Startups to stardom, founders ride success

From fintech firebrands to gadget gurus, top Indian entrepreneurs are leveraging their social media stardom, building personal brands and driving revenue streams beyond their core businesses.

- Pratishtha Bagai

Ashneer Grover, former BharatPe executive, is charging premium rates for brand collaborations, boasting millions of views in a lucrative side hustle. BoAt's Aman Gupta sees social media as a route to boost his company's sales, while Zerodha's Nikhil Kamath invests heavily in high-production-value podcasts, aiming to transform educational content into a new media empire.

Grover, who has over 1.4 million Instagram followers, regularly engages with the travel, humor, and lifestyle-related content he posts. In his 902 posts on the image-sharing platform, he has featured a row of influencers, including Chetan Goyal, Harshita Gupta, and Shubham Gaur.

"After getting popular, I thought about how to use my fame constructively. Incidentally, after getting featured in the first season of Shark Tank, I was approached by many influencers for collaborations. As that content did well, raking anywhere between five to 10 million views organically, I figured social media content was a way for me to monetize my fame," Grover said.

Grover has also collaborated with Prime Video, JioHotstar, and Zee5 to promote various shows.

"Since I have a higher brand value than influencers, I charge brands higher than them, but with high engagement, I deliver a good return on investment," he said.

Grover settled a two-year-long legal dispute with BharatPe in 2024, forfeiting his shareholding and association with the company. He is now working on a new fintech, ZeroPe.

Meanwhile, Gupta of consumer electronics maker BoAt, also a Shark Tank entrepreneur, sees social media content as an opportunity to boost business.