From building his own startup to helping other builders | Rajiv Srivatsa, Antler India
Episode Summary
We think of Builders as people who build cool products or technologies. But what does a Builder actually do? Today’s guest on the Best Place to Build Podcast is a builder who then became an investor. So what does he look for in the builder that he chooses to invest in?
In today’s episode of the Best Place to Build Podcast, Amrut talks to Rajiv Srivatsa, Founding Partner of Antler India, about what investors look for in companies and founders before they invest. Rajiv is also a founder himself, having started Urban Ladder after his MBA. Rajiv also talks about why work culture is important for him and how he approaches it.
Today’s episode is about values, alignment and clarity - these are the building blocks of a company. He also goes into the four stages of Ikigai and how those stages can influence the way an entrepreneur should approach his idea or vision.
If you want to be a builder or want to be a builder, this is a must-watch episode for you. Don’t miss the Master Class on the four stages of building a company and how a founder should approach building a business.
Amrut’s Comment
Key Highlights
[00:02:00] Rajiv’s Current Role: What does Antler India do?
[00:08:37] The Word Build: How does Rajiv interpret it?
[00:16:30] How do Builders Approach Life: Rajiv’s journey and perspective
[00:21:33] Evolution of a Builder: The four stages of building
[00:30:06] Mini Masterclass: How to Approach Building a Company
[00:42:00] Urban Ladder: A walk-through of the journey
[00:49:00] Building Culture at Work: Rajiv’s focus and approach
[00:54:04] IIT Madras: A great environment for builders
[00:57:59] Rajiv’s Batch at IITM: How many have become builders?
Institutions mentioned
[00:17:39] IIT Madras
[00:19:01] Rajiv went to IIM Bangalore after working at Infosys.
[00:53:20] This podcast was shot in the CFI building
People mentioned
[00:04:50] Nitin Sharma is Rajiv’s partner in Antler India
[00:05:48] Nandan Nilekani is a key architect and proponent of the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) in India
[00:29:41] Students aspire to be Founders like Steve Jobs and Elon Musk
[00:30:22] Rajiv mentions personalities like A. R. Rahman, Hrithik Roshan, and Shah Rukh Khan as people who are at the top of their field and are inspirational.
[00:38:45] Rajiv describes two different builder personality types based on Carl Jung’s theories on personality traits
[00:42:07] Rajiv’s co-founder in Urban Ladder was Ashish Goel, his classmate from IIM.
[00:49:10] Rajiv says their approach to culture started with Simon Sinek’s approach of Start with Why
[00:55:52] Rajiv mentions Tarun Mehta, Satish Kannan and Suyash Singh as some of the builders from IIT Madras that he has met
Companies mentioned
[00:04:38] Y Combinator was an inspiration for Antler
[00:05:46] Rajiv mentions ONDC when talking about how they were the first to pick up the Digital India idea.
[00:07:49] Rajiv was the founder of Urban Ladder before he became the Founding Partner at Antler
[00:18:07] Rajiv joined Infosys after graduating from IIT Madras
[00:19:10] Facebook was getting started at the same time when Rajiv was building a similar website in IIM Bangalore.
[00:19:31] Rajiv joined Cognizant after completing his post-graduation from IIM Bangalore
[00:29:39] Students in the hostel dream about building a company like Apple
[00:38:56] Rajiv says that LinkedIn doesn’t talk about the failures faced by people in their professional journeys.
[00:39:27] Rajiv says that a product he built for Yahoo got shelved.
[00:40:53] Urban Ladder was sold to Reliance Retail Ventures Limited
[00:42:20] Ashish Goel was COO at Amar Chitra Katha and had earlier worked with McKinsey & Co
[00:45:13] Urban Ladder could not be like Flipkart or Amazon as an online portal, it needed innovation.
Books & Other Media
[00:17:43] Rajiv built the Indian version of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego while he was at IIT Madras
[00:18:24] Rajiv used the Manorama Yearbook as a reference to create clues for his game.
Concepts & Models
[00:05:02] Antler built a NEXT100 report that goes out annually and highlights emerging ideas in various sectors for people who want to be founders in the next
[00:35:52] Ikigai is the Japanese concept referring to what an individual defines as the meaning of their life.
Rajiv Srivatsa is the Founding Partner at Antler India. Rajiv completed his B.Tech in Naval Architecture Engineering at IIT Madras and joined Infosys as a Software Engineer. He later completed his MBA from IIM Bangalore and worked at Cognizant and Yahoo before starting Urban Ladder with his friend. He also runs a podcast named OneLife Theory.
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