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The Startup Playbook Podcast

The Startup Playbook Podcast

By: Rohit Bhargava - Entrepreneur | Blogger | Podcaster. I help launch grow and fund startups and online businesses
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 Every week, I interview successful entrepreneurs, investors and business industry experts on how they got started, the strategies they used to succeed and their advice to current and future entrepreneurs Economics Personal Finance
Episodes
  • Ep220 – Adam Ewart (Co-founder & CEO – Send My Bag) on bootstrapping Send My Bag from a uni side project to global service

    Ep220 – Adam Ewart (Co-founder & CEO – Send My Bag) on bootstrapping Send My Bag from a uni side project to global service
    Sep 25 2025

    The Startup Playbook PodcastInsights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors Twitter Facebook YouTube Instagram Ep220 – Adam Ewart (Co-founder & CEO – Send My Bag) on bootstrapping Send My Bag from a uni side project to global service September 25, 2025 rohitbhargava Podcast My guest for Ep220 of The Startup Playbook Podcast […]

    The post Ep220 – Adam Ewart (Co-founder & CEO – Send My Bag) on bootstrapping Send My Bag from a uni side project to global service appeared first on Startup Playbook.
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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • Ep219 – Stirling Mortlock (Co-founder – XV Capital) on the journey from Wallabies Captain to Sports-Tech Investor

    Ep219 – Stirling Mortlock (Co-founder – XV Capital) on the journey from Wallabies Captain to Sports-Tech Investor
    Aug 28 2025
    The Startup Playbook PodcastInsights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors Twitter Facebook YouTube Instagram Ep219 – Stirling Mortlock (Co-founder – XV Capital) on the journey from Wallabies Captain to Sports-Tech Investor August 28, 2025 rohitbhargava Podcast My guest for Ep219 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Stirling Mortlock. Stirling is one of Australia’s greatest ever Rugby players. He’s a former Wallabies Captain, World Cup player, and one of the few players to score over 1,000 points in Super Rugby. But his story goes well beyond the field. After retiring, he’s built a career as a founder and investor. Today, he’s the Co-founder of XV Capital, where he’s backing the next generation of sports-tech and performance-led startups. In this episode we dive into: Lessons from professional rugby and how he’s applied them to his career post sportThe rhythms & role clarity behind high-performance teamsA resilience playbook: “feed the good wolf” through injuries & setbacksWhere sports-tech is headingAnd much more! I’m also excited to announce that Stirling will be joining The Komo Club as a speaker for Cohort 2. The program is the world’s first human accelerator, designed to help high performing founders and executives implement the right system and frameworks to help them succeed in business and all areas of their life. You can find out more at thekomoclub.com Timestamps: 00:02:15 Career arc: Brumbies mainstay, two World Cups, captaincy at Brumbies/Wallabies/Rebels, transition to life after rugby.00:07:08 Obsession with sport, MJ as childhood idol, and setting audacious goals back in Year 11.00:09:31 Overlooked early, late physical growth, and training like a pro at uni: why hard work fast-tracked selection.00:12:07 “Outliers” & relative age: flipping a potential disadvantage into a slingshot advantage.00:15:00 Seizing rep opportunities: NSW Country vs City, shadow call-up00:18:44 Keeping belief amid uncertainty: mentors and the power of goal-setting.00:27:26 Inside high-performance teams: weekly rhythm, role clarity, and leveraging strengths under pressure.00:30:24 Captaincy lessons: delegate to strengths and always do your job lead by example.00:32:28 Turning ADHD into a superpower; creating environments where people operate at their “optimal frequency.”00:48:37 Future of Sports-Tech00:59:38 15 operations & the “feed the good wolf” framework for setbacks; silver linings during rehab. Our partners: A big shout out to our long-term partners for the show: Scendar Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com Vanta Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.The Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/podcast to get access to this exclusive discount. Links mentioned: The Komo Club: The world’s first human accelerator Stirling’s links: Stirling on LinkedInXV Capital People mentioned: James GodfreyGordon OgilvyMark DavisPhil WaughJeremy MortlockChris MaloneAndrew WalkerTim HoranJason LittleGeorge GreganStephen LarkhamJoe RoffChuck CarterMel Brown Companies & Organisations mentioned: Prevent BiometricsACT Brumbies Melbourne RebelsWallabies (Rugby Australia)Gordon Rugby ClubRugby AustraliaAustralian Institute of Sport (AIS)British & Irish Lions Resources mentioned: Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Paycheck Other channels: Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/startupplaybook/Ep219_-_Stirling_Mortlock.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed" onclick="javascript: this.select();" onfocus="javascript: this.select();" style="width: 70%;" readOnly>Subscribe: RSS adminJanuary 1, 2014 Reply Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat adminJanuary 1, 2014 Reply Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut ...
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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • Ep218 – Nipun Mehra (Co-founder & CEO – Ula) On Ula’s hypergrowth, Bezos backing & the hard call to shut down

    Ep218 – Nipun Mehra (Co-founder & CEO – Ula) On Ula’s hypergrowth, Bezos backing & the hard call to shut down
    Aug 7 2025
    The Startup Playbook PodcastInsights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors Twitter Facebook YouTube Instagram Ep218 – Nipun Mehra (Co-founder & CEO – Ula) On Ula’s hypergrowth, Bezos backing & the hard call to shut down August 7, 2025 rohitbhargava Podcast My guest for Ep218 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Nipun Mehra. Nipun has had an incredible track record in his career. At Amazon he launched their first ever real time inventory management system, was an early team member at Flipkart helping build and scale one of India’s most successful and iconic startups before joining Sequoia India as an investor. In 2020, he Co-founded Ula, a B2B e-commerce platform that set out to modernise retail supply chains for millions of small businesses starting in Indonesia. Ula quickly become one of South East Asia’s fastest growing startups. They went from $0 to $300M in revenue within 2 years. Ola also raised over $140M from leading investors including Sequoia, Lightspeed, Tencent and even raised capital from Jeff Bezos himself, his first investment into this part of the world. But in a candid and deeply honest conversation, Nipun shares – for the first time publicly – the full story of what happened behind the scenes from Ula when he decided to shut down the company and return the remaining capital to investors. From hypergrowth to hard calls, this episode dives into the reality of building a company at scale and the weight of leadership at challenging times. In this episode we cover: Nipun’s lessons from his time with Amazon, Flipkart and SequoiaThe hypergrowth journey behind UlaWhy he decided to shut down Ula and return the capital vs find another pathComing to terms with the ups and downs of the journey& much more I’m also excited to announce that Nipun will be joining The Komo Club as a speaker for Cohort 2. The program is the world’s first human accelerator, designed to help high performing founders and executives implement the right system and frameworks to help them succeed in business and all areas of their life. You can find out more at thekomoclub.com Timestamps: 00:03:08 Nipun’s background: Early entrepreneurial drive00:07:00 College startup attempts and discovering India’s nascent internet scene00:14:47 What Amazon & Flipkart taught him about audacious targets and culture00:20:38 How to set “aggressive but achievable” goals without crossing into folly00:29:23 Why Indonesia? The leap of faith that launched Ula in Southeast Asia00:38:37 Securing Jeff Bezos’ first SEA investment and the six-page memo that closed the deal00:41:31 Scaling to ~US $300 M GMV in two years during COVID00:43:20 The decision to shut down Ula and return the remaining capital to investors00:55:13 Lessons on investor alignment01:04:45 Nipun’s new venture, lessons from Ula he’s applying Our partners: Thank you to Karl Noronha, Ganesh Rengaswamy and Prithvi Rajaram for their help with research for this interview! A big shout out to our long-term partners for the show: Scendar Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com Vanta Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.The Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/podcast to get access to this exclusive discount. Links mentioned: The Komo Club: The world’s first human accelerator Nipun’s links: Nipun on LinkedIn People mentioned: Jeff BezosLarry PageMarissa MayerElon MuskKarl NoronhaGanesh RengaswamyPrithvi Rajaram Companies mentioned: UlaAmazonFlipkartPhonePeSequoia Capital India / Peak XV PartnersLightspeed Venture PartnersBoston Consulting GroupTiger GlobalTencentProsusBezos ExpeditionsUdaanShopeeMercado LibreCoupangGoogleMetaReliance JioReliance IndustriesGojekTokopediaPlaybook Ventures Feedback/connect/say hello: Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits: Music: Paycheck Other channels: Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/startupplaybook/Ep218_-_Nipun_Mehra.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed" onclick="javascript: this.select();" onfocus="javascript: this.select();" style="width: 70%;" readOnly>...
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    1 hr and 8 mins
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