Rajat Deshpande, Co-Founder and CEO of FinBox discusses the company's evolution, credit infrastructure, and FinTech industry growth.
A startup founder’s life comes with
layers of challenges, responsibilities, commitments, all-nighters, long
hours, and more. It can be heartbreaking
when things don't work out, and rewarding beyond belief when they do.
The "Crafting
Bharat - A Startup Podcast Series" powered by AWS, and an initiative by NewsReach, in association with VCCircle, unlocks the secrets behind these
successful entrepreneurs’ journeys aiming to equip aspiring entrepreneurs and
business enthusiasts with invaluable insights. The podcast series is hosted by
Gautam Srinivasan, famed for hosting a diverse range of TV and digital
programs, currently consulting editor at
In this episode of Crafting Bharat, Gautam speaks to Rajat
Deshpande, Co-Founder and
Through the Crafting
Bharat Podcast Series, let’s discover the stories of Indian startup founders’
journey of turning dreams into reality and turning challenges into
opportunities.
Video link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwsmTUCCRf4
Segment 1: The Incubator
They say there is a thin line between genius and insanity.
What made you sure about being on the right track since India’s digital
payments and lending revolution was yet to take off then, there wasn’t much
bureau penetration yet, and none of you were engineers early on.
FinBox was founded twice, once in
2015 as a Personal Finance Management App which didn’t work, so we reworked the
product, launching it again in 2 years in a B2B format which you see now. The
interesting piece was that we got so involved and we learned so much in that
period. These experiences kept building, and we had so much fun along the way
that we weren’t thinking about whether
it would be a success or not. We were focused on building this, and we knew
once we had built it, it would be great.
Was there ever a situation where if you didn’t secure a client,
the future of Finbox was at stake? Or did the B2B model, where it’s easier to build something that
customers pay for from a use case perspective, enable a smoother ride which
trained you to sell before you build versus the reverse?
This first sale was for more than $1
million which we thought was insane. When we received that payment in our bank
account, we were in a state of shock, and we were counting zeros. It’s in that
stage where you feel a huge burden because of the trust people are putting into
your vision, which then makes you worry about what happens if things go wrong.
But then suddenly, there’s a resolution that validates your vision.
Besides generating personalized credit risk profiles with
limited data and fraud detection, which emerging use cases for GenAI are you
most optimistic about in terms of adding value for your company?
I look at GenAI in two different
ways. One of the most talked about use cases is the customer experience layer
and the second is the operational nature of GenAI in the B2B SaaS space. I am
most excited about the latter, because if you get this right then the way the
software is delivered and consumed changes meaningfully.
Segment 2: The Accelerator
The balance between hustle and process for startup founders.
How do they achieve this to hyperscale effectively?
Every startup founder is trying to
find an answer to this question. I would say that the balance between hustle
and process evolves as the company scales. In the early stage, you are the
aggressor, all you want is hustle. As you grow larger and become a company, you
have a lot to defend, a reputation to protect and customer experience on
various layers, that’s where the process kicks in that you need to set up.
From a product manager to a startup founder. What has this
journey taught you?
Firstly, the product is not
everything, distribution is equally important. Secondly, have real gumption for
the startup roller coaster ride and lastly, give importance to family support
because they will be there through thick
and thin.
India’s startup landscape is expanding rapidly, emerging as a vibrant ecosystem
in the global landscape. And it’s the founders’ vision and commitment that’s
propelling this ecosystem forward.
Stay tuned to the
Crafting Bharat Podcast Series as we bring you these inspirational
entrepreneurs for insightful and candid discussions with Gautam Srinivasan.
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