In this episode, I invited Karan Mehra - Founder & CEO of Tyke Invest, a company that has created a platform which enables people to invest in startups with as little as INR 5000.

Up until now, retail investors had to watch VCs corner the BIG gains from increase in startup valuations, but now the game is open for everyone.

Through Tyke, everyone can get in on the act & own a piece of the pie. I had a really fun session & learned a lot conversing with Karan.

We spoke about a range of topics in this episode like:

(00:00): Introduction

(4:37): Exploring Karan's background & understanding how he dipped his feet into the world of entrepreneurship

(6:00): What's the Elevator Pitch for Tyke Invest & what are the pain points that the company seeks to address

(09:51): What were some of the biggest BLOCKERS that Karan faced while building Tyke

(11:19): Tyke's competitive advantage & why this space hasn't been explored by other players yet

(12:21): The process of investing in a startup through Tyke from A to Z

(16:00): Possibility to execute this model on a global level? Can Tyke tap into international investors?

(17:00): How was Tyke able to reduce the investment amount to as low as INR 5000?

(18:05): Talking about User growth and traction since Tyke's beta launch & what are the different segments that they’re targeting in B2B segment

(23:28): What's the market size & how BIG of an opportunity is Tyke tapping into?

(25:12): Is competition heating up in this space & how is Karan planning to stay ahead of the curve?

(27:12): Talking about Tyke's revenue model (I really liked it!) and what potential revenue streams can they leverage in the future

(30:24): Karan's key takeaways of running his own business & what are some of his learnings

(33:10): The story behind the name ‘Tyke’?

Do you want to be the owner of a startup? Make your first investment through ⁠Tyke⁠!

In this episode, I invited Kuonal & Aayushi - founders of 23BMI & Upnourish, two brands which are perfectly positioned to tap into the growing meal replacement market in India.

We spoke about a range of topics in this episode like:

• (00:00): A brief into Kuonal & Aayushi's respective backgrounds and how the idea of starting a meal replacement company popped in their minds
• (08:55): Talking about the R&D process, building new products and execution of the idea into action
• (13:15): How long it took to turn the idea into a marketable product? And what it felt like to see an idea manifest into reality.
• (15:20): *CLICHE Q* How are meal replacements different from protein powders?
• (20:00): The meal replacement market opportunity - how big is the market? Who are the other players in this segment?
• (27:56): Talking about the Product SKUs
• (28:15): The thought process behind setting up two separate brands [23BMI & Upnourish]
• (31:40): Decoding the founder journey - talking about the challenges & key learnings along the way
• (35:50): *THE BIG Q* How long does it take for an overweight person to start seeing changes in their body after taking Upnourish’s meal replacements? [Hint: you’re gonna love the answer!]
• (36:57): What are the immediate changes that happen inside your body & how long before someone reaches 23BMI [science-y stuff]
• (39:50): Talking about pricing points & the traction generated
• (42:15): What’s it like being business partners AND partners in life!
• (45:55): Some customers can be a biaatch :P
• (48:05): What’s in the pipeline for Upnourish and 23 BMI?

Ready to try out meal replacements? Check out ⁠23BMI⁠ & ⁠Upnourish⁠!

In this episode, I invited Karan Kalra who is a visual engineer & has a decade long experience in creating illustrations, motion graphics & animations.

We spoke about a range of topics in this episode like:

• Karan's journey exploring various creative crafts
• How he got into NFTs
• What exactly is an NFT & how it's different from other Cryptos
• How NFTs work - what are some technical aspects to keep in mind while minting/selling NFTs
• Platforms where you can trade NFTs
• How NFTs could liberate artists
• Other potential use cases & Karan's take on the future on this tech
• What's next for Karan Kalra

You can find more about Karan on his Instagram page here. Also, do check out his NFT collection here