3 days back, we hosted The BFSI Guild, our annual event at @GreyLabsAI, at The St. Regis Mumbai on the night before @GffFintechfest. We made one decision early on: no panel discussions, no speaker sessions, no roundtables. The BFSI calendar is already full of those, and GFF itself was about to deliver three intense days of exactly that. We wanted the opposite. A chill evening where people could relax, catch up with old colleagues, and have unhurried conversations. We invited the legend - @therealkapildev Sir, and I had the privilege of doing a fireside chat with him. We spoke about 1983 and what it actually took to win that World Cup, how he got into cricket in the first place, the people he looked up to, his hobbies, and his life outside the game. Over four decades later, he tells those stories with the same fire. Easily the most inspiring person I have had the chance to sit across from. We had planned for 250 guests. Over 400 senior BFSI leaders joined us, including CEOs, CTOs, Business Heads and CDOs. Honestly, we were bracing for a thin room. The Prime Minister was at GFF that day, and Mumbai evening traffic is Mumbai evening traffic. People came anyway, and stayed well past the last course. Thank you to everyone who took the time out. An evening like this is only as good as the people in the room, and this room was exceptional. And thank you to the GreyLabs team, who turned an idea into an evening our clients genuinely enjoyed. Same time next year.

Skills get outdated with time. Effectively that's inflation. You need to keep upskilling yourself regularly to mIntain the value of the skill.

"Being a founder is hard" Oh not really. This is what you're competing with.

I've run a $100k per month bootstrapped business and now I run a venture-backed startup that has raised over $10 mil. Very honestly, both have their pros and cons. One big downside of being bootstrapped is that all headaches fall on you because you can't hire top tier talent due to limited capital. And that leads to burnout.

Take insights, not advice. VCs do a lot of market research and carry good insights. For advice, speak with founders who are 2 years ahead of you.

The founder who stays close to the numbers *and customers* stays close to reality.

Airlines in India have to do the exact opposite. 2 main costs - ATF (fuel) and Aircraft are in USD. The passengers pay in INR. No wonder aviation is a brutal market and so many airlines in India couldn't survive.

Voice AI startups in Bengaluru

Underrated life advice: If you want to do big things in life, eliminate small decisions. This is why you see people like Mark Zuckerberg wear the same clothes every day. Small decisions cost time and mental energy and take away time from crucial things that matter most.

I'm in a client-facing role 😀

I'm not sure why people fly Air India. The only single Airline that's worth flying in India is @IndiGo6E. All other Airlines have customer service or safety issues. For several years, while booking flights, I have been filtering out all other Airlines and only look for Indigo flights.

To be able to save and invest, you need to be a high-earner first.

There is fast/quick money, but there is no easy money. Understand the difference. Fast money comes from moving quickly, taking risks in a calculated manner, or finding the right opportunities. Easy money is the belief that you can make money without creating value or putting in the work. Don’t confuse the two. Fast ≠ Easy.

Personal AI Assistants like Instinct and Meta Muse will help users avoid the struggle of navigating through poorly developed User Interface of Websites. Today I ordered something from Decathlon without having to struggle through their website. I don't like to share my Credit Card details with Instinct and so, it shared the UPI QR screenshot with me and I made the payment easily. Crazy times!

Agreed. 0 to $1 mil opens doors. Beyond that, it's mostly the size of the door that goes up rather than a new door being opened.

People buy products because they’re marketed well. They keep using them because the product is great. So if you’re struggling to acquire customers, improve your marketing. If you’re struggling to retain them, improve your product. Don’t solve a marketing problem with a product overhaul, or a product problem with more marketing.

Today was one of those days that I know I will remember for the rest of my life. I was invited to IIT Bombay to speak at the orientation of the incoming undergraduate batch at E-Cell. Sharing the stage with me was Mr. N. R. Narayana Murthy, founder of Infosys. My parents came to the campus to attend my session. And after the session, we got a chance to meet Mr. Murthy. For me, this photograph means much more than just a photograph with a legendary entrepreneur. My father is 7th pass. He couldn't study beyond that because he lost his father when he was just 1.5 years old. When I was born, he was earning just enough to keep our household running. He didn't have the opportunity to study at an IIT. He didn't have the opportunity to build a company. But he gave me something far more important: the freedom to dream bigger than our circumstances. And today, seeing him stand in the middle of two IITians, at IIT Bombay, was an incredibly emotional moment for me. There is a lot of talk about first-generation entrepreneurs, first-generation graduates, and breaking barriers. But behind many of those stories are parents who quietly made sacrifices without ever expecting recognition for them. This journey isn't mine alone. It belongs to my parents too. Forever grateful to them for believing in me, supporting me, and giving me the opportunity to build a life they could only dream about. Some photographs capture a moment. Some capture a lifetime. This one, for me, does both. ❤️