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Lenny's PodcastKunal Shah on winning in India, second-order thinking, the philosophy of startups, and more
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Episode Details
EPISODE INFO
- Released
- March 24, 2024
- Duration
- 1h 18m
- Channel
- Lenny's Podcast
- Watch on YouTube
- ▶ Open ↗
EPISODE DESCRIPTION
Kunal Shah is one of the most well-known and admired product leaders in India. He is the CEO and founder of CRED, an Indian-based fintech startup valued at over $6 billion. Prior to CRED, he founded three other startups, including Freecharge, which he sold for over $400 million to Snapdeal. He has also been an advisor to India’s most influential organizations. In our conversation, we discuss:
- The prevalence of successful Indian immigrants in top CEO roles across the tech industry
- Why companies in India can grow DAUs but not ARPU—and what that means for building products for India
- What most sets India’s market apart
- Challenges and opportunities in the Indian market
- The Delta 4 framework for building new products
- Lessons from building CRED so far
- The power of curiosity and second-order thinking
- Lessons from failure
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Find the transcript and references at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/kunal-shah-on-winning-in-india-second Where to find Kunal Shah:
- X: https://twitter.com/kunalb11
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kunalshah1/
- Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@CRED_club
Where to find Lenny:
- Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
- X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Kunal’s background (04:22) The Delta 4 framework (11:00) The success of Indian CEOs in the U.S. (19:55) Challenges and opportunities in India (23:04) DAUs vs. ARPU in Indian markets (25:50) The perception of time in India (27:55) The curse of focus in Asian markets (30:33) Challenges and opportunities in India (continued) (33:23) Lessons learned from building CRED (36:40) Profit pools can provide valuable insights into the values of a country (37:55) Founders’ role in company growth (39:55) Profitability and Indian business culture (43:24) Advice for staying positive amid criticism (44:41) The promising market in India (47:35) The power of curiosity (52:59) Who Kunal looks up to (55:31) Kunal’s favorite sources of content (58:42) Asking great questions (01:02:54) Contrarian corner: Wealth is nothing but storage of energy (01:05:26) Failure corner (01:08:57) Closing thoughts: Share your learnings (01:09:38) Lightning round Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
SPEAKERS
Lenny Rachitsky
hostKunal Shah
guest
EPISODE SUMMARY
In this episode of Lenny's Podcast, featuring Lenny Rachitsky and Kunal Shah, Kunal Shah on winning in India, second-order thinking, the philosophy of startups, and more explores Kunal Shah decodes India’s startup edge, trust, and second-order thinking Kunal Shah, founder of CRED and FreeCharge, explores what makes building products and companies in India fundamentally different from Western markets, from low ARPU and low-trust dynamics to cultural attitudes toward risk and time. He explains his Delta Four framework for product-market fit, why Indian CEOs excel at scaling US tech giants, and how mythology, long-termism, and “dharma” shape leadership styles.
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