Entrepreneurship

Module

Business Models

1 lesson

01

Why Some Startups Quietly Build Billion-Rupee Businesses That Nobody Talks About

Famous app. Zero profit. Boring system. Billions in cash. Which one would you build? Ask any finance professional in India to name five startups. Without…

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Module

Early Traction

1 lesson

01

How Zoho Built a ₹8000 Crore Business Without Any Marketing

No VC money. No flashy ads. ₹8,000 crore in revenue. It is a quiet, sun-drenched afternoon in Tenkasi, a small town nestled in the foothills of the Western…

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Module

Founder Mindset

1 lesson

01

Why Smart Founders Still Build the Wrong Businesses

IIT grad. ₹700 crore raised. Cover stories everywhere. Three years later, out of his own company. What went wrong? In 2012, a 24-year-old IIT Bombay graduate…

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Module

Funding & Control

1 lesson

01

How Zerodha Became India's Most Profitable Startup Without a Single Rupee of VC Money

No VC money. No ads. ₹4,000 Crore profit. How? In 2010, the Indian startup landscape was beginning to resemble a high-stakes gold rush. Venture capital was…

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Module

Going to Market

1 lesson

01

Why ITC Wins in India Even With Average Products

Great product. Zero availability. Average product. Everywhere. Who prints more money? Walk into any tiny, dusty kirana store in a village in Bihar or a remote…

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Module

Operations

1 lesson

01

Why BigBasket Almost Collapsed When India Needed It Most

Demand multiplied 10x. Slots disappeared. The grocery 'Lifeline' was breaking. March 25, 2020. Imagine you are in a quiet high-rise apartment in Gurgaon or a…

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Module

People & Culture

2 lessons

01

When the Founder Becomes the Reason the Company Can't Grow

Founder works 18 hours. Decisions take 18 days. What's broken? There is a strange, often heartbreaking moment in the life of every rapidly growing company. It…

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Why Hiring Your Best Friend as Your First Employee Can Kill Your Startup

A friend who stayed when you had nothing. An expert who knows what you don't. Who gets the VP seat? It is a familiar story told over thousands of cups of chai…

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Module

Scaling

3 lessons

01

Why Jugaad Gets You Started and Systems Make You Unstoppable

A founder saving the day. A manager following a manual. Who builds the empire? The word 'jugaad' is perhaps India's most famous and polarizing export to the…

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The Moment Swiggy Knew It Had Won

Zomato was bigger. TinyOwl had the hype. How did Swiggy win? It is 2015. Imagine you are standing in a small, cramped apartment in HSR Layout, Bangalore. The…

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The Silent Killer Called "Let's Scale Now"

Early users love you. Investors have the cheques. Should you press 'Go'? It is 2012, and two IIM alumni, Ambareesh Murty and Ashish Shah, are sitting in a…

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Module

Starting Up

4 lessons

01

Why Dunzo Couldn't Survive Despite Everyone Loving It

Everyone loved Dunzo. Reliance bought 25%. Valuation: huge. Four years later — near collapse. Why? Ask a Bengaluru resident in 2019 about Dunzo and you would…

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Why Paytm Won the Night Demonetisation Happened

8 PM. Modi on TV. 86% of India's cash becomes paper. One app won the night. Why? November 8th, 2016. 8 PM. Prime Minister Narendra Modi walks onto live…

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Why Your Friends' Approval Means Nothing in Business

Your mother loves your business idea. Your roommate thinks it's brilliant. Fifteen people liked your Instagram post. None of that is validation. A 23-year-old…

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Why India Rewards Execution Over Original Ideas

Budget hotels existed forever. One 19-year-old turned them into $10 billion. Idea? Boring. Execution? Ruthless. In 2013, a 19-year-old college dropout named…

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Module

Startup Finance

5 lessons

01

The Simple Ratio That Decides If a Business Actually Works

Spent ₹200 to make ₹120. Every new customer is a loss. Why is the founder smiling? It is 10:30 PM on a rainy Tuesday in Indiranagar, Bengaluru. Inside a…

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The Billion Dollar Bribe: Why Your Cab was Free

₹80 for a 10km ride. ₹100 lost by the company. Who was actually paying? It is 2015, and you are standing on a sweltering pavement in Saket, Delhi. The air is…

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What Every Founder Learns the Hard Way About Burning Money

₹60 million in the bank. 70% of the team fired. How did the math fail? Imagine you are sitting in a glass-walled office in Gurugram. It is January 2023, and…

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Why Byju's Had ₹10,000 Crore in Revenue and Still Ran Out of Money

₹10,000 crore revenue. $22 billion valuation. Could not pay salaries. How? In 2020, Byju Raveendran was on top of the world. His company, Byju's, was India's…

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Why a Company with ₹10,000 Crore Revenue Can Still Be Broke

Flipkart did hundreds of crores in 24 hours. They lost ₹15 on every ₹100 sold. Guess which number the press talked about. Back in 2014, Flipkart's Big Billion…

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