EP 123 | 😜PEDDOLLA MUCHATLUU | Jr. GVK UNVEILING INSIDER STORIES | FT. GV. KESHAV REDDY

00:00 How was your check? New cassette. I checked. Done? So let's welcome the youngest billionaire in Hyderabad Let's unveil those things which are not out about your family, your legacy or your grandparents story In 2015, there was a company called Upstox. Oh yeah! There were 3 people, Ravi, Raghu and Srini in the room. They said that there is a company named Upstox. At first meeting I told them that these guys are going to do something. Vani said $3 million. We invested 500k and Ratan Tata invested 500k. So we had 4 million dollars. Today they have valued at over 100x.

00:38 I believe it has changed a little bit. Companies are getting built faster and they're dying faster, and with AI it accelerates more you can't bet on things for long anymore. I read that GVK took the first bill from them. So how much of is this true? We took a decision. Bangalore airport was sold first. Oh so it was sold first? Yes, it was sold first. That's good. Like we were told to sell in different places, but actually Bangalore airport was sold! You speak a lot about dramas. He's probably going to be the most profound human in this century. I didn't find him so impressive in person. Yeah, I met him many times

01:17 Third generation curse. Yeah, third generation is born with a silver spoon so they don't see hardships they don't know how to build it. They generally say that they destroy it? They destroyed! That didn't happen because I always believed in one line feet to the ground ice till sky So be humble but be ambitious Amazon bro this is like a Debtors' theory team should be such effective and strong that everyone should sell 2 pizzas. You learn how to run business when you learn how to collect money Exactly what you were telling. If someone wants to come from a pocket or a wallet, it will go with pain only but not happily. Actually manifestation works I don't know how it works but it works We have a list of guest list and in that what's the name? There is something called as list Manifestation Companies grow in tech like this yaar It looks like casino where we don't know time place

02:06 One thing which I got very much excited was your McKenzie journey. I'm changing, first time try everything before i join. We will talk about how do we purchase airports? How do we sell airports? It's interesting it's insane not so easy for a common man like me to go inside or... I love how you are saying that you're a common man now. No seriously! Namaste! What should I say in Hindi? I don't know Hindi dude Bro, hi! Hello. So let's welcome the youngest billionaire in Hyderabad Cool Billionaire Yeah coolest billionaire So how are you bro? Good How do I call you? Junior GVK or GVK? Whatever Since childhood I always had the same initials like my grandfather Was it on purpose that K should be added to your name? Actually I was born in 1992 The company was up

03:10 It had a different avatar than before. But in 1991, GVK was formed So there was some correlation. Generally, we are called by our grandfathers' names, right? Yes. Is that how you call them? My grandfather's name is GV Krishna. Yeah yeah! That's it. He is GVK to give an abbreviation. I thought he would be like Junior. So let us talk about your grandparents How often do you meet them? Both of my grandparents. Both my grandparents have amazing personalities You will understand when you meet him. I have a story about Subbiram Reddy. I don't remember the movie's name, but one day I went to watch a movie with my friends in GVK Inox.

04:01 During the break, I realized there's someone who is sitting beside me. I thought it was him. But when you see, it's Subramanian Reddy. We talked a lot later on. I sat here and said something else. Yeah please go ahead. No sir, every Sunday since I've been born, I have gone to first Jeevike Thaathinti, then Janatha Subraman Thaathinthi Every Sunday? Every Sunday since I've been born, if I'm in Hyderabad and there. Okay! All my friends know... Even on that Sunday afternoon, even if he asks me, he'll be busy. It's our fault right? If it was a Sunday, we wouldn't have come at this time. That is why they said, Sunday lunchtime impossible. If you want to go first or later, then okay. Right, right, right

04:42 So when we thought of our podcast, I was like does this person even speak Telugu? That's my first doubt. Because there are no videos where you... There are no videos! If your name is mentioned in the title, nothing else will come other than wedding photos and stuff. I don't like those videos. They give such wrong images. If you do it in that range, I think Anil Kapoor and Ranbir Singh... You all danced at weddings right? Yes. A lot of people came. So when we do such weddings, the same thing comes out right? Weddings are a habit if we do them. Parents wish, parents desire. That's what weddings are about. But on two huge scales. Was it in Hyderabad?

05:22 It was in Hyderabad. We couldn't find any conventions near the airport, for 10k people. So we built one opposite to the airport. Can you guess how much it cost? I don't know! Even if you knew, why didn't you tell us? What about some secrets? Actually wedding... Emotion... like, for memories. And I have so many fun memories with my friends and cousins and family members. And that is what people remember. How you made them feel? And how you had fun or like.. What memories did you have? Like my wife's grandmother was very old then

06:06 And she at that point of time came for the wedding. She was over 90. Close to late 90s actually. Now, she is no more. At that time... And she came for the wedding and then gave her a very thin gold chain. That is like ingrained in my memory or like when my grandpa... You will see videos of Subramanian Grandpa dancing with Ranveer Singh Oh! That's in the news. It is not part of the music, it is post-music. And Ranveer's first big event was for my sister's wedding. Was this before? Yes, back in 2011. And that time only Band Bajabharat came out. So, Shah Rukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra came as main event speakers and dancers

06:50 In that, there was an additional two people... Because Yash Raj had set it up and everything. They said they will send two more people for the events. Ranveer Singh and Anushka Sharma. Oh! Easy. At that time they were just in their first movie. So actually they were dancers in between. After 5-6 years, Ranveer was the main person you know. So he's a great guy. Amazing fellow! I used to wonder how these big stars and actors come and dance at the events and all. These days, culture is getting out of hand. There are many videos coming out now. When Ranveer came there was a meme I guess...

07:31 He's the only actor who goes to an event and makes the guests, the invited outsiders. But he is either... Most people came for like my sisters or my wedding because of my parents My parents knew them from before And then obviously I request some of them to dance I haven't seen that video yet. You were the first one to tell me about your wedding in a podcast. Let's put it aside and talk something else which is important, I mean interesting. If you look at Pinky Reddy, my first video was about Goa's house tour. That has another kind of fan base. What does she have inside?

08:18 Adi, first of all you have to see to believe that house. It is amazing! Beautiful home So his... And it can only be my mother and father who go see something they love it and then take it to the next level I don't think you know but my father was very creative If we come home, he will do arts And if you look at airports, airports are actually very like Like very simple structures. Mumbai, I guess right? You have a museum. Museum he made... If you see the pillars in Bombay airport, it's a peacock! It is white peacock and what he said is thousand peacocks in the sky That was his concept. Even now when we go there are no walls. There are actually 27 pillars of peacocks And then each shape is the logo of Mumbai Airport

09:11 Which was designed by... Navi Mumbai? No, T2. Oh! In Mumbai. And then in Navi Mumbai he had designed New Mumbai So he got the world's most innovative futuristic designer Zahadeed to design a lotus In Bangalore airport, he has designed a garden terminal. First of its kind in the world! He just loves design. He will go down in history as the most... like the airports man of India. Crazy All three terminals which he designed and obviously my grandpa loved gardens, greenery We built hotels before, right? We put the learning of hotels in airports. So that's where LP came from! Crazy... No, when I came to your house and saw the parking area, I was like why is this house looking like a resort?

09:57 I'm talking about Hyderabad. The car park was so beautiful, and the trees were amazing too! And when we got home, there were art pieces on our phones. There was an elephant picture in my phone. And I also read about this, that you have a museum in Mumbai. That's one of its kind right? It is the largest public showing of art in the world. 10 thousand pieces all curated for The Dominant. So each one has a story from a region in India. If artists go and tell stories

10:36 your legacy will be in Mumbai airport. They just did what they felt was representative. Crazy! And what about this Goa's house? What is it, sir? Is it a palace or something else? It is Palacio Aguada. Okay. It is the palace only and there was this man actually from Bombay, Parsi man he went in the 70s and built his house. He took to Goa. And he built after European Italian Sort of a style. And... You have to see to believe how beautifully he did it! In 90s, actually used to throw really big parties. This is Fort Aguada. It's next to Taj Aguada. There is only... Because this was under CRZ rules. After late 80s you can't build anything on water That's why Goa has all temporary structures So this was before that. It was built before that so its actually build

11:31 As on the water and fort, Goa Fort is there right? Fort Aguada. Jail will be there. Goa jail is now a museum. Fort Aguada, the church. Axel Taj is this only. Nothing else would be here in that couple hundred acres. It's a beautiful location So, that house... He died actually. Jimmy Gazar. Okay! In 2021 he passed away. No children no spouse. So then when it went for auction my parents went and visited it. Everybody in India saw that house. You ask anybody they have gone to that house. And... Before the auction? But there were many cases because there are no children etc.

12:10 So, about that... But when my parents went and saw it they said this is it. Rest is history! Now you have to take care of yourself. It's beautiful! Whenever you are free... Let us do a podcast there. Yeah, next set up will be there. Definitely we'll have go there. After watching that video I felt great. When I typed Pinky Reddy in Google, I got the first one. But yeah, as you rightly said, wedding or whatever the events which are larger than what it is. Now people go out fast and that's what people think about. Even when we were looking after the content, or when I was watching you guys. First thing that came to my mind is... You said this right? Why would it come here? There's a lot more than this right? I was talking to many other people who are in this ecosystem. Startup ecosystem. Everyone has a very good clean image about you. If they find some small shade of yours, they'll think there isn't any for me! So I thought there is a lot to talk about this man right? Why are only these out? Maybe let us do that and make new content only.

13:05 But yeah, in this podcast... If we can reveal as many secrets as possible. Let's unveil those things which are not out about your family or legacy or your grandparents' story. Was Jeevike's father also a construction worker? So our family name is Gunnupati. And Jeevike's grandfather was the first generation. They were villagers in agriculture. Where are you from? From Nellore. In Nellore, there is a small town or outside it called Kothur. So now there's a house in Kothur. And farmlands, everyone goes there. All the older generation used to go. Nice nice. My... so they were two people. There were two... we actually have a book

13:51 I have a tree. You might have seen two trees. There are 7 kids in this house for the first generation. 7 kids have 5-6 kids each. So, my Jeevike Thatha, Subram Thatha and my mother's mother, Ammamma are in that family. I have one family. Oh okay! Menarikam type? My parents are second cousins to each other.

14:30 So, actually in their second generation, they were all into construction. EPC contracts. In Telugu, EPC contracts are very good at. So, from agriculture to contracts and more different businesses. Nice! So, your grandfather also started from there? construction, near the airports. Everywhere you are there! What happened was when I came in a cab... Since I couldn't drive, I was coming in a cab. The cab driver he was asking me whose shoot is this? So I said GVK mall. He said it's GVK mall. I told him that only mall knows about it and that there are many more. That day I was telling him Taj hotels also belong to them here in Hyderabad and there are airports that they have built. He asked if it's true or not

15:26 Oh, okay. So only a few outsiders know about it. Let's talk about all those... Was GVK Mall a PR thing or profitable business? How did that start and let's also talk about all these businesses. Yeah sure sir! So, I think in the 90s... From 70's to 90's, EPC made contracts. In the 90s and before that, they started a wood manufacturing business called Novo Pan Industries. Okay! And now also there are plants here and there. Then after that got into hotels. So, at that time Taj Krishna and Krishna Obara were there. Yes yes. I don't know if you... I remember Krishna Obra. Then Taj Banjara was Holiday Inn

16:10 And then, in the hotels, next to that... Power projects. In 1991, my grandfather built the first independent power project, private power project in India. Jagurpadu. In Andhra Pradesh. Right! That was the first plant. Yeah, yeah! First in 1991. Private plant? Private plant. Road Zoo... Then after that in airports after that and then parallel to that they built many businesses Actually when it comes to Taj as far I know, Taj means Tata's. They own all the hotels there. But what is this? In another article I read,

16:47 I heard you bought the Taj Hospitality. How far is it true? No, basically this was a joint venture. So my aunt runs it. So Taj is an operator in most places and there are other asset owners too. That's normally how it is except in Mumbai and Delhi where they own their own hotels Right now it is we who own the property. That land and all... Oh, so you are the owner of almost 50 acres of land? Yes, that's right! You have a mall place and you live in the house next to it.

17:28 After that, my grandfather. My grandfather, my aunt and the hotels... All of them were big landowners actually! There was nothing there back then. Exactly. Back then in 30 years, there was nothing there. Wow! So the whole city moved away right? How much space would it have been? Exactly 25 acres. But mall is a good business, very good business. We opened in 2005 and it was new at that time. Why did you get the idea? Where did it start? There was an office there called Kohinoor. An old building. My grandfather's GVK office used to be there actually. After that, when it moved to Secunderabad, this land became free. This mall was a perfect idea and I built it there. Oh! So you had such a big office then? Yes, we had a big office. Okay okay... And we should also talk about your dad. Yeah. He has a list with his father's recognitions. What is like working with your dad?

18:30 See, my dad is actually one of the most inspiring people. And he's in work and in personal life He's like the best father for me, my sister, wife and brother-in-law. And then when he's at work, he's super inspiring! And he's 62 running on 30. In his mind... You know..He loves new age technology. Like he loves building new businesses He's realized that actually. Very few entrepreneurs can build many businesses in many different industries, right? And I think he or my grandfather have proven that you can do it... Many ways and in India you see that very few family business people are able to do that. They stick to one thing and go very deep into it. Adaption pattern changes from first generation to second generation. Yes. And he was also recognized as India's

19:22 Top 25 young entrepreneurs, he was recognized. That's when? Yeah that was in 2007 I think. In the world economic forum. He was a commencement speaker at University of Michigan in his business school and he was also a university commencement speaker So that was a very, very big achievement. And then apart from that I think he's... Anybody you meet he has right discipline and right positive attitude and He is like super inspiring person to work with. See when we look at him outside, what do we get? A wall in the mirror? So, if there is money everything would be possible. But today morning I was reading this fact

20:05 In your grandpa's 70s, he has done his PhD in philosophy. Where does so much patience and time come from? Crazy! How about Veena? Of course, her support is needed everywhere. So we should talk about her. Yeah! You know Veena is an amazing person I think you get to know her she's very funny Very open near Rotox she'll be perfect fit. She's the best in Goa house No but she's an amazing person and if she loves somebody then she's there for that person no matter what Does she know all your business also

20:44 She actually started, she is working in one of the business. It's a fertility business. Yeah that I have read. Next time let me try to understand. So she started... Was she involved in Equal? In Equal early days she helped me little bit then later on she started working with, you know well in one of the businesses that have been started by family companies and she loves it. You should chat with her about it. She is very passionate about it and very mission oriented about it I am very excited you know when somebody has passion in the lines of their work It's like something else Everything else is secondary then So, its always nice to see that And for her especially Let us talk about you now In your journey one thing which got me very much excited was your McKenzie journey

21:30 I heard it well, if you want to do an internship in McKinsey there is a lot of... There will be the toughest process and not that easy. How was that experience? McKinsey is one of the top tier consulting firms globally. And at that time when I was in college in US, summer internships doing McKinsey's summer internship the best you can get. When I came to India, I always... India is a land of opportunities or Asia. So all my internships most of my work throughout my career have always been in India and then I came to Bombay. There are big offices in Delhi and Bombay. In that internship there was.. Oh! Here? No, first I went there and they put me on project

22:23 In McKinsey, It's amazing what they teach you. It is literally like... They put the smartest people they find in a room, and they solve problems! And I think I have learnt small things from everywhere. In McKinsey, during our project, there was one person from US Navy. American guy. If we are talking about discipline

23:02 And he told a very interesting story. He said, discipline and work ethic is showing up at the right time... At the right place with the right material with the right people That's it! 80% of your work is done. Right? I thought that was so simple. 100%, yeah But till now, most relevant. And McKenzie I don't know how consulting will be with AI now. You've always said that it'll replace McKenzie, right? That's the thought process now. It will happen because... Do you feel so? See, what consulting firms do first is research, validate and then intelligence. All three AI can do instantly but validation. We put a stamp on McKenzie

23:54 Approved. Because everything is AI, so what's correct and what isn't there? So it will evolve. If you go to McKinsey now they'll say that I can build a business for you. I will make your entire firm AI native. They've adapted too! Much needed, right? It's inevitable. So how was that experience? Almost 3-4 months or... 3 to 4 months. Summer internship, 3 to 4 months. I realized after that experience, I never want to hire consultants. Oh! Because... What's this? They'll put you in a 5 star hotel. Send you for business class. Client pays it all. Too much expense. And actually, That introduces family knowledge. Family business thoughts. No, I mean

24:45 I think consultants in very niche spaces where you don't know, no intelligence, they are very good. But general knowledge? They're not the best And that's my take. Got it! Everyone can be best there in those patterns? Yeah, absolutely. Makes sense. You are shocked, right? I get so much excited. In general, such an experience is something which is interesting, right? Life changing. They're life changing actually when internships are so underrated

25:20 Because once you go, you're young. You're excited to learn. You have a lot of profiles! I did a lot because my thought was when I went to college, my grandpa and dad told me that I should come and work in the business. At first, I thought I'll try everything before joining. So, I did six internships. Yeah, I've seen it. One in private equity, one in consulting, one in mining, one in Government Of India, one in our pharma business and one in our airport business What was this? Government of India, what did you do there? I worked in Planning Commission of India. At that time, Niti and Ayog were the three names of Planning Commission of India All the chief ministers have to go and... The chairman of planning commission used to be the prime minister And they used to submit their five year budget planning Oh! Okay So, there were members there Board Members So i worked for one of the board members For two or three months Actually, you realize that you learn so much

26:16 They are very smart people in the government. Way smarter than everybody else and they determine the future of the country. Very true! And that small board or committee decides everything? Correct. I always used to wonder, there are certain rooms or closed doors that not everyone has access to. It's not so easy for a common man like me to go inside and learn them. I didn't know you were saying you're a common man now! No seriously No. So, of course having network is different and having access to that discussions is different. Yeah! So when I just think about it... People talk like this only. For example AI if we call as a disruption or there's going to be war due to which crisis will come up. Such first hand information discussion happens in those strong rooms right? In those war rooms right? Yes. So always stay curious. We'll talk once you get the scope. Actually now seeing how much chaos exists in the world

27:16 Our Prime Minister is par excellence. He has kept such a stable country for so many years. True, true. There's no panic. Stability... All the nationwide leaders right? They're all going towards development in the right direction. You look at any country in the world, it's a state of chaos from every leader to the people there I mean who would have thought this war would lead to so many things in Dubai for example Now let's talk about something which is interesting or a bit deeper Have you heard about this third generation curse? Yeah So how was the pressure? Generally when we come out of our legacy

28:00 There will be more name crisis than financial or business. Because you are not travelling in a small boat, right? So, whatever you do will actually hit the tree completely. Of course it's not a very huge thing that you don't have to sit without doing anything but still whatever you're doing gives you that color so all your life how was that pressure? You are 30 plus right now if I can quote that... I am very happy with my age! No no..I'm just kidding. What did think about this pressure? So, I actually... Since childhood, I always had.. I was grateful for the platform that I had. And I always thrived in that opportunity. From my childhood, when I was a head boy in school and all this. And never felt it as responsibility or burden. Actually think its great opportunity! And third generation curse is real. It's absolutely real. What do you mean by that?

28:59 It means that by the time the first generation actually builds, the wealth or company whatever it is. The second generation grow with that and they scale it up a lot. The third generation is born with a silver spoon so they don't see hardships, they don't know how to build... They generally say that they destroy it? They destroy because then you know there are not value creators. And I think that curse Only happens when you actually have no motivation and you have nothing to look forward or achieve. And I think, I've always been very humble that way because of my mother and very ambitious because of my father so i never had that curse. Mom was strict? Mom is not strict but she's very

29:42 larger than life. She's done I think thousand ribbon cuttings in the country. Oh yeah, she is a lucky charm. But yeah she is that type of person who is very humble and very Very approachable by anybody. From anywhere and I think for me that... That third generation curse didn't happen because, I myself was very hungry to prove myself And have consistently been if you've known me from when i was 15, I have been the same person So what more? What else can I do and.. That hunger excitement keeps Keeps you going No I get it How much ever see The opportunity or maybe the

32:58 And we'll build now, for example our pharma business is the second largest in India in pharma research already. Or there are other businesses in real estate and malls and other businesses that we built Now obviously with AI so many new businesses are getting built So I think the learning's actually when you're going through tough periods of time You realize what is really important When things are good you don't learn That is very important in your own journey and career Now, if you just one fine morning you wake up and say 100 crores is the fund. Now I need to invest in startups Let's help the startups who are going to build the best things who are not going to get affected by these things What are those five sectors would invest? You know when we started I've been investing since 2015 And... They have a list of startups also Yeah! You have all the lists of startups You know actually meet founders and you meet people

33:56 You will get to know the energy. And that's one thing. Second is actually space, we went to a small apartment at that time. Not an apartment but office building. When was this your first startup? One of the first investments. In 2015 there was a company called Upstocks. Oh yeah! At that time there were three people Ravi, Raghu and Srini in a small room next to BKC because it is very expensive BKC. He says there is a company called Upstocks. That's what I am saying. Even its name wasn't up stocks then. RKSV Securities Oh, okay. After RKSV's initials. I thought that would come up again now? Yeah, it was their legal name. It is still the same legal name. We used to co-invest with Vani Kola from Kallari. She has been in my show also. Yeah she is amazing!

34:42 She is very, very dynamic and amazing like a mentor to me. So Vani said she was investing... I think $3 million at 15 million valuation And they were number 20th in the list of brokerages in India. But when we went for that meeting, I understood In the first meeting, these guys are going to do something big The space is big Their vision was big. They came back from America, they worked in a company which is very big called Interactive Brokers and they came in an article you should find their article okay? They... You know in trading, volume of the trading gets bigger because you allow traders. They built it for traders right right And they themselves were traders so there are lakhs of crores of trading on that platform

35:31 Then I understood, we'll scale the right people and market. Timing was not correct then. It took a lot of days from 2015 till they really became big. Because who knows about the market at that time? They built it silently And today now they are top 5 in brokerages, valued at 3.5 billion and they're very close friends of mine we continue to invest in the company Tiger Global came, Nantadavi stayed So you haven't exited now? No, no! Continue to hold. You know, 15 million rounds did you also enter? Yeah Can I know what was the ticket size? We put 500k then Ratan Tata sir put 500K so there were 4 million dollar round

36:10 Only three of you? Yeah, three of us. And it's one... I mean it was like over 100x. But if you see the trajectory of companies now First of all, you shouldn't leave early You should stay the full ride and believe in people Right! And I have so much faith and trust in these guys building We are not even touching the surface Hundred million DMAT accounts in India with 1.4 billion people People are just starting Look at China Half a billion accounts. So, the world in India now... Next 10 years you will not recognize this country! Wow! Now ask Hyderabad. So many people come to Hyderabad now and they're like I can't imagine what is this? What's happening here? What is it? When you come from Batchipuri side, people are shocked! Bro, whenever I go with my team, I'll say something. I used to come regularly for about ten years back but since then I've changed a lot. They said that I'm changing like an uncle

37:54 The main politicians who are... Even though the parties are changing, things are going well. Yes, they're doing good. In last 15 years, compared to Bangalore. Simple example. That pace is also similar. Now that we've come to this topic of investments Generally, when you are investing... Because you led that round right? You were the one who was leading the round from your family office. I mean did we talk about upstox or cred was one of the startups that you invested in? Yes, cred also. This is at least 10 years back, 10 to 11 years back How was your thought process back then? When you put a rupee, do they think how will it be taken backwards?

38:29 How was you... how were you thinking back then? And generally I've seen many investors. I gave pitch meetings to a lot of people, I was proxy for certain startups Even I raised my friends in startups a couple times. I know certain investors who talk about exit first So how was your thought process back then? The first startup when you led the round, you're from that time, and now 30 plus startups have invested. How are you thinking right now? I think there are two deals of companies that I believed in very, very like very seriously. One was when Alibaba investment by SoftBank It was around that same 1999 era and then they bought one third of the company for around 20 million dollars so about 60 million dollar valuation

39:22 At the similar time, two years before that... NASPA's invested in Tencent. Okay. Tencent which has WeChat. Both those companies took 15 to 20 years to mature. NASPA's investment and Alibaba's investment when these companies IPO'd anywhere in last 5-10 years were worth 80 billion and 150 billion respectively. So companies grow in tech like this So, your subscriber base would have grown like this. Absolutely! You know if someone met you somewhere in between and suddenly... Wow! You did so well! I'll tell you something. That is my thesis on tech. For sure! Since there are subscribers, a couple of times I've messaged some people at the start of the channel. September 9th 2023! I saw that message too. Such a good message though?

40:19 I'm very proud of you. Thank you very much! So, I generally send a screenshot of my channel also. This is my channel. Because i don't want them to click the link and then go to... Let them just watch the numbers only. Correct. 2 lakh subscribers 3 lakh subscribers That was huge at that time for me. And after putting it I used to leave him. At times, people would respond and it depends on the time. A couple of guests will not respond that time because of some reason. All of a sudden when i get a message back after two years later... Then I see, now I have crossed 2 million. It was 2 lakhs when I sent you the message

40:55 Just imagine, in two years... I mean maybe six months back it could have been the same number. Yes. When Skyrocket happened, it has multiple reasons for that. Absolutely! Like you told me. Absolutely! When we messaged you then, when did you get that? No no.. When did you start this channel? Channel? November 2023 or 22 or 23. 22. Amazing. Amazing trajectory and I'm very proud of you. From there, now you're everywhere which is amazing. We are two and a half years late on my part but... No, still remember you told that I am building something interesting. Yeah! Let's take some more time and get back to it. Did I tell you then? I've never done podcast before. Yes yes. This is the first podcast. See.. My Telugu isn't so good but... That's okay

40:55 Just imagine, in two years... I mean maybe six months back it could have been the same number. Yes. When Skyrocket happened, it has multiple reasons for that. Absolutely! Like you told me. Absolutely! When we messaged you then, when did you get that? No no.. When did you start this channel? Channel? November 2023 or 22 or 23. 22. Amazing. Amazing trajectory and I'm very proud of you. From there, now you're everywhere which is amazing. We are two and a half years late on my part but... No, still remember you told that I am building something interesting. Yeah! Let's take some more time and get back to it. Did I tell you then? I've never done podcast before. Yes yes. This is the first podcast. See.. My Telugu isn't so good but... That's okay

41:42 Because you think English first, no? That's what happens. You know I grew up with Telugu as a primary but in college high school... I didn't learn Telugu. I learned Hindi and then French and then Spanish, second language third language So, I learnt Telugu at home only. I mean, watched movies. That is how I knew Telugu. Okay okay! Telugu was good actually even when we met last time. What did I do? So let's also talk about those people who are in your business, I mean who invested in your business maybe equally. Yeah! Kunal Shah and Nikhil Kamath are also there right? Benny Bunsell is also there right? Yes. How was it that previously you invested in Credit now, Kunal invested in your startup? Kunal is...

42:25 is something else. If you ever spend time with him... That's what I meant, how would it be when we work together? Kunal actually started his business in Bombay after he got a free charge. I lived in Bombay for many years 7-8 years. He used to run Free Charge then itself. This was when you were managing the airport there right? Yeah! And I knew Kunal from those days and He's a very different person. He thinks about... he is a psychology major by the way, he never did engineering and always thinks about what are incentives of a person? So everything he thinks are in those patterns and lines so even free charge, he used to pay you something for charging recharging your phone like it's very psychological thing

43:12 Even cred is a form of that. You see the one page he sent everybody for when he's raising his seat down, white paper just why people care or will care about credit score And he's like a very interesting fellow that way. One of the leading thinkers, he thinks a lot and then basically I think at that time we invested in credit and then when I was starting Equal, he was like yeah sure... He is a WhatsApp investor. He has invested in over hundreds of companies in India. Right! He has a model people who he thinks are smart who he looks up to

43:52 and people, he has a fixed amount of investment in everything. That's his model. Nikhil on the other side is again a visionary thinker and he like... He is building so many things of large interest I am very fond of both him and his brother. You keep meeting them? And they are good friends also And Binny of course has built one of India's largest Flipkart. And Binny actually was, is in that phase where he is building a lot things as well All three I look up to and there are other people also, angels who I look up too, friends You want people in your journey like that you know

43:52 and people, he has a fixed amount of investment in everything. That's his model. Nikhil on the other side is again a visionary thinker and he like... He is building so many things of large interest I am very fond of both him and his brother. You keep meeting them? And they are good friends also And Binny of course has built one of India's largest Flipkart. And Binny actually was, is in that phase where he is building a lot things as well All three I look up to and there are other people also, angels who I look up too, friends You want people in your journey like that you know

44:28 How do you guys discuss about the progress of the business? I'm talking about equal. Sure! So generally, when you deal with investors though you know them personally but you keep having those professional discussions right? Yes. What kind of discussions are there? See tech is very different than traditional businesses. There won't be reviews in Tech. Their whole business model grows... You have to be so quick in what you build. So I send a quarterly newsletter with basically everything that we need to know Okay And that is the way I come in. I see everyone around and ask what's happening? And now we can partner, do more... So see you asked me a question about correct investors here right? Till now not one investor has asked for an exit. Because people who want to make this

45:16 When you put it back then, It's somewhere around, right? Will the money come or not. When will it come and how will it be when we exit. How much X can we see... So how do you validate the valuation whether it is right or not because there are no thumb rules, right? Yeah! Like selling land. Just betting. Since it's in that sense, so how do you generally validate? See back then in 2015, if I say what was thought process Tech is a very, very risky. It's hit or miss. The chance of success is so low that in your mind you should be ready for nine companies going to zero and one becoming a super winner And if you see actually all these funds are like that One two are winners Two three return money Rest don't even return money So

45:16 When you put it back then, It's somewhere around, right? Will the money come or not. When will it come and how will it be when we exit. How much X can we see... So how do you validate the valuation whether it is right or not because there are no thumb rules, right? Yeah! Like selling land. Just betting. Since it's in that sense, so how do you generally validate? See back then in 2015, if I say what was thought process Tech is a very, very risky. It's hit or miss. The chance of success is so low that in your mind you should be ready for nine companies going to zero and one becoming a super winner And if you see actually all these funds are like that One two are winners Two three return money Rest don't even return money So

46:16 Investing is a state of mind actually. If you go in with that, if I want to exit... For that type of investment which is tech it's completely wrong for you You have to think about, okay he will be here now market will become bigger He will become bigger and then the whole..you have run with the ride So at that time also I had these two companies or ideas on how you should invest In terms of long term. Yeah, case studies and long term nature And even today I believe in that these companies will take long and they will grow very significant Over duration as you keep compounding the right behavior Business grows right way and everything in there in that sense a live example 15 billion round loom air interacted What's what's estimated? So it was fifteen million round up to three and half billion nippudu

47:04 And this is before they do a next round or list and stuff like that. So, see these are tech companies are like that but we have many companies which have shut down also so you should never go in there that mentality but my thesis slightly changed. That you believe? Yeah! My belief has changed little bit I think companies are getting built faster and are dying faster. And with AI, it accelerates both. So there's a very interesting article that companies will become single person unicorns but also they'll get challenged so fast that you can't bet on things for long anymore. And that is what is happening. You have to build

47:50 Fidgetle businesses. That's my current thesis. Got it! Building an Uber is very tough nowadays. Getting riders, getting the vehicles... Software is easy but actually getting the network is very hard So my thesis actually is that fidgetle businesses are ones which will thrive What do you think would be next bet that you want to invest in or maybe support? See I think right now we're building AI platform in Equal AI Assistant We grew from zero users in this new product. In October we launched, October 2nd... We always launch on some important day for India. Business launch was August 15th? Yes! It came out on August 15th. I don't know why somehow now our team also says that it will come on 26th or 11th or something like that.

48:39 So, now from March end we closed some zero customers. We went to 75000 users on our call assistant by Janend. This is B2C right? B2C. B2B already... Yes, there's a B2P anyway. That's it. Yeah! So, till January end 75000 monthly active users. Then we grew to 383,000. Then we grew to 850,000 in March. So the trajectory is like this and will continue like that. So all products once it click out there... That's how they work. First let us talk about B2B. It is very much exciting. I mean.. Is this a merger?

49:18 That's it. It was very informal. Government of India built India Stack for UPI payments, account aggregator financial data, DigiLocker personal documents. So what we did was build a platform that enables easy sharing between customer and business. Along with that we moved into KYC, went into data sharing, all these have regulatory licenses

50:04 Then we said, okay. Let's get an AI assistant for home and for India because we realized data is being shared for purpose you know? We have over 500 customers enterprise businesses who are customers on our B2B business Example? Like SBI or Bajaj SDFC right All the large banks NBFCs Airtel all these businesses And when we realize that there is huge opportunity Actually started the company then only for B2C But we realized the problem was in the B2B layer. Because if you wanted to get a loan, you would share it anyway and the person giving you the loan would upload it anyway So we wanted to build merchant access business access And then now I built customer layer so in 2-3 years You won't recognize the company It will be an AI assistant, an AI platform An app that use for everything in your life

50:56 In B2B also, because we never understand the scale because it's happening behind us. I have a list of brands which are working with you. All these companies use your platform. knowingly or unknowingly, we don't know anything about how much equal is involved. Every transaction or if I ask you, where are we being touched? Or maybe equal is touching us in the process of these transactions or something Yeah! I think see where you will use us is... In financial services especially when taking loan, should one document income?

51:34 brokerage account, for opening a new account they allow limits to increase. For insurance PFM personal finance app where you are checking your money in places of anything with other assets that you want to share for some loan or something all these places touch financial data sharing which will touch us so one of the largest in account aggregator There are three or four large players. We are the largest actually. So, that... You know, in India scale is the most exciting thing. You know you messaged me back then about InkTalk. About scale. I don't remember if you remember that video? And it's.. I still believe in that! That we have seen in our lifetime maybe 50 thousand people in one place Max, you go to a stadium, you go for a match, you go for so and so

52:29 Maybe political rally if you went to maybe 500,000 people. You've not seen more than that in scale. We are 1.4 billion people! It's insane to think about how many people are in this country and the scale and the opportunity So I'm a huge believer and lover of scale... And India... Yeah, they're visible. Nice nice. So what is the story about this one money? Why did we have to acquire it? Acquire huh? Yeah yeah, it was acquisition and merger Basically uh..we realized Financial data business law. So this was acquired by Equal? By Equal, yeah. You know financial data business law Regulatory license are very important And that's why actually we have 3 deputy governors of RBI on different boards of ours Because they give us all the right governance The right guidance Yeah, yeah! and when we had started with personal data sharing between businesses customers Everything is consented My business has not consented Customer is sharing for some purpose

53:30 And then we enabled the right way to share. And then you know, we went into health, employment use cases Financial law? You have to have a regulatory license So to enter with the regulatory license We felt it was very logical business for us So how about this B2C? What are you going to see in B2C? I've seen a video of an influencer. How can he install something on that phone? That's amazing, man! I'm always waiting for iOS to come out. It will be released soon. In the first week of May, your iOS app will be available. After that podcast. After the podcast, it'll take 3 weeks. Okay, yeah that's right. Now... so what we're building is We think that call... In India now, there is a lot more phone spam. There are many calls on phones

54:14 But Indians also like talking on the phone for everything. For every transaction, if you are buying a house or taking a car... So basically we said okay we want to solve that pain point We want be call assistant. If there is an unknown call from the phone, the assistant picks up on your behalf speaks like you gets the context and tells you if it's important then you can pick So, it's a very smart call assistant. But then... It doesn't stop there because that we are able to do for you We've now known contacts also will pick up other than your mother father siblings spouse kids Lot of work colleagues people who come home You'll send assistant address kosam for details kosam so adantha goda is it can do and then do we feed the information before? It learns from whatever you say

55:03 And then we'll do messages that will help manage for you. It will do tasks for you You know when you get a call about loan, when you say I'm interested it will actually help you to get the best loan And then, so you will see all of that coming this year. It will be the one layer that you talk to for everything in your native language. Today all level languages which are the primary languages in India it's able to handle at high scale. When you say, when an unknown call comes up, you answer and take details from there then pick-up? Yes. Like how much time does it take and how does a process go if I'm getting an unknown call now Correct What happens So the assistant picks it up. Automatically picks it up in Android, and iOS you have to send to assistant because iOS is the way its built out And the assistant says hey this is Vamsi's assistant tell me what are you calling? Whichever language and we'll converse then take a takeaway If it's important then connect to call dupe

55:59 Based on what you like. You can put your status, you can decide when you want calls to come to you and when don't want it And that's just the starting Everything that you want in your life You will have an expert agent for you, doing everything for you. So your personal AI for everything you want to do. Technically I don't get the ring first. Oh! The assistant goes and after answering... If it is making sense then it'll send it to me. One straight question. When we are using AI so much now, I'm just talking about chatbots or basic agents If Gemini launches a feature, it's taking 2-3 days for OpenAI to launch. For example, if we do this option C is giving another 3 days or 1 day. It keeps coming like that. We don't have any clarity on which one should be used. It keeps coming back and forth.

55:59 Based on what you like. You can put your status, you can decide when you want calls to come to you and when don't want it And that's just the starting Everything that you want in your life You will have an expert agent for you, doing everything for you. So your personal AI for everything you want to do. Technically I don't get the ring first. Oh! The assistant goes and after answering... If it is making sense then it'll send it to me. One straight question. When we are using AI so much now, I'm just talking about chatbots or basic agents If Gemini launches a feature, it's taking 2-3 days for OpenAI to launch. For example, if we do this option C is giving another 3 days or 1 day. It keeps coming like that. We don't have any clarity on which one should be used. It keeps coming back and forth.

56:49 equal stay in the game as a top player. Because we think everything is possible. Absolutely! How do you think you are different and how strong can you stay when the competitors are in the game? See, I think there are two reasons why... Remember I told that things life of companies will be shorter? And thats why you were saying exactly everybody is building the same thing faster Every six months our competitive advantage will evolve and change And we have to keep changing it. Today, it may be a first mover advantage After that, It could be network density Lot of people are using us Thereby people are using more and more

57:30 Apart from that, we have tens of millions of people who use our consented rails for data sharing. So that becomes a way where it says Vamsi has an account... Oh hey! You want to loan? It will help you do better. I think that can be a mode and then over time building for Bharat. Right. I think that would make us succeed. We're building with hyper focus if you think about all the AI systems that you are talking about they build on global scale They don't think about each region anymore. Because the world of AI is actually a global platform, and we are building for absolute India-centric. And I think that will make us succeed. All the best for it! No, I think we will succeed. We'll hit a chord... I'm sure because I know you personally. Since I know what your thought process is, I've been talking to your team also. Yeah? I know about you and your leadership so I am sure about it. In this scale now..

57:30 Apart from that, we have tens of millions of people who use our consented rails for data sharing. So that becomes a way where it says Vamsi has an account... Oh hey! You want to loan? It will help you do better. I think that can be a mode and then over time building for Bharat. Right. I think that would make us succeed. We're building with hyper focus if you think about all the AI systems that you are talking about they build on global scale They don't think about each region anymore. Because the world of AI is actually a global platform, and we are building for absolute India-centric. And I think that will make us succeed. All the best for it! No, I think we will succeed. We'll hit a chord... I'm sure because I know you personally. Since I know what your thought process is, I've been talking to your team also. Yeah? I know about you and your leadership so I am sure about it. In this scale now..

58:22 8 lakhs are recent numbers, so 8 lakhs plus. So many people use B2C only if they're involved in using your application. And that too Android. iOS is not launched yet. iOS will be super hit because a call assistant IOS people are the ones who have more disposable income. They want these services, they're busier in their life. Correct! It's actually more important for them. So it'll be a super hit. And now we're thinking from the other side. Generally if you want to use AI tools that you need at office, then watchport is enough for us. If you want to get 100k subscriptions. How much would your cost be?

59:01 It's crazy. AI costs are crazy, unless people bring it down at scale to lower cost In India everybody and everyone won't be able to use it Is that so? You'll hit the paywall very quickly If you can use a little bit, please pay And now its almost like token system, if we use these tokens... See also one insight that we have is that over 1 billion people in India have never used AI I have never. Even now, even now. When you search on Google and it says hey its an AI recommendation, I don't count that Somebody has to intend to go onto let's say Gemini or ChadGBT or Claude and then actually ask something Over a billion people have never used AI because they do not know where to start It is actually quite intimidating In India, people can't

59:55 are more used to conversing, speaking multiple languages. Reading and writing is not typically very... They're not really used to it So actually my insight in the voice will become the biggest medium for an AI assistant so we're a voice conversation AI assistant any language anything you want You can just ask And it'll get it done for you That's what will succeed Building for India there are lot of different nuances Correct correct So where do look at yourself? about equal in the next five years. I think we'll be one of the leaders in AI in India, doing everything for you in your day to day life

1:00:34 we will probably becoming a platform that you want to get the cheapest iPhone or you want go buy car, or you want some insurance. Or you wanna speak with somebody about something Today when you are buying something it's very interesting People will call me You'll call your brother, uncle, shop friend... You know.. Something like this. You always call people. You always find out before making purchase And we wanna be that person for you When you think about B2C, when we have to be customer centric The kind of lack of exposure, I'm not sure. I'll just be corrected also. Yeah? Now imagine for me as an example in general... I get a chance to go out and meet a shopkeeper in general. I can't even imagine after coming into your house also when you will come out from there like going to the shop. It's like your home is a community. So

1:01:33 Otherwise it is very difficult to understand the Indian market. You've come to my office. Oh, you haven't come yet? Yeah I was supposed to come It's an open office Anybody can talk me I sit with everybody That would have a cabin right No i don't have a cabin See the idea is If your humble enough to learn To be mistaken and to be corrected And to learn through that My insight is you could build any company Anybody with any level of Dedication hard work

1:02:15 Like, will. You ask me one thing why would you invest in founders? Yeah! You know the biggest reason I invest in people or founders In people actually is what they have to lose. Hmm.. Like you have to see their motivations Many people if they don't have what they...you know that motivation are so clear They want to prove it somebody They have something to lose and he won't have a house to live They, you know have some past baggage that they want to just make sure that they want to clear. Every person has a story of very deep story and if you get to that story and they tell you the reason why they're doing what they're doing, they'll move mountains those people And I love those people who are trying to prove someone wrong was trying to beat something

1:03:03 You have to have a purpose. Otherwise you get bored and there's no motivation. I get it! When we come to reality, we need sentimental analysis or else the thought process changes. As they say India is in such state where every 100 kms taste and preferences change a lot. So depending on our exposure So, in that sense, maybe your grandfather might have had different insights altogether. Your father might have had different insights altogether. Absolutely! So when I came to you, it was about the generation gap or less of access to the outside world. That question always comes up. It's correct because if you tell me what is the price of

1:04:33 That's just my mentality. And I think my mother, father's mother is like that She knows numbers to the tip! She is the smartest person in our family. She ran a lot of Taj hotels and... My grandmother? Yes, she did. I learnt a lot from her. I am very similar to her in that sense. Really? Yeah yeah..She sits on many boards. She is regarded as one of the most inspiring women leaders Public interest company board Is GVK family group betting more on AI or technological advancements? I have not seen anything recently. Are you guys watching something like that? So, Family office or holding company has incubated a lot of companies. We have incubated 10 companies since 2022. Oh nice! In this structure and segment? Not in segments but generally in many different businesses. And we've done about 3 companies which would include equivalent

1:05:30 So I think there would be a lot of companies. But most people have personal funds, right? No, that's family capital and then basically every year we start two new businesses and these are like new age or old age or traditional business with the new-age twist AI and software will take over how businesses are run. It disrupts the models completely of distribution, operations execution so you have to rethink and the people who are rethinking them

1:06:08 will be ones with an advantage. So that is like a very important... It can be customer experience also, it can be like new product innovation, it can be you know algorithms that are predicting things better You know there are different ways Software was disrupting right? Since last 10 years software has been disrupting many businesses AI is disrupting software also and all other businesses Now, if you put physical AI like human humanoids and robots it disrupts the whole business models because they work more efficiently for longer hours for different ways. But of course I am concerned with we have a large population who need to have work and purpose and jobs so I'm a big proponent of finding that balance

1:06:08 will be ones with an advantage. So that is like a very important... It can be customer experience also, it can be like new product innovation, it can be you know algorithms that are predicting things better You know there are different ways Software was disrupting right? Since last 10 years software has been disrupting many businesses AI is disrupting software also and all other businesses Now, if you put physical AI like human humanoids and robots it disrupts the whole business models because they work more efficiently for longer hours for different ways. But of course I am concerned with we have a large population who need to have work and purpose and jobs so I'm a big proponent of finding that balance

1:06:59 Nice. And here I wanted to talk about the importance of founding team, both legacy businesses or startups or bigger scale ideas. Founders team or founding team or co-founders, the importance of those few people if we need to talk about it. The people that you... My Nana always says that the people you start anything with, a business they have to be the right people. And we spoke about how many businesses How do you run so many businesses? With the right people leaders You have to have cultural alignment. You have to be principally on the same page. You know, you have to finish each person's sentence should know that this is This is our goal and this is where we want to get too

1:07:47 And at the same time, you have to have immense trust of the person. If you don't trust each other, then number one reason startups fail is because co-founders fight Very true. And then, I think the second is like funding is not there. But it's such a critical thing to find the right business partner or co-founder whatever you call it founding team that its like wildly understated It's like in our Telugu language marriage will be random. That's what even co founders are like. More than wife they'll be with their co founder. Actually 14 15 16 hours a day

1:08:24 So very important decisions. That is life has a set scale, but business has huge scale. Goal is different altogether. In that goal two should align. Two means how many people are there and how many should be aligned? Different marriages all together. Yeah I agree. Very important relationship I read about something interesting. Exit relation or closure relation? For some business, if it's not working the relation is broken It's not just a money relation that you have lost but also your baby which is lost from you right That's very tough right? Yes, I can imagine Here as co-founders and with the founding team

1:11:31 Unless you're Elon Musk, the other companies won't last. So... You speak a lot about Elon Musk? I think he's like.. He is probably going to be the most profound human in this century. And I think... Didn't you meet him? Yes, I met him yesterday on my podcast. With Nikhil? Yeah! I was sitting there with him. Oh yeah! So we listened for 4 hours. He must have thought it was next level. When Nikhil asked me some questions He'll think, he'll laugh. He runs all the probabilities in his mind and then answers And whatever is so profound It's like crazy! I think when i met him in person, I thought that he was more superhuman than ever before. I mean he came from 6 things at work which are critical Then he went to put his kids to sleep Then he came for the podcast at 10.45 pm

1:12:28 And he stayed on till 2.30, 4 hours non-stop. He didn't stop and no breaks. Okay! And I don't know how is like... He's so in the zone and everything he talks was like most people wouldn't have understood half that podcast because of how ahead he was in his thinking. Yeah yeah. And I think see he's building He is building a human face interface. I mean, human chip interface. He's building an electric car company which is profound. He's building social media company. He's building... You know, electric car companies. Building the world's largest satellite system. He's building a large defense company. He's building... Yeah! I mean just each of these are like

1:13:13 Massive opportunities, but so difficult to build. So I mean...I really look up to him For any entrepreneur he is number one You also met Sam Altman right? Another celebrated name now How was that experience ? I don't think it was as impressive See because he didn't give me the time No see he's built in Elon claims and Elon, Sam Altman have this whole thing Elon named the company OpenAI He gave its founding $50 million as a foundation. He claims to be one of the founders actually, Sam Altman is a great leader

1:18:04 success aura that they're not doing this for money. They are doing this for a cause, for purpose and super humble, super mission oriented. Everything is mission oriented. The programs that they conduct, I mean foundry or WTF fund... If you don't understand the intentions... Yes, intentions and climate. All the things they do in climate. They delegate separate funds to it and the kind of startups they are actually backing up. 150 plus startups if i'm not wrong there? Yeah must be! That's crazy! And that too with a shortest span. It seems like 5-6 years are getting scaled off from time to time. Yes, only then they start doing all kinds of other new businesses. Very interesting

1:18:44 I was reading something. There's a Jeff Bezos theory on Amazon, there is this 2 pizza team rule. Team should be such effective and strong that everyone can eat one or two pizzas. And they should be very strong to build such kind of huge empires. Even you mentioned something similar to this small teams in high performance something like that How far is it possible? First of all See...I think When Jeff Bezos said it, he said it because he didn't want bureaucracy. He didn't want large teams building any product and you know small teams are usually most high performing because the loss of... I mean there is a lot more gap in communication if many people are involved and that's by nature but now in world of AI, Teams are getting reorganized

1:19:38 In our team, people who don't know how to code build entire products now. Because the cost of software has come down to zero. So building something has become a commodity. Now teams are reorganizing in our AI teams It's small high-performing teams of 2 or 3 people and they'll have come with a mission or goal and that's it! It should be that way Earlier teams used to be product, design tech QA support and it used to go through the cycle. But building shipping products has become so fast that we have to reorganize every team like that now

1:20:25 Traditional companies are going to be different because you have different shops, physical stores or manufacturing. If it is experience based then it will be a little bit different. Pure software will be very different. Very very different I mean the pace of innovation and the way things are going now It is very opportunistic but also scary. So generally, any startup or any legacy business or start-up or business hiring makes a lot of difference. What did you observe? Maybe key factors that we should remember when hiring from your grandfather and father what is it that you have learnt? You know if you think about it in the Telugu people United Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

1:22:01 They have to think like you. Exactly! Yeah, they have to value system. Is it not tough? I mean, in the family business, people come from outside and sit on a board of directors' seats. They are deciding on certain things or maybe they are making bigger decisions. How does it feel? See there is balance. There will be balance. Some key decisions family will take. Lot of key decisions a professional management will take and that's the right mix because if you're trying to do everything, you won't be able to build more than one thing at one time. Because we are just humanly impossible there. That is where delegation comes. Delegation becomes very important. If you see like there are so many examples of our pharma business GVK bio which is now called Arigin Life Sciences

1:22:46 It grew from 2001 when my father started it. Very very professionally and then my DS Brar who is our co-founder came in 2004, it grew professionally Completely professionally. Even today, we have a group CEO MD CEO We have three CEOs of the businesses and we are only on the board and only get involved with capital allocation key hires You're part of the board? Yeah I've been on the board for five years now And you know you you have to know where we want to get involved whether it's value accretion Where your building value and I think if you know that model no

1:23:22 My dad or my uncle don't have an office in GVK by origin. They don't have an office room, that's how professional you are. It is the number one in corporate governance in pharma companies in India. It is ESG number one in India. It is great place to work seven times a year in a row and see when you... You have to build value that way. Corporate governance in business is very important We started GVK MRI as a model. In 2001, you call 108 ambulance service. It was started by some other person and my grandfather took over after that. It grew from one state to 20 states in India. Now we cover over 1 billion people in India. Absolutely scaled out! You have 18000 ambulances, 75000 employees

1:24:16 And it is scale because there's good leadership and team. It is a non-profit, right? It's a non-profit! Good leadership, good team... So each of these businesses or non profits have to have good leaders to build out and we had that in every single business. Right. That's how Tata is managing it, right? Yeah. Tata loves.. You know he is in that phase in his life where he wants to give back a lot. And he built this Two, three years ago he got very... A few years ago he got very passionate about animal ambulances. Okay! Because what they say is that people get hurt, you can tell them. You'll say that I'm not well. Animals can't say anything. So actually now we are the top ambulance service for animals. We have 2500 ambulances in India. Only for animals? Only for animals and it's growing very fast And that was just with an idea four or five years ago and then government supported it and then scaled up

1:25:09 And by the way, these 18000 ambulances are in 15000 zip codes in India. So think about rostering people, repairs maintenance oil like for fuel It's it's like an insane operation so weather but all this can happen with good people know how much of us How much support does the government give? How much has been spent by GVK? See, it's a private-public partnership. So they give it out on PPP for us to operate and assets are given by the government and people team innovation technology all of that is run by us

1:25:49 And so that's the right perfect... That is the biggest thing, isn't it? No. It is both actually. I mean without the assets this won't run and without this that won't run. So that's a one time thing at least. Running on every day. Yeah! See because..I think that's a great example. Harvard Business Review wrote an article saying This is one of the most impactful organizations in the world They have saved close to 10 million lives today. Wow! Ten million. And it is like Think about scale. How many people? People are naming their children GVK EMRA108 in villages because it saved them. Wow! I mean, you should see the scale there are millions of cases of animal bites or like snake bites or pregnancies You know how many pregnancies in a year that happen in these ambulances because in rural India There is no health care that is good

1:25:49 And so that's the right perfect... That is the biggest thing, isn't it? No. It is both actually. I mean without the assets this won't run and without this that won't run. So that's a one time thing at least. Running on every day. Yeah! See because..I think that's a great example. Harvard Business Review wrote an article saying This is one of the most impactful organizations in the world They have saved close to 10 million lives today. Wow! Ten million. And it is like Think about scale. How many people? People are naming their children GVK EMRA108 in villages because it saved them. Wow! I mean, you should see the scale there are millions of cases of animal bites or like snake bites or pregnancies You know how many pregnancies in a year that happen in these ambulances because in rural India There is no health care that is good

1:26:36 So you have to rely on someone like this. So the kind of impact and scale we also have, um, you know, one or two which is for women care, women health line. Um, you have one of four, you have basically a suicide line We manage so many different services pan India in UP in Gujarat in Haryana in Karnataka AP Telangana I mean there are lot of places where do different programs The other day I was talking to someone, he said, just now the 10 minutes delivery and 20 minutes delivery came. If you had called earlier itself, the ambulance would have come in half an hour. It's not even half an hour, it takes 8 minutes. In certain states, in eight minutes the ambulance comes for you

1:27:19 And they do it, they are more efficient than a lot of the quick commerce companies. It's crazy because it is only delivery there. It is go pick up take to hospital immediately and you take him to fastest closest hospital to save their life called golden hour. 60 minutes if we can get them emergency care will save persons life and that most important thats there KPI When I was going to Tirupati, there was a small incident like this. We had to call 108 and within 20-25 minutes they came. And that too on highway... we couldn't tell them where we were. Yes! So it's tough for us to make them understand. But yeah that is the biggest game changer. It has all impact good cause. And when you are working along with such kind of powerhouses around you, your grandparents, two grandparents.

1:28:09 Does it not feel like, I don't belong to this. I don't deserve this. Did you anytime feel intimidated? I feel like it's a learning opportunity. Every single thing you can learn something and that gives you So much like subconscious strength. You know, when you are young you don't realize it but when you notice... I see with my kids they see me and learn through actions the way I conduct myself or behave And I did the same! I used to walk like my grandpa My dad used to look like them, dressed like them Subconsciously I am like them only That's why this GVK Junior name really stuck

1:28:50 This topic is generally not a positive, positive topic. But with that ease I've got with you... Generally this topic of succession is raised. Generally it's about who comes after him or her and the meaning behind it too. So sometimes we read some stories and hear some cases. Now when Ambani family came up with their kids' case on which industry they should give them to, what businesses they should provide for them So that way, generally do you have such kind of discussions at your home? Or are they professional or subtle, like where to start and end. What about you? See I think every family has their own way of doing it. My family also has a different way of doing it but generally there is lot of clarity. When there's no clarity

1:29:40 Confusion increases. I think there is always a lot of clarity in our family. So, that has always led... Even for me there's a lot of clarity. I know what businesses that i will work in which I will build and continue to build so those are the only ones I'll be involved with And apart from that I have a simple rule actually I read a book long ago It said you'd rather be a Brahma You want to be a value creator in every role that you do. And it's actually very simple rule, if you can add value and create value in every role that you do the pie will become bigger whatever value will become larger I think that simple rule I follow as In any role that input and it's not just for business also its even what a job also yeah absolutely Absolutely and that's like

1:30:33 You know, that is like the golden rule I feel. It's very simply put but that's a golden rule. Succession yes and no... That's not the end state. Nobody should wait for succession feeling they've achieved something. They should want to take it to the next level. And building on that, I'm always first person at work reaching work since I was my first role in the company. In 2014... No, I heard this Miro. You started your day at 7 o'clock or 7-730 at the office also? Yeah and at 7458 I am in office but that's been since I was 21. I'm 33

1:34:15 Learn that. For sure, for sure! I always... I don't know if anyone has heard this or not but.. ..I keep believing in one statement. Whenever you reduce your thinking about smaller things, then only you remember the bigger thing and think of it. Otherwise, you'll be stuck with those small things. In micro-management, how much did we spend? How much is this work? Where did that come from? Your brain doesn't think big. It cannot expand its vicinity. Can't expand time and space outside. Generally, I'm thinking about your situation. If business and family pressure are the same...

1:34:55 If you look at how society looks, I am not sure whether you are feeling it or not. But what is takes to just come out of all that? Some people spend a lot of personal time, some people do yoga and spirituality, or else they meditate. So what do you personally do to actually come out of all that? I think for me... My life is very hectic. Little bit over-alcoholic But on weekends, I try to slow it down. What do you mean by that? Helps me be sane on a Sunday, for example. And spend time with family and my kids. My kids are in very cute age! Oh I've seen them now. Yeah they're adorable What was interesting is that generally when we have fathers or anyone talking to us at home, there's not enough kids to get into those rooms. They'll scare you by telling you not to go near them But it was very cute

1:35:52 Your kid was coming and you gave that attention to him. He didn't need anything, he is a small boy right? Naturally he needs attention. Without scaring him and we had to spend good time there. It was nice! No in that age where they learn this everything I actually... I didn't imagine how much i love being father And it's... So we should talk about parenting also then. Yeah, we should! I think that I really enjoy and for me spending time with the kids is one big stress buster of course. Okay. And meditate everyday. I think I learned that about when I was in MIT 2019 Transcendental meditation gives me a lot of transcendental meditation. So coincidentally this person is Deepak Chopra's sister-in-law who lives in Boston and she does this just to share that knowledge okay and one of my friend, Me and my wife Veena went to learn from her And it's very simple you just let thoughts come go

1:35:52 Your kid was coming and you gave that attention to him. He didn't need anything, he is a small boy right? Naturally he needs attention. Without scaring him and we had to spend good time there. It was nice! No in that age where they learn this everything I actually... I didn't imagine how much i love being father And it's... So we should talk about parenting also then. Yeah, we should! I think that I really enjoy and for me spending time with the kids is one big stress buster of course. Okay. And meditate everyday. I think I learned that about when I was in MIT 2019 Transcendental meditation gives me a lot of transcendental meditation. So coincidentally this person is Deepak Chopra's sister-in-law who lives in Boston and she does this just to share that knowledge okay and one of my friend, Me and my wife Veena went to learn from her And it's very simple you just let thoughts come go

1:36:54 And you know, you feel at peace. And a lot of happiness comes because like... You wait and see how fast life is these days. Just take a moment and consume everything. There's so much power in that. When I do that, whatever I think subconsciously always happens. Interesting! Okay. And it's like.. Generally people say not to think while meditating right? No actually what should we do is, thoughts come and go You should let it pass. And that's the only thing and then actually you feel like very calm after it and scientifically your brain actually calms down, your neural network comes down you feel at peace there is a very strong science behind this and for me I think the one thing which has happened is A lot of coincidences happen and I think something is going to happen I'll think about someone or some thought and then get a phone call about

1:37:51 It's absolute manifestation. But in this case, you should not force anything You should let it come and go And anyway things are manifesting are in your mind The subconscious energy system is so strong That's what God is about. We went to Tirupati and big, big bucks of Tirupati. And when we went there... Your grandfather was also a chairman? Yeah! My grandfather was the chairman two times. My grandmother was board member couple of times. Since childhood I have been

1:40:17 how devotion comes in different forms. And there is a higher being, there is a higher power that makes everything happen so seamlessly. In some things topic wise also they create a lot of calm. What we are talking about has suddenly become soothing now. Since it's an energy-related topic... Do you also believe, in your family, negative energy and positive energy... Do you discuss? Do you have that? Yes. We do it a lot. We use Dish Dish a lot. Is it so? I mean, that's also an energy right? With fire, we are removing the energy. My mother is very particular about my kids everyday. So every day, the kids take. Yeah yeah! Basically...

1:41:03 People say that the eyes don't look at each other like this everyday. So in that sense, I thought... Many people call it superstitions. It's just a thought. Because naturally its an exchange of energy between two people. Good or bad, positive energy flows when something is good or bad but I keep listening to a lot And generally with our journey, every year and every now and then we keep changing. The pace of life changes, the aspirations of that year or phase change. How are you placed right now in your career? Professionally speaking. I actually learnt manifestation from a friend many years ago

1:41:03 People say that the eyes don't look at each other like this everyday. So in that sense, I thought... Many people call it superstitions. It's just a thought. Because naturally its an exchange of energy between two people. Good or bad, positive energy flows when something is good or bad but I keep listening to a lot And generally with our journey, every year and every now and then we keep changing. The pace of life changes, the aspirations of that year or phase change. How are you placed right now in your career? Professionally speaking. I actually learnt manifestation from a friend many years ago

1:41:48 I make plans personally. Where i want to be, what should i do and achieve And it's crazy actually, I look at it once a month and then you have to like plan how things are going. Many things will go... Look at it once a month means? You write down and then once a month you look at it. Like goals? You put positive if its happening, negative if not happening, positive-negative if somewhat happening. Nice! And that kind of guides... Like new year goals? Like New Year Goals But they're broken down into smaller tasks. So like almost a task project level and I think 10 years from now, I know where I want to be you know you want...I want to be seen as a leading entrepreneur for India building innovative technologies doing some massive scale in hundreds of millions of people using what I built right so You already started that no?

1:42:40 That's true. Definitely it is insane, I mean... One and a half month back when we first discussed about... I have heard of equals before this too but.. When I heard about scale for the first time, It was all like what is this? Is this really possible? But later when I was looking at the numbers, 1 month ago still the numbers were different right? So in the meantime when I was looking at socials and all people influencers talking about brand. Why are you making me do it Keshav? You have gone to the next level. No, no... I want to join and spread word also about the brand. Yeah! Interesting. We make fun out of it a lot. Like writing for New Year's or something like that. It is fun but definitely very much important. Actually, many people's manifestation works.

1:43:34 I don't know how it works, but it works. It's the form factor of energy in some way what you really deeply believe in... ...it happens in some way and actually in principles in our life flow.. ..I always believed in one line, feet to the ground eyes to sky so be humble but be ambitious that has been a guiding principle And I read one book once that if you read your principles everyday They become part of you. So there are different ways to do it and different... Oh, definitely makes sense! I feel that subconsciously, when you keep reading or reminding about your goals... Yeah. The brain will look for the trigger points it needs to reach those. So if it wants something, it'll do so. That's how it wakes you up. They say, if we sleep early in the morning and wake up late at night, we'll definitely get up on time. It is not a logical thing! We've seen this happen many times personally. My hunch is that you already manifest here

1:44:38 You write somewhere, you write on your board. You look at it somewhere and think about it subconsciously. That's... You're indirectly doing it! That is true. Actually we have a list. A guest list. What was the name of that? There must be some names in the list. Manifestation. Yeah! List name is that. Amulya did that. We are doing it too. We have a list of 500 numbers. What do you do? We have written about Telugu speakers as well. How many Telugus are there? At least 300. So how many of them came to the podcast in 300? We have also mentioned who all came as guests, because it is reachable and we haven't written anything yet. Which are very tough to crack right? We listed a lot of people. I think 40 of us would be there.

1:45:34 We would have done 40. Even if we thought it was impossible, it worked out. So we never knew that we could crack the importance of manifestation value of manifestation Let's talk about the importance of calendar management Oh! It is too important My personal life is on my calendar. My work life is on my calendar, my to-do list is on my calendar... ...my events are on my calendar everything has to be there If it's not in the calendar I'll show up or get done It's as simple as that you only have certain amount of time in your day today So if we have more things to do than the time allocated You won't able to and if you read like... Logically its not possible Unless you give it somebody to do But there so many ways actually to effective as a leader

1:45:34 We would have done 40. Even if we thought it was impossible, it worked out. So we never knew that we could crack the importance of manifestation value of manifestation Let's talk about the importance of calendar management Oh! It is too important My personal life is on my calendar. My work life is on my calendar, my to-do list is on my calendar... ...my events are on my calendar everything has to be there If it's not in the calendar I'll show up or get done It's as simple as that you only have certain amount of time in your day today So if we have more things to do than the time allocated You won't able to and if you read like... Logically its not possible Unless you give it somebody to do But there so many ways actually to effective as a leader

1:46:21 Elon Musk actually has 5 minute, 10 minutes and 15 minutes blocks in calendars. I have been able to go to 30, I tried 20 which is tough because when you get into a meeting it ends before you start literally You can go to 15 also but you will have to be in standing meetings. You have to say what is the decision? That's a way to be really, really effective I've realized. And following up in India or anywhere in the world getting work done is half following up So the first thing that I do in morning First first thing is set up my calendar for the day Everyone on my team knows now He'll set his calendar and they will say okay! And then move things around and make it very effective How much of this possible? Means how accurately you complete it? Completion rates are low

1:47:06 Because what happens is, during the day you'll have meetings. And then you'll have tasks out of the meeting. But at least you prioritize things I've seen people going into like prioritizing in the day Which takes a lot of time to set up a calendar. Yeah! I like it when you say completion may be not possible. Completion is low. If someone tells that they do everything in their day They are probably bluffing. That's... Humanly impossible? Yes, it won't happen. Basically what we should do Most critical things you should do. Critical but not important, I'll tell someone else. And that four diagram right? Not critical and not important, you shouldn't do it. And then... Important but not critical You should do it in a form factor somebody does at some point. What is that? See Let's make it general. For outsiders

1:47:06 Because what happens is, during the day you'll have meetings. And then you'll have tasks out of the meeting. But at least you prioritize things I've seen people going into like prioritizing in the day Which takes a lot of time to set up a calendar. Yeah! I like it when you say completion may be not possible. Completion is low. If someone tells that they do everything in their day They are probably bluffing. That's... Humanly impossible? Yes, it won't happen. Basically what we should do Most critical things you should do. Critical but not important, I'll tell someone else. And that four diagram right? Not critical and not important, you shouldn't do it. And then... Important but not critical You should do it in a form factor somebody does at some point. What is that? See Let's make it general. For outsiders

1:47:59 Meeting you or... After meeting, it's different to talk about you. But people who look at you like this guy is a silver spoon guy. He has all the opportunities and leverage. What is that one overthinking segment that people think about you? It feels like I should say something which isn't true! If we can talk about it. A wedding photos, I am not that person. Bro, that was a big fat wedding you have done man! But first thing you google Adosturi and my association in my own life when you write your autobiography it will probably come as the 25th thing in my autobiography

1:48:42 I can understand the pain. And... But, I mean it's.. It feels weird, right? It is not my number one thing or 5 or 10 so Because you know what you are doing Yeah absolutely! Things out there are different. I mean we live in such a short period of time unfortunately most of us will not be remembered The world is millions of years That's a good statement and You want to be known for people when you're alive, with people around you. That you've done something good even impacted humanity in a way and I think that if you've done that you achieved and people are there for you, you love people genuinely. I'm actually very positive person so negativity doesn't break into me usually.

1:48:42 I can understand the pain. And... But, I mean it's.. It feels weird, right? It is not my number one thing or 5 or 10 so Because you know what you are doing Yeah absolutely! Things out there are different. I mean we live in such a short period of time unfortunately most of us will not be remembered The world is millions of years That's a good statement and You want to be known for people when you're alive, with people around you. That you've done something good even impacted humanity in a way and I think that if you've done that you achieved and people are there for you, you love people genuinely. I'm actually very positive person so negativity doesn't break into me usually.

1:49:31 Actually, it's a little extra positive. That is also the problem. You can't find anything negative in that. So you think so obsessively that it will happen and sometimes it happens too! You don't know where to stop? Your teammate Sai was mentioning... I've never seen him shouting or getting serious like this before. How is it possible in a business? I mean, that too running a family. I mean involving into the family business, like with fund low Gani... Dealing with so many startups that you have invested in Is it so easy to control your cool or just a media training? Yeah yeah! I don't get angry much Very little Zero I would say I think see what are you gonna achieve if you get angry

1:49:31 Actually, it's a little extra positive. That is also the problem. You can't find anything negative in that. So you think so obsessively that it will happen and sometimes it happens too! You don't know where to stop? Your teammate Sai was mentioning... I've never seen him shouting or getting serious like this before. How is it possible in a business? I mean, that too running a family. I mean involving into the family business, like with fund low Gani... Dealing with so many startups that you have invested in Is it so easy to control your cool or just a media training? Yeah yeah! I don't get angry much Very little Zero I would say I think see what are you gonna achieve if you get angry

1:50:09 Especially in work. Even in personal life, you won't achieve anything if you get angry But at work, when you get angry, it's just creating a negative environment You know I had one boss... I think one of the best things that he did was When family business law If you work for your family directly, what else do they expect? I had professional CEOs and actually my dad said First two.. I worked for three bosses Within your group? Yeah within the group but they were professionally run bosses I learned all the leadership styles. And, now have a version of it for myself But one of my bosses His name is Karthik Ajayendra He's Sri Lankan Very very accomplished and his way of getting work done he is sweet man but he was in charge of building terminal 2 and would very sweetly scold you example? He'll say... I didn't expect this out of you

1:51:11 And he makes you feel like... You can hear that in the woofer, right? Like.. You feel bad. I shouldn't have done it. Again, you know, he'll be feeling bad. But he was so effective! So that only tells me that you don't need to scream. Yeah. Another boss who had was a super rockstar in work diligence quality of work hardwork 24x7 anytime anything and that work ethic has come off to me. And then I had one more boss Who was not a good boss at all. Okay! But I learnt what not to be and what I don't want to be. Yeah, that's another lesson altogether yeah? It is very big lesson You know people say they work for their boss They don't work for the company So true Actually it is very true

1:54:16 You will... you think you're smart. People will think they are very smart, if I say this or that. We are all wrong! These are three like fundamental rules. I think that have worked well for and I have an amazing team. I think the team does everything so.. I think that is a success story of at least when Equal becomes the largest AI company in India. You'll come back and see the reason. I'll post it on video. Yeah, right away. No, I'm sure second point also And the last one, everyone relates to it. How long do we act? Or how many days are we hiding behind a mask? Any day if you're just acting...

1:55:05 to show something about you, it will pop up someday. 6 months or 1 year or 12... 1 and a half month or a year. It'll pop out sometime and then get even more gullies! Yeah. There's this rule that someone told me which is very smart. The years are the.. The walls have ears. So even if you're alone in the room, walls have ears. They'll know. Everyone will find them. I've been making some statements since then. And they keep sitting on my file. I must be careful. Mumbai airport, since 2015 right? No no 2005

1:56:46 How do airports make money? How does it happen? Yeah, how it works is actually a regulated business. So there's a regulator called Aira. So what they do is... They take all your capital expenditure and then there's... All your capital expenditure as in the... For terminal for airside for everything that you're spending they have to approve it but after approval then give you fixed rate of return and then divided into 5 year tariff period Oh! And that tariff period shows up on ticket as UDF

1:57:32 It's not you who fix the rate. No, no it is not us that fix it. The government of India actually. The regulator fixes because its correct and right balancing act And there's obviously landing charges. Every aircraft based on the size of the flight, so like let say A380 will be more expensive a small turboprop would be smaller or lesser So based on that there is pricing So, how much you can charge. And then the fuel and so... Essentially it's all regulated as a business. Interesting! In non-aeronautical businesses this includes shops or malls or whatever it is? Correct. I heard that generally in malls if they have shop or store, along with rental revenue will be shared to the airport. How does that model work? It's basically minimum guarantee of rent or revenue share whichever is higher. Or okay..

1:58:32 Whichever is higher. So that is the model. Okay, got it! So how was that experience? Amazing! Actually... That is I think one pivotal moment in my life you learn How to run business, danda when you learn how to collect money. Exactly what you were telling me. Okay! Because collections is the hardest thing in any business So I used to have a boss who... He taught me lot on how to collect money because we used to have a chai wala who used pay us rent and duty free operator used to pay us rent And scale is like hundreds of crores and few lakhs a year

1:58:32 Whichever is higher. So that is the model. Okay, got it! So how was that experience? Amazing! Actually... That is I think one pivotal moment in my life you learn How to run business, danda when you learn how to collect money. Exactly what you were telling me. Okay! Because collections is the hardest thing in any business So I used to have a boss who... He taught me lot on how to collect money because we used to have a chai wala who used pay us rent and duty free operator used to pay us rent And scale is like hundreds of crores and few lakhs a year

1:59:13 But you learn to deal with people. You learn to deal with their business models. So, you learn how... And we had 400 concessionaires that we used to manage. So it is not like 10-20 people. Small big and everything? Small big everybody! So you learn what is their incentive model How they think.. How's their business doing I think that experience has changed because when I came back from college I thought, okay now this job will be done by just talking I was so wrong. Nothing ever happens when you say, go get this done and it never happens. No, I understand how much of a process are set... Money movement is tough! If someone has to come from the pocket or from the wallet, they have to do it with pain only but happily. With time even I realized that on smaller scale but anywhere money is money. Yeah. It's like we say right? Anywhere money can make lot of differences between thoughts

2:06:14 And I used to be known as my Akka's Thokka. So, always be with my sister whatever she says i'll do you will actually know my daughter Sia two years so between my daughter Siya and Krish is like that only see i will listen to krish whatever he says so it's very cute actually now that uh you know i used to be like that my mother has always been my idol my dad also And I think as we grow up now, you know. We have our own family Veena and me It's amazing. She has an amazing mother Growing kids is like a amazing... Like i want to give the same childhood to my kids That's the present in todays world Absolutely! We should talk about parenting also What did you learn from your parents or what did you decide? This how my parenting should be

2:06:56 I want to be present. In my busy schedule, I will be present for the important things they remember. I go for every single birthday on weekends with my children. Okay? I'm usually the only father nowadays. Usually everyone is a nanny and everyone is a dresser but i love going because Krishna remembers here that I was there. Nana was there he took us for the birthday party and these are So, it's someone else's birthday party? Oh nice. Other kids' birthday parties. That is good and interesting! I remember that very well. My sister's friends were sending me to their birthdays like guardians. And see you know these small things matter they just want your time. They want your uninterrupted time. I remember them in my fingers when my parents spent time with us

2:07:42 And then I think you want a very protected environment. You know when you grow up and today mental health issues are like very, very widely rampant with software technology social media AI addiction that comes with it That if you don't have a very safe childhood, or very positive childhood It shows up in many ways throughout your life So I think the gift of good childhood is so underrated. That's what i want to give my kids Meena and me actually. I want to give that. And how was your childhood with your, I mean journey with your father? Was it like an animal movie? Your father was very busy building businesses as i was always with my mom and my larger family and uh... Did you have the issue of missing your father?

2:08:34 Not so much. But he was always there for the big things, always present for the big things He wouldn't look in like school or grades etc but just every pivotal moment in life He was there and gave the right advice. He is more like a friend actually Even today, you see I keep getting... Because he's very fit. People think we're brothers. Really! It's like a... 60s? Yeah, you should see my dad. He is marathon runner. Much fitter than me. And even after his injury... Yeah. He had two big injuries and still ran after that

2:09:14 That's discipline. That my grandpa's discipline, yes. So that is a belief of execution And last time when we were talking casually you were mentioning there are very few people that you look up to and Mukesh Ambani was one of them Correct If I can talk about him See he has built... In India building businesses is challenging right? He has build massive businesses And he's such a... Did you meet him? Yeah, I met him many times. And he is so disciplined. You are very close with Ananth, right? No, Akash and Isha. Okay okay! But actually he is an amazing leader, amazing father, amazing family person and amazing leader So look up to him in India Indian context He is one of the most successful entrepreneurs and leaders and he knows, he meets you, he knows everything

2:10:04 And he is so focused when you meet him. That way, really look up to him. Because building one business in one industry and then replicating that in many industries... ...is very difficult in this country. And I think it's shown that it's possible at massive scale. You also got to know that you are very close with Alu Arjun and Yash. Alu Arjun is fine logically from Hyderabad. How much? I love both of them. They are amazing people and actually, i have realized that i love humble actors. In real life, they are fun to hang out with. Both have very good personalities. That's what i enjoy and with them i vibe a lot

2:10:47 Bunny obviously is like very funny. Really a fun guy and same with Yash I think, Yash I met through common friend and then but he's been amazing guy like you just... You can chill with him He talks about creativity about movies about the craft about how deeply involved he is And he's doing it for really building like Making Kannadiga movies big and for like that longer vision. He has a purpose very, very evident when you sit with him you'll understand doesn't do it for fame or smaller things So how often do you meet friends? School friends, college friends

2:12:53 And as you said, the influence. I'll ask another question after we get to the topic. What do you think of this creator economy or content creation? As a phase in India... It has become a new media form. Because almost all these giants who used to bet a lot on news as a media. Yeah. They would send crores of rupees or give advertisement costs so that they will be aligned with brands. We have seen many people like that. Yes But now we are also seeing those brands. I've been getting a couple of proposals where political parties, brands want alignments. One channel in Telugu which is making decent numbers and viewership... If the biggest of the biggest brands and political parties are requesting for an offer then I can imagine this scale. What in your view is the content industry? How are you looking at it?

2:13:50 I think people don't realize the level of influence the creator economy has. It is wild! Everybody who has contributed to it, There are many people who have actually contributed But it's created a category of influence Today you open Instagram and listen to your creator You're shopping and listening to your creator You're thinking about anything of interest in thinking about a creator Other forms of media I have diminished. Nobody sees them, nobody takes them seriously anymore. I'm telling you the creative economy is so influential

2:14:30 I think nobody has really understood the depth of the level of influence. So, we use creative economy partner with creative economy it is wild! I think people just don't understand and i'm so excited this is going to grow tenfold in the next 10 years because you look at the number of people who serve in the country You take like... In your own case how many Telugu people are there in the world? That is your probable time that you can go out. And it is very large because we are a large population who consumes a lot of content and actually purchases based on views, perception. And today what happens is creators are very trustworthy

2:15:12 I listen to creators as much as i listened other forms of media. And that is a transformational change. You are at the right time and place in that way. Thank you! Where did we divert? Oh, he was praising me earlier. That's what it is. Just kidding But yeah, thank you. It was great talking to you and I never thought that you'd be so free in front of the camera. You're like, let's talk about this and that. I'm happy! I mean... After a long time, we'll talk with our friend, taking an industry insight. Who will talk about how do we purchase airports? How do we sell airports? It is interesting but it should again set