Kunal Shah on winning in India, second-order thinking, the philosophy of startups, and more
Brought to you by: • WorkOS—The modern API for auth and user identity — 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:
Some takeaways:
Listen now on Apple, Spotify, Overcast, and YouTube. 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 Referenced: • The Delta 4 Framework That Will Help You Unlock a Pot of Gold: https://medium.com/illumination/the-delta-4-framework-that-will-help-you-unlock-a-pot-of-gold-1dce7bdfc813 • Sequoia: https://www.sequoiacap.com/ • Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com • Alphabet: https://abc.xyz/ • Adobe: https://www.adobe.com/ • IBM: https://www.ibm.com/ • Palo Alto Networks: https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/ • Starbucks: https://www.starbucks.com/ • Devdutt Pattanaik’s website: https://devdutt.com/ • Hindu deities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hindu_deities • Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t: https://www.amazon.com/Good-Great-Some-Companies-Others/dp/0066620996 • Netflix’s 6.5M India subscribers dwarfed by Prime Video and Disney, Bernstein says: https://techcrunch.com/2023/10/05/netflix-india-subscribers/ • Tata: https://www.tata.com/ • The Story Behind the OG Chyawanprash: https://medium.com/dilettantesden/the-story-behind-the-og-chyawanprash-4588e5374bb8 • Satya Nadella on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/satyanadella/ • Cred: https://careers.cred.club/ • Brian Chesky’s new playbook: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/brian-cheskys-new-playbook/ • Apple Vision Pro: https://www.apple.com/apple-vision-pro/ • Noble gas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_gas • Cred Curious podcast: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTzr9kdwf7PtSoyv2z7bzoNUNZKRdUN-E • 10 animals with prehistoric roots: https://www.bbcearth.com/news/10-animals-with-pre-historic-roots • David Blaine’s website: https://davidblaine.com/ • A Lesson from Danny Meyer About Dots and Rocks: https://ny.eater.com/2012/9/14/6545565/a-lesson-from-danny-meyer-about-dots-and-rocks • Anurag Verma on X: https://twitter.com/vanurag • Diamond demand is falling so fast—courtesy of lab-grown stones—De Beers is cutting some prices by more than 40%: https://fortune.com/2023/09/03/diamond-demand-falling-lab-grown-stones-de-beers-cutting-cutting-prices/ • Second-Order Thinking and Why It Matters in Business: https://fourweekmba.com/second-order-thinking/ • The Power of Strategy: How Strategy Games Enhance Cognitive Skills: https://fordjames.medium.com/the-power-of-strategy-how-strategy-games-enhance-cognitive-skills-2937c4c1ac6f#:~:text=The%20researchers%20concluded%20that%20strategy,games%20and%20improved%20spatial%20reasoning. • Oppenheimer: https://www.oppenheimermovie.com/ • Mark Zuckerberg Says He Tried Out Apple’s Vision Pro and—Surprise!—Claims Meta’s Quest 3 Is ‘the Better Product, Period’: https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/zuckerberg-apple-vision-pro-meta-quest-better-product-1235910851/ • Monday Motivation: https://twitter.com/kunalb11/status/1492743073922572289 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. Invite your friends and earn rewardsIf you enjoy Lenny's Newsletter, share it with your friends and earn rewards when they subscribe. |
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