Founder and managing director of one of India's most well known venture capital firms, Matrix Partners India, AVNISH BAJAJ has a knack for picking winners. It’s not luck; it’s an ability he hones through intense research and also by studying human nature and decision making.  

So, how does he pick a winner? What are the traits he looks for in entrepreneurs? Avnish talks about all that on this episode of The Uppercase Podcast.

But, that’s not all. Avnish has also been on the other side of the table – as an internet entrepreneur. He launched ecommerce marketplace Baazee, India's answer to eBay, in 2000 – the year that saw the dotcom bubble burst – and sold it to eBay four years later for $50 million. It’s no wonder that downturns don’t worry Avnish. ‘When businesses start in downturns, they are built the right way,’ you’ll hear him say in this episode, and he also explains how that works. It’s just one of many useful messages hopeful and budding entrepreneurs will find in this episode. So, if you’re wondering if you’re on the right track with your product/startup idea, and what you can do to grow a successful business, turn up the volume, sit back and listen.

You’ll learn a little about business and a lot about life: how to frame your perspective, how to enjoy deeper, more meaningful experiences and connections and make the time for the things that matter most, what books to read to guide you along, and how to fend off that dreaded FOMO that makes us all do all the wrong things for all the wrong reasons.

If restoring structures that were constructed centuries ago has taught conservation architect VIKAS DILAWARI anything, it's how to embrace what he calls the 'least bad compromise' - because sometimes, it's simply not possible to find the exact material he wants or to go back to a long-abandoned technique. It's the trick to being happy in life, too, Vikas believes: accepting that sometimes you won't get what you want, and that what's 'good enough' can actually prove to be pretty great in the long run. It's an incredible thing to be able to be happy with what you have, says Vikas, but this, like the need to find time for his family and for other things that matter, was something he learnt over time and through experiences. His daughter once even told him, 'You've been conserving so many things, now conserve your home.'

Vikas chooses his projects carefully now, preferring to immerse himself in select projects, rather than to pile up the contracts. The result? Seventeen of the buildings he's worked on have bagged UNESCO Asia Pacific awards for cultural preservation in Southeast Asia. But it took Vikas a while to slow down and to go back to something life had tried to teach him - rather painfully - in his early days as a conservation architect: the need for balance. 

On this episode of THE UPPERCASE PODCAST, the renowned conservation architect talks about what helps him to check his expectations, the need to shut out the noise and focus on what's important for yourself, and about the powerful tool that helps one through the tough times: a sense of humour.     

'What's the good word' wasn't just some quiz show she hosted back in the 80s. SABIRA MERCHANT actually helped create the concept of the TV contest that went on to captivate the country. And, it was so much more than just a fun competition for Sabira, who was just a little girl when she discovered the power of a good vocabulary. In her book, A Full Life (Jaico Publishing), Sabira writes about how, as a young girl, she taught herself to pronounce words correctly, and about how that afforded her a certain confidence whenever she accompanied her father to social gatherings.  

All through her life, in fact, she's watched communication skills transform personalities, relationships and  even destinies - and as a renowned communication and etiquette coach, Sabira has often played an integral role in achieving these life-changing transformations. On this episode of The Uppercase Podcast, she shares some of these stories and offers listeners some great tips - because, well, she just couldn't resist :)