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

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

January 16, 2026

Duration

1h 13m

Channel

Best Place To Build

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

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

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Tarun Mehta

  guest

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Best Place To Build, featuring Tarun Mehta, Raw and Real: Tarun Mehta on his IIT Madras days, NOT doing MBA & founding Ather Energy | BP2B S2E18 explores tarun Mehta’s IIT journey, Ather’s pivots, and builder mindset lessons Tarun describes a non-stereotypical IIT pathway—heavy on games, comics, and minimalism—yet driven by curiosity and building when boredom created mental space.

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