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4. Dinner with Siddharth Mittal (16 June, 2o25)
At our dinner with Siddharth Mittal, CEO & MD of Biocon Ltd., we traced his unlikely journey — from aspiring chef to CA rank-holder, to CEO of one of India’s largest biotech companies. Siddharth shared how early career choices rooted in trust over pay, a U.S. stint that built operational discipline, and a deliberate return to India shaped his leadership path. His playbook blends clarity, directness, and strategic delegation — reserving his time for big calls like pricing, M&A, and long-horizon bets. At Biocon, he’s championed the Future Leaders Program to build horizontal thinkers, prioritizing mindset over pedigree and execution agility over technical perfection.
On biotech, Siddharth argued India’s challenge isn’t talent but patient capital, policy alignment, and ecosystem collaboration — drawing comparisons to China’s coordinated biotech rise. He urged Indian companies to move beyond being the world’s generic supplier toward affordable, differentiated innovation. His career advice was simple yet sharp: prioritize direction over speed, take only a few big bets a decade, and say no often. Siddharth also spoke candidly about managing Gen Z — valuing their purpose-driven mindset while challenging their expectations — and reflected on India’s need for original models in manufacturing, biotech, and deep tech. Cooking remains his creative refuge, and his definition of wealth has shifted from numbers to knowing one’s “enough.”
If you’d like access to the full set of insights, reach out to us at ontonightsmenuindia@gmail.com.
1. Dinner with Dipanjan Basu (20 May, 2025)
At our networking dinner with Dipanjan Basu, Co-Founder at Fireside Ventures, we explored how India’s startup DNA has evolved from the grit and scarcity mindset of the IT services boom to the bold, fast-scaling culture of today’s D2C and deep-tech founders. Dipanjan shared lessons from his time at Wipro and Flipkart/Myntra, insights into the “Flipkart Mafia” phenomenon, and Fireside Ventures’ playbook for spotting and backing winning founders. From the traits investors love to the red flags that kill deals, to why most brands should win India before going global — it was a masterclass in building for scale.
If you’d like access to the full set of insights, reach out to us at ontonightsmenuindia@gmail.com.
2. Dinner with Ankit Nagori (28 May, 2o25)
At our dinner with Ankit Nagori, Founder of Curefoods, we dug into the reality behind cloud kitchens, why repeatability beats chasing viral food trends, and how Curefoods runs like the Unilever of cooked meals with multi-brand, multi-price-point layering. Ankit shared how centralized data operations drive every pricing and menu decision, why Tier 2/3 cities require a different playbook, and the benefits and limits of Swiggy/Zomato at scale. We also discussed Curefoods’ strict gross margin discipline, its fashion-style pricing ladder, and Ankit’s personal performance stack — from daily meditation to embedding AI into every leadership role.
If you’d like access to the full set of insights, reach out to us at ontonightsmenuindia@gmail.com.
5. Dinner with Ishendra Agarwal (25 June, 2o25)
At our recent session with Ishendra Agarwal, Founder & CEO of GIVA, we unpacked how a Marwari upbringing, IIT Kanpur experiments, and stints at BCG & PE shaped his conviction-led, subtraction-first decision-making style. Ishendra spotted a white space in India’s ₹2K–₹5K self-purchase jewellery segment — real silver, design-forward, daily-wear pieces for women buying for themselves, not just on occasions. He shared how GIVA cracked online scepticism with adjustable sizing, hallmarking, easy returns, and rich cataloging, before going big on offline retail (now 250+ stores, half of revenue) to win Tier 2/3 trust and impulse buying. We explored his AI-driven “interns” that track trends, celebrity styles, and SKU performance to keep designs fresh with <2% unsold inventory, and his celebrity marketing playbook — from Neha Kakkar’s relatability to Anushka Sharma’s premium pull, often via cash + equity deals. Ishendra’s core founder truths? Cut bad ideas faster than you chase new ones, scale by listening closely to customers, and protect brand soul while being “boringly good” at execution.
If you’d like access to the full set of insights, reach out to us at ontonightsmenuindia@gmail.com.
6. Dinner with Ramesh Bafna (10 July, 2o25)
At our dinner with Ramesh Bafna, CFO of Zepto, we explored how disciplined finance, relentless feedback loops, and data-led execution powered Zepto’s leap from ~$1B to ~$4B topline in just a year — making it India’s fastest-growing commerce company. Ramesh unpacked the grocery moat (frequent repeats, low CAC) and Zepto’s dark store science — running 10K+ virtual simulations per site, narrowing location choice to a 100m radius, and expanding from ~50 to ~1,000 stores in six months. He shared how finance at Zepto runs in real time — store-level gross margins on tap, AI-monitored shrinkage, dynamic pricing to cut waste — and why operational leakages are fixed before cutting discounts. We heard the behind-the-scenes of raising $225M in a funding winter (his “most precious” round), the café-inside-dark-store idea delivering 60–70% gross margins, and his mantra that “consistency beats novelty” in execution. From early Flipkart crisis days to Zepto’s category bets (electronics, performance apparel), Ramesh’s core lesson was clear: align every nut and bolt of the org in one direction, stay paranoid, and reinvent before the cycle turns.
If you’d like access to the full set of insights, reach out to us at ontonightsmenuindia@gmail.com.
3. Dinner with Vishal Bali (6 June, 2o25)
At our dinner with Vishal Bali, Executive Chairman at Asia Healthcare Holdings (AHH) (and Senior Advisor at TPG Growth) we explored bold, practical fixes for Indian healthcare — from boosting R&D and women’s health access to tackling the talent gap in nurses and specialists. Vishal made a compelling case for why single-specialty hospitals outscale multi-specialty models in India, sharing AHH’s disciplined playbook: strict CAPEX caps, rent limits, high-ARPP services, rapid payback, and centralized operations. We discussed how technology can transform care delivery — from NICU command centers to patient-first digital experiences — and why India’s real bottleneck is people, not beds. Vishal also shared his work with the Neonates Foundation of India, which saves thousands of newborns each year through funded NICU care in underserved regions.
If you’d like access to the full set of insights, reach out to us at ontonightsmenuindia@gmail.com.
