On Friday, 27th November 2020, the DAIS Leadership Series was graced by the presence of Mr. Kunal Shah, who is the founder of CRED and FreeCharge. He founded CRED in 2018, with a mission to bring the benefits of high-trust communities to creditworthy individuals in developing countries. Mr. Shah combines a deep understanding of people and behaviour with a knowledge of technology and financial products to successfully create new categories and build viable businesses. He has been an advisor to the board of Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd., the Chairman of the Internet and Mobile Association of Indian and an advisor to Y- Combinator and Sequoia Capital India. He is an active angel investor who mentored and made notable investments in companies such as Unacademy, RazorPay, Go-Jek, Innov8, and Zilingo among others. He is also a voracious reader and is fascinated by the human mind and behavioural economics.

Mr. Shah’s talk was uniquely relatable yet incredibly informative, as he debunked common myths about what defines success, and instead how it is actually achieved. An unexpected yet essential piece of advice he shared with students was the importance of struggle and failure - these are not only learning opportunities, but also create a hunger to reach even greater heights. As a young entrepreneur who has already gained so much success in his career, he was extremely inspiring for students who are keen on undertaking a similar career path. The most important lesson that he shared was that of being able to observe and take advantage of unique opportunities in the market. In the case of CRED, India’s culture of saving for events such as weddings and purposes such as healthcare makes good credit very important, and by rewarding savers for maintaining good credit, a successful business was established.

After his talk, he answered the many questions that excited students had for him. Given CRED’s relatively new presence in the market still resulting in tremendous success, this was a very unique opportunity. He spoke about developing new businesses, what worked well for CRED, and what inspires him to keep pushing for success. The most memorable interaction with CRED for several students was the unique ad campaign, and when asked about this, he spoke about risk taking. As a young company, spending capital to sponsor an event as large as the IPL is unconventional, but the marketing exposure more than paid off. His wonderful talk left students thoughtful about their own futures, excited with the new information they had gained about how to be successful entrepreneurs.