Tarun Mehta on Starting up Ather in IIT, Tesla & Future of EVs in India
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- Опубліковано 27 лип 2024
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Get ready for another gripping episode as we welcome Tarun Mehta, founder of Ather Energy, on the Neon Show! Tune in as we thoroughly delve into the inner workings of the two-wheeler and EV industry in India.
In this week’s episode, we learn about a truly one-of-a-kind backstory which began from deep within IIT Madras’s engineering department. Get ready as you will find out exactly how Tesla inspired Ather and whether Ather would have still reached the same heights it has today, if Tesla never existed.
Equipped with an abundance of knowledge on the EV industry, Tarun also shares his understanding of the market dynamics for EVs in India as well as the current state of the Indian scooter market.
Curious as to why a career in software engineering is more rewarding than one in hardware engineering? Well, look no further as Tarun explains in detail why college students would prefer the former over the latter!
Join us for all this and more as we candidly engage with the genius mind responsible for turning a 20 crore ARR business from five years ago into a colossal 1800 crores as of today!
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🎇CHAPTERS🎇
00:00 - Precap
00:55 - Welcome to the Neon Show!
01:51 - Introducing Tarun Mehta, founder of Ather Energy
04:05 - “We used to sleep in the department.” Founding Ather in IIT
04:47 - Story behind Ather’s core idea
09:08 - “Indian consumers are actually quite spoiled…” Market dynamics for EVs in India
11:36 - How Tesla inspired them/ Launching fastest ever accelerating scooter in the country
13:58 - “Indian scooter market is the most advanced scooter market in the world.”
14:42 - Top 5 players in two-wheelers and EVs in India
19:55 - Selling 1 lakh scooters in FY '22-'23
22:07 - What is the highest selling non-electric scooter currently in India?
23:55 - EVs don’t make much revenue compared to other vehicles in one sector
27:04 - Would Ather be where it is today if Tesla had not existed?
30:26 - From 20 crore annual revenue to 1800! Journey from product launch in 2018 till now.
35:48 - Hardware startups in India that Tarun respects
38:14 - Why doesn’t hardware sell well in India?
42:27 - Is a career in software engineering more rewarding than one in hardware engineering?
45:00 - How Ather’s distribution muscle was built
49:53 - The importance of product marketing
52:33 - Why Tarun loves newspapers as a channel for marketing compared to TVs
55:42 - What is Ather’s aspiration in today’s market?
57:52 - The fate of two-wheelers and EVs in this upcoming decade
59:30 - Concluding remarks
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Hi, I am your host Siddhartha! I have been an entrepreneur from 2012-2017 building two products AddoDoc and Babygogo. After selling my company to SHEROES, I and my partner Nansi decided to start up again. But we felt unequipped in our skillset in 2018 to build a large company. We had known 0-1 journey from our startups but lacked the experience of building 1-10 journeys.
Hence was born The Neon Show (Earlier 100x Entrepreneur) to learn from founders and investors, the mindset to scale yourself and your company. This quest still keeps us excited even after 5 years and doing 200+ episodes.
We welcome you to our journey to understand what goes behind building a super successful company. Every episode is done with a very selfish motive, that I and Nansi should come out as a better entrepreneur and professional after absorbing the learnings.
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Thanks toTarun and team Ather for making India Shine 🇮🇳
This guy Tarun Mehta is simply a gem with brilliant clarity of thought 💎... He is simply too good from all possible aspects 👏 . Period
Love this podcast, really underrated and deserves way more views!
Thank you so much for the kind words and hopefully we start getting in even more views!
he really understands his space. such clarity of thought too. impressive
As usual, an amazing session by Tarun.
Using ather 450x from an year it always gives a smile on face when I use the warp mode ❤
Bro its WARP not WRAP.
Thank you so much for tuning in and for sharing!
@@ikhlasnadaf10😂😂
Once again a great episode! The quality of content and production value has gone up so much compared to before... love it :D
Thank you for your kind words and glad you liked the episode so much!
"In 2018, ather 450 was the fastest accelerating scooter" - Tarun
"In 2023, ather has the fastest breaking belts in any scooter" - customers 😂
Amazing episode. Keep churning such great content
Thank you so much and keep supporting us!
Hi Tarun, if you or your team is reading this, please look into enclosed reverse leaning trikes. Like the AKO Trike. A product like that is very much needed in the Indian market. It has environmental protection, improved safety over bikes, and more stable than bikes. More importantly, cars are getting expensive, and after COVID, not everyone is comfortable with public transport or riding a two wheeler. Thus, there is a need for a weather protected 2 seater vehicle within 3-5 lakh rupees range for middle and upper middle class office goers. This is a much needed vehicle category, which no one significant is making in the Indian market.
I Hope this insightful comment would be noticed by Tarun, Thank you for your valuable comment.
@@TheNeonShowwalso covered quadricycle can encourage people to buy them in the cities which can reduce pollution .
Neon is doing great 👍
India can and India is building world class products!
lol 😂
Thank you for the insightful discussion. Tarun is a very genuine guy who gives away the information and insights very easily.
Really appreciate you tuning in and sharing your thoughts! Tarun was a wonderful guest on the show and we hope to have him back soon!
Great episode!
We are so glad you liked it!
What about simple dot one energy
👇❤
Im watching after buying ola......test drove ather .loved it
Really good n informative podcast 😊
Thank you so much for the kind words! 😁
Ather is good product, but still need to improve, I’m using from 2023 January, I feel ABS is required because of small tyres 🛞 in the vehicle need to control 60-50 kmph on wet road condition. Also company PDI department need to improve. I face steering handle miss alignment until last week not solved by workshop, I raised complaint from first week and visited more then once as per my convenience time.also I Hurd many complaints while visiting workshop from new owners, I hope they will improve.
hey, would love to know what you think about Hop Electric??
Well, using Ather 450x gen 3 from October 2022, belt is cracking up so i think the quality is not up to the mark as previous Gen 2 belt was very durable upto 25k, mine is already cracking up so Ather needs to concentrate on service and spare parts cost effectiveness
All I see you do is to complain in every comment section that has anything to do with Ather.
I am confident that in next 3-5 yrs batteries wont die like ever til the lifetime of vehicle. Lfp batteries even now r close to lasting 20+ yrs in a car. Soon we will hit insane digits like 50+ yrs
What about ultraviolet f77?
This podcast was incredible. As a hardware lover and enthusiast, this one had many learnings. Bring more hardware company founders. Great work. And Ather, we love you!!!
Really appreciate the kind words and this is what keeps us going so thank you once again!
I am a product ather owner
Is Ather planning to get into robotics? There is a lot of potential for robotics in the next 10-20 years.
Maybe we can ask about it in the future episode if he is ready to come on board! Until then stay tuned!
Electric scooter can never be primary vehicle period.
Appreciate your thoughts on the topic! Thank you for tuning in!
Is this company making a profit?
Today we hate under quality parts like your belts...😢
GST on petrol scooter is 30%
And these utopians want to sell EVs with support of huge revadis from govt!!
Whatever interview he is giving , his sales team is totally useless , completely bad experience in ather puducherry centre. Totally bad attitude ignorant employees, no honesty in work at all .
Man if they ask me to give interview, I would totally cuzz this Ceo about his in ability to manage the sales rather he just focuses on r and d and totally don't know bussiness management.
Their scooter is Good, but what customer expects is customer care and proper reception both his showroom doesn't have. Totally crap experience of ather sales. I just bought a 450apex . People please don't fall in this crap experience.
until and unless mere liye saving nhi hai vehicle lene ka koi mtlb nhi hai. I am okay with petrol bikes. dusra charging ke natak apartment me boht jyada hai to impossible hai ye sab. Baki environment ka gyan na mai deta hu na leta hu.