Where Are They Now? Nivedha R.M Co-founder of TrashCon. Still on a mission to solve India’s huge waste management problem

Neil Patel
2 min readAug 1, 2021

Nivedha is back on the show! I spoke to her back in December 2017 (Ep 72). She is the Co-founder of TrashCon. They have created a machine that helps solve India’s huge waste management problem by converting mixed waste into Biodegradable and Non-Biodegradable Waste.

They started with one tiny machine doing 100kg/day to now doing 200,000 kgs/day! Last year they did a million dollars revenue and have 3 million dollars in the pipeline this year. She talks about spending 2.5 years working in a dumpsites around India . She talks about working with big corporations and municipalities.

Nivedha then talks about how they launch & test MVP’s and product development. She talks about when to use experts & when NOT to use experts. Going from 3 to 60 staff & what they look for in hiring, having a great co-founder and finally she talks about how you shouldn’t look for 100% perfection in building a startup..85% is ok!

Doing TedX talks (Failure is when you decide to fail…) Winning awards, and why they have banned the word ‘impossible’ and looking back would she change anything? and much more!

In this episode we talk about:

  • Creating wow boards
  • Having more downs then ups
  • Patents
  • Has india’s attitude to waste changed?
  • Having no credibility at the start to now working with big corporations & municipalities.
  • Having a co-founder who is a chartered accountant & engineer helps.
  • How they use the technology to separate the waste
  • Building a culture & not micromanaging everything
  • Having a strong vision.
  • Advice for first time founders — Have a clear problem statement.
  • Don’t look for perfection! The market is not looking for perfection.
  • Going global.

and much more

Links

https://trashcon.in/

P.S

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music by Punch Deck.

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7kdduxAVaFnbHJyNxl7FWV

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Neil Patel

Screenwriter/Podcast host & Producer. Fast learner, Passionate about storytelling. Good sense of humour, & Enjoy challenges! www.neilpatel.co