Krishnan Vishwanathan, Founder
& ED of Kissht discusses his entrepreneurial journey, building s
solution-oriented business and trends in the FinTech Industry with host Gautam
Srinivasan.
Entrepreneurship
is in the air! India has witnessed a surge in the number of startups over the
last decade with an increasing tech-savvy population. The pandemic changed the
way people consume services with the growth of digitization making everything
accessible.
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 CNBC (India),
CNN-News18, Forbes India, and The Economic Times.
India’s
rapid adoption to digitization is opening new avenues for budding entrepreneurs,
and intrigued and determined entrepreneur Krishnan Vishwanathan, Founder &
ED of Kissht, is on a mission to make the borrowing experience of individual’s
seamless. In the Crafting Bharat Podcast Series, Vishwanathan talks about his
entrepreneurial journey, building s solution-oriented business and trends in
the FinTech Industry.
Explore
the tales of Indian startup founders' transformation from dreams to reality,
navigating challenges to seize opportunities through the Crafting Bharat
Podcast Series.
Video
Link: - https://youtu.be/09RmxtQ81P4?si=8cKSu3OHTFfTKmVC
Segment 1: The Incubator
While you try to solve for A particular
customer, you seem to have ended up solving for customers of many other
segments. What does this blurring of lines indicate for how you approach your
business now?
If I'm a new start-up today, starting with access to credit
on a differentiator will fall by the wayside within six months and therefore
the answer must be something beyond that. For us the answer has been evolving
from a product innovation standpoint, lending is one of the most commodity and
a centuries old product. Large institutions today would not even afford a basic
flexibility for a person to choose his own loan amount, repayment schedule,
repayment flexibility if he wants weekly or monthly. I mean these are basic
things we started on day one. The segment we started with I'm not talking about
the affluent segment I am talking about the segment we started with a lot of
people who are irregular salaried and small business owners.
How do you survive and manage to
stand out from the pack?
When
you put risk and your customers first, I think the solutions start appearing in
front of you. The drawback for some of these things are we've probably grown
slower than some of our peers. I know a couple of organizations started after
us technically on paper valuation they're ahead of us. It doesn't bother us
because we know we are here for the long term. We are here to create an
institution like Infosys and TCS. Something that will outlive us and I think
that approach is unit economics-based fundamentals not chasing undue growth and
keeping customers first.
How do you view GenAI helping you
with this big opportunity? What are the next-level use cases that you see GenAI
delivering for Ring?
GenAI is a very wide canvas, and I am not an expert, but
I'll tell you where we are focusing on with GenAI today in the company. We are
today focusing on two things; one is mass customization and improving
interaction with the customer. Ring is a culmination of saying how do I blend
payments and lending into one platform which is very seamless to the customer.
The idea being that we want to be a one stop solution to the customer.
Segment 2: The Accelerator
Take us through the highlights of
your funding journey?
There are two big highlights. First, all our early-stage
investors continued to remain with us and in fact they have invested in the
last round as well, which is a testament to the fact that they believe in us,
our business model and our team. Second big highlight is that we have always
chosen investors not for the capital but something more they bring, whether it
is market connect or international peer exposure that they give us. That has
really helped us remain and largely we have chosen investors who share the same
long-term vision as us.
If existing lending products are
viewed as digitized versions of their earlier analog experiences, What’s the
second layer of innovation of a truly digital lending experience going to look
like?
I am belaboring the point, but it must be menu driven mass
customization. It must be something that fits. Customization has happened in
other industries and generally people feel that it might not work in financial
services, but it must be the way forward. I think the needs of specific
customers are very different.
The
startup ecosystem is continuously evolving with newer sectors growing with
increasing internet penetration and digitization. The country’s steady growth
and commitment to science and technology, is emphasizing the technology-driven
innovation in shaping India’s future.
Stay tuned to the Crafting Bharat Podcast Series as we bring
you these inspirational entrepreneurs for insightful and candid discussion with
Gautam Srinivasan.
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