Subrata Mitra, Co-founder and Partner at Accel India and co-author of Down But Not Out, shares what decades of backing Indian startups have taught him about building companies that survive setbacks, adapt through uncertainty and keep going long enough to succeed.

00:00 Introduction

01:01 Why Subrata Wrote Down But Not Out

03:08 The Founder Stories Behind the Book

09:29 The Map, the Compass & “Long-Term Greed”

13:44 What Makes a Founder Resilient?

15:46 How Investors Evaluate Founders

17:21 How Founders Learn, Adapt & Evolve

21:12 The Role of Mentors, Coaches & Family

25:13 Finding Your Mission Beyond Money

27:32 From Generalist to Specialist

30:01 The 2 Things Founders Should Focus On Every Day

30:50 Why Relationships Matter More Than Grades

36:55 Find Your Unique Skills & Double Down

39:08 Why Startup Culture Should Make Room for Joy

43:01 What Subrata Would Tell His Younger Self

44:40 Why No Startup Goes Straight Up & Advice for Young Founders

When Subrata Mitra wrote the first cheque to Flipkart founders Sachin and Binny Bansal, he says a $200 million outcome would have made them happy. Flipkart crossed that milestone so quickly that nobody stopped to treat it as a major marker. It eventually became one of India’s biggest startup success stories.

But the more interesting story is everything that happens before the outcome: ideas that do not work, difficult decisions, founders who have to change, co-founder challenges, unexpected opportunities and the resilience required to stay in the game for 10 to 15 years.

On this episode of the Prime Venture Partners Podcast, Amit Somani sits down with Subrata to discuss the ideas behind his book Down But Not Out, which brings together stories of Indian founders who experienced major setbacks but continued to build. Subrata explains why entrepreneurship is more like a Test match than a T20: you need the stamina to stay long, but you must also recognise the right opportunity and hit the ball when it comes.

The conversation explores what Subrata looks for in founders, why it can take eight to nine months to understand whether a founding team has what it takes, and why the ability to evolve may matter as much as what a founder knows when they start. They also discuss coaching, mentorship, family support, complementary co-founder skills and the transition from being a generalist founder to becoming a more specialised leader as the company grows.

Connect with Subrata Mitra

https://www.linkedin.com/in/subratamitra/

Follow Amit Somani

X (Twitter): https://x.com/amitsomani?lang=en

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thesomani/

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Read the transcript for the entire podcast here - https://bit.ly/Prime-Venture-Partners-And-Accel-India

About Prime Venture Partners

Prime Venture Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm backing exceptional founders building category-defining technology companies across SaaS, fintech, AI, healthcare, consumer internet and enterprise software.

Learn more: https://www.primevp.in/

Follow Prime Venture Partners:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2780448/admin/dashboard/

X (Twitter): https://x.com/Primevp_in

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/primevp_in/

Learn more about:

Accel: https://www.accel.com/news/portfolio

#IndianStartups #VentureCapital #StartupInvesting

Piyush Shah, a legendary Indian Founder of 2 Unicorns (InMobi & Glance) shares why India's AI strategy has to look nothing like Silicon Valley's or Beijing's, and what founders should build instead.

00:00 Introduction

00:48 Why the Country That Invents AI Rarely Wins

02:16 US vs China vs India: India's AI Opportunity

03:55 How China Is Winning the AI Race

09:38 AI Startup Ideas for India

12:52 Consumer AI vs Enterprise AI

14:20 Why Consumer AI Can Bankrupt You

16:45 Why Enterprise AI Will Win First

19:57 Distribution Is Still the Biggest Moat

21:43 How AI Startups Should Go to Market

25:14 Physical AI Startup Opportunities

28:37 What US Enterprises Want From AI Startups

32:45 Why Purpose Is a Competitive Moat

35:58 How InMobi Uses AI Internally

37:47 AI Sales, AI Agents & Enterprise Automation

42:16 How Leaders Should Drive AI Adoption

44:50 AI Won't Replace You. Fear Will.

46:09 The Fastest Way to Learn AI

47:32 My AI-Native Chief of Staff

48:52 How AI Changed My Personal Life

52:38 Final Thoughts

Every general purpose technology gets invented once and scaled somewhere else. Germany invented the printing press. Britain built an industry on it. America turned that industry into an economy. Piyush Shah, Co-founder of InMobi and Glance, thinks the same pattern is repeating with AI right now, and he's convinced most founders are drawing the wrong lesson from it.

On this episode of the Prime Venture Partners Podcast, Amit Somani sits down with Piyush to make the case that copying America's invention-first approach or China's industrialisation-first approach would be the wrong move for India entirely. Instead, Piyush lays out what he believes India's real opportunity looks like: not the smartest AI for the world's most sophisticated users, but AI that raises the floor for a billion people who've never had access to a tutor, a doctor, or a financial advisor in their life.

The conversation doesn't stop at strategy. Piyush and Amit get into why consumer AI has a cost problem nobody's fully solved (he calls it inference CAC), why distribution remains the real moat even in an AI-native world, and why "purpose" might be the one advantage that's genuinely hard to copy. Piyush also opens up about how InMobi and Glance have rebuilt themselves around AI internally, and how AI has changed the way he runs his own life, from an 18-year-old AI-native chief of staff to using AI to understand his family's health reports.

If you're building an AI startup, thinking about India's AI strategy, or trying to figure out whether your business model can survive the AI shift, this conversation offers a real framework, not another hype-cycle.

Connect with Piyush Shah

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/piyush-shah-0583412/

Follow Amit Somani

X (Twitter): https://x.com/amitsomani?lang=en

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thesomani/

About Prime Venture Partners

Prime Venture Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm backing exceptional founders building category-defining technology companies across SaaS, fintech, AI, healthcare, consumer internet and enterprise software.

Learn more: https://www.primevp.in/

Follow Prime Venture Partners:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2780448/admin/dashboard/

X (Twitter): https://x.com/Primevp_in

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/primevp_in/

Learn more about

InMobi: https://www.inmobi.com/

Glance: https://glance.com/?c=BAU&pid=Social_X_bio&shortlink=6md9fteh&source_caller=ui