Winning Middle India: The Story Of India’s New-Age Entrepreneurs*

T.N. Hari wears different hats: co-founder of the Artha School of Entrepreneurship, author, angel investor, adviser at the Fundamentum Partnership, evangelist, thought leader and influencer in the start-up ecosystem. He is an alumnus of IIT Madras and IIM Calcutta. He has co-authored eight books and is also a columnist at Mint. His books Saying No to Jugaad, From Pony to Unicorn and Diversity beyond Tokenism have been bestsellers. He has been part of the leadership teams at five start-ups and helped shape their growth until successful exits, including an IPO on Nasdaq, and three of the five start-ups have gone on to become unicorns. He is also passionate about helping founders build great companies and supporting women leaders in discovering their potential.

Bala Srinivasa, a BITS Pilani alumnus, has had a diverse career as a Wall Street analyst, CXO in two global start-ups and as a venture capital investor. Bala's fascination with markets and innovation started as an equity analyst in San Francisco during the first dot-com boom and bust. He was subsequently part of leadership teams at two start-ups where he ran global sales and marketing teams leading to scale and exits. As an investor, Bala has partnered with entrepreneurs, reimagining and tackling complex problems for India's largest markets, such as consumer lending, retail investing, marketplaces, digital-financial infrastructure, blue-collar skilling and SaaS software, among others. Bala was previously partner at Kalaari Capital and is now managing director and co-founder at Arkam Ventures.