2025 feels like a turning point for the Indian startup ecosystem.In this special year-end episode of the Prime Venture Partners podcast, we take a step back and look at the journey from the early days of 2010 to where we are today and what lies ahead.We talk about:• The wild early years when founders were figuring things out as they went• How Aadhaar, UPI and cheap data quietly changed everything• What COVID revealed about founder resilience• How AI is being used inside real companies today• Why India’s startup ecosystem took longer to take off, but is now scaling bigger than expectedThis is a candid, experience-led conversation from the Prime partners, shaped by nearly two decades of building and investing in Indian startups. Episode Timestamps00:00 Introduction03:17 The Three Phases of the Indian Startup Ecosystem05:16 Early Founder Reality (2010–2015)08:09 What It Was Like to Be an Investor in Early 201011:36 When No One Even Talked About Exits12:49 Early Unicorns and the First Belief Shift15:05 Founders We Underestimated and Why It Changed Our Thinking19:07 Backing People Over Plans23:29 India’s “Too Operational” Companies That Scaled Big27:46 Jio and the Moment the Internet Became Affordable29:33 When the Internet Truly Reached Bharat31:43 Aadhaar, India Stack, and Building at Population Scale35:16 COVID: Revenue to Zero and Zero-Based Accounting39:00 Crisis Decisions, Calm Leadership, and Founder Resilience43:20 The Crypto Wave: Knowing What Not to Chase46:34 Practical AI Use Cases Inside Real Companies54:07 Lessons From 15 Years of Venture Investing58:59 India’s Startup Ecosystem in One Minute If you care about startups, founders, or the future of technology in India, this episode will resonate.#IndianStartups #VentureCapital #FoundersJourney #StartupEcosystem #IndiaStack #UPI #StartupLessons #Entrepreneurship #TechInIndia #InvestingInsights #PrimeVenturePartners