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Kunal Shah is one of the most well-known and admired product leaders in India. He is the CEO and founder of CRED, an Indian-based fintech startup valued at over $6 billion. Prior to CRED, he founded three other startups, including Freecharge, which he sold for over $400 million to Snapdeal. He has also been an advisor to India\u2019s most influential organizations. In our conversation, we discuss:

\u2022 The prevalence of successful Indian immigrants in top CEO roles across the tech industry

\u2022 Why companies in India can grow DAUs but not ARPU\u2014and what that means for building products for India

\u2022 What most sets India\u2019s market apart

\u2022 Challenges and opportunities in the Indian market

\u2022 The Delta 4 framework for building new products

\u2022 Lessons from building CRED so far

\u2022 The power of curiosity and second-order thinking

\u2022 Lessons from failure

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Brought to you by:

\u2022 WorkOS\u2014The modern API for auth and user identity

\u2022 Orb\u2014The flexible billing engine for modern pricing

\u2022 Dovetail\u2014Bring your customer into every decision

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Find the transcript and references at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/kunal-shah-on-winning-in-india-second

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Where to find Kunal Shah:

\u2022 X: https://twitter.com/kunalb11

\u2022 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kunalshah1/

\u2022 Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@CRED_club

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Where to find Lenny:

\u2022 Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

\u2022 X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

\u2022 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Kunal\u2019s background

(04:22) The Delta 4 framework

(11:00) The success of Indian CEOs in the U.S.

(19:55) Challenges and opportunities in India

(23:04) DAUs vs. ARPU in Indian markets

(25:50) The perception of time in India

(27:55) The curse of focus in Asian markets

(30:33) Challenges and opportunities in India (continued)

(33:23) Lessons learned from building CRED

(36:40) Profit pools can provide valuable insights into the values of a country

(37:55) Founders\u2019 role in company growth

(39:55) Profitability and Indian business culture

(43:24) Advice for staying positive amid criticism

(44:41) The promising market in India

(47:35) The power of curiosity

(52:59) Who Kunal looks up to

(55:31) Kunal\u2019s favorite sources of content

(58:42) Asking great questions

(01:02:54) Contrarian corner: Wealth is nothing but storage of energy

(01:05:26) Failure corner

(01:08:57) Closing thoughts: Share your learnings

(01:09:38) Lightning round

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.