Tarin Poddar

Collecting thoughts from the best minds here | @Columbia_Biz alum | Building Dora Dori | Interests include Entrepreneurship, Investing & sports

[Arindam Paul @arindam___paul]

Execution is the only moat left. Not product, not distribution, not brand, not tech. Quality and speed of execution is the only thing that will differentiate great companies from ordinary ones

[Shekhar Gupta @ShekharGupta]

We remain so obsessed with cricket we risk overlooking the hockey equation.

India’s 5-3 in Amstelveen completes a decade of complete hockey domination over Pakistan. Undefeated, with 21 games won and two draws.

A better way to understand this is the total goals scored for and against in these 23 games.

India scored 92 against Pakistan’s 33. We’ve seen many tennis score wins, 7-1 in FIH Pro League, 10-2 in Hangzhou (2023) Asian Games, 6-1 and 7-1 in FIH World League, London (2017).

And of course the 5-3 at Amstelveen.

[Narendra Modi @narendramodi]

#Congress will have to answer 120 crore people of India about its inhuman act of brutality on innocent protestors http://bit.ly/knpjSJ

[Aviral Bhatnagar @aviralbhat]

IT services hiring up 14% this month, the highest in years

Despite such strong movement, the total market cap of the top 5 IT majors is less than Reliance

The tokens story for AI has been oversold, humans will become cool again by next year

[Nilesh Shah @NileshShah68]

What’s app forward

Carlo Ancelotti on why he did not celebrate wildly after Gabriel Martinelli’s late winner for Brazil against Japan:

🗣️ “People asked me why I didn’t celebrate, but football is also about respect. Yes, we were happy to win, but I looked across and saw a Japanese team that had given absolutely everything. They fought with incredible courage, and I know exactly how painful a defeat like that can be.”

“Of course I celebrated inside because my responsibility is to Brazil and qualifying was our objective. But I’ve been in football for many years, and I’ve experienced both victory and heartbreak. Sometimes the best way to respect your opponent is to remain humble in your biggest moments.”

“Japan made us suffer for ninety-five minutes. They deserved our respect, not exaggerated celebrations. Brazil are through, but we know we must improve. Tonight we celebrate the qualification, but tomorrow we go back to work because the World Cup only gets more difficult from here.”

Carlo Ancelotti is a legend

[Tejeshwi Sharma 🇮🇳 @tejeshwi_sharma]

India consumer internet is a misunderstood market among VCs.

The “it’s saturated” crowd is running US mental models on an Indian reality.

In the US, new consumers entering the economy is a rounding error. In India, it is the main event and each new cohort spends more than the last.

That math means: categories growing 25-30% YoY, where a new entrant only needs 20% of new growth to matter. Not zero-sum

Now add the AI variable. Customer acquisition, ops, personalisation, the cost curves on all of it are flattening. A founder with Claude and $2M can build what required a war room and $20M three years ago.

India will be its own consumer story - hundreds of category-defining companies will bloom, each riding a fresh consumption wave.

It’s still day 1.

[Tejeshwi Sharma 🇮🇳 @tejeshwi_sharma]

India's Total Factor Productivity is 0.4x of the US.

That gap isn't capital. It isn't education. It's friction in how work actually gets done.

AI is a general-purpose technology that directly attacks TFP by democratizing intelligence. AI will narrow the efficiency gap between developed and developing world.

For India, AI will may be bigger than 1991.

[Akshay Kothari @akothari]

You can use AI to cut costs. You can also use AI to raise your ambition.

Too many people focus on the first. More people should be thinking about the second.

[Dan Go @CoachDanGo]

Cardio adds years to your life.

Lifting weights adds life to your years.

[Tarin Poddar @tarinpoddar]

@jspujji AI

[Arindam Paul @arindam___paul]

Sanju Samson just wow

I was there at the 5th t20 at Trivandrum jan end and after another Samson failure and Kishan century, it became clear that he won’t start the world cup

It almost felt like he won’t play again for India

Fast forward to today and in the last 7 days, he might have won the man of the match in a virtual qf, sf and the final

The good thing and the bad thing about time is that it changes

[Tejeshwi Sharma 🇮🇳 @tejeshwi_sharma]

I am very bullish on Indian consumer tech.

1B connected users means even a “niche” is 50–100M people. At that scale, you can build a $1–5B company serving what looks small on paper.

Supply is commoditised. Infra, payments, logistics, cloud - largely solved. The game has moved to demand.

The next-gen winners will have:
• sharp consumer insight
• obsessive clarity on ICP
• native distribution hacks
• product loops, not just ad spend

The rails are built. Now it’s about who understands the Indian user best.

[Vinod Khosla @vkhosla]

People with curiosity, agency, taste and risk taking will take advantage the best...

[Mind Muscle Project @mindmusclepro]

The gym is the workshop, the kitchen is the supply chain.

[Paras Chopra @paraschopra]

Learn both sales *and* coding.

Sales teaches you human psychology and communication, while coding teaches you hard logic and thinking precisely.

Master both, and you become a killer.

[Aviral Bhatnagar @aviralbhat]

Predictions on the impact of the H1B order on India:

- Migration to the US will slowdown even faster
- India's Tier 1 consumer market will become even more attractive
- Big IT companies will deploy $50B+ of cash to innovate rather than arbitrage
- High-quality startup teams will increase
- Civic sense will improve in metros
- Remittances will drop
- Real estate prices in metros will go up
- Educational costs in premier schools will rise even faster
- Obsession with moving to the US will drop

I think this will be a huge net positive for India

[Tarin Poddar @tarinpoddar]

@georgesttock NANO

[Dilip Kumar @kmr_dilip]

Call me crazy but, I’m on a mission to create a community of 100 founders in India by end of this year who lift weights & runs a few days a week. Will never compromise on sleep and family time. And takes pride in being a happy & satisfied entrepreneur. Nothing else matters.

[Aviral Bhatnagar @aviralbhat]

Tamil Nadu's electronics exports have grown by an astonishing 783% in the last 5 years, from $1.7B to $14.7B

It has leapfrogged everyone in the country to go to first place, driven by Apple's 3 facilities

TN is a case study on creating serious economic growth through policy

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

Bezos: “Somebody needs to make a list where they rank people by how much wealth they’ve created for other people — instead of the Forbes list where it ranks you by your own wealth. Amazon’s market cap is $2.3 trillion today. I own about $200 billion-ish of it. So if you take $2.3 trillion and subtract out the piece I kept for myself, then I’ve created something like $2.1 trillion of wealth for other people. That should put me pretty high on some kind of list. And that’s a better list — how much wealth have you created for other people?”