We plan to bring eChai across 100 cities in India. The next eChai Startup Demo Day is on 29 August in Bengaluru and Pune. The next after that is on 26 September, all in person, with 12 cities confirmed and 538 founders registered. See your city

Founder Notes

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  • Jatin Chaudhary Jatin Chaudhary eChai Ventures 7h

    Umesh Uttamchandani runs DevX. We hold eChai gatherings in their spaces city after city, so for a lot of founders here the name is an address more than a company.

    Forty-five minutes with him on Radio LJ 90.8 FM, on how it got built.

  • Curated from LinkedIn →

    Kushal Shukla Kushal Shukla 15h

    I raised my hand hoping he wouldn't pick me.

    He picked me.

    November 2022. eChai meetup, my first ever. Second year of engineering. The host asked if anyone wanted to introduce themselves, about half the room put their hand up, and I put mine up too - safe in the crowd.

    We lined up at the front. Around 80 people in the room.

    My turn.

    "Hello, this is Kushal, I'm in my second year of engineering, attending a meetup for the first time.."

    And then nothing. I stopped. Just stood there in front of all of them.

    So I said the only honest thing I had: I'm an introvert. This is my first time doing any of this.

    The room cheered.

    Strangers. For a second-year kid fumbling an introduction they had no reason to care about. I finished it.

    I went to the next one. And the one after.

    Four years on, I'm in a Founder's Office, and the part of the job I'm best at is the exact thing I couldn't do that day - walk into a room and talk to people.

    I still get nervous before I speak. The difference is I stopped hoping I wouldn't get picked.

    Whoever cheered that day: it worked.

  • Jatin Chaudhary Jatin Chaudhary eChai Ventures 17h

    Every Wednesday night we play cricket in Ahmedabad with founder friends at eChai.

    Then came one particular Wednesday. One of the guys got out early again and ended up on the losing side again. He was still there for the whole game, and he still came back the next week. But that was the night he decided cricket alone was not going to do it for him.

    That is when he told us he plays padel, and that he has been playing it properly for years.

    So he started pushing for it. We should try padel, you will all love it. Very generous of him.

    Now Thursday night padel is part of the routine, and he wins every week.

    Maybe that is what changing the game actually means :-)

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