted AI / Kaagaz Scanner)
The biggest irony about over-night success stories is that they were in years of making. Kaagaz Scanner came under the spotlight after it received a special mention at the AatmaNirbhar Bharat App Challenge. In this episode of The Startup Operator Podcast, we have with us Snehanshu Gandhi, who co-founded Sorted.AI in July 2019 as a personal assistant that would make you more productive. And as a part of its utility products is Kaagaz Scanner. Roshan talks to Snehanshu about his founding journey and how he plans to scale the app business. Connect with Snehanshu - Twitter - https://twitter.com/gandhisnehanshu Linkedin - https://in.linkedin.com/in/snehanshugandhi Loved this episode, or have any suggestions for us to improve? Please rate and leave a review! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startup-operator/message

Sep 23, 2020 • 30min
EP 39 : Data Driven Execution | Vedanarayanan Vedantham (SME Business Head, Razorpay)
Razorpay has been one of India's most prominent fintech businesses that have seen rapid growth since its inception. The company was founded in 2014 as India's first payment gateway for startups & SME businesses. Vedanarayanan, or Veda, manages the SME growth mandate, P&L covering marketing & sales for RazorPay. He has helped build and grow multiple digital products & brands across verticals for almost two decades. Join Roshan Cariappa as he talks to Veda about aligning sales & marketing functions and how to scale functions with a data-driven approach. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startup-operator/message