From TaxiForSure to Koo: The Entrepreneurial Journey of Aprameya Radhakrishna

The Neon Show

Imagine a social micro-blogging platform like Twitter that allows users to express themselves in their local languages on a large scale. Well, that's precisely what Koo offers. In today's episode, we are joined by Aprameya Radhakrishna, the Co-Founder, and CEO of Koo.

Aprameya's first startup was TaxiForSure, which was acquired by Ola Cabs in 2015. Since then, he has invested in over 30 early-stage startups, including Unacademy, TapChief, and Daily Ninja.

During our conversation, Aprameya discusses his thoughts on Indian startups and tech talent building for global markets, his experience with VCs as a second-time entrepreneur, and much more.

Notes -

00:00 - Highlights

01:47 - Aprameya Radhakrishna and Koo's story

03:23 - Koo's scale in India and Brazil

08:30 - Current market headwinds

10:59 - Koo's positioning in the audience's mind

13:17 - VC and investor perspective being a second-time founder

15:13 - Going deeper in India v/s Going Global

16:30 - Exiting TaxiForSure

17:56 - Focus on product and traction while building a product

20:29 - Learnings from TaxiForSure

22:36 - Confidence to go global as a consumer internet company from India

26:50 - Self-doubt while starting Koo

31:14 - Change in Aprameya's ability to read the market

33:22 - Gut feeling about the recession's duration

37:04 - Balancing confidence and arrogance as a founder

40:17 - Relationship with VCs over time

45:00 - Future bets in the next 10 years

46:32 - Riskiest bets that paid off

48:02 - Financial independence's impact on Aprameya as a person

49:57 - Aprameya's other aspirations besides building Koo

51:53 - Is the core India shining?

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