Hi, I'm Neville J. McKenzie. I am the host of AsiaBizStories - Entrepreneurs in Action, where I bring you conversations and discussions with entrepreneurs in and around Asia. The purpose is to inform entrepreneurs that are both experienced and new starters on what is happening, and what it takes to be an entrepreneur in Asia. This takes me on my own entrepreneurial journey as I navigate a cross-cultural business environment where language and background differences add to the complexity of the new business opportunities that are presenting themselves in the Asia today. In my past, I've been an international athlete, electronic engineer, market developer, college lecturer, a very varied career path. I was born and grew up in the UK and lived in China for over 13 years. Now I am entering the world of social media and mass communication, and for the first time, creating something of my own. With this the words "scary challenge" comes to mind. I'd like you to join me on this venture and hopefully, I can give you something that will help you in your own entrepreneurial journey.
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Hi, I'm Neville J. McKenzie. I am the host of AsiaBizStories - Entrepreneurs in Action, where I bring you conversations and discussions with entrepreneurs in and around Asia. The purpose is to inform entrepreneurs that are both experienced and new starters on what is happening, and what it takes to be an entrepreneur in Asia. This takes me on my own entrepreneurial journey as I navigate a cross-cultural business environment where language and background differences add to the complexity of the new business opportunities that are presenting themselves in the Asia today. In my past, I've been an international athlete, electronic engineer, market developer, college lecturer, a very varied career path. I was born and grew up in the UK and lived in China for over 13 years. Now I am entering the world of social media and mass communication, and for the first time, creating something of my own. With this the words "scary challenge" comes to mind. I'd like you to join me on this venture and hopefully, I can give you something that will help you in your own entrepreneurial journey.
Hari Pudipeddi: The Future of Ideas — Why Solving Real Problems Beats Chasing Trends
Entrepreneurs in Action
52 minutes 57 seconds
2 weeks ago
Hari Pudipeddi: The Future of Ideas — Why Solving Real Problems Beats Chasing Trends
Hari Pudeddii
https://youtu.be/HDJ1MICWviM
Hari Pudipeddi’s Background and Career TransitionEarly Influences and Career Path: Hari is a seasoned health-tech professional with a BSc and MSc in Computer Science, followed by a master’s in General Management. He spent 12.5 years at Cerner, joining as one of the company’s first ten hires in India (2004–2016). Exposure to large-scale healthcare systems, product thinking, and APAC operations shaped his strengths in product strategy, go-to-market, and translating real problems into workable solutions. He splits time between Melbourne and Bangalore to stay close to customers, teams, and new business models.Previous Corporate Career: At Cerner, Hari gained deep experience in complex, regulated environments and scaled product delivery, which informs his emphasis on clarity of problem definition, operational discipline, and commercially viable execution. He also teaches product and GTM in universities and institutes, and hosts conversations with founders who are bootstrapping rather than fundraising.Transition to Entrepreneurship: In 2016, Hari left corporate to build a co-working SaaS. After securing a few clients, he exited the model, recognising it wouldn’t scale in the Indian context. In 2019, he moved into PropTech and later founded/led product strategy at HAPLO. To bootstrap responsibly, he cleared personal loans, sold his house, and reduced fixed costs to extend runway—advocating for MVPs, fast customer feedback loops, and frugal use of grants over premature fundraising.
The Business: Product Strategy and Venture BuildingHari focuses on product strategy, venture design, and fractional product leadership across APAC. His philosophy is to pursue “meaningful problem + process improvement” over novelty for its own sake. He champions layered validation: define the monetisable pain, size the magnitude, and prove early revenue potential before seeking capital.
Services Offered:Product Strategy & GTM: Defining the problem, shaping the solution, and creating a path to first customers and revenue.Fractional Product Leadership: Part-time/short-term engagements to establish product foundations, discovery cadences, and execution rhythms.Advisory & Education: Teaching product and GTM, mentoring founders on MVPs, metrics, and capital efficiency.
Differentiating Bootstrapping and FundraisingBootstrapping: Founder belief plus prudent capital allocation; create a multi-year runway, build an MVP, validate with customers, and iterate quickly. Grants can help, but must be used frugally and onshore (India/Australia) to serve employment and local-impact goals.Fundraising: In today’s market, investors expect evidence of traction and a working model. “AI” on a slide can signal high capex (GPUs, infra). Most SMEs should deploy AI to improve efficiency, not attempt to build foundational models.
Founder Interaction, Policy Context, and ChallengesWhen advising founders, Hari probes the “why now,” time pressures, and end goals, then researches the ideal customer’s context to align solution and message. He highlights how grants and incubators (India/Australia) work similarly, with Australian programmes often state-level and both countries enforcing onshore spend. He stresses Rural Cyclic Economies (RCEs) in India—keeping value, skills, and spend local to reduce brain drain—and contrasts “futuristic” moonshots with granular, locally relevant solutions (citing UPI, Digi Yatra, and accessibility tech examples). A recurring challenge is expectation management: prioritising solvable, monetisable pains over assumed problems or hype cycles.
AI: Practical Perspective and Adoption CurveHari distinguishes AI from automation and frames today’s LLMs as AI tools, not “AI itself.
Entrepreneurs in Action
Hi, I'm Neville J. McKenzie. I am the host of AsiaBizStories - Entrepreneurs in Action, where I bring you conversations and discussions with entrepreneurs in and around Asia. The purpose is to inform entrepreneurs that are both experienced and new starters on what is happening, and what it takes to be an entrepreneur in Asia. This takes me on my own entrepreneurial journey as I navigate a cross-cultural business environment where language and background differences add to the complexity of the new business opportunities that are presenting themselves in the Asia today. In my past, I've been an international athlete, electronic engineer, market developer, college lecturer, a very varied career path. I was born and grew up in the UK and lived in China for over 13 years. Now I am entering the world of social media and mass communication, and for the first time, creating something of my own. With this the words "scary challenge" comes to mind. I'd like you to join me on this venture and hopefully, I can give you something that will help you in your own entrepreneurial journey.
