The Neon Show

Siddhartha Ahluwalia

Hi, I am your host Siddhartha! I have been an entrepreneur from 2012-2017 building two products AddoDoc and Babygogo. After selling my company to SHEROES, I and my partner Nansi decided to start up again. But we felt unequipped in our skillset in 2018 to build a large company. We had known 0-1 journey from our startups but lacked the experience of building 1-10 journeys.

Hence was born the Neon Show (Earlier 100x Entrepreneur) to learn from founders and investors, the mindset to scale yourself and your company. This quest still keeps us excited even after 5 years and doing 200+ episodes.

We welcome you to our journey to understand what goes behind building a super successful company. Every episode is done with a very selfish motive, that I and Nansi should come out as a better entrepreneur and professional after absorbing the learnings.

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Top 10 The Neon Show Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best The Neon Show episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to The Neon Show for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite The Neon Show episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Bangalore’s Water Crisis Explained I Karnataka Govt Failure? | Vishwanath S on The Neon Show

The Neon Show

02/23/24 • 97 min

This week’s episode is a case study which explains Bangalore's water crisis and raises the question whether Karnataka government is at fault for how Bangalore has struggled to deal with water issues as we welcome water activist Viswanath Srikantaiah to the Neon Show!
Will WW3 Happen Because Of Water Scarcity?
Has The Karnataka Government FAILED Bangalore?
Why Metropolitan Cities In India Are Unliveable!
“The TRAGIC Reality About India Is...”
All these EXPLOSIVE topics and more in this BRUTALLY HONEST conversation about India’s long standing relationship with water. A deep dive into how water may lead to the waging of the next big war in the world as well as a special focus on Karnataka & Bangalore's struggles with water... Tune in NOW!
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Siddhartha Ahluwalia, Founder, Neon Fund & Host, The Neon Show
Twitter: https://twitter.com/siddharthaa7
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siddhartha_a/
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
*Sponsor Shout Out*
Looking to build a differentiated tech startup with a 10X better solution? Prime is the high-conviction, high-support investor you need. With its fourth fund of $120M, Prime actively works with star teams to accelerate building great companies.
To know more, visit https://primevp.in/!
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CHAPTERS
00:00 - Precap
01:46 - Introducing Viswanath Srikantaiah, Bangalore-based water activist!
02:19 - Will WW3 Happen Because Of Water Scarcity?
05:04 - Indo-China Water War On Brahmaputra Explained!
07:22 - Indus Water Treaty Conflict Between India & Pakistan
08:53 - Cauvery Water Dispute Decoded!
15:14 - Geographical Breakdown of Bangalore’s History
22:40 - Has The Karnataka Government FAILED Bangalore?
26:43 - Is Urban Architecture At Fault For Water Issues?
31:33 - Will Indian Water Quality Reach Levels Of U.S. & Australia?
35:00 - Why Metropolitan Cities In India Are Unlivable!
41:40 - Why Is Bangalore Poor At Dealing With Water Issues?
45:58 - Can India’s Economy Thrive Like Japan & Singapore?
48:26 - History Of Migration In Bangalore!
53:48 - Impact of Green Revolution on India
1:03:22 - Why India Will NOT Leapfrog China’s GDP!
1:06:30 - Social Impact of Water Crisis on Farmers
1:09:53 - Is Migration DESTROYING Kannadiga’s Livelihoods?
1:13:44 - Impact of Population Explosion on India
1:18:42 - “The TRAGIC Reality About India Is...”
1:29:42 - Shining Light On The Well Digging Community In Karnataka
1:36:31 - Concluding Remarks
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Inside the mind of Shripriya Mahesh, Founding Partner, Spero Ventures

The Neon Show

11/22/20 • 44 min

In this episode of 100xEntrepreneur Podcast, we take you through the journey of Shripriya Mahesh from growing up in Madras (India) to working with eBay & Omidyar Network, making Films, battling cancer while founding Spero Ventures.Prior to Spero Ventures, she led Emerging Tech investing at Omidyar Network. Shripriya has been an active angel investor in, and board member or advisor to, private technology companies throughout her career. Shripriya formerly held several leadership roles at eBay including as Vice President of Product Marketing (US, revenue), and as Vice President of Global Product Management. Shripriya has an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MFA in Film from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and a B.A. in Economics from Stella Maris College, Madras University.Listen to this podcast to learn about:Notes - 00:58 - From growing up in India in the early 90s to moving to the US02:50 - Doing MBA from HBS & moving to Bay Area09:26 - After eBay what prompted her to move to NYC to do a film-making Course?15:47 - Joining Omidyar Network and later starting Spero Ventures21:39 - Investing in mission-driven founders23:44 - Battling cancer and building Spero Ventures29:09 - “How technology is designed/biased towards the mainstream audience”.30:51 - Building empathy in technology36:53 - “The mission & business model of a company needs to be perfectly aligned”.37:58 - Her perspective of Gen-Z’s mission-driven attitude to make the world a better place

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PayTM vs RBI, Banking Stocks, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s Strategies & More I Deepak Shenoy I Neon Show

The Neon Show

03/05/24 • 116 min

This week’s episode is an assortment of INSIGHTFUL INFORMATION about stocks in the banking sector, PayTM vs RBI & Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s strategies to becoming generationally wealthy as we welcome once again Deepak Shenoy, founder of CapitalMind, to the Neon Show!
What Happened To PayTM?
What Is The State of Banking Stocks & Sector in India!
Is PM Modi Right About PSU Stocks?
Are Startups Going IPO A Good Trend?
All these juicy topics and more in this DETAILED conversation. A dive into the psyche of the man who manages over Rs. 1700 crore in the Indian markets... One of the rare times where the conversation never stops being informative & gripping. Tune in NOW!
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Siddhartha Ahluwalia, Founder, Neon Fund & Host, The Neon Show
Twitter: https://twitter.com/siddharthaa7
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siddhartha_a/
__________________________________________________________________
*Sponsor Shout Out*
Looking to build a differentiated tech startup with a 10X better solution? Prime is the high-conviction, high-support investor you need. With its fourth fund of $120M, Prime actively works with star teams to accelerate building great companies.
To know more, visit https://primevp.in/
___________________________________________________________________
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Precap
01:34 - Welcome Back Deepak Shenoy, CEO of CapitalMind!
01:52 - What Happened To PayTM? Fintechs vs RBI
11:21 - State of Banking Stocks & Sector in India!
28:07 - Should You Buy A Banking Stock?
34:23 - Is RBI Mis Selling Information?
39:07 - Why Are Public Sector Banks Doing So Well?
40:10 - Indian Banks’ Bad Lending History!
45:07 - ArcelorMittal DRAMA Decoded!
52:20 - What Was The Problem With Yes Bank?
58:13 - Is PM Modi Right About PSU Stocks?
1:08:00 - Is The Indian Stock Market Currently Overvalued?
1:11:41 - Are Micro Cap Companies The Best Bet Right Now?
1:15:57 - Are Startups Going IPO A Good Trend?
1:31:03 - Are Jio Financials A Good Stock To Invest in?
1:33:06 - Top 3 Active Stocks In India!
1:39:57 - “The Market Goes Up When You Sleep!”
1:41:11 - Should Financial Advisors Be Held Accountable?
1:48:51 - Is Buying Large Caps The Safe Option?
1:50:18 - Ra

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Sajith Pai, Blume Ventures on building personal brands, being open-minded and unlearning to succeed.

The Neon Show

07/19/20 • 60 min

Sajith has been constantly sharing his thoughts & thesis around the Startup ecosystem on social media since 2012.This probably reflects from his background, of being at the Times Group for over two decades and his love for reading and taking copious notes.He joined Blume Ventures in 2018, in his 40s. As he didn’t have a background in VC & Angel investing, he humbly considers himself, “An Accidental VC”.Some of Blume Ventures portfolio companies include - Unacademy, Dunzo, and Cashify among others.In this podcast, Sajith shares his experience of becoming a VC, from a Non-investing background and identifying startups that outshine during Covid-19. Notes - 00:55 - A Day in the life of a VC during Covid-1902:02 - Why does Sajith refer to himself as “An Accidental VC”?07:09 - Building a personal brand & experience to enter the VC Ecosystem09:44 - Emphasis on Note-taking for collating thoughts & ideas12:56 - Secret to being an open-minded VC - “Having Strong Views, weakly held”22:30 - Strongly backing Unacademy’s incredible growth journey25:55 - Markets where vacuums have been created in situations like Covid-1942:10 - What’s his perspective on “Moats” in Early-stage startups vs Bigger players in the market?45:27 - What things did he have to unlearn to succeed as VC?53:45 - What does he consider, as his edge as a VC, coming from a Non-investing background, at the age of 40?

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Sanjay Swamy, Prime Venture Partners

The Neon Show

01/26/20 • 58 min

Sanjay started his career in Silicon Valley in 1992 & spent over 7 years at his first company, working in different roles across - Sales, Customer Support, Engineering & Marketing. He then worked with Xerox & Portal Software in US before coming back to India in 2003.From 2003 to 2011, he had several experiences most of which revolutionized entire ecosystems they were part of, right from mCheck, ZipDial, Ezetap & Aadhar Team (at UIDAI).Finally in 2011, he started Angel Prime (now Prime Ventures) which invests in early-stage entrepreneurs to build great companies.Some of his portfolio companies are Moneytap, Ezetap, Happay, and Kredx among others.In this podcast, Sanjay shares his experiences & learnings from being on both sides of the Startup ecosystem - An Entrepreneur & A VC. Notes - 00:38 - His journey from a small town in Karnataka to Silicon Valley & finally becoming a VC04:04 - Part 1- Experience & Learnings in Silicon Valley (from working in Sales, Customer Support to Engineering)05:55 - Working with Xerox 08:40 - Coming back to India and working with mPortal & mChek11:20 - Realizing of being Ahead of Time at mChek 14:08 - Successful Startups which Controlled their Ecosystem like Paytm & those which rode the Ecosystem changes like PhonePe & GooglePay16:49 - Part 2 - Working with Aadhar (UIDAI Team) & Experiencing the formulation of Aadhar19:56 - Part 3 - Bringing together previous learnings & starting AngelPrime (currently Prime Ventures)22:51 - Conceptualizing ZipDial while being on a flight25:10 - Validating Market Fit in less than $100 at ZipDial28:45 - Building Ezetap - Being on the Merchant Side30:45 - Being the First Sculptor of the Company34:16 - Formulating Market Specific Preferences as a VC40:00 - Importance of being Honest & Open with your VC Partners44:57 - There’s No Completely 100% Right or Wrong situation being a VC47:59 - Being a Founder in Late 30s or 40s50:37 - Having 360 days of Frustration & 5 days of Glory as an Entrepreneur

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Tej Kapoor, Fosun RZ Capital

The Neon Show

01/05/20 • 46 min

#100xEntrepreneur #Podcast with Tej Kapoor, Co-Executive President of Fosun RZ Capital (India & Africa)From 2007-13, Tej held several key positions at AOL in the United States and then at Naspers Group.In 2016 he joined Fosun RZ Capital, where some of his portfolio companies are Gland Pharma, Delhivery, MakeMyTrip, Ixigo and Kissht.In this podcast, Tej shares his experience of working with both Large scale markets as well as Seed-stage startups in India & China. Notes - 00:47 - Journey from AOL in the US to Naspers and finally heading Fosun RZ (India & Africa)04:17 - What is Fosun RZ Capital about? 05:42 - Typical Ticket Sizes08:45 - Focus Markets in 2020 - Fintech, Travel, E-commerce, Consumer Brands10:54 - Parameters to evaluate Seed/Early stage companies12:41 - Shift from dealing with Large Ticket Sizes at Naspers to Seed Stage Investing at Fosun RZ 15:25 - Role of Storytelling in Fundraising by Early-stage founders17:46 - Crucial aspects to building and selling your product20:20 - Growth Scale of Ixigo & Delhivery 22:31 - Key investments & Thesis at Naspers25:12 - Experience & Learnings in working with Founders of Ixigo, Delhivery & Ibibo28:57 - How’s the Startup and Angel Investing culture in China?34:50 - New Verticals of E-commerce Startups coming up in 202036:58 - Evaluation of a Fintech Startup & New opportunities in Fintech Space

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Ashu Garg, Foundation Capital

The Neon Show

12/08/19 • 43 min

#100xEntrepreneur #Podcast with Ashu Garg, Partner, Foundation CapitalAfter graduating from IIT Delhi, and later completing his masters from IIM Bangalore, Ashu worked at various companies such as - Unilever India, McKinsey & Company, Microsoft and a few others.In 2008 he joined Foundation Capital and since then he’s been primarily investing in B2B & SaaS Companies for the past 11 years.Foundation Capital invested early in Netflix.His Portfolio Companies include - Localytics, QuanticMind, Opas.ai, ZeroStack and FundsIndia among others.In this podcast, Ashu shares his deep insights of the B2B & SaaS space in US & the opportunities coming ahead.Notes - 00:56 - His Professional Journey - A series of Serendipitous Events.05:03 - What caught his interest in the B2B & SaaS market space?07:23 - What are the key skills, he looks for in B2B founder?10:05 - How to sell B2B or SaaS products?12:01 - Why is having clarity on ICP (Initial Customer Profile) crucial for a business?14:40 - How long does it take for him from - “First email from a founder to Cutting a Cheque”?16:40 - Success & Struggles in Foundation Capital’s Portfolio Companies25:10 - What’s his advice for founders who struggle to scale up in the SaaS market?27:55 - When does he plans to invest more in Indian Companies?31:23 - Themes he’s been on a look out for - Task Automation, Tools to make Development easy, Cybersecurity27:15 - Will Startups in Credit Lending Space be able to make money?38:00 - How can B2B entrepreneurs crack the next big thing?

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Alok Goyal, Stellaris Venture Partners

The Neon Show

11/17/19 • 63 min

#100xEntrepreneur #Podcast with Alok Goyal, Partner, Stellaris Venture Partners“It’s essential that you find the perfect balance between passion and money” - Alok Goyal.After heading SAP India as COO for 3 years, he decided to become a Venture Capitalist and joined Helion Ventures in 2013 to understand and experience the Indian Startup Ecosystem. In 2016 he Co-Founded Stellaris Venture Partners, where he looks after the following markets - SaaS, Logistics, Recruiting.Some of the Portfolio companies of the firm include - Mamaearth, Whatfix, mfine and Shop101 among others.In this podcast, Alok shares, about Electric-vehicle & SaaS space in India and more.Notes - 00:35 - Journey - COO at SAP India to a Venture Capitalist05:38 - How he got introduced and joined Helion07:02 - Led investments in Software & Services markets at Helion 09:15 - How are Investment decisions taken at Stellaris?11:20 - Deals led by him - Whatfix, Signzy, noticeboard, LOADSHARE 15:05 - Reasons behind rapid growth in Whatfix and LOADSHARE18:05 - Does he needs validation on his investment decisions from a senior investor?19:05 - “If you are a reasonably sized fund, it’s not possible to build Theme sized funds?” 21:39 - Why is he so bullish in the Electric-vehicle space in India?24:53 - Two-wheeler & Three-wheeler vehicles would be first adopters of EVs in India26:36 - “EVs Market would be bigger than Ola & Uber combined due to Economies of Scale”27:42 - SaaS Startups Growth in India vs US32:20 - Evaluation of Founders - “Great Founders don’t fit into any pattern, they define new patterns”35:05 - Key Strategies in SaaS - “Ability to sell your solutions, Scale what works & Kill what doesn’t”44:22 - Role of Markets in Growth - “Great Entrepreneur + Average Market = Average Outcome” & “Average Entrepreneur + Great Markets = Decent Outcomes”

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Amrish Rau, Co-Founder, CitrusPay & Angel Investor

The Neon Show

12/01/19 • 53 min

#100xEntrepreneur #Podcast with Amrish Rau, Co-founder at Citrus Pay, Head of Investments & Partnerships at PayU“Life is Game, Treat it as a Sport, Enjoy your time in the Field, & It will be Fantastic!” - Amrish RauAfter starting his career as a Sales Manager at Siemens Nixdorf in 1996, he later worked extensively with Teradata & First Data. He later started Citrus Payments in 2014, which was acquired by PayU for $130Mn in 2016, one of the biggest FinTech deals in India.As an Angel Investor, his Portfolio Companies are - CRED, Khatabook, Signzy, and OPEN Bank among others.In this podcast, Amrish shares his deep insights of the FinTech space in India & opportunities coming ahead.Notes - 00:56 - How did he grow from a Sales Manager at Siemens to one of the renowned names in Indian Fintech Space?05:20 - How does he treat his work life?06:36 - His experience of Investing in CRED, Mobile Premiere League, Khatabook, Dunzo & Bira 13:28 - Formation of Citrus Pay14:42 - Seeds of Entrepreneurship17:55 - First few years of Citrus Pay - Testing the Market19:26 - His thoughts on Business Capital requirement & Funding21:45 - “You should not tie your dreams to - How much funding I can raise?; Instead, think of - What problem statement can I solve?”23:11 - Pivots v/s Experimentation & Improvisation24:32 - Core Unsolved problems in FinTech for B2C & B2B27:15 - Will Startups in Credit Lending Space be able to make money?28:24 - Credit Lending opportunities in SMEs30:23 - Cost of money is extremely high through NBFCs31:37 - Other Markets he’s interested in - Transactions & eKYC32:52 - “The number of Quality founders, I meet every day, I’m soon going to end up broke being an Angel Investor.”35:26 - Preparation for the Big War in FinTech 37:33 - Advice to listeners - “Spend time in understanding the complexity of FinTech”44:45 - No.1 Golden Rule for a Cofounder is to put the Company First

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Sukhbir Singh, Bollywood Singer & Startup Investor

The Neon Show

08/09/19 • 11 min

Sukhbir Singh is a well-known Bollywood singer. He is also called the prince of Bhangra. He has recently become an active startup investor. His first investment is in the beverage market in India.In this podcast, Sukhbir shares his journey of how living hand to mouth in Kenya, in a Gurudwara taught him humbleness and never letting your success or work change your human principles. His parents migrated when he was just two years old from Jalandhar, India. His father was into singing, classically trained, but he was spiritually inclined. So he worked as a Gyaniji in Gurudwara in Kenya.He learned different instruments by being in a band in Kenya, started off as a keyboard player, then progressed to a drummer, guitarist, and then eventually a singer, started from backing vocals and then lead vocal. More on his journey in the podcast.When being asked on:1. How do you feel when you meet young founders today?I see myself in them. I see when I was their age and I had that desire and passion to create a song, would take an idea from just a melody to a song. And, for Startups I see them in a very similar fashion it starts with an idea and then the passion behind the ideas of people actually take that idea and make it into a reality. 2. How music production and startups are related?It's the same thing with startups you don't know if that is going to work. It's unless and until you put it into practices. Similarly, with music production, you take an idea to make it into song and then let you know the masses decide whether it's a hit song or not.Sukhbir also shares:1. What he is looking in startups and founders that he wants to fund2. His advice to founders to deliver excellence in business3. His learnings from 25 years in the music industry that can be applied to startups4. His advice from his own experience on dealing with failure in startupsFrom Siddhartha: A shoutout to India’s first start-up to create shoes with Natural and Sustainable Fibres. Neeman’s shoes are extremely lightweight and flexible. I wear them without socks, and I don’t have to worry about odour anymore. Plus, if they ever catch a stain, I dump them in a washing machine. Overall, after wearing Neeman’s – I don’t think I can wear any other shoes. So, go ahead and try them. Just for the audience of 100X, my buddies at Neeman’s are offering an exclusive 15% OFF using the code 100X on https://neemans.com

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FAQ

How many episodes does The Neon Show have?

The Neon Show currently has 290 episodes available.

What topics does The Neon Show cover?

The podcast is about Entrepreneurship, Podcasts and Business.

What is the most popular episode on The Neon Show?

The episode title 'Varun Mayya On India Vs America, AI Creators, Job Loss, & YouTube's Future I The Neon Show' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on The Neon Show?

The average episode length on The Neon Show is 52 minutes.

How often are episodes of The Neon Show released?

Episodes of The Neon Show are typically released every 7 days.

When was the first episode of The Neon Show?

The first episode of The Neon Show was released on Mar 20, 2019.

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The Neon Show

Siddhartha Ahluwalia

Top 10 The Neon Show Episodes

FAQ

How many episodes does The Neon Show have?

What topics does The Neon Show cover?

What is the most popular episode on The Neon Show?

What is the average episode length on The Neon Show?

How often are episodes of The Neon Show released?

When was the first episode of The Neon Show?

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