Shows
Two by Two (Private)What a global investor really thinks about India's next decadeIf you are in your 20s or 30s in India right now, things probably feel a little weird. The headlines say the country is a rocket ship, but your reality might be hiring freezes and stagnant salaries.To understand why, we sat down with someone who actually moves the money. Since the 1990s, Rohit Chopra, portfolio manager/analyst at Lazard Asset Management, has managed billions of dollars across emerging markets: from Brazil to Korea to China and India. He doesn't look at the Indian market with pride or pessimism but with one question: is this the best...
2026-02-1958 min
Two by Two (Private)Who is the entry-level software engineer now?Software engineering as we knew it is over and the entry-level job has vanished. So what do you tell someone graduating today?This question splits even the experts. Arnav Gupta, Engineering Manager at Meta and co-founder of Coding Blocks, argues the knowledge must compress. He says that the future belongs to those who adapt fast and embrace the AI tools. Meanwhile Abhay Saraf, Director at Bushel Technologies and ex-Microsoft, pushes back hard. He believes you cannot build a calculator and stop teaching multiplication. The fundamentals matter more than ever, even if it takes longer to learn...
2026-02-051h 20
Two by Two (Private)PhonePe dominates payments but loses money. Now what?PhonePe leads nearly half of India's UPI transactions, but as it gears up for a $1.3 billion IPO, a tough question looms: can a company built to defend its lead ever learn to make real profit?In this episode, Rohin Dharmakumar argues that PhonePe's dominance might actually be a strategic trap. With zero-margin transactions and shifting regulations, the next ten years cannot look like the last. To win, PhonePe must decide whether it's willing to risk its crown to become a bold market creator. Will it evolve into an aggressive disruptor like Zomato, or remain a safe, boring...
2026-01-291h 06
90,000 Hours (Private)Meet the fitness warrior: why ordinary professionals are training like elite athletesOver the last few years, something has shifted.Run clubs. Triathlons. Marathons. Hybrid races. Ordinary professionals are training like athletes, travelling across the country to compete, and building entire social lives around endurance sport. Somewhere along the way, being an athlete became a badge of honour.Founders started rewarding it. Networks are forged around it. In this episode, we unpack the rise of what we are calling the “fitness warrior”. This is a new professional archetype where work follows the same logic as sport: optimise, train, perform.You will hear fr...
2026-01-2724 min90,000 Hours (Private)Career forecast 2026: Pyramid collapse, hiring woes, and being human in an AI worldWe started 90,000 Hours because we believe careers are at an inflection point. Nothing seems to be certain anymore as old rules are actively being thrown out of the window. As we wrap up five months of this podcast, our reporting and stories reflected just that. We have covered everything from how the American dream has shifted to how traditional networking has upended. Across all these episodes, some themes showed up time and again. And before heading into 2026, we ask: — What will replace the pyramid structure in organisations? — What will the asses...
2025-12-2328 min
90,000 HoursCareer forecast 2026: Pyramid collapse, hiring woes, and being human in an AI worldWe started 90,000 Hours because we believe careers are at an inflection point. Nothing seems to be certain anymore as old rules are actively being thrown out of the window. As we wrap up five months of this podcast, our reporting and stories reflected just that. We have covered everything from how the American dream has shifted to how traditional networking has upended. Across all these episodes, some themes showed up time and again. And before heading into 2026, we ask: — What will replace the pyramid structure in organisations? — What will the...
2025-12-2328 min
Make India Competitive Again (Private)India’s new labour rules expose the overtime glitchEight hours a day, 48 hours a week. That’s the new limit on how much time India’s central government says people should spend at work. If an employee agrees to do more than that, then their employer must pay overtime—double their wage.India, as it turns out, has one of the world’s highest overtime wage rates, but that doesn’t mean everyone can benefit from it.The government’s own 2024–25 Economic Survey indicates that regulations like these discourage job creation and limit wages, so some workers are enticed to enter informal employment.Meanwhile...
2025-12-0105 min90,000 Hours (Private)Young, skilled and floundering: Overcoming the hope gap in careers todayEvery generation has a way of thinking their problems are unique and that they have somehow been handed the wrong end of the stick. Most times, it is a cliche. But sometimes, it captures a rare moment that we are only beginning to understand.Ask a young software engineer at an IT services firm today, this reality hits deep. The thing is there is a general sense of dread in the air. Only compounded by the constant noise about automation and AI taking away entry-level jobs. Add tariff uncertainties and clients tightening budgets... You get an...
2025-11-2534 min90,000 HoursYoung, skilled and floundering: Overcoming the hope gap in careers todayEvery generation has a way of thinking their problems are unique and that they have somehow been handed the wrong end of the stick. Most times, it is a cliche. But sometimes, it captures a rare moment that we are only beginning to understand.Ask a young software engineer at an IT services firm today, this reality hits deep. The thing is there is a general sense of dread in the air. Only compounded by the constant noise about automation and AI taking away entry-level jobs. Add tariff uncertainties and clients tightening budgets... You get an industry...
2025-11-2534 min90,000 Hours'I automated 20 hours of my work': What AI really does to your jobWe ran a survey last month asking professionals whether AI tools had saved them time at work. About 200 of you wrote in. We heard from consultants, lawyers, product managers, software developers — even a yoga instructor. There were early-career professionals, mid-level managers, and senior leaders.Almost all of them said AI had saved them time — meaning it had managed to reduce the amount of time they would otherwise spend doing certain tasks at work. Most also saw an increase in productivity. They were getting more work done.In this episode, we tell you the story of AI a...
2025-11-1121 min90,000 Hours (Private)'I automated 20 hours of my work': What AI really does to your jobWe ran a survey last month asking professionals whether AI tools had saved them time at work. About 200 of you wrote in. We heard from consultants, lawyers, product managers, software developers — even a yoga instructor. There were early-career professionals, mid-level managers, and senior leaders.Almost all of them said AI had saved them time — meaning it had managed to reduce the amount of time they would otherwise spend doing certain tasks at work. Most also saw an increase in productivity. They were getting more work done.In this episode, we tell you the story of AI a...
2025-11-1121 minMake India Competitive Again (Private)India’s first data-centre IPO shows what to fix before India can scale AIThere’s one company that exemplifies the current moment in India’s AI investments. It doesn’t make advanced semiconductors or train large language models. Instead, it rents out space to companies that do.The arrangement is called colocation—think of it as real estate for servers, where clients plug in their machines while the “landlord” provides power, cooling, and connectivity.Sify Infinit Spaces, the data-centre arm of Sify Technologies, is India’s poster child for this setup. It will be behind the country’s first IPO for a company of its kind.By tracking the...
2025-11-0211 min90,000 HoursEx-founders get a bad rap, but they’re exactly who enterprises needWe have all heard the founder's story. The kind they make movies about. The kind of founders who see unimaginable success and build massive brands that the whole world knows about.Or the other kind of founder story. The founder whose startup fails. Who loses the company, the money, and sometimes even themselves along the way.But there’s another version of the founder story. What happens when the startup ends… but the founder doesn’t start again? What if instead, they take their entrepreneurial skills and instincts to another organisation as an employee?In t...
2025-10-2828 min90,000 Hours (Private)Ex-founders get a bad rap, but they’re exactly who enterprises needWe have all heard the founder's story. The kind they make movies about. The kind of founders who see unimaginable success and build massive brands that the whole world knows about.Or the other kind of founder story. The founder whose startup fails. Who loses the company, the money, and sometimes even themselves along the way.But there’s another version of the founder story. What happens when the startup ends… but the founder doesn’t start again? What if instead, they take their entrepreneurial skills and instincts to another organisation as an employee?In t...
2025-10-2828 min90,000 HoursThe great Indian GCC makeoverIt started with a satellite dish arriving on a bullock cart. Back in 1985, that scene outside Texas Instruments’ new Bengaluru office quietly marked the birth of India’s first multinational R&D centre and opened the doors for hundreds more to follow. They were all looking for a slice of India’s vast, educated, English speaking, and most importantly, affordable, talent pool. GE. CitiGroup. JP Morgan. Motorola. Just like that, India’s back office revolution began. These centres weren’t the sleek innovation hubs we know today. Not yet. They were built for effi...
2025-10-1430 min90,000 Hours (Private)The great Indian GCC makeoverIt started with a satellite dish arriving on a bullock cart. Back in 1985, that scene outside Texas Instruments’ new Bengaluru office quietly marked the birth of India’s first multinational R&D centre and opened the doors for hundreds more to follow. They were all looking for a slice of India’s vast, educated, English speaking, and most importantly, affordable, talent pool. GE. CitiGroup. JP Morgan. Motorola. Just like that, India’s back office revolution began. These centres weren’t the sleek innovation hubs we know today. Not yet. They were built for effi...
2025-10-1430 min90,000 HoursMeta to SoftBank to Verix: Kirthiga Reddy on navigating 'six careers in one lifetime'In this week’s 90,000 Hours, Rahel Philipose speaks to Kirthiga Reddy, Meta India’s first hire, SoftBank’s first woman investing partner, and now founder of blockchain-powered credentialing platform, Verix.From taking a 40% pay cut after Stanford to steering an all-women SPAC through a turbulent market, she shares lessons on risk, reinvention, and building culture.This episode is also a first for us: a full-length conversation instead of our usual narrative. We would love to know what you think and who you would like to hear from next. Write to Rahel at rahel@the-ken.com T...
2025-09-1645 min90,000 Hours (Private)Meta to Softbank to Verix: Kirthiga Reddy on navigating 'six careers in one lifetime'In this week’s 90,000 Hours, Rahel Philipose speaks to Kirthiga Reddy, Meta India’s first hire, SoftBank’s first woman investing partner, and now founder of blockchain-powered credentialing platform, Verix.From taking a 40% pay cut after Stanford to steering an all-women SPAC through a turbulent market, she shares lessons on risk, reinvention, and building culture.This episode is also a first for us: a full-length conversation instead of our usual narrative. We would love to know what you think and who you would like to hear from next. Write to Rahel at rahel@the-ken.com T...
2025-09-1645 minMake India Competitive Again (Private)Cracking open the Reliance, Adani opportunity for India’s small businessesIndia’s MSMEs operate in informal frameworks that have barely evolved over the past two decades. The result is that small businesses have largely the same struggles as they did before, whether it’s the absence of adequate credit, difficulties in entering new markets, or payment delays.Since MSMEs are the second-largest employer in India, solving these problems represents a significant opportunity.After all, opportunity has already come knocking. Take for example the shift of manufacturing out of China. India should be a natural destination, but the smaller manufacturers in the country simply were not prep...
2025-09-1508 minMake India Competitive Again (Private)India’s puzzling fix for the civil-service-job obsessionIndia’s official figure for its unemployment rate in June was 5.6%. But that may well be lower than reality—out of 50 economists polled by Reuters, 37 believed that to be inaccurate. Seventeen of them estimated it falls somewhere between 7% and 35%.That’s all to say Indians want gainful employment—no matter what the job is.One type of coveted position is public service. For many, being a bureaucrat is an upward path for social and economic mobility.In the 10 years leading up to FY23, the number of people who applied to take the civil service...
2025-07-2807 min
DaybreakOn Substack, online knowledge olympics, and the fickleness of the www feat. Anurag Minus VermaIn this episode, hosts Snigdha Sharma and Rahel Philipose are joined by interdisciplinary artist and internet truth-teller Anurag Minus Verma to talk about what’s really happening to Substack and why it matters. The online publishing platform began as a utopian space for writers and artists that promised no algorithms, no ads and no hustle for likes. It allowed for writers and readers to forge direct connections for a simple 10% cut. But with a fresh $100 million in VC funding and a growing noise about discovery feeds and advertising, there seems to be a quiet shift toward platformisation. ...
2025-07-2539 min90,000 HoursPitches, pickleball, and the new rules of networkingFor decades, networking was about being seen: showing up in the right rooms, handing out the right cards, and saying the right things.Today, a new generation of founders and VCs is rewriting that script with sweat, sneakers, and a shared goal to win the next point.In this debut episode of 90,000 Hours, host Rahel Philipose heads to a pickleball court in Bengaluru to explore how the startup world is quietly staging a revolt against traditional networking.You’ll hear from:🎾 Arjun Vaidya – Founder of Dr Vaidya’s and now an investor...
2025-07-2218 min90,000 Hours (Private)Pitches, pickleball, and the new rules of networkingFor decades, networking was about being seen: showing up in the right rooms, handing out the right cards, and saying the right things.Today, a new generation of founders and VCs is rewriting that script with sweat, sneakers, and a shared goal to win the next point.In this debut episode of 90,000 Hours, host Rahel Philipose heads to a pickleball court in Bengaluru to explore how the startup world is quietly staging a revolt against traditional networking.You’ll hear from:🎾 Arjun Vaidya – Founder of Dr Vaidya’s and now an investor...
2025-07-2118 min90,000 Hours (Private)Introducing 90,000 Hours: Work is changing. Are you ready?You’ll spend 90,000 hours at work in your lifetime. How do you make that time count?90,000 Hours is a weekly podcast from the newsroom of The Ken that helps you navigate today’s changing world of work, where the traditional 40-year career is gone, entry-level jobs are being replaced by artificial intelligence, and staying relevant means constantly reinventing yourself.Hosted by Rahel Philipose, the show features conversations with the people creating, breaking, and rewriting the way we work.
2025-07-1801 min90,000 HoursIntroducing 90,000 Hours: Work is changing. Are you ready?You’ll spend 90,000 hours at work in your lifetime. How do you make that time count?90,000 Hours is a weekly podcast from the newsroom of The Ken that helps you navigate today’s changing world of work, where the traditional 40-year career is gone, entry-level jobs are being replaced by artificial intelligence, and staying relevant means constantly reinventing yourself.Hosted by Rahel Philipose, the show features conversations with the people creating, breaking, and rewriting the way we work.
2025-07-1501 min
DaybreakInside the financial playbooks of India’s wealthiest womenIn this special episode, hosts Snigdha Sharma and Rahel Philipose are joined by Soumya Rajan, founder and CEO of Waterfield Advisors, India’s largest multi-family office and wealth advisory firm. The conversation begins with a simple but important question: what does financial empowerment actually mean for women with wealth?Over her decades in the world of wealth management, Soumya began noticing a consistent blind spot—traditional financial systems weren’t designed with women’s realities in mind. Even wealth advisory firms, she found, were falling short. That led her to launch HERitage, a specialized arm within Waterfield, focused...
2025-05-3055 min
DaybreakCan an army of Indian engineers help Microsoft take on Nvidia?Nvidia’s dominance in the AI market is forcing Big Techs like Microsoft to produce chips of their own. So, the software giant is changing its tack in hiring from Indian colleges. The Ken reporter Abhirami G joins host Rahel Philipose in this episode. Tune in. Listen to 'One Billion in 10 Minutes', our new mini series based on The Ken's inaugural case competition. The Ken app Apple Podcasts Spotify
2025-02-0614 min
DaybreakThe Big Fat Sustainable Indian WeddingWelcome to the big fat sustainable Indian wedding! Over the last few years, sustainability has become a big buzz word in the wedding industry. Multiple wedding planners told Daybreak that couples are now increasingly asking for more ‘sustainable’ alternatives while planning their big day — from offsetting the carbon footprint of the event, to setting up compost pits in the middle of their wedding venues. This growing environmental consciousness makes sense. You see, as beautiful and fairytale-esque the typical Indian wedding is known to be, it is also infamously wasteful. But here's the thing — while some...
2025-01-0923 min
DaybreakDead mall rising: The life and death of Indian shopping centresThe golden age of the Indian shopping mall is over. There are at least 400 malls across the country. But a growing proportion of them are either dead or on life support. A report by real estate consultant firm Knight Frank found that the number of ghost malls in the country rose from 57 in 2022 to 64 in 2023. That’s about 1 in almost six malls. The report estimates that between 2022 and 2023, the loss of value due to the rise in ghost malls was around 800 million dollars, so that’s close to 7,000 crore rupees. In this episode, Daybreak host Rahel...
2024-12-1225 min
DaybreakYou don't need a prescription to buy an i-pill. What if that changed?A little more than a week ago, we read a really strange piece of news. Apparently, an expert committee recommended the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to ban the over the counter sale of emergency contraceptive pills like i-pill and Unwanted 72. They suggested women should be only allowed to access it with a doctor’s prescription because of concerns over side effects. This was weird for many reasons. One, levonorgestrel, which is what these pills contain, is one of the safest emergency contraceptives available in the world. It is approved by WHO and the...
2024-10-1741 min
The First Two YearsBest early-career advice we've got so far (part 2)Take the happiness survey to be a part of the season finale here.The debut season of TFTY was jampacked with insight, international guests, and interesting takeaways. This season, we learned how to ask for help without worrying about looking stupid, turn a job that you have into the one that you want, network when you hate networking, look for a Dravid in a mentor and build a personal brand with no work experience. On this episode of TFTY, Akshaya Chandrasekaran and Rahel Philipose (from The Ken’s flagship business podcast Daybreak) assemble the entire cr...
2024-09-1723 min
The First Two YearsBest early-career advice we’ve got so far (part 1)The debut season of TFTY was jampacked with insight, international guests, and interesting takeaways. This season we walked away from unhappy jobs, built trust with difficult colleagues, asked for feedback even when we dreaded it, fought for promotions, and bounced back from mistakes. We spoke to forensic psychologists working in maximum-security prisons and former poker players turned decision strategists. On this episode of TFTY, Akshaya Chandrasekaran and Rahel Philipose (from The Ken’s flagship business podcast Daybreak) gather ‘round the mic to round up their favorite early-career advice of the season. They talk about how t...
2024-09-1023 min
DaybreakDaybreak Special: The Pharmeasy InvestigationIn this week's Daybreak Special episode, hosts Snigdha Sharma and Rahel Philipose speak to The Ken's Shivani Verma about her investigation into Pharmeasy's dubious business practices. The once IPO-bound company is under the scanner for its 'unethical' ways of upselling alternative medicines and supplements. Everyone – from Pharmeasy's own pharmacists, to the doctors who call behalf of the company to validate a customer's prescription – are under pressure to sell these supplements. The saga began with Pharmeasy’s 2021 acquisition of Bengaluru-based e-pharmacy Medlife, where former executives noted a similar trend of upselling alternatives and supplements. This comes amid bal...
2024-05-2427 min
DaybreakDaybreak Special: Why aren't we scared of chemicals in our skincare anymore?Contrary to its name, the US-based skincare brand 'The Ordinary' pulled off something pretty extraordinary when it was launched in 2016. From the beginning, it was all about transparency. It veered away from fancy packaging, instead opting for simple labels that list out all of the main ingredients, or 'actives', that were used to make the product.And just like that, the brand managed to demystify active ingredients for everyone!This kicked off somewhat of a skincare revolution around the world, including in India. Today, anyone who understands skincare knows what active ingredients are and which...
2024-05-1729 min