When we started this newsletter in mid-2020, our ‘About Us’ page opened with the image you see below.
And the text (please don’t leave) said:
Sometimes life has you feeling listless and forlorn, kind of like the tiger you see in the picture above. In times like these, what gets us back on our feet is to have something tickle our intellectual taste buds. Tigerfeathers is a publication that aims to provide you with the same kick so you can get off your metaphorical tiger ass and go back to hunting stuff.
Just kidding, we don’t want to tell anybody to get off anything - we just like learning new things and will be using this platform to inflict those learnings on our readers.
For the adults in the room, we’ve spent a bunch of time in a bunch of different roles in the world of VC, tech and start ups. We tend to write about crypto, media, Indian fintech, the creator economy…and really anything we think is cool.
Quaint, right?
Fast forward a few years and many words, and these days we’re aiming a little higher.
At our most pretentious, our goal is for Tigerfeathers to be the intellectual centre of the Indian Internet. At our slightly-less pretentious, we’re hoping this newsletter can be the single highest source of signal on India in the 21st century.
How do we get there? Mainly by writing optimistic, deeply researched stories about Indian companies, products and people - ideally the kinds of stories that help peel back layers of Indian history, business and culture. Our sweet spot is evergreen essays that give us a window into India’s past, present and future at the same time. Sometimes we’ll write stuff just to mess around.
Why do we think this pursuit is worthwhile? Well, we believe that in the 21st century, India’s greatest stories must be told inside-out. Not filtered through a colonial lens, not mediated by a Western mouthpiece, not watered down for easier consumption. Because if we don’t tell our own stories the way they deserve to be told, who will?
Traditional media is ill-fitted and ill-equipped to be the steward of this mission. That’s where we come in.
So, if we do our jobs properly, we’re confident that Tigerfeathers can be a beacon for thoughtful analysis and debate, but also for smart, thoughtful people who are curious about the same things we are. Plus, as the Reel Economy erodes the last of our braincells, consider this corner of the Internet as a life-raft for the remaining slivers of your attention span.
Anyway, should you decide to venture on (or should you have any present or future complaints) - you should know that Aaryaman Vir (@AaryamanVir) and Rahul Sanghi (@RahulSanghi1) are the perpetrators of this publication.
If you’re convinced that this is the place for you, click the link below to join an incredible community of readers that includes some of the sharpest thinkers and decision makers from India and around the world.
If you’re new to Tigerfeathers, here’s a tasting menu of some of our best work to get things started:
Digital Public Infrastructure:
The Internet Country (on IndiaStack)
"Foundation": The Bold Bet On Moore's Law That Changed India's Destiny (on Aadhaar)
ONDC: Remixing Commerce (on the Open Network for Digital Commerce)
OCEN: A Conversation (on the Open Credit Enablement Network)
UPI Gets An Upgrade (on UPI Autopay)
“This can be as big as UPI” — Understanding the Big New Thing in Indian tech (on the Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture)
Indian Company Epics:
10 Million Users And Rising Fast: Sri Mandir's Quest To Put A Temple In Every Phone
Pepper Content: Could this Indian startup be the next Salesforce?
Crypto, Wealth-Tech, and the Creator Economy: Unpacking the Mudrex Model
Polygon: The $4bn Indian Unicorn You (Probably) Don't Know But You NEED To Hear About
Indian Policy and Sectoral Deep Dives:
Are We There Yet?📍(on India’s new mapping and geospatial policy)
When Content Meets Commerce: India’s Direct-To-Consumer Moment
The Business of Diagnostics and the Opportunity for Indian Startups
If Lending Isn’t The Answer, Does The Question Change For Fintech In India?
Historical Vignettes
Ice Ice Bombay (On frozen fortunes and white gold - the epic tale of India's first luxury commodity)
The Z-Axis🍜🏏 (How Maggi Noodles and Indian Cricket broke out of the box in 1983)
Interviews, Musings, and Munchies
Three Mangoes, Two Horns, and a Garage - A Tigerfeathers exclusive with Anupam Gupta (@b50)
The Tigerfeathers Annual Crystal-ball & Oracle Survey (TACOS, for short 🌮) i.e. our Annual Review
The Tigerfeathers Spotlight Series (our guest writer programme)
A Spotlight on...Urban Company feat. Paavan Gami
That Smells Expensive feat. Harnidh Kaur
SPONSORSHIPS
We work with Title Sponsors for each edition of the newsletter. Over the years we’ve been lucky to partner with incredible companies like Replit India, Fold Money, Lightspeed India, Finarkein Analytics, Navana.AI, Antler India, Bombay Locale, Rocket Health, TEAM and others who’ve seen fit to support our work.
We’re proud that Tigerfeathers is read by many of the leading investors, founders, operators, policy-makers and decision-makers in India. If you're interested in sponsoring a future edition of the newsletter, hit us up on Twitter/LinkedIn or by replying to any of our emails.
And if there’s a story you think we should be covering, let us know using the same channels. We hope you decide to join, and we hope you find enough juice here to stick around - Team Tigerfeathers
