🦄 Thank you for joining us in the eChai Ventures Product Growth meetup at Urban Vault 1515, HSR, Bengaluru! 🚀
Recapping a few highlights:
Aditya Vikram believes nothing succeeds like success. People want to be on the winning team.
➤ Helping people in the hour of need (start of Covid) by working on contactless deliveries at Amazon was gratifying. Though it also meant cutting short paternity leave.
➤ If India eCommerce market is growing by 100, Meesho is growing by 65.
➤ Co-signs what his mentor would say, "You become a seasoned product professional - not by building products but by shutting them down"
➤ If there was a product he may have liked to work upon, it'd be eSports FIFA ⚽
➤ Hiring at Meesho for his team 📢
Alok Agrawal says he joined Microsoft because of his wife. He may have been a Chef or a Cricketer in a parallel world 🌎
➤ Loved working on a product that helped people in the refugee camps. Contributing to the social impact it had felt fulfilling.
➤Eye popping numbers - MS Teams grew from 18 mn to 200 mn users during Covid. This growth was massively fuelled by Android phone users in the emerging markets.
➤ Being a PM is not as sexy as it sounds. Go for it if you like it while knowing that it's just a role.
➤ Hiring alert: His team at Mailmodo is hiring talent.
Sumit Malpani shares a hack from his work at Porter. "Follow Your User" and think of your user occupying a chair in every meeting that you sit in.
➤ During Covid, worked on the Ola Emergency product for people in essential services. Contributing to the impact it had was gratifying.
➤ Worked on Moj for Creators and built various Gamification modules for Creators at ShareChat, acquiring ~200k high quality creators, improving creator retention by 8pp. Reference reading: https://lnkd.in/gveZWpfw
➤ If there was a product he may have liked to work upon, it'd be Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. because it is a complex product with a great user experience. It is accessible, reliable and frictionless. From its colour coding to safety-related nudges, visual cues to clear instructions, everything adds to user delight.
It's a wrap! Do share resources - books, podcasts, newsletters, courses, platforms and communities that are helping you with your journey as a product professional. ✨
Recapping a few highlights:
Aditya Vikram believes nothing succeeds like success. People want to be on the winning team.
➤ Helping people in the hour of need (start of Covid) by working on contactless deliveries at Amazon was gratifying. Though it also meant cutting short paternity leave.
➤ If India eCommerce market is growing by 100, Meesho is growing by 65.
➤ Co-signs what his mentor would say, "You become a seasoned product professional - not by building products but by shutting them down"
➤ If there was a product he may have liked to work upon, it'd be eSports FIFA ⚽
➤ Hiring at Meesho for his team 📢
Alok Agrawal says he joined Microsoft because of his wife. He may have been a Chef or a Cricketer in a parallel world 🌎
➤ Loved working on a product that helped people in the refugee camps. Contributing to the social impact it had felt fulfilling.
➤Eye popping numbers - MS Teams grew from 18 mn to 200 mn users during Covid. This growth was massively fuelled by Android phone users in the emerging markets.
➤ Being a PM is not as sexy as it sounds. Go for it if you like it while knowing that it's just a role.
➤ Hiring alert: His team at Mailmodo is hiring talent.
Sumit Malpani shares a hack from his work at Porter. "Follow Your User" and think of your user occupying a chair in every meeting that you sit in.
➤ During Covid, worked on the Ola Emergency product for people in essential services. Contributing to the impact it had was gratifying.
➤ Worked on Moj for Creators and built various Gamification modules for Creators at ShareChat, acquiring ~200k high quality creators, improving creator retention by 8pp. Reference reading: https://lnkd.in/gveZWpfw
➤ If there was a product he may have liked to work upon, it'd be Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. because it is a complex product with a great user experience. It is accessible, reliable and frictionless. From its colour coding to safety-related nudges, visual cues to clear instructions, everything adds to user delight.
It's a wrap! Do share resources - books, podcasts, newsletters, courses, platforms and communities that are helping you with your journey as a product professional. ✨
The eChai Effect - In Their Words
"I attended my first eChai event 3 yrs back, and no one knew me in the market. Over the next three years, eChai didn’t only help me with knowledge or networking, but it gave me an identity from being unknown to now being recognized by a group of inspirational entrepreneurs connected with eChai, who have been gracious enough to acknowledge me and Digipple."
Viraj Rajani
Co-Founder, Digipple
"From late-night brainstorming over chai to early morning founder calls, eChai has been more than just a network for me; it’s been home base for ideas, impact, and inspiration. What started as a simple meetup years ago turned into a powerful movement, connecting founders, creators, and dreamers. I’ve had the privilege of seeing startups find product-market fit, marketers (like me) find unexpected collaborations, and most importantly, people finding their tribe. संगच्छध्वं संवदध्वं – Let us move together, speak together. It’s not just a verse from the Rigveda — it’s how Jatin and the entire eChai community truly operate. We don’t just network, we grow together. Forever grateful to be a part of the eChai Effect.
Jaydip Parikh
Chief Everything Officer at Tej SolPro
“You don’t plan to build a company via eChai. You just keep showing up … and one day, you realize you did.” I’ve known Jatin since 2012, when I was still deciding what kind of second innings I wanted to play as an entrepreneur. Over the years, through events, chai breaks, intros, and seemingly small conversations, eChai helped shape not just Upsquare but also refined the lens through which we see collaboration. At Upsquare, we’ve hired talent, met partners, discovered co-investors, and built lifelong friendships. One of our joint ventures exists today only because a casual eChai memory sparked a deeper trust. Now, as we build House of Starts — our venture builder — eChai continues to fuel our mission: co-creating a shared future. eChai isn’t just a startup network. It’s a trust network. And for business builders like me, that makes all the difference."
Utpal Vaishnav
Founder @ Upsquare & House of Starts • Angel Investor + LP
eChai Partner Brands
eChai Ventures partners with select brands as their growth partner - working together to explore new ideas, open doors, and build momentum across the startup ecosystem.
