Decoding Manufacturing
Season
1
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Episode
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Solving India’s Traffic Crisis with Air Taxis: Sarla Aviation
India today stands at a once-in-a-generation moment to establish itself as a global leader in advanced manufacturing. With deep-tech innovation, shifting global supply chains, and a rising domestic market that demands scale and affordability, the country has the chance to build world-class products, not just for India but for the world. Aerospace, EVs, semiconductors, and clean energy are just a few sectors where this ambition is becoming real.
Sarla Aviation is one such story. The company is building India’s first mass-market flying taxis, electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft designed to tackle the unique challenges of Indian cities. In this episode, Co-founder and CEO Adrian Schmidt takes us inside their journey: why India’s density makes it the perfect market for aerial mobility, how simplicity in design unlocks affordability, and why creating an indigenous aerospace supply chain is critical for success.
Adrian also talks about the hard trade-offs, range versus payload, cost versus complexity, and the bold vision to make flying taxis not a luxury for the elite but a true mass-mobility solution. This conversation is a glimpse into the audacious bets shaping India’s future of transportation, and how advanced manufacturing can propel the nation into the skies.
We’re looking for the next generation of successful Indian marketplaces. If you’re an early-stage marketplace founder, apply now here or learn more about the #DecodingMarketplaces Startup Hunt.
We’d love to hear about your experiences with marketplaces. Let us share our learnings and build a better and stronger ecosystem. Write to us at [email protected] to be a part of the Accel family.
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We’re building Passionfroot 1, an operating system for creators to manage their business.
We’re based in Europe and raised our $ 3.4m pre-seed round from Creandum and US angels such as Vlad (Webflow) and creators like Ali Abdaal.As we’re creating a new category and as the creator economy is global and mostly online, we’re building from Day 1 a global company and product that helps creators monetize around the world.
This brings a lot of complexities especially in terms of payments and taxes as our early users are based both in Europe and the US and deal with cross-border transactions.What are Do’s and Dont’s for European startups who have a global ambition and build products for a global customer base from Day 1. Anything you would do differently?
Thanks @pjbouten! Love how you’ve thought about incrementally shaping a category with a focus on product and service, and only then thinking about getting the message out there vs the other way around.
And totally agree on the distinctions and overlaps both self-serve and enterprise motions share.
Thanks, PJ, for taking the time to address questions from the great vantage of shaping Showpad into a global, enterprise SaaS brand!