The Undefeated Underdogs Sharath Kuruganty

👉🏼 About the Guest:
Pritika Mehta is the founder of Butternut AI, an AI-based website builder. After having earned her first dollar on the internet when she was 14, Butternut is her third startup, having built Mindbatteries (acquired), and SockSoho (YC S20), which went from 0 to millions in ARR in 18 months. She is also a TEDx speaker, having spoken at Wilmington Women about focus, failure, and the future of work. In addition, she is an advisor to Innovation Mission Punjab ($30M Startup Seed fund), has built  Kiddycoders to bring young kids into STEM, and is running a merit scholarship program for underprivileged girls in India. Her other projects include a 10,000+ member community of pet parents over WhatsApp. 

👉🏼 About the Host:Sharath is a founder, creator, and community builder. He is also a serial maker who built and shipped 15+ projects using no-code tools. His SaaS product Shoutout generated $30k ARR, which was sold to a UK-based product studio. Prev, Sharath worked for world-changing startups like Product Hunt and On Deck, where he helped build and nurture communities. He also grew his audience on Twitter from 200 to 22,000 using give-first principles and creating high-value content. Currently, he is building a SaaS product called GuestLab, and runs another podcast series called YC Founder Stories alongside hosting this one.
👉🏼 Sponsor Corner:
Shoutout to Acquire.com for being the first sponsor of The Undefeated Underdogs podcast! They’re the best online marketplace to buy/sell startups and I know many founders who have sold their businesses there. If you're looking to wind down your business and cash in some of your founder chips, check them out - https://try.acquire.com/sharath/
👉🏼 Description:
Listen in as Sharath and Pritika discuss the AI wave, going from D2C to software, being an immigrant founder, and more! 👉🏼 Timestamps:
00:00: Episode Highlight00:16: Shoutout to Acquire.com02:42: Introduction to Pritika Mehta - founder at Butternut AI, TEDX speaker, scholarship creator, and more!07:22: The common traits of founders08:45: Going from software to D2C to software13:45: Destroying self-doubt in a new industry15:45: How to validate your product idea17:45: Getting into Y Combinator with a sock company19:15: The impact of Y Combinator21:10: The story of Butternut AI25:07: Pritika's favorite website built on Butternut AI25:40: Behind the scenes at Butternut AI28:00: The future of Butternut AI30:26: The ultimate vision for Butternut AI32:31: Which domains will remain untouched by AI?33:30: Pritika's backups if she wasn't working on Butternut AI38:02: Where is the Indian startup ecosystem heading?41:34: What Pritika looks for in founders she's investing in43:37: Lessons learned from SockSoho45:55: Outro and closing thoughts👉🏼 Resources:
Magic: https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/magic-2PartnerHQ: https://www.partnerhq.com/Link to Acquire.com: https://try.acquire.com/sharath/👉🏼 Where to find Pritika:
Website: https://pritikamehta.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/pritika_mehtaLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pritikam/Butternut AI: https://butternut.ai/SockSoho: https://socksoho.com/Kiddycoders: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/10/india-coding-children-opportunity/TED talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APPRZcGkFIUBBC: https://wspartners.bbc.com/clip/p07sr603TechCrunch: https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/31/fashion-brand-socksoho-is-using-data-science-in-a-bid-to-become-the-uniqlo-of-india/The Hindu: https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/are-children-being-introduced-to-coding-too-early-in-life/article62106966.eceWEF Economic Summit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91KzyE6V5So👉🏼 Where to find Sharath:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/5harathYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@5harathWebsite: https://5harath.com/Newsletter: https://5harath.substack.com/

👉🏼 About the Guest:
Hiten Shah (268K followers on Twitter!) has been building and writing about SaaS businesses for 20+ years. He is currently the CEO and Co-founder at Nira and is the ex-founder at CrazyEgg and KISSmetrics.

👉🏼 About the Host:Sharath is a founder, creator, and community builder. He is also a serial maker who built and shipped 15+ projects using no-code tools. His SaaS product Shoutout generated $30k ARR, which was sold to a UK-based product studio. Prev, Sharath worked for world-changing startups like Product Hunt and On Deck, where he helped build and nurture communities. He also grew his audience on Twitter from 200 to 22,000 using give-first principles and creating high-value content. Currently, he is building a SaaS product called GuestLab, and runs another podcast series called YC Founder Stories alongside hosting this one.
👉🏼 Sponsor Corner:
Shoutout to Acquire.com for being the first sponsor of The Undefeated Underdogs podcast! They’re the best online marketplace to buy/sell startups and I know many founders who have sold their businesses there. If you're looking to wind down your business and cash in some of your founder chips, check them out - https://try.acquire.com/sharath/
👉🏼 Description:
Listen in as Sharath and Hiten discuss the AI wave, figuring out your niche, launching a podcast, and more! 👉🏼 Timestamps:
00:00: Episode Highlight00:43: Shoutout to Acquire.com03:08: Introduction to Hiten Shah - multi-founder for 20 years!04:32: Creating your own podcast and what to keep in mind09:56: Advice to people starting their own podcasts14:17: "Record the show and they will come" - how this can work and how it can go terribly wrong22:00: How to figure out your audience22:46: How to create a startup in a crowded market31:54: Where to create your AI startup in 202434:24: Reality vs deepfakes: when will we be unable to distinguish between the two?48:17: How Hiten's father influenced his life philosophy53:17: How to decide your identity56:10: Outro and closing thoughts👉🏼 Resources:
Airchat: https://www.air.chat/Devin: https://www.cognition-labs.com/introducing-devinLink to Acquire.com: https://try.acquire.com/sharath/👉🏼 Where to find Hiten:
Website: https://hitenism.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/hnshah?Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hnshahNira: https://nira.com/👉🏼 Where to find Sharath:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/5harathYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@5harathWebsite: https://5harath.com/Newsletter: https://5harath.substack.com/

👉🏼 About the Guest:
Marie Martens is the co-founder of Tally, the simplest way to create forms. With a background in marketing, she co-founded a travel marketplace, Hotspot, and pivoted to Tally during the pandemic. Between 2020 and 2024, Tally's lean team has bootstrapped Tally to a $1M in ARR!

👉🏼 About the Host:Sharath is a founder, creator, and community builder. He is also a serial maker who built and shipped 15+ projects using no-code tools. His SaaS product Shoutout generated $30k ARR, which was sold to a UK-based product studio. Prev, Sharath worked for world-changing startups like Product Hunt and On Deck, where he helped build and nurture communities. He also grew his audience on Twitter from 200 to 22,000 using give-first principles and creating high-value content. Currently, he is building a SaaS product called GuestLab, and runs another podcast series called YC Founder Stories alongside hosting this one.
👉🏼 Sponsor Corner:
Shoutout to Acquire.com for being the first sponsor of The Undefeated Underdogs podcast! They’re the best online marketplace to buy/sell startups and I know many founders who have sold their businesses there. If you're looking to wind down your business and cash in some of your founder chips, check them out - https://try.acquire.com/sharath/
👉🏼 Description:
Listen in as Sharath and Marie discuss juggling parenthood and startup life, hockey stick growth, and more! 👉🏼 Timestamps:
00:00: Episode Highlight1:10: Shoutout to Acquire.com03:34: Introduction to Marie Martens - the co-founder of Tally.so!05:50: How does being a mom keep Marie motivated?09:22: Why Tally refuses to hire or raise funds20:35: Tally's original mission in 202024:03: Secrets of hockey stick growth30:32: Ways to get over burnout38:04: Why Marie founded Tally in an over-crowded market44:10: How Notion influenced Tally47:30: How no-code tools and AI could have changed Tally's growth52:24: Marie's Plan B in case Tally didn't work out55:10: How building Tally differs from Marie's previous startup56:36: Tally's tactics that led to hockey stick growth59:08: What's next for Tally?1:03:25: Outro and closing thoughts👉🏼 Resources:
Link to Acquire.com: https://try.acquire.com/sharath/👉🏼 Where to find Marie:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarieMartensLinkedin: https://be.linkedin.com/in/mariemartensTally: https://blog.tally.so/author/marie/👉🏼 Where to find Sharath:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/5harathYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@5harathWebsite: https://5harath.com/Newsletter: https://5harath.substack.com/

👉🏼 About the Guest:
Peer Richelsen is the co-founder and co-CEO of Cal.com. Peer has also previously served as the head of product at On Deck and as the founder and CEO of Lean Hire, as well as attending Y Combinator as an alumni in the winter of 2019. for Mage App, Inc., where they raised $880K in funding over three years and served over 50k customers across Europe and the USA.
Today Peer and the team launched their newest product of Cal.com called Platform and Atoms. Go support the launch here: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/cal-com-platform

👉🏼 About the Host:Sharath is a founder, creator, and community builder. He is also a serial maker who built and shipped 15+ projects using no-code tools. His SaaS product Shoutout generated $30k ARR, which was sold to a UK-based product studio. Prev, Sharath worked for world-changing startups like Product Hunt and On Deck, where he helped build and nurture communities. He also grew his audience on Twitter from 200 to 22,000 using give-first principles and creating high-value content. Currently, he is building a SaaS product called GuestLab, and runs another podcast series called YC Founder Stories alongside hosting this one.
👉🏼 Sponsor Corner:
Shoutout to Acquire.com for being the first sponsor of The Undefeated Underdogs podcast! They’re the best online marketplace to buy/sell startups and I know many founders who have sold their businesses there. If you're looking to wind down your business and cash in some of your founder chips, check them out - https://try.acquire.com/sharath/
👉🏼 Description:
Listen in as Sharath and Peer discuss the future of open-source software, intellectual property in an age of AI, sales as a first-time founder, and more! 👉🏼 Timestamps:
00:00: Episode Highlight00:54: Shoutout to Acquire.com03:19: Introduction to Peer Richelsen - the founder of Cal.com!06:10: The origins of Cal.com: Going from being an operator to a founder11:06: How to stand out in a crowded market14:40: How to differentiate your product19:15: How to make your product strategy22:43: Why open-source is Cal.com's superpower27:33: The importance of IP in a post-AI world30:00: Where to get product inspiration32:10: Transitioning from being a bootstrapped founder to a VC-backed founder39:45: The ultimate aim of every founder44:31: What would Peer work in, if not scheduling?47:40: How to approach sales as a first-time founder50:52: How to get in front of big clients52:15: Approaching the chicken-egg traction problem in fundraising56:30: How did Y Combinator change Peer as a founder?58:18: Dealing with self-doubt59:50: What drives Peer as a founder?1:06:04: Peer's beef with Supabase1:07:44: Outro and closing thoughts👉🏼 Resources:
Support Cal.com Platform on Product Hunt: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/cal-com-platformSeven Seven Six: https://sevensevensix.com/Founders Podcast's episode on Jay Z: https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/63997262/senra-jay-z-decodedSupabase: https://supabase.com/👉🏼 Where to find Peer:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/peer_richLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peer-richelsen-221233138👉🏼 Where to find Sharath:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/5harathYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@5harathWebsite: https://5harath.com/Newsletter: https://5harath.substack.com/

👉🏼 About the Guest:
Sonia Baschez was the Head of Marketing at Atmos and currently is a a Marketing and PR Advisor at The Council. She is an expert at building and executing marketing strategies for early-stage startups focused on social media, content creation, and email marketing.
She has previously worked on the Hillary for America campaign, where she wrote, designed, and launched email programs for 38 states. She has also worked with startups (Makerpad, Winnie, Holloway), authors (Elisabeth Rosenthal MD, Sam Walker, Alexandra Sacks MD), and influencers (Jeanne Pinder, Marlon Peterson, Luz Claudio, Muhammed Idris) to create their brands/profiles, grow followings, and promote their work.
Most recently, she's launching her own fractional CMO company, Bend Growth Co. Check her out at https://www.bendgrowth.co/!

👉🏼 About the Host:Sharath is a founder, creator, and community builder. He is also a serial maker who built and shipped 15+ projects using no-code tools. His SaaS product Shoutout generated $30k ARR, which was sold to a UK-based product studio. Prev, Sharath worked for world-changing startups like Product Hunt and On Deck, where he helped build and nurture communities. He also grew his audience on Twitter from 200 to 22,000 using give-first principles and creating high-value content. Currently, he is building a SaaS product called GuestLab, and runs another podcast series called YC Founder Stories alongside hosting this one.
👉🏼 Sponsor Corner:
Shoutout to Acquire.com for being the first sponsor of The Undefeated Underdogs podcast! They’re the best online marketplace to buy/sell startups and I know many founders who have sold their businesses there. If you're looking to wind down your business and cash in some of your founder chips, check them out - https://try.acquire.com/sharath/
👉🏼 Description:
Listen in as Sharath and Sonia discuss the future of personalization, where email marketing is headed, when you should make your first marketing hire, and more! 👉🏼 Timestamps:
00:00: Episode Highlight00:47: Shoutout to Acquire.com03:14: Introduction to Sonia Baschez - the fractional CMO!04:35: The day-to-day life of a marketer06:02: Life as the mom of a 2-year-old09:43: How Sonia started her story in marketing21:52: Similarities between startups and political campaigns26:29: When should a founder prioritize marketing?30:24: Downside of fractional employees33:35: What is the future of email marketing?43:39: How to do personalization perfectly.51:12: The marketing part of product-market fit59:10: Working with your spouse: how to maintain professional and personal boundaries1:05:10: Bend Growth Co. - the new-age fractional CMO company!👉🏼 Resources:
Lenny Rachitsky: https://www.lennyrachitsky.com/Obviously Awesome by April Dunford: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/45166937Nathan Baschez: https://undefeatedunderdogs.com/50Have your product acquired: https://try.acquire.com/sharath/👉🏼 Where to find Sonia:
Bend Growth Co.: https://www.bendgrowth.co/Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoniaBaschez?Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soniabaschezInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/soniabaschez/👉🏼 Where to find Sharath:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/5harathYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@5harathWebsite: https://5harath.com/Newsletter: https://5harath.substack.com/

👉🏼 About the Guest:
James Evans (Princeton alumni, ex-Bain) is the co-founder and CEO of CommandBar, a user assistance platform that makes your software product easier to use. In 3.5yrs, CommandBar is a 7-figure ARR SaaS business, with over 20 million end-users across hundreds of customers like Hashicorp, Freshworks, and Hubspot and has grown to a team of 40 people and raised $24 million.

👉🏼 About the Host:Sharath is a founder, creator, and community builder. He is also a serial maker who built and shipped 15+ projects using no-code tools. His SaaS product Shoutout generated $30k ARR, which was sold to a UK-based product studio. Prev, Sharath worked for world-changing startups like Product Hunt and On Deck, where he helped build and nurture communities. He also grew his audience on Twitter from 200 to 22,000 using give-first principles and creating high-value content. Currently, he is building a SaaS product called GuestLab, and runs another podcast series called YC Founder Stories alongside hosting this one.
👉🏼 Sponsor Corner:
Shoutout to Acquire.com for being the first sponsor of The Undefeated Underdogs podcast! They’re the best online marketplace to buy/sell startups and I know many founders who have sold their businesses there. If you're looking to wind down your business and cash in some of your founder chips, check them out - https://try.acquire.com/sharath/
👉🏼 Description:
Listen in as Sharath and James discuss the No-PM Policy, why popups suck, the secrets of a first-time founder, and more! 👉🏼 Timestamps:
00:00: Episode Highlight01:05: Shoutout to Acquire.com03:34: Introduction to James Evans – Founder of CommandBar and hater of popups!04:58: Why are popups so irritating?08:32: What are ways of grabbing a customer's attention?14:14: How most startups should be capturing customers19:30: CommandBar's newest product...or not26:45: Finding inspiration for your brand29:58: James' No-PM Policy34:04: Making UX better38:49:The hardest parts of building42:48: Applying to Y Combinator46:00: How the best founders design products49:57: Under shared secrets from a first-time founder52:41: What is the secret of sales?55:35: The dangers you'll see in sales57:39: The best type of content strategy for startups1:02:11: Where CommandBar is going next and how AI is revolutionizing the way we work1:07:08: What drives James as a founder?1:10:25: Outro and closing thoughts👉🏼 Resources:
Big Desk Energy: https://www.bigdeskenergy.com/Have your product acquired: https://try.acquire.com/sharath/👉🏼 Where to find James:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dazzeloid?Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-evans-7086b3126/CommandBar Website: https://www.commandbar.com/👉🏼 Where to find Sharath:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/5harathYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@5harathWebsite: https://5harath.com/Newsletter: https://5harath.substack.com/