When Vision Outruns the Market ft. Mabel Chacko
EPISODE NOTES
🎯When Being Early Becomes the Biggest Risk in Startups Before fintech was a buzzword, NFC was the future of payments. Mabel Chacko, Co-founder of Open (India’s 100th Unicorn), shares the lesser-known story of Neotivity, a startup built ahead of its time. In 2008–09, NFC was everywhere, Visa, MasterCard, global banks, even pilots in Bangalore malls. So Mabel and her team did what ambitious founders do: they bet big on the future. They decided to build the entire infrastructure layer for NFC payments in India. But the market wasn’t ready. 🔻 Adoption lagged 🔻 The ecosystem didn’t move fast enough 🔻 And within two years, the company had to shut down, burning through every rupee they had made from their first startup This isn’t a failure story. It’s a reminder that timing matters as m…