Nitin Bajaj

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the industry show. I’m your host, Nitin Bajaj, and joining me today is Santosh Panda. Santosh, welcome on the show.

Santosh Panda

Thank you, Nitin. Thank you so much.

Nitin Bajaj

Great to have you here. And let’s start with the big question. Who is Santosh?

Santosh Panda

Yeah. Oh, I think that’s a tough question to start. Santosh is somebody, who is who is definitely passionate about seeing a lot of new things being created, you know, as we move, in the world. Right? He’s very curious about things. Mhmm. He’s very open to network with people. Right. And he’s very, you know, reachable, to, to kind of, connect dots across. I think in that way, those are the 3 key points of Santosh. Everything else comes around it.

Nitin Bajaj

Love it. And curiosity is so key. I’m a big proponent of it. And I think it’s our curiosity and the choices and decisions we make in life that steer us in the direction we get to. So as we get to know you better, let’s talk about, you know, you’ve you’ve been an entrepreneur for a while. You’ve traveled around and lived in many different countries. Tell us about foundership. What is the goal? What is the mission? What is the vision? And most importantly for me, why do this?

Santosh Panda

Yeah. So I think, foundership came out of my decades of passion, you know, early on when, I started up, Explara, which is India’s my first event ticketing platform way back in 2008. This is much, much before AngelList came in, and I was living in Panda. And the angels there even didn’t want to fund. Right. And India didn’t have angels at that point of time. Right. So having gone through the 2008 to 2012 kind of timeframe where literally the world woke up to the, the opportunity, the possibilities of wealth creation and supporting new entrepreneurs through angels. I had gone through a super set of hustling, bootstrapping Panda surviving and somehow scaling also. Now that, experience and that sort of, you know, kind of ability to understand what goes behind a founder’s mind is what got me to foundership. Right. Foundership is absolutely a mission to say when somebody is starting up, it’s not funding. It’s not your idea. It’s the network of people that you’re going to be surrounded with your team members, with your coaches, with your partners Panda how difficult that path is. What can we do to reduce that, right in the context? So founders is a new age, web 3 accelerator. We are focusing web 3 only, because I see this similar path that people who are starting them now will have the problem statements and opportunities, even challenges, and most likely missing, you know, sort of I missed it out kind of thing if they’re not being rightly surrounded by folks around. Right. So we’ve come up with a very simple concept of a coach DAO where we bring perfect people as coaches. Very intense, hands on support system through the 6 month acceleration program. The coaches are rewarded to be with the startup founders and help them to scale. So we have got all that concept with foundership with a mission to say, can we see some amazing companies being built out in the next decade on web 3? This is the next technology frontier. And how about leading in that front? So that’s, you know, in a nutshell, all about founderships. Why and how and where it is heading to?

Nitin Bajaj

I love it. I love love so many things about it. 1, the passion, it’s a labor of love for you. You’ve been through this journey multiple times, you’ve seen the tough times, you’ve seen the good times, and it’s an extract. You’re able to be there for them. You’ve created this community Panda you have that focus. It’s not about any founder, any startup. You’re very intentionally focusing on web 3 with the goal of launching something and you’re in it for the long term. So I love so many things about this and I’m glad you’re the one driving this because it comes with a lot of experience and passion. Tell us about the size and scale of your operations. I’m more keen to learn about the impact you’ve created so far knowing fully well that web 3 is still such a very new nascent industry as a whole.

Santosh Panda

Yeah. So Web 3 is definitely new, right? While, you know, crypto is only one part of, you know, implement on the blockchain. There is a lot more it’s going across the industries Panda it’s the next Internet. Right? Being in a lot of protocols and platforms are being going to be rewritten. So when we activated foundership, a lot of experiments went on to to reach a model where we are currently. And the model in the last 3, 4 months has been amazing. Right. So we came up with a very simple concept. Again, taking some experiences that when we meet a, you know, somebody who wants to start up or has an idea, most of the times they get carried away by the hype. Most of the time they think that they have a brilliant idea because that’s how entrepreneurs are generally always. Right. So founderships thought process, they came up with a simple concept to say, how about creating a 3 week camp? Right? What we call it a 0 x Panda, an incubation camp. We didn’t want to accept or reject somebody just on application process because application process just you know, doesn’t talk about who the person is or who the team member behind it. And what’s the problem statement in detail. So the 3 week incubation camp that we did, we got 2 50 applications. 80% came from India and 20% of the rest of the world. And out of that, we went on in that 3 week camp to choose around 55 folks to be invited to the 3 week camp. Each of whom were given 1 to 1 course for free. No money asked, no equity taken, no token, none of that. Right? No money. But in that 3 week, 1 to 1, this is 2 batches came in. So 1 to 1 coaches, when we when they sat down with the founders, they could realize, hey, who these guys are? What are they building? How good is their understanding? What challenge did they have? And when the coaches found that this is something amazing, then they waited and said, Hey, we would love to bring them to the 6 month camp, which we call as a launch camp acceleration program. And through this so around 250 application for the first two x camp. Now we are doing the 3rd zero x camp where we have 76 applications. So in a way, web 3 is early, but I’m so happy. And I think that this this is truly, kind of kind of, you know, bringing the entire worldwide phenomena of startup creation, value creation, the new world of entrepreneurship is right here. Right? While the beer market is right around, people are not stopping to be creative. People are not stopping to take a risk. So then otherwise, we create a large impact in the community by coming out, having 4,000 community members on all sites, founders, builders, marketers, investors, engines. And then we do every Thursday, we kick started a, you know, a camp called Jira’s breakfast. It’s just a 2 hours to come and meet people who are building it out there. That we got around 1,000, around odd 1,000 people as being every Thursday of the 1st Thursday of the month. That was super. Right? It was a great evangelism for people to understand and go beyond the hype. And then the 2 50 application that I talked about, then we selected as of today, we selected 15 startups to be in our first two batches of, acceleration camp. Right? And and similarly, we’ve got, capital partners, what do you call the funding partners who like to work with these founders. So this has been, you know, yet to yet to take a big shift, but the first two, kind of result has been amazing and inspiring equally for us.

Nitin Bajaj

This is really amazing and promising, right, to be able to create that ecosystem around this and bring so many stakeholders into the fold Panda make sure that, you know, this is a refined system as you’re going about this. I really love again, you know, hats off to you for having that passion and making that investment and bringing the entire community along. Tell me about the challenges Panda most importantly, the biggest challenge you’re facing as you’re corralling all of this essentially in a nascent industry?

Santosh Panda

Yeah. Absolutely. There are a lot of lot of challenges. Right? The challenges are that because Web 3 itself is moving so fast. Things are breaking apart. It’s an unregulated in, in, into large extent. Right. There are certain things which are coming very, very new. And now let’s talk about soul based token. Right. It’s still not implemented, but there is a spec about it. DeFi came in having a lot of challenges Panda NFT having a lot of challenges. So now in this stage, how do you ensure that you’re giving a great and a right direction kind of guidance to a founder? Because a lot of times you, the founders might be right, But the industry scope isn’t there. Right? So I think the challenge for all of us, the coaches, the coach staff, what we call us and and on the founder side and on the startup side is to understand that this space is moving fast. So don’t get cut by that. Right? That’s one challenge. The second challenge is how do you restrain the, founders to say, hey, focus on your proposition and not on the hype cycle.

Nitin Bajaj

Mhmm.

Santosh Panda

In crypto, you have hype cycle every 1 and half years. Right? Every 18 months, 24 months, there is a hype cycle. So the best minds might get diluted with that hype cycle. They’re saying, okay, let me just make the hype cycle, but then then you are done. Right? You your lifeline is gonna be maybe 18, 24 months in. That’s the another challenge. Right? How do you get them focused? And the thought and the last but not the least is the market is early. Right? The customer segment is very few. How do you position yourself to be 80% of that market to come to you? And what way you can bring the web to folks or the natural customers, right? Who does, who doesn’t understand about all these nitty gritty detail about wallets and whatnots, user experiences, the communication. So there are a lot of challenges because there’s no playbook. There’s Nitin already set material that we can see in it. Let’s say in a SaaS or in a b to c. Right? Those are yet to come. Right? So we are absolutely operating at the 0 point 2, 0.5 stage in the web 3, which is definitely a huge challenge for us to get it right and ensure that we are producing some great quality outcomes here.

Nitin Bajaj Again, a huge undertaking, and I can’t think of a better person to take it than you. So I’m glad you’re doing this. Thank you again. This is spearheading and steering an entire new industry that’s gonna be humongous. So I’m glad that, you know, you’re at the cutting edge of this and defining the edge in this case. Flipside, what’s the most exciting opportunity that motivates you, drives you, energizes you? Yeah.

Santosh Panda

So the most exciting opportunity is, again, and I always say this, right, one of the beautiful thing when you become a coach, right, or when you become, a guiding force, right, and in terms of being with another entrepreneur is different world altogether. Mhmm. And I’m I’m so happy that I’ve I’ve got this opportunity because there are so many different problem statements and founders coming in. Right? But then I always say this that, hey, a coach is as good as the the, the founder. Right? And in any context, let’s take the context of India. Raul Driver is a great player. I’m I’m I’m sure that he’ll be a great coach, but he needs great players to come out. Right? So every, one who had, great, you know, sort of players coming in Mhmm. And Panda the coaches were absolutely thrilled to say, oh, I got such a brilliant guy. So I think my key is to see some brilliant folks coming in. Right? And and seeing an amazing outcome in the decades to come, like, let’s say multibillion dollar, multibillion dollar with, you know, a massive impact on the customer’s life and and and having a really, really economic benefit out of it. Right? I think that’s sort of my mind map to with work and continue to keenly, in a search for those opportunities.

Nitin Bajaj

It’s not a matter of if, it’s when. So When. Yes. I know it’ll happen for sure. Let’s look back in time on your own career and journey. And I would love to hear about a moment or an experience that did not work out as you had expected Panda was a failure in your eyes and became a lesson?

Santosh Panda

Yeah. So I think there has been many to be honest about it. As they say, no one’s success in one or nothing is attained. Right? I think there are many factors in my life, such as very, very early on, you know, I wanted to be a doctor at some point of time. And, it didn’t happen. That didn’t happen. That literally demotivated me for some part of my, you know, initial, young, you know, carrier or a young sort of, you know, stage. But then I quickly realized after getting into, after 4 or 5 years that maybe maybe there is a you can continue to be, you know, useful evaluating to lot more people. I was worried that, hey, I am not able to be of service to many, many, many, many people. Right. Being a doctor, you feel that you will able to true. But when entrepreneurship, when it came in, I felt, oh, you know what? This is much more, much more powerful than anything else. Right? So I think this is where I always seeing that How do we see things in which side we see things, right? So when your intent Panda purpose is clear, whether you’re solving the problem statement this way, or you’re following the solving the problems in another way, Doesn’t matter because you are very keen why you are doing, what you’re doing it. So I think one of that life’s lesson was there early on. And then in the Explainer days, when I was struggling, things were not happening, but I was not giving up. Right. That many times it would almost came to give it up, but I didn’t give it up. And then the business went on scaling. That is again, taught me lessons to my own sort of disbelief that, Hey, you know what? You thought that this is going to be the end, but just because you didn’t give it, give it up, look at the opportunity that got created. Right. So I felt that the, the, the, the, the way philosophical sort of thoughts about it that, Hey, if you keep on pursuing and keep yourself improving better and not just better, but equally much more than the average, you will always produce better outcomes. Panda these are going to change. We are living in a world where opportunities are going to be always coming in on your way. So you would never, you know, stop in, you know, even if you have a smaller setback. So I think those sort of drawing those lines, setbacks are only in a way teaches us to overcome in a way that they don’t come back again.

Nitin Bajaj

True. It’s like a slingshot. Right? You have to pull it back for it to go 10 x or 100 x the speed. Absolutely. Tell us about a moment that blew your expectations. Right? You had a certain goal and you blew past it Panda it became a success beyond your expectations.

Santosh Panda

There has been a couple of them. Right? So when I bootstrapped, right, I was not hoping that we will go out to a big number, right? Back in 2008 to India, I was not ready even with payment gateways. Mhmm. And I was bootstrapping out of London, having a business in India. Right. Living there. I thought we will fairly do a couple of events Panda it’ll just go maybe 1 to 10. But in 2011, we grew 600%.

Nitin Bajaj

Wow.

Santosh Panda

600% in a single 12 months in 2011, because the market suddenly opened up. Right. A couple of gateways come in Panda it was just the, you know, formation of market that literally blew my mind saying, oh no, I never thought that’s going to be that fastest. Right. So between 8 starting and 11 in that I said, okay, we’ll go 10%, 15% year on maybe, or maybe 50%. That’s it. But that took off. Panda that was a defining moment for me to say, there is a huge market here. Let’s stick to the customer side of it. Continue to be focusing on that. So that was one of the sort of result that came in. And in the last 3, 4 months, to be honest about it, coming to the web three ecosystem, we all know the GPU market. I thought maybe we’ll get 30, 40 applications, 350 applications. When we got 250, I was like, equally blown away. And then similarly now when we are going through 0x3 Mhmm. To identify the applications, when my, you know, cofounder, Bimlesh, said, hey. We have 76. I’m like, what? 76? So I think, I’m surprised Panda I think we all are equally. I’m sure you must be seeing all these numbers.

Nitin Bajaj

Mhmm. I

Santosh Panda

think we are in this that stage of the world where a lot more people are adapting to new technologies, solutions, ideas, philosophies to make their life better. I think that single thing is producing wealth creations, new idea creations. I think we are all getting benefited. I’m sure those two things has helped me a lot in, you know, if I just draw draw out of my 12 to 15 years of, you know, sort of thoughts to pick 2 ideas there.

Nitin Bajaj

What you said is true. People are gravitating towards something that helps make their life better. But I also believe that it’s what you’re creating. The value you create is what attracts them to you instead of so many other options. Right? So you’re too humble, too kind to, you know, give the credit to others Panda circumstances around you, but I think you should take the the credit of having done the hard work, the heavy lifting to create that value in the first place. So, again, kudos to you for having done that. Let’s segue into the the one line life lessons, which is my favorite part of the show. I would love for you to share a few of your life lessons with us.

Santosh Panda

Yeah. So life lessons are, you know, many. Right? In a way, we all cherish them. Right? But I think one of my life lesson is, that, nothing, you know, nothing beats, serendipity. Yes. Right? I I I’ve been always I’ve been I would say I’m a god’s child because of serendipity. Yes. Right. And, so my life lesson is that, whenever you get to meet somebody new, like, look, we just met, Right? Or I believe that when you meet somebody, that’s your way of, you know, kind of to to to reach a new world. I took it to find out a new idea. So I always believe that the best thing in life is going to happen when there is serendipity, right? And everything that is going to come to your way. So my libation is going to be around serendipity. That’s one part of it, but if there are more libations, I would say being true to your roots. Right? True of who you are, makes it makes a heaven loads of impact, right? You may, you may be going through struggle. You may be, you know, going through challenges. You may be, succeeding, but if you’re sticking to your roots, you’re sticking to your values. You’re sticking to who you are Panda not trying to quote it, you will never fail. You will never be unhappy. Right? You will be always feeling that I am for what I am. Yes. Right. So I would put these two things as my sort of core live relations, which always guides me even today, Panda of things that gets unfolded day on day.

Nitin Bajaj

Very profound and very deep. And I 100% agree with you. Serendipity has been my guiding force, Panda, I’ve I’ve just followed along. But, Santosh, I really appreciate you sharing your journey, your story. And again, thank you for doing what you do for helping shape one industry that is going to be very impactful in our lives in the very near future. Kudos to you Panda congratulations on your all your successes. We’d love to bring you on back again and talk about more of your successes.

Santosh Panda

Thank you so much, and thank you Panda huge appreciation for what you’re doing. I think these are the sort of, you are definitely establishing serendipity with this and, and then making everybody’s life better with people coming here, discovering other people, and and taking the world forward. So I’m, you know, kudos to you too for having such a, you know, passion and presence and and and, investing time into it. So thank you so much. It was my sincere pleasure to be on your show and share the journey with you. Thank you.