Lessons from India's biggest startup success stories

Conversations with some of India's brightest founders and a leading investor helped create a repository of essential insights that turn mere ideas into transformative businesses

BRAND CONNECT | PAID POST

Published: Mar 28, 2025 12:02:13 PM IST

Updated: Mar 28, 2025 12:10:10 PM IST

Across India’s rich landscape of entrepreneurial brilliance, where ambition meets adversity, the webisode series on Building for Bharat: Empowering Sustainable and Inclusive Innovation, under Leap to Unicorn Season 3, presented by IDFC FIRST Bank, in association with Moneycontrol and CNBC-TV18 . The series unfurled like a tapestry, threaded through by stories of audacity and resilience. Throughout the four webisodes, founders and an investor revealed not just how they built, but why, offering a masterclass in solving for Bharat, with Bharat. Innovation wasn’t just a buzzword for them. It was a quiet revolution, rooted in empathy, frugality, and an unshakable belief in what’s possible.

The Art of Starting Small

Every epic begins small. In the first webisode, Bipin Preet Singh of MobiKwik recalled coding his first website with college students in 2009, at a time when digital wallets were science fiction. His co-founder Upasana Taku joined to anchor this chaos, their partnership becoming a testament to the power of collaboration. Similarly, Alakh Pandey of PhysicsWallah started with a phone propped up on books in Prayagraj, teaching physics to those who couldn’t afford coaching hubs. Their journeys have been conditioned by their frugal ethos, where constraints birth creativity. Whether fintech or EdTech, it became clear that scale wasn’t about resources; it was about resourcefulness.

Serving the Unseen

A recurrent motif throughout the series was the need to build for those left behind. MobiKwik’s push for financial inclusion wasn’t just about urban convenience. It was about reaching vendors in Varanasi and merchants in Vishakhapatnam. Innovations by Alok Bansal and his team at PB Fintech reflected this laser focus, customizing insurance products for India’s rising middle classes, building a platform to sell insurance and disseminate information. Similarly, PhysicsWallah’s PiBox, which turns TVs into smart boards, wasn’t about cutting-edge tech but appropriate tech, tailored for Bharat’s patchy connectivity. Each solution demonstrated that innovation thrives when it speaks the language of its users.

Mentorship, Money, and the Long Game

Capital fuels, but wisdom steers. The second webisode dissected this alchemy through a freewheeling conversation with renowned investor and venture capitalist, Archana Jahagirdar, who believed capital is meant to temper entrepreneurial ambition with patience. Bipin Preet Singh stressed the value of mentorship, having navigated fintech’s wild frontiers himself. For Alakh Pandey, his students became his “mentors”, their feedback shaping his platform. Meanwhile, Alok Bansal recalled the instrumental role Sanjeev Bhikchandani and Hitesh Oberoi played in steering PB Fintech through the early years. The lesson here was that business ventures were more like a relay race, than a solo sprint.

Technology as Servant, Not Saviour

During the discussions, a paradox emerged - tech enables, but humanity endures. PhysicsWallah’s success lay not in AI-driven platforms but in Alakh Pandey’s relatable Prayagraj accent, which showed that trust is built in cultural echoes. PB Insurtech’s AI claims processing mattered less than its accessibility, allowing families to plan for their future with complete trust. Even MobiKwik’s fintech tools succeeded by prioritizing intuitive design over complexity. As Bipin Preet Singh noted, “A lot can be achieved with technology,” but only when it serves human needs.

The Unbroken Thread

Beneath these tales pulsed an indomitable truth; Bharat’s markets aren’t problems to solve but partners to embrace. Whether in fintech, EdTech, or insurtech, inclusivity wasn’t charity, it was a necessity. Profits flowed through affordable models and earned trust. Every founder interviewed during the ‘Building for Bharat’ series displayed stoic patience. No quick exits, no vanity metrics - just slow, stubborn building.

Leap To Unicorn Season 3, through these dialogues, did more than spotlight success. It mapped a mindset. For aspiring founders, the message was clear. Start where you are. Listen deeply. Build bridges, not castles. And remember that the voices of Bharat are your truest compass.

In the afterglow of an exciting and illuminating Building for Bharat webisode series, Leap To Unicorn Season 3, created by IDFC FIRST Bank, in association with Moneycontrol and CNBC-TV18, stands not merely as a platform but as a crucible where ideas are forged, visions are nurtured, and the future of Indian entrepreneurship is shaped. It beckons dreamers and doers to embark on journeys of their own, to build for Bharat with ingenuity, empathy, and an unwavering commitment to inclusivity.

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