Simran Khara is the founder and CEO of Koparo. She has an MBA from the Indian School of Business and is an alumnus of the London School of Economics and Shri Ram College of Commerce. With over 16 years of experience, she has advised, built, and monetized in her roles at McKinsey & Co, Star TV, and Juggernaut Books. Now, she is building Koparo, a D2C toxin-free home-care brand.

Sarthak & I deep dive into India's Food and Beverage industry. We discuss the unit economics of running a restaurant to make butter chicken, ordering patterns in India, the business models of food aggregators like Zomato and Swiggy, cloud kitchens, and the reason behind the rise and fall of Uber Eats. We uncover the success story behind Domino's and how Ankit Gupta and Chirag Chhajer built Burma Burma, a Burmese cuisine restaurant chain in such a competitive industry.

Salone Sehgal is a trailblazer in the world of gaming and interactive media. Salone has shattered the glass ceiling by becoming the world's first female general partner of games and interactive media VC funds. Her impressive journey has seen her co-founding Lumikai Fund, India's first early-stage interactive media and gaming VC. Salone's remarkable career expanded to over 18 years as a global game and new media investor, games entrepreneur, and former M&A banker.

Globally, incense is the silent bridge that connects humans to the divine. And naturally, no Indian wants to compromise when it comes to their hopes and prayers. This episode of The One Percent Project is an intriguing exploration of the incense business and its essence in Indian culture with a remarkable guest, ⁠Arjun Ranga⁠, the CEO of ⁠Cycle Pure Agarbathis⁠, a part of the NR Group.

Vijay Rayapati, the co-founder and CEO of Atomicwork a startup that helps enterprises bring their employees, IT systems, and HR operations together to drive business impact. Previously, Vijay co-founded Minjar, a cloud management startup. Minjar was acquired by Nutanix in 2018.

Vijay’s journey is a testament to grit, patience, and perseverance. From his early life in a small town in Andhra Pradesh in India to becoming a prominent entrepreneur, Vijay shares his counterintuitive insights on entrepreneurship, the importance of people's success, and his passion for seeding and building.

Sawan Kapoor is widely recognised as 'The Career Guy' and India’s foremost career coach. From his early days at Daymon Worldwide, the largest private label broker in the FMCG industry, to his rise as CEO of a multi-million-dollar organisation in the Wine & Spirits industry, Sawan's journey is marked by rapid progression and visionary leadership. His ability to navigate challenging situations, like a sudden job loss in a foreign country, spurred him to develop a systematic, scientific approach to finding the perfect job fit, a methodology he uses to guide thousands of professionals towards career success.

Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, the co-founder of Wakefit, a household name in India synonymous with quality sleep. Chaitanya's journey to Wakefit is a testament to persistence and unwavering determination. Before starting Wakefit, Chaitanya had nineteen years of experience spanning entrepreneurship, management consulting and marketing. Wakefit, his third start-up stint, co-founded with Ankit Garg, has emerged as a game-changer in the world of sleep solutions. Crafting products that redefine comfort and wellness, Wakefit's journey parallels Chaitanya's own pursuit of excellence in entrepreneurship.

Dhruvank is the Head of Podcasts for Spotify India. Over a career spanning 25 years, he has launched several media and technology businesses and held leadership positions (CxO/ Business head) in digital media, content, television and technology companies like Star TV, Times of India group, NDTV Imagine/ Turner Broadcasting etc.

In his entrepreneurial stint, Dhruvank co-founded ‘The Adaptation Company’- a content company focused on book-to-film/TV adaptations.

In this second episode of the two-part series, he shares his insights and perspectives on building a venture capital fund, investing in start-ups, shedding light on his decision-making strategies and the meticulous analysis behind his investment decisions.

As we delve further into this conversation, Nuno reveals his favourite books, productivity tools, and the mechanisms he employs to analyse his decisions.

In this second episode of the two-part series, he shares his insights and perspectives on building a venture capital fund, investing in start-ups, shedding light on his decision-making strategies and the meticulous analysis behind his investment decisions.

As we delve further into this conversation, Nuno reveals his favourite books, productivity tools, and the mechanisms he employs to analyse his decisions.

In the realm of innovation and strategy, few individuals embody the true spirit of transformation, possessing a unique blend of strategic prowess, unwavering determination, and a passion for creating lasting impact. Nuno Goncalves Pedro, the co-founder of Chamaeleon and Strive Capital, epitomises this rare breed of visionary leaders.

In part two of our conversation, we dive deeper into Prasanna's extraordinary life, understand how his world transformed after achieving billionaire status, the profound influence of Paul Graham's writings on his thinking, and the unique superpowers that have propelled him to great heights. He also shares his book recommendations and unveils his thoughts on productivity, providing counterintuitive insights on making the most of your time and achieving remarkable results.

Few possess a rare combination of exceptional talent, entrepreneurial vision, and a relentless drive to push boundaries. My next guest on The One Percent Project, Prasanna Sankar, the co-founder of Rippling, is undoubtedly one such individual. In 2010, Prasanna co-founded Likealittle, a college campus social network that experienced an incredible surge, skyrocketing from 0 to 20 million page views in six weeks.

Susan has a remarkable career spanning three continents. With an impressive legacy through her work with Google and ByteDance (TikTok), Amazon, and Canva, she effectively combines technical prowess with commercial acumen. Susan has an exceptional track record and has become a prominent figure in the global business, making her a powerful catalyst for positive change. She is a published author, a dynamic, inspirational speaker, and a valued mentor for young entrepreneurs worldwide.

In part 2 of our conversation with Karthik Reddy, Blume Ventures, we delve deeper into the world of venture capital. Join us as we explore Karthik's approach to investing, his counterintuitive insight about venture capital, how he identifies exceptional founders, concepts and frameworks that have influenced him in his career and much more. 

Karthik is the co-founder and Managing Partner at Blume Ventures, one of India's pre-eminent early-stage venture funds. At over $600 Million in AUM, Blume has made 150+ investments across three funds. Karthik also serves as the Chairperson of the Executive Committee at the IVCA (India's Venture and Alternative Capital Association) - India's apex association for Venture & PE Funds, working alongside the Indian Government in policy & regulatory issues concerning Alternative Investment Funds.

It is hard to imagine an elephant dancing, but if that elephant is the State Bank of India, SBI, as popularly known, you are in for a surprise/ delight. SBI is India's biggest bank, with 450M+ customers. As an Indian, you may be able to rattle 100s of challenges and inefficiencies of SBI, but its contribution towards India's growth is second to none. SBI has groomed the finest talents and established financial services and products that has paved the path for other Indian banks.

Brendan Boyle is a toy inventor, an adjunct professor at Stanford, and the Founder of the IDEO Play Lab. He is also the inventor of the world-famous Jumperoo.

Brendan consults companies about redesigning their organisational behaviour to include space for play and co-authored the award-winning encyclopedia of never-before-seen inventions, The Klutz Book of Inventions.

Aditi Sharma is the co-founder of Grow Commerce, ex-Grab & McKinsey. She talks about why she chose to join Grab and declined an offer from Google even when she was expecting her first child to join a hypergrowth stage startup.

Rajan Singh is a graduate of IIT Kanpur and a former Indian Police Service officer who served as the Trivandrum Police Commissioner. But after a few years, Rajan felt a sense of intellectual stagnation in his job, and he decided to quit and restart his career. He then pursued an MBA from Wharton Business School and worked as a consultant with McKinsey in New York before returning to India as an investment professional at New Silk Route, a billion-dollar private equity fund. However, his restlessness did not end there, and he eventually became an entrepreneur, founding a habit-building startup called HabitStrong. At HabitStrong, Rajan helps people improve their lives by inculcating focus, self-discipline, and good habits.