The ASYMMETRIC Crew today:

Revant: Founder, Mosaic Wellness

Shantanu: Founder, Bombay Shaving Company

Chirag: Founder, GoKwik

Ankit Agarwal: Managing Partner at Alteria Capital

00:00 Coming Up

01:10 Intro and Welcome, Ankit!

03:07 Debt vs. Equity

07:08 Startup Funding Journeys

09:04 How Founders Think About Debt

14:40 Venture Debt Provider Portfolio Allocation

17:25 Debt vs. Equity - The Trade-Off

21:07 Lessons from Failed Startups & Over-Leverage

28:44 Venture Debt: How Do LPs Get Comfort?

35:19 Growth Runways & Cash Flow

41:20 Managing Debt While Chasing Growth

42:02 Case Study: Using Debt to Scale

54:59 Risk and Reward for LPs

01:00:18 Operations of Venture Debt Funds

01:06:32 Risks in Acquisition Deals

01:08:22 Challenges in Indian Banking for Startups

01:15:58 Venture Debt vs. Traditional Lenders

01:18:24 Competition in Venture Debt

01:20:34 Concluding Thoughts

The ASYMMETRIC Crew today:

Revant: Founder, Mosaic Wellness

Shantanu: Founder, Bombay Shaving Company

Chirag: Founder, GoKwik

Rahul Garg: Partner, General Catalyst

0:00 Coming Up

1:13 Intro & Welcome to Rahul Garg

1:59 The Q-Comm Disruption - or Evolution?

6:51 Grocery & QuickCommerce

12:39 Thoughts on Big Box Retailers

17:38 Does “Quick” Really Matter?

22:13 Grocery & Food Margin Outlook

28:30 DMart vs Q-Comm - ROE Analysis

32:40 A Deepdive on “Fresh”

36:56 Horizontal vs Vertical Market Opportunities

41:41 Q-Comm for Fashion - Does it Work?

46:12 “Try and Buy" in Quick Fashion

48:39 Nature of Demand in Fashion

52:02 Understanding User Behaviour in Fashion

57:00 Understanding Fashion Logistics & Operations

1:01:33 QComm for Health & Wellness - Pharmacy

1:06:21 Opportunities in Quick Health

1:08:45 Opportunities for Logistics Players

1:16:44 The Need for Non-Enterprise D2C Logistic Players

1:25:47 Thoughts on Conflicting OKRs

Charts from the episode:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zUiVcIYLxjM7Iqe6QAFeMijPp_RHQs2o/view?usp=drive_link

The ASYMMETRIC Crew today:

Revant: Founder, Mosaic Wellness

Shantanu: Founder, Bombay Shaving Company

Chirag: Founder, GoKwik

00:00 Coming up

01:09 Intro and Welcome to Sameer Maheshwari!

02:03 Health & Wellness in India Over the Years

6:09 HealthKart’s Evolution Since 2009

13:27 Health & Wellness TAM

14:24 The Arc Product-Market Fit Framework

22:23 Health & Wellness: Hard Fact or Hair on Fire?

29:40 What is a Brand, Really?

36:08 Product & Marketing for Health & Wellness

38:37 Consumer Trends in Protein Consumption

42:05 Social Media - The Gamechanger?

45:48 How Much Protein Do We Actually Need?

50:13 Making Protein for the Indian Masses

57:55 Making Protein Mainstream

01:09:01 Market Dynamics in Sports Nutrition

01:11:36 Challenges of Subscription Models

01:16:00 Direct-to-Consumer Strategies

01:25:27 Going Public: Timing and Strategy

Charts referred to in the episode:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Wu6bJzd1lVjOFQztALYV5R6YjGx4XN2H/view?usp=drive_link

MuscleBlaze ad referenced in the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JG9Ii3MyOzw

The ASYMMETRIC Crew today:

Revant: Founder, Mosaic Wellness

Shantanu: Founder, Bombay Shaving Company

Chirag: Founder, GoKwik

0:00 Coming Up

0:49 Intro

1:44 Two Motives: Wealth vs Status

11:30 Key Drivers for Different Roles

19:17 Personal Branding for Founders

28:26 Can Founders Solve for Emotional Needs?

30:46 Managing Employee Expectations about Wealth

40:01 Who Should Get ESOPs?

44:13 Zomato: Playing the Wealth Game

50:30 Delinking Your Different Roles

59:10 Founders Must Help Employees Play Wealth Games

65:30 Off-Screen Banter: Pickleball & Status

67:47 Off-Screen Banter: Cult.Fit

Naval's tweet:

https://x.com/naval/status/1002103360646823936

The ASYMMETRIC Crew today:

Revant Bhate: Founder, Mosaic Wellness

Shantanu Deshpande: Founder, Bombay Shaving Company

Deepak Garg: Founder at AnywhereJobs

00:00 Coming up

01:24 Intro and Welcome Deepak!

03:55 Understanding Bitcoin Treasury Companies

06:01 Bitcoin vs Gold: What’s Actually Scarcer Now

09:04 The Future of Currency: Gold, Bitcoin, and the Dollar

12:07 Can India Really Build Wealth in This Global System?

15:10 Why stablecoins matter in the US

34:04 Currency wars and global monetary power

37:31 Liquidity & Market Dynamics

41:02 Macro trends and founder decision-making

45:48 The Evolution of Consumer Tech and Market Competition

51:54 Understanding Market Cycles Through Historical Context

56:56 Zomato vs. Swiggy: The Battle for Market Share

01:10:16 The Importance of Narrative in Business

01:13:01 Market Dynamics and Competition in Quick Commerce

01:16:38 Using consumer data to drive innovation

01:21:39 The Future of E-commerce & Quick Commerce

01:25:55 The Economics of Quick Commerce

01:29:12 Investor Sentiment in the current market

01:32:13 Founder Longevity, Team Building & Scaling Vision

Swiggy Q4 FY25 Results:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xv5gK0ZrD6A-M3HR0AOVhRwj4EMUTEIzdmkdekYMvCc/edit?gid=0#gid=0

The ASYMMETRIC Crew today:

Revant Bhate: Founder, Mosaic Wellness

Shantanu Deshpande: Founder, Bombay Shaving Company

Chirag Taneja: Founder, GoKwik

Tushar Behl: Principal at Glade Brook Capital

0:00 Coming Up

1:02 India-Pakistan Escalation

1:48 Intro and Welcome to Tushar!

2:39 Equity Supply Demand

9:11 On US vs Indian IPOs

15:03 Impact of Tariffs on India

21:47 Can Tariffs Drive Innovation in India?

27:48 Venture Capital for Traditional Sectors

34:53 Indian Consumer Brands on the Global Stage

44:18 On Urban Company

49:42 Urban Company’s NTV Retention for Services

53:17 Urban Company’s Native Lock & Water Purifier

58:29 On Urban Company’s Founders & Future

1:10:37 Dark Patterns with UPI

Notes from the episode:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E1fY4ZOfiuhYZ9P1Ij2TNCwlT-zesyuf/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=108238023930083113573&rtpof=true&sd=true

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1owIajfNCMPqLwjbR6SrV1-GqnBhD-Z3d/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=108238023930083113573&rtpof=true&sd=true

The ASYMMETRIC Crew today:

Revant: Founder, Mosaic Wellness

Shantanu: Founder, Bombay Shaving Company

Chirag: Founder, GoKwik

Tarun Davda: Managing Director at Z47

00:00 Coming Up

00:55 Intro and Welcome to Tarun!

2:22 Context for the Topic

4:52 USA vs India Board Cultures

10:36 The Debate on Taking Board Seats

16:46 Thoughts on Governance

23:49 The Slippery Slope to Malpractice

27:39 Thoughts on Founder Salary

41:25 Ex-Operators as Board Members

43:27 Do VCs and Investors Add Value?

50:54 How Founders Can Derive Value from VCs

1:00:44 Good vs Bad Board Meetings

1:08:46 When Founders Can’t Choose their VCs

1:14:47 How to Leverage Board Meetings

1:21:59 Thoughts on Involving Key Members in Board Meetings

1:25:40 Building the Founder VC Relationship

1:33:19 How Prescriptive Should Investors Be?

1:42:25 Thoughts on Investing in the Competition

1:49:57 Rethinking the Investor Role

Notes from the episode:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qYpDvsmMzAOX1svq-j67FYyI0x3rr48_/view?usp=sharing

The ASYMMETRIC Crew today:

Revant: Founder, Mosaic Wellness

Shantanu: Founder, Bombay Shaving Company

Chirag: Founder, GoKwik

0:00 Coming Up

1:32 Intro

2:38 BSC and IPL

4:49 Context on IPL

6:36 IPL’s Business Model

11:36 The Player vs The Team

13:54 Can International Players Get Big in IPL?

16:25 Passion or Money?

24:50 Global Cricket Revenue Trends

26:40 Extensions of IPL Franchisees

28:30 What Is the Future of Cricket?

33:18 Indianisation of International Players

35:35 Does It Matter If You Win or Lose?

38:55 Evolution in Sports

42:21 IPL vs EPL

49:11 Supporting a Team vs a Player

53:34 The Startups Opportunity

59:20 The Guru Culture in Academies

62:57 Concluding Thoughts

66:00 Off Screen Banter

Charts referred to in the episode:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qjn7UGy7RXuwklp3rrn03ie9n-PrVFdE/view?usp=drive_link