The Indian Startup Show

Helping professionals become AI ready! Today, educator and builder Aditya Pati (founder of "Build with Adi") joins the show to demystify the AI revolution for non-technical founders.

We explore the shift from traditional no-code tools to AI-driven platforms like Claude, complete with a live website modification breakdown. Adi shares hard-hitting lessons from his failed startup and his mission to build a global network of "AI enablers" solving local problems. we discuss:

The Prompt Trap. The AI Stack: How to choose between ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini for the right job, plus a guide to token management and handling hallucinations. AI Agents: The ultimate trust test—would you give an AI your credit card? AI Etiquette: Why you should actually be nice to your AI (and stop swearing at it). And Much more!

In this episode we talk about:

Manage AI like an intern: Stop expecting perfect results from a single prompt. AI requires clear context, continuous iteration, and human oversight to actually work.

Avoid "AI Slop": In creative fields, use AI to the minimum extent necessary to keep your human voice intact and avoid bot-generated backlash.

Delegate to survive: Trying to manage every aspect of a startup yourself will ultimately lead to burnout. Build a team so you aren't the single point of failure.

Just start building: The barrier to entry has never been lower. Use AI to bridge your skill gaps in marketing, sales, and coding until you can afford to hire human experts.

What is "AI Slop"? Low-effort, generic text or imagery generated without human nuance, intent, or voice. Audiences can spot it instantly, which destroys trust.

The Rule for Creative Work: Let AI outline or structure ideas, but ensure the final prose, storytelling, and core strategy come directly from you.

Ecoflip: How a student named Abhishek used Claude to build and launch "Ecoflip" (a green service directory) while retaining full human ownership over the branding and business strategy.

Live VS Code Demo: Adi demonstrates how specific styling adjustments (like modifying button colors) can be implemented instantly via natural language instructions to AI.

Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/theadityapati/

https://www.buildwithadi.com/

Hosted And Produced by Neil Patel
https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/neilpatel2

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Music by Punch Deck.
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7kdduxAVaFnbHJyNxl7FWV

What happens when gold, AI and startups collide? Today on The Indian Startup Show, I’m joined by Devansh Alijar for a wide-ranging conversation about AI, investing and building modern businesses. Devansh has helped transform a traditional family jewellery business, and we talk about how he’s using AI to make the business more efficient — from operations and hiring to training and decision-making. We also explore how he thinks about investing in startups, gold, and other assets, including what he looks for in founders and the red flags that can quickly put him off an investment.

We discuss why founders should be genuine users of their own products, why distribution matters so much, and how building trust can become one of a company’s biggest advantages. And, away from business, Devansh shares the story of his incredible 4,000-kilometre cycling journey across India during covid and banana chips startup, which led to being featured on Shark Tank India.

We talk about:

We talk about:

How to modernise a traditional family business

Building a digital brand without relying on paid advertising

Why founder visibility can create extraordinary customer trust

Gold, silver and the way Devansh thinks about investing

How to spot promising early-stage founders

Why pedigree and name-dropping can be major red flags

Using AI for recruitment, HR and employee training

How AI can analyse operational and financial data

Using AI to improve sales teams and compliance

The importance of giving AI the right context

Why distribution may matter more than the product

Building an audience before launching

His plans to turn that journey into a book

Why Nepal belongs on every trekker’s list

and much more 

Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/devanshalijar/

 

Hosted And Produced by Neil Patel
https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/neilpatel2

Enjoyed this episode? Don’t forget to subscribe and leave us a review! Share this episode with your friends.

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Music by Punch Deck.
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7kdduxAVaFnbHJyNxl7FWV

The Business of Laughs! Today I sit down with Ankur Nigam a Stand-up & Improv Comedian and Storytelling Coach dedicated to helping teams communicate with clarity, confidence, and a bit of humor.  

Ankur shares his incredible journey of leaving a stable consulting career to chase the spotlight, the brutal reality of his first on-stage failure, and how a life-altering open-heart surgery at age 35 completely shifted his perspective on legacy and living in the moment. 

He talks about adapting to the digital age, dealing with hecklers, and the unique comedy ecosystems of Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore, why Delhi audiences are ruthless, taking risks, AI in comedy and the AI slop button on Linkedin, future goals, creative discipline and some Confucius chat!

Whether you are an entrepreneur looking to nail your next investor pitch, a corporate leader wanting to communicate with more confidence, or just someone who loves a great comeback story, this episode is packed with actionable insights. Ankur breaks down the exact frameworks he uses to captivate crowds and teaches you how to inject humor and structured storytelling into your professional life.

Key Takeaways:

The LCM (Lowest Common Multiple) Theory: How to connect deeply with any audience by tapping into shared human experiences.

The PQRS Framework: A practical guide to navigating sensitive topics in comedy and public speaking.

How becoming a new dad influences his jokes.

How he taught himself comedy.

The Business of Laughs

Pixar’s Storytelling Framework: A simple 7-step structure to organize your narratives for maximum impact without writing from scratch.

The Power of Consistency: Why writing every single day—even from a hospital bed—is the ultimate secret to creative success.

And much more

Links

Search for "Ankur Nigam Comedy" to find his latest courses, updates, and content on Google.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ankurnigamstandupcomedy/

 

Hosted And Produced by Neil Patel
https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/neilpatel2

Enjoyed this episode? Don’t forget to subscribe and leave us a review! Share this episode with your friends.

Listen and Subscribe to More Episodes
https://www.indianstartupshow.com/

Music by Punch Deck.
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7kdduxAVaFnbHJyNxl7FWV

Stop Doom-Scrolling! In 2026, the global average screen time has climbed to a staggering 6 hours and 38 minutes a day. We are constantly plugged in, but is it a lack of willpower, or are we just losing a rigged game? Today on the podcast, we sit down with Aditi Mandal to find out. Aditi spent a time working as a UX researcher, designing and making highly engaging digital products. 

But in 2017, she realized she was falling victim to the very systems she helped build. After embarking on a digital fitness journey, Aditi successfully beat the algorithms, engineering her own screen time down from 6 hours to just 1 intentional hour a day., Now, through her company Take Back Your Time, she coaches adults on how to build sustainable digital habits. 

We break down the exact mechanics of why we are addicted to our phones, the specific design tricks apps use to keep you scrolling, and the step-by-step toolkit you need to reclaim your attention without deleting the apps you need for work. Whether you're an entrepreneur struggling to focus or just someone looking to reclaim your attention span, Aditi breaks down actionable strategies—from introducing "positive friction" to buying an old-school alarm clock—that actually work in the real world.

Key Takeaways from this Episode

The UX of Addiction: Why screen addiction isn't your fault—it's the consequence of thousands of engineers designing platforms to capture your attention.

How Aditi: operates as a solopreneur and runs her 5-week cohort programs.

Navigating the social perception of screen addiction and convincing people to invest in digital fitness.

Real client stories: Better sleep, increased energy, and a touching story of a father bonding with his son.

Beating the Algorithm: We break down the specific mechanical tricks apps use to keep you hooked, and the exact counter-strategies you need to fight back.

The 4 Foundational Digital Habits: The exact, step-by-step mechanisms Aditi uses to help her clients break free from endless scrolling.

The "Necessary App" Dilemma: How to set boundaries with mandatory apps like WhatsApp and LinkedIn that you simply cannot delete.

Building a Wellness Business: Aditi’s journey of bootstrapping Take Back Your Time, finding her first paying clients, and growing her WhatsApp community.

The Myth of Device Addiction: The core issue isn't an addiction to the physical device, but a compulsion to consume content every 10 to 15 minutes.

Engineering "Positive Friction": How to make content consumption inconvenient by changing settings like YouTube autoplay, pausing your watch history, and keeping devices in another room.

The "Long-Distance" Phone Relationship: Why keeping your phone physically away from you in a backpack or another room creates the necessary pause between a thought and a distraction.

Why Digital Detoxes Fail: Retreats offer temporary peace, but they remove you from your real-life context. Sustainable change requires doing the habit work in your actual environment.

and much more!

Links

www.takebackyourtime.in

https://x.com/takebackyortime

https://www.linkedin.com/in/aditi-mandal-77139742/

Hosted And Produced by Neil Patel
https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/neilpatel2

Enjoyed this episode? Don’t forget to subscribe and leave us a review! Share this episode with your friends.

Listen and Subscribe to More Episodes
https://www.indianstartupshow.com/

Music by Punch Deck.
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7kdduxAVaFnbHJyNxl7FWV

Travel isn't just about places, it's about the stories and the people behind them. In this episode of the Indian Startup Show, I sit down with Dr. Tathagata Neogi, Co-Founder and CEO of Immersive Trails. Armed with a PhD in archaeology, he returned to Kolkata to build a dynamic, tech-enabled marketplace that connects conscious travelers with expert curators. 

We dive into the realities of bootstrapping a startup, the challenge of educating investors on a niche business model, and how Immersive Trails is organizing India's fragmented local guide market. 

Tathagata also shares powerful insights on building a high-trust team culture, leveraging AI to speed up market entry, and navigating the startup ecosystem while managing Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) 

We also talk about working with his wife, 19th-century true crime and cemeteries in Kolkata . Finding toilets, and everything in between. So please enjoy the show.

What You Will Learn In This Episode:

The Origin Story: Transitioning from an archaeology PhD in England to launching a research-driven walking tour company in Kolkata.

Early Wins & Skepticism: Hosting the very first walking tour at the South Park Street Cemetery and proving the concept to family and friends.

Bootstrapping & Tech Challenges: Learning marketing on the fly and why finding the right tech leadership was a game-changer.

Investor Relations: Why investors often confuse Immersive Trails with MakeMyTrip and how to effectively pitch an experience-based marketplace.

The Value Proposition: Organizing the highly fragmented market of local tour guides and delivering quality-controlled experiences..

Culture & Leadership: Building a high-trust, empathy-driven team of five and rejecting toxic hustle culture.

Co-Founder Dynamics: The unique advantages of building a startup alongside a spouse with complementary academic backgrounds.

AI Integration: How Immersive Trails uses a custom AI model and writes 30% of their backend code with AI.

Founder Lessons: Why hiring a technical co-founder early on is the one thing Tathagata would do differently.

Visibility & Leadership: Tathagata opens up about living with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) to bring visibility to founders navigating invisible disabilities.

Popular Experiences: The platform offers a wide range of tours, with popular examples including a "Murder and Mayhem" true crime tour in 19th-century Kolkata, historical tours of the Red Fort from the perspective of Mughal women, and specialized food experiences in Lucknow

Links

Website: immersivetrails.com

Connect with Tathagata Neogi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tathagataneogi/

 

Hosted And Produced by Neil Patel
https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/neilpatel2

Enjoyed this episode? Don’t forget to subscribe and leave us a review! Share this episode with your friends.

Listen and Subscribe to More Episodes
https://www.indianstartupshow.com/

Music by Punch Deck.
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7kdduxAVaFnbHJyNxl7FWV