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TheProdcast

TheProdcast

By TheProdcast

The Prodcast - all about the stars behind stellar products. We interview people who are passionate about product and ideas.
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Episode 38: Float like a Product Maker in tough times.

TheProdcastJul 29, 2020

00:00
47:32
Season 2 Special: How Razorpay built a meme culture along with building great products

Season 2 Special: How Razorpay built a meme culture along with building great products

In this episode, Anuradha Bharat, VP of People Operations at Razorpay, along with Ashish Pathak, Solutions Consultant, talks to us about a fun topic—memes. They discuss how the habit of communicating with memes helped build a culture of candidness among teammares, improved creativity and performance in building products, and finally helped beat burnout in engineering teams. Tune in to this year-end special!

Dec 28, 202124:38
S02E20: 'Tis the season of gifting and building startups ft. Dalia Katan

S02E20: 'Tis the season of gifting and building startups ft. Dalia Katan

In this episode, Dalia Katan, Founder and CEO of Presently, talks to Aishwarya about the age-old concept of gifting and how she uses tech to reinvent the joy and celebration that gifting brings in. She also shares her strategy around building early-stage startups, about developing curiosity and knowing when to pivot based on market signals, and more. 'Tis the season of building and gifting, so tune in!

Dec 22, 202130:35
S02E19: Things you need to know about crypto, DAOs, and Web3 ft. Manasi Vora

S02E19: Things you need to know about crypto, DAOs, and Web3 ft. Manasi Vora

In this episode, Manasi Vora, Founder of Komorebi Collective and VP of Strategy & Ops at Skynet Labs, talks to Aishwarya about her journey into the world of bitcoin and DAOs. She explains why decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are increasingly growing up now, and what the future beholds for crypto. Manasi also talks about crypto-based funding and how it could help creators in the verge of web3 adoption. Tune in to understand the basic things you got to know about crypto, DAOs, and web3!

Nov 11, 202138:40
S02E18: You belong in tech ft. Helen Huang

S02E18: You belong in tech ft. Helen Huang

In this episode, Helen Huang, Co-Founder of Co.Lab, talks to Aishwarya about how everyone can belong in tech. An earth scientist turned Product Manager and now a founder, she shares her early days of working with Zynga, GitHub and Microsoft, and how she picked the thread to start Co.Lab, a collaborator based approach to learning the skills needed to break into tech. Helen also loves talking about tackling uncertainties, so she shares her opinions on co-founder compatibility, things essential to build your first startup, and how to develop your product management expertise. Tune in!

Oct 29, 202135:07
S02E17: Get, set, go—the 101 of women-led entrepreneurship ft. Aarti Ramakrishnan

S02E17: Get, set, go—the 101 of women-led entrepreneurship ft. Aarti Ramakrishnan

In this episode, Aarti Ramakrishnan, Co-Founder and COO of Crayon Data talks to Padmini about a day in the life of a woman entrepreneur—from building the tech culture ground-up and understanding the market to employee management and running operations seamlessly. Dive in to know about her journey, candid stories on what failed and what worked out, and how to accelerate women-led entrepreneurship in a bigger scale for the upcoming tech generation.

Oct 15, 202133:39
S02E16: Upskilling India's tech professionals with leadership coaching ft. Aishwarya Goel

S02E16: Upskilling India's tech professionals with leadership coaching ft. Aishwarya Goel

In this episode, Aishwarya Goel, Co-Founder and CEO of PeakPerformer talks to Aishwarya about grooming India's tech professionals with executive leadership. She goes on to demystify what 1-on-1 mentoring and coaching comprise of, sharing anecdotes from her prior founding and working experiences at leading startups. Having tech as a great catalyst for promoting the power of leadership coaching, it's pretty exciting to see how PeakPerformer aims to make human mind, psychological decisions, irrationalities, and emotions—all measurable. Tune in to the episode!

Sep 17, 202126:26
S02E15: Women, money, and tech ft. Chaitra Chidanand

S02E15: Women, money, and tech ft. Chaitra Chidanand

In this episode, Chaitra Chidanand, Co-Founder of Salt and (earlier) Simpl, talks to Aishwarya about women, their money decisions, and choices that led to those decisions. Sharing personal anecdotes and experiences, she covers why there's always been a layer of fear and inhibition around investing and discusses how she's using tech as a means to solve for those utilitarian yet essential needs. Tune in!

Sep 02, 202126:37
S02E14: Leading the global tech social entrepreneurship game ft. Anubha Maneshwar

S02E14: Leading the global tech social entrepreneurship game ft. Anubha Maneshwar

In this episode, Anubha Maneshwar, Founder of GirlScript Foundation, talks to Aishwarya about the role of tech in the social entrepreneurship space. She discusses how learning to code isn't just enough for career preparedness and goes on to share how GirlScript is making a change in the lives of thousands of rural students in helping them learn coding, leadership skills, and teamwork. She also speaks about her fair share of struggles as a young founder, starting a venture of her own from her last year of college, and puts forward opinions on how tech is playing a crucial role in shaping the nonprofit and education verticals of the future. Tune in!

Aug 19, 202134:45
S02E13: News as a meme service ft. Tanvi Raut Dessai

S02E13: News as a meme service ft. Tanvi Raut Dessai

In this episode, Tanvi Raut Dessai, Founder of the news company Filter Coffee, talks to Aishwarya and Srinidy about her story of how she set up the company from its initial side project days. Filter Coffee is transforming the way media is consumed by the audience, and she throws some light on how memes became a superpower to drive business news through Filter Coffee, the journey of getting 10K subscribers for their newsletter, picking and highlighting the right tech trends, using humour as an armour, and dealing with the stress of running a ground-up business. Tune into the episode!

Jul 28, 202127:37
S02E12: How to build a curiosity-driven career in the tech world ft. Zainab Ghadiyali

S02E12: How to build a curiosity-driven career in the tech world ft. Zainab Ghadiyali

In this episode, Zainab Ghadiyali, Product & Tech Leader, Ex-Facebook and Airbnb, talks to Srinidy about navigating different career paths and transitions within the tech and product space. She touches upon what it means to discover unconventional routes and also discusses her unique success stories as a leader in a gender-biased society. She breaks the silence around imposter syndrome, how it actually does good provided one develops the right mindset, and how to trust in passion and driving oneself towards learning new things. Tune in to hear what it takes to build a curiosity-driven career in the tech world.

Jul 14, 202121:29
S02E11: How do you interact with your physical world? ft. Yana Welinder

S02E11: How do you interact with your physical world? ft. Yana Welinder

In this episode, Yana Welinder, Co-Founder and CEO of Kraftful talks to Aishwarya about how interaction with the physical world can be made smoother and seamless with the right tech interface. She discusses her eclectic background, of combining law with product management, how building products for software and hardware industries differ, and why she's passionate about helping smart home companies develop better and valued apps for consumers. No more broken systems and myriad apps to control your physical devices—Kraftful is changing the way humans interact with IoT.

Jun 30, 202130:22
S02E10: The first-time founder lessons ft. Katharine Jiang

S02E10: The first-time founder lessons ft. Katharine Jiang

In this episode, Katharine Jiang, a former investor and currently the Co-Founder and CEO of WizForm, talks to Aishwarya about the good, great, and ugly things about building a business ground-up. From inspirations to applying the investor mindset, she goes on to candidly share her first-time founding lessons, how she wants to build a community for helping people kickstart their own business, and more. She also gives a clear picture of what's it like to balance the investor hat with the founder mindset, rightly putting forward the best experiences from both. Tune in.

Jun 16, 202134:46
S02E09: AI-powered drone maps for Covid hotspots ft. Ayushi Mishra

S02E09: AI-powered drone maps for Covid hotspots ft. Ayushi Mishra

In this episode, Ayushi Mishra, Co-Founder & COO of DronaMaps talks to Aishwarya about 3D mapping and geospatial analytics that help helping in covid hotspots detection. She goes on to explain how this AI-based technology works, how it could be helpful for sustainable development of rural and urban cities, and why drones would become a larger part of the future world. She's a Forbes 30 under 30 alum and is one of the 8 women in STEM actively leading the battle against Covid.

Jun 03, 202133:32
S02E08: Do women get enough funding? (ft. Mansi Verma)

S02E08: Do women get enough funding? (ft. Mansi Verma)

In this episode, Mansi Verma, an experienced investment specialist from Ventureast, who has a demonstrated history of working in the venture capital and private equity space, talks to Padmini about a variety of topics—why only a very few % of women are funded in the Indian startup ecosystem, the journey of women-led startups, what constitutes the right pitch especially when the product has a women-centric need, how to raise fund when you're starting up for the first time, and more. Tune in!

Apr 21, 202130:36
S02E07: A technology upgrade to tailoring (ft. Aamna Khan)

S02E07: A technology upgrade to tailoring (ft. Aamna Khan)

In this episode, Aamna Khan, CEO and Co-Founder of Binks, talks to Aishwarya about the role of technology in designing customized clothing. Traveling through the years of sartorial traditions, Aamna covers why women haven't always been able to find a perfect fit for their clothing. Binks is a technology startup addressing this important problem in the Indian market, and it aims to provide not just the right fit but a seamless outfit experience from the comfort of our homes. Bonus part of this episode is Aamna discussing about how her startup got selected in the Y Combinator accelerator program, how the interviews and funding process work, and more. Listen on!

Mar 31, 202131:52
S02E06: Reimagining the future of education with technology (ft. Aditi Agrawal)

S02E06: Reimagining the future of education with technology (ft. Aditi Agrawal)

In this episode, Aditi Agrawal, Founder of School of Future talks to Aishwarya about the concept of future-proofing students. She discusses the gaps between the current education system and the demands of the real world, just as students start to shape their career. Using technology as a leverage, Aditi has built the School of Future to help students become purposeful, collaborative, and entrepreneurial.

Mar 17, 202130:24
S02E05: The science behind how to make the most of your mind (ft. Anne-Laure Le Cunff)

S02E05: The science behind how to make the most of your mind (ft. Anne-Laure Le Cunff)

In this episode, Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Founder of Ness Labs, talks to Aishwarya about the power of mind, the way neuroscience works with tech, and how she kickstarted and scaled her entrepreneurial ventures from zero to one. Having been a former lead for Google Fit's brand marketing efforts, Anne-Laure has a deep-rooted connection with health and wellness, and combing her passion in neuroscience along with technology skills, she not only founded Ness Labs, but also a couple of other projects like Teeny Breaks and Maker's Magazine. Listen to her candid conversations on everything science, brain, and technology.

Mar 02, 202125:04
S02E04: Building a leadership lab for empowering high school girls (ft. Nita Singh Kaushal)

S02E04: Building a leadership lab for empowering high school girls (ft. Nita Singh Kaushal)

In this episode, Nita Singh Kaushal, Founder of Miss CEO and professor at Stanford University, talks to Aishwarya about her growing up in the Silicon Valley, early product experiences in Intel and Yahoo!, the importance of leadership training especially for high school girls and young women, and the role she gets to play as a technologist with a purpose.

Feb 16, 202129:04
S02E03: Why I chose product entrepreneurship over a $375K offer from Instagram (ft. Linda Zhang)

S02E03: Why I chose product entrepreneurship over a $375K offer from Instagram (ft. Linda Zhang)

In this episode, Linda Zhang, former Product Lead at Faire, and current entrepreneur, talks about a potpourri of stories—the way she transitioned from being a biology major to becoming a consultant and then a successful PM, why she rejected a $375K offer from Instagram, the importance of growth mindset, why product entrepreneurship is crucial, and more. She also runs a newsletter project titled 'Product Lessons' and she's currently launched a toolkit for product managers.

Feb 03, 202126:19
S02E02: Reverse engineering—blending technology with venture capital (ft. Shruti Gandhi)

S02E02: Reverse engineering—blending technology with venture capital (ft. Shruti Gandhi)

In this episode, Shruti Gandhi, the founder of Array Ventures and a Professor at Columbia University, discusses with Aishwarya about her journey into investing being an engineer. She uncovers the challenges she incurred as a South Asian woman in this is field that's so far outweighed by men investors. She explains the concept of reverse engineering in VC, along with her passion to work with entrepreneurs in the AI and ML space.

Jan 21, 202121:49
S02E01: Should tech pick a problem-centric approach? (ft. Polina Marchenko)

S02E01: Should tech pick a problem-centric approach? (ft. Polina Marchenko)

In this episode, Aishwarya hosts Polina, a seasoned product manager in the Valley, who also invests efforts into building aspirational side projects. Polina shares her story about mentoring people and guiding them to solve real-world challenges, and she goes on to emphasize how adopting a problem-centric approach helps in our tech careers.
Jan 06, 202127:38
Episode 40 : The journey of a year!

Episode 40 : The journey of a year!

It all started as a small try and where we ended up is pretty cool. This took few hours a day but the impact is bigger and we're loving it.
Sep 28, 202032:18
Episode 39: How a B2B marketing community helped start a company

Episode 39: How a B2B marketing community helped start a company

In this episode, Sangram Vajre, the co-founder of Terminus, three-time CMO, and a podcaster, talks to Aishwarya Ashok about the power and value of communities, growth lessons for product, and the importance of plugging-off in a forever-busy world.

Aug 05, 202031:56
Episode 38: Float like a Product Maker in tough times.

Episode 38: Float like a Product Maker in tough times.

We interview Shyam Sundar, CEO of GoFloaters. GoFloaters aims to foster dynamic and vibrant community of start-ups, entrepreneurs, freelancers and business professionals. Hear Shyam talk about what is "future of work" to some inspiring journey on validating his idea and building this rocketship- GoFloaters.
Jul 29, 202047:32
Episode 37: A peek into the frameworks for building great products

Episode 37: A peek into the frameworks for building great products

In this episode, Aishwarya Ashok hosts Dinesh Varadharajan, the Vice President of Product Management, Kissflow Inc. Dinesh has got a wonderful career trajectory, and he shares with us some of his career experiences contributing to building products.

Jun 22, 202026:33
Episode 36: Deep down the passion-path of tech world

Episode 36: Deep down the passion-path of tech world

Many of us juggle between ideas or actions, and may even have questions to ourselves whenever we kickstart something new. Here's Vijay Rajagopal in this episode with Aishwarya Ashok, talking about how his passion led him to multiple roles—from a fin-tech geek to investor, founder, and strategic lead.

Jun 15, 202033:48
Episode 35: Story of a Start-up founder and Lockdown

Episode 35: Story of a Start-up founder and Lockdown

In this session we have Srikrishnan, Founder of Rocketlane talk to us about his story of starting up with 2.5 lakh and his journey after his startup got acquired by Freshworks and again the journey of startup during the COVID.
Jun 08, 202033:17
Episode 34: Women and Money

Episode 34: Women and Money

We are in conversation with Hena Mehta, Founder of Basis. Basis is a platform to encourage women to manage their money. Hena talks more about what made her start this venture and why it is important for women to manage their money efficiently.
Jun 02, 202028:02
Episode 33 : Food Delivery and Covid

Episode 33 : Food Delivery and Covid

Listen to the latest episode on Theprodcast where we strike a very interesting conversation with Rahul Ganjoo, VP of Product Management, Zomato. Rahul shares his key insights on building all the delivery efforts that were formulated to cater to these unprecedented times and much more.
May 25, 202025:11
Episode 32 : Disrupting insurance services digitally

Episode 32 : Disrupting insurance services digitally

In this episode, we are in conversation with Jiten Puri, Founder and CEO of Policyadvisor.com a modern, technology driven company aimed at solving traditionally driven insurance brokerage industry. Insurance brokerages are a 100 billion revenue industry in Canada alone and super inspiring to see what policyadvisor has set out to solve for.
May 18, 202021:24
Episode 31: Product Manager Mindset
May 11, 202019:19
Episode 30 : No point talking about Product Management

Episode 30 : No point talking about Product Management

About time we acknowledge the elephant in the room- Cyber bullying and harassment against women because creating a safe space for everyone is our responsibility!
May 04, 202024:20
Episode 29: NGO as Tech Product

Episode 29: NGO as Tech Product

Ever felt profound gratitude for helping other? Had moments that impact and touch lives? In this episode we have Padmini Janaki interviewing Karthee Vidhya, Founder &CEO of Team Everest.
Apr 27, 202025:59
Episode 28: What next after COVID 19?

Episode 28: What next after COVID 19?

Shesh brings 23 years of experience in Product Management/Product Marketing, Business Strategy Consulting and Engineering spanning across US and India, across the entire gamut of Large Enterprises to SMBs to early stage start-ups. He was Co-founder and Chief Product Officer of a US based Cloud Management startup - Xervmon. His Corporate experiences include Walmart, Amazon, Cisco, Groupon, Ericsson, Netgear and Lemnisk. He holds an MBA degree from Santa Clara University and post that completed Executive Program in Product Management and Business Strategy at the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business. With BE (ECE) from UVCE, Bangalore and MS (CS) from The University of Texas, he is passionate about role of technology to solve business problems. Shesh is an active Startup Mentor and an Executive Coach and prides with his Product Thinking workshops and Panel discussions at IITs and IIMs. Recently in Feb 2020, he was Keynote speaker at Finance Club of IIT Kanpur on "Taking an Idea to Product and role of Product Management"
Apr 19, 202023:53
Episode 27 : A boy from Cochin to a CEO in Seattle

Episode 27 : A boy from Cochin to a CEO in Seattle

How did this tiny startup from Kerala was acquired by Fullcontact? What went well after four failures back to back?
Apr 12, 202022:11
Episode 26 :The value of learning and building a personal brand in this business world

Episode 26 :The value of learning and building a personal brand in this business world


If there’s something that unites us all now, across the world—it’s the thought of embracing this quarantine and making the most out of it. Learning is the best way for utilizing your time, and this episode hosts Shuba Bhaskaran, Enterprise Relationship Manager, LinkedIn Learning. She’s worked with many organizations in imparting the true value of learning and is ready to highlight the importance of having meaningful knowledge experiences to cope up with the times. She also emphasizes on building a personal brand on LinkedIn, and gives some actionable tips for doing the same.
Apr 05, 202029:41
Episode 25 : Leading technology platforms and empowering communities

Episode 25 : Leading technology platforms and empowering communities


Technology platforms today are led by determined women leaders, who not only take care of an organization’s strategies, but also contribute in building empowering communities. Especially during this quarantine period, it’s important to take advantage of both technology and global communities to stay engaged and keep learning. In this episode, Sarah Joyce Franklin, the EVP of Salesforce Trailhead, discusses some effective ways for women (and men) to take control of the times and use technology at its best.
Mar 30, 202027:01
Episode 24: Product Manager aka Innovation Manager

Episode 24: Product Manager aka Innovation Manager

Spondon Hazarika, Senior Product Manager at Verizon innovation labs, talks about how innovation is critical in Product Management. Bonus: Tune into to know more about how Product Management works in Telecom industry.
Mar 24, 202036:41
Episode 23: Where venture capital meets the product world.

Episode 23: Where venture capital meets the product world.

In this episode we have Vinod Kumar Shankar, Associate Vice President, Kstart Capitals talk to us about the world of venture capitalism.
Mar 15, 202027:21
Episode 22: Is Al Over Hyped?

Episode 22: Is Al Over Hyped?

Very compelling and insightful conversations between Krishnendu Majumdar- VP Product and Technology Flipkart and Padmini Janaki on Al& ML and much more!
Mar 08, 202035:44
Episode 21 : How to start a podcast today?

Episode 21 : How to start a podcast today?

After 20 episodes and talking to 20 amazing guests and gaining 3500+ active listners, we have decided to share a few ideas that worked for us.
Feb 23, 202038:21
Episode 20: How did he personalize the product management?

Episode 20: How did he personalize the product management?

Interview with Rahul Ramkumar, Director of Product Management, Walmart
Feb 17, 202026:46
Episode 19: Connecting product marketing with customers

Episode 19: Connecting product marketing with customers

In this episode, Yaagneshwaran Ganesh, a Product Marketing Leader in the MarTech space gets candid on how product teams achieve the market fit, the ways to scale up and manage more leads, the different avenues of marketing in an enterprise company, the technology marketers need to follow, and more. Tune in to learn interesting stories.

Feb 10, 202023:16
Episode 18: Women hate Women, is that true?

Episode 18: Women hate Women, is that true?

Padmini janaki interviews Sairee, CEO of Sheroes. Sairee’s Sheroes is a community for women, we can say it’s a Facebook for women. Padmini and Sairee discuss about entrepreneurship, women and a lot more details. Then a calling bell, guess who?
Feb 03, 202034:21
Episode 17 : Why Product Management is quite a deal these days?

Episode 17 : Why Product Management is quite a deal these days?

Srinidy interviews Clement Kao, Co - founder Product Manager HQ, Product Manager at Blend
Jan 29, 202026:09
Episode 12 :Mountain Climbing and Product Management

Episode 12 :Mountain Climbing and Product Management

In this episode Shrinedhi Rajan hosted Naimeesha Murthy, Founder WIP NYC.
Jan 26, 202018:48
Episode 16: How did he Swiggy it?

Episode 16: How did he Swiggy it?

In this episode, Padmini Janaki hosted Anuj Rathi, VP of Products, Growth, and Revenue at Swiggy.
Jan 20, 202032:15
Episode 15: Anna Nagar to Silicon Valley?

Episode 15: Anna Nagar to Silicon Valley?

Padmini Janaki hosted Karthik Chidambaram in this episode. Karthik talks about humbly beginning of DCKAP and how DCKAP is growing very strong since it began 15 years ago.
Jan 13, 202021:59
Episode 14: Is Growth Product Management a fad concept ?

Episode 14: Is Growth Product Management a fad concept ?

Srinidy Ravichandran hosts Pulkit Arora, Sr. Director of Product Management, Simplilearn
Jan 06, 202023:23
Episode 13: Drones, Flying Cars and other things Elon Musk got wrong

Episode 13: Drones, Flying Cars and other things Elon Musk got wrong

Advaith interviewing Pranjal Co-founder@ePlane.ai.  

Dec 31, 201927:57