India’s startup founders are done chasing growth at any cost. That was the clear message at the latest edition of Huddle, Ascent Foundation’s event series held across India, where Kuntal Shah, Co-founder of CricHeroes, and Darshan Shah, Co-founder of NewsReach, took the stage in Ahmedabad to speak about building businesses that last — and why the shortcuts rarely work.
Ascent Foundation, promoted by Harsh Mariwala, Chairman of Marico Limited, runs a peer learning platform for entrepreneurs and has been taking Huddle to cities across the country.
CricHeroes was built on a simple observation — amateur cricket had no structured data. The platform now serves grassroots players, a segment the mainstream cricket industry had little interest in. “Funding new ideas through an existing core business dilutes attention and hampers growth,” Shah said. “Separating the new venture with independent funding helped us scale with clarity.”
NewsReach offers PR services to small businesses and startups, many of them outside Mumbai and Delhi — markets that established agencies rarely bothered with. Darshan Shah’s advice to early-stage founders was direct: prove demand before spending on technology. “Clarity of problem-solving and the ability to sell the idea are more critical than building complex infrastructure,” he said. “Technology should follow once the business shows it can scale.”
Both founders made the same underlying point — the better opportunities are often in the segments nobody is chasing. Neither market looked glamorous on paper. “Large opportunities often lie in segments overlooked by traditional players,” Shah said.
On monetisation, Kuntal Shah was candid. Building users without building revenue had been a trap. “We have taken firm steps towards a sustainable revenue model by charging users and moving away from discount-driven growth,” he said. “Excessive discounting creates dependency rather than long-term value.” Investors, both founders noted, are now asking harder questions about unit economics.
CricHeroes was approached by fantasy gaming and betting platforms. The company turned them down. “We chose to prioritise user trust and long-term vision over short-term gains,” Shah said.
Darshan Shah pushed back on the assumption that scaling means hiring. “Advancements in technology and the role of AI have enabled startups to achieve scale without proportionate increases in headcount,” he said. “Growth does not necessarily require large teams.”
Both founders acknowledged that building from Ahmedabad has trade-offs — fewer investors nearby, less networking by default. But talent retention, lower costs, and fewer distractions make it worth it.
“Most days in a startup are inherently tough,” one of them said. “Success lies in the ability to persist through uncertainty.”
