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The Cover · Issue 47/Founders & operators/8 min read

The man who built a $6 billion company from a village.

Sridhar Vembu walked out of Princeton, walked away from Silicon Valley, and walked home. Then he built one of India's most valuable software companies — without raising a single rupee of outside funding.

The Desk
Editorial · Filed Tenkasi
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Photography Asa Beck
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Published May 14, 2026
Read by operators at 3,400+ companies — including
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This week

Filed 13–14 May · Spring '26View archive →
Portrait of Naval Ravikant
Naval Ravikant
In conversation · Issue 47

The most important act of a founder this decade will not be building. It will be deciding what not to build. Restraint is the unwritten chapter of every great company — and the next four years will reward it more than any cycle in memory.

From the long interview, Issue 47 · Read the full conversation →

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