Kunal Shah on winning in India, second-order thinking, the philosophy of startups, and more
About this episode
From the show’s notesKunal Shah is one of the most well-known and admired product leaders in India. He is the CEO and founder of CRED, an Indian-based fintech startup valued at over $6 billion. Prior to CRED, he founded three other startups, including Freecharge, which he sold for over $400 million to Snapdeal. He has also been an advisor to India’s most influential organizations. In our conversation, we discuss:
• The prevalence of successful Indian immigrants in top CEO roles across the tech industry
• Why companies in India can grow DAUs but not ARPU—and what that means for building products for India
• What most sets India’s market apart
• Challenges and opportunities in the Indian market
• The Delta 4 framework for building new products
• Lessons from building CRED so far
• The power of curiosity and second-order thinking
• Lessons from failure
—
Brought to you by:
• WorkOS—The modern API for auth and user identity
• Orb—The flexible billing engine for modern pricing
• Dovetail—Bring your customer into every decision
—
Find the transcript and references at: lennysnewsletter.com/p/kunal-sh…
—
Where to find Kunal Shah:
• X:
twitter.com/kunalb11
• LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/in/kunalshah1
• Podcast:
youtube.com/@CRED_club
—
Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter:
lennysnewsletter.com
• X:
twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn:
—
In this episode, we cover:
—
Production and marketing by . For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.
—
Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.





