The Indian Startup Show

Today I chat to Neha Motwani , the founder & CEO of Fitternity. Fitternity, is a discovery platform for workout classes and other fitness services based in Mumbai. The platform allows users to book free trials with exercise classes, personal trainers, and nutritionists. We talk about a number of topics including how she got started to raising $1Million in VC funding . Neha also talks about the vision of the company & Fitternity’s interesting hiring process!

Today I talk to Vamsi Krishna, co-founder & CEO of Vedantu (@vedantu_learn) Based in Bangalore, Vedantu are a Live Online Tutoring platform that aims to ‘personalize’ and ‘democratize’ learning in India. Vedantu is one of the pioneers of LIVE online personalized tutoring in India and operates on the ‘marketplace of teachers’ model. And they are doing an amazing job so far! Vamsi started his career teaching kids , whose parents worked at a sulphuric processing plant. in Barnala, Punjab We talk about a number of topics including how he got started to raising $5m dollars in funding .The vision of the company , what excites him most about Vedantu. We also talk about the fundraising process. What VCs are looking for. And core challenges the company is facing

Today I talk to Faheem Gill the founder of Dashroad. (@dashroad). Based in UAE, Dashroad focuses on bringing out the data from cars to help build a platform of connected car applications. This is done with a plug-and-play dashroad dongle that captures trip data and turns into valuable insights for the car owner. We talk about how he got started, his time spent working for Honda, Toyota and Silicon Valley, driver analytics and the startup scene in the UAE and much much more!

We talk tech for people with disabilities, with our guest Shilpi Kapoor, founder of Barrierbreak. Barrierbreak provides accessibility and assistive technology solutions for people with disabilities. We talk about how she got started , her brand new app called Newzhook NewzHook is the first mobile news app that is accessible to blind & visually impaired users, deaf users and senior citizens. We also talk wearables, recent innovations ,her frustrations and her upcoming conference Techshare a national-level conference that focuses on creating a digitally-inclusive society

Today we are going to talk about crowdfunding with my guest Varun Sheth, the co-founder of Ketto (@ketto). Ketto is an online crowdfunding website for individuals, NGOs and businesses to raise money for their favorite causes and creative projects.

Swaathi Kakarla (@imswaathik) is the Co-founder of Skcript , a company based in Chennai. Skcript develops a product called Shrink which uses machine learning and compression algorithms to minimize files to the smallest possible size for enterprise customers around the world. Swaathi talks about her roller coaster journey from running the company in a car to launching the product at Gitex in Dubai. She also talks about working on a video streaming product that can handle 8K video resolution with real time compression.

Today we are going to talk about UX (User experience) with my guest Raveesh Bhalla (@raveeshbhalla) Raveesh is the founder partner of AppsCulture (@Appsculture). Which is a brand new design consultancy. In this conversation, we talk about: What is UX? His own process Current challenges The next big trend in the UX design industry Interesting projects he has worked on his favorite UX tools, websites & apps and much more… If you have subscribed to The Indian Startup Show. I would love your opinions & feedback so far. Go to neilpatel.co/podcast. Fill in the google form, it only takes 60 secs. Please be honest.

Today we are going to talk about Clean Technology with my guest Dev Arora who is the founder of 8Minutes (@8MinutesSolar) 8Minutes is on a mission to revolutionize the solar energy sector by helping homeowners and businesses make the transition to solar energy. We cover a lot of ground, including: What is clean technology How he got the idea The state of the indian clean technology scene in 2016 (its like the 1980’s!) How big the market is in India Great marketing advice if you don’t have a budget! Advice on anyone wanting to start a clean tech company His favorite books And much more… Links Twitter - @8MinutesSolar Website - http://www.eightmins.com Contact - switch@eightmins.com

Today I speak with Neetal Parekh (@neetal_parekh) Founder & CEO of Innov8social. An online platform to make it easier for people to engage in the social impact space. Neetal has over a decade of experience in corporate, education, nonprofit, government, and social enterprise. A passionate advocate for social entrepreneurship and impact innovation, Neetal believes that this field empowers us to creatively re-imagine how businesses and individuals can create meaningful impact and lasting value. She is the host of the Innov8social Podcast, featuring interviews with thinkers and doers in the social impact space. She is also an adviser to social enterprise startups and as a mentor at the Sustainability Innovations Lab at GSVlabs. She has been selected as a Starting Bloc Fellow for 2016. We talk about how she got started. how YOU can get started with social enterprise to her volunteering work in India with her mother. She also talks about her time as a mentor inspiring social entrepreneurs during the Startup Tech For Good Week in San Francisco last year.

Today I speak to Charanjeev Salva, (@theflyingsikh) Founder of SinghStyled. The world's first style store created exclusively for the Sikh community. The team handpicks and curates a special subscription box every month with Turbans, styling, grooming and lifestyle products. We talk about how he got the idea, The importance of the Turban , how he & team goes about curating products, to plans for the future. They launched around 3 months ago and are doing really well. Its an interesting fact 68% of purchases are actually made by non-Sikhs. So listen in to find out why!

Naveen Jain (@Naveen_Jain_CEO), is a billionaire, and founder of World Innovation Institute, Intelius, Moon Express, inome and Infospace. He is also a trustee of the board at the X Prize Foundation, where he focuses on finding entrepreneurial solutions to challenges in education, poverty, agriculture, health and clean water. We talk about Moon Express which plans to send a rocket tho the moon as a business venture to collect minerals and resources and bring them back to earth. We also talk about his new project Blue Dot and his time at the XPRIZE Foundation Naveen pushes big dreams into action, spurring massive cultural and technological change. We also talk about what makes a good leader, the one thing founders should be focusing, the best advice he ever received, to whether there is life on Mars. Great episode!

Today we have Ryan Chadha (@RyanChadha) the co-founder of an international pre-school called Jigyasa in Bangalore, India. Jigyasa is a state-of-the-art preschool which offers a mixed age environment which encourages children to work and play collaboratively, Ryan Started the school with his mother over 2 years ago with 5 kids an not much money! But they now have over 30 kids and doing really well. They are now looking at developing their own educational apps in the future. Ryan is also an accomplished sportsperson, having represented the UAE at all age group levels for first class cricket. So we talk about scoring hundreds, to dealing with screaming kids. Enjoy the show! Links Website: http://www.jigyasatheschool.com/ Facebook: Facebook.com/jigyasatheschool

Ferdinand Kayulff, is the founder & CEO of CodersTrust. Coderstrust provides micro-finance for underprivileged talents to upgrade their coding skills, so they can earn more money on freelance portals. They have trained many developers in Bangladesh, India & Kenya. Ferdinand was also a Captain of the Danish army he served as recovery officer in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussain . He pioneered a recovery project with the allied forces, bringing internet and e-learning to the citizens of the region in which he was stationed. The project was a massive success and inspired him to eventually create CodersTrust!

Barbara Maim is the Co-founder and CEO of Minsh, a community messaging system, a private social network with your own customised brand. In 2008, she co-founded Minsh, and a few years later, in June 2011, she moved from Lausanne to Bangalore with her husband and Co-founder, Jon. We talk about her time in India, working with her husband ,and plans for the future. Enjoy the Show. links https://minsh.com/

Today I speak with Amar Vyas (@amarauthor). He is an author, a soon to be podcaster, and is a self-described nomad, who has lived in fifteen cities over the past twenty years in two continents. Somewhere in this timespan life he went to graduate school at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and business school at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Amar's debut novel NRI:Now, Returned to India was published in August 2014. NRI is the first in a four part series featuring the protagonist Amol Dixit and it is a humorous tale of woes experienced by Amol when he returns to India in haste. We talk about the book , his life in America and India., The fiction scene in India, his new podcast and his plans for the future. Enjoy the show!