Best Place To Build

Raw and Real: Tarun Mehta on his IIT Madras days, NOT doing MBA & founding Ather Energy | BP2B S2E18

When we think of successful entrepreneurs or founders, we think of people who are restless, impatient and just waiting to build something. We think of people who spend every minute working and believe in the results of hard work and effort. Ever heard of a founder who said he believed in doing the bare minimum? Tarun Mehta has been frequently mentioned across many episodes of the Best Place to Build Podcast and our host Amrut owns an Ather EV himself and is a vocal supporter of Ather Energy. In today’s episode of the Best Place to Build Podcast, Amrut and Tarun sit down for a chat between friends at the Ather Energy office. Watch today’s episode to find out why playing computer games is a good way to learn strategy, what doing the bare minimum actually means, what it takes to build a company with zero attrition, how attending international conferences can lead to pivotal insights about careers and what makes Tarun and his co-founder such a good team. In today’s episode, Tarun talks about: ⚡ Why he chose IIT Madras ⚡ How Ather Energy was born ⚡ What it really takes to build an EV startup ⚡ A Flipkart Easter egg Chapters: [00:01:46] From Gaming Guy to IITM [00:07:57] Moving to Chennai [00:12:32] Stanford Trip and the idea of Entrepreneurship [00:17:52] The beginning of Ather Energy [00:22:33] Final Year Placements and Dream Job [00:28:29] Engineering Jobs and first EV [00:34:39] Building the first battery swap vehicle [00:40:59] Pivoting from battery swap to EV [00:45:00] The research and tech DNA in Ather [00:48:46] The story of the Chennai Store [00:52:48] Challenges of building the EV Supply Chain [00:55:21] Losing the market to competition and Regaining it [01:00:58] Ather IPO and the Sachin Bansal story [01:07:16] Meeting his Co-Founder and their dynamic [01:09:15] The mark of a good builder and closing thoughts #AtherEnergy #EV #ElectricScooter #CFI #E-CellIITM #Ather #BestPlacetoBuild #IITMadras

TMTarun Mehtaguest

Jan 16, 2026·1h 13m·Watch on YouTube ↗

📖 CHAPTERS

1. 1

   Gaming, comics, and a low-pressure childhood that built strategic instincts

   Tarun recalls growing up in Ahmedabad with early access to good computers through his dad’s business, spending most of his time on strategy games and comics rather than sports or coaching. He frames this phase as “doing the bare minimum” academically while getting deeply absorbed in long-horizon, systems-style games.

2. 2

   Choosing IIT Madras Engineering Design and adapting to Chennai

   He explains how rank constraints and fear of coding/electronics nudged him toward Engineering Design at IIT Madras, which sounded closer to mechanical/automotive. Once in Chennai, he acclimatized quickly and loved the campus, culture, and environment.

3. 3

   Early campus projects and the truth about “entrepreneurship” back then

   Tarun recounts pitching early campus projects (e.g., hostel beautification/fountain idea) and being involved with C-TIDES/E-Cell. He challenges the neat retrospective narrative: much of that era’s “entrepreneurship” activity was closer to resume-building and MBA preparation than real company-building.

4. 4

   Stanford week: the mindset shift from management ambition to value creation

   A one-week Stanford exposure becomes the pivotal catalyst—seeing students casually building startups and creating value without institutional backing. It filled a mental gap: entrepreneurship is possible for students, not just large organizations with hierarchy and permission.

5. 5

   Ather begins as an energy obsession: Stirling engines and going deep, not wide

   Tarun and Swapnil adopt the name “Ather Energy” and spend years focused on a single deep technical idea—Stirling engines—rather than chasing many startup concepts. He explains the Stirling engine concept, why it felt promising, and how they tried (and often failed) to attract others to stick with them long-term.

6. 6

   Final-year reality check: placements, MBA dreams, and the Harvard interview crash

   Despite entrepreneurial exposure, Tarun still pursued conventional success: top jobs, consulting, and an MBA path. A disastrous Harvard 2+2 interview and weaker-than-hoped placement outcomes forced a harsh reassessment—value creation felt real, but the bridge to financial security was unclear.

7. 7

   Early jobs, free time, and the first EV: learning by being the customer

   After graduating, both founders take engineering jobs, but Tarun uses the free time to explore EVs hands-on. He buys a slow electric scooter, returns to IITM labs on weekends, reads obsessively about batteries, and starts structured customer discovery by contacting EV owners online.

8. 8

   Quitting to build: moving back to IITM labs and formalizing Ather (2013–2014)

   Swapnil resigns suddenly and moves to Chennai; Tarun follows after a key moment—being asked to sign permanent employment papers. With limited “golden handcuffs,” they accept the downside and commit full-time, registering Ather in 2013 and sharpening conviction through deep research and industry conversations.

9. 9

   Battery swapping to full scooter: prototyping, architectural truth, and the 2015 pivot

   Ather initially bets on swappable battery packs and even raises early funding on that promise. Prototyping vehicles revealed engineering and use-case mismatches, leading to a strategic pivot away from swapping toward a fully integrated EV scooter approach—one of the few major pivots Tarun says they made.

10. 10

    Ather’s “research + tech DNA”: deep reading, obvious-in-hindsight decisions, and Tesla study

    Tarun argues many Ather decisions weren’t “bold bets” internally—they felt obvious because of heavy homework. He describes studying Tesla’s technical choices, battery economics, and business-unit economics, and how this shaped Ather’s conviction in cost curves, margins, and software-first architecture.

11. 11

    Community-led go-to-market: open houses, forums, and the Chennai store story

    Ather cultivated a nerdy early adopter community through open houses inspired by how Uber built grassroots momentum. The Chennai expansion became a defining moment: dozens of Bangalore customers traveled (with their scooters) to support the launch, reinforcing a culture of transparency, feedback loops, and customer closeness.

12. 12

    Building everything: supply chain, software, dashboard, standards, and manufacturing from scratch

    Tarun explains why Ather built so much in-house: many components, standards, and testing protocols didn’t exist in India at the time. This clarity—if it doesn’t exist, build it—kept teams aligned, reduced early attrition, and sustained a builder culture through the pre-launch years.

13. 13

    Competition pressure: losing ground, clarifying strategy, and the software feature sprint

    Rather than changing Ather’s identity, competition forced sharper clarity on what they truly believed. Tarun describes resisting premature low-cost products due to cost structure realities, while also admitting they accelerated software feature development when competitors (notably Ola) pushed the market narrative.

14. 14

    Fundraising near-miss and the Sachin Bansal check that saved Ather (plus IPO reflections)

    Tarun recounts a desperate 2014 fundraising period when Ather was weeks from running out of money. A last-minute meeting with Sachin Bansal led to an offer to anchor the entire round, quickly followed by a second investor split—creating a lifeline he credits with saving the company; he also notes the IPO was modestly subscribed but execution improved afterward.

15. 15

    Co-founder dynamics, independent thinking, and what makes a good builder

    He describes his partnership with Swapnil as complementary rather than similar—shared vision, different approaches. Tarun advises founders to form independent convictions in a ‘cocoon’ before consuming too much startup advice, and he distinguishes between builders who build for joy vs. builders who build toward a specific outcome.

16. 16

    Closing reflections: parenting traits from startups and final thoughts

    In a personal close, Tarun says entrepreneurship is intertwined with his identity but credits startups for strengthening patience, humility, and optimism. He frames optimism as especially valuable for parenting and ends with brief closing remarks and gratitude.