Ep 143: Could It Be India’s Next $10B Company ft. BorderPlus
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Who is Mayank Kumar and what inspired him to launch BorderPlus?
For my hiding thing also I asked, sorry, Mazin, not to say that I would not hire anybody from Bombay, but uh uh but but I do ask that question that where did you grow up? Uh and and that just gives me a little bit more sort of context around the person that is looking at hiding as well.
Welcome to episode 145 of Founders Unfiltered. I'm Avril here with Mazan. We've been running this podcast for over five years and the goal's always been simple. Unscripted honest conversations with Indian founders about what it really takes to build a company. Today's guest is Mayan Kumar, the co-founder and CEO of Border Plus, a healthcare focused platform enabling Indian nurses to access global opportunities. Before Border Plus, Mayang co founded Upgrad, one of India's largest ed tech companies, which today serves over 2 million learners and has raised more than $600 million. Dollars in capital. Uh with Border Plus, Manc is taken taking a very different but I think equally ambitious path. Uh building at the intersection of healthcare and global mobility.
Uh there's obviously a big angle of education here. Um in just its early innings, the company has raised more than seven million in funding and set its sights on crossing 100 crores in revenue. In the next two years. With expansion across US, UK, Europe, GCC, and Asia planned, um, it's going to be a very interesting few five years for Manc and team. Uh, in this episode, we'll dive into Manc's journey, which is quite interesting from IIT to ISB to building two very different ventures. Um, and now how he's carrying those lessons into building Border Plus. Mang welcome to the podcast.
Yeah, thanks. Thanks, Abh. Thank you for having me here today.
Uh so Mang, we'll start with the rapid fire, uh usually just to you know, know things beyond what we may hear. But you're not
saying the question of the rapid fire yet, so
So the first question is who's a founder or leader you'd blindly back?
Uh I think Steve uh Jobs and Steve uh I mean Steve Jobs definitely.
I understood. One book, film or mental model that shaped how you think?
One book, uh I would say Zero to One by Peter Thiel. Definitely had a big impact on how I think about ventures and companies.
What's a myth about ed tech startups in India you wish more people knew?
The uh there's a lot more focus on tech than on ed. And that has to change in the ed tech ecosystem. I think the ed tech world should sort of go away overall.
Interesting. Your go to ritual or daily habit before starting work?
Uh either on long run or uh uh a hit at the gym. Uh uh definitely sort of quite particular about the health. It changed during COVID. Uh before that I was very casual, very relaxed, but During COVID health became one of the most important things to take care of.
Nice. How how m how much do you run, Mank, if you
Oh shit. No, so I think day I o over the weekday it's about close to ten ish. Like and then over the weekend it's fifteen twenty. Uh
Wow.
I did the comrades of ninety kilometers, which was a Ten hour run or nine hour, forty four minutes run. Uh South Africa. So for that you have to train a lot, a hell lot.
Yeah, I I think endurance is a founder thing. Uh a as well. Uh like for for this year I have not skipped working out. Any day, like for
Fantastic.
All days. So
I I'm not that particular. I still take one one day uh rest day in the week. Uh in
the week.
So usually it's Tuesday or Wednesday, one of these two days uh for the body to recover.
Nice. Um if border plus didn't exist today What would you be building?
Uh upgrade.
Okay. If you were not building upgrade or bottom plus what would you be building?
Uh no I think fair it's a good question. So if I was not doing that, I am passionate about um um early schooling and kids schooling. So something to do in education in the sort of uh Let's say grade five to grade ten, uh or running a school myself at some point of time.
Nice. What's an AI tool or use case that surprised you?
That was a very interesting one that um Uh you would sometime wake up to a chat group early in the morning and you have no clue what had happened and there would be like five hundred messages.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Who is Mayank Kumar and what inspired him to launch BorderPlus?
0:00–6:34
2
How did Mayank’s early life in a small town shape his entrepreneurial mindset?
6:34–12:38
3
What lessons did Mayank learn from his consulting and VC experience before founding UpGrad?
12:38–18:42
4
How did UpGrad achieve product‑market fit and scale to a $600 M business?
18:42–23:47
5
Why did Mayank decide to leave UpGrad and focus on the blue‑collar workforce?
23:47–30:41
6
What is BorderPlus’s end‑to‑end model for skilling, recruiting and relocating nurses?
30:41–36:35
7
How does BorderPlus build trust with nurses and international employers?
36:35–42:37
8
What are BorderPlus’s growth targets for 2030 and how will macro trends affect them?
42:37–48:43
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