Entrepreneur's Live Interviews 🎙️

Hosted by Priya Ranjan Mohanty

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Aug 2026

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India is evolving to become the next economic superpower. It is essential for everyone to play their part. We are doing so by building a platform where entrepreneurs can share their stories with the masses. We expect the result to be more people joining the path of entrepreneurship and in turn skyrocket our economy. ELI or Entrepreneur's Live Interviews 🎙️ is a social venture that aims to inspire young people into entrepreneurship. India needs a lot of entrepreneurs right now. Entrepreneurs create employment, produce economic value, and bring glory to our country.

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August 26, 2026Episode 54931 min

ELI - 549 | Building Medical AI That Says "I Don't Know" | Pranav Reddy (ZenMD)

Ask ChatGPT a medical question and it will almost always agree with you. Pranav Reddy thinks that is exactly what makes general-purpose AI dangerous in a clinic, so he built one that stops and says "I cannot verify this" instead of guessing.Pranav is the Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of ZenMD, an India-focused clinical AI platform he built with his sister Rithika Reddy, the company's Founder and CEO. He spent his career in marketing in the US, from an agency internship to director to running his own shop, drawn the whole time to human behaviour and data. She came from a decade in fintech. The idea arrived on a family trip to India, when a friend who had been told for years in the US that they were lactose intolerant was diagnosed by an Indian doctor, almost instantly, with a worm. Different hemisphere, different symptoms, different training data. ZenMD launched in India in May 2026 with four workflows - ZenScribe for voice-to-clinical documentation, ZenNotes for automated OPD notes, ZenConsult for evidence-based decision support, and ZenScan for medical imaging - and a proprietary hallucination correction layer sitting underneath all of it.A grounded conversation about trust, data privacy, and why the hard part of healthcare AI is not the answer, it is knowing when to refuse to give one.Chapters:00:00 - Introduction00:43 - From marketing to human behaviour01:45 - Leaving the agency to build his own02:07 - The inception of ZenMD with his sister Rithika03:34 - The friend who was not lactose intolerant04:17 - The light bulb: connecting both hemispheres05:00 - Why western-trained AI misses Indian conditions06:34 - Why they built ground-up instead of adapting07:41 - Training the models and validating with doctors09:04 - Multi-layer verification: how the algorithm works09:57 - Why ChatGPT will never tell you that you are wrong10:44 - Selling to doctors when you are not one12:08 - Why a marketer and a fintech builder can do this13:01 - Adoption in a pen-and-paper culture13:38 - Repeat users and earning trust14:22 - Why a doctor's time is the real constraint15:07 - ZenScribe and the burden of OPD notes15:19 - The surprise use case: drug dosage16:04 - The supplement that binds to your morning coffee17:07 - The four workflows explained18:33 - Why they are workflows, not products19:25 - The hallucination problem in healthcare20:17 - How ZenMD refuses to guess21:47 - Live testing at medical colleges22:35 - Healthcare data security in India vs the US24:00 - Building for HIPAA, DPDP and ABDM from day one24:54 - Separating who you are from what you have26:40 - Future plans27:10 - Equalizing medical information globally29:02 - NEET prep and medical students on the platform29:32 - Making ZenMD second nature for clinicians30:26 - Closing thoughts---About ELI Podcast:ELI (Entrepreneur's Live Interviews) brings you inspiring stories from India's startup ecosystem. Real founders, real journeys, real insights.Website: https://eli-podcast.com

August 25, 2026Episode 54826 min

ELI - 548 | Water From Thin Air at Rs 2.5 a Litre | Navkaran Singh Bagga (AKVO)

Can you really pull clean drinking water out of thin air? Navkaran Singh Bagga has been doing exactly that for nine years. In this episode he breaks down the technology, the economics, and the uncomfortable truth that most climate tech founders avoid: being green is not enough if you are not also cheap.Navkaran is the Founder & CEO of AKVO Atmospheric Water Systems, the Kolkata-based company behind akvosphere.com. A third-generation Kolkata entrepreneur who studied in the UK and returned in 2007 to the family trade and exports business, he went on to run a hotel and turn around a steel company before going into clean tech in 2016. AKVO builds atmospheric water generators that mimic condensation to extract potable water from humidity in the air, with systems running in 16 countries and roughly 90% of sales coming from outside India. Its Water On Want (WOW) model lets companies skip the capital cost entirely and simply pay per litre.This is a refreshingly blunt conversation. No sob story, no mission-statement theatre, just a capitalist who thinks the market, not the government, decides when a technology is ready.Chapters:00:00 - Introduction00:34 - Kolkata roots, family business and 19 years of ventures01:28 - Why water: the sector everyone ignores02:04 - Discovering atmospheric water generators03:57 - The Big Short, Michael Burry and betting on water04:43 - "I don't have a sob story, I saw a business opportunity"05:14 - Why India is a natural fit for air-to-water05:53 - How the technology actually works07:42 - Why this is an urban solution08:13 - Taking pressure off utilities and cutting water waste08:58 - Contamination, transport and India's attitude to water10:16 - Is the water safe when the air is polluted?11:49 - The commercial case: how affordable is it really?12:49 - Rs 100 for a bottle vs Rs 2.5-5 a litre from air13:49 - Why they discontinued the home product14:24 - Go-to-market: why large corporates buy15:01 - Water On Want: the pay-per-litre model15:28 - Making the ROI make sense to a business16:40 - Why he does not want government subsidies19:10 - Why AKVO is not the solution for data centres20:14 - Future plans: water as a service across 16 countries21:27 - Are developed markets more open to this?22:18 - Enterprises plan for crises, consumers wait23:21 - Advice for climate tech entrepreneurs24:08 - "Green without being economical makes no sense"26:29 - Closing thoughts---About ELI Podcast:ELI (Entrepreneur's Live Interviews) brings you inspiring stories from India's startup ecosystem. Real founders, real journeys, real insights.Website: https://eli-podcast.com

August 25, 2026Episode 54724 min

ELI - 547 | 50 Crore Litres Delivered - Now Selling Power, Not Fuel | Sunil Maddala (FuelBuddy)

Sunil Maddala runs India operations for FuelBuddy, the country's largest doorstep fuel delivery company - 180 cities, 10,000 customers a year, and more than 50 crore litres delivered since inception. In this episode he explains why the next chapter isn't fuel at all.He breaks down what actually differentiates FuelBuddy from the oil marketing companies, how the platform serves everyone from a 20-litre order to a customer taking 30 lakh litres a month across 15,000 locations, why 80% of customers never leave, and how the company is repositioning from fuel delivery to "power as a service" - where FuelBuddy owns the generator and you simply pay for the electricity.Sunil is an engineer from Delhi College of Engineering with an MBA from IIM Calcutta, and has spent three decades in corporate roles across India, Europe and Asia - the last 15 of them building new ventures. FuelBuddy was founded in 2016 by Gautam Malhotra and Adnan Kidwai, has raised roughly $24 million across three rounds, and now operates beyond India in the UAE, Nigeria, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Zambia.Chapters:00:00 - Introduction00:35 - Delhi College of Engineering to IIM Calcutta01:27 - How FuelBuddy Started and Why COVID Nearly Killed It02:15 - The Post-COVID Restart and First Funding02:46 - Second Round: Going Global to Middle East and Africa03:09 - The Numbers: 180 Cities, 50 Crore Litres Delivered04:02 - Why India Only Allows Diesel (and CNG in Nigeria)04:29 - From Fuel Delivery to "Power as a Service"05:02 - Who Actually Buys Doorstep Diesel?05:57 - Powering India's Data Centres and Quick Commerce06:49 - 20 Litres to 20 Lakh Litres: The Range of Orders07:25 - 15,000 Locations and a 99% Uptime SLA08:56 - What Makes FuelBuddy Different from the Oil Companies10:08 - The Tech Stack: 400 Stores, One Dashboard11:15 - Using AI and Video Proof to Kill Fuel Pilferage11:39 - Zepto, 400 Locations and No Minimum Order12:41 - Modular Solutions and Sticky Customers13:24 - Why 80% of Customers Never Leave14:18 - What the Regulator Actually Controls16:16 - Surviving Fuel Shortages and Supply Shocks18:47 - $24 Million Raised: What Excites Investors21:09 - "Why Own the Generator? We'll Own It"22:00 - EVs, Hydrogen and the Future of Fossil Fuel---About ELI Podcast:ELI (Entrepreneur's Live Interviews) brings you inspiring stories from India's startup ecosystem. Real founders, real journeys, real insights.Website: https://eli-podcast.com

August 19, 2026Episode 54629 min

ELI - 546 | From Aircraft Maintenance to AI That Never Forgets You | Dinakara Nagalla (Menthra)

Dinakara Nagalla spent two decades building mission-critical software for airlines, then sold EmpowerMX to Swedish enterprise giant IFS. His next act is Menthra, an AI-powered emotional wellbeing platform that hit 50,000 downloads in under two months in India.In this episode he explains why he walked away from aviation, how Menthra's memory layer works differently from ChatGPT or Gemini, why he refuses to call it just a chatbot, and how the platform hands you over to a real human therapist the moment AI stops being the right answer.Dinakara began his career as a research engineer at IIT Bombay in 1995 before moving into aviation technology at American Airlines and EDS. He went on to found EmpowerMX, the first cloud-based MRO platform for aviation, which IFS acquired in 2024. He is the author of "Becoming Human: Embracing Imperfection and Finding Purpose" and the speaker behind the TEDx talk "The Algorithm That Broke Me". Menthra is headquartered in Frisco, Texas, with Indian operations through Menthra India Private Limited.Chapters:00:00 - Introduction00:51 - From IIT Bombay to Aviation: The Early Years03:20 - American Airlines, EDS and Deciding to Leave04:22 - Building EmpowerMX: Cloud for Aircraft Maintenance05:26 - The Name "Menthra": Where Mind Meets Heart06:52 - Why Should Everyday Problems Take Years to Solve?07:34 - More Than a Chatbot: AI, Therapists and Coaching10:04 - How Menthra's Memory Differs from ChatGPT12:37 - The User Journey and the Free Tier14:25 - Conversation Styles: Oracle, Best Friend, Therapist16:11 - When the AI Hands You Over to a Human16:53 - Pricing an Expensive AI Product19:21 - Go-To-Market: Digital, Campus Events and CHROs20:28 - 50,000 Downloads in Under Two Months23:36 - The 18-Month Roadmap: Workplaces and Universities26:05 - Going Global: 18 Countries by Year End27:29 - India's Mental Health Gap and the Stigma Problem28:34 - Building a Credentialed Clinician Network29:37 - Closing Thoughts---About ELI Podcast:ELI (Entrepreneur's Live Interviews) brings you inspiring stories from India's startup ecosystem. Real founders, real journeys, real insights.Website: https://eli-podcast.com

August 19, 2026Episode 54534 min

ELI - 545 | Why Your AI Fails Without Data Engineering | Dr. Kamaljit Anand (KiE Square)

Dr. Kamaljit Anand, Managing Partner & Chief Data Scientist at KiE Square Analytics and founder of KiEVerse, joins ELI to unpack what really makes enterprise AI work. From IIM Ahmedabad to Gallup and Fractal, he shares two decades of lessons on data science, the rise of data engineering, and why "poor data in means poor outputs out" no matter how good your AI is.KiE Square is a data-to-decisions analytics firm that has delivered 200+ programs globally across pharma, FMCG, retail, and financial services. Its product suite KiEVerse — BrandVerse, SpendVerse, and MarketVerse — brings digital brand equity, ad spend optimization, and marketplace intelligence under one roof. Dr. Anand also makes a strong case for Sovereign AI and small language models as the future of enterprise data.Chapters:00:00 - Introduction01:00 - From IIM Ahmedabad to Gallup & Fractal03:20 - Building KiE Square: Services to Products07:00 - Real Use Cases: Pharma Pricing Engines & FMCG11:00 - Marketing Data Lakes & Real-Time ROI13:45 - Is AI a Disruptor or an Enabler?17:30 - Real-Time Streaming Pipelines (Kafka, Flink, Airflow)21:10 - AI Reality Check: Privacy & Safety Concerns22:00 - How Do You Price a Data Product? Unit Economics22:50 - Inside KiEVerse: BrandVerse, SpendVerse, MarketVerse27:40 - The Future: Sovereign AI, SLMs & Data Sovereignty33:40 - Closing

June 2, 2026Episode 54438 min

ELI - 544 | Building a $300 Billion "Everything Human" Economy | Sanjeev Kumar (Harley of London)

Sanjeev Kumar, Founder and CVO of Harley Street Healthcare Group and Global CEO of HARLEY of LONDON, joins ELI to share his vision for building the world's first integrated health, wellness, and lifestyle ecosystem. From Wall Street to Harley Street, he talks about the HOLNESS framework, bringing affordable genetic sequencing to India, and why tier 2 cities are the future of healthcare.Harley of London is a London-based luxury healthcare group expanding rapidly into India with its HOLNESS ecosystem and MyCare 360 digital platform. The company recently acquired Mahaveer Hospital in Aurangabad and is partnering with state governments on preventive genomics programs aimed at making healthcare more precise, personalized, and affordable.Chapters:00:00 - Introduction01:00 - The Entrepreneurial Journey: Trial, Error & Curiosity04:00 - The HOLNESS Framework Explained08:50 - India Market Entry & Genetic Sequencing Vision14:00 - Why Tier 2 Cities? The India Expansion Strategy19:30 - MyCare 360: The Digital Health Ecosystem23:00 - AI Agents Liora & Aarav: Your Health Companions26:00 - NBFC Financing for Healthcare29:00 - The Wholeness Dollar: A New Financial Infrastructure33:00 - AI in Healthcare: Practical Reality vs Hype38:30 - Closing---About ELI Podcast:ELI (Entrepreneur's Live Interviews) brings you inspiring stories from India's startup ecosystem. Real founders, real journeys, real insights.Website: https://eli-podcast.com

June 2, 2026Episode 54329 min

ELI - 543 | AI Won't Replace You - It Will Upgrade You | Akash Karnik (1Point1 Solutions)

In this episode, Priya Ranjan Mohanty speaks with Akashanand (Akash) Karnik, Global COO & Whole Time Director of 1Point1 Solutions Limited - a BSE-listed, AI-powered Business Process Management (BPM) company operating across 9 delivery centers on 5 continents.Akash shares how India's BPM industry, once built entirely on labor arbitrage, is being transformed by AI. But his take is refreshingly human: 'It is not about human elimination - it's about upgrading the human to solve problems faster.' He walks us through 1Point1's growth via 3 strategic acquisitions in 3 years, how their AI platform handles multilingual CX across continents, the real impact of AI on jobs (reskilling vs. replacement), and why the company chose to go public on BSE. A candid conversation about the intersection of AI, people, and global business process delivery.Chapters:00:00 - Introduction & BSE Listing Congratulations00:45 - What Does 1Point1 Solutions Do?03:50 - Growth Strategy: M&A + Organic Sales04:55 - India's BPM Industry & the AI Disruption Question08:30 - Building an AI-First Tech Stack10:43 - AI for Multilingual Customer Support13:45 - AI's Real Impact: Cost Savings for Clients16:15 - Will AI Replace White-Collar Jobs?17:23 - 'It's Not About Elimination, It's About Upgrading'21:00 - Human-in-the-Loop: AI + People Working Together24:00 - AI in Customer Service: Real-World Examples27:27 - 'Upgrading the Human to Solve Problems Faster'29:05 - Closing Remarks---About ELI Podcast:ELI (Entrepreneur's Live Interviews) brings you inspiring stories from India's startup ecosystem. Real founders, real journeys, real insights.Website: https://eli-podcast.com

June 2, 2026Episode 54229 min

ELI - 542 | From 2 People to 500+ in Packaging Automation | Krunal Kantale (Alligator Automations)

In this episode, Priya Ranjan Mohanty speaks with Krunal Kantale, Co-founder & MD of Alligator Automations - a packaging automation company based in Pune that has grown from 2 people to 500+ employees since its founding in 2008.Krunal and his co-founder Srinivas Choudhary started their journey winning 43 national and international robotics awards while still in college. They quit their jobs during the 2008 recession - against their families' wishes - and landed their first order of Rs 1.5 lakhs. Today, Alligator Automations serves industries from FMCG to fertilizers to chemicals, handling everything from primary packaging to palletizing, warehousing, and dispatch. He discusses the challenge of selling automation in a country where labor is cheap, the role of AI and computer vision in modern manufacturing, and how customization wins projects over standard machines.Chapters:00:00 - Introduction00:31 - About Alligator Automations01:00 - Krunal's Background & Experience04:14 - Starting During the 2008 Recession05:27 - First Order: Rs 1.5 Lakhs from Mumbai08:20 - What Alligator Automations Does09:47 - Is Packaging Automation a Big Market?12:30 - Use Cases: FMCG, Fertilizer, Chemicals15:15 - Pitching Automation When Labor is Cheap19:30 - Customization vs. Standard Machines21:00 - IoT, AI & Computer Vision in Manufacturing23:30 - Global Expansion: Middle East, Africa, Americas27:46 - Advice for Entrepreneurs29:05 - Closing Remarks---About ELI Podcast:ELI (Entrepreneur's Live Interviews) brings you inspiring stories from India's startup ecosystem. Real founders, real journeys, real insights.Website: https://eli-podcast.com

June 2, 2026Episode 54129 min

ELI - 541 | Solar Pays Off in 3 Years, Then 25 Years Free Power | Anand Jain (Aerem)

In this episode, Priya Ranjan Mohanty speaks with Anand Jain, Founder & CEO of Aerem (meaning 'clean air' in Latin) - a solar-focused FinTech platform making rooftop solar adoption accessible through financing, technology, and an end-to-end ecosystem.Anand, a Yale MBA and former Wall Street investment banker, breaks down a staggering shift: 10 years ago, 70% of energy investment went to coal and gas. Today, 70% goes to solar. Yet India has tapped only 5-7% of its rooftop solar potential. The catch? Lack of financing, fragmented installer ecosystem, and consumer hesitation. Aerem solves this with structured loan products, a curated solar equipment marketplace (SunStore), remote monitoring (AeROC), and training for 2,000+ EPC partners. He also discusses India's dramatic shift from 90% Chinese module imports to 85% domestic manufacturing in just two years.Chapters:00:00 - Introduction00:37 - What is Aerem?01:00 - The Company Name: Clean Air in Latin04:20 - Solar Energy: Current State & Potential05:00 - 70% of Energy Investment Now Goes to Solar09:00 - Solar is 70-80% Cheaper Than Grid Power09:35 - Why Isn't Every Rooftop Solar Yet?10:00 - The Financing Gap Aerem Solves12:50 - 2,000 Projects in 4 Years14:00 - Consumer Hesitation & Technology Maturity16:55 - Standalone Solar vs. Hybrid with Battery21:00 - India's Solar Manufacturing Revolution24:00 - Future of Solar Technology26:40 - Advice for Entrepreneurs29:05 - Closing Remarks---About ELI Podcast:ELI (Entrepreneur's Live Interviews) brings you inspiring stories from India's startup ecosystem. Real founders, real journeys, real insights.Website: https://eli-podcast.com

June 2, 2026Episode 54033 min

ELI - 540 | Who Takes Care of Your Parents When You Live Abroad? | Navneet Gupta (ServiceGTD)

In this episode, Priya Ranjan Mohanty speaks with Navneet Gupta, Founder & CEO of ServiceGTD (Get Things Done) - a platform solving elder care and concierge services for NRIs whose parents live back in India.Navneet shares his personal journey as an NRI who realized the massive gap in India's elder care ecosystem. With no single reliable platform for NRIs to arrange care for aging parents remotely, he built ServiceGTD - a trusted concierge that handles everything from caretakers and nurses to daily errands. He discusses the fragmented service landscape, partnering with local providers across India, using AI chatbots to bridge timezone gaps, quality control challenges, and the emotional weight of caring for loved ones from thousands of miles away.Chapters:00:00 - Introduction00:36 - What is ServiceGTD?01:04 - Why the Name GTD (Get Things Done)03:30 - The NRI Problem: Elder Care Gap in India04:54 - Problems ServiceGTD Solves08:30 - COVID as an Eye-Opener for Elder Care10:05 - Building the Platform & Service Categories12:45 - Care at Home: Attendants & Nurses16:30 - Using AI & Chatbots for 24/7 Support18:28 - Operating as a Young Company with Partners22:26 - Vetting & Selecting Service Partners25:30 - The Onboarding & Fulfillment Process26:15 - Scaling Pan-India: City-by-City Strategy28:30 - Quality & Trust: Refusing Bad-Fit Customers32:00 - Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs32:52 - Closing Remarks---About ELI Podcast:ELI (Entrepreneur's Live Interviews) brings you inspiring stories from India's startup ecosystem. Real founders, real journeys, real insights.Website: https://eli-podcast.com