ACLR8 Founder Academy

About ACLR8 Founder Academy

At ACLR8, our goal is to build the best early stage accelerator program in the world, helping founders from Bharat build large, generational and iconic companies. Founder Academy is our exclusive podcast featuring the top startup founders, investors and operators in the country. Our goal is to help build the best resource for any early stage founder to learn from and connect with the best folks from India's startup ecosystem.

Publisher

Karan Jindal

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

10 Jan 2024

Latest episode

3 Mar 2025

Latest episodes

19 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   3 Mar 2025

   Episode 15: Meet the founder of founders! This man invested in 165 startups. Ft. Rajesh Sawhney, Founder, GSF

   Rajesh Sawhney, Founder of GSF, shares insights on startup trends, fundraising, and long-term company building with the ACLR8 Founder Academy host.

2. 

   4 Feb 2025

   Episode 14: The Indiamart story! Building a ₹14000 crore listed tech company. Ft. Brijesh Agrawal

   Host [Host Name] interviews Brijesh Agrawal, Co-Founder of IndiaMart, discussing the company's journey from a small town to a ₹14,000 crore listed tech company.

3. 

   1 Feb 2025

   Episode 13: The Dressfolk Story! Building an Ethnic Wear Brand from India to the World! Ft. Nitin Mehrotra

   Host [Host Name] interviews Nitin Mehrotra, Founder & CEO of DressFolk, exploring his journey building a global ethnic wear brand from India.

4. 

   11 Sept 2024

   Episode 12: How to build a career in content & marketing! Ft. AyushWadhwa, Founder & CEO, Owled Media

   Host [Host Name] interviews Ayush Wadhwa, Founder & CEO of Owled Media, about building a successful career in content and marketing.

5. 

   2 Aug 2024

   Episode 11: ‪@ixigo‬ 's journey to IPO! 🚀 Building Travel for Bharat. 🇮🇳 Ft. Aloke Bajpai

   Karan Jindal interviews Aloke Bajpai, Co-Founder & Group Chairman of ixigo, about their 17-year journey building travel for India and achieving a 98x oversubscribed IPO.

6. 

   21 Jul 2024

   Episode 10: How to build a D2C brand in 2024. Ft. Jatan Bawa, Co-Founder, Perfora

   If your goal is to build India's largest consumer D2C brand then this is the episode for you. 🚀 In this episode, our guest, Jatan Bawa takes us through his journey of building Perfora. 🔥⁣ Perfora is one of the fastest growing D2C oral care brands in India doing revenues of 70 crore / year and disrupting a boring and traditional FMCG category like oral care. 💯⁣ In this Jatan breaks down:⁣ ✅ How to find your ideal co-founder⁣ ✅ How to identify the right categories to build in⁣ ✅ How to crack product development ⁣ ✅ How to sell on D2C, marketplaces, quick commerce and offline⁣ ✅ What metrics to track across all platforms⁣ ✅ Brand building and content creation playbook⁣ ✅ How to raise money from some of India's best funds⁣ ✅ How to apply to Shark Tank, get funding and leverage the platform for maximum growth⁣ Catch the full episode today and let us know if it's helpful in your journey of building a D2C brand. ❤️⁣ Content Timelines:⁣ 00:00 - Pre-cap⁣ 00:42 - Intro⁣ 01:05 - India wins the WC⁣ 05:00 - What inspired Jatan to start-up⁣ 12:30 - Studying in DU and building confidence⁣ 14:30 - Why Perfora, why oral care? How to do category research?⁣ 20:30 - Finding his co-founder on Jagriti Yatra.⁣ 24:15 - Validating category thesis⁣ 30:15 - Numbers and current traction⁣ 35:30 - Important metrics to track across platforms⁣ 43:30 - Cracking quick commerce⁣ 49:00 - Raising funding from Sauce.vc and other top consumer funds⁣ 56:30 - Shark Tank: raising funding from Vineeta, Namita and Peyush⁣ 1:04:00 - Content marketing playbook⁣ 1:08:42 - Are the Sharks helpful? ⁣ 1:11:20 - Building a community of founders who help and support⁣ 1:15:00 - Ending remarks

7. 

   25 Jun 2024

   Episode 9: Building India’s largest cleaning products brand. Ft. Simran Khara, Founder, Koparo Clean

   What does ₹15 crore worth of free publicity do to the scale and trajectory of a D2C brand? 🚀⁣ Hosted the awesome @simrankhara2 at the ACLR8 Founder Academy podcast and talked about her vision of building India’s largest cleaning products company with a focus on sustainable and clean ingredients and honest claims. ❤️⁣ We talked about:⁣ ✅ The home cleaning market in India and opportunities for young founders.⁣ ✅ Simran’s 0-1 journey, her tool kit to scale D2C, how to listen to the customers and keep innovating on products.⁣ ✅ Measuring repeats and marketing effectiveness especially as you scale across channels.⁣ ✅ Being the personal brand ambassador of your brand to build trust and relatability.⁣ 🙌 We discussed Koparo’s amazing Shark Tank episode, getting funding from Aman and Vineeta and the growth the brand saw after the episode. ⁣ 🙌 Simran also shared her journey of being a solo woman founder and how it is important for founders to manage their personal and work life.⁣ Full episode out now! ⁣ Content Timelines:⁣ 00:00 - Pre-cap⁣ 01:10 - Intro⁣ 02:00 - How much is a 15 min slot on Shark Tank worth for a startup?⁣ 03:20 - What inspired Simran to start Koparo?⁣ 06:30 - What worked for Koparo in the initial days?⁣ 09:30 - Current size of India's cleaning products market⁣ 13:30 - The Nirma Case Study⁣ 15:00 - How is Koparo disrupting the bigger brands?⁣ 19:00 - Quick commerce is a game changer channel for D2C brands⁣ 20:45 - Koparo current scale of business and channel split⁣ 29:30 - How can a brand list themselves on quick commerce marketplaces⁣ 30:50 - Raising funding from Aman and Vineeta on Shark Tank⁣ 45:52 - Secrets to scaling D2C⁣ 1:07:38 - How to raise money for your business?⁣ 1:14:40 - Challenges of running the business as a solo woman founder⁣ 1:26:30 - Dealing with failure⁣ 1:28:45 - Rapid Fire with Simran⁣ 1:30:40 - Simran's association with ACLR8⁣ 1:31:48 - Future of WA commerce in the country Ft. ‪ @grod2c #PartnerTestimonial ⁣ 1:32:45 - Ending remarks⁣ #sharktankindia #koparoclean #amangupta #vineetasingh #brandsforbharat

8. 

   27 May 2024

   Episode 12: Building a ₹500 crore Beauty & Personal Care Brand! Ft. Malika Sadani, CEO, The Moms Co

   Building one of India’s largest Beauty & Personal Care D2C Brand. 🚀 ⁣ Hosted the amazing Malika Datt Sadani, Co-Founder, The Moms Co, at the ACLR8 studio and discussed what it takes to build a large and loved consumer brand in India today! 🙌 🇮🇳⁣ Malika shared her insights on: ✅ Building a brand in competitive categories and creating a niche. ✅ How can founders do deep consumer research to identify their TG.⁣ ✅ Thinking customer backward, understanding consumer needs and launching honest & clean products at good price points. ✅ Thinking about brand and marketing from a community first POV. ✅ How can founders be personal brand ambassadors for their brands. We also talked about how challenging it is for new moms to start-up and the importance of building a network.💛 Malika shared insights on her angel investing journey, her favourite home grown brands from India and the sectors she is excited by in the consumer space for Bharat over the next few years. 🇮🇳🚀⁣ ⁣ Full episode out now!⁣ ✅ YT⁣ ✅ Spotify⁣ ✅ IG⁣ ⁣ Content Timelines:⁣ 00:00 - Pre-cap⁣ 01:45 - What we will discuss today.⁣ 02:53 - Malika's personal journey before starting up. ⁣08:03 - The inspiration behind starting the brand.⁣ 11:55 - Initial product development and R&D.⁣ 17:00 - Importance of defining your consumer well.⁣ 20:20 - Small TG, big difference in their lives.⁣ 23:00 - MOAT for founders starting D2C brands.⁣ 29:10 - Making 10x better products!⁣ 33:30 - How would Malika start The Moms Co today?⁣ 45:08 - Exciting opportunities in the consumer space today. 51:50 - Challenges faced in starting up as a mom and a woman founder. 1:00:55 - Rapid Fire with Malika 1:10:30 - Future of WA commerce in the country Ft. @grod2c #PartnerTestimonial 1:11:37 - Ending remarks⁣ #brandsforbharat #themomsco #mohitsadani #malikasadani

9. 

   12 May 2024

   Episode 11: Building India's largest cake brand! Ft. Pranjay Mittal, Co-Founder, Creme Castle

   Host Pranjay Mittal, Co-Founder of Creme Castle, shares insights on building India's largest cake brand and securing funding on Shark Tank India.

10. 

    29 Apr 2024

    Episode 10: Sneakers for Bharat! Ft. Anuj Nevatia, Bacca Bucci

    Host Anuj Nevatia, Bacca Bucci founder, shares how he built a ₹150 crore sneaker business from a ₹2 lakh investment, discussing brand building and scaling strategies in this interview.

11. 

    20 Apr 2024

    Episode 9: Building the Raymond for women in India, Ft. Jaini Haria, Founder & CEO, Jaey

    We hosted Jaini Haria, Founder & CEO, Jaey.in, to talk about her vision of building India's best power dressing brand for women of all sizes. ⁣ We talked about how there are so many custom fitted power dressing brands for men in India, but no such brands for women. Jaini shared her inspiration behind the brand, the current traction of the business and the learnings she's had while scaling Jaey. ⁣ Jaini also shared her feedback on the ACLR8 S24 program and what's been her experience on partnering with ACLR8⁣. Checkout the full episode and let us know what you think.⁣ Content Timelines:⁣ 00:00 - Pre-cap⁣ 01:47 - Intro⁣ 02:25 - The idea behind starting Jaey⁣ 05:00 - Jaini's personal journey⁣ 10:55 - Size of the opportunity⁣ 12:20 - Why no Raymond for women in India?⁣ 14:40 - Current traction and scale of business⁣ 20:35 - Challenges of building a bootstrapped business⁣ 22:30 - Early signs of PMF⁣ 24:10 - Plan for the next 3-5 years⁣ 29:05 - Jaey's right to win⁣ 35:30 - Running the business as a solo founder⁣ 44:04 - Rapid fire with Jaini⁣ 46:30 - Feedback on the ACLR8 S24 program⁣ 47:30 - Ending remarks

12. 

    10 Apr 2024

    Episode 8 - Building a size inclusive fashion brand! Ft. Lavanya Aneja, Founder & CEO, Lea Clothing Co

    Building India’s largest, sustainable, fashion brand! 🙌 Getting a 4 shark deal at Shark Tank India. 🚀 Standing up for size inclusivity and body positivity. 😇 Empowering thousands of women. ❤️⁣ Had the immense pleasure of hosting our portfolio founder, Lavanya Aneja, Founder & CEO, Lea Clothing Co, as part of the ACLR8 Founder Academy. 🚀💯⁣ Full episode streaming live now. ✅⁣ Follow us Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aclr8.vc/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aclr8/⁣ Building the next big consumer business from India, apply to the ACLR8 cohort today. www.aclr8.vc ❤️⁣ Content Timeline: ⁣ ---------------------------⁣ ⁣00:00 - Pre-Cap⁣ 01:41 - Intro ⁣ 02:12 - Lea's journey. 05:50 - What is sustainable fashion?⁣ 09:30 - Why build a size inclusive fashion brand?⁣ 15:20 - Lea's right to win in the fashion space. ⁣ 18:00 - Current scale of business.⁣ 24:15 - Lea's marketing and content strategy.⁣ 31:50 - Supply chain aspects of running a fashion brand.⁣ 36:08 - Launching 3 more brands under the Lea umbrella.⁣ 46:06 - Current split between traction of the 3 brands.⁣ 50:30 - Challenges of being a solo founder. ⁣ 56:00 - Goal of the next 3-5 years. ⁣ 59:30 - Ending statement

13. 

    29 Mar 2024

    P-TAL - Building India's largest home and kitchenware company. Ft. Aditya Agrawal, Co-Founder & CEO

    Building a large business, while reviving a cultural legacy, and providing social impact. ❤️ Raising funding from some of India’s top investors, getting an all Shark Deal at Shark Tank India and all of this while just being 24 years old! 🙌 🚀 Hosted the super amazing Aditya Agrawal, Co-Founder, P-TAL, on how founders can use story telling to build large consumer brands and stand out! 🇮🇳 The kitchen and dining market in India is worth 30K crores and majority of the market is fragmented with larger brands doing about 5K crores in revenue. 💯 There is lack of trust, lack of awareness and lack of quality products - which means a massive opportunity to build a large brand in this space. 🙌🚀 Super excited to share more about Aditya and P-TAL’s journey on how they are looking to build a large brand and revive India’s only UNESCO listed art form. ❤️ Checkout the full episode now. 🙌 ✅ Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aclr8.vc/ Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aclr8/ Building the next big consumer business from India, apply to the ACLR8 cohort today. www.aclr8.vc ❤️

14. 

    13 Mar 2024

    Building consumer brands for Bharat. Ft. Arjun Vaidya, Co-Founder, V3 Ventures

    Are you building the next big consumer business from India? Then apply to the ACLR8 program today and get funded by some of India's best investors. www.aclr8.vc/apply Today’s guest at the founder academy, is someone who has been a founder and investor. As a founder, Arjun founded Dr. Vadiya’s. Scaled it to one of the fastest growing Ayurveda D2C brands in the country and sold it for 100 crores in 4 years. As an investor, Arjun founded V3 ventures and raised over $100M to invest in some of India’s best consumer brands. In this episode we discussed: - Arjun's personal journey while growing up and what inspired him to entrepreneurship - Building and scaling Dr. Vaidyda's - Selling Dr. Vaidya's to RPSG group for INR 100 crores - Journey as an angel investor and Arjun's top 3 investments featuring Lahori Jeera, P-TAL and Knya Med - Starting V3 Ventures and raising a $100M fund to invest in consumer brands. - Advice to early stage founders on fund raising - Top sectors and categories Arjun is excited by - Top investments from the fund featuring - Kuku FM & Dil Foods - Investing with Empathy and building a partnership with founders. - Importance of work life balance - Rapid fire with Arjun featuring many things people don't know about him. Catch the full episode and let us know what you think. ------------------ Content Timelines: 00:00 - Pre-cap 01:30 - Intro 02:35 - Arjun's personal journey 04:02 - Building Dr. Vadiya's 08:20 - Figuring out your strengths and MOAT while building a D2C brand 10:45 - Challenges in raising money for Dr. Vaidya's 11:50 - Selling Dr. Vadiya's for INR 100 crores 16:50 - What inspired Arjun to start angel investing 18:50 - 3 of Arjun's top investments as an angel 23:45 - Starting V3 ventures and raising $100M for the first fund 30:00 - Importance of content creation for brands and founders 31:05 - 3 categories that V3 ventures is excited by 37:00 - Unique investments from V3 40:30 - Transition from founder to investor 43:00 - 3 questions that founders need to answer before starting a brand 44:00 - Rapid fire with Arjun 46:30 - Arjun's association with ACLR8 48:00 - Future of WA commerce in the country featuring Business on Bot 49:10 - Ending remarks

15. 

    29 Feb 2024

    Shiprocket - Building a platform for 1 crore SMBs in India! Ft. Akshay Ghulati, Co-Founder & CBO

    Had an amazing conversation with Akshay Ghulati, Co-Founder & CBO, Shiprocket, at the ACLR8 studio! ❤️🙌 Shiprocket is building the OS for D2C brands to launch , scale and grow their business in India and go global. It is truly a made in India innovation, that is helping brands from Bharat conquer the world. 🇮🇳🚀 Super excited to share this episode with our community. ❤️ Akshay is a also a visiting partner at ACLR8 and works closely with our portfolio companies to help them scale! 👏💯 Building the next big thing from India ? Apply to our cohort today. www.aclr8.vc/apply Content Timelines: 00:00 - Pre-cap 01:01 - Shiprocket intro and our goal at ACLR8 03:52 - Akshay's personal journey and why he decided to join Shiprocket 07:40 - Shiprocket's evolution over the years 16:50 - Expanding from logistics to multiple solutions for D2C brands 22:00 - Optimizing for Profitability while scaling 25:00 - Akshay's advice to D2C founders 26:30 - Understanding PMF for D2C brands 30:53 - Challenges that SMBs face and exciting opportunities for founders to build in 40:20 - Trends in D2C in India 46:23 - D2C brands going global & Akshay's own D2C brand 52:40 - Collaboration v/s Competition. How can tech companies work together to build the ecosystem 56:10 - Creators building global brands from India 58:10 - Indian brands like Good Earth, Forest Essentials and Himalaya doing well globally 59:10 - Building Shiprocket to a Decacorn over the next few years 1:01:37 - Akshay's collaboration with ACLR8 1:05:30 - Whatsapp commerce in the country with  @grod2c  (https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCzzmajrpsHkBikZbvFmNuNA) and BusinessOnBot 1:07:36 - Ending remarks #podcast #podcasting #podcasts #podcastshow #trends #shiprocket #reels #reelsintagram #aclr8 #aclr8vc #reelsdaily #cashback #india #startup #entrepreneur #startupindia #entrepreneurship #business #founder

16. 

    17 Feb 2024

    From Ambala to building one of India's largest e-commerce companies. Ft. Swati Bhargava, Co-Founder, CashKaro

    From growing up in Ambala to building a company with annualized sales of INR 4000 crores! 🚀 Meet the woman who co-founded one of India’s largest e-commerce companies. 🙌 Raising money from Ratan Tata, going through a kidney transplant, supporting young founders and breaking multiple stereotypes along the way, this is Swati Bhargava's story! Swati grew up in Ambala and was always a bright student. She secured a 100/100 in Maths in the 10th grade. 💯 Seeing a bright spark her parents encouraged her to apply for a scholarship program in Singapore which only took 25 students from all over India. Through pure hustle and a never say never attitude, Swati got selected for the program and excelled in her 2 years in Singapore. She then applied for her undergrad at London School of Economics and got a full scholarship there as well. ⁣✅ It was at LSE that Swati met the love of her life Rohan Bhargava. ❤️ Always having an urge to build something of their own the duo started Pouring Pounds in the UK and launched CashKaro in India.🙌 The business saw immediate product market fit and Swati & Rohan started scaling the business sustainably. 🚀 CashKaro raised an initial investment from Vani Kola at Kalaari Capital and then also got the legendary Mr. Ratan Tata as an investor in the company. 💪 On his thesis of why Mr. Tata invested he said “in a country which loves to save, you are giving people cash back. What’s not to love about the business” 😎 Over the last few years CashKaro has scaled to become one of India's largest e-commerce companies doing annualised sales of INR 4000 crores, serving 20M users and working with 1500+ partner brands. 🚀 With India’s e-commerce market at 6% of overall retail, compared to 16% in the US and 30% in China, there is huge scope for CashKaro to grow. There are $B cashback sites all over the world and CashKaro is positioned to be that company for India. 🇮🇳 Swati's story is one of being persistent, never giving up, taking every opportunity and always smiling along the way! On the podcast Swati also shared how she bounced back from her Kidney transplant, and how it is important for founders to take care of their health and be measured in the face of success and failures. ❤️ If you are building the next big consumer business from India, apply to the ACLR8 program today. www.aclr8.vc / hello@aclr8.vc ✅ Content Timeline: ------------------ 2:45: Growing up in Ambala 04:00: 100% in Maths in Class 10. From Ambala to Singapore to LSE 09:00: Importance of supporting young girls in their education and career. 11:30: Life at Goldman Sachs 13:30: Meeting Rohan and starting up in London 16:00: Launching Pouring Pounds in UK 17:00: Getting an acquisition offer for 1 million pounds 18:43: Launching CashKaro in India 20:20: Raising $750K in 72 hours 21:00: CashKaro's business model 29:30: Scaling to INR 4500 crore annual sales. CashKaro's current metrics 34:00: Growth of e-commerce from Tier-2/3 cities 37:00: Launching EarnKaro and 3 other brands in the CashKaro umbrella 37:45: Building a billion dollar business over the next few years 40:45: Tapping 150K Kirana Store network to scale assisted shopping 42:00: Selling a luxury brand product through Kirana stores 43:30: Scaling profitably and sustainably 47:30: Trends in D2C ecosystem in India 52:15: Raising money from Mr. Ratan Tata 1:00:00: Scaling from good to great 1:03:00: Hiring the best founding team 1:05:50: Advice to couple preneurs 1:07:10: Importance for founders to build a personal brand 1:09:40: Bouncing back from Kidney transplant and striking a balance between work and health 1:12:30: Rapid fire with Swati Bhargava 1:17:10: Where can ACLR8 add value to founders 1:18:18: Partner Testimonial Ft.  @grod2c  (https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCzzmajrpsHkBikZbvFmNuNA). #podcast #podcasting #podcasts #podcastshow #trends #cashkaro #swatibhargava #aclr8 #aclr8vc #cashback #india #startup #entrepreneur #startupindia #entrepreneurship #business #founder

17. 

    31 Jan 2024

    INR 500cr revenue/year! Building Lifelong, India's fastest growing D2C brand Ft. Bharat Kalia.

    Building an INR 500cr D2C consumer appliances brand for Bharat! 🇮🇳🚀 Had an amazing conversation with Bharat Kalia, Co-Founder, Lifelong Online, on his journey of building one of the most disruptive D2C brands in the country. ❤️🔥 We talked about: ✅ How to think customer backward and identify large categories ✅ Selling to the value conscious Bharat consumer! Lifelong reaches 1cr+ households in the country. ✅ 3R’s (Reviews, Ratings, Rankings) of building demand on marketplaces. ✅ Optimizing for “Acha Product , Acha Price, Exceptional Service” ✅ Hiring influencers like Milind Soman who live the brand ✅ Scaling on modern trade and offline channels ✅ Building with a profitability mindset from Day 1 We also talked about importance of focussing on one’s health while running a buisness 🙌🧘♂️ and the importance of being measured in the face of failures and keep executing. 💯👌 Bharat is a visiting partner at ACLR8 and works closely with our portfolio companies to help build large consumer brands from India. 🇮🇳🚀 Apply to the ACLR8 S24 cohort today and skyrocket your business. Application Deadline: 31st Jan 📝 ✅ Website: www.aclr8.vc ------------------ Content Timeline: 00:00: Intro 02:45: Bharat's personal journey and what led him to starting up 06:45: Let's simplify starting up 09:30: Why consumer appliances as a category. How can founders identify categories while starting up 12:50: Starting businesses where you have a leverage in 17:16: Importance of talking to consumer and doing primary research 18:10: Holy trinity for any D2C brands - AOV, Gross Margin, Retention 19:50: Lifelong's current scale 22:00: Importance of marketing that converts 23:20: Traits of a Bharat consumer 26:25: How do you define PMF for a D2C brand 31:00: How can founders scale on Marketplaces 40:00: Decathlon case study and how they scaled to INR 4000 crores in India 51:15: Make in India push with Boat, Noise and Atomberg 1:00:00: Thrassio case-study and their investment in Lifelong 1:06:10: Rapid-fire with Bharat 1:12:15: Bharat's collaboration with ACLR8 and mentoring founders to build large brands 1:14:18: Partner testimonial for  @grod2c  (https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCzzmajrpsHkBikZbvFmNuNA) - Business on Bot 1:15:50: Closing remarks #funding #enterpreneurship #aclr8 #aclr8vc #startup #startupindia

18. 

    19 Jan 2024

    Building financial services for 100 crore Indians with InsuranceDekho!

    Financial Inclusion for 100cr Indians with Ankit Agrawal, Founder & CEO, InsuranceDekho (https://www.linkedin.com/company/100996420/admin/feed/posts/#) 🇮🇳🚀 Insurance Dekho is one of the fastest growing insurance companies in India solving for “Bima, Bharosa, Berozgari, Bimari,” 💯 Some of things we discussed were: ✅ How it is important to not celebrate fund raise and really focus on your business, team and providing long term value to your customer. 💯 ✅ How to build products that reach millions of households and solve real problems. ❤️ ✅ Systems, processes & people training required to setup organisations that last a 100 years and churn out amazing leaders. 🚀 ✅ Importance of being on-ground and focus on execution! Not be a “social media founder”. 💪 ✅ Hiring folks who have the right attitude to learn and persistence to keep executing, rather than just looking at work experience, college or skill set. 🔥 ✅ Exciting opportunities in fintech and financial services for young Indian founders in the next few years. 🚀 Thank you Ankit for your time and sharing your learnings of building one of the most disruptive companies in India. 👏 You have inspired lacs of founders to dream big and never give up. ❤️ Content Timeline: ----------------- ⁠00:00⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmgW7AHweg&t=0s) - Intro ⁠02:17⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmgW7AHweg&t=137s) - Time-management while running such a large business and ruthless prioritisation. ⁠04:14⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmgW7AHweg&t=254s) - Fintech opportunity in India over the next decade. ⁠07:02⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmgW7AHweg&t=422s) - Why is Insurance such a massive opportunity in India. ⁠10:30⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmgW7AHweg&t=630s) - How do young founders identify large opportunities in Fintech. ⁠13:10⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmgW7AHweg&t=790s) - Importance of not celebrating fund raising but focussing on execution. ⁠15:04⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmgW7AHweg&t=904s) - Right idea, right time, right team. ⁠16:52⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmgW7AHweg&t=1012s) - Importance of personal experience in building a successful business. ⁠17:52⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmgW7AHweg&t=1072s) - How did Ankit identify the initial business model of ⁠@InsuranceDekho⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbgggXkm7oIpqS9ushr4jKw) ⁠19:40⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmgW7AHweg&t=1180s) - Importance of founders being on-ground to solve a problem. ⁠21:15⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmgW7AHweg&t=1275s) - Insurance Dekho growth strategy in the next few years. ⁠24:36⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmgW7AHweg&t=1476s) - Running a gig economy company at scale. ⁠28:57⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmgW7AHweg&t=1737s) - An insurance advisor is a family doctor for your savings. ⁠30:00⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmgW7AHweg&t=1800s) - Solving for trust and information asymmetry at scale. ⁠33:00⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmgW7AHweg&t=1980s) - How does a founder hire their initial team? ⁠36:25⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmgW7AHweg&t=2185s) - Don't hire social media founders. ⁠40:25⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmgW7AHweg&t=2425s) - How is ⁠@InsuranceDekho⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbgggXkm7oIpqS9ushr4jKw) becoming a house of founders. ⁠43:17⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmgW7AHweg&t=2597s) - Building institutions like ⁠@icicibank⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDsxd7FVqC4n9AiggDXHUqQ)ICICI, HUL and HDFC. ⁠45:20⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmgW7AHweg&t=2720s) - India is a land of opportunities. ⁠47:10⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmgW7AHweg&t=2830s) - Ankit on collaborating with ACLR8 to build the best early stage program for founders in India! ⁠50:30⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmgW7AHweg&t=3030s) - Importance of building profitably while having a growth mindset. ⁠52:39⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmgW7AHweg&t=3159s) - (Partner Testimonial) Whatsapp commerce in the country with Business on Bot. ⁠53:40⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmgW7AHweg&t=3220s) - Ending statements. ⁠#startup⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/startup) ⁠#funding⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/funding) ⁠#entrepreneurship⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/entrepreneurship) ⁠#fundraising⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/fundraising) ⁠#startupindia⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/startupindia) ⁠#accelerator⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/accelerator) ⁠#incubator⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/incubator) ⁠#aclr8⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/aclr8) ⁠#aclr8vc⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/aclr8vc) ⁠#insurance⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/insurance) ⁠#insurancedekho (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/insurancedekho)

19. 

    10 Jan 2024

    Fundraising 101 for early stage founders in India. With Apurva Chamaria, Head of VC, Google India.

    Raise fast, raise effectively and raise from the best! Learn the secrets of fundraising from one of India's best early stage investors, Apurva Chamaria. Apurva heads Startup & VC at Google India, and has invested in 100+ companies over the last 10 years. In this episode of the ACLR8 Founder Academy, Karan Jindal and Apurva Chamaria discuss everything that a founder needs to raise fast, raise effectively and raise from the best. Some key concepts discussed in this podcast are: Mindset of a founder while building a Billion dollar company. Understanding what type of businesses require funding. Traits of successful founders who have built large, venture funded, companies. Does being from an IIT / IIM impact your chances of fundraise? Can a founder from a Tier - 2/3 city, raise as effectively? Understanding when to raise, how much to raise, and who to raise from? Key elements to a perfect elevator pitch and the perfect pitch deck. How to build and cultivate a strong network. Closing the deal fast and effectively. Understanding a no from an investor and dealing with it. If you are building the next big thing from India, and need support in raising funds, mentorship from unicorn founders, access, route to market, partnerships then apply to our cohort today. Website: www.aclr8.vc Application Link: www.aclr8.vc/apply Content Timeline: ----------------- 00:00 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pjXvCiXas0&t=0s) - Intro 02:36 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pjXvCiXas0&t=156s) - Founder mindset for a Billion dollar company v/s Million dollar company 07:37 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pjXvCiXas0&t=457s) - Do all ventures require funding? 10:35 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pjXvCiXas0&t=635s) - VC expectations while funding companies. 13:00 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pjXvCiXas0&t=780s) - Exciting sectors to build in for founders. 20:52 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pjXvCiXas0&t=1252s) - Don't be an air conditioned office founder. 22:04 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pjXvCiXas0&t=1324s) - Traits of successful founders from Apurva's portfolio. 29:36 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pjXvCiXas0&t=1776s) - Does being from an IIT / IIM background increase funding success? 32:15 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pjXvCiXas0&t=1935s) - How can founders who are not from IIT / IIM raise funding? 36:29 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pjXvCiXas0&t=2189s) - When is the right time to raise money? 42:34 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pjXvCiXas0&t=2554s) - How much to raise? How to value your company? And who to raise from? 47:39 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pjXvCiXas0&t=2859s) - Ideal founding team structure to build a large venture. 54:14 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pjXvCiXas0&t=3254s) - Building the perfect elevator pitch and pitch deck. 1:02:42 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pjXvCiXas0&t=3762s) - Closing a deal with an investor. 1:06:37 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pjXvCiXas0&t=3997s) - What if you are not able to raise money. 1:16:40 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pjXvCiXas0&t=4600s) - Ending statements. #startup (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/startup) #funding (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/funding) #entrepreneurship (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/entrepreneurship) #fundraising (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/fundraising) #startupindia (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/startupindia) #accelerator (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/accelerator) #incubator (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/incubator) #aclr8 (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/aclr8) #aclr8vc (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/aclr8vc)

Who has been a guest on ACLR8 Founder Academy

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Rajesh Sawhney
• Brijesh Agrawal
• Nitin Mehrotra
• Ayush Wadhwa
• Aloke Bajpai

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

4,120,645

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 65 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

71

Social presence

0

YouTube

86

Engagement

60

Contact ACLR8 Founder Academy

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.