Akshayakalpa is a weird business (weird in a good way) - it is one of the largest soil management companies in India - but ended up selling milk to create a sustainable business for its stakeholders (primarily farmers).

And in the process, created a 400 cr+ (~$50mn) revenue business - accidentally!

My next guest in #UnPluggdWithSinha podcast is Shashi Kumar, Cofounder and CEO of Akshayakalpa - India’s first certified organic dairy enterprise bringing together a balance of practices based in science and the traditional heritage of dairy farming.

Topics we discussed:

How Akshayakalpa’s business model is a gamechanger (It is among the top soil management company in India, ended up selling milk as it offers a compelling value prop to farmers - faster revenue cycle being the most important one).

Shashi’s startup journey - he worked with Wipro, was in US. So why come back to India and go back to farming - something his parents wanted him to never take up (can you believe that his father did not speak to him for 8 years after he decided to take up farming as a career).- Why India being one of the largest producers of milk doesn’t stand a chance in global diaspora?- Why most agritech startups trying to disrupt middle-men fail.-

What’s the future of food? Answer: We are in a serious trouble

As a consumer - what is it that you need to understand about food ecosystem? Is your food producer making enough money?

The UnPluggd with sinha conversations bring you the very best of India’s startup ecosystem (minus the hype) in an informal setup.Wanna suggest guests for the show? Use this form: https://forms.gle/J1GfdGifcVgB7gA87—

He is one of the OGs of new age retail businesses.

• Raised funding - as expected great expansion plans et al.

• The money didn't hit the bank account (some % did)

• Almost lost his startup to investors - somehow got it back (had to take a loan)

• Activated the 'sane' mode - survived, scaled up.

Meet my next guest in #UnPluggdWithSinha show - Manish Sharma, cofounder and CEO of Printo, a leading printing business in India.

UnPluggd with Sinha podcast brings you unfiltered, candid conversations with India's leading entrepreneurs, authors and business leaders.

In this episode, we discuss

• Manish’s lessons building Printo

• Raising money, the (evil) power of liquidation preference clause most founders often ignore

• Building one of the early D2C businesses in India

• His advice to founders out there

• Why founders should have a life beyond their startups - Manish is into cycling, was intensely involved with AAP political party (Bangalore chapter), does theatres.

(episode language: Hinglish)