What actually shapes success in India’s startup ecosystem?

In this episode of What Shapes Us, Sajith Pai, Partner at Blume Ventures and author of the Indus Valley Annual Report, sits down with Vidya Mahambare to unpack the real forces behind who builds, who succeeds, and who never gets the chance.

From growing up in Kerala to two decades at the Times of India group and a late move into venture capital, Sajith traces a journey shaped as much by starting advantages as by effort.

This episode covers:
- Why endowment matters more than we admit
- The role of language and access in shaping opportunity
- His NIMBLE archetype and why founders often look similar
- Why entrepreneurship is often a “privileged sport”
- Venture capital as an infinite game that forgives failure
- Why Bangalore can’t be replicated and Chennai doesn’t need to be
- How brands like McKinsey or Urban Company signal more than degrees
- Why passion follows effort, not the other way around India 1, 2, 3 and the reality of unequal opportunity

This is not just a startup conversation.
It’s about the hidden structure behind success in India.

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Madhubalan Viswanathan, Professor of Marketing at Loyola Marymount University, has built a career by asking a question most mainstream marketing frameworks overlook. What do markets look like when consumers live under chronic scarcity?

Rather than focusing on affluent segments or high-growth categories, he immersed himself in low-income communities across countries, studying how individuals with limited financial, educational, and institutional endowments make everyday marketplace decisions. Out of this work emerged the concept of the Subsistence Marketplace, now recognised as a legitimate and growing subfield within marketing scholarship. It reframes people living in poverty not as passive beneficiaries, but as active economic participants navigating complex trade-offs.

Beyond theory, his work translates into practice. His marketplace literacy programs have reached tens of thousands of low-income entrepreneurs, especially women, equipping them with tools to price products, manage cash flows, evaluate risk, and negotiate with suppliers. The emphasis is not on charity. It is on capability building and decision-making power.

In this episode, Prof. Madhu speaks with Vidya about why he chose a path that diverges from the conventional metrics of academic success. He reflects on the structural constraints that shape the lives of those with low endowments. Limited access to formal education. Weak legal protections. Informal credit systems.

The conversation pushes further into what a meaningful opportunity really means. When policy, institutions, and intent align, markets can become vehicles for dignity and upward mobility. When they do not, they can reinforce vulnerability. His perspective challenges both scholars and policymakers to rethink how inclusion is designed, measured, and sustained.

As Professor of Strategy and Innovation at Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, and having completed a term as its Director, Rishikesh Krishnan has observed institutions from both the classroom and the corner office. That dual vantage point shapes how he thinks about leadership, innovation, and access.

Through influential works like From Jugaad to Systematic Innovation and the award winning 8 Steps to Innovation: Going from Jugaad to Excellence, he argues that improvisation alone cannot power a nation’s ambitions. Systems, processes, and culture have to evolve together.

In this episode, he reflects on his own journey through academia and public leadership, asking which of the “Es” truly matter. Is it early environment. Is it education. Is it exposure to ideas and mentors. Or is it the ecosystem that rewards certain kinds of risk taking.

He also examines the responsibility of institutions. How do business schools design admissions, pedagogy, research priorities, and faculty incentives so that opportunity is broadened rather than concentrated. What does it take to move from pockets of excellence to widespread capability.

His conversation with Vidya is thoughtful and unsentimental. It recognises structural constraints, yet insists that institutions can choose to redesign themselves. Not with slogans, but with deliberate shifts that expand who gets to participate, lead, and innovate.