🎙️ 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
