E152: Near Bankruptcy to $250M ARR | Rohan Nayak (CEO, Pocket FM)

Rohan Nayak is the Co-founder & CEO of Pocket FM, a company redefining audio storytelling for the world. While we’ve recently been publishing video episodes, this one’s a throwback to pure audio. Rohan had to travel unexpectedly, but we didn’t want to miss the chance to capture his insights on building one of India's fastest-growing consumer tech companies. Pocket FM is making waves globally — having recently raised $103 million in Series D funding, bringing total funding to $196.5 million, with backing from Lightspeed, Tanglin Venture Partners, Goodwater Capital, and Naver. With $150 million+ in ARR and 57% QoQ growth, they’re showing that audio isn’t just alive — it’s thriving. In today's episode, Rohan shares how building from India creates efficient growth playbooks, the nuances of global GTM, and why the future of content might sound a lot more like audio than you think. ⌛ Timestamps:Motivation behind starting a company (3:55)Why Rohan chose audio as a medium (5:20)Early reactions to Pocket FM’s vision (12:20)How audio is transforming short-form storytelling (22:10)Why audio has a higher creative bar than video (24:30)Localization and Pocket FM’s global expansion plan (25:40)The role of A/B testing in content development (32:25)How A/B testing works specifically for audio (37:20)Audio’s ability to transcend cultural boundaries (39:39)How Pocket FM finds breakout "blockbuster" shows (40:40)Why US-origin stories scale better globally (42:25)What content categories work—and which don’t (43:00)Top 3 learnings from going to market in the US (43:52)Mistakes Pocket FM made in their GTM journey (47:32)How culture shapes global go-to-market strategy (50:35)How Pocket FM is using AI to enhance storytelling (54:50)Rohan’s five-year vision for Pocket FM (1:01:35)Why AI will supercharge the next generation of creators (1:03:39)Personal lessons Rohan has learned as a founder (1:07:00)What keeps him grounded — the concept of "Basecamp" (1:11:15) 🎥 Subscribe to watch more unfiltered, unscripted conversations that will inspire, educate, and entertain! Support the podcast:🔗 SUBSCRIBE on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎧 Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠📸 Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🐦 Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter/X⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠💼 Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎵 Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠💌 BTS content on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠