Startup Fridays Season 2 Ep. 7: My hope is, entrepreneurs even crazier than us will rise and build for India — Rohan Verma

Startup Fridays Season 2 Ep. 7: My hope is, entrepreneurs even crazier than us will rise and build for India — Rohan Verma

Author: Forbes India - The Startup Fridays Podcast March 25, 2022 Duration: 52:10

Our guest today is Rohan Verma, CEO and executive director at MapmyIndia, a Mumbai-listed company in the areas of digital mapping, geospatial technologies and automotive mobility technologies. In this episode, Rohan talks about why he is optimistic that a serious tech product ecosystem will emerge in India over the next five years. He also hopes that entrepreneurs with foresight will rise and make India self-reliant for the crucial underlying infrastructure as well.

Notes:

(00:47) Introduction to The Startup Fridays conversation

(01:12) Our guest today — Rohan Verma, CEO and ED, MapmyIndia

(02:32) On how MapmyIndia was started

(04:31) Early applications and use cases

(07:10) A couple of important milestones

(09:02) Challenges in the early years of the company

(11:36) Flagship products and platform of MapmyIndia today

(14:01) The direction in which the company is growing

(15:54) More on the tech — what’s at the heart of MapmyIndia

(18:17) Emerging use cases for location technologies

(20:48) MapmyIndia for consumers

(23:09) The toughest obstacles in building a tech product company in India

(25:47) No centre in Silicon Valley — passionate about India

(27:38) Biggest lessons

(29:39) How being a public company’s CEO is different

(31:36) What did Rohan have to unlearn

(33:41) What should India do to build up its tech products ecosystem

(37:25) Liberalisation of geospatial data policies in India — significance

(41:38) What worries Rohan about India’s tech scene

(44:39) Examples of crucial underlying building blocks in the tech industry that India must build its own

(46:58) Rapid fire questions

More about Rohan and MapmyIndia

https://www.mapmyindia.com/

Theme music courtesy Twisterium

https://shrtm.nu/Pxh9


Every Friday, Forbes India-The Startup Fridays Podcast offers a direct line to the minds building India's future. Guided by Forbes India's Technology Editor Harichandan Arakali, each episode is built around a substantive conversation with founders who see the world differently. You'll hear them unpack the real problems they're tackling, which span a remarkable range from ground-level agriculture and space-tech imagery to the complexities of digital finance and venture capital. These aren't abstract discussions; they're practical explorations of how opportunities are identified and seized. The dialogue goes beyond success stories to examine the challenges, pivots, and insights that define the entrepreneurial journey. This podcast provides a consistent, thoughtful look at innovation as it happens, making it a valuable resource for anyone curious about the forces reshaping industries. Tune in weekly for these unfiltered exchanges with the change agents who are not just participating in markets, but actively creating new ones.
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