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In a country where most prominent figures are known for either their corporate success or their entertainment prowess, Ankur Warikoo stands out with an achievement that is uniquely his own. An entrepreneur who failed and wrote about it, a CEO who was ousted by his own co-founder and turned it into a life lesson. A person who once pawned his mother’s gold to survive and now leads one of India’s most authentic voices on money, habits and the pursuit of a life that actually makes sense.
His podcast Figuring Out has grown to become one of India’s most-listened-to shows in personal development – not for the instant solutions it offers, but for the genuine substance it delivers – honest, specific, and practical conversations about what each of us are really figuring out, in real time.
This post aims to unpack Ankur Warikoo’s remarkable journey and ten of the most pivotal podcast episodes that embody the core values of his work.
- Ankur Warikoo's Journey
- Why Figuring Out Became So Popular
- Ankur Warikoo’s 10 Best & Trending Podcast Videos:
- 1. Nikhil Kamath Podcast – Money, Entrepreneurship & Life Decisions
- 2. Ranveer Allahbadia Podcast – Self-Improvement, Habits & Personal Growth
- 3. Raj Shamani Podcast – Building a Personal Brand & Content Creation
- 4. Rohit Sharma Podcast – Leadership, Failure & the Champion Mindset
- 5. Deepika Padukone Podcast – Mental Health, Success & Self-Awareness
- 6. Faye D'Souza Podcast – Media, Journalism & Speaking Your Truth
- 7. Varun Duggirala Podcast – Creativity, Business & the Content Economy
- 8. Ishan Sharma Podcast – Student Life, Productivity & Early Entrepreneurship
- 9. Siddharth Jain Podcast – Investing, Wealth & Financial Literacy for Youth
- 10. Nishant Kasibhatla Podcast – Memory, Learning & Mastering Your Mind
- Why Ankur Warikoo's Podcasts are different
- Impact on Indian young professionals
Ankur Warikoo’s Journey
Born on August 25th 1980 in Srinagar, Kashmir, into a Kashmiri Pandit family, Ankur Warikoo moved to Delhi with his parents when he was three. He grew up in Lajpat Nagar in a modest household; money was scarce, but aspiration wasn’t. Space intrigued him immensely as a child; and inspired by movies like Men In Black and The X-Files, he found himself dreaming of pursuing Astrophysics in a university abroad and ultimately working with NASA. A dream he was deadly serious about! He completed his undergraduate studies in Physics at Delhi University and pursued his Ph.D. At Michigan State University.
Then he quit.
Not because he flunked; because in the middle of his Ph.D. He realised that was not something he could see himself doing for the rest of his life. Difficult and painful, this step required him to forfeit years of his life, a structured career path, but it was honest. Honesty would later emerge as one of the most persistent elements of all that Ankur Warikoo would go on to do.
He then went back to India, did an MBA at the Indian School of Business (ISB) in Hyderabad, and transitioned into the corporate sector. He joined A.T. Kearney was a management consultant before making his foray into entrepreneurship when he co-founded a startup and got fired by his own co-founder for being an abysmal leader. He then applied to Google, Facebook and Microsoft but all three rejected him.
These were not minor setbacks. For someone who by conventionally measured standards had been among the most academically gifted, this was humbling and it taught him more than any degree possibly could: that talent and credentials don’t ensure results, and that honesty and perseverance triumph over everything else.
In 2011 he founded and bootstrapped Groupon India which grew to be a major business and launched Nearby in 2015-an Indian e-commerce and hyper-local discovery platform that scaled into one of the most recognizable consumer technology brands of the decade. He served as CEO of Nearby until 2019.
Post his role at Nearby, Ankur did something unexpected for most of those who followed his corporate success; he turned into a content creator. Starting with short videos on LinkedIn in 2016, he expanded to YouTube in 2017 where he shared the lessons he had learnt – on money, failure, habits, relationships, and ultimately, the process of finding what life one actually wants to live.
The response was tremendous. His candid, grounded, and intensely practical content resonated deeply with an audience who was bored of the abstract self-help guru and craving something more tangible.
Today, Ankur Warikoo is an entrepreneur, an angel investor, author of the bestselling “Do Epic Shit”, “Get Epic Shit Done” and “Make Epic Money”, and one of India’s most authentic voices on personal finance and personal development. His podcast Figuring Out continues to establish itself as one of the most engaging long-form platforms for conversation in the country.
Why Figuring Out Became So Popular
What the show gets right is Ankur Warikoo’s own candor; about his own life, about his own mistakes, about what he is still working through. He isn’t a man who has the answers, he is a man who has asked a lot of the right questions, and is happy to share what he has learned.
He talks to a wide range of experts across domains like:
- Entrepreneurship and startup building
- Personal finance and investing
- Mental health and emotional well being
- Relationships and communication
- Habits, productivity and learning
- Content creation and personal branding
- Career guidance for young professionals
- Leadership and self awareness
And this becomes a space to address the needs of those who are listening – the Indian youth in their 20s and 30s trying to create their own careers, managing their own money for the first time, navigating their relationships and their own identity.
Ankur Warikoo’s 10 Best & Trending Podcast Videos:
1. Nikhil Kamath Podcast – Money, Entrepreneurship & Life Decisions
Small Brief
Two of India’s most honest voices on money and entrepreneurship discuss wealth creation, investing, the psychology of financial decisions, and what it really takes to build something of lasting value.
This episode cuts through the noise around money and success to deliver something rare – an honest, experience-backed conversation about what financial intelligence actually looks like in practice.
2. Ranveer Allahbadia Podcast – Self-Improvement, Habits & Personal Growth
Small Brief
Two of India’s most recognised digital creators talk about building better habits, the internal work of personal growth, and what it means to create content that genuinely helps people.
A conversation about authenticity, consistency, and the habits that separate people who keep growing from those who plateau.
3. Raj Shamani Podcast – Building a Personal Brand & Content Creation
Small Brief
Ankur Warikoo and Raj Shamani explore the mechanics and philosophy of building a personal brand in the digital age – what works, what does not, and what the process actually costs.
An essential conversation for anyone trying to build an audience and turn genuine expertise into a sustainable content career.
4. Rohit Sharma Podcast – Leadership, Failure & the Champion Mindset
Small Brief
Indian cricket captain Rohit Sharma discusses the mental side of high performance, how he has handled public failure, and what the champion mindset actually looks like from the inside.
One of the most candid conversations about leadership, resilience, and the psychological demands of performing at the highest level under extreme scrutiny.
5. Deepika Padukone Podcast – Mental Health, Success & Self-Awareness
Small Brief
Deepika Padukone speaks honestly about her journey through depression, her advocacy for mental health, and what genuine self-awareness has meant for her life and career.
A deeply important conversation about mental health that normalises struggle and demonstrates the transformative power of asking for help.
6. Faye D’Souza Podcast – Media, Journalism & Speaking Your Truth
Small Brief
Award-winning journalist Faye D’Souza discusses the state of Indian media, the courage required to speak unpopular truths, and what it means to build a career on integrity in an industry under pressure.
A frank and important conversation about media, accountability, and the personal cost of choosing principle over convenience.
7. Varun Duggirala Podcast – Creativity, Business & the Content Economy
Small Brief
Varun Duggirala explores the intersection of creativity and business, what the content economy means for India’s creative professionals, and how to build a sustainable career at that intersection.
A genuinely useful conversation for anyone building a creative business or trying to understand the economics of the Indian content industry.
8. Ishan Sharma Podcast – Student Life, Productivity & Early Entrepreneurship
Small Brief
Young entrepreneur and content creator Ishan Sharma discusses productivity systems, building a business as a student, and the specific challenges and opportunities of starting early.
An episode that speaks directly to the enormous population of ambitious young Indians who are trying to build something significant before they have finished their education.
9. Siddharth Jain Podcast – Investing, Wealth & Financial Literacy for Youth
Small Brief
A focused conversation on financial literacy for young Indians – covering investing basics, building wealth over time, avoiding common financial mistakes, and developing the discipline that long-term financial success requires.
One of the most practically useful financial conversations available for young Indians who are engaging with investing and personal finance for the first time.
10. Nishant Kasibhatla Podcast – Memory, Learning & Mastering Your Mind
Small Brief
World memory champion Nishant Kasibhatla joins Ankur to explore the science of memory, how to learn faster and more effectively, and what mastering your mind actually looks like in practice.
A fascinating and practically valuable conversation for students, professionals, and anyone who wants to get more out of the time they invest in learning.
Why Ankur Warikoo’s Podcasts are different
What makes Ankur Warikoo’s podcast platform different is the intellectual honesty and specific specificity that infuses every episode. He doesn’t deal in vague inspiration. He speaks in concrete examples of specific situations, specific failures and specific frameworks, and asks his guests to do the same.
His own willingness to be vulnerable, to lay out the gritty reality of his own journey-the rejections, failures and lack of capital-sets the tone of such open conversation that his guests are not intimidated to follow suit. This results in a candidness and raw honesty that are refreshingly uncommon for Indian podcasts.
Impact on Indian young professionals
Ankur Warikoo has demonstrably impacted the thinking of young Indians on a generation-wide level as far as money, career, habits and the nature of the relationship between work and outcome are concerned. His books have sold more than a hundred thousand copies. His videos get viewed by millions, every single month. And his podcast has cultivated a community of people who consistently describe it as one of the most valuable inputs in their personal and professional growth.
In a landscape filled with sound and fury, he has managed to create value. And that is the most accurate description of what makes the Figuring Out podcast worth listening to.
1. Who is Ankur Warikoo?
Ankur Warikoo is an Indian entrepreneur, author, angel investor, and content creator. He founded Nearbuy, and is the host of the podcast Figuring Out. Ankur is popular for his no-holds-barred advice on money, habits, careers and personal growth.
2. What is the Figuring Out podcast?
Figuring Out is Ankur Warikoo’s long-form conversations podcast where he talks with some of the most interesting and influential guests in entrepreneurship, finance, mental health, sports, media and personal development. It is currently one of the most-listened to personal development podcasts in India.
3. What books has Ankur Warikoo written?
Ankur Warikoo has authored three books: Do Epic Shit, Get Epic Shit Done, and Make Epic Money, all of which are national bestsellers and have collectively sold hundreds of thousands of copies across India.
4. Why is Ankur Warikoo very popular among the Indian youth?
Young Indians look to him because he discusses money, failure, habits and careers with a unique blend of specificity and honest clarity that very few public figures are able to attain. His followers trust his content because he has never feigned a perfect story.
5. What topics does the Figuring Out podcast cover?
The podcast covers themes relating to money and personal finance, entrepreneurship, mental health, relationships, habit building, productivity, content creation, leadership and building a life worth living.
Concluding thoughts
Ankur Warikoo’s journey from an aspiring astrophysicist and a failed startup founder to perhaps one of India’s most trustworthy voices in the personal finance and personal growth niche is one of the most honest and instructive stories in the Indian entrepreneurial space. He didn’t make it to where he is by simply following a plan. He succeeded by failing forward, by remaining steadfastly honest and by constantly choosing to share what he had learned instead of performing a success that he had not yet attained.
And this is the attribute that makes his podcast platform worth watching and why it will remain relevant long after the current generation of Indian content creators has faded away.
Ankur Warikoo Social Media Accounts:
- Ankur Warikoo YouTube Channel
- Ankur Warikoo Instagram Account
- Ankur Warikoo Twitter/X Account
- Ankur Warikoo LinkedIn Account
- Ankur Warikoo Website
Follow these accounts to stay updated with Ankur Warikoo’s latest podcast episodes, financial literacy content, entrepreneurship insights, and life lessons from the Figuring Out platform.
