MindGravity.

Nitya Sharma, CEO, and Co-Founder of Simpl. Simpl is a technology company that offers Pay-later solutions in India. Simpl has revolutionized online checkout in India by creating a market-leading Pay-Later platform, empowering e-commerce merchants to offer their consumers 1-click checkout, a line of credit at POS, and full buyer protection.

Before starting Simpl, Nitya worked on Wall Street for more than 10 years, where he structured, traded, and risk-managed structured credit portfolios at Bear Stearns and Goldman Sachs. Before that, he was a co-founding portfolio manager at JNF Financial, a distressed credit hedge fund from 2010–2014. Nitya initially moved back to India with the objective of starting an emerging-markets focused hedge-fund. However, he experienced the shortcomings of the Indian payments and credit stack first-hand when his credit card application was declined. This experience prompted him to dig deeper into the Indian payments landscape and subsequently led to the founding of Simpl.

In this episode, Nitya shares:

1. His educational background and journey as an entrepreneur
2. Views on the fintech landscape in India and his thesis behind Simple’s
3. Differences between banking infrastructure in India and theUS
4. The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on Simpl
5. The importance of building the right team
6. Leaning from the mistakes and what he wished he did differently

Reach out to our guest, Nitya on LinkedIn, or email him directly at [email protected]

You can follow or reach out to me, your host Rohan Handa on Linkedin, or email me at [email protected].

Ezra Goldman is the founder and CEO of Upshift that offers fractional car leasing service for low mileage drivers. Ezra cofounded a dockless bike-share in 1999 and helped design a shared folding electric scooter at the MIT Media Lab with Piaggio in 2006 while doing his Master's in City Planning. He's consulted on innovation for HP and was managing director of a tech startup in Copenhagen, where he also was a Ph.D. candidate studying why Danish people ride bicycles. Upshift has received almost $2M in equity, debt, and project financing from the likes of Urban Us, URBAN-X accelerator by BMW/MINI, an AngelList syndicate led by Sundeep Ahuja, co-founder of NerdWallet, and over 2,300 angels on Republic. 

On this episode we talk about:

1. Ezra's journey as prior to launching his startup
2. What launched him into the world of a startup?
3. What Upshift is trying to solve? And what it takes to build a startup?
4. His conviction in the idea, and why he went all in?
5. Who the right target customers are, and how to identify them?
6. How COVID has impacted his business? And how it impacted his personal life?

Reach out to our guest, Ezra on Linkedin, or email him directly on [email protected]

You can follow or reach out to me, your host Rohan Handa on Linkedin, or email me at [email protected].

Vijay Nadadur is the founder and CEO of Stride.ai. Stride's AI platform enables development, deployment, and adoption of enterprise-grade, smart applications. We leverage cutting edge AI and Natural Language Understanding to build and deliver solutions, keeping in mind the pain points of a financial services organization. When these AI-powered applications are deployed, enterprises can better understand risk,  manage regulation, meet compliance, and automate mundane tasks more effectively than ever before. Our solutions are flexible, available both on our Private Cloud as well as On-Premise. 

On this episode, we talk to Vijay about:

1. His journey from India to the US
2. What are the challenges around building a startup?
3. When do you know there's a product-market fit?
4. What are the ingredients of building the right startup?

Reach out to our guest, Vijay on Linkedin, Twitter, or email him directly on [email protected]

You can follow or reach out to me, your host Rohan Handa on Linkedin, or email me at [email protected].

Taylor Matthews is the Co-Founder and CEO of Farther Finance. He has raised over $1.6 Mn in venture capital from Cota Capital, The Tiffin Group, and other investors and is developing an investment advisory platform created to provide modern technology with trusted advice. The company's platform offers investment advice on allocations of exchange-traded funds based on personalized information that each client provides via the firm's platform, as well as uses a proprietary algorithm to implement model portfolios designed by investment experts with target asset allocations of equity and fixed-income, enabling clients to get access to ETFs that preserve capital and capital growth over long term horizons. based on their financial situation and risk tolerance. Taylor focuses on delivering the best in class financial advice by empowering our advisors with the tools and technology they need to help you achieve your financial goals. Prior to founding Farther, Taylor was part of the leadership at ForUsAll where he helped build the company from $25 million in assets under management to just under $1 billion in two years. 

On this episode we talk about:

• The journey of our founder
• What was the genesis for Farther Finance?
• What is currently missing from the fintech ecosystem?
• What are the challenges and the right ingredients for launching a product/startup?
• How pandemic impact fintechs? How it forces consumers to rethink their financial decision making?

You can reach out to Taylor Matthews: [email protected]

You can follow or reach out to me, your host Rohan Handa on Linkedin, or email me at [email protected].

KidzJet was started by parents with a vision to provide Safe, Reliable, and Affordable Transportation.  Breaking the barriers of transportation opens up a world of exploration and learning for children. With the students no longer limited by distance, schools can expand to new avenues to attract talent.  Benny Shaikh (CEO), after the birth of her twin sons, Kabir and Ruhan, she experienced the challenge of balancing her children's schedule with her professional life. In May 2014 she started KidzJet, in an effort to simplify life for parents and kids. Soon after, seeing the passion of her wife, her husband Ashish Chhaparwal decided to get on-board as well. 

On this episode we talk about:

1. The journey of our founders

2. Why all startups are not venture-backed?

3. The challenges and opportunities of launching a business, especially as a couple

4. How the pandemic impacts small businesses, and how to pivot?

You can follow or reach out to me, your host Rohan Handa on Linkedin, or email me at [email protected].

Dmitry Norenko is the Founder and CEO of Upswot, powering SMB-focused sales efficiency of online and offline channels of the Banks with continuous monitoring & insights into 92 alternative data sources. They are working with dozens of Banks and Insurers in Europe and North America. Martin Bailey is the Director of Innovation at Temenos, where he runs a cross-product innovation hub to incubate ideas in typically challenging areas (such as digital, cyber & cloud). 

And on this episode we talk about the journey of the partnership between a startup and a large corporate, covering the myriad of aspects that often never get discussed. 

You can follow or reach out to me, your host Rohan Handa on Linkedin, or email me at [email protected].

As the Founder and Managing Director of the JB Capital Group of Companies, Jeremy Hill is responsible for the overall strategic direction and leadership of the firm. His role contributes to the development and execution of our strategic and corporate goals, which includes oversight of relationships with capital partners and the evaluation and consummation of new investments.

Known for his entrepreneurial vision and development expertise, Jeremy was the President of several firms focusing on investment strategies and structured finance in the United States prior to founding JB Capital. Providing nearly $500 Million in capital to privately held businesses, he has recognized acuity for creating innovative strategies to complex situations and a proven track record of creative collaboration. He has shared his expertise as a guest on CNBC, earned multiple awards, served as a trusted advisor to growth companies, and created a name for himself as a visionary entrepreneur with a highly trained eye for opportunity.

As the Founder and Managing Director of the JB Capital Group of Companies, Jeremy Hill is responsible for the overall strategic direction and leadership of the firm. His role contributes to the development and execution of our strategic and corporate goals, which includes oversight of relationships with capital partners and the evaluation and consummation of new investments.

Known for his entrepreneurial vision and development expertise, Jeremy was the President of several firms focusing on investment strategies and structured finance in the United States prior to founding JB Capital. Providing nearly $500 Million in capital to privately held businesses, he has recognized acuity for creating innovative strategies to complex situations and a proven track record of creative collaboration. He has shared his expertise as a guest on CNBC, earned multiple awards, served as a trusted advisor to growth companies, and created a name for himself as a visionary entrepreneur with a highly trained eye for opportunity.

Cody Candee, co-founder of Bounce, who aims to give you a place to leave your things anywhere in the city by providing short term bag storage in hotels and shops. Before starting Bounce, Cody worked at Intuit, the makers of the accounting software Quickbooks, and at the venture studio FactoryX. That’s where he learned about the importance of rapid prototyping and how it should be done so that you can find the right approach with your startup in the fastest way possible. The San Francisco-based startup has raised $1.2 million in seed funding from investors including Structured Capital managing partner Jillian Manus, Seabed VC, Airbnb general counsel Rob Chesnut and Canadian entrepreneur Michael Hyatt.

Our minds wander but does not mean it's lost. In fact, let it wander and allow it to connect the dots of imagination.