In this episode of the DevReady Podcast, host Andrew Romeo sits down with Apurva Chiranewala, Co-Founder & CEO of DemTech.ai and a seasoned operator across global tech ecosystems. From helping scale India’s leading SoftBank-backed e-commerce platforms to building out logistics solutions for Catch of the Day and eBay Australia, Apurva brings a unique blend of enterprise experience and startup grit. Together, they explore what it truly takes to build sustainable ventures, why venture capital isn’t always the answer, and how resourcefulness often outperforms runway. If you’re a founder navigating the early stages or reconsidering your funding model, this conversation is packed with practical, grounded wisdom.
Apurva reflects on his transition from India’s fast-paced tech boom to Australia’s more mature, measured business landscape. Having worked with high-growth ventures like Sendle and Block Earner, he shares how each chapter of his career has deepened his understanding of innovation, logistics, and financial systems. His natural curiosity led him into blockchain and crypto, not through hype, but by solving real business problems—such as paying suppliers across borders using stablecoins. He draws an insightful parallel between early misconceptions about e-commerce and today’s discourse around crypto, urging listeners to view emerging technologies not as threats, but as enablers for solving edge-case problems in underserved regions.
The discussion takes a philosophical turn as Apurva unpacks his personal ethos around work, growth, and balance. Rather than drawing stark lines between corporate and startup life, he sees them as complementary forces in a “sine wave” career—one providing structure, stability, and learning, the other offering space for bold experimentation. His pursuit isn’t purely entrepreneurial; it’s about living a “full life” that embraces both the highs and the inevitable lows. Startups, for Apurva, are not just ventures—they are vehicles for transformation, creativity, and personal evolution.
Challenging the glamorised VC narrative, Apurva shares how he stepped off the capital-raising treadmill after years of chasing scale at the cost of purpose. A snowed-in moment of clarity in Norway prompted him to re-centre on value creation—bootstrapping ventures with his own funds and proving worth within a year. He and Andrew liken blind VC dependence to “business obesity,” where the original problem-solving mission is lost amidst fundraising cycles. Instead, they champion building businesses that are lean, profitable, and genuinely useful—arguing that the myth of job security is fading, and self-built resilience may be the safer path.
The episode wraps with an invaluable blueprint for alternative funding. Apurva outlines scrappy, strategic methods to extend startup runway—like obsessing over cost reduction, working with freelancers on equity-sharing models, and attracting early client buy-in before building anything. He also introduces the power of crowdfunding platforms like Wefunder and SeedInvest for raising sub-$100K rounds, especially now that AIArtificial Intelligence (AI) is a very large and broad spectrum of technologies which most people would be familiar with through... has democratised storytelling and outreach. His parting message? You don’t need to chase investors to be credible—get your first customers on board, and the rest may follow.
Topics Covered
- Global tech journey: India to Australia
- Cultural differences in startup ecosystems
- Entry into blockchain and crypto
- Tech as a complement, not a replacement
- Corporate vs startup life
- Philosophy of living a “full life” through work
- Rethinking venture capital dependency
- Cost discipline and extending runway
- Alternative startup funding models
- Storytelling and crowdfunding for early-stage capital
Important Time Stamps
- From India to Australia: Apurva’s Journey Through Global Tech Giants (0:07 – 5:23)
- Why Crypto Isn’t Here to Replace Banks—It’s Filling the Gaps (5:24 – 10:31)
- Startups vs Corporates: Why Apurva Sees Both as Essential (10:32 – 13:00)
- The Comfort Zone Trap—and How to Break Out of It (13:01 – 19:24)
- Stuck in the VC Breadline? Why Apurva Chose a Different Path (19:25 – 28:47)
- BootstrapThe term bootstrap is used in development when describing the initial part of any development or a quick way to... Like a Boss: Why Every $9.99 Matters (28:48 – 36:20)
- Not VC? No Problem: Apurva’s Real-World Startup Funding Hacks (36:21 – 45:28)
