In this episode of PitchCraft Season 2, Gaurav Singh Kushwaha, Founder and CEO of BlueStone and Prashanth Prakash, Partner at Accel, revisit the 33-page idea-stage deck that launched one of India’s most enduring jewelry brands. Back in 2011, BlueStone didn’t even have a website or sales to show. It only had a conviction that India’s jewelry market was ripe for disruption. Gaurav reflects on the choices that shaped the pitch: why jewelry was one of the few categories resistant to horizontal marketplaces, how consumer behavior was shifting from family jewelers to brands, and why design had to be the company’s moat. Prashanth recalls why Accel took the leap at such an early stage: the scale of the opportunity, but more importantly, Gaurav’s clarity of thought and first-principles approach. From 3D renders that changed how jewelry was visualized online to home try-on that built trust, BlueStone redefined how Indians bought jewelry long before omnichannel became the norm. Together, they unpack the original deck, the debates it sparked, and how its early insights on design, differentiation, and consumer trust, still anchor the company as it stepped into the public markets in 2025.

In this episode of PitchCraft Season 2, Chandra Srikanth sits down with Harshil Mathur, Co-founder and CEO of Razorpay, and Vikram Vaidyanathan of Z47 to unpack the pitch deck that launched one of India’s most iconic fintech companies. Harshil looks back on Razorpay’s early days in 2014, when he and Co-founder Shashank Kumar were just two engineers trying to accept payments for a side project, only to realise how broken and outdated India’s digital payment infrastructure really was. Their first deck didn’t have polish or even a founder slide. But it had something better: clarity of problem, product conviction, and deep insight into why existing gateways weren’t working. Vikram shares why he invested in Razorpay when many others passed on the opportunity, thinking the space was crowded. What stood out wasn’t just the market; it was the mindset. Harshil and Shashank approached payments as a product and tech problem, not a financial one. That product-first thinking, combined with early proof of execution, became Razorpay’s differentiator. Together, they deconstruct how the original pitch came together, what mattered more than the slides, and how Razorpay’s core values—customer obsession, product depth, and technical rigor—have remained constant from their seed to scale.

In the debut episode of PitchCraft's Season 2, Chandra Srikanth speaks to Sriharsha Majety, Co-Founder and CEO of Swiggy, and Accel's Anand Daniel as they deconstruct the company's first pitch deck that laid the foundation for one of India's most iconic consumer tech companies. Harsha reflects on Swiggy’s early days in 2014, when the team put together a function-first deck built on a single insight: existing platforms didn’t solve the real consumer problem—getting food from your favourite restaurant delivered quickly. From day one, Swiggy differentiated itself by building its own delivery fleet and prioritizing reliability and speed over scale or polish. Anand shares why Accel backed Swiggy in 2015, even in a crowded market: the clarity of thought, deep consumer insight, and a relentless focus on experience. The founders didn’t pitch a marketplace—they pitched a logistics company with a sharp product lens. Swiggy launched with just a few handpicked restaurants, high-velocity dishes, and an app-first approach that showed early, real traction. Together, they break down how the pitch came together, what stood out in the deck, and how Swiggy’s founding principles—customer obsession, clarity, and operational discipline—have stayed intact from the seed round to the stock market.

Contracts are the backbone of every business, every dollar in or out is tied to one. Yet, they remain one of the most antiquated, slow, and expensive parts of how companies operate. Legal workflows still rely on copy-paste, track changes, and armies of lawyers billing by the hour. SpotDraft is rewriting this story. By treating contracts as the hardest language problem for AI, one that demands accuracy, trust, and reliability, the company has built a Contract Lifecycle Management platform purpose-built for the AI era. From creating dummy datasets to designing proprietary editors, workflows, and repositories, SpotDraft has reimagined how businesses negotiate, execute, and manage contracts at scale. In this episode, Co-founder & CEO Shashank Bijapur, along with Goutam Kurumella, Head of Startup Solutions Architecture at AWS, takes us inside the journey: why contracts are a unique challenge for AI, how SpotDraft combines general-purpose LLMs with its own specialized layers to cut through hallucinations, and the tough trade-offs of prioritizing long-term product over short-term revenue.

India today stands at the cusp of a new wave in advanced manufacturing. With global supply chains shifting, demand for cost-effective innovation rising, and deep scientific talent at home, the country has a chance to create the building blocks of tomorrow’s industries. Specialty chemicals, critical to pharmaceuticals, agro, electronics, and more, are one such frontier. Scimplify is leading this shift. The company acts as a full-stack platform for specialty chemical development and manufacturing, bringing enterprise-grade R&D into India’s underutilized factories. In this episode, Co-founder Sachin Santhosh takes us inside their model: how technology and data are being used to map facilities, why India’s scientist pool is its true edge, and how Scimplify is bridging the gap between lab-scale innovation and commercial-scale delivery. Sachin also shares the hard realities of building in this space, from hiring world-class scientists to balancing reliability with cost, and his bold vision to make Scimplify a mark of trust across global industries. This conversation is a window into how advanced manufacturing in chemicals could be India’s next big leap, powering not just growth, but global leadership.

India today stands at a once-in-a-generation moment to establish itself as a global leader in advanced manufacturing. With deep-tech innovation, shifting global supply chains, and a rising domestic market that demands scale and affordability, the country has the chance to build world-class products, not just for India but for the world. Aerospace, EVs, semiconductors, and clean energy are just a few sectors where this ambition is becoming real. Sarla Aviation is one such story. The company is building India’s first mass-market flying taxis, electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft designed to tackle the unique challenges of Indian cities. In this episode, Co-founder and CEO Adrian Schmidt takes us inside their journey: why India’s density makes it the perfect market for aerial mobility, how simplicity in design unlocks affordability, and why creating an indigenous aerospace supply chain is critical for success. Adrian also talks about the hard trade-offs, range versus payload, cost versus complexity, and the bold vision to make flying taxis not a luxury for the elite but a true mass-mobility solution. This conversation is a glimpse into the audacious bets shaping India’s future of transportation, and how advanced manufacturing can propel the nation into the skies.

Every economic superpower has been built on the backbone of manufacturing. Today, with global supply chains being rewritten and the world moving from cost to precision, resilience, and IP, India stands at a rare window of opportunity. Advanced manufacturing is no longer our quiet revolution. Decoding Manufacturing brings you the voices of India’s boldest builders, decoding what it takes to reimagine manufacturing on the global stage and shape the country’s future. #founders #startup #startupindia #indianstartup #manufacturing #advancedmanufacturing #precisionengineering #precisionmanufacturing #sarlaaviation #airtaxis #flyingtaxi #haber #fabheads #scimplify #entrepreneurship #atherenergy #agnikul #sattelite

AI is rewriting the rules of education, turning personalized tutoring from a privilege of the few into a possibility for every student, regardless of where they live or what they can afford. For millions of students in India’s tier-2 and tier-3 towns, the barrier to quality learning has long been financial and geographic. Arivihan is breaking that barrier. In this episode of Decoding AI, Accel’s Anagh Prasad sits down with Ritesh Singh, Co-founder and CEO of Arivihan, to unpack how his journey from Indore to IIT, and his own struggles with access to coaching, which inspired the mission to democratize education. The conversation dives into how Arivihan is solving deep challenges in edtech: building trust in AI tutors, ensuring accuracy and engagement, and keeping costs low while serving students in Bharat. Ritesh also shares why he believes AI tutors will soon transform the coaching industry and make quality learning universally accessible.

It’s almost a consensus view that India can’t build its AI future on borrowed code. It needs infrastructure rooted in Indian languages, accents, and real-world use cases. At the heart of this mission is AI4Bharat, an open-source initiative building cutting-edge AI models for all 22 official Indian languages. In this episode of Decoding AI, Prayank Swaroop, Partner at Accel, sits down with Professor Mitesh Khapra, one of the key architects of India’s Indic and open-source AI movement and co-lead of the AI4Bharat initiative at IIT Madras. A former researcher at IBM and now a faculty member at the Wadhwani School of Data Science and AI, IIT Madras, Mitesh has been instrumental in laying the groundwork for India’s AI stack. The conversation traces the journey of AI4Bharat, from early experiments mapping real-world problems to a focused effort on building foundational language technologies that power applications across sectors. Mitesh shares how the team is bridging data gaps, enabling synthetic data generation, and competing with global benchmarks, all while staying open-source. This episode unpacks why India needs its own AI infrastructure, what makes AI for Bharat technically and culturally distinct, and how startups and developers can plug into this growing ecosystem to build truly inclusive AI solutions.

AI is stepping into uncharted territory, assisting decision-makers with high-stakes, low-frequency calls that shape the future of enterprises. These decisions require more than historical data; they demand fresh insights, domain expertise, and a deep understanding of context. That’s where Bridgetown Research comes in. Bridgetown’s AI agents autonomously conduct deep research—interviewing experts, gathering proprietary insights, and identifying patterns to deliver real, actionable intelligence. In this episode of Decoding AI, Anagh Prasad, Investor at Accel, sits down with Harsh Sahai, Co-founder and CEO of Bridgetown Research, to discuss how AI is transforming decision-making at the board level. With a background spanning Amazon and McKinsey, Harsh shares his journey of bridging a career in AI and consulting to build an AI platform. The discussion explores how Bridgetown is tackling the complexities of high-stakes decision-making—leveraging AI to gather insights, enhance research depth, and improve judgment at scale. Harsh shares how AI agents can proactively collect and synthesize information, enabling decision-makers to act more confidently and clearly in an ever-changing business landscape.

Meesho is redefining the role of AI in e-commerce, driving innovations that scale to meet the demands of millions. From handling over 60,000 voice bot calls daily to managing 'trillions' of features, AI is embedded in every facet of Meesho’s operations. In this episode of Decoding AI, Anagh Prasad, Investor at Accel, sits down with Debdoot Mukherjee, Chief Data Scientist and Head of AI at Meesho, to explore the transformative impact of AI on one of India’s largest online marketplaces. Debdoot shares learnings from his early days of machine learning at Myntra to shaping Meesho’s AI-first marketplace. The discussion dives into Meesho’s use of AI for solving complex challenges, such as optimizing matchmaking between users and products, and developing scalable machine learning platforms. Debdoot also shares how open-source frameworks drive innovation at the company. This episode offers a compelling look at how AI is transforming industries and presents invaluable lessons for anyone looking to build and scale AI-driven solutions at large.

Google DeepMind stands at the cutting edge of AI innovation, solving some of the most intricate scientific and engineering challenges. From protein structure prediction through AlphaFold to enhancing energy efficiency in data centers and advancing robotics for real-world applications, DeepMind is shaping the future of technology. But how can AI startups in India leverage DeepMind's insights? In this episode of Decoding AI, Prayank Swaroop, Partner at Accel, speaks to Dr. Manish Gupta, Senior Director at Google DeepMind, APAC to find out. Dr. Manish shares insights into the current landscape of language models, spotlighting groundbreaking work like the IndicGenBench project. The conversation dives into how Google DeepMind focuses on foundational technologies while empowering startups to create transformative solutions in sectors like healthcare and education. Dr. Manish also offers valuable guidance for startups, elaborating on Google's Trusted Tester Program and its collaborative approach to IP sharing. Dr. Manish also reflects on India’s distinct position within the global AI ecosystem, emphasizing the country's unique opportunities and challenges, and the potential of AI in scientific breakthroughs, including its role in advancing fusion energy.

India is making strides in artificial intelligence, blending academic rigor with real-world applications. In Episode 4 of Decoding AI, Prayank Swaroop, Partner at Accel, is joined by Professor Balaraman Ravindran of IIT Madras, a pioneering figure in Indian AI research and application. As the founding head of several prestigious AI-focused centers, including Wadhwani School of Data Science and AI, the Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science & AI, and the Centre for Responsible AI at IIT Madras, Professor Balaraman discusses how IIT Madras is driving innovation in AI research, language models, healthcare, and more. Key highlights include IIT Madras's work on Indian-language AI systems, such as translating NPTEL (National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning) videos into multiple languages and collaborating with the Supreme Court to make legal documents accessible in regional languages. On the healthcare front, groundbreaking initiatives like Garbhini tackle maternal and fetal health challenges unique to India. Professor Balaraman also provides insights into how startups can engage with IIT Madras's vibrant research ecosystem. Looking ahead, he emphasizes the importance of solving uniquely Indian problems, urging startups and investors to focus on creating value within the country instead of catering to first-world markets.

Simplismart is an AI infrastructure company building the critical platform-agnostic middleware to deploy, train/customize, and serve open-source AI models in production. With a very small team and under $1M in funding, these two Bengaluru-based founders built the world's fastest inference engine. In Episode 3 of our Decoding AI series, Amritanshu Jain, Co-founder and CEO of Simplismart, joins Anagh Prasad to discuss the startup's remarkable pivot. Initially built as an AutoML platform, Simplismart's breakthrough came when they happened to discover the speed of their inference engine after a conversation with a potential customer. In this episode, Amritanshu also elaborates on the open-source versus closed-source debate, noting that the comparison is complex and requires significant education. He emphasises that it is not simply about declaring one model superior to the other but understanding the broader context and specific advantages each model offers. While open-source solutions can offer high customization and cost efficiency, the choice between open-source and closed-source models ultimately depends on the unique needs and constraints of the enterprise.

GenAI is growing rapidly, evolving from a mere tool into an intelligent partner that empowers businesses to scale with greater speed and efficiency. In Episode 2 of our Decoding AI series, Vishwesh Pai, Senior Director of Product Management for AI Platform at ServiceNow, and Anagh Prasad, Investor at Accel dive into how large companies are navigating the opportunities in enterprise software, especially with the rise of generative AI. Vishwesh reflects on his journey from leading AI initiatives at Amazon Alexa to spearheading AI development at ServiceNow, where he leads the company’s efforts from India. Vishwesh discusses how ServiceNow leverages generative AI to enhance customer productivity and agility while addressing legal, ethical, and security concerns. He emphasizes the company’s focus on AI safety and trust, which are critical in the enterprise space. According to him, generative AI presents a “golden opportunity” for ServiceNow to deliver more value to its customers and accelerate product development. Listen to this conversation for deeper insights into how large companies like ServiceNow are navigating the AI revolution and the challenges and opportunities for startups in the AI space.

With GenAI on the rise, software is evolving from a tool that needs constant supervision to an intelligent partner that handles tasks autonomously, similar to human assistants. This shift promises a future where enterprises are more efficient, with AI seamlessly integrating into daily operations. In Episode 1 of SeedToScale's Decoding AI series, Accel's Anagh Prasad explores the future of enterprise software with Surojit Chatterjee, Founder and CEO of Ema, a company which elevates Agentic AI to the enterprise level. Surojit explains how the next generation of enterprise software, driven by Gen AI, will be radically different from the current systems. These new applications will break down data silos and access information across the enterprise to create adaptive, real-time user interfaces that respond dynamically to user needs and roles. Watch the full episode as Surojit shares how Ema is designed to bridge the gap between AI capabilities and business needs, and how Gen AI, much like past technological revolutions, is poised to create more jobs and opportunities than we can currently imagine.

2023 is particularly momentous to Accel as we complete 40 years as a global fund and 15 years in India. As we celebrate this milestone, we hope to share insights from the firm’s shared history with you, in this riveting two-part podcast series. We begin with a look at the past, and how startups and investors evolved over the years; moving on to investing today, and why many call 2023 the year of reset in VC. Finally, we look to the future, with timeless lessons the next generation of investors must carry forward.

2023 is particularly momentous to Accel as we complete 40 years as a global fund and 15 years in India. As we celebrate this milestone, we hope to share insights from the firm’s shared history with you, in this riveting two-part podcast series. We begin with a look at the past, and how startups and investors evolved over the years; moving on to investing today, and why many call 2023 the year of reset in VC. Finally, we look to the future, with timeless lessons the next generation of investors must carry forward.

Know what is harder than pivoting when the going gets tough? Pivoting when the going is good. On the surface, most metrics were scaling efficiently for Urban Company (previously UrbanClap) at the end of 2015. The tech company mainly generated leads for at-home service providers. But founders Abhiraj Bhal, Varun Khaitan, Raghav Chandra recognized that improving the experience of suppliers and customers would require deeper involvement. They needed to build a full stack marketplace with trained professionals. Eight years later, the company is valued at $2.8 billion. After proving their chops by taking the beauty industry online, Urban Company went on to digitally connect customers with a range of professional services including cleaning, repairs, electrical works, plumbing, and carpentry. When they first looked into the space, at-home services in India had been full of holes. The founders, all three from IIT Kanpur, knew that the problem had the potential to keep them busy for a lifetime. So they joined hands in 2014 to bring in organization and digitization. *** Over the past decade and a half, new-age marketplaces in India have transformed how people buy and sell products and services. From Flipkart to Swiggy, Urban Company, and Zetwerk, each has reimagined "the bazaars," shaping the future of commerce and livelihood in India. Starting November 3rd, we will share stories from the trenches about building and scaling these marketplaces, along with foundational lessons from their journeys. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3UnptTO *** 0:00 - Introduction 1:20 - Origin story 4:10 - Early days 9:33 - Product-market fit 14:25 - Picking the right service 16:30 - Testbed 17:40 - Zero-to-one phase 21:15 - Scaling the company 24:30 - Key strategic decisions 27:40 - Value to service partners 32:40 - Disintermediation 34:10 - Creating value on both sides 36:30 - Navigating COVID 39:50 - Leadership and culture 43:20 - The future

At their core, marketplaces are in the business of efficiency. Deeply optimized supply was the need of the hour in the world of construction, where access to materials was fragmented and unreliable. Souvik Sengupta of Infra.Market and Prashanth Prakash of Accel talk about transforming the manner in which real estate companies buy for their projects. *** Over the past decade and a half, new-age marketplaces in India have transformed how people buy and sell products and services. From Flipkart to Swiggy, Urban Company, and Zetwerk, each has reimagined "the bazaars," shaping the future of commerce and livelihood in India. Starting November 3rd, we will share stories from the trenches about building and scaling these marketplaces, along with foundational lessons from their journeys. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3UnptTO