The One Percent Project- Entrepreneurship, Leadership & Resilience

Pritish Sanyal
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Management

Explores the stories and ideas of some of the most innovative and creative business minds. The show features conversations with inspiring entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders who are pushing boundaries and making a change in the world. The podcast explores entrepreneurship, business, technology, creativity, and more and provides valuable insights and advice on how to take action and make an impact in your life and career. The podcast also offers listeners exclusive access to inspiring stories and the chance to learn from the best and brightest minds in their respective fields.

  1. Sep 13

    The Best Sales People Don’t Sell

    Saurav Chawla walked away from a Vice President's seat at Barclays in New York — the kind of job people spend a decade climbing toward, closing multi-billion-dollar M&A deals — and came home to India to open a bakery. Not as a fallback. As a deliberate pause. And it was inside that bakery, trying to staff his own kitchen through a busy evening, that he stumbled onto the problem that became OkayGo — India's largest task-fulfillment platform. It returned 10x to its investors, was acquired by BetterPlace, and then did the harder thing: it scaled 20x. Today, Saurav is a co-founder of BetterPlace, Asia's largest frontline workforce ecosystem, where he's betting on the gig economy and AI. Saurav is refreshingly honest — he'll tell you he probably sold OkayGo too early, that failure still feels personal, and that the best salespeople don't actually sell. We get into gut versus data, why he sees AI as a tailwind for frontline workers rather than a threat, and the small, almost secret habit he's picked up to stay calm and curious — humming a song to himself. -----------------------------------------Key Lessons: https://www.onepercent.live/episodes/episode93-sauravchawla ----------------------------------------- 00:00 Intro 02:12 Ambivert Mindset 02:58 Delhi Roots and Drive 04:26 Specs and Sprint Wins 05:42 Returning Home Plan 07:46 Milestones and Safety Net 09:20 OkGo Idea Sparks 10:50 COVID Pivot to Ecom 12:10 Owning Tasks and Quality 14:50 Gut Versus Data 16:09 Banking Skills Applied 17:41 Why Few Players Scale 19:01 Betterplace Acquisition Logic 20:14 Post Merger Growth 21:53 Bridging Culture Gaps 23:45 Sold Too Early 25:16 Founder Gratitude 25:36 Advisory Selling Mindset 27:12 Fail Forward in Sales 29:17 Taking Failure Personally 30:25 AI Impact Outlook 31:46 Scaling Without Losing Speed 33:37 Smart Innovation Risk 35:45 B2B vs B2C Founders 37:20 Building a Business Moat 38:20 Travel Lessons for Entrepreneurs 40:23 Time Buckets That Work 41:39 Curiosity and New Skills 43:34 Learning Without Fear 46:06 Three Inspirations 47:16 Three Must Read Books 48:51 Defining Success and Validation 50:38 Closing and Wrap Up

    The Best Sales People Don’t Sell

  2. Jun 14

    When to Pivot in Life & Career

    In a world where most people optimise for stability, Vasuta Gupta has built her career by doing the opposite. From starting her journey in chip design to advising CEOs at McKinsey, helping scale InMobi through multiple phases of growth, and now leading revenue at an AI-first company, she has consistently made decisions before the future became obvious.In this conversation, Vasuta shares the frameworks behind her biggest career moves, why she believes the best time to leave a role is when you become too comfortable, what she learned from spending 13 years inside one of India's most successful technology companies, and how AI is reshaping careers, leadership, and the future of work. 00:00 Intro 02:45 Introvert Energy Explained 05:41 Theater Lessons for Life 07:41 GPUs and AI Chips Future 10:01 Choosing Careers in AI Era 11:54 Builders vs Big Tech 13:43 Enterprise AI Adoption Curve 15:08 Voice AI Product Vision 16:47 Agentic AI and AGI 18:35 Workforce Shifts and Upskilling 20:19 Keep Learning First Principle 21:47 McKinsey to InMobi Leap 23:47 Knowing When to Move On 25:22 Zero to One to Scale 27:58 Introvert to Revenue Leader 30:09 Influence Built on Trust 31:38 Boardroom Mindset Switch 33:05 Handling Strong Opinions 35:34 Nerves Preparation and Poise 36:50 Processing Failure Over Time 38:04 Mentorship Through Phyllis 40:25 Anchors People and Books 42:37 Defining Success Today 44:12 Closing Thanks and Wrap ----------------------------------------- About Vasuta: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vasutaagarwal/ ----------------------------------------- Check out TOP & Pritish Sanyal:The One Percent Project: https://www.onepercent.live/subscribeAbout Pritish: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pritishsanyal/

    When to Pivot in Life & Career

  3. May 31

    Build a Life, Not Just a Career

    Shruthi is an author and the Director of Analytics, Innovation, and AI at Adobe. At 14, Shruthi made a decision that went against the conventional path many ambitious students follow. That choice reflected a mindset that would later take her from an early-stage startup to Adobe.  In this conversation, we discuss curiosity, startup failures, sports, meditation, and how to balance ambition with contentment in a world obsessed with achievement. She also shares about her book “The Store of Life- How to fill your life with Contentment, Not with Accomplishments”. ----------------------------------------- 00:00 Intro01:58 Ideavert Energy03:08 Curious Upbringing04:59 Skipping IIT Prep07:44 Sports Leadership Lessons09:12 Team vs Solo Sports10:46 Idols and Languages13:18 Startup Wins and Failure15:03 Simplifying with Data17:37 Gut Feel vs Data19:04 Vipassana Mind Training22:42 Store of Life Book25:06 Reclaim Your Time Basket26:30 Influences and Book Picks27:58 Defining Success29:01 Closing Thoughts ----------------------------------------- Check out Shruthi Harikrishna Shruthi's Book: https://www.amazon.in/Store-Life-Fill-Basket-Contentment/dp/9363957713 About Shruthi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shruthiharikrishna/ ----------------------------------------- Check out TOP & Pritish Sanyal: The One Percent Project: https://www.onepercent.live/subscribe About Pritish: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pritishsanyal/

    Build a Life, Not Just a Career

  4. May 17

    Preferred, Not Preserved: Rethinking India's Craft Economy

    Yosha is a serial entrepreneur on her 2nd startup, MeMeraki, India's largest culture-tech platform. Growing up in Aligarh, a small town in India, she was influenced by her mother’s amateur artistry and her father’s entrepreneurial grit, and she witnessed him persevere through setbacks to launch a new business at age 60. This foundational resilience carried over into her early career, where she spent over 15 years working on financial inclusion and innovation for global institutions such as the World Bank Group and the Gates Foundation. Before venturing into the cultural sector, Yosha founded LafaLafa, a cashback and coupon app that attracted over 1 million users and received backing from prestigious accelerators such as Silicon Valley's 500 Startups and Facebook's FBStart. Despite LafaLafa's rapid growth, the venture was ultimately disrupted by demonetization in India, a "stress test" that eventually led her back to her lifelong passion for the heritage arts. In 2019, she launched MeMeraki as a passion project to ensure India’s 3,000+ heritage crafts remained relevant and discoverable in the digital age. The brand's "inception" moment came from a hand-painted Gucci bag that drew more attention in Hong Kong for its traditional folk art than for its luxury label, revealing global demand for authentic cultural storytelling. ----------------------------------------- 00:00 Small Town Trust 01:10 Meet Yoshka Gupta 02:31 Ambivert Leadership 04:10 Father And Risk 06:30 Aligarh Lessons 08:23 Mother And Creativity 10:22 LSR Finding Voice 12:02 GE To Startups 15:12 Startup Vs Corporate 17:49 Fulfillment Over Happiness 18:55 LafaLafa Rise And Fall 23:34 First Art Obsession 25:15 Gucci Bag Origin 27:36 Pandemic Workshops Scale 33:05 Managing 1000 Artists 37:28 Meet Them Where They Are 38:04 Co-Design Cross Pollination 39:19 Data Insights Without Copying 42:26 Hidden Art Forms Discovered 45:21 Spotlighting Women Artists 47:04 White Glove Digital Service 48:45 Custom Orders At Scale 52:05 Art In Airports And Public 54:17 Why Shark Tank Mattered 56:57 Sharks And Their Superpowers 59:54 Builder Mindset Not Investor 01:00:48 Hard Things About People 01:02:53 Family As Emotional Runway 01:04:29 Inspiration From Artists Family 01:06:35 Books That Shaped Thinking 01:09:54 Defining Success Long Term 01:11:02 Closing ----------------------------------------- Check out Yosha Gupta MeMeraki: https://www.memeraki.com/ ------ Check out TOP & Pritish Sanyal: The One Percent Project: https://www.onepercent.live/subscribe LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pritishsanyal/

    Preferred, Not Preserved: Rethinking India's Craft Economy

  5. May 3

    Why Smart People Make Poor Decisions w/ Shane Parrish

    Shane is the founder of Farnam Street (FS) and host of The Knowledge Project (TKP) podcast, dedicated to helping people master mental models, decision-making, and lifelong learning. A former Canadian intelligence official, he transformed a side project into a top business resource and authored the bestseller Clear Thinking and The Great Metal Models series. I have been following the Farnam Street and The Knowledge Project Podcast for over a decade.I have witnessed his evolution while he built the Farnam Street community to 1M+ strong and brought some of the top thinkers, builders, and operators to TKP. He is the reason I kicked off The One Percent Project. 00:00 Introduction 02:35 Misfit to University04:27 Hacking and Purpose06:53 9/11 and Early Lessons07:36 Decisions Under Uncertainty13:25 Trust and Standards17:00 Questioning Beliefs21:15 Building Farnam Street25:10 Audience and Responsibility29:05 Munger and Berkshire35:08 Thinking Well Daily37:31 Write It Down38:32 AI as Thinking Partner42:01 Incentives and Fluency43:40 Spotting Real Expertise45:47 Timely vs Timeless Advice47:55 Cutting Out Non-Rooters49:22 Ordinary Moments Compound51:42 Outcome Over Ego54:02 Regrets Without Anchors56:34 Host vs Guest Driven59:44 Finding Signal in Noise01:03:04 Personal Board of Advisors01:06:17 Decisions Luck and Patterns01:09:10 Community Q&A Reframes01:15:26 Learning Without Homework01:18:15 Active vs Passive Investing01:22:59 Books People and Success01:27:55 Closing Thanks and Wrap ------ Check out Farnam Street & Shane Parrish: Farnam Street: https://fs.blog/newsletter/ Shane Parrish: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/ ------ Check out TOP & Pritish Sanyal: The One Percent Project: https://www.onepercent.live/subscribe LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pritishsanyal/

    Why Smart People Make Poor Decisions w/ Shane Parrish

  6. Mar 16

    Grew Up Learning from Buffett and Munger: Monsoon Pabrai’s Investing Edge

    Monsoon Pabrai is the founder of Drew Investment, a value fund she launched at age 25. Representing a new generation of investors, she adapts classic value principles to the modern landscape, shifting focus from tangible balance sheets to intangible assets like network effects and goodwill. Although raised at the dinner table of a legendary value investor—meeting Warren Buffett at 12—Pabrai emphasises that her foundation was built on traditional operational discipline and EQ. This conversation explores the independence and discipline required to build a career in investing, not just abstract formulas. In this conversation, we talk about: 00:00 Introduction 02:54 Introvert Or Extrovert 04:30 Childhood Business Lessons 06:14 Meeting Buffett Young 07:24 Quitting To Start Fund 11:17 Tiger Mom Discipline 14:52 Raising First Capital 18:54 College Major Pivot 22:31 Owning Nepo Baby Label 24:09 Freedom Through Investing 25:09 Handling Smart Rooms 27:07 Value Investing Evolves 28:51 Learning From Legends 32:39 AI And The Future 35:37 Berkshire Performance Lens 36:36 Why Amex Wins 38:43 China Risk And BYD 39:57 India Investing Nuggets 43:53 Hardest Skill Doing Nothing 44:17 Books And Success 46:46 Closing Takeaways ------ Check out: Monsoon Pabrai:https://www.monsoonpabrai.com/ Li Lu Value Investing Session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajMy9LkQQlw ------ Newsletter: The Think newsletter delivers actionable insights on long-term thinking & insights. Learn more and sign-up at onepercent.live/subscribe ------ Follow Pritish Insta: https://www.instagram.com/sanyalpritish/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pritishsanyal/

    Grew Up Learning from Buffett and Munger: Monsoon Pabrai’s Investing Edge

  7. 12/14/2025

    Episode 87 [Thrive]: How Estée Lauder Sold Permission, Not Perfume

    How Estée Lauder transformed the cosmetic industry and built an empire: Estée Lauder built a cosmetics empire not by inventing perfume, but by reimagining how it was sold—transforming fragrance from a luxury gift women waited to receive into an everyday self-care product they bought for themselves. Follow & Subscribe: Newsletter: https://www.onepercent.live/subscribe WhatsApp: ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/TOP_WA2 ⁠⁠ YouTube: ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/TOP_YouTubeVideos Pritish Sanyal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pritishsanyal/

    Episode 87 [Thrive]: How Estée Lauder Sold Permission, Not Perfume

  8. 11/08/2025

    Episode 86: Private Communities Are the Future w/Utsav Somani

    About Utsav Somani: ⁠Utsav is the founder of Offline — India’s most exclusive community of scaled-up tech founders. Early members include co-founders of Zomato, Country Delight, Ultrahuman, Noise, CoinDCX, and many more. He is responsible for bringing AngelList to India. AngelList India became the most active seed investor in the country with 500 investments since it’s launch in 2018. He runs 2 separate funds called iSeed and Galaxy that have around $100M in AUM. Utsav has personally invested in companies like BharatPe, CoinDCX, Pristyn Care, Jupiter, Park+ along with top-tier VC firms. In this conversation, we talk about: 00:00 Intro 02:13 Navigating Introversion 05:40 The Art of Cold Outreach 07:23 Reflecting on a Decade of Investing 10:51 Challenges and Learnings in Angel Investing 12:38 Building the Community 15:21 The Vision for Offline 18:05 Executive Coaching and Community Building 21:14 Building a Strong Cap Table 21:46 The Importance of Monopoly and Control 24:13 Private Paid Communities 30:32 Decision-Making Framework 34:07 Balancing Work and Personal Life 35:57 Defining Success 36:33 Key Takeaways from the Conversation

    Episode 86: Private Communities Are the Future w/Utsav Somani
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About

Explores the stories and ideas of some of the most innovative and creative business minds. The show features conversations with inspiring entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders who are pushing boundaries and making a change in the world. The podcast explores entrepreneurship, business, technology, creativity, and more and provides valuable insights and advice on how to take action and make an impact in your life and career. The podcast also offers listeners exclusive access to inspiring stories and the chance to learn from the best and brightest minds in their respective fields.

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