Dear listeners, We would like to inform you that the hosts of your favorite show, Think Fast, Varun and Suchita, will be taking a short break from recording for the next few weeks. They have some busy weeks ahead of them, but will return soon with the latest news, interesting views, hilarious jokes, and insights on all things business and technology! In the meantime, we encourage you to revisit previous episodes, as there are a wealth of insightful discussions that go beyond the latest news cycl...
May 10, 2023•1 min•Season 1Ep. 69
In this episode of Think Fast, Varun and Suchita cover a variety of topics including the recent layoffs at Clubhouse, Aryan Khan's new start-up D Yavol, Travis Barker's collaboration with Liquid Death Water to release a limited-edition enema collectible, the bankruptcy of Bed Bath & Beyond, Reliance's new partnership with Warner Bros Discovery Inc for JioCinema, the emergence of a new competitor for ChatGPT called Giga Chat. Additionally, they discuss Twitter's reintroduction of the blue ver...
May 03, 2023•50 min•Season 1Ep. 68
The views, opinions, and statements expressed in the episodes of the shows hosted on the IVM Podcasts network are solely those of the individual participants, hosts, and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of IVM Podcasts or its management. IVM Podcasts does not endorse or assume responsibility for any content, claims, or representations made by the participants during the shows. This includes, but is not limited to, the accuracy, completeness, or reliability o...
Apr 26, 2023•50 min•Season 1Ep. 67
In this episode, Varun & Suchita talk about the upcoming Apple store in Mumbai's BKC, how Bangalore rents have hit the roof, EdTech company founders' exuberant salaries, and L'Oreal's acquisition of Aesop + what D2C brands could learn from it. GenZ Pranav Manie who works at Bain & Co. by the day and writes a substack newsletter named 'Hot Chips' by night joins us to discuss all things culture from a GenZ lens and give us some interesting examples of what's really clicking with people. Fi...
Apr 12, 2023•50 min•Season 1Ep. 66
This episode has an extended introduction followed by two major stories. Varun & Suchita deep dive into the history of the paparazzi in India and their journey from negotiating for space in print to building a sought-after social media clout & the World Startup Convention Disaster that looked very promising and gave hope to multiple founders but turned out to be a scam. Apart from these, they talk about the Good Glamm Group's upcoming JV with Akshay Kumar, Softbank slashing Oyo's valuati...
Apr 05, 2023•53 min•Season 1Ep. 65
Varun & Suchita start by discuss the new Finance Bill, Starbucks getting an Indian Origin CEO, Amazon looking to acquire MX Player from the Times Group, Khan Academy introducing AI into the classroom, Ashneer Grover's CricPe, Byjus X Aakash X Unacademy news and more. They deep dive into the interesting strategies and pivots of some Indian Startups, analyse BluSmart cabs' business model and how it fares compared to Uber & Ola, & take a look at Twitter's blue ticks shenanigans. Suchita...
Mar 29, 2023•50 min•Season 1Ep. 64
In this episode, Varun & Suchita begin with talking about Google introducing AI across all it's apps, Lenskart raising funds from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, PornHub's parent company MindGeek getting acquired by Ethical Capital Partners, LinkedIn building a Podcast academy, Samsung and Xiaomi's smartphone market competition, SVB filing bankruptcy papers, PhonePe attracting Walmart's investment, and the upcoming documentary about Honey Singh. They talk about how FMCG giants have been expa...
Mar 22, 2023•53 min•Season 1Ep. 63
It's a Naatu Naatu episode! On Think Fast, Varun & Suchita obviously talk about the Oscars and how it was the year of South Asians. Further, they talk about Grammarly employing AI and an update to it's services, Meta's Twitter counterpart, Apple looking at India as a lucrative market, Vinyls selling more as compared to CDs, Slack integrating ChatGPT and how the latter is now a feature. In deep dives, they talk about Disney's strategy of wiping out HBO & IPL from Hotstar, the Tiktokificat...
Mar 15, 2023•58 min•Season 1Ep. 62
In this episode, Varun & Suchita start by talking about the ongoing Women's IPL, F1 streaming which was on Hotstar but this season, it will be on the independent app; What is an overpaid CEO, Razorpay's profits, Ashneer Grover's CricPe, Blinkit's new venture, and more. They deep dive into the Indus Valley Report by Blume Ventures, YouTube's agenda for 2023, and Curated Marketplaces. The articles referred were as follows: Blume Ventures' Indus Valley report YouTube's 2023 Agenda Suchita Recom...
Mar 08, 2023•56 min•Season 1Ep. 61
Varun & Suchita begin with the menstrual leave law that was recently passed in Spain, WazirX shutting its NFT Marketplace, IPL to be streamed for free on Jio, Bill Gates' minority stake in Heineken, Byju's denying rumors of shutting White Hat Jr, Spotify changing its design to appeal to GenZ, US nominating former Mastercard CEO for World Bank, Zomato's new service, Akshay Kumar returning Home, YouTube testing Podcast management options, Airtel looking to acquire a stake in PayTM, and Cred ro...
Mar 01, 2023•50 min•Season 1Ep. 60
Varun & Suchita are back after a weekend in Maldives & at a wedding respectively; they discuss how there exists a 'Raita' playlist on music platforms, the Women's IPL auction, Air India's latest historic purchase of Boeing planes, the closure of Travis Kalanick's CloudKitchens in India, all the Elon Musk shenanigans, YouTube's new leadership, B2B investments in India and how they've raised record-breaking capital last year, Unilever exiting atta & salt business, Pathaan's 1000Cr earn...
Feb 22, 2023•47 min•Season 1Ep. 59
This was a Monday morning recording and Varun & Suchita started by telling us about their weekends in Mumbai & Delhi respectively, all the ongoing exhibitions and outdoor stuff before the winter departs. They further chat about Cow Hug Day being revoked, Coke Studio Tamil + Bharat, SRK & Deepika's adorable skincare video for 82East, and the Tu VS Aap debate on Twitter. In Business news, they talk about how Adidas stocks are suffering due to unsold Yeezys, Alibaba exiting PayTM, Hermè...
Feb 15, 2023•54 min•Season 1Ep. 58
In this episode, Varun & Suchita battle it out between Alka Yagnik who surpassed all artists to be the most streamed artist on YouTube versus Queen Taylor Swift. They discuss how JioCinema might combine with Voot ahead of IPL, Adani buying the Ahmedabad Women's IPL Team Franchise, Instagram Founders' new app, RIL and Sephora's deal being called off, and the latest on Netflix's password sharing policy. This is a special episode with Anupam Gupta, Author of 'The Wisest Owl', and host of the 'P...
Feb 08, 2023•58 min•Season 1Ep. 57
In this episode of Think Fast, Varun and Suchita begin their conversation with Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant's grand engagement held in Mumbai, ITC planning to acquire food brand Yoga Bar, the next generation of HomePod, Elliot Management Corp move to invest in a cloud-based software firm, layoffs in Swiggy and more. Further, they dive into Netflix co-founder, Reed Hastings relinquishing his role as co-CEO but will continue as executive chairman for the streaming giant, Coffee brand, Blue To...
Jan 25, 2023•45 min•Season 1Ep. 56
In this episode, Varun begins by celebrating RRR's Golden Globe win while Suchita criticizes it but at the same time compliments Ram Charan Teja- one of the leads. Further, they talk about how Catalog music is more popular than new music, The Whole Truth Food's funding, TikTok eating up Meta/Google Ad space, Apple's latest headset, Prince Harry's book 'Spare' and the discord around it, Ashneer's boomer advice, Kanye's low key marriage, Women's IPL, more layoffs, and the report on unequal wealth ...
Jan 18, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 55
On Think Fast, as promised, Varun gives us his reviews of the first week of Shark Tank India Season 2. And where there is Shark Tank, there is Ashneer Grover- so they then discuss Suhail Sameer quitting PhonePe and Ashneer dedicating a cryptic poem for him. Further, they also talk about why the MamaEarth IPO valuation is being criticized and Varun & Ghazal Alagh's explanations for the same, Stage getting funded by Blume and their Shark Tank pitch, Dunzo's recent fundings, Chat GPT being bann...
Jan 11, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 54
Happy New Year Fam! This episode begins with Varun & Suchita discussing whose NYE was better and swiftly moving to talk about Elon Musk (how can we not), Shark Tank India's much-awaited second season- missing Ashneer Grover and looking forward to Amit Jain's presence on the show, Swiggy's new experiment called 'Handpicked', sunny weather in Flipkart's senior employees being rewarded generously and the separation of PhonePe, Hair Extensions company HairOriginals securing funding, Netflix buyi...
Jan 04, 2023•44 min•Season 1Ep. 53
The last episode of this year with Tequila & Wine! In this episode, Varun & Suchita talk about Varun's recent holiday, RRR getting Oscar Nominations, Mensa's recent acquisitions, Adults driving growth in the toys industry, Netflix branching out into fitness content, Covid staging a comeback, and Beco raising capital. Suchita recommends: 1. Advertising will see more prominence in products across EComm, OTT, FinTech & more. 2. Too much of the monopoly sits with FB + Google currently; t...
Dec 28, 2022•58 min•Season 1Ep. 52
Since Varun is away, Suchita was joined by Vidur Singhal (Entrepreneur) for this episode. They talk about the Qatar FIFA world cup and Mbappe, RBI asking Razorypay to stop onboarding new merchants, Netflix's Documentary on Tennis, ChatGPT helping people talk smartly on Tinder, Deepika Padukone's 82E securing funding, and Sula + DroneAcharya IPOs. They deep dive into the business impacts of Elon Musk's recent shenanigans on Twitter and Tesla, the takeaways from the Google For India event 2022, wh...
Dec 21, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 51
It's our 50th Episode! This episode begins with Varun fanboying over Deepika Padukone in Pathaan's new song while Suchita kinda criticizes it. Further, they talk about Good Glamm Group acquiring Tweak, Wakefit raising money, Amazon's experiments on its platform, Deepika Padukone's stint with Pottery Barn, and Vim Black's satire gone wrong. The delve into HUL's acquisition of Oziva & WellBeing, the Indian Beauty Market featuring Renee Cosmetics, Lightbox Investor Sentiment Report, and take a ...
Dec 14, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 50
This week, Think Fast begins with a discussion on a Rohit Shetty film- Cirkus, the trailer of which was recently released. Further, they talk about Whatsapp allowing one to message oneself, Mercedes' Marketing Head stating SIPs and Mutual Funds to be their competitor, some recent acquisitions, Spotify Wrapped and how it is a great marketing tool but raises the issue of privacy, Relove raising money, Netflix venturing into games, and much more. In the detailing segment, the stories for this episo...
Dec 07, 2022•54 min•Season 1Ep. 49
It was a fairly 'hmm' week and Varun & Suchita begin by talking about the Arrest of Elizabeth Holmes and all that's been happening with FTX & Twitter, Aditya Birla group's partnership with Galeries Lafayette and the rise of Luxury in India, Telegu being the fastest growing language in the US, World population crossing 8Bn & India getting closer to being the most populated country in the world, Beauty retail competition among Nykaa, Tata & Reliance, Qatar saying no to alcohol in F...
Nov 23, 2022•51 min•Season 1Ep. 48
This week was quite lukewarm but in another midweek madness episode of Think Fast, Varun & Suchita start off with a little rant about what the hell is happening even at Twitter, Adidas & Ye's situationship, Tiger Global & Nykaa's selling spree, YouTube hitting 8 million subscribers, Ashneer Grover's new book aptly titled 'Doglapan', and Estee Lauder buying Tom Ford. They dive deep into Zomato's latest financials and how food delivery apps in India are faring in general, MyGate's part...
Nov 16, 2022•47 min•Season 1Ep. 47
We're back after two weeks and so enthused about this episode because the team met offline, in person! On this episode, Varun & Suchita talk about the chaos at Twitter, the various other companies like Meta also laying off a huge chunk of their employees, Tirupati Temple being richer than Wipro and Nestle, IKEA's latest financial reports, and Jacquemus- the brand. Further, they deep dive into a recent trend where Founders feature in their product ads with examples like Vineeta Singh (SUGAR),...
Nov 09, 2022•46 min•Season 1Ep. 46
Think Fast this week began with a rapid-fire of news stories starting with Bantr- a Ted Lasso inspired fictional Dating app by Bumble, an indigenous drone backed by MS Dhoni, how PF records helped companies identify employees who were moonlighting, Meta's new AI headset and experimentation with Ads, how India shops at pop-ups and exhibitions, a book on Glossier, Fireside Ventures raising capital, Netflix becoming like regular TV with ads, and the case of Bumble robberies. In the deep dives, Varu...
Oct 19, 2022•46 min•Season 1Ep. 45
This is a special crossover episode between Think Fast & Advertising Is Dead. Suchita's co-founded company LBB recently got acquired by Nykaa while Varun exited from The Glitch, a company he co-founded. They cross-question each other about their journeys, building and scaling their respective companies, and their role after acquisition. In the intro segment, they cover Elon Musk considering buying Twitter at the original price, Bill Desk & PayU deal being called off, Honey Singh's new so...
Oct 12, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 44
It's Midweek Madness on Think Fast with a long list of different things happening around the world. We cross yet another record of a long introduction with some interesting stories beginning with how Varun looks similar to Hritik Roshan in Vikram Vedha. Varun & Suchita further discuss Tesla's new Optimus robot, Trevor Noah quitting 'The Daily Show' and apparently dating Dua Lipa, some stats around recently concluded EComm sales, ONDC setting up a store in Bengaluru, subscription social media...
Oct 05, 2022•50 min•Season 1Ep. 43
Varun & Suchita begin with the most loved Roger-Rafa moment at Roger's last match, the much-hated remake of Garba Queen Falguni Pathak's iconic 'Maine Payal Hai Chhankai' by Neha Kakkar, an update to a previous story about multiple cloud kitchens running from the same little center and how Zomato has decided to crack them down, Pepperfry & Oyo's upcoming IPOs, Clothing brand Shein's new rival, Brad Pitt's genderless skincare brand, Join ventures securing funding from Motilal Oswal group,...
Sep 28, 2022•57 min•Season 1Ep. 42
Suchita is back from America and you have to check out the refreshed energy and vibe she's got on to this episode. Team Think Fast totally recommends taking breaks! A long introduction ensues where they discuss stuff happening with Byju's, Media Literacy with reference to writing about struggling companies, a few heartbreaking retirements, Federer lookalike Arbaaz Khan, the queen's death and how the internet reacted to it, the Ethereum merge, Puig's stake in Kama Ayurveda, Patagonia Founder Yvon...
Sep 21, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 41
This week, it's Varun & Amit as Suchita is on a much-deserved break in the US. Amit & Varun begin by talking about some significant happenings that include an ongoing wave of the great resignation, Twitter and its Edit button that's being tested, a nostalgic dive into the days of Campa Cola and the joy of Reliance having acquired it denoting the possibility of seeing it in the market soon, Starbucks' new Indian Origin CEO, and the absurdity of some LinkedIn posts. For the top stories, we...
Sep 07, 2022•55 min•Season 1Ep. 40
