From Snapfish to Aadhaar to MoneyTap to AI: Bala Parthasarathy on Building Across Eras

July 16, 2025

🎙️ Bala Parthasarathy - Chairman & Co-founder, Freo, Director at People+AI, Senior Adviser, EMK Capital (London) -  joins us for one of our most insightful episodes.

In this full conversation, Bala discusses:
🔹 Snapfish’s dotcom-era growth, crash, and acquisition by HP
🔹 Building Aadhaar from the ground up with Nandan Nilekani
🔹 The truth about raising and deploying venture capital
🔹 What’s broken (and what’s working) in fintech
🔹 The founder's mindset in the age of AI

If you're a founder, investor, or operator, this episode is packed with lessons, stories, and perspective.

📌 Episode Timestamps:

00:00 – Bala’s background & Snapfish origins

03:00 – Dotcom boom, bust & Snapfish acquisition

06:30 – Understanding VC: what founders often get wrong

10:00 – Building Aadhaar at scale with Nandan Nilekani

13:00 – Freo, fintech & operating in regulated markets

16:00 – AI disruption & founder readiness

23:00 – How every function is being reshaped by AI

28:00 – Founder life: balance, energy & playing the long game

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