This is a special episode. I have known Vipul for over 6 months now. With in just couple of conversations I have come to realize that he is one of the most interesting founders I have come across.

In this episode we talked about:

• Vipul’s journey prior to starting unlu.io & building Rutogo & CricnWin.
• Making money using Internet
• The concept of Fandom vs Respect
• How his experience working with influencers in cricket and co-producing movies is helping him build Unlu?
• How does the journey of making an Unlu Class happen, from concept to production?
• How does Unlu convince the like of Ruskin Bond & Manoj Bajpayee come and teach their craft on Unlu?
• Market size of Indian Influencer economy
• what’s next after Unlu Shoutouts & Unlu class?
• What are the moats that are separating Unlu from the competition?
• Thesis behind Angel investing and the experience of seeing exits like Fitso (aq by Zomato)

Listen to the full conversation below:

Follow Vipul on Twitter at https://twitter.com/iamvipulagrawal and learn more about Unlu at unlu.io

Follow Nataraj on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam and stay up to date at thestartupproject.io

In Episode 5 of The Startup Project (thestartupproject.io) Nataraj talked to Ani Mohan who is the founder and General Manager of Gamesnacks (gamesnacks.com), a web based game platform incubated inside Google’s Area 120. 

The conversation included the following topics:

• Start of the Gamesnacks and all the previous versions of it 
• Incubation of projects inside google area 120
• How a decision to Pivot to Gamesnacks was made?
• Embedding as a distribution Strategy
• Value chain of Gaming Ecosystem & Future trends in gaming

Listen to the full conversation below:

Follow Ani on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ani_c_mohan and learn more about Gamesnacks at gamesnacks.com

Follow Nataraj on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam and stay up to date at thestartupproject.io

Manik is the Co-Founder of Omnify (getomnify.com), a global SaaS platform for small and medium service business. Previously he was also the co-founder of LinkMySport. 

We talked about:

• Service Ecommerce
• Pivoting multiple times to find product market fit
• Scrapping and restarting to figure the right customers in right geography
• Giving back time to customers
• Getting through the rollercoaster of pandemic when 90% of your customers are outside India
• Vision of Omnify

Follow Manik on Twitter at https://twitter.com/manik_me and learn more about omnify at getomnify.comFollow Nataraj on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam and stay up to date at thestartupproject.io

Vikas is the Co-Founder of Leher (Leher.app), a live discussion platform. Previously he was also the co-founder of Commonfloor.com which was acquired by Quikr. We talked about:

• Growth of Leher in last 6 months
• Monetization Models
• Content moderation
• The Clubhouse Effect
• From Commonfloor to Leher, how has the Indian Startup ecosystem changed?

Follow Vikas on Twitter at https://twitter.com/vikasmalpani and learn more about Leher at Leher.App

Follow Nataraj on Twitter at https://twitter.com/natarajsindam and stay up to date at thestartupproject.io

The full conversation is available at:
Youtube – https://lnkd.in/gJkmzDr
Spotify – https://lnkd.in/g3vdtYY
Apple – https://lnkd.in/gEycJUf
Google – https://lnkd.in/grXHWbp
Podlink – https://lnkd.in/g8N54zS

Pankaj Jain is currently COO of Workomo. He has worn multiple hats in his journey from being a founder, operator & investor. He is also an advisor to Angel List India’s The Collective Fund.

We talked about:

• Creating communities like Startup weekend & now Indian startup club on -clubhouse (https://indianstartup.club/​​)
• Working at TLabs (Times Internet’s Accelerator)
• Different Accelerator models in India
• Leading 500 Startup’s India Strategy
• Evolution of Food Startups in India
• Jio Effect in India
• Advising for Angel List India’s The Collective Fund
• Perspective on AL Syndicates
• Indian companies registering outside India
• 2020 is it a crisis/bubble/opportunity
• Being chief operating officer at Workomo

Full Episode is available on:

• Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/episode/1ZPXEksU3GPQ52ouZEOcmw?si=h5REGDjjR0KIDpYfKUZBDQ
• Breaker – https://www.breaker.audio/the-startup-project/e/81230460
• Saavn – https://www.jiosaavn.com/shows/2-Pankaj-Jain:-COO-Workomo–Investor/WZcZBwNcGcE_
• Anchor – https://anchor.fm/tsp1/episodes/2-Pankaj-Jain-COO-Workomo–Investor-eqcovl
• Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVWkHuAl5dVO5QYK1JNBbrdo6O7OrQgaM
• Apple – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/2-pankaj-jain-coo-workomo-investor/id1551300319?i=1000508957360

Follow Pankaj on Twitter (https://twitter.com/pjain​​) and learn more about Workomo at https://workomo.com​​
Find more about Nataraj on Twitter https://twitter.com/natarajsindam​​
The Startup Project (thestartupproject.io) is a podcast exploring ideas, business models and stories of Indian Startups.

startups​ ​#india​ #workomo #pankajjain​ #nataraj​ #thestartupproject #angelListIndia

In episode 1 of The Startup Project, I talked to Pranay Gupta, co-founder of a co-working space company based out of India, 91Springboard.

The Episode is available at:

– Anchor: https://lnkd.in/gTgaNFm
– Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gxRRdMb
– Youtube: https://lnkd.in/g3w_hJW

Here are my takeaways from that conversation:

The Start of a co-working company that you would not expect:

A lot of companies start with an idea and couple of years in to their inception, find a different problem to solve and become solving the new problem, ignoring the original problem. Slack started as a game, twitter started as podcasting business called Odeo. Both of these companies took a “pivot” to become what they are famously known for today. A similar pivot story exists behind 91Springboard. 91Springboard didn’t start as a co-working space company as we call it today but with a motive to invest in early stage companies.

Ancillary Effects of the Business Model:

Co-working space as a business model is about bringing scale to workspace operations and management and selling the work space to customers who need it leveraging economies of scale. The product in this case is the space along with all the amenities that are expected of a modern workspace. This model works well for companies which don’t have big enough scale to afford a fully managed workspace. And by nature of the business model and the product offered, a great co-working space is a breeding ground to find next big startup. This second order effect is leverage by 91Springboard and has invested/supported these companies.

The importance of having the right team:

Every company is different and every story behind it is different. Even though each team looks different, it pays to assemble a great team. In case of 91Springboard having a team with diverse set of experiences was big reason in their successful ability to raise funds, manage a pandemic & grow to becoming one of successful co-working space companies in India.

Check out my full conversation with Pranay here on The Startup Project Podcast

The conversation includes the following topics:

• Importance to update investors religiously?
• How were partnerships with services like AWS, Sodexo & Razorpay used?
• Why not exchange space for equity?
• Best Incubator award from president of India
• Attracting talent to Goa

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If you like listening to this episode and are looking for more interesting podcasts to listen to here are top 5 business podcasts we recommend.

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You can follow Pranay on Twitter and learn more about 91Springboard here (91springboard.com)

More information of all other episodes are at thestartupproject.io and you can find more about Nataraj on Twitter @natarajsindam.