Running two profitable unicorns in India | Asish Mohapatra, OfBusiness | Unstarted

Are entrepreneurs born or made? Asish Mohapatra is certain it's the second and he'll tell you plainly he's good at maybe 3 of the 10 things a founder needs.

Asish is the co-founder of OfBusiness and Oxyzo, which he built into one of India's largest B2B commerce and lending businesses. But this conversation with Avnish isn't about the scale, it's about the intellectual honesty underneath it.

In this episode, they get into:

1. How did you get comfortable in your own skin? Was there a trigger?

2. Are entrepreneurs born or made, and how do you decide which skills to build vs. buy?

3. How do you pick a co-founder (and run a company with your spouse)?

4. Why would you never hire someone at their last salary?

5. Do you have to go public and when?

6. A conversation about failing early, being honest about it, and finding the 

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Chapters

00:00 Cold open
01:30 The boss he fired, the mentor he kept
03:30 The 10% you keep for life
07:30 Are founders born or made?
08:30 Why I got comfortable failing
08:45 Build it or buy it?
15:30 Picking a co-founder (and a wife)
19:00 Why I work 20-hour days
19:35 Baby is six days older than the company
22:45 The vulnerabilities he leads with
28:00 Never hire at their last salary
30:30 Always the next IPO?
35:00 Be yourself. Keep building your superpower.