Outliers 100: Life lessons from AR Rahman
So what’s the big deal about the 100th episode of the Outliers podcast? What’s the big deal about the 100th of anything? Not much, if you ask me personally. Milestones can be lifeless. But, milestones can be a big deal, too. It all comes down to the events surrounding any milestones, or an outcome. Sometimes […]
Meet former entrepreneur Raju Reddy, now a startup ecosystem builder
So what makes a startup ecosystem work? Entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and perhaps even the regulators. Apart from the above, there are these low profile, faceless ecosystem builders who back the founders not just with monies, but with the emotional energy required in navigating the ups and downs of entrepreneurial journeys. After selling his software services […]
CavinKare founder on building a culture that lasts
C.K. Ranganathan quit home and family nearly three decades ago to start CavinKare, a Chennai-based consumer goods startup that once gave the likes of Hindustan Lever sleepless nights. I am not sure how many of you remember the Chik shampoo that came in single-use sachets. The brainchild of Ranganathan’s father, R. Chinnikrishnan, the sachets reimagined […]
How Ritesh Arora learned from failures to bootstrap, then turn BrowserStack into a $60m rocket ship
If you’ve been following the mainstream startup movement in India, it’s likely you’ve never heard of BrowserStack, or its low profile founder Ritesh Arora. But if there’s one startup playbook you must learn from, it’s the BrowserStack journey. By the time BrowserStack earned its first million-dollar revenue in the year 2012-13, the founders Arora and […]
William Bissell of Fabindia on building brand, lessons from the journey
“Giving just returns to your investors and shareholders is a restrictive model for business. Business is such a powerful force, it needs to stand for a higher purpose,” Bissell tells me in this episode of Outliers. Bissell, who took over the business in 1999, is now the vice chairman of Fabindia. If you want to […]
Why Environment, Sustainability are hot for Amuleek Singh of Chai Point
Amuleek Singh Bijral, the founder of Chai Point, is an outlier for many reasons. For me, Amuleek is an outlier because of his undying focus to ensure Chai Point is sensitive towards the environment. And he believes being environment-friendly makes business sense too. Also, he’s in my list of Indian founders who I believe are […]
How Vinoth Chandar of ChuChu TV made it a top global brand on YouTube
With over 24.5 Billion views and more than 38 Million subscribers across its channels, ChuChu TV is one of the top video creators on YouTube from India. Vinoth Chandar, founder and CEO of ChuChu TV, began the channel in 2013 with a nursery rhyme video titled ‘Chubby Cheeks’ sung by his daughter, which went viral […]