Snapfish to Aadhaar to MoneyTap to AI: Bala Parthasarathy on Building Across Eras

Prime Venture Partners Podcast

Prime Venture Partners Podcast
Snapfish to Aadhaar to MoneyTap to AI: Bala Parthasarathy on Building Across Eras
Jul 15, 2025
Prime Venture Partners: Early Stage VC Fund

๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Bala Parthasarathy - Chairman & Co-founder, Freo, Director at People+AI, Senior Adviser, EMK Capital (London) -  joins us for one of our most insightful episodes.

In this full conversation, Bala discusses:
๐Ÿ”น Snapfishโ€™s dotcom-era growth, crash, and acquisition by HP
๐Ÿ”น Building Aadhaar from the ground up with Nandan Nilekani
๐Ÿ”น The truth about raising and deploying venture capital
๐Ÿ”น Whatโ€™s broken (and whatโ€™s working) in fintech
๐Ÿ”น The founder's mindset in the age of AI

If you're a founder, investor, or operator, this episode is packed with lessons, stories, and perspective.

๐Ÿ“Œ Episode Timestamps:
00:00 โ€“ Balaโ€™s background & Snapfish origins
03:00 โ€“ Dotcom boom, bust & Snapfish acquisition
06:30 โ€“ Understanding VC: what founders often get wrong
10:00 โ€“ Building Aadhaar at scale with Nandan Nilekani
13:00 โ€“ Freo, fintech & operating in regulated markets
16:00 โ€“ AI disruption & founder readiness
23:00 โ€“ How every function is being reshaped by AI
28:00 โ€“ Founder life: balance, energy & playing the long game

๐Ÿ“Œ Follow us:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/primevp
Twitter: https://twitter.com/primevp_in
Website: https://primevp.in

๐Ÿ‘‡ Subscribe for more insights from top founders & investors.

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