First Principles

Apr 17 2024 87
First Principles Podcast artwork

First Principles is a weekly interview podcast comprising authentic, candid, and insightful conversations between some of India’s most accomplished founders and business leaders, and Rohin Dharmakumar, The Ken’s CEO & co-founder. From personal philosophies, mental models and decision making frameworks, to reading habits, parenting styles or personal interests, each episode will delve into what makes each of these leaders unique.

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Part 2: Chetan Maini of SUN Mobility on finding his 'true north', again

Apr 17 2024 40 mins  
When Chetan Maini – co-founder and chairman of SUN Mobility – stepped down as Mahindra Reva CEO in 2015, he wasn’t thinking what was the next venture to start. In fact even though he stepped down he was still involved in the space.His time was still spent in understanding the possibilities electric mobility could unlock for the world and how these possibilities were being exp

From succeeding in overcrowded markets to creating customer delight, five founders share their secrets

Apr 10 2024 77 mins  
What does your company do?There are many ways to answer this question.Most founders have a really good answer, some have a meandering one.Well, let’s just say it’s always a compelling answer.This week we have five founders to answer that question on a broader range. They function in very competitive sectors and are successfully making their mark in their respective sectors by i

Part 2: Harsh Mariwala of Marico on experimenting with learning, fitness and leadership at 72

Apr 03 2024 40 mins  
Our guest for this episode has a very specific weekly routine. Pilates - once a week.Strength training - once a week.Aqua therapy - once a weekFunctional training, swimming, breathing exercises, meditating daily with just a little troubleGolfing three times a week followed up with posture exercises And very recently, experimenting with intermittent fasting.Maybe you’re imagining

Why Chetan Maini of SUN Mobility stopped making EVs when it got cool

Mar 27 2024 83 mins  
Chetan Maini, the co-founder and Chairman of Sun Mobility has done a whole lot in his life. He’s been forever a tinkerer as you’re bound to find out if you read his father Dr.S.K.Maini’s book REVA: India’s Green Gift to the World.Chetan’s raced solar cars, built his own car company REVA and is now building a pay-as-you-go energy infrastructure for a greener future with Su

Part 2: Girish Mathrubootham on Freshworks' trade secrets – and why he opened them up to competitors

Mar 20 2024 34 mins  
Girish Mathrubootham – founder and CEO of Freshworks – feels strongly about having the authority to take one’s own decisions, from a young age.He made a very apt example in our conversation with him earlier this month at his office in Chennai: a kid never gets to make his own decisions, even if it is to just order food of their liking. This in turn translates into their adult

From Parachute to Saffola, Marico's Harsh Mariwala on building and branding India's biggest consumer products

Mar 13 2024 63 mins  
Sometime in the early 1970s a young Harsh Mariwala joined Bombay Oil Industries, a company set up by his grandfather in 1948, just a year after India’s independence. The company would trade in spices, oils and chemicals.Over the next two decades Harsh learnt the ropes of the family business. Till in 1991 - two decades after he had joined Bombay Oil - he left it to start his own c

Girish Mathrubootham of Freshworks on why he doesn't measure 'winning' by numbers

Mar 06 2024 66 mins  
If you're here to find out more about our brand new early careers podcast, check out The First Two Years and how you can join the TFTY community here! You can also listen to our trailer on Spotify and Apple. Welcome to Episode 41 of First Principles.When asked, Girish Mathrubootham* – the CEO and Co-Founder of Freshworks, says that there’s one thing most of his direct reports w

Part 2: Why Vaibhav Gupta of Udaan doesn’t identify problems by patterns

Feb 28 2024 53 mins  
There is a cliche often associated with hyper growth startups. That running one is like learning how to fly a plane while you’re already up in the air. Or perhaps it's like learning to change an engine while you’re driving a car. There is another version of this analogy: it's like learning how to build a plane and learning how to fly it and also mastering how to change an engin

Five founders on creating trust, patience and careers in their organisations

Feb 21 2024 86 mins  
Welcome back to First Principles. I’m your host, Rohin Dharmakumar. Thank you for listening to us. We’re thankful that you choose to spend a few hours with us each week! Today we have a “supercut” episode. Normally our conversations go deep with one specific guest, but every now and then we zoom out and go broad by stitching together a multi-guest conversation. And the invi

Part 2: Aneesh Reddy of Capillary Tech on how being called a “bully” led him to be a better leader

Feb 14 2024 60 mins  
Welcome back to Episode 39 of First Principles!A few weeks ago, you heard the first part of our conversation with Aneesh Reddy, the CEO and Co-Founder of Capillary Tech, a software company offering products and services in the customer experience space.And you might remember that in that episode, Aneesh took us through the journey of Capillary in instalments – because as he expla