All Episodes

Season 3

Part 2: Mukesh Bansal on hiring for loyalty to a mission, "no means not now", writing three books, and compounding sideways

Part 1: Mukesh Bansal on founder mode in the AI age, the three kinds of professionals in the AI age, and the Haridwar boy who found entrepreneurship in a library

Mukesh Bansal on selling Myntra, building Cult.fit, running eight AI agents overnight, and compounding sideways instead of up

Fireside Ventures' Kanwaljit Singh on the decade at Hindustan Lever that gave him consumer, raising half the fund he could have, and keeping a coach in his sixties

Fireside Ventures' Kanwaljit Singh on backing Indian consumer brands before anyone believed, why he'd rather a portfolio full of winners than one 100x, and turning down half the money he could have raised

Fireside Ventures' Kanwal Singh on the consumer-brands bet nobody believed in, why "for a 5x, nobody will call you legendary," and on refusing the one-100x-outlier game

Part 2: Saahil Goel of Shiprocket on wanting a paisa of every Indian transaction outside the marketplaces, who doesn't survive at Shiprocket, and still playing Pink Floyd on a Fender

Part 1: Saahil Goel of Shiprocket on rebuilding the same company three times,  the $4 million he was told to take or leave and why in India you sell outcomes, not software

Shiprocket's Saahil Goel on rebuilding the same company three times and wanting one paisa of every Indian transaction outside the marketplaces

Part 2: Impresario's Riyaaz Amlani on digital landlords, doers & divas, and why delivery will never eat dine-in

Part 1: Impresario's Riyaaz Amlani on Mocha, "Handmade," four near-deaths and 25 years of building places to be

Impresario's Riyaaz Amlani on 25 years of selling time, not food, and surviving four near-deaths

Part 2: Kuku’s Lal Chand Bisu on the Bathoth-to-Bandra arc, learning from iterations not books, and why nos beat yeses

Kuku's Lal Chand Bisu on charging Bharat ₹399 a year, the Bathoth-to-Bandra arc, and why nos beat yeses

Part 1: Kuku's Lal Chand Bisu on killing three products, ditching the free tier and charging Bharat ₹399 a year

Part 1: Kuku's Lal Chand Bisu on killing three products, ditching the free tier and charging Bharat ₹399 a year

Part 2: Curefoods' Ankit Nagori on why Indians only eat healthy Monday to Thursday, focusing on brand over scale, and what drives him now

Part 1: Curefoods' Ankit Nagori on cold emailing his way into Flipkart, designing for talent density, and surviving a pandemic on 2 crores a month

Curefoods' Ankit Nagori on building India's "House of (food) Brands" and talent density at Flipkart

Part 2: Captain Fresh's Utham Gowda on seafood as the world's last unorganised trillion-dollar industry, why undervaluation is a founder's superpower and his “reverse career path”

Part 1: Captain Fresh's Utham Gowda on seafood as the world's last unorganised trillion-dollar industry, why undervaluation is a founder's superpower and his “reverse career path”

Captain Fresh's Utham Gowda on seafood as the world's last unorganised trillion-dollar industry, why undervaluation is a founder's superpower and his “reverse career path”

Part 2: Kalpana Morparia on the culture of dissent, the 90-day NYSE race, and why ambition requires self-redundancy

Part 1: Kalpana Morparia on the culture of dissent, the 90-day NYSE race, and why ambition requires self-redundancy

Kalpana Morparia on the culture of dissent, the 90-day NYSE race, and why ambition requires self-redundancy

Part 2: Darwinbox’s Rohit Chennamaneni on leading without a CEO, the ‘show don’t tell’ product mindset, and why resilience beats intelligence

Part 1: Darwinbox’s Rohit Chennamaneni on leading without a CEO, the ‘show don’t tell’ product mindset, and why resilience beats intelligence

Darwinbox’s Rohit Chennamaneni on leading without a CEO, the ‘show don’t tell’ product mindset, and why resilience beats intelligence

First Principles, second look: The 2025 wrap

Part 2: Ixigo's Aloke Bajpai on using empathy, customer experience, and resilience to both survive and thrive

Ixigo's Aloke Bajpai on using empathy, customer experience, and resilience to both survive and thrive

Part 1: Ixigo's Aloke Bajpai on using empathy, customer experience, and resilience to both survive and thrive

Part 2: Indiagold's Deepak Abbot on turning a nation's 'dead asset' into credit scores and working capital

Indiagold's Deepak Abbot on turning a nation's 'dead asset' into credit scores and working capital

Part 1: Indiagold's Deepak Abbot on turning a nation's 'dead asset' into credit scores and working capital

Part 2: Trilegal's Rahul Matthan on the firm, the partnership, and the principles

Postcard Hotels' Kapil Chopra wants to build an iconic luxury hotel group in a hurry and from scratch, but without risking it all

Part 1: Trilegal's Rahul Matthan on the firm, the partnership, and the principles

Trilegal’s Rahul Matthan on the firm, the partnership, and the principles

Part 2: Anand Jain of Clevertap on starting with nothing and learning, building and leading as you go along

Part 1: Anand Jain of Clevertap on starting with nothing and learning, building and leading as you go along

Anand Jain of Clevertap on starting with nothing and learning, building and leading as you go along

Part 2: Ultraviolette Automotive's Narayan Subramaniam on tinkering, designing and learning by discarding

Part 1: Ultraviolette Automotive's Narayan Subramaniam on tinkering, designing and learning by discarding

Full episode: Ultraviolette Automotive's Narayan Subramaniam on tinkering, designing and learning by discarding

Part 2: Manish Sabharwal of Teamlease on creating great ancestors, India’s development journey and ‘regulatory cholesterol’

Part 1: Manish Sabharwal of Teamlease on creating great ancestors, India’s development journey and ‘regulatory cholesterol’

Full episode: Manish Sabharwal of Teamlease on creating great ancestors, India’s development journey and ‘regulatory cholesterol’

Part 2: Sahil Barua on why Delhivery is the antithesis of moving fast and breaking things

Part 1: Sahil Barua on why Delhivery is the antithesis of moving fast and breaking things

Full episode: Sahil Barua on why Delhivery is the antithesis of moving fast and breaking things

Part 2: Vidit Aatrey on building a problem-first mindset into Meesho's culture

Part 1: Vidit Aatrey on building a problem-first mindset into Meesho's culture

Full episode: Vidit Aatrey on building a problem-first mindset into Meesho's culture

Introducing Two by Two, a new premium business podcast from The Ken

The Final Supercut Part 2: Founders 21-41

The Final Supercut Part 1: Founders 1-20

Last Principles

Five women founders speak about leading with empathy, ambition, and not being apologetic and just focusing on building

Part 2: Manav Garg sold his business and started TogetherFund with Girish Mathrubootham. Naturally, the $150M fund has a founder-operator bias. What does that mean?

Part 2: Alok Mittal—teacher, angel investor, former VC—asserts Indifi is not a disruptive business. He also emphasises organisations should not fall into the trap of founder-worshipping

Part 1: Manav Garg started and ran Eka Software for 20 years before selling it. His #1 advise to founders? Budget 6 months to "manufacture" your co-founders

Manav Garg started and ran Eka Software for 20 years before selling it. His #1 advise to founders? Budget 6 months to "manufacture" your co-founders

Part 2: Jaydeep Barman explains how internet restaurant Rebel Foods and luxury good giant LVMH have more in common than one can imagine

Part 1: Alok Mittal of Indifi on why org culture should not be defined but discovered

Alok Mittal of Indifi on why org culture should not be defined but discovered

Part 1: Jaydeep Barman of Rebel Foods on why his business is 'misunderstood'—and why that's a good thing

Full episode: Jaydeep Barman of Rebel Foods on why his business is 'misunderstood'—and why that's a good thing

Part 2: Chetan Maini of SUN Mobility on finding his 'true north', again

From succeeding in overcrowded markets to creating customer delight, five founders share their secrets

Part 2: Harsh Mariwala of Marico on experimenting with learning, fitness and leadership at 72

Part 1: Why Chetan Maini of SUN Mobility stopped making EVs when it got cool

Full episode: Why Chetan Maini of SUN Mobility stopped making EVs when it got cool

Part 2: Girish Mathrubootham on Freshworks' trade secrets – and why he opened them up to competitors

Part 1: From Parachute to Saffola, Marico's Harsh Mariwala on building and branding India's biggest consumer products

From Parachute to Saffola, Marico's Harsh Mariwala on building and branding India's biggest consumer products

Part 1: Girish Mathrubootham of Freshworks on why he doesn't measure 'winning' by numbers

Full episode: Girish Mathrubootham of Freshworks on why he doesn't measure 'winning' by numbers

Part 2: Why Vaibhav Gupta of Udaan doesn’t identify problems by patterns

Five founders on creating trust, patience and careers in their organisations

Part 2: Aneesh Reddy of Capillary Tech on how being called a “bully” led him to be a better leader

Part 1: How Vaibhav Gupta of Udaan builds, scales and improves execution playbooks

Full episode: How Vaibhav Gupta of Udaan builds, scales and improves execution playbooks

Part 2: How Viren Shetty of Narayana Health is building a career free of ‘groundhog days’

Part 1: Aneesh Reddy of Capillary Tech on his wins, mistakes and a breakout SaaS model

Full episode: Aneesh Reddy of Capillary Tech on his wins, mistakes and a breakout SaaS model

Part 2: Soumya Rajan of Waterfield Advisors on entrepreneurship, liberation and legacy

Part 1: Viren Shetty of Narayana Health on becoming ‘worse’ to become better and other ways to fix healthcare in India

Full episode: Viren Shetty of Narayana Health on becoming ‘worse’ to become better and other ways to fix healthcare in India

Part 2: Why Ritesh Agarwal is a 'peacetime CEO' despite OYO's many wars

Part 1: Soumya Rajan of Waterfield Advisors on turning a 'sceptical' idea into a resilient business

Full episode: Soumya Rajan of Waterfield Advisors on turning a 'sceptical' idea into a resilient business

Part 2: Karthik Jayaraman of WayCool looks back on his career, starting up at 40 and building leaders

Part 1: Ritesh Agarwal of OYO on building a business on differentiation, communication and resilience

Full episode: Ritesh Agarwal of OYO on building a business on differentiation, communication and resilience

Five founders on their childhood, choices and what drove them to start up

Part 1: Karthik Jayaraman of WayCool Foods on why disruption isn't always necessary for innovation

Full episode: Karthik Jayaraman of WayCool Foods on why disruption isn't always necessary for innovation

Niraj Singh of Spinny on standing out in an overcrowded market