In this episode of Millionaire Mondays, featured in Startup Spotlights, an initiative by Google Play, we sit down with Anshul Kamath and Rohan Arora, founders of Evolve, a mental health platform, with a special focus on the LGBTQIA+ community.
Since its inception in 2017, Evolve has helped over 1 million people across the world, in the uplifting and well-being of their mental health.
00:00 Intro
03:51 Story of Anshul
08:47 Rohan's Story
12:36 How Both of them Met
17:32 Evolve's Early Days
21:28 Early Financing
23:20 First Fundraise
27:29 Recognition by The Google Play Store
29:36 Building for the World
31:39 Evolve's Business Model
35:24 Decision to build for LGBTQ+ community
45:55 Is Evolve B2B or B2C?
50:18 Future Roadmap
53:09 Looking Back
58:31 Founder's Future Ambitions
1:04:24 Outro
When Anshul and Rohan initially started Evolve in 2017, it was a mental health app for everyone. However, in 2021, the team pivoted towards an LGBTQ+ first app after seeing some early signs of traction.
The reason according to the founders is that “the LGBTQ+ community is one of the fastest growing user segments globally and research shows that members of the community are almost 4 times as likely to experience serious mental illness compared to the general population”.
Evolve’s core team comprises people from diverse gender identities and sexual orientations and this helps them understand first-hand the struggles and challenges of the LGBTQ+ community when it comes to mental health and wellness.
What makes Evolve different from the other mental health apps in the market is its focus on community building. So while other apps focus primarily on virtual content, Evolve has a thriving community where users can discuss and share their experiences to normalise stressors.
(Social Links
Google India’s IG:
https://www.instagram.com/googleindia/
Google India’s X:
https://x.com/GoogleIndia
https://x.com/googledevsin?lang=en
Google India’s YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@GoogleDevelopersIndia
https://www.youtube.com/GoogleIndia
Google’s Global Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/@GoogleDevelopers
Google India’s LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/googleplaybiz/posts/?feedView=all
Evolve’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/evolveinc/
Evolve’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evolveapp_/
Evolve’s X: https://x.com/evolveapp_
Anshul Kamath’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anshulkamath/
Rohan Arora’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohan-arora5/
Anshul Kamath’s X: https://x.com/anshulkamath
Anshul Kamath’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anshulkamath/
#mentalhealth #StartupSpotlights #GooglePlay
[This podcast is sponsored by Google Play.]
In this episode of Millionaire Mondays, featured in Startup Spotlights, an initiative by Google Play, we sit down with Tito Aby Idicula and Nigel Crasto, founders of Programming Hub, one of the largest apps to learn programming.
Since its inception in 2016, Programming Hub has taught coding to more than 40 Million people, reaching almost every single country in the world.
00:00 Introduction
03:41 Inception at L&T
04:34 Transitioning from Employment to Entrepreneurship
08:21 Financial Struggles and Creative Solutions
20:51 A Turning Point: Google Launchpad Accelerator
25:08 Understanding Userbase and Monetising them
34:32 Benefits of Bootstrapping
36:29 Project X
46:45 Insane Growth During Pandemic
54:05 AI: Boon or Bane?
1:04:29 Video Game Suggestions
Tito Aby Idicula and Nigel Crasto started Programming Hub in 2016. The company was founded with the vision of addressing the growing demand for programming skills in an increasingly digital world. Recognising that traditional education systems often fall short in providing flexible, up-to-date, and comprehensive coding education, the founders set out to create a platform that would democratise access to high-quality programming instruction.
At the heart of Programming Hub's appeal is its extensive library of courses, which covers a wide array of programming languages and technologies. From foundational languages like Python, Java, and C++ to specialized fields such as data science, machine learning, and mobile app development, Programming Hub caters to both beginners and advanced learners. Each course is meticulously designed to ensure a seamless learning experience, featuring interactive lessons, hands-on coding exercises, and real-world projects.
The platform also offers courses in emerging technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity, ensuring that learners are well-prepared for the future of tech.
Both Nigel and Tito see AI as the biggest advancement in tech till now and see it as a big opportunity for Programming Hub in the future.
Among many things to take away from this podcast, their journey of building a bootstrapped profitable startup is something I am most impressed about.
(Social Links)
Google India’s IG:
https://www.instagram.com/googleindia/
Google India’s X:
https://x.com/GoogleIndia
https://x.com/googledevsin?lang=en
Google India’s YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@GoogleDevelopersIndia
https://www.youtube.com/GoogleIndia
Google’s Global Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/@GoogleDevelopers
Google India’s LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/googleplaybiz/posts/?feedView=all
Programming Hub’s LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/programming-hub/
Programming Hub’s Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/programminghub.io/
Programming Hub’s X:
https://x.com/Prghub
Nigel Crasto’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigel-crasto-a2306547/
Tito Idicula’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/titoaby/
Nigel Crasto’s X: https://x.com/Nigelcog
Tito Idicula’s X: https://x.com/KillerCrosser
Nigel Crasto’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nigel_crasto
Tito Idicula’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tito_aby
#programminghub #StartupSpotlights #GooglePlay
[This podcast is sponsored by Google Play]
Today's episode of Millionaire Mondays is extra special - because it's also the first episode being featured in #StartupSpotlights, a Google Play initiative, where inspiring startup founders share their untold growth stories. In today's episode, we're in conversation with Yannick Colaço, co-founder of FanCode, a one-stop destination for sports fans in India. FanCode has more than 100M lifetime users, making it one of the largest sports streaming platforms in the country. 00:00 - Introduction 04:08 - Career Beginnings and NBA Experience 11:23 - The Inspiration behind FanCode 17:15 - Starting FanCode 25:22 - Team and Culture at FanCode 38:11 - Navigating the Pandemic 42:28 - Growth and Expansion Post-Pandemic 45:52 - Monetization and Revenue Strategies 48:45 - Merchandise and New Ventures 56:28 - Future Plans and Innovations 58:33 - Outro Yannick Colaço and Prasana Krishnan started FanCode in 2019. The company has positioned itself as a comprehensive destination for sports fans, offering a variety of services including live streaming, non-live content, sports statistics, and merchandise. Yannick Colaço previously worked with NBA India as managing director, while Prasana Krishnan was a former executive at sports pay-television broadcasters Sony Pictures Networks and Neo Sports. FanCode raised $50 Million in May 2021. One of FanCode’s significant strengths lies in its comprehensive sports coverage. The platform offers live streaming of matches, which includes not just major leagues and tournaments but also smaller, regional, and even grassroots events. This has democratised access to sports content, enabling fans to follow their favourite sports and teams regardless of their geographic location. FanCode also provides detailed sports statistics and real-time data, enhancing the viewing experience for sports enthusiasts who crave in-depth insights. Expanding beyond digital content, FanCode also offers sports merchandise, allowing fans to purchase official team gear. During the ICC World Cup 2023, FanCode was the official partner for Indian team jerseys. Social Links Google India’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/googleindia/?hl=en Google India’s X: https://x.com/GoogleIndia https://x.com/googledevsin?lang=en Google India’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GoogleDevelopersIndia https://www.youtube.com/GoogleIndia Google India’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/googleplaybiz/posts/?feedView=all FanCode’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fancode/mycompany/?viewAsMember=true FanCode’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fancode/?hl=en FanCode’s X: https://x.com/FanCode Yannick's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yannick-colaco-237aab11/ Yannick's X: https://x.com/yansports [This podcast is sponsored by Google Play.] #FanCode #StartupSpotlights #GooglePlay
It all began in late 2008, amidst Abhinav Das' GATE exam. In a pivotal moment of realization, he abandoned the exam midway, recognizing that pursuing a master's degree wasn't his true calling. Instead, he crafted a business plan on the spot, birthing the concept of 'Evomo - Evolving Mobility'.
The objective behind Evomo was straightforward: to replace the ubiquitous jugaad vehicles prevalent in rural India with Rural Utility Vehicles (RUVs). These RUVs were envisioned to be cost-effective, modular, and specially designed for rough terrains. However, Abhinav Das encountered a significant obstacle – funding. He required approximately 2.3 crore rupees, equivalent to about 383,000 dollars at the time, to kickstart his vision.
Despite seven years of dedicated efforts and the creation of an impressive prototype, Evomo failed to generate any revenue. Abhinav Das attempted to secure venture capital to obtain certifications and commence manufacturing, but his endeavors only yielded a fraction of the required funds – a mere 12 lakh rupees, or 18,000 dollars at the time.
Facing limited options, Abhinav Das took a daring leap and applied for Y Combinator in 2015. Despite being accepted for an online interview, he fell short of securing a spot after the in-person interview in California.
The setback was a crushing blow, leading Abhinav Das to shutter Evomo, depart from Ahmedabad, and return to his parents' home in Delhi. He grappled with a profound sense of purposelessness, battling bouts of depression characterized by prolonged sleep and difficulty in getting out of bed.
Yet, amidst the darkness, Abhinav Das resolved to reclaim his passion for entrepreneurship. He embarked on a journey to resurrect his dreams, eventually founding Orangewood Labs alongside his co-founders, determined to make a lasting impact in the world of robotics.
Abhinav Das and his fellow co-founders at Orangewood Labs are on a mission to revolutionize the robotics industry. Their focus? Building robotic arms that are not only affordable but also incredibly easy to program, thanks to their innovative AI-powered software named RoboGPT.
00:00 Intro 02:52 Building Ather S340 and 450 09:15 Indian EVs vs Chinese EVs 19:29 Can India become the biggest electric vehicle exporter? 28:10 Indian EV industry (wave 1) 33:30 Struggles of building an EV company 40:40 How Ather almost shut down 52:09 The hardware wave 58:10 How to take feedback 1:04:48 Asteroid mining is the future 1:09:59 The future of the energy industry 1:15:45 Outro
00:00 Intro
01:50 From a Bedroom, to a Basement
05:53 Hiring in 2005: a Big Challenge
10:26 Building Culture, Organically
11:10 Running a Global Company in India
14:16 Being Profitable and Bootstrapped
16:16 Three Near-Death Experiences
22:40 Milestones and the Path Ahead
Pallav Nadhani founded FusionCharts at the age of 17 in an effort to earn himself some extra pocket money. He succeeded in doing so, and now, 17 years later, he has more pocket money than he knows what to do with. The data visualization company has over 28,000 customers as of December of 2019, some of which include Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Adobe, Walmart, NASA, and many, many more. In this video, Pallav explains how he built FusionCharts from his bedroom and turned it into a multi-million dollar company over the course of the last 17 years.
From a Bedroom, to a Basement: Pallav Nadhani was able to run FusionCharts for three years on his own before he realized that he needed help. He onboarded his first employee, a friend of his cousins, and together they worked out of Pallav's bedroom for about a year and a half. By the end of this period, they were working with over 1,000 customers, and couldn't handle to workload on their own anymore. They shifted into a basement office and started hiring more employees.
Hiring in 2005: a Big Challenge: Hiring wasn't a very easy thing to do for a startup in Calcutta in 2005. India's startup ecosystem was still in its infancy, and the startup ecosystem in Calcutta was nonexistent. Employees were hesitant to join the startup despite the fact that they were already working with a number of Fortune 500 companies. However, with time and experience, Pallav was able to assemble of solid team of engineers.
Building Culture, Organically: Even as FusionCharts was scaling up and the startup was onboarding more and more employees, Pallav really didn't know anything about building strong culture. Instead, he simply focused on instilling values like pride in the company, a strong work ethic, and the desire to learn and grow on the job. As a result of these values, FusionCharts was able to establish a strong culture organically.
Running a Global Company in India: Less than 1% of FusionCharts' customers are Indian. This is something that Pallav takes pride in, because going global from India was a pretty big challenge when FusionCharts was first starting out. In spite of this, FusionCharts has been able to build quality products that are good enough not only for India, but also for the world. What is more, they have done so as a bootstrapped, profitable company from day 1.
Being Profitable and Bootstrapped: Because FusionCharts has always been profitable and bootstrapped, they have very rarely struggled with money problems. In fact, the biggest money they have faced is a surplus of funds. The challenge for them has been to figure out what to do with these funds. Part of the reason that they are able to be profitable and bootstrapped is that FusionCharts is a very lean company: they have 68 employees serving 28,000 customers!
Pravesh Pandey is one of the most renowned faces in India's Hotel and Restaurant Industry. He started his career with ITC Hotels back in 2002, where he was a Guest Service Coordinator.
He spent the next decade of his professional career in senior positions at key companies like P&O Cruises, Lizard Lounge, Henry Tham Lifestyle Restaurant, and Hard Rock Cafe.
In 2020, Pravesh started Bissi Bissi Oota, which is India's first QSR brand serving home-style meals that are 'Shuddha', 'Aarogya', and 'Taaza'. They ensure the provision of fresh, nutritious, and hygienic food at the most affordable prices. In fact, a meal is provided at a price of INR 30.
Pravesh is also one of the shareholders and directors at Byg Brewski Brewing Company , which at the time of its opening was India's largest Microbrewery.
Pravesh early in his career also helped in the rapid expansion of 'Social'.
Candice Lock's journey from her upbringing in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, oto her tech career in New York is a tale of cultural fusion and culinary passion. Growing up in a Cantonese family, she later found herself at the Copacabana salsa club in New York, where the Latinos affectionately referred to her as "Chinita," meaning "little Chinese girl" in Spanish. Her love for Latin American cuisine, especially Mexican food, blossomed during her time in the city that never sleeps.When Candice moved to Bengaluru for work in 2008, fate intervened, and she crossed paths with Amit Mirchandani, who had a deep appreciation for Mexican cuisine from his time in the United States. In 2010, and Candice had not only married Amit but had also fully embraced her passion for Mexican food.Together with Amit and his brother Sameer, who shared her love for Mexican cuisine, they embarked on a journey to bring the flavors of Mexico to Bengaluru. Tacos became their specialty, and they started selling them at Bengaluru's Soul Sante.
When Anubhav was a kid in school, he used to flip phones. That's the start of his business venture even though he didn't know that's how business worked. During his teenage, his parents wanted him to do his UPSC exam and become an IAS Officer but he chose entrepreneurship without his parent knowing about it.He moved from Delhi to Indore to start his entrepreneurial journey and decided to start selling chai. They came up with a business plan to start selling chai and decided to open their very first store in near a girls hostel. As they opened it, they had no name for the place. When customers came for chai, they started calling them "gumnaam chaiwallah" and that's they came up with the name Chai Sutta Bar.Chai Sutta Bar doesn't allow people to smoke in or around their outlets even though it has "sutta" in it's name. After they started their first store in Indore, they saw a massive demand and decided to open more locations. They had expanded to 3 stores by 2016 with a franchise model. Then in 2019 they expanded to 65 locations.Today, Chai Sutta Bar has expanded to 500 location across 300 cities, including 3 stores in Dubai. They are planning to open more stores in other countries like USA, Canada and the UK.
Explorex’s website: https://explorex.co/
When Nicolas moved to India from France for an internship, he was struck by nostalgia for the sandwiches from his homeland. And so, he embarked on a culinary journey. In 2015, he took a bold step and launched a food truck called Paris Panini in Bengaluru, with the aim of introducing gourmet French street food to the city.Paris Panini was among the pioneering food trucks in Bangalore, housed within a converted old-school van. Its weekly route quickly gained a following, with customers tracking its whereabouts through social media and forming long queues upon its arrival.Introducing a novel product to the Indian market posed its challenges, but Nicolas was determined to refine the menu to cater to local tastes while preserving the authenticity of French cuisine.One of Nicolas's key objectives was to change the prevailing perception of Indian street food as being predominantly unhealthy and unhygienic. To achieve this, the food truck was designed with an open counter, allowing customers to witness the panini preparation process, and fostering trust through a professional and hygienic live kitchen experience on wheels.Initially, the menu was quite limited, featuring approximately ten items. The primary focus was on delivering high-quality products crafted from fresh ingredients. Every item was painstakingly made from scratch, including the hand-cut and double-fried French fries that have since become iconic, reflecting the preparation methods in Nicolas's hometown of Arras, in northern France.Nicolas's unwavering passion and dedication catapulted Paris Panini into the limelight. The food truck gained immense popularity, leading to invitations to cater for major festivals, birthday parties, and weddings throughout the city.However, the food truck scene in Bangalore was marked by unpredictability, primarily due to the absence of regulation. At one point, the city's notorious traffic congestion even led to a temporary ban on food trucks. As Paris Panini's popularity continued to soar, Nicolas faced the challenge of scaling up his operations.This pivotal moment arrived when Nicolas crossed paths with AB and Nikhil from The Pizza Bakery, who shared his vision of transitioning Paris Panini from a food truck concept to a brick-and-mortar casual dining restaurant. They remained committed to maintaining the brand's core values while developing an extensive menu that would provide customers with an authentic Parisian cafe experience.In November 2019, Paris Panini opened its doors on the bustling 12th Main Road in Indiranagar, Bangalore. The restaurant's walls were adorned with hand-drawn Parisian street scenes, effectively transporting patrons to a Parisian cafe ambiance. The menu showcased gourmet panini, signature French fries, freshly brewed coffee, and delectable crepes, offering an authentic culinary journey.Today, Paris Panini boasts a rapidly expanding fan base, with the brand establishing itself in ten locations across Bangalore. It has quickly risen to become the city's leading purveyor of gourmet sandwiches, serving as a testament to Nicolas's dedication and commitment to bringing a taste of authentic French cuisine to the heart of India.
Explorex’s website: https://explorex.co/
Ankit got his start building an online community called YouthPad, with the tagline “Have your say” - the website’s goal was to bring together the youth of Delhi NCR onto common platform, and he ran this platform from 2007 to 2010 when he got a job working at Flipkart.By 2015 Ankit had proven himself to be a formidable intrapreneur, and was promoted to the position of Chief Business Officer - everything was going well for Ankit, but in 2016, after more than 6 years at the company, he left and teamed up with Mukesh Bansal, Flipkart’s Head of Commerce & Advertising to built Curefit, and over the next four years, Curefit evolved into India’s leading health and fitness startup. They acquired numerous gyms across the country, worked with celebrities like Hrithik Roshan, and launched a health food brand called EatFit.Ankit Nagori had a vision to build marketplace of health restaurants for people who go to the gym and workout. So Ankit Nagori and Mukest Bansal started Curefoods and Acquihired EatFit as their first brand to build one of the biggest healthy-food facing house of brands startup in India. Now, Curefoods currently operates brands like EatFit, CakeZone, Sharief Bhai, Nomad Pizza, Frozen Bottle, Olio, Rolls on Wheels, Great Indian Khichdi, Home Plate, Juno's Pizza, Ovenfresh.
00:00 Intro 04:04 How Matt started a coffee business 07:13 Challenges while roasting coffee in India 08:58 Blue Tokai's marketing strategy 09:49 Blur Tokai's ₹40 lakh roaster 11:19 The raise of Blue Tokai 15:25 Opening their first location 21:25 Challenges faced while expanding 24:28 How Shivam Shahi joined Blue Tokai 27:01 Becoming a cafe 28:39 Delhi Police seals Blue Tokai locations 32:03 Evolving coffee culture in India 32:43 Blue Tokai during the pandemic 34:56 Blue Tokai post pandemic 36:30 Blue Tokai vs other cafes 38:56 Will coffee price increase in India? 43:27 Blue Tokai products 45:52 Blue Tokai going global? 47:14 Challenges for becoming profitable 51:08 Bootstrapped vs external capital 52:35 Blue Tokai IPO 56:11 Outro In the United States, third wave coffee culture in the United States was in full swing. During this third wave, concepts like farm to cup and single origin beans were popularised, and Matt Chitharanjan had been living in the Bay Area from 2003 to 2007, so he’d jumped into this movement headfirst during his time there. He even bought a small roaster and started preparing small batches of coffee as a hobby. When Matt came to India in 2011 for a 1-year job opportunity in Chennai, he spotted an opportunity. He saw the Cafe Coffee Days and the Baristas of India and realised that coffee’s third wave hadn’t reached India yet. It was in Chennai that Matt met his wife and co-founder Namrata Asthana, and after moving to Delhi in 2012, they got to work setting up India’s first homegrown specialty coffee brand, Blue Tokai. Now, Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters is India’s largest specialty coffee brand, with its headquarters in Gurgaon, India.
Explorex’s website: https://explorex.co/
When Bert Mueller first visited India in 2010 he never could have anticipated that he’d spend the next decade of his life building a business there. Today he runs a profitable 50+ location QSR chain called California Burrito - they did ₹110 crore in FY22. Bert Mueller started California Burrito with two American co-founders, Dharam Khalsa and Gaelan Draper. They each put in $15,000, and were able to raise an additional $250,000 from family and friends using a Tumblr blog which documented their startup’s journey. Initially they thought they’d launch their inaugural restaurant in Gurugram, but chose Bengaluru instead because real estate was more affordable there. Their first choice was Orion Mall, but after that deal fell through, they settled on Embassy GolfLinks Tech Park. This first location was a huge success. Located opposite of Goldman Sachs, the restaurant was doing 150 bills per hour in their first three months with no marketing. Bert and Gaelan Draper spent the first six months behind the counter serving burritos himself. Bert Mueller and an employee did ingredient procurement themselves. They bought a Maruti Omni and would fill it up with veggies from a local market twice a month. Seeing how much each vegetable cost was a key factor in the company’s strong unit economics. Apart from their dine-in business California Burrito also dabbled in catering; they made burritos for Zynga and a few other companies. Then, after opening two more restaurants in Bengaluru, they raised $750,000 in a round led by entrepreneur and angel Adhvith Dhuddu in 2013. Using these funds, California Burrito was able to expand their footprint to 15 locations using a COCO (Company Owned Company Operated) model. Bert Mueller believes that the franchising approach only works in countries where legal recourse is easily achieved, e.g. the United States. Despite the business’s success, Gaelan Draper stepped away from California Burrito to get married and return to the United States in 2014, leaving Bert and Dharam Khalsa to build the business on their own. By 2020 California Burrito’s business was thriving: they had their best month in February, bringing in ₹4 crore in revenue across 37 stores. However, because they were largely reliant upon tech parks and malls for customers, their business was devastated by the pandemic. Overnight, ₹4 crore dropped to ₹25 lakh monthly revenue, and while they did have ₹1.5 crore in the bank, Bert decided to raise a small round in May 2020 to keep the business afloat. With these funds, California Burrito finally began investing in marketing to increase sales. Also in May of 2020, Bert’s remaining co-founder, Dharam Khalsa, returned to the United States and built a startup called Mirador in California, leaving Bert to build California Burrito in India on his own as a solopreneur. By October of 2021, California Burrito achieved pre-pandemic sales with fewer stores. They did this by only opening stores that were located 8 kilometres apart, thereby optimising delivery efficiency. Today delivery makes up 60% of their business, up from 30% pre-pandemic. They also improved their outlet economics, setting an internal benchmark of ₹30 lakh revenue per store, up from their previous standard of ₹12 lakh. Other changes include product innovations like tacos, and new ingredients such as Mexican tomatillos and hass avocados. California Burrito celebrated their most successful location launch ever in May of 2023 when they expanded to Chennai. They now have a presence in Bengaluru, NCR, Hyderabad, and Chennai. Bert is aiming for California Burrito to have 100 stores by March 2025.
Explorex’s website: https://explorex.co/
00:00 Intro04:26 How Samosa Party started10:27 How Samosa Party got it's name11:25 From B2B to B2C18:58 Expanding the brand30:12 Diksha joining as a co-founder33:03 Samosa Party during the pandemic44:54 Expanding to different cities50:47 Outro
Amit Nanwani and Diksha Pande started Samosa Party in 2017, with an aim to provide a hygienic yet authentic alternative to India’s favourite snack.Before starting Samosa Party, Amit was a developer at INTEL, and while working here, he started Samosa Party as a side hustle. His initial plan was to start a catering business for corporate events, and while Samosa was one of the items they were selling at this time, they weren’t the sole focus.Diksha on the other hand had spent her corporate career in the F&B industry from the Oberoi Group to Pizza Hut to Chai Point, and this is where she learnt skills that would help her in future as a second co-founder of Samosa Party.She joined Amit full-time in January 2020.With Samosa Party, the co-founders want to create a differentiated experience for the urban millennial customers who value convenience, hygiene, and quality even if they have to pay extra.And today, Samosa Party is selling 35,000 Samosas every single day across 50 locations in 5 cities.
Connect with us:
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Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/5rGPalovc6AKsfbOyjh32p
Book a free demo with Explorex here: https://share.hsforms.com/1wdxFNOxpQZ29F9MpD48e7Acyk5y
Explorex’s website: https://explorex.co/
00:00 Intro
1:52 Vijayawada - Barkaas' First Location
7:57 Hustle - The Struggles of Running a Restaurant
10:16 Mangalagiri - Barkaas' Second Location
12:05 Money - The Financials of Barkaas
17:09 Bengaluru - Experiences in Marketing
20:39 Expansion - The Challenges of Franchising
25:05 Scale - Managing 10 Locations
27:29 COVID-19 - Barkaas During the Pandemic
33:13 New Normal - Bouncing Back After the Pandemic
38:25 Round 2 - Expanding to 20+ Locations
40:00 Strategy - The Barkaas Business Model
45:34 Global - Barkaas' International Expansion
49:13 Gyaan - Advice for Young Entrepreneurs
51:38 New Frontiers - Old Mill Brewery
56:03 Outro
Gowtham Kudapa launched his first Arabic cuisine restaurant, Barkaas, in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, in 2016. The idea for Barkaas as an Arabic mandi-centric restaurant first came to him on a trip to Sharjah where he was fascinated by the culinary culture of sitting while eating. He decided to bring the tradition of mandi back with him to Vijayawada.
Gowtham Kudapa is a hotel management graduate, and understood flavours and recipes well, and from this education he also understood hospitality. Using his skills and experience, he was able to craft an Arabic mandi restaurant menu which preserved the dishes and styles of food from the UAE, while enhancing flavours and adding masalas which would be recognised and appreciated by the palate, and more specifically, the palate of people in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. Barkaas also brought in new ways of experiencing food via large plates upon which food for multiple people was placed and eaten, as well as cushioned seating areas instead of elevated tables and chairs like most restaurants.
Gowtham Kudapa and his business partners spent between ₹30-₹35 lakh to get their first location up and running, and this initial ROI paid off immediately. Barkaas saw a tremendous response from the people of Vijayawada, and it quickly became the most popular Arabic restaurants in Andhra Pradesh. This meant that Gowtham Kudapa and his business partners and staff often worked 16-18 hour days just to keep up with demand.
In spite of these challenges, Barkaas expanded to a second location about 6 months after the success of the first location. This second location was located in Mangalagiri, Andhra Pradesh, about 15 kilometers from the first location. This second location was very successful.
From the financial side though, Barkaas was doing well. They were taking a margin of 35-40% which was amazing. These margins enabled the Barkaas team to think about expanding beyond Andhra Pradesh, to Karnataka, and more specifically Bengaluru.
Expanding to Bengaluru was a real challenge for Barkaas. This was when Barkaas began allocating some of their expenses to marketing. It took 6 months for Barkaas to begin seeing acceptable footfall in Bengaluru.
In Bengaluru, Barkaas took a very conscientious call to only onboard franchisees who were ready to be restaurant operators and managers. They didn't want any absentee franchisees.
By taking control of the kitchen and inserting their own people into franchisee's locations, Barkaas was able to bring restaurant quality back to the level that they had envisioned in 2016. However, then the pandemic hit, forcing Barkaas to halt their expansion plans.
As the pandemic came to an end, Barkaas began experimenting with technology to offer a contactless dining experience, including QR code menus from their restaurant operating system platform, Explorex.
Today, Barkaas is still doing well financially - they take a margin of about 20-25%, and have expanded to more than 20 locations across India. They have plans to go global too, and Gowtham Kudapa is also setting up his first brewery, called Old Mill Brewery. This new business, Old Mill Brewery, will be established in 2023.
Book a free demo with Explorex here: https://share.hsforms.com/1wdxFNOxpQZ29F9MpD48e7Acyk5y
Explorex’s website: https://explorex.co/
There’s an Indian burger startup that is stealing market share from Burger King and McDonald’s. Its founder hadn’t tasted a burger before 2010. Now he’s running a ₹100 crore ARR burger chain with 100+ locations. This is the story of Biggies Burger:
Biraja Rout is from Bhubaneswar, Odisha. He comes from a regular working-class family. In 2010 he got a job at Infosys, and briefly shifted to Mysuru for training: it was here that he tried his first burger. The experience had an unusually profound impact on him.
After shifting to Bengaluru to work at Infosys’ campus in Electronic City, Biraja borrowed ₹1.5 lakh from a friend and purchased a fabricated 5 sq. ft. booth. This was the first Biggies Burger location. He would man the booth after office hours and on weekends.
Biraja was passionate about burgers but he had no business experience. From 2011 until 2015 he rarely had more than ₹1,000 in his bank account, and his motorcycle would often run out of petrol while he drove to Namdhari's to buy expensive, fresh lettuce for his burgers.
Biggies Burger’s second kiosk was set up in Bhubaneswar in 2012. Biraja would transport ingredients from Bengaluru via the Prasanthi Express train’s AC chambers, as an affordable alternative to expensive cold chain logistics. He lost money on every Bhubaneswar burger sold.
Biggies Burger became extremely popular in Bhubaneswar - it was essentially the only burger joint in a 200 kilometre radius. This caught the attention of Sandeep Satpathy, who approached Biraja about setting up a franchised location in Raipur in 2013.
Raipur is a largely vegetarian city, and at this time the brand name was Biggies Burger ‘n’ More. One of their secondary product lines were hot dogs, which were made of chicken meat. These meat products were underperforming in Raipur, and so Biraja decided to create a veg option.
However, due to a lack of quality veg hot dog products in the Indian market, Biraja wasn’t impressed and decided to import hot dogs instead, sourcing them from Malaysia. These hot dogs equated to a loss of ₹860 per kilo. Biraja sustained this loss for several years.
By 2016, the business was still in a financially precarious position, owing between ₹18-20 lakh to various vendors. During this time, on any given day, Biggies Burger was ₹10,000 away from collapse, and when Biraja got married in 2016, he couldn’t afford to buy a blazer.
Biraja’s fortunes finally turned when a master territory franchise was established and four franchisees paid their fees in rapid succession. Suddenly, Biraja and Biggies were out of debt. By the end of 2016, Biggies had 18 locations.
In 2016, Sandeep Satpathy joined Biggies burger as a co-founder, along with Abilash Bellur, who had purchased the Electronic City location in 2013 as a franchisee. Abilash Bellur took on operations, Sandeep spearheaded business development, and Biraja focused on R&D.
From 2016 onwards, the business was able to achieve financial stability. Biggies’ parent company, Beamer Food and Beverages, also launched a new subsidiary brand, Bigguy’s Wingery, to compete with KFC in the chicken QSR space.
Today, Biggies has 124 locations, and is doing annualised revenue of ₹100 crore.
Book a free demo with Explorex here: https://share.hsforms.com/1wdxFNOxpQZ29F9MpD48e7Acyk5y
Explorex’s website: https://explorex.co/
Sohrab Sitaram began his career as a manager at Taj Hotels. In 2000, he started his first business, No Escape, a nightclub in Connaught Place, New Delhi. Over the next 14 years, he would go on to start numerous restaurants in multiple cities across India, including Tabularasa, Chi Kitchen & Bar, Shalom, and Italic.
Then, in 2013, Sohrab Sitaram was approached by Agastya Dalmia and Aman Arora. This co-founder duo had been trying to revitalise the Keventers brand, which had been in the Dalmia family since 1940 when it was purchased by Ramkrishna Dalmia from the nephew of Edward Keventer, the original founder of Keventers. Edward Keventer had come from Sweden to India as a dairy technologist, and had started a successful dairy business soon after arriving in India. The brand soared to new heights after being acquired by Ramkrishna Dalmia, but when their main Chanakyapuri factory was shut down, the business languished. Ramkrishna Dalmia walked away from Keventers, and over the years, the brand dissolved into a handful of unofficial, unrecognised locations run by Keventers original distributors.
In 2013, Agastya Dalmia and Aman Arora attempted to revitalise the brand, but without a solid strategy, their attempt failed. It wasn’t until Sohrab Sitaram stepped in as a consultant, then partner and co-founder, that Keventers began to reclaim its forgotten success. Agastya Dalmia and Aman Arora had attempted to set up their first location in Pitampura, in Delhi, but Sohrab Sitaram recommended Select CITYWALK instead. At this premium location, Keventers saw a lot of footfall, and soon enough the brand was opening franchises in cities across India.
Keventers expanded via a franchised business model. However, when the pandemic hit, many of Keventers’ franchise owners couldn’t sustain themselves. Many, about 70-75%, sold their franchises back to Keventers. Others turned to less honest methods, diluting ingredients in order to cut costs. This resulted in a lawsuit wherein one of their franchisees allegedly sold sub-standard milk products at a Keventers outlet. The judge didn’t have good things to say about Keventers though, saying, “Keventers was no longer as good as it used to be,” and that their “products are not at all fit for consumption.”
In subsequent years, Keventers has taken a company-owned business strategy to keep quality under control, and has also been expanding their menu to keep up with changing tastes. Apart from normal dairy milkshakes, Keventers now offers sundaes, hot chocolate, vegan dairy-free milkshakes, and they’re also working on a line of offerings which have less sugar than their traditional milkshakes.
Under the leadership of Sohrab Sitaram as CEO, Keventers has also expanded to Kenya, Dubai, Oman, and Abu Dhabi.
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Book a free demo with Explorex here: https://share.hsforms.com/1wdxFNOxpQZ29F9MpD48e7Acyk5y Explorex’s website: https://explorex.co/ Mainak Sarkar and Pritam Khan started Eatables in 2016 while they were studying at IIT Kharagpur. This startup was their answer to a problem they had discovered while visiting restaurants in Kolkata, wherein many of the restaurant menus that they’d discover online while on campus at IIT Kharagpur were inaccurate and contained incorrect prices or items that were no longer available when they actually travelled to Kolkata. When Mainak Sarkar and Pritam Khan asked restaurants why this was happening, they were told that it would often take a week or two for restaurants to actually update their menus on Zomato. Mainak and Pritam saw this as an opportunity to build a platform which would enable restaurants to quickly and easily update their menus online. Sadly, their platform didn’t see widespread adoption, with only 250 restaurants signing up and 10,000 lifetime downloads overall. They had hoped that if they relocated Eatables to Bengaluru, it would see more adoption, so Mainak dropped out of IIT Kharagpur in 2017 and shifted to Bengaluru. However, only 100 restaurants signed up. Mainak Sarkar and Pritam Khan were devastated. Their startup was failing. Towards the end of 2018, Mainak Sarkar and Pritam Khan decided that offering an app for restaurants to keep their online menus up-to-date wasn’t working, and so they pivoted to providing restaurants with digital menus that their customers could scan with QR codes. However, in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and stopped Eatable in its tracks. Mainak Sarkar and Pritam Khan had basically been bootstrapping Eatable up until this point, having only raised a small FFF round. However, when the pandemic hit, Mainak asked his mentor for ₹15 lakh and was able to keep the startup alive even though all of Bengaluru’s restaurants were shut. In 2020, Mainak and Pritam applied for Y Combinator for the third time. Their initial attempts had failed because they struggled to get through the interview round due to nerves. However, by their third attempt, they were able to crack the Y Combinator interview and got to be a part of YC’s first remote cohort. Their pitch involved Mainak explaining how Eatable would build an ecosystem for restaurants, solving all of their problems with a single platform. This impressed the team at Y Combinator, and eventually Eatable was able to raise $150,000 from YC. Then, in August of 2020 Explorex raised an $850,000 seed round, bringing their total fundraise to $1M at the end of 2020. In 2021 when restaurants began opening back up again, Mainak and Pritam onboard three breweries in Bengaluru for their MVP, which consisted of an ordering and order management system. Their new customers loved Explorex, and the company realised that they had finally found product/market fit. In 2022, Explorex raised $5 million from angels like Kevin Lin, co-founder of Twitch, James Park, co-founder of Fitbit, and Taher Savliwala, co-founder of Relief Technologies. Today, Explorex powers more than 1,000 restaurants across 15 cities in India, including Easy Tiger, Forty Six Ounces, La Casa, Jook, ShakesBierre, Stories, Vapour, Fire Station, Fox In The Field, Cafe Azzure, Oia, and Tiger Tiger Brewhouse.
Learn more about Plivo here: https://www.plivo.com/
In this podcast, we sat down with Venky Balasubramanian to talk about the story of Plivo, a cloud communications platform that simplifies and personalises businesses’ customer communications. Every kind of business, from startups to public companies, can benefit from Plivo’s enterprise-grade communications platform, which includes a premium carrier network with connectivity in more than 190 countries, an API platform for messaging and voice calls, and solutions for sales and support teams. Venky Balasubramanian started Plivo in 2011 along with his co-founder Michael Ricordeau. Initially, Plivo was an open-source GitHub project, but after attending a developer conference in Chicago, the co-founder duo decided to commercialise their voice-based app communication framework. Initially, they applied for Y Combinator’s Winter 2011 Batch, but were rejected. Venky emailed Paul Graham to ask why they had been rejected, and he said: 1. Venky B and Michael Ricordeau didn’t have a lot of in-person co-founder experience; they had only met offline in Chicago at that conference, and 2. Plivo was a pre-revenue company. Venky Balasubramanian got to work proving to Paul Graham that he and Michael had what it took to succeed as a business, scoring Plivo’s first customer and beginning to generate revenue. He also raised a pre-seed round from Morpheus, Seeders and One97 Mobility Fund, along with Vijay Shekhar Sharma. Following this, Plivo was accepted into Y Combinator’s Summer 2012 batch, and counted companies like 9GAG, Boosted Boards, Coinbase, Soylent, and Zapier as its batchmates. Venky B clearly remembers seeing Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong offering other Y Combinator founders bitcoins in exchange for signing up for Coinbase. By the time Plivo’s time at Y Combinator was over, they were generating more revenue than most of their fellow startups, and were able to raise a $1.5M seed round from investors like YC, Battery Ventures, A16Z, and Qualcomm Ventures. This fundraise grabbed media attention and also solidified Plivo’s reputation as a business with trustworthy, legitimate backers. In 2017, Plivo raised $8M in venture debt, rather than pursuing a Series A. While these funds did temporarily alter the startup’s culture, Venky B and Michael Ricordeau were able to course-correct, saving the company from the high-burn trap many other SaaS businesses fall into. By raising debt instead of a Series A, Venky and Michael were also able to retain their equity in Plivo. Plivo has no plans to go public or sell, and are looking forward to growing Plivo’s new offerings including Contacto and Sellular. Contacto is an omnichannel contact center that seamlessly combines your customer conversations and your existing systems, and Sellular is a modern sales platform built for Salesforce users. Both Contacto and Sellular have been internally funded by and set up within Plivo, but with siloed teams and goals which enable them to grow independently. Today Plivo has a team of 300, the company is fully remote across USA and India, they’re profitable, and are bringing in somewhere between $50 to $100 million in annual revenue from customers across 190+ countries. They’ve also been profitable for 6.5 years!
Stay updated on what’s new at Plivo: Twitter — https://twitter.com/plivo Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/Plivo/ LinkedIn — https://in.linkedin.com/company/plivo-inc GitHub — https://github.com/plivo Connect with us: Twitter: https://twitter.com/bwmillionaires/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/backstagewithmillionaires Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/backstagewithmillionaires/ Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/5rGPalovc6AKsfbOyjh32p
In this episode of the Backstage With Millionaires podcast, we sit down with Awis Ahmed, founder of Pixxel, to discuss his entrepreneurial journey. 00:00:00 Intro 00:02:41 Building the pod 00:06:25 Working at SpaceX 00:07:31 Why Awais chose asteroid mining 00:14:11 Why no one got into hyperspectral commercial space 00:22:23 Raising funds to build a satellite 00:32:58 Building the first satellite 00:43:54 Raising funds during the pandemic 00:49:41 How Pixxel generates revenue 00:50:21 Launching the satellite 1:09:58 Outro Pixxel is a space data company building a constellation of the world’s highest-resolution hyperspectral earth imaging satellites and the analytical tools to mine insights from the data. The images gathered by Pixxel's satellites will provide global coverage every 24 hours and help detect, monitor, and predict global phenomena across agriculture, mining, environment, and energy use cases. About Awais Ahmed: Awais Ahmed started his professional journey at HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited), as a research intern. Around the same time in 2016, he was also the founder member and engineering lead at Hyperloop India. He started Pixxel in 2019.
