Kunal Shah & The WhatsApp Acid Test

He’s been called the philosopher founder, but now Kunal Shah is entering uncharted territory, even for someone as storied as him

Added to Saved Stories in Login VIEW SAVED STORIES .inc42-toggle-item-popup { display: none; position: relative; } .toggle-item-close { text-align: end; padding: 8px 12px 0px 10px; position: absolute; right: 0; cursor: pointer; } .toggle-items-content-main { display: block; position: relative; top: 27px; left: -204px; border-radius: 12px; background: #FFF; box-shadow: 0px 4px 24px 0px rgba(100, 100, 100, 0.25); width: 435px; height: 115px; } .toggle-items-content { display: flex; align-items: baseline; justify-content: center; padding-top: 22px; } .toggle-items-content .items-content-text .h4-saved-story{ color: #000; font-size: 20px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; line-height: normal; text-transform: capitalize; margin: 2px 0 10px 6px; } .toggle-items-content .items-content-text .myInc42-plus-dark { width: 100px !important; } .toggle-items-content .items-content-text .myInc42-light { width: 80px !important; } .toggle-items-content .items-content-text img{ height: 22px; } .view-my-feed-btn { width: 100%; text-align: center; display: flex; justify-content: center; } .view-my-feed-btn a { width: auto !important; } .view-my-feed-btn button { border-radius: 4px; background: linear-gradient(180deg, #DA1B4D 0%, #E23026 100%); color: #fff; font-size: 12px; display: inline-block !important; min-width: 162px; width: 162px !important; height: 34px !important; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; line-height: normal; padding: 10px; cursor: pointer; } .CustomIconStyled { position: absolute; right: 180px; top: -80px; } .SubDropdownModelShare .sub-arrow-icon { width: 76px; height: 80px; position: relative; overflow: hidden; box-shadow: none; } @media (max-width:767px) { .toggle-items-content .items-content-text .h4-saved-story{ margin: 4px 0 10px 6px; font-size: 18px; } .toggle-items-content { align-items: center; } }

“Kunal Shah represents the very best of India’s startup ecosystem: bold thinking, intellectual curiosity, relentless execution and the ability to challenge conventional wisdom.” 

That was Amitabh Kant, the former CEO of Niti Aayog, on social media platform X, just as hordes of luminaries and key figures in the startup ecosystem had already proclaimed on various social media platforms. 

And a similar sentiment was echoed by the majority of startup founders and investors that we spoke to this week. 

Way before he became one of India’s most decorated angel investors or built one of the most popular fintech unicorns, Kunal Shah was asking a different set of questions. 

He spent time understanding why people make the choices they do and more, instead of obsessing over new technology.  

Those questions would eventually mould Shah’s thinking which are reflected in everything that Shah built from the little-known PaisaBack to FreeCharge to CRED, his biggest startup by scale and revenue. 

That perspective was shaped by an unconventional path into entrepreneurship. Unlike many startup founders who held engineering degrees often from IITs, Shah held a philosophy degree at Mumbai’s Wilson College. Before stepping into the startup ecosystem, he also took up jobs, including working as a delivery boy and a data entry operator to pay his college fees. 

That early experience sets him apart from other founders and many attribute his iconoclasm to this origin. As one person we spoke to said, these experiences taught him everyday consumer behavior long before he began building products around it. 

This is perhaps why Shah is one of the key voices of India’s startup ecosystem. His ideas on incentives, consumer behavior and product building have influenced founders across sectors, despite the shadow of persistent losses around CRED. 

Startup founders and investors who have worked with Shah over the years, stressed that he is less interested in technology and........

© Inc42