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Taking our startup stories to the next level... 🚀

Today, we bring you the journey of two founders who started in their 40s.

While finding a co-founder wasn’t their challenge, taking the bold leap to quit their secure jobs and dive into entrepreneurship certainly was!

From CA to Co-Founder of Qapita: How I decided to spend the second half of my career as an entrepreneur

I’m Lakshman Gupta Kanamarlapudi, a proud CA and co-founder of Qapita!

In 2019, after two exciting decades in the corporate world, I teamed up:

with Ravi and Vamsee to launch Qapita—a cutting-edge CapTable & ESOP management platform.

Today, Qapita is an enterprise-grade product trusted by unicorns and hundreds of startups!

We’ve grown our team from 10 in 2020 to 150 by early 2022 and raised $39 million across 4 funding rounds.

MBA was a game changer!

Born and raised in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, ambition has always fueled my journey.

My twin brother Ram and I chose to pursue Chartered Accountancy, motivating each other to excel. By 21, we proudly qualified as CAs!

My career began at Hindustan Unilever (HUL) as a management trainee, where I led the finance team and gained invaluable corporate exposure.

Seizing an opportunity in the booming media and entertainment sector, I joined Discovery Channel.

Recognizing the need to enhance my skills, I pursued an MBA at the prestigious Indian School of Business (ISB) in 2002...This proved to be a game-changer!

Working overseas

While India had many career opportunities, I sought broader horizons.

After stints with Sony Pictures and the Tata Group, I moved to Malaysia in 2006 to join Astro, leading mergers and acquisitions and managing a billion-dollar venture fund.

This sparked my entrepreneurial spirit.

What next?

I wanted to experiment the world of startups

Easy path... join a startup. Again it would be easy but was a risky move!

After nearly a decade at Astro, I joined MAGICA, an Edutainment startup for kids, to gain hands-on experience.

Loved the experience and I was now ready for a new challenge—“Let’s spend the second half of my career as an entrepreneur!”

Found my co-founder

As I explored various startup ideas, my friend Ravi Ravulaparthi, an investment banker with 17 years of experience, expressed his interest in starting something of our own.

Excited that I wouldn’t be alone, we embarked on this thrilling adventure!

During our brainstorming sessions, we noticed that while banking had evolved, the investment banking and fundraising space was still driven by personal relationships.

Finally...an idea

Our breakthrough came when we learned about Morgan Stanley’s acquisition of Solium, a SaaS company managing ESOPs.

They recognized that ESOP holders would become significant wealth owners, leading us to realize the gap in CapTable and ESOP management in India and Southeast Asia.

Thus, Qapita was born.

Overcoming Challenges

In 2018, the startup ecosystem was maturing, and investors questioned our Total Addressable Market (TAM).

It took time for them to recognize the trillion-dollar opportunity we were addressing—liquidity for stakeholders in the private market.

Final Thoughts

While the media often highlights young startup founders, I believe there’s no perfect time to start your entrepreneurial journey.

I embarked on mine in my early 40s.

And while it comes with risks, it also offers incredible rewards.

If you're considering starting your own venture, even in your 50s, go for it!

You won’t know unless you try!

 EY Partner quit and Bootstraps Profitable Startup in his 40s 🚀

I’m Sanjay Chakrabarti, a Chartered Accountant from India.

After becoming a Partner at EY in 2008, I co-founded tag8.in in 2014 with Alok Sheth.

We built a business around electronic tagging technology to secure personal items.

Today, we’ve sold over a million tags, grown to a team of 60+, and achieved 80-100% YOY growth—all while staying 100% bootstrapped! 💪

Wanted to be an entrepreneur

After qualifying as a CA in 1997, I worked at Arthur Andersen and EY, where I led major practices and had a great career.

I was a Partner at EY with a great corporate career ahead...But the entrepreneurial bug bit me! 🐞

Met my co-founder at EY

Since 2010, Alok and I used to dream about taking the entrepreneurial leap, but without any concrete action.  

Incidentally, our ‘lost and found’ business (using tagging technology) was the first idea that Alok brought up in 2010.

We thought that our idea was ahead of time, so we explored a few more ideas.

Took 4 years to just quit and startup

Eventually, after brainstorming almost 100 ideas, in Nov 2013 that we again got to this very first idea and started working more actively on it.

Mid-2014, we both resigned a day apart and there was no looking back.

Building tag8 From Scratch

We bootstrapped from day one, turning profitable in our second year! And started paying taxes from Year 3!

We kept growing, winning awards like the HDFC Bank Digital Innovation Award, and even becoming Amazon’s #1 Best-Seller in security tags! 🏅

Starting in your 40s

Unlike many startups founded by younger people, our age, experience, and strong relationships with former clients meant we never had to make cold calls.

As for my family, I had been talking about quitting since 2010, so when I finally did in 2014, they were shocked.

My wife still jokes it was a mid-life crisis!

What's Next?

Our dream is to make tag8 a global leader in tracking valuables, assets, and people. This journey has been exciting, challenging, and deeply fulfilling.

The key to success? Loving the process and staying true to your passion.

That’s a wrap for today! 🎬

The Finance Story Team 🚀