Jul 4, 2021 · 37m · neon-show
How @JoshTalksLive went viral in India? ft. Co-founder, Supriya Paul
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In this episode of the Hundred X Entrepreneur Podcast, Josh Talks co-founder Supriya Paul discusses the company's journey from organizing college events into building a massive vernacular media network and edtech platform. She shares critical insights on content strategy, monetization pivots, voice-first product innovation with Josh Skills, and the mission-driven culture guiding their multi-decade commitment to empowering youth across Bharat.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Siddhartha holds 0.1% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Siddhartha as informed peer 3.3 Guest teaching 3.7 Guest disagreement 0.4 Siddhartha pushing back 0.2
speaking balance: gold is Siddhartha, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 35:40 Reframing peer calling as community retention
When the host jokingly challenges whether users abuse voice practice features for dating, Supriya immediately flips the premise, arguing that community connections keep students engaged.
Hardest push from Siddhartha ▶ 21:57 Challenging positioning against massive edtech rivalsSiddharth presses Supriya on how she manages investor comparisons and internal doubts when competing with heavily funded giants like Byju's and Unacademy.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 22:50 Prioritizing employability outcomes over course proliferationSupriya explains why churning out superficial communications courses hurts users despite providing quick cash, asserting that completion and real employment impact matter far more.
Siddhartha holds their own ▶ 1:05 Citing shared founding history at Innov8Siddharth contextualizes the guest's entire trajectory by citing their shared early days starting companies alongside Ritesh Malik at Innov8 in Connaught Place.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Siddhartha as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Siddhartha pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bridging Generational Inequity Through Long-Term Commitment | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Siddharth warmly introduces Supriya, referencing their shared beginnings at the Innov8 coworking space. Supriya gives a detailed overview of transitioning Josh Talks from physical college events to a nationwide vernacular studio model and skill-training platform. | |
| Financial Milestones and Transition to B2C Subscriptions | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | Siddharth inquires about financial progression and funding rounds. Supriya walks through their revenue growth from 40,000 INR to 10.5 crores and explains their strategic shift toward B2C subscriptions. | |
| Content Evolution: From Celebrities to Relatable Grassroots Stories | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | The host recalls early landmark moments like Anurag Kashyap's talk. Supriya explains how content evolved away from celebrities toward relatable, vulnerable grassroots stories tailored by regional language. | |
| Content Strategy and Growth Advice for Aspiring Creators | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | Supriya details YouTube growth pillars like release consistency and packaging, then narrates an intense near-bankruptcy moment before an event that forced them to sell stalls to stay afloat. | |
| Overcoming Self-Doubt Across Pivots and Tech Scaling | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | Siddharth asks about overcoming doubt during pivotal moments. Supriya explains navigating skepticism around regional video consumption and her learning curve entering tech and engineering management. | |
| A Multi-Decade Mission to Level the Playing Field | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | Supriya articulates the company's multi-decade mission to correct systemic generational inequality, emphasizing that they track real economic outcomes and promotions rather than superficial metrics. | |
| Navigating EdTech Competition and Prioritizing Course Completion | 4 | 5 | 1 | 1 | Siddharth asks how the team avoids feeling intimidated by massive venture-backed edtech competitors. Supriya explains why Josh refuses to launch vanity courses just for fast revenue, prioritizing actual completion and employability. | |
| Forward Horizons: Target Metrics and Revenue Goals | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | The host asks for future target metrics and hiring philosophy. Supriya shares goals of reaching 2 million paid users and explains their culture of extreme employee ownership. | |
| Expanding Brand Reach Through 'All You Need Is Josh' | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Supriya explains the origin of publishing their book with Bloomsbury and outlines the three foundational cultural tenets of Josh: ziddi (stubbornness), authenticity, and accountability. | |
| Co-Founder Synergy: Balancing User Obsession with Business Execution | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | Siddharth asks about the co-founder dynamic. Supriya highlights how Shobit deeply embeds himself in user communities like living among delivery workers while she handles external partnerships and revenue operations. | |
| Essential Mentors: Ankur Warikoo and Ritesh Malik | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | The discussion covers mentors like Ankur Warikoo and the product architecture of the Josh Skills app. When Siddharth jokes about users using peer-to-peer calling for dating, Supriya embraces the idea as community building that boosts course completion. |
Statements from this episode (18)
Moving Josh Talks from English to Hindi was the company's smartest decision
“And I think that was like the smartest and the biggest decision that we made, which was to move completely into Hindi from an English or an English platform. And then soon after Hindi started picking up online on YouTube, we decided to launch in seven other re…”
Josh Talks scaled annual revenue from 40,000 INR to 10.5 crore INR
“So I think the first year we did maybe 40,000 in revenue. The second year we moved to six lakhs. The third year was 40 lakhs. The year after that was one and a half, then five and a half, and then we ended the last year at about 10 and a half.”
Josh Skills generates 20 lakhs monthly and 2.5 crores annually
“So skills is fairly new, but it's about 20 lakhs a month. So you can take about two and a half crores from last year's revenue was driven by skills.”
Josh Talks raised a 1.5 crore angel round from notable tech founders
“We didn't raise any money up until the second or third year of operations, where we did a small angel round for one and a half crores, where we had people like Ritesh, we had Girish Matraputam from Freshworks, and a couple of other angels, Rohit and Nana in We…”
Josh Talks grew monthly views from 500K to 75M on 1.5Cr capital
“And so with one and a half crores of capital is what we built you know, took Joe stocks from one language into seven other languages and built our viewership, I think, from, It was close to like 500,000 at that point of time to now, which is seventy five milli…”
Everyday stories outperform celebrity talks on the Josh Talks platform
“Celebrity talks don't do really well as compared to you know, Anam Admi's talk. Because that's basically what we're known for right now. It's almost like your, you know, shopkeeper, or Kirana store owner, this is his story.”
Hindi audiences seek government jobs, while Marathi audiences prefer business content
“For example, like with Hindi, a huge part of our audience wants, aspires to be a government servant. So we have a huge category in government jobs. As opposed to Marathi where, you know most of our users are interested in business. So there are a lot of storie…”
Josh Talks faced a 12 lakh venue bill with only 80,000 INR
“We were literally four days away from the event. We had you know, 12 lakhs to pay to the stadium, and we had, I think, 80,000 in our account.”
Vernacular Indian video barely existed in 2017 outside South entertainment channels
“Video also, vernacular video did not exist in 2017. When we were there was only maybe two or three other players in the south, mostly in the entertainment category. You didn't know of any channels that actually existed in Marathi, Punjabi, Bengali.”
Josh Talks videos see exponential view growth in years two and three
“What we've seen is, like, a video actually performs better in year two and year three. So it's almost like our views grow exponentially in year two and year three, as opposed to, you know, everybody consuming it at this point of time.”
Josh Skills refuses to accept standard 2% edtech course completion rates
“We don't want to be in the space where two to three percent of our users are actually completing that course because we didn't start this for people to not spend time on it. We started it for them to be able to get a job after.”
Josh Talks targets reaching two million paid app users within three years
“So you know, in terms of impact, our goal is to get to about two million paid users in the next three years. And that's sort of the target that we are chasing.”
Josh Talks has 175,000 paid users on its app
“Currently we are at one lakh 75,000 paid users on the app.”
Josh Talks targets ₹33 crore revenue next year and ₹100 crore in three
“In terms of revenue from a three year perspective, we look at it at about a hundred crores, but from next financial year, it's about 33. That's where we sort of see ourselves headed.”
Josh Talks requires every employee to take on an internal side project
“It's not about just doing your current job or role that's assigned to you. Everybody picks up one side project that they work on. And when they're able to see that through, I think that fulfills them a lot. So they, you know, choose to stay with us for long pe…”
Josh Talks co-founder lived with Swiggy delivery workers for product research
“When all of us are like sort of living here in Gurgaon, et cetera, in our apartments, he chooses to live where most of the swiggy delivery bhaiya stay in Sikandarpur. Because he just wants to be able to track their behavior day in and day out, actually work wi…”
Josh Skills users average 42 minutes daily on peer-to-peer speaking practice
“An average person spends close to 42 minutes just speaking on the app per day.”
Online course completion relies on community and peer interaction over curriculum
“For people to complete a course online, it has to be much more than what's being taught. It's about who's teaching, who are you learning with? How are you interacting? What are the things that you do besides learning? And all of that kind of motivates you to s…”