Podcast · Business

Prime Venture Partners Podcast

by Prime Venture Partners: Early Stage VC Fund · English · Business

A podcast for entrepreneurs who are looking to build & grow their startups. Avoid common traps & learn uncommon strategies & tactics from makers & doers of startup ecosystem. Prime Ventures is a early-stage venture fund which focuses on startups that not only need capital but also require mentoring

New episodes: Every two weeks
Typical length: 53 min
Latest: 12 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

12 Oct 2026 · 1 hr 33 minNew

₹10,000 Crores Into Restaurants. Why Do 80% Fail? | The Hotshare F&B Investment Playbook

What makes a restaurant worth backing when 80% of them fail? Hotshare, an F&B investment platform that backs restaurant businesses at the outlet level, evaluated 41 brands in its first year and invested in just three. So what made those three worth backing? For Lavanya, Co-founder of Hotshare, the answer is not just great food, a packed dining room or a strong brand. She wants proof that the outlet itself works. That means profitability. Clean operating data. Healthy unit economics. Repeat demand. Tight execution. And a clear reason to believe the same economics can hold when the business…

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

E196 · 28 Sep 2026 · 45 min
From Puma to one8 X Agilitas: The Ganguly x Kohli Partnership
How was Puma India built, how did Virat Kohli’s one8 come about, and what is Agilitas trying to build in India’s sportswear market? Abhishek Ganguly spent 17 years at Puma, joining when the brand was virtually unknown in India and helping build it into the country’s largest sportswear brand. Puma India went on to cross ₹2,000 crore in revenue, ahead of Nike and Adidas combined in India. Then, after nearly two decades in the industry, Abhishek chose to start again. Today, as Co-founder & CEO of Agilitas, he is pursuing a much bigger idea: can a sports brand from India compete with the best in…
E195 · 15 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 27 min
From an IIT Bombay Lab to a ₹1,000 Crore IPO | The SEDEMAC Deep-Tech Story
What does it take to build original deep tech in India, get some of the country’s largest companies to adopt it, and eventually take the business to a ₹1,000+ crore IPO? In 2007, Professor Shashikanth Suryanarayanan started @SEDEMAC Mechatronics out of an IIT Bombay lab. Nearly two decades later, SEDEMAC has become one of India’s standout deep-tech success stories. The company crossed ₹1,000 crore in annual revenue, ships around 1 million motor controllers every quarter, and its ISG (Integrated Starter Generator) technology is now on an estimated 12 to 13 million vehicles on the road. It…
E194 · 1 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 25 min
How India’s ₹5 Lakh Crore Alcohol Industry Works | 8X Bigger than Bollywood and Jewellery
India’s alcohol beverage industry is worth around ₹5 lakh crore, and spirits make up roughly three-fourths of the market. But building a successful alcohol brand in India involves much more than making a good drink. 00:00 Introduction 01:21 How Big Is India’s Alcobev Industry? 02:13 Why Spirits Dominate India 04:00 The Alcobev Ecosystem & Jobs 07:00 India vs Global Alcohol Markets 10:00 How the Indian Whisky Market Has Changed 14:00 Premiumisation & Changing Consumer Preferences 18:00 Building Premium Indian Alcohol Brands 24:54 How Radico Kaitan Built Categories 27:46 Are Alcohol Companies…
E193 · 17 Aug 2026 · 47 min
How VCs Choose Founders to Back | Why Accel Backed Flipkart, Myntra & More
Subrata Mitra, Co-founder and Partner at Accel India and co-author of Down But Not Out , shares what decades of backing Indian startups have taught him about building companies that survive setbacks, adapt through uncertainty and keep going long enough to succeed. 00:00 Introduction 01:01 Why Subrata Wrote Down But Not Out 03:08 The Founder Stories Behind the Book 09:29 The Map, the Compass & “Long-Term Greed” 13:44 What Makes a Founder Resilient? 15:46 How Investors Evaluate Founders 17:21 How Founders Learn, Adapt & Evolve 21:12 The Role of Mentors, Coaches & Family 25:13 Finding Your…
E192 · 5 Aug 2026 · 56 min
How India Should Actually Compete in the Global AI Race
Piyush Shah, a legendary Indian Founder of 2 Unicorns (InMobi & Glance) shares why India's AI strategy has to look nothing like Silicon Valley's or Beijing's, and what founders should build instead. 00:00 Introduction 00:48 Why the Country That Invents AI Rarely Wins 02:16 US vs China vs India: India's AI Opportunity 03:55 How China Is Winning the AI Race 09:38 AI Startup Ideas for India 12:52 Consumer AI vs Enterprise AI 14:20 Why Consumer AI Can Bankrupt You 16:45 Why Enterprise AI Will Win First 19:57 Distribution Is Still the Biggest Moat 21:43 How AI Startups Should Go to Market 25:14…
E191 · 21 Jul 2026 · 46 min
Global B2B GTM for Enterprises in the AI-first World
What You’ll Learn: 00:00 Introduction 02:13 Why Marketing Owns Zero Board KPIs 08:54 There Is No Killer Marketing Campaign 15:41 Why Your First 10 Customers Matter More 24:16 The Biggest GTM Mistake Founders Make 33:48 How AI Is Changing Customer Discovery 43:11 Demand Generation Beats Chasing Leads 53:02 Why Value Wins Over Price 1:02:47 The New Rules of B2B Go-to-Market 1:11:26 Rapid Fire with Alon Waks Rethink your B2B SaaS GTM strategy from pipeline to persona SpotDraft’s CMO Alon Waks shares the framework behind $100M raised and 450+ customers. Ask a B2B founder about their killer…
E190 · 23 Jun 2026 · 1 hr 27 min
Six Times They Almost Shut Down; Today It Makes ₹60 Crore Every Month | Akshayakalpa CEO - Shashi Kumar
Akshayakalpa is known as India’s first certified organic dairy enterprise. But in this conversation, Shashi Kumar makes it clear that the deeper story has always been farming. In this episode of the Prime Venture Partners Podcast, Jerome Manuel speaks with Shashi Kumar, Founder & CEO of Akshayakalpa, about building at the farm level for 16 years, far away from the usual startup playbook of fast growth, quick scale and easy metrics. Akshayakalpa began with dairy because farmers needed reliable cash flow. Once that started working, the model expanded into animal care, soil management,…
E189 · 7 Jun 2026 · 44 min
How are Indians investing? Angel One CEO on SIPs, ETFs, AI and wealth creation
India’s UPI moment changed how money moves. But that may only be the first chapter. As millions of Indians become comfortable with digital payments, a bigger question is beginning to emerge: how will they save, invest, and build wealth over the next decade? In this episode of the Prime Venture Partners Podcast, Amit Somani speaks with Ambarish Kenghe, CEO of Angel One, about India’s shift from payment adoption to wealth creation. From his journey across Google, Myntra, Google Pay, and Angel One, Ambarish has seen India’s digital consumer evolve up close. In this conversation, he talks about…
E188 · 19 May 2026 · 55 min
Why mChek Failed Before UPI Took Over India | Sanjay Swamy on Building Too Early
Long before UPI, smartphones and Aadhaar transformed digital payments in India, mChek was trying to turn mobile phones into wallets. The vision was ambitious. The execution was complex. And the ecosystem was still years away from catching up. In this episode of the Prime Venture Partners Podcast, Shripati Acharya speaks with Sanjay Swamy, former CEO of mChek and Managing Partner at Prime Venture Partners, about one of India’s earliest attempts at building mobile payments. They discuss what it feels like to build ahead of the market, the hidden cost of ecosystem dependency, and why timing is…
E187 · 22 Apr 2026 · 45 min
The Psychology of Exceptional Founders | Dr. Julie Gurner, Executive Performance Coach
Some founders build solid companies. A few build something far bigger than what looked reasonable at the time. What explains that gap? In this episode of the Prime Venture Partners Podcast, Amit Somani, Managing Partner at Prime Venture Partners, speaks with Dr. Julie Gurner, Executive Performance Coach on the psychology behind exceptional founders. They get into the self belief, audacity, resilience, and invisible rules that shape how far people go. The conversation also explores: • What “maniacal focus” looks like in standout founders • The imaginary rules that limit what founders build,…
E186 · 9 Apr 2026 · 54 min
Inside the Dark Stores Behind Blinkit & Zepto | How 10 Minute Delivery Works
Most people think quick commerce is just about delivering in 10 minutes. But it’s not. Behind every Blinkit or Zepto order is a tightly run system of dark stores, pick paths, manpower, and real-time execution that has almost no margin for error. In this episode of the Prime Venture Partners Podcast, Brij Bhushan speaks with Sumit Anand and Rupesh Thakare, co-founders of Inamo, the company building the operational backbone behind India’s quick commerce ecosystem. They break down what it actually takes to make this work at scale, from stores that process orders in minutes to systems designed…
E185 · 28 Mar 2026 · 41 min
Sushant Junnarkar on Building a Business, Running Out of Runway, and Knowing When to Stop
In this episode of the Prime Venture Partners Podcast, we speak with Sushant Junnarkar, who shares his raw and honest journey of building and eventually shutting down an early-stage startup. Sushant takes us through the complete entrepreneurial roller coaster from early traction and funding to competition, pivots, and the tough decision to shut down. In conversation with Sanjay Swamy, he shares insights on: • The 3 phases of a startup journey • Why startups fail beyond just lack of capital • The funding vs scale dilemma • Founder challenges and decision-making under pressure • Key lessons…
E184 · 5 Mar 2026 · 54 min
How Basil Built a Premium Kids Brand in a ₹60,000 Crore Market | loved by 1.5+ Lakh Families
In this episode, the founders of Basil share how they spotted an opportunity in India’s school essentials space and built a design-led brand trusted by over 1.5 lakh families. After careers at Uber and Amazon, they set out to solve a simple but overlooked problem. Kids' essentials did not have to be boring, low-quality, or purely functional. We discuss • Identifying whitespace in consumer categories • Designing for both children and parents • Marketplace-led growth • Building operational depth in hardware • Lessons for founders building in D2C This is a must-watch episode for entrepreneurs,…
E183 · 29 Jan 2026 · 55 min
How Propelld Helped 4 Lakh+ Indian Students Achieve Their Dreams | Prime Venture Partners
In this episode of the Prime Venture Partners Podcast, we speak with Victor, the Co-founder and CEO of Propelld, a company that has revolutionised education financing in India. Victor takes us through the highs and lows of his entrepreneurial journey, from starting his first startup in 2014 to building one of India’s largest education financing platforms. Propelld has already disbursed ₹4,000 crores in loans, helping over 400,000 students achieve their educational dreams. He shares insights on: The genesis of Propelld and its mission to make education financing accessible to all How they…
E182 · 21 Jan 2026 · 55 min
2026 Predictions - AI, Robots, Biotech, Unicorns & the Next 5 Years | Prime Ventures Podcast
In this special episode of the Prime Venture Partners Podcast, the Partners come together to discuss how AI, new business models, and shifting global dynamics are reshaping startups and what founders should be preparing for as we head deeper into 2026 and beyond. From pragmatic AI adoption to new opportunities in services, SaaS, climate, and governance, this is a grounded conversation on what’s actually changing and what still matters. ⏱️ Timestamps: 00:00 – Introduction 01:30 – What Prime Is Willing to Bet On 03:20 – AI Models vs Real Value Creation 07:35 – Automation, Services and…
E181 · 18 Dec 2025 · 1 hr 2 min
A Time Machine Roundtable: Inside India’s Startup Journey (2010 to 2025)
🚀 2025 feels like a turning point for the Indian startup ecosystem. In this special year-end episode of the Prime Venture Partners podcast, we take a step back and look at the journey from the early days of 2010 to where we are today and what lies ahead. We talk about: • The wild early years when founders were figuring things out as they went • How Aadhaar, UPI and cheap data quietly changed everything • What COVID revealed about founder resilience • How AI is being used inside real companies today • Why India’s startup ecosystem took longer to take off, but is now scaling bigger than…
E180 · 3 Dec 2025 · 54 min
The Holy Grail of Business AI: Uniphore's $2.5 Billion Playbook with Umesh Sachdev
Umesh Sachdev, cofounder and CEO of Uniphore, joins Shripati Acharya for a deeply insightful and very real conversation about what it actually takes to build and scale enterprise AI. Whether you are a founder, a product leader or someone thinking seriously about enterprise AI, this episode will give you clarity on business AI you won’t find elsewhere. What you’ll take away: • A clearer understanding of what Uniphore does as an end-to-end enterprise AI and data platform • Why so many AI pilots “fail” at first and how that failure can actually be meaningful progress • How enterprises are…
E179 · 19 Nov 2025 · 44 min
How Stories Shape Decisions, Trust & Startup Outcomes — A Masterclass with Ameen Haque
Ameen Haque — Founder of Storywallahs and one of India’s leading storytelling coaches — joins Amit Somani for an eye-opening deep dive into the craft of storytelling in business. If you're a founder, operator, leader, or creator, this conversation will reshape the way you pitch, lead, persuade, and communicate. 🔍 In this episode: • The real meaning of the “lion vs hunter” lesson • How Ratan Tata exemplifies storytelling through action • Why great leaders win trust through narrative • How to make customers the heroes of your story ⏱ Episode Timestamps 00:00 – Introduction 02:00 – Why humans…
E178 · 6 Nov 2025 · 36 min
Apple, China, and the New Map of Global Power: What Patrick McGee’s Apple in China Teaches the World and India
Apple’s China story is more than a business case — it’s a mirror of globalization itself. In this eye-opening conversation, Patrick McGee, Financial Times journalist and author of Apple in China, sits down with Pankaj Agarwal to explore how Apple’s greatest triumph became its biggest challenge. 💬 In this episode: How Apple helped build modern China The lessons India must learn as it becomes Apple’s next manufacturing hub The trade-offs between innovation, control, and national interests What this means for founders, investors, and policymakers shaping India’s tech future 📌 Episode Timestamps…
E177 · 15 Oct 2025 · 34 min
How Can India Build Its Own Global Smartphone Brand? Conversation with Ex-CEO of Realme and Founder of Ai+ | Madhav Sheth
Madhav Sheth, - the driving force behind Realme, now the Founder of Ai+, opens up about the inside world of smartphone wars, the rise (and fall) of Indian brands, and his vision to rebuild from scratch. 🔍 In this episode: • How Realme rewrote India’s smartphone playbook • Why most Indian brands couldn’t survive the global onslaught • The hidden monopoly controlling 60% of the market • The next revolution: AI-powered smartphones built for India • Lessons on leadership, innovation, and staying hungry after success 📌 Episode Timestamps 00:00 – Introduction 03:00 – Building Realme: From Idea to…
7 Oct 2025 · 1 hr 5 min
Inside the VC Mind: Prime’s Fundraising Masterclass for Founders
For the first time ever, the Prime Venture Partners investment team — 1 Principal and 2 Vice Presidents — sit down to answer everything founders wish they could ask a VC face-to-face. This isn’t theory. This is the real inside view of how venture capital works in India: 💸 How VCs actually pick the 5 startups that make it through 📉 The real reason your pitch deck isn’t working 💬 Why not every profitable business is “VC-fundable” 💭 And the timeless debate: is venture success skill or luck? 📊 Timestamps 00:00 – Introduction 05:51 – The VC funnel: 5,000 pitches → 5 investments 07:09 – How to…
23 Sep 2025 · 55 min
Why India Must Lead in Deep AI Research | Insights from Google DeepMind Director
In this episode, we sit down with Prateek Jain (Principal Scientist & Director at Google DeepMind) for an unfiltered deep dive into: How AI research has evolved from handcrafted features → deep learning → transformers → generative Why safety and efficiency matter just as much as scale India’s once-in-a-generation chance to lead in deep AI research The founder’s playbook: building sustainable AI-first companies The next big bottlenecks — and opportunities — in this space This is more than a conversation. It’s a blueprint for the future of AI. 🚀 📌 Episode Timestamps 00:00 – Introduction 03:00…
11 Sep 2025 · 49 min
How Humans + AI Will Reshape Startups & Enterprises? The Co-Intelligence Revolution with Prof. Venkat
In this episode of the Prime Venture Partners Podcast, host Jerome Manuel sits down with Prof. Venkat Ramaswamy, Professor of Marketing at the Ross School of Business, and a globally recognized thought leader on innovation and co-creation. Prof. Venkat is the co-author of the seminal The Future of Competition with C.K. Prahalad and the new book, The Co-Intelligence Revolution. In this conversation, they discuss: Why the next decade will be shaped by co-intelligence — humans + AI co-creating value How experience innovation is transforming industries across the world Real examples from Indian…
28 Aug 2025 · 48 min
The Man Who Built Hotmail and Sold it to Microsoft for $400M | Prime Venture Partners Podcast
In this PrimeVP Podcast episode, we go back to the roots of the internet with Sabeer Bhatia, the man who gave the world Hotmail. 📧 From his Hotmail journey to his bold perspectives on today’s most pressing themes, Sabeer shares unfiltered insights on: 1️⃣ How an email problem at work sparked the idea that changed global communication forever 2️⃣ Why communication skills — not just capital — make or break founders 3️⃣ Why health & discipline matter more than hustle in the long run 4️⃣ Wh...
20 Aug 2025 · 53 min
How Khadim Batti Built Whatfix Into a ~$900 Million Global SaaS Leader | Podcast
How do you pivot from an early idea that didn’t work ➝ to building a global SaaS leader trusted by 700+ enterprises? In this full episode of the Prime Podcast, Khadim Batti (Co-founder & CEO, Whatfix) reveals the raw founder journey: The pivot moment that sparked WhatfixHustling with 500 cold emails to close first customersLanding a Fortune 10 client at $25/month (and why logos matter more than price)Why product-market fit keeps evolvingScaling SaaS from India ➝ US with 85+ Fortune 500...
12 Aug 2025 · 46 min
Mahesh Joshi on H.I.T. Investing: Building Profitable & Impactful Startups
In this episode of the Prime Venture Partners Podcast, Sanjay Swamy hosts Mahesh Joshi, Head of Asia Private Equity at BlueOrchard and author of H.I.T. Investing. He shares powerful insights on how companies across India and Asia are solving critical problems like: Financial inclusion for underserved Kirana storesGender equity in small business financeClimate resilience through tech and EV adoptionLeveraging UPI, DPI, and IndiaStack to scale affordable services 📌 Key themes: - What HIT in...
30 Jul 2025 · 21 min
He coached Virat, Dhoni, D Gukesh & 25+ World Champions - Paddy Upton's Secrets
From “Virat Kohli is the best preparer in the cricket world” to reminding startup leaders of the most important lesson - “Who I am and the results of what I do are different”, our podcast with Paddy Upton has it all! 🎯 What you’ll take away in this full episode with Paddy (mental coach to India’s 2011 World Cup-winning team): ✅ Why startup founders must evolve from individual contributors → captains → coaches ✅ How to build “personal mastery” through unsexy fundamentals ✅ The hidden costs o...
15 Jul 2025 · 35 min
Snapfish to Aadhaar to MoneyTap to AI: Bala Parthasarathy on Building Across Eras
🎙️ Bala Parthasarathy - Chairman & Co-founder, Freo, Director at People+AI, Senior Adviser, EMK Capital (London) - joins us for one of our most insightful episodes. In this full conversation, Bala discusses: 🔹 Snapfish’s dotcom-era growth, crash, and acquisition by HP 🔹 Building Aadhaar from the ground up with Nandan Nilekani 🔹 The truth about raising and deploying venture capital 🔹 What’s broken (and what’s working) in fintech 🔹 The founder's mindset in the age of AI If you're a ...
4 Jul 2025 · 46 min
Narayan Manepally’s Journey of Building Geist Brewing Co. |From Ex-Intel Engineer to Craft Beer Icon in India
What happens when a techie starts brewing in his garage and ends up building one of India’s most iconic craft beer brands? Just as refreshing as Geist’s beer, this episode has Narayan Manepally, CEO & Co-founder of Geist Brewing Co., chatting with Sanjay Swamy. It has all the flavours and ingredients - from sharing his journey as an Intel engineer in the U.S. to innovating and succeeding as a beer entrepreneur. What you’ll learn: 🍺 How one batch of California Golden Ale changed ev...

About Prime Venture Partners Podcast

Prime Venture Partners Podcast is a English business podcast from Prime Venture Partners: Early Stage VC Fund. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Prime Venture Partners: Early Stage VC Fund
Language: English
Category: Business
New episodes: Every two weeks
Typical length: 53 min
Latest episode: 12 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1488581910

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