215+ Crores Raised, 75+ Companies & 100% Success ft Grip Co-Founders | FO 31 - Raj Shamani
with Nikhil, Ashish & Vivek
Executive Summary
Grip co-founders Nikhil, Ashish and Vivek tell Raj Shamani how three colleagues from mobility startup Chalo teamed up around one shared problem - hardworking Indians whose money sits idle in FDs and savings accounts while the top 0.1% let their money make money. They explain why they wrote a culture note before anything else, with vision, values, working styles and even shutdown questions; why they define ownership as delivering end outcomes, not sending emails; and why giving context is a form of respect. They break down why Indians chase returns instead of wealth creation, how Grip's 10,000-rupee minimum ticket lets trust build slowly (first investment ~30,000, seven times that within a year), why 30-35% of users arrive by referral, and how a 200-user WhatsApp group became their product gold mine. They close with their decade goals - including building Grip into an institution and making themselves irrelevant.
Key Takeaways
Co-founders should bond over the problem, not just the idea
All three founders had separately felt the same pain - money lying idle in FDs and savings accounts with no accessible alternatives. When they compared notes and found the same problem, the same solution and the same mindset, they wrote the problem statement down first and built Grip from that shared conviction.
Write the culture note before anything else
The first thing the three wrote was a culture note: the company's vision, mission, five values, styles of working, each founder's personal two- and five-year goals, and even what happens if the company shuts down. Their advice: co-founder or not, every company should write its culture note at the start - in a remote world, that alignment, not money or perks, is what keeps people together.
Ownership means end outcomes, not activity
Grip defines ownership as taking responsibility for end outcomes. People sending emails to each other is not an outcome for the company; ownership is getting the result delivered to the end user. Everyone being a shareholder matters less than everyone thinking this way.
Giving context is a form of respect
One of Grip's listed working styles is to always give context - what the work delivers for the organization. Telling someone to do something without context disrespects their ability to apply their own mind and possibly deliver more than you asked. Companies expect people to be owners but deny them the context ownership requires.
Indians chase returns, not wealth creation
Asked why alternative investment adoption lags while crypto booms, a founder answers in one line: people are running after returns, not wealth creation. Crypto's gold-rush stories (friends only brag about percentage wins, never rupee amounts) pull in tiny ticket sizes, while wealth creation is consistent returns compounding - and alternative assets lack both liquidity and loud champions.
In finance, let trust build at the user's own pace
Grip's minimum ticket is 10,000 rupees so people can try and watch. A typical user's first investment is around 30,000 rupees, the next around 40,000, and after a year on the platform their total is seven times the initial amount. 90% of users never contact the company, and 30-35% of all users come because another user told them - if you get it right, you do not need marketing.
Your most engaged users will build the product with you
Users spontaneously started a WhatsApp group that grew to about 200 of Grip's most engaged customers. The founders treat it as a gold mine: the group gives unfiltered feedback on everything, down to a single word changed on the website, and every new launch is tested with them first. Even their harshest critics - like a ten-time investor threatening to stop unless a feature ships - are pushing the product forward.
The Conversation Breakdown
From Chalo to Grip
⏱ Untimed topicThe three founders met at mobility startup Chalo - one co-founded it, another managed Kolkata, the third joined later. Chalo began by fitting GPS in city buses so commuters could track arrivals like an Uber, and grew into ticketing and smart cards for city buses. Working together there, the three discovered a shared frustration with the lack of investment options beyond FDs, RDs, equity and mutual funds, and decided to solve it together.
The culture note comes first
⏱ Untimed topicBefore hiring or building, the founders wrote Grip's culture note: vision, mission, five values, working styles, personal two- and five-year goals, and hard questions including what happens if the company shuts down. They walk through its components - ownership defined as end outcomes, giving context as a working style - and share the anti-lessons each took from past organizations: do not hire family, no micromanagement, no artificial urgency where everything is priority.
The problem: idle money in a hardworking country
⏱ Untimed topicOne founder's Morgan Stanley restrictions kept his own money in FDs and savings accounts, and they found the pattern everywhere: most Indians create wealth only by working harder and paying 30% tax, while the top 0.1% let their money make money. Grip's problem statement: hardworking people's money should work harder than they do, and the platform exists to provide the investment options that make that possible.
Why India runs after returns, not wealth
⏱ Untimed topicThe founders diagnose the adoption gap: crypto wins attention through gold-rush return stories, though average crypto ticket sizes are tiny and few build real wealth; wealth creation is consistent compounding returns. Fractionalization alone did not solve adoption - liquidity (24-36 month products) and the absence of visible champions (no Elon Musk tweeting about stable passive income) keep the category quiet, so Grip now works on the entire user experience, aiming to make it as simple as stock investing.
Trust as the growth engine
⏱ Untimed topicTheir observed playbook: a 10,000-rupee minimum ticket lets users try and watch; typical first investments run around 30,000 rupees, growing to seven times that within a year; 90% of users never contact support; and 30-35% of users arrive via referral. Raj distills the lesson for new categories: let people try, deliver exactly what you committed, and trust turns into both larger investments and word of mouth.
The 200-user WhatsApp gold mine
⏱ Untimed topicUsers organically created a WhatsApp group of about 200 of Grip's most engaged customers, who give brutally unfiltered feedback - a single word changed on the website gets noticed, and every launch is tested with them first. The founders call it a gold mine: even the member who has invested ten times and threatens to stop unless a feature ships is, in their reading, rooting for the product.
Decade goals: institutions over startups
⏱ Untimed topicEach founder answers Raj's 'what will you build this decade' question: building an organization that offers equal opportunities while staying healthily busy; building products so good that competitors copy them (copying just pushes the next design); and turning Grip into an institution like HDFC or Goldman Sachs that outlasts its founders - his own KRA, he says, is to become irrelevant. They advise Raj to make Figuring Out bigger than himself by nurturing new faces and becoming a creator of creators.
Core Frameworks & Ideas
The culture note
Grip's founding document, written before hiring or building: company vision, mission, five values, explicit working styles, each founder's personal goals, and answers to hard questions like shutdown scenarios. The founders' claim: alignment on this document, not money or perks, is what holds a remote team together.
Ownership as end outcomes
Grip defines ownership as taking responsibility for the end outcome delivered to the user, not for activity like sending emails. The test is whether the result reached the end user, not whether effort happened.
Context as respect
A listed working style: never assign work without explaining what it delivers for the organization. Withholding context wastes the person's ability to improve on the request - and expecting ownership without context is a one-way street.
The trust ladder for financial products
Grip's adoption model: a low minimum ticket (10,000 rupees) lets users try without fear; delivering exactly what was committed converts trials into larger repeat investments (around 7x within a year); satisfied users become the referral engine (30-35% of users), because any financial instrument is in the business of trust.
Actionable Next Steps
- ✓If you are starting or joining a venture, draft a one-page culture note first: vision, mission, five values, working styles, and the hard questions, and align on it with your partners.
- ✓Audit your own assignments this week: for anything you delegated without context, add the 'what this delivers' explanation and watch how the output changes.
- ✓Redefine one role's ownership around an end outcome delivered to a user, not a list of activities.
- ✓If you are building a product in a new category, lower the entry cost of trying it, commit to one clear promise, and deliver exactly that before adding anything.
- ✓Identify your 50-200 most engaged users or customers and create a direct, unfiltered feedback channel with them before your next launch.
Notable Quotes
“I think people are running after returns and not wealth creation.”
“Their money should work harder than they work.”
“every company should write the culture note at the beginning of their journey”
“we define ownership in our company as taking responsibility for end outcomes.”
“almost like a disrespect to tell someone to do something without giving context”
“if you get it right, you don't need to do any marketing”
“my KRA is to become irrelevant.”
The One Thing to Remember
The founders' whole playbook runs on one idea: trust is the product - write it into your culture note, deliver exactly what you commit, let users start small, and the referrals and larger tickets follow on their own.