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Did you ever notice the fact that some of the unexpected routes in life often lead to one's greatest achievements? Building and growing businesses are more than strap-o-the-boat techniques laid out in a manual; it means going with an unexpected opportunity, staying focused on the customer, and utilizing resources wisely. Whether you are steering a lean startup or running a corporate entity, empathy and flexibility become your greatest tools. Errors are not failures but inputs that guide your journey, and the true measure of success remains the impact you create. These ideals will aid anyone willing to journey the rocky yet rewarding road of entrepreneurship and investing.

Welcome to Crafting Bharat: The Founders’ Files, a series that plunges you into the initial struggles, bold networking techniques, and bonding of founders with investors.

This episode is truly fascinating as the host Aditya Arora, CEO of FAAD Capital, sits down with Suhail Sameer, Investor cum former CEO of BharatPe, for a series of insightful stories about what it takes to get from an idea to an actual company.

This series is brought to you by NewsReach, India’s largest PR-tech platform, along with the association partner Innovations Ventures Studio and FAAD, Insurance Partner Beacon Insurance Venue Partner Ofis Square, Production Partner HT Smartcast and all other partners Garudauv Soft, Rapido, RFL, Centrum, Matrix Moon, Tiranga Autotech India. Tune in for stories, insights, and inspiration!

Watch Episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38fKZifMewU

Edited Excerpts:

How did leadership differ between such a huge group and a scrappy fintech startup?

Suhail Sameer: During my corporate days, it used to be all about budgeting and performance reviews. The teams handled compliance, HR, and finance. However, in the early days of the startup, I was building products, negotiating with shopkeepers, and even drafting legal documents. I always tell founders, “Money doesn’t solve your problems; it only increases it, it only amplifies what is wrong with you.” So in a startup, you cannot hide behind resources; you learn by doing.

Is consumer tech & fintech just consolidating, or is there still room for innovation?

Suhail Sameer: The headlines might scream “consolidation”, but in my view, “We’re just scratching the surface.” India’s diversity—geographic, linguistic, economic—means that solutions that work in one region commonly do not work in another. Every sub-vertical in lending, insurance, wealth, marketplaces, and even B2B services has untapped gaps.

The frontier, truly, is marrying deep local insight with scalable technology. We've just started to rethink what fintech and consumer tech might accomplish here.

Two factors you will always observe in companies turning giant:

Suhail Sameer explains the first one: Relentless customer proximity. "Spend 80% of your time in the market, I tell every founder. When you sit with users, observe their behaviour, and listen to unfiltered feedback, you build products that stick."

Second: Capital efficiency. Growth fueled by runaway burn does not last. The companies I admire view every rupee as sacred—calculate unit economics every step of the way and resist pouring money into vanity metrics. Marry the insights born of deep customer understanding with restitution in scaling, and you have businesses that grow fast and stay healthy.

After inheriting BharatPe, what mattered more: scaling up or sustaining the foundation?

Suhail Sameer: Inheriting a legacy is a double-edged sword: you gain credibility but also inherit old processes and mindsets. I firmly believe that "A big company starts from day zero." That meant treating BharatPe's brand equity as a head start, not a finish line. We rebuilt our tech stack, defined a new culture, and aligned every team around the core values of speed and customer obsession.

Scaling without compromising the soul of the company was my guiding light. We imposed governance and processes only when they demonstrated enough value to justify themselves never to halt the entrepreneurial spirit that makes BharatPe special to begin with

What skill sets should one develop to enter VC or PE in India?

Suhail Sameer: Above all, "have empathy!" It's not about putting checks on paper—it is about working with founders who have committed their careers and life savings on a vision. Understanding the founders' fears, motivations, and constraints is what fosters trust faster than a term sheet. Then, get your hands dirty: put your excess capital on the line, make mistakes, etc., and ultimately learn hard lessons that lead to better judgment. There is nothing that can replace actual investing experiences; staring at spreadsheets will never give you a sense of the market or insight into the grit of founders.

Success rarely will be in a straight line, and that is what makes the journey worthwhile. By remaining open to the unexpected, practising empathy, and staying grounded in what customers genuinely need, you build more than just a business. Every hurdle teaches, every mistake redirects us elsewhere, and every victory, big or small, counts. Keep chasing that which fires you up; stay curious and never afraid to leap into the uncharted. Stay tuned for the next episode, in which we will explore much more in-depth through real-life accounts of building bold, meaningful ventures.

Brought to you by NewsReach, India's leading PR tech platform, in association with Innovations Ventures Studio and FAAD, and our production partner, HT Smartcast. Other partners included Garudauv Soft, Rapido, RFL, Centrum, Matrix Moon, and Tiranga Autotech India.

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