The story of India’s 100th Unicorn, Open ft. Founder, Anish Achuthan

The Neon Show

We’ve heard inspiring stories of founders of Facebook and Microsoft who’ve dropped out of Harvard and even some of the well known Indian Entrepreneurs who’ve dropped out of IITs to build on their dream venture.

But in today’s episode we’ll talk with Anish Achuthan, who ran away from his hometown during his Class 11th with dreams to build something big in the Dotcom space and currently is the Cofounder of Open, which recently became Kerala’s first unicorn start-up.

Listen to Anish talk about his journey through his various ventures over the last two decades and how he’s building for Open to democratize the Neobanking space in India.

Notes -

02:42 - Being born in Govt service-oriented family in Kerala to getting inspired by Dotcom

06:11 - Meeting his cofounder & life partner

07:49 - Cumulative learnings from his previous companies

11:27 - Product Offerings by Open for SMEs, Banks and Fintech Entreprises

13:57 - Key milestones in Open’s journey

15:49 - Current metrics on the platform

16:56 - What are his plans with Open for the long term

19:17 - Their moat against other Neobanks and traditional banks

23:04 - Product & distribution strategy for the first 100 to 1000 users

31:46 - Licenses and certifications needed for Neo Banking

33:47 - Challenges while cracking the first banking partner

35:27 - Monetizing their services on Freemium model

36:55 - Advice to early-stage entrepreneurs

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