Blessing in disguise
Books for Entrepreneurs
Documentary
eChai Wall of Love
How I Met My Co-Founder
In Focus Today
Insight Reports
Movies for Entrepreneurs
Notes from Podcasts
Slice of Startup Life
The First Hire
The First Welcome in Silicon Valley
The Reading Room
Unforgettable Lessons
When Conversations Matter More Than Credentials - From an eChai Women Founders Circle in Ahmedabad
Conversations matter as much as credentials.
Being in a room full of women founders is always powerful, but the eChai Ventures Women Founders Initiative was inspiring.
What stood out this time wasn’t scale or success stories—but the quality of conversations. The discussions were thoughtful, grounded, and deeply founder-led.
Every conversation revolved around real journeys, business challenges, leadership doubts, financial pressures, team building, and the invisible load women often carry while growing a company. There was honesty, vulnerability, and strength in equal measure.
As a founder, my key takeaways were:
1. Leadership evolves through challenges, not titles
Every woman in the room had her own version of struggle, yet leadership showed up in persistence, adaptability, and clarity.
2. Decision-making defines leadership
Founders spoke about choices, when to push, when to pause, and when to say no. Leadership showed up less in authority and more in intentional decisions.
3. Founders need spaces to think, not just execute
These conversations allowed reflection, something founders rarely give themselves time for while running daily operations.
Grateful to be part of a community where conversations go beyond success stories and into real leadership.
Grateful for spaces that foster thoughtful leadership.
Being in a room full of women founders is always powerful, but the eChai Ventures Women Founders Initiative was inspiring.
What stood out this time wasn’t scale or success stories—but the quality of conversations. The discussions were thoughtful, grounded, and deeply founder-led.
Every conversation revolved around real journeys, business challenges, leadership doubts, financial pressures, team building, and the invisible load women often carry while growing a company. There was honesty, vulnerability, and strength in equal measure.
As a founder, my key takeaways were:
1. Leadership evolves through challenges, not titles
Every woman in the room had her own version of struggle, yet leadership showed up in persistence, adaptability, and clarity.
2. Decision-making defines leadership
Founders spoke about choices, when to push, when to pause, and when to say no. Leadership showed up less in authority and more in intentional decisions.
3. Founders need spaces to think, not just execute
These conversations allowed reflection, something founders rarely give themselves time for while running daily operations.
Grateful to be part of a community where conversations go beyond success stories and into real leadership.
Grateful for spaces that foster thoughtful leadership.
The Shift From Building Products to Building Businesses - from AI x SaaS Founders Meetup in Surat
Had the opportunity to attend and speak at the AI × SaaS Founders Meetup in Surat, and it turned out to be a very meaningful evening.
What made this event special was the audience - largely first-time founders, aspiring entrepreneurs, and strong tech professionals who are at the idea or early execution stage. Their questions reflected curiosity, honesty, and a real desire to understand how AI and SaaS move beyond code into sustainable businesses.
The conversation was enriched by a diverse set of perspectives from the speakers.
Chirag Lathiya brought in a solid builder’s mindset.
Drawing from his journey of building remote-first teams and SaaS platforms, he spoke about execution discipline, long-term thinking, and the realities founders often underestimate - especially when transitioning from engineering roles into leadership and entrepreneurship.
Chintan Papaiya shared a very grounded perspective on applying AI to real-world problems. His insights made AI feel practical and purposeful, particularly for founders who are still figuring out how to align technology with impact, use cases, and market needs.
From my own journey as a founder, I focused on something I see many tech founders struggle with - the shift from building products to building businesses. AI and SaaS are powerful tools, but without clarity on customers, positioning, and execution, even great technology fails to scale. The discussion around this resonated strongly with early-stage founders in the room.
A special mention to Manoj Adwani Advani, who moderated the session beautifully - keeping the discussion structured, inclusive, and engaging while ensuring the audience felt comfortable asking beginner-level yet critical questions.
Kudos to eChai Ventures and Narola Infotech for creating a space where learning felt approachable and conversations were honest.
Events like these remind me that strong startup ecosystems are built not just by success stories - but by shared learning, openness, and community support, especially for founders just starting out.
What made this event special was the audience - largely first-time founders, aspiring entrepreneurs, and strong tech professionals who are at the idea or early execution stage. Their questions reflected curiosity, honesty, and a real desire to understand how AI and SaaS move beyond code into sustainable businesses.
The conversation was enriched by a diverse set of perspectives from the speakers.
Chirag Lathiya brought in a solid builder’s mindset.
Drawing from his journey of building remote-first teams and SaaS platforms, he spoke about execution discipline, long-term thinking, and the realities founders often underestimate - especially when transitioning from engineering roles into leadership and entrepreneurship.
Chintan Papaiya shared a very grounded perspective on applying AI to real-world problems. His insights made AI feel practical and purposeful, particularly for founders who are still figuring out how to align technology with impact, use cases, and market needs.
From my own journey as a founder, I focused on something I see many tech founders struggle with - the shift from building products to building businesses. AI and SaaS are powerful tools, but without clarity on customers, positioning, and execution, even great technology fails to scale. The discussion around this resonated strongly with early-stage founders in the room.
A special mention to Manoj Adwani Advani, who moderated the session beautifully - keeping the discussion structured, inclusive, and engaging while ensuring the audience felt comfortable asking beginner-level yet critical questions.
Kudos to eChai Ventures and Narola Infotech for creating a space where learning felt approachable and conversations were honest.
Events like these remind me that strong startup ecosystems are built not just by success stories - but by shared learning, openness, and community support, especially for founders just starting out.
What Happens When 100+ Product Builders Come Together to Talk Scale — eChai Mumbai x ProductTank
What happens when 100+ curious product minds come together in one room?
Magic. Real learning. And a lot of honest conversations.
We just wrapped up another fantastic ProductTank Mumbai session co-hosted with eChai Ventures, and the energy was next level.
This time, we had Dipesh Karki, Co-founder & CTPO of LenDen Club, sharing real stories from his journey as an entrepreneur and product leader. No fluff.
Just practical lessons from building and scaling products.
The biggest takeaway?
How AI is being used in fintech at massive scale of serving 3+ crore users while still keeping trust, speed, and user experience at the core.
Dipesh broke down how product thinking changes when you move from “building features” to “building systems that scale”.
The room was packed with 100+ product champs, who travelled from Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Surat, and Rajkot. That itself says a lot about the hunger to learn and grow.
What started 9 years ago as a small effort to bring Mumbai’s product community together has now grown into something much bigger.
A community that has helped thousands of professionals learn, connect, and move forward in their careers.
Magic. Real learning. And a lot of honest conversations.
We just wrapped up another fantastic ProductTank Mumbai session co-hosted with eChai Ventures, and the energy was next level.
This time, we had Dipesh Karki, Co-founder & CTPO of LenDen Club, sharing real stories from his journey as an entrepreneur and product leader. No fluff.
Just practical lessons from building and scaling products.
The biggest takeaway?
How AI is being used in fintech at massive scale of serving 3+ crore users while still keeping trust, speed, and user experience at the core.
Dipesh broke down how product thinking changes when you move from “building features” to “building systems that scale”.
The room was packed with 100+ product champs, who travelled from Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Surat, and Rajkot. That itself says a lot about the hunger to learn and grow.
What started 9 years ago as a small effort to bring Mumbai’s product community together has now grown into something much bigger.
A community that has helped thousands of professionals learn, connect, and move forward in their careers.
Community is Currency
Sunday morning Founders Walk at Sabarmati Riverfront!
What a great way to start the New Year by meeting builders, developers and startup enthusiasts in Ahmedabad.
As they say, "community is currency". Super nice to be a part of eChai Ventures community so well curated by Jatin Chaudhary. Thank you Jatin and Balkrishna Agarwal for the invite.
What a great way to start the New Year by meeting builders, developers and startup enthusiasts in Ahmedabad.
As they say, "community is currency". Super nice to be a part of eChai Ventures community so well curated by Jatin Chaudhary. Thank you Jatin and Balkrishna Agarwal for the invite.
Building Trust Takes the Longest - Soumya Kalluri (Dwij), from an eChai Mumbai Conversation
very rarely, I meet a founder
who has so much clarity and conviction.
meet Soumya Kalluri, founder of "Dwij" Products.
"Dwij" means second life in Sanskrit and that's exactly what she's doing by creating lifestyle products upcycling post consumer jeans and post industrial fabrics giving it a second life.
being a mechanical engineer herself, she has taken a journey from working in a stable profession to building a brand that is purposeful, sustainable as well as profitable.
we spoke about the first product she built, which, at the time seemed obvious but turned out to be not so obvious.
later, she shared how she researched, took real time feedback, understood what the consumers wanted and designed the products that her target audience would buy.
we also deep dived into building SOP's, operations, GTM strategies talking about how she's able to build quality products while upcycling jeans and other fabrics.
I asked her one specific question, what was harder?
- building the product
- building the demand
- or building the trust
her reply was simple: "building trust"
because you want your customers to come back and for that you have to focus on quality.
we concluded the event with her two cent advice for founders starting their journey in entrepreneurship and one question that every founder should reflect on.
it was a pleasure to host Soumya Kalluri at today's eChai Ventures Mumbai Start-up meet and learn so much from her.
thanks to Jatin Chaudhary & Harsha Bhurani for organising this meet-up and also everyone who joined us in this conversation by showing up and asking thoughtful questions.
who has so much clarity and conviction.
meet Soumya Kalluri, founder of "Dwij" Products.
"Dwij" means second life in Sanskrit and that's exactly what she's doing by creating lifestyle products upcycling post consumer jeans and post industrial fabrics giving it a second life.
being a mechanical engineer herself, she has taken a journey from working in a stable profession to building a brand that is purposeful, sustainable as well as profitable.
we spoke about the first product she built, which, at the time seemed obvious but turned out to be not so obvious.
later, she shared how she researched, took real time feedback, understood what the consumers wanted and designed the products that her target audience would buy.
we also deep dived into building SOP's, operations, GTM strategies talking about how she's able to build quality products while upcycling jeans and other fabrics.
I asked her one specific question, what was harder?
- building the product
- building the demand
- or building the trust
her reply was simple: "building trust"
because you want your customers to come back and for that you have to focus on quality.
we concluded the event with her two cent advice for founders starting their journey in entrepreneurship and one question that every founder should reflect on.
it was a pleasure to host Soumya Kalluri at today's eChai Ventures Mumbai Start-up meet and learn so much from her.
thanks to Jatin Chaudhary & Harsha Bhurani for organising this meet-up and also everyone who joined us in this conversation by showing up and asking thoughtful questions.
The eChai Effect - In Their Words
“I have no hesitation in saying that my association with eChai has been a gateway into the startup ecosystem. Through this platform, I’ve had the opportunity to connect with many young and dynamic entrepreneurs. These interactions have been immensely enriching - I’ve learned a great deal and have always tried to offer guidance whenever approached. It’s a truly symbiotic relationship that I deeply value, and it wouldn’t have been possible without eChai.”
Syed Nadeem Jafri
Founder, Hearty Mart
“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
"At DevX.Work, we’ve greatly benefited from our association with eChai. Their events and networking forums have connected us with high-potential startups, ecosystem leaders, and innovation-driven professionals — many of whom have become valuable partners, collaborators, and even clients. What stands out most is the openness and accessibility of the community — whether you're an early-stage founder or an experienced entrepreneur, eChai provides a welcoming space to learn, collaborate, and grow. It's more than just a network — it's a catalyst for real, collaborative growth. We’re proud to be part of the eChai community. Highly recommended for any organization aiming to grow within the startup space."
Umesh Uttamchandani
Co-Founder, DevX
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.
