One guest makes the chemistry that goes into medicines and crop protection. One works with regulators to shape the rules Indian startups operate under. One is putting sensors and actuators into the furniture people sleep on. Stream 134 of The Offline Network looks at what it takes to build in categories where progress is physical, slow and hard to fake: manufacturing supply chains, public policy, and hardware that has to survive contact with the real world. Three founders and operators on what each of those teaches you about building in India. -----Know someone we should have on the show? Suggest them to the admin.Want to sponsor, partnerships, feedback, working at TON, an idea: live@theoffline.network-----Guests for today:1/ Sachin Santhosh | Co-Founder, ScimplifySachin is a co-founder of Scimplify, a Bengaluru-based specialty chemicals company that runs a full-stack model, from in-house R&D and custom synthesis through to manufacturing and delivery. It works with a network of partner plants to make chemicals for pharmaceutical, agrochemical, industrial, personal care, and flavours and fragrances customers. Sachin leads the US and Japan markets alongside the research function, and spent his earlier career in B2B commerce and manufacturing supply chains. 2/ Shweta Rajpal Kohli | President & CEO, Startup Policy ForumShweta is President and CEO of Startup Policy Forum, an industry alliance representing India's new-age companies and acting as a bridge between founders, policymakers and regulators. SPF runs sector councils spanning fintech, consumer and commerce, emerging tech and AI, and listed new-age companies, and engages government on questions from data privacy to AI governance and capital markets. Before founding SPF, Shweta led public policy for Peak XV Partners across India and Southeast Asia, and held policy roles at Salesforce and Uber, following a career as a business journalist. 3/ Teja Vinukollu | Founder & CEO, WATER RoboticsTeja is the founder and CEO of WATER Robotics, which builds what it calls physical AI for adaptive surfaces, with operations in Hyderabad and the United States. Its products include CAMA, a robotic bed, and FLOW, a chair, both built on an in-house foundation model that reads pressure and posture and adjusts the surface in response. Teja worked in product and hardware roles at Microsoft, Ola and Multiplier before starting the company with co-founder Haneesh Mourya Desu.
