E152: Near Bankruptcy to $250M ARR | Rohan Nayak (CEO, Pocket FM)
Description
Rohan Nayak is the Co-founder & CEO of Pocket FM, a company redefining audio storytelling for the world.
While we’ve recently been publishing video episodes, this one’s a throwback to pure audio. Rohan had to travel unexpectedly, but we didn’t want to miss the chance to capture his insights on building one of India's fastest-growing consumer tech companies.
Pocket FM is making waves globally — having recently raised $103 million in Series D funding, bringing total funding to $196.5 million, with backing from Lightspeed, Tanglin Venture Partners, Goodwater Capital, and Naver. With $150 million+ in ARR and 57% QoQ growth, they’re showing that audio isn’t just alive — it’s thriving.
In today's episode, Rohan shares how building from India creates efficient growth playbooks, the nuances of global GTM, and why the future of content might sound a lot more like audio than you think.
⌛ Timestamps:
- Motivation behind starting a company (3:55 )
- Why Rohan chose audio as a medium (5:20 )
- Early reactions to Pocket FM’s vision (12:20 )
- How audio is transforming short-form storytelling (22:10 )
- Why audio has a higher creative bar than video (24:30 )
- Localization and Pocket FM’s global expansion plan (25:40 )
- The role of A/B testing in content development (32:25 )
- How A/B testing works specifically for audio (37:20 )
- Audio’s ability to transcend cultural boundaries (39:39 )
- How Pocket FM finds breakout "blockbuster" shows (40:40 )
- Why US-origin stories scale better globally (42:25 )
- What content categories work—and which don’t (43:00 )
- Top 3 learnings from going to market in the US (43:52 )
- Mistakes Pocket FM made in their GTM journey (47:32 )
- How culture shapes global go-to-market strategy (50:35 )
- How Pocket FM is using AI to enhance storytelling (54:50 )
- Rohan’s five-year vision for Pocket FM (1:01:35 )
- Why AI will supercharge the next generation of creators (1:03:39 )
- Personal lessons Rohan has learned as a founder (1:07:00 )
- What keeps him grounded — the concept of "Basecamp" (1:11:15 )
🎥 Subscribe to watch more unfiltered, unscripted conversations that will inspire, educate, and entertain!
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