We have built-in confidence. We will practice or whatever, and we will build a very, very big company.

I think you will get a lot of rejections, and that’s fine. When I go into conversations like that, I don’t think, “I’m a female founder.” I’m just a founder. And I have beaten all these odds—moving countries, being deported, getting into YC, getting to Colombia AI, whatever.

So I think there is no problem I can’t solve. In that mindset, you just forget that you’re female because that’s not the best way to think about it. The odds are not stacked in your favor, but that shouldn’t stop you from doing your best version.

No Bullshit Talks is a podcast for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs.

There’s too much bullshit out there, especially when it comes to business. This podcast aims to highlight what’s true and what’s not in the world of entrepreneurship, bringing you honest and raw conversations about the rollercoaster that is entrepreneurship.

Each week, my guest will be a high-performing entrepreneur, sharing the ups and downs of their journey and helping you prepare for the road ahead, while providing you with actionable insights and absolute gems of knowledge.

Stay tuned.

I introduce this week’s guest.

Siddhi Mittal is the co-founder of Why Hungry, a company that offers affordable access to the luxury of private dining by bringing private chefs into your home.

With a degree in Computer Science from Columbia University and a background in trading, Siddhi pivoted into entrepreneurship early, completing a cohort at Y Combinator at the age of 19 and being featured on Dragons’ Den.

I present to you this week’s guest, Siddhi.

Welcome, Siddhi, to No Bullshit Talks.

Thank you for having me here.

I’m so excited to chat with you about everything because you’ve done so much, and I’m a big fan of Why Hungry. I’ve obviously used it myself and continue to use it. I absolutely love it, so I’m really excited to have you on and talk about your story, what you’ve achieved, why you started it, and everything in between.

But I’d love for you to do an introduction for my audience so you can do yourself justice with your journey.

Amazing. Thank you.

Well, firstly, I’m so excited to be here. I feel like this is my own personal brand here—No Bullshit Talks—in terms of who I am.

Yeah, I’m Siddhi. I was born and brought up in India and moved to Columbia to study AI. I got deported to London—immigrant issues—and I was an ex-trader, so I spent six and a half years trading distressed bonds and financial credit bonds, running risk for about $500 million.

I loved that world, and then I swapped over. Now I’m the co-founder and co-CEO of Why Hangry, which is a marketplace where you can hire a chef at the same cost as a restaurant anywhere across the UK—for birthdays, hen dos, etc.

I love it so much. I came across you guys because I used it for my partner. I unfortunately had to cancel my plans because I had knee surgery that went wrong and couldn’t walk. I was thinking, *I need something special—what can I do?*

So I brought a chef to his home, they made all his favorite food, and he had the best time. So obviously I’ve been a fan ever since.

But I need to hear more about what you said earlier. You said *deported*. First of all, I was like, *Wait, did you just say deported?* Because that’s not a normal thing. So talk me through that first.

Yeah, I always say that as a joke. Some people laugh and some people get really serious.

But as an immigrant, I suppose I did get deported. I was in Columbia for four years, and I was a STEM major, so I studied Artificial Intelligence, which means you can actually get longer visa options. But because of an admin issue, it was all very frustrating, and I didn’t have enough visa time left to even enter the H-1B lottery in the US.

What that meant was I either had to go back to India, or my trading firm said, *”Look, we’re going to find you a role in London and do an inter-company transfer.”*

So I always say deported, but the reality was that I would have had to leave the US within the next three months.

As an immigrant, it’s really annoying that you’re kind of bounced around from country to country. It happened almost overnight. I remember finding out that I had to move, and within seven days I had to give up my apartment and everything.

I flew over to London not knowing a single soul. There was literally an airplane carrying all of my stuff. I remember putting Post-it notes on everything saying, *”Bring everything.”* I left with just a tiny little bag, and all my belongings were flown over and moved into my apartment in London.

And when I came to London, what’s crazy is that at the age of 21, it was the first time I realized what eating dinner by yourself looks like, what not having Saturday plans looks like. So I actually went to the gym a lot and got very fit at the beginning. I guess there are pluses for everything bad that happens, right? Got deported from a country, came in the best shape of my life. So, you know.

But wow, I feel like that sort of stuff is just so incredible to listen to because just think how many people go through life and never have anything like that happen, right? That’s a major stress. That’s a major thing to happen to. But so many people just live in the same country and have a normal, mundane life. And mundane is not used in an insulting way there at all. Sometimes I wish I had a mundane life. You know, it’s so much better.

But actually, when you think about it, that’s a lot. That’s a crazy thing to go through, and you were 21. Talk me through that first. I know this is technically nothing to do with what we’re talking about in business, but I do think it sets you apart. In a situation like that, people could just melt down and freak out. And I think going back to India would have been the easier choice, right? Because it’s a place you know, your family’s there. But you chose to come to London.

When you found out you had to leave America, and I guess your friends and uni and stuff, what did you think, and how did you deal with it?

So I think it was a bit sad because I just knew, always, that I wanted to be in Manhattan and have this New York trader career. All of my friends lived within a couple-block radius. I had my life mapped out, and suddenly I just thought, “Oh my God.”

Going back to India was never an option. There’s so much money you spend to go to an American university. I had to make that back, you know? That was never an option.

So then I was like, “Fine.” And I remember thinking, “It’s okay. It’s a great new adventure.” And I love adventure. So I remember being very happy one day and immediately crying the next. I think it was a lot of volatile emotions because I felt both at the same time.

And also, when I came to London—I grew up in Agra, which is a very small city. When I moved to Delhi, I had a culture shock because I was like, “Oh my God, people here are very modern.” It’s like someone from somewhere in South America moving to New York and suddenly having a culture shock.

But then when I moved to New York, I had no culture shock. When I then moved to London, I felt it was so crazy because people were really polite, but no one ever invited me to dinner. And at the beginning, I didn’t understand dry humor. I would laugh, and then I’d be like, “Wait, wait, is this funny? Should I laugh?”

I think it was a very interesting time because I learned a lot about myself. I learned it’s totally fine to eat by yourself, and actually, everything is an adventure. Everything is a problem that eventually gets solved. Eventually, I made friends, and it became a great group, but it just took a couple of months to warm my way in and make sure I got all the invites.

So yeah.

I think you just summed up British culture really well. The fact that people are super polite—British people are so polite. You know, Queen’s English and all that. We’re super polite, we queue up for everything, and we’ll say sorry at any moment. You can bang into each other, and there are so many manners—for the good people, obviously.

But then at the same time, like you said, they don’t invite you for dinner. It’s like, well, we’re really polite because we were brought up to be polite, but whether we actually become friends and go that extra step is another thing. We’ll say, “Oh, we should do something. We’ll put something in the diary,” and then it never happens.

Exactly.

Whereas coming from America, people did have an open-invite policy. It was just like, “Perfect, just come along.” So I think that was actually a real culture shock.

But whatever, I got used to it. I’m now British.

Exactly. Officially. Well, congratulations, welcome.

But I think that’s so funny because I would say that if you’re moving from New York and you pick London, that’s probably the closest city in the world to New York. So you’re thinking, “I’m going to pick the closest one.” Like you said, “I’m going to make the money back that I spent to go to an Ivy League school and all the money I spent getting a visa for America.”

But at the same time, you still felt this culture shock, which is super interesting.

But I still need to get this journey back because you’re in London, you’re still trading, you’re still doing all of that sort of stuff.

How on earth did you go from trading to becoming a founder of Why Hangry?

Yeah, so my dad has always been an entrepreneur—or rather, a businessman. Entrepreneur is a very sexy word people use nowadays, but a businessman was what he was. His dad died when he was really young, and he had to support his family because he had two kids and someone had to make money. So he and his brother had a lot of responsibility from a very young age to figure out how to make money in India.

And because they weren’t very academically smart, they couldn’t get jobs. So that’s how they entered business and entrepreneurship, which is actually a great learning lesson because you have no hedge in life.

I think I’ve grown up seeing the volatility of a business family. The highs are so insane, and the lows are so insane. And actually, in India, you never talk about it. You never show weakness. We were never allowed to socially share that we don’t have money to buy bread, let’s say, because we still had a Mercedes in our driveway.

And actually, if my parents hear me saying this, they’re going to give me a tight slap because in India your social image really matters and you always project strength.

But having grown through that as a kid, everything is fun. Even if there is no bread in the house, you just keep playing and think, “Okay, whatever. People will figure it out.” It’s only the adults that are stressed in going through that.

As a kid, the whole journey just feels like, “Whoa, this is cool.”

So I think I kind of always knew I wanted to build something.

Fast forward to finance—I loved it. I loved trading. I was super aggressive. I loved having opinions or views and putting on trades. I thought it was the best job in the world.

But sort of five years in, or even four years in, I hit a point where I realized I wasn’t creating anything in this world. I was just optimizing for wealth or riches for myself.

And I think that was hard because then there’s this 1% problem where you’re earning way too much and you’re really unhappy. And I was really unhappy.

I remember watching this Netflix show called *Queen of Katwe*.

The second—

Have you seen it?

Yes.

Do you not know that I was a chess player back in the day? I was a professional chess player.

So yeah.

That’s so—whenever I share this story, no one’s ever known this movie.

Well, I’ve met her. I’ve hung out with her. I was at the event where she made her big breakthrough. That was my life back in the day. I was a professional chess player, so I love *Queen of Katwe*. But please tell the story because it’s a great one.

So I was watching this movie, and I remember I couldn’t stop crying.

My partner, who is now my husband, looked at me and said, “What’s up with you? This is such a good movie.”

And I remember telling him, “That girl still has ambition. She can do anything she wants to. I have no ambitions anymore. This job just feels like a dead end, and I’m so unhappy. I feel like I had all these dreams for the world, and now I’m at this crossroads where I don’t see anything.”

So I feel like I very quickly knew I wanted to do something of my own.

I did have this idea for Why Hangry, but the insight actually came from India. I was like, “Of course people need great food at home. In Western countries it’s just too expensive. I don’t understand why that happens.”

And when I met my co-founder, Hinen—she was in sales, I was in trading. Funny story: we both realized we were dating people at work undercover, and no one else knew.

We ended up becoming such close friends.

I was like, “No way.”

I was like, “Oh my God, your boyfriend sits right next to me.”

And she was like, “That’s crazy.”

That kind of establishes a very deep bond because obviously you can’t tell anyone else.

And I think that’s when we were both like, “Right, let’s try this idea.”

We shared similar values. We found the partner in crime we were both looking for. Her dad’s also an entrepreneur and businessman across China and Germany.

I think both of us were like, “Okay, let’s give this idea a go on the side.”

And then things escalated from there, basically.

I mean, “escalated” is an understatement.

What the hell? I love that story.

I love that you guys met through almost like a very girly inside secret. You had to keep secrets for each other, and that sets a real precedent of trust right there because you can both see that you can trust each other.

I think that’s really nice.

And wow, so that’s how you met your co-founder, which I think is amazing because so many people out there wish they had a co-founder they could trust like that, but they never find someone.

So lucky.

Yeah, so lucky.

So then where did this idea of Why Hangry come from?

You’ve obviously mentioned a lot already about eating by yourself, and this is clearly a big thing for you. How did this evolve into Why Hangry?

So I hate cooking.

I only cooked Maggi noodles. That’s how I spent all of my time at Columbia, and that’s all I could cook. Now it’s a little bit more evolved.

For me, it was just a need. I needed food.

When I met Hinen and told her this idea, I said, “Wouldn’t it be great if a chef could just make great food at home?”

And she immediately said, “I’d use it. Of course. I’m so sick of going to restaurants and ordering delivery. I physically feel sick. This would be great.”

That was the beginning.

We just thought, “Right, this makes sense. If I have the idea and you’re the first customer, there must be more people.”

So our MVP was literally just creating a PDF, chucking in dishes we knew, finding a chef, and flogging it to our corporate friends.

We said, “We know you make money. Just book this at cost and give us feedback. You’ll get great food in your home.”

And actually, there weren’t any British dishes because both of us are way too diverse. There were only Indian, Thai, Chinese, and Pan-Asian dishes on there.

Nothing British.

I love that. That’s so funny.

But now it’s evolved into this huge thing, and I don’t know of another service that does what you guys do.

What I love about it is that my whole dream—I was saying if I ever got enough money—

I changed that because some people have been correcting me.

When I get enough money.

Exactly.

At least I’m becoming more aware of the narrative I’m telling myself.

When I get enough money to hire incredible members of a team who will change my life, I think a chef is going to be one of the number one hires.

If you could afford it, imagine having a life where you don’t even have the decision fatigue of wondering what to eat for dinner.

Imagine having a healthy meal every single day that tastes amazing, is tailored to your body and what you need, and is on the table for your family every single day.

That’s the best luxury anyone could have.

But I would say most people—probably fair to say—cannot afford that luxury.

However, what you guys have done is make it affordable once in a while to have that luxury at home.

I just think that’s unbelievable because before that, I thought having a chef would cost thousands or even millions of pounds.

Okay, can I stop you?

That was actually a core insight, which I probably forgot to touch upon.

As we started Why Hangry, we knew one thing: Britain as a country is obsessed with chefs.

*MasterChef*, *The Great British Bake Off*—there are so many chef shows.

And actually, much of the world has so many chef shows.

People love chefs.

People think they’re completely unaffordable. They think they cost thousands or millions or whatever.

Yet on the flip side, what people don’t realize is that restaurant workers are some of the worst-paid people.

If you look up their salaries, it’s actually so sad. It’s like £20K, £24K, £25K, £30K.

It really is that low.

And the hours are brutally long in the kitchen. It’s a very scary and hard profession.

The only way to climb the ladder is to pay your dues. You could be chopping potatoes for years.

It’s really rough.

Whereas we knew this makes no sense.

If we could bridge that gap, people would be able to monetize their skills.

Let me ask you a question.

How much do you think a top-three *MasterChef* contestant from 2023 would cost per person if you had a dinner for ten people?

All food included. What’s your guess?

That’s a good question.

I don’t know.

Like £200 a head?

Yeah.

So £65 per person.

I was thinking maybe £150, but I pushed it up because they’re famous.

Exactly.

£65.

By the way, that’s cheaper than eating out.

Correct.

Omar—he’s British-Indian, he finished top three—you could have booked him for £75 or £80 per person.

The thing is, chefs often start with lower prices because they’re building their profile.

People are shocked when they realize they can have a *MasterChef* contestant cooking in their home for that amount.

It’s ridiculous.

And by the way, you save on drink markups. It’s cheaper if you split it. The quality is better. It’s fresh in your kitchen.

People think, “Oh my God, a private chef must cost thousands of pounds.”

But when you realize how much chefs actually get paid, and when you save on drinks, it’s cheaper overall.

It’s more enjoyable.

And the chef probably has a more pleasant experience because, as you said, it’s one of the most stressful jobs in the world.

When they’re in your home, they get to be part of this luxury experience. They get to see directly the joy they bring to people’s lives.

It must be way more fulfilling for them as well.

That’s what we hear from chefs often. It’s one of the reasons they love doing private chef work.

Oh, I love it so much.

Oh my God.

Okay, so I want to go back to your journey because I’m like, okay, you’ve started this, but how did you go from a PDF and random people you work with to where you are now?

Because I know that you also did Y Combinator, and that’s a big thing in the startup world, right? People talk about Y Combinator all the time. It’s obviously a massive achievement just to get in, but then people also ask, “Is it worth the 7% or 8%?”

Yeah, 100%.

So talk me through, first of all, Y Combinator. How did you go for it? Why did you decide to apply? What was your experience?

I think it’s really interesting.

So once we quit, we got to a point where we said, “Look, we’ve got to quit.”

At that point, we had no real paying customers who weren’t our friends, but we just kind of knew there was enough there.

We realized meal prep was harder than expected. People were doing dinners with their friends because there was a lot of food. Then we thought, “Maybe we should focus on dinner parties first.”

And we just knew life was too short.

We got our parents’ buy-in and thought, “We’ve just got to quit.”

We did it together, which was amazing.

But then after that we were like, “Oh my God, now what?”

I think the one thing I really want to flag is that we have had so many rejections.

People only see the wins.

I remember the first thing I applied to was Techstars.

Boom. Rejected.

And I still have that video. It’s so cringe.

We’re talking about dancing with spoons in the air, juggling oranges. We made this really funny video for Why Hangry.

Hinen has sworn never to put it online, but I think one day we will use it. It’s such a good video.

When you’ve come so far and you’re successful, you can kind of get away with that.

But if you fail—

Exactly.

Then it’s a bit awkward.

Anyway, that happened.

Then we got into Google for Startups, which was an equity-free accelerator.

That actually changed our lives quite a bit because as first-time founders—and as tech outsiders, even though I’d worked in artificial intelligence for the previous seven years—I’d been in trading.

I didn’t know anyone in the tech world.

It’s a huge bridge to cross.

Everything is new.

Every little thing—marketing, Google SEO, Google Analytics, product building, websites, branding, how much you spend on this or that—everything is on you.

What Google for Startups did was put us in a cohort of ten women-led startups, and it really forced us to become a proper startup.

We were able to articulate what we were building.

We had our first version that actually looked better.

So that was really great.

Then COVID happened, which was insane.

We got the opportunity to do Dragon’s Den, and we said, “Yes, yes, yes.”

I think one of the big themes in our journey is that we’ve said yes to every opportunity we’ve been given.

You have to take every shot because you’re going to get so many rejections.

I just assume rejection is the default outcome, so I don’t even care anymore.

I’ll apply, and if I get rejected, that’s just the base case.

So we did Dragon’s Den, which was great.

Then COVID was going in and out, and life was really crazy through 2021.

Fast forward, and Y Combinator happened in 2022.

There were still years of COVID heartache, ups and downs, and a lot of difficult moments before YC.

But we just kept going.

We survived.

With YC, it was the same story.

We actually had a Halloween photo shoot, and I remember telling Hinen, “We really need to apply to this thing. We have to send something in.”

The deadline was 3:00 a.m. London time.

We started late, came back from the photo shoot, and I said, “I’m going to make some coffee.”

She went back to her place, and we jumped online.

After about two and a half hours—actually, I think it was around 6:00 a.m.—I was like, “Dude, I’m done. I’m so tired.”

But that deadline really forced us to be concise and get clear on exactly what we were building.

At the Halloween shoot, we happened to have a videographer, so we said, “Just record a quick video of us,” because we needed to submit a video file.

Then we sent the application in.

With YC, we got our first call.

Then after a month, they wanted to check our P&L again.

We got another call.

And we still didn’t get accepted.

That was unusual because I think they were waiting to see more data points.

Finally, I remember sending an email saying:

“Look, we’re potentially looking to crowdfund at this valuation. If we do that, we’ll never be able to accept YC because we’re not going to dilute again. So let us know.”

We actually got accepted the next day.

Now, I don’t want to claim causation or correlation.

But I do think they were waiting to see more proof points that the startup could be successful.

There’s a statistic that around 70% of founders who get into YC have applied two or more times because YC wants to see your persistence.

In a way, we were the outlier because we got in on our first application.

Whereas people in our batch had applied five times.

That’s dedication.

So I think the biggest lesson for me was: just keep trying.

Always find the back door.

Always look for another angle.

It cost us nothing to send that email to YC and say that.

If we hadn’t emailed, I don’t know what would have happened.

Would we have gotten in?

Would they have delayed the decision even longer?

I don’t know.

But I feel like you have to do the things that most people won’t do because success rarely comes through the front door.

Right, I want to go back though because you mentioned three major kind of accelerator programs there. Well, not necessarily accelerator programs, but you mentioned three big things that people can apply to, and I think that startups are so overwhelmed, intimidated, I don’t know what’s going on out there. So I want to kind of address all three because they’re big ones. You said Google for Startups, Dragon’s Den, and Y Combinator, right?

So let’s start with Google for Startups because they started out first. So, for those who don’t know, who is it for? And how did you apply? And what did you benefit from that?

So there are loads of accelerators out there. This one just started and happened to be at the time we were looking. So what I’ll say is I don’t even know the exact application, but as a startup, you should literally be Googling accelerators, equity-free, or any type because I think I have heard enough founders now say accelerators are just value-add when you’re so new.

If you’re a second-time founder, by the way, the world is like yours because you’ve done so much and you really know what you’re doing. But as a first-time founder, you have no clue. So these accelerators really provide you with network, people, etc.

Given Google for Startups was equity-free, it was like a no-brainer. And I think, yeah, just to summarize, before Google for Startups, we applied to so many other ones because we just knew getting into anything will mean they will whip you into shape.

Because I remember speaking to Oddbox—the Oddbox founder—and he was like, “Dude, we started off with this accelerator, I think it was Founders Institute for him.” And he was like, “We actually paid a little bit, but they just whip you into shape, and they really make you deliver on certain milestones, and you need that accountability.”

So I think that’s never left my mind. And I think because of that, I just recommend everyone shoot your shot. Apply to 100, and you might get into one, you know? And just do it. Even the process of writing the application helps you articulate your thoughts. And when you get rejected, that’s great. Just ask them, make connections, and then move on to the other one.

I think it’s just like the process in itself is so useful, especially when starting out.

Yeah, because actually, if you’re able to write the application, sometimes people don’t even understand what they do or are not very clear with what they do. And actually, even just pitching, they’re coming across totally different. So actually, if they’re getting feedback on that, that’s free advice from people who are actually really good, and actually you probably should be paying thousands of pounds for it. So actually it’s a really big win.

But not everyone likes rejection. I think it obviously is time-consuming, and people are chasing short-term wins. I think that’s quite interesting.

Accelerators—I hear so many great things about them. I think, like I said, it’s all about the network as well. And I think, you know, that’s why people do MBAs—for that same network, right? So an accelerator is basically the same thing, but actually you’re paying for it a different way in terms of equity or something.

Dragon’s Den is an interesting one because I also had Peony Li on the podcast, who you know as well, and obviously she’s also been on Dragon’s Den and shared her story. Do you want to tell your story about Dragon’s Den and what made you apply and everything like that as well? Because I feel like it’s interesting.

Yeah, of course. So during the middle of COVID, someone scouted us. We got an email saying, “Hey, do you want to apply?” And we just went, “Look, basically shut down as a business. It was illegal to have anyone over.” So we were like, “Yes, yes, yes.”

BBC goes through a very long set of due diligence, which is kind of insane—more than investors do. So we kind of kept saying yes, yes, yes. Finally got to Manchester, then got to our recording. It was like two and a half hours long. They recorded in one go. There were no cuts.

The first 30 minutes were quite serious because we had… and I just love cracking jokes, and we just try to have a good time. That was a little bit awkward or serious, and then it became really fun. After half an hour, we were laughing, and it was good.

And yeah, like we said, there were two dragons that were dream dragons—Peter and Tej. At that point, they both invested in us. So overall, it was just such a good experience. And I just remember thinking, “Wow, I had such a good time.”

It was scary. We even prepped for it. We got a coach who prepped us with questions because we realized that you don’t want to look like an idiot on national TV. And even if you know certain things, if someone doesn’t pressure-test you and doesn’t help you refine your answers, you could come across sounding really silly because back then we were so new.

So I actually had a—I forget his name—Paul something. He’s amazing, and he coached us for like two £250 sessions or something. It was the best investment.

Yeah, went on TV, had a great day, very grateful for the whole experience and sort of how much it helped us evolve in our thinking of our business. And also, just the experience itself was awesome.

God, and that’s—I was going to ask you about the prep because I think that’s so important. People get these opportunities and then they just blow it because they think they know everything.

And like you said, at the end of the day, these investors want to know how they’re going to make money. If you don’t know all the numbers inside out, and you don’t know the little things, and you come across really… all it takes is the cameras and everything, and you know you’re on national TV. You know hundreds of people are seeing it—sorry, thousands, tens of thousands of people… or millions actually…

The viewership is like…

Yeah, but I mean people, you know, like in terms of personally… you’re going to be like, ‘Oh my god.’ So it’s like, you know, you’re going to get seen by so many people who know you, and they’re going to say stuff to you that the pressure just gets you. Then you forget all the things you want to say, so the preparation is so important.

I would love to ask, like, how else you prep and what you think the most important things are because you’ve now gone from, like I said, a PDF just giving it out in places to now being so successful and, like, you know, you’re obviously expanding and doing more things and you’ve got all these amazing things planned. Like, that’s only a few years as well. Like, you’ve done that in—it’s an incredible achievement.

What would you say the most valuable things that you’ve done to attribute to your success along the way?

So network—you touched upon this, but…

‘Cause we were outsiders, I am very ruthless about this. Like, I will find someone who I think I want to speak to, and I think you have to know that a lot of people might not have time. Founders are so busy. But if you catch them at the right time, you ask them very small questions.

For example, if I ever LinkedIn-add someone, I might just ask the tiniest question. And it’s amazing when you say something like, “Hey, by the way…” This is my favorite question to go to. It’s like, if we’re ever fundraising or it’s like a small angel round, I’ll be like, “Hey, by the way, we have some investor looking to give us money or whatever. We’d love your advice.”

People love giving you advice when you’re in a strong leverage position, and they’ll be like, “Amazing. I’ll voice note you on WhatsApp,” or whatever. And I’ve made so many contacts that way.

I also think… so we both have worked on our network, and we very quickly built founder contacts—like friends of friends, our peers. And everything that we were doing, it was verified. So it would never be like, “Oh, what should I do?” It would be like, “Oh, what should I do? Okay.” And you go ask five people, three people. I’ll go ask people. Let’s come back together.

So that’s been very important, but it’s helped us accelerate.

I think the second thing is… so I think that’s like a very big one. Obviously, you need to be like crazy bad-ass optimistic and all that.**

Stuff which kind of goes without saying. And between Hen and me, we have a lot of that. And if ever one person loses a little bit, the other person is there to carry us through.

So I think between both of us, we have a lot of that, which really keeps you going through the hard times. So there are a lot of hard times, and I think to succeed, you just need to keep solving problems and believing you can.

Like, I think everything on this journey… and the thing is, initially I used to get really stressed out. I’ll wake up and I’ll be so stressed about everything going wrong.

And now—and I’m not saying I’ve really figured this out—but over time, what people don’t realize is problems… you’re never going to have a life without problems. Problems are great. That’s why you get out of bed.

Like, there’s a saying: you eat problems for breakfast. It should be good. Like, you should wake up and be like, “Amazing. What are the problems I tackle today?”

And I think over time I realized I don’t understand why I’m stressing. It’s like a natural reflex reaction, but if you can really channel that to realize, “Great, this is a problem. I do that, I solve it, and then I move on. I do that, I solve it, I move on.”

That’s really important.

And actually, while I was saying all of this, I realized a fourth one, but I have only just about learned it this year, and I’m like…

…four and a half years into my journey, and I still haven’t fully learned it, but it’s so important.

Someone like this founder called Priyanka Gil, whose company is now actually a billion dollars plus in India, she said this to me. And I first didn’t understand what she said.

What she said was, “Your founder brand is different to your company’s brand.”

And I just went, “What? That makes no sense.” We’re like a young, first-time founder. I am Why Hangry. All of me is Why Hangry. I sleep, breathe, die Why Hangry.

And then I realized that’s why I’m so stressed about everything. Like, I have no identity. And that’s why… I went through a burnout after Y Combinator. It was terrible. I didn’t even realize what a burnout was. And it’s like my body was just… it was so wrong.

And I think it was because I had no life of my own. I had stopped doing things for my own self. Like, everything—even if I was talking to you—I would mention Why Hangry.

Whereas now, I could just talk to you and be really curious, and Why Hangry can just be its own thing. And maybe it’ll come up, and maybe it wouldn’t.

And obviously, it’s really hard to give this advice when you’re just starting out because you live and breathe your company. But I think it is really important because you need to see your friends. You need to go to the gym. You need to have a conversation that does not include your startup because it might spark a new idea, and you go, “Ah, I got it.”

And I think this year I’ve really done it. So I think I post a lot on LinkedIn now that’s just me, actually. Chetna posts her journey of building Why Hangry. It’s not Siddhi selling you Why Hangry. Siddhi does not care. Siddhi loves to read books. Siddhi loves to articulate what she learned.

And I think it’s been so nice to be able to realize and find my authentic self back because I think in the middle, you just start to feel so salesy, and you just start to be like, “I really hate it.”

But I think that has been such a big realization for me this year, and it’s still one I keep reminding myself because whenever things go downhill, I’ve probably really integrated myself in Why Hangry, and I’m feeling every stress of it.

But when I have my own full life and my Why Hangry, it’s really nice.

I love that. That’s so nice. And I think everyone’s so obsessed with personal brand at the moment. And I actually quite like you said **founder brand**. It just sounds a bit nicer, in a way. I don’t know, because I’m so sick of hearing “personal brand.”

And also, you articulated it in a much better way because it isn’t just like, “Oh, let’s post on LinkedIn,” and “Let’s do this on social media,” and craft this perception of yourself. It’s actually like an identity.

Like you said, you felt attached to your company brand. Like you said, Why Hangry equals Chetna. But it’s not. You are very different people. Well, it’s not even one person, but you know there’s a separate identity there.

And the fact that you found that and you now can embrace it, it must be such a relief because it’s like you don’t have all that stress that the company has.

So, you know…

Sorry, I just thought of something while you were speaking there.

I actually asked Priyanka when she told me this at the beginning. I was like, “So how do you create a founder brand?” I was like, “What the hell? Do I just pop out and say Siddhi’s XYZ? Like, what does that even mean?”

And she was like, “It’s not. It’s just what is your special talent and what you have to give to this world. And you have to figure that out.”

And I just thought, “Jesus Christ, now what is it that I have to give? All I do is work on Why Hangry. I don’t know.”

And I think it’s been really interesting because that definition is true. And LinkedIn helps because it forces you to articulate. But same as X or Instagram or whatever. It’s just like your niche.

And through posting, I realized I love books. I’ve read 40 this year. My goal is… oh, maybe 30. My goal is 50. Probably going to fall short.

But I love books. I actually love product. Now I’ve started loving copywriting. I am fascinated by communication or co-founder relationships.

And I realized, actually, that is my niche. Whatever interests me can be a part of my founder brand. And then at some point, some things resonate with people, and some things give me more happiness.

And that progressively is your kind of little arena. And when you know that, it makes you feel a little bit more secure in your skin versus just being all about the startup.

So yes, I have a lot of startup stress, for sure. Like, Why Hangry is still the biggest thing in my life. I have my partner, my family, friends, but Why Hangry is still number one because it just consumes you.

But I have a little routine. Every morning I’ll go to the park and read my book. And now I do that before I start my work. And that just means I’ve stolen time for myself.

And every morning I just feel okay. I feel very content. If life was just this, it would be pretty good. So everything else feels like a bonus.

But this is recent. So, you know, in two years I’ll be… two months I’ll be spiraling out again.

Well, you don’t know. It could be this new thing because I feel like that now as well.

I spent a long time trying to work out what my ideal week would look like. And I love doing this exercise with other people as well. I get them to do it on my strategy days.

And I think you have an ideal week in the ideal world in a few years’ time, which I know is not yet achievable. I said yet because, you know, it’s going to happen.

But then I set one for the end of this year, and I’ve achieved that now. And it feels the most amazing thing. I’ve got time in my life to do incredible things, and I can actually go to the gym because I enjoy it, and actually have more time with my dog.

And every morning… so I don’t go to the park and read, but my dog loves to be on the balcony. She loves… I just, you know, get that fresh air no matter how cold it is. It wakes me up now.

So actually it’s great because I just go outside and give her a cuddle in the morning, and it’s like she gets excited to see me. And obviously there’s nothing like that love from your dog to just make you feel in a great mood.

So I’ve got these amazing endorphins rushing all through my body in the morning. I’ve woken up in a beautiful way, and it sets a really positive tone for the day.

I just think it’s so much nicer.

So I love that. I think it’s all about discovering what’s right for you, and it’s a great journey to be on, which I think is amazing.

And I also want to touch on something else because you mentioned, I think, number two on that list was, obviously, you talking about Henna and your relationship and everything. And I want to talk about that a little bit because, like you said, you’re so blessed to have found someone who is your yin to your yang.

And there’s a lot of debates out there about co-founders, whether it’s good having them or… obviously there’s pros and cons for sure.

But for those… there’s going to be a lot of people listening who are either already a bit started a business or thinking about it, and they’re deciding, “Do I need a co-founder? Do I do this by myself?”

Talk me through, I guess, some of your pros and cons and why you’ve obviously loved having a co-founder in your life.

Of course.

So I think anecdotally, advice can vary a lot. There is a reason why VC funds only back companies with co-founders. They are more stable in the sense where…

And, of course, co-founder breakups are, by the way, the number one reason startups break up. So that doesn’t mean you won’t be doomed to failure. Also, everything has a probability to it. Like, 55% of co-founders apparently break up in the first four years, and I know that because Henna and I have passed that stage. I wrote a LinkedIn post about it.

But what I’ll say is it shocks me that solo founders can do this. There is so much to do. So let’s say if you want to build a company, let alone a really fucking big company, I don’t even know if I could have.

It’s so funny. Everyone asks, and they’re like, “Wait, the title is called *No Bullsh*t*. I should be allowed to swear.”

Yes, you can express your…

I was like, that’s exactly what I just went through. Wait, it says that. That means I should be able to swear.

But everyone asks, and it makes me laugh. And I’m just like, “Do you know what? You express yourself in however you want.”

And I was like, “Do you know what? When people get passionate, swear words come out because it is such emphasis.”

And so I’m just like, “Go for it.” It’s just you being really passionate about it.

So swear away.

Yeah. So I think for me, it was something I needed to start a startup because I just knew I could picture myself on my own kitchen table feeling like I’m cuckoo.

And I was like, “What the hell will I do?”

And I think for me that was just a very strong personal preference. I always wanted a co-founder.

What I will say though is it’s not easy. It’s one of the hardest relationships in my life. And Henna and I have worked on it so much.

We’ve been through multiple co-founder coaches. And the thing is, we realized it’s so positive because as long as we both told ourselves early on…

Look, as we were walking out of finance, there were a lot of haters. There were a lot of people who were like, “Oh, these girls are going to start a catering company.”

Honestly, God, so frustrating.

And then all we said was, “We’ll fucking show you one day. Whatever. One day we’ll show you. It’s fine.”

And I think we looked at each other. We were like, “Look, we have walked out from potentially much bigger careers, paychecks, with a lot of people looking at us and thinking, ‘Idiotic girls starting a catering company,’ which really sounds so demeaning.”

And then we looked at each other and we were like, “Right. Let’s promise to each other we will make this work.”

If our startup fails, it will not be because both of us couldn’t get along. It’ll be about something else.

And we’ve just kind of always believed in that.

I think maybe it’s our shared Asian values where our parents went through similar stuff. Like, she’s an immigrant too. I think we have more mutual bonds.

But yeah, I think we’re just committed to being better.

And every time we’ve gone through a co-founder coach, it’s crazy how much I realize I don’t know about communication, about frameworks, about my own self.

I think this year I’ve realized my brain operates so differently. I don’t know if I have ADHD, but I work at an insane speed. I have so many thoughts at the same time.

It’s actually understanding my own operating system, and my reactions and triggers, and my zones of genius, and what I’m not good at.

And then hers.

And then how you communicate all of that has been such a fascinating journey.

And we have an insane coach right now. He spoke at Harvard. He reads literature from Stanford.

So it’s very methodical. As a logical person, you can say, “Oh my God, I get it.”

It’s not we’re having arguments because we don’t like each other. We’re having this argument because it’s my point of view, her point of view. She comes from these areas. This is it. We’re somehow not getting through. We need a structure to be able to give this constructive feedback to each other.

And I think it’s just so fascinating. It’s like a whole new world.

But I love it. I love all of it.

But we’ve done a lot of work.

Yeah. Well, I mean, for me the most surprising bit about that is that there are co-founder coaches. I didn’t even know they existed. I’ve never had a co-founder, but it makes sense. It’s a relationship. You have relationship coaches for everything else, whether it’s a marriage or whether it’s work.

So that to me surprised me.

So what does a co-founder coach talk to you about? What are the biggest things that co-founders do have problems with, would you say?

So actually, probably a co-founder coach is the same as a founder coach. I think they probably cover both use cases.

We’ve never…

And actually now, sometimes we have a common session. Sometimes an individual one because they probably want to understand you a little bit more, which is very interesting.

You know, it’s nothing very big.

The biggest underlying thing is: how do you communicate with each other?

Do you understand your own zone of genius and your areas of improvement?

And are you able to both grow? Because co-founders grow at different paces in different areas.

And how do you maintain that communication through all of this?

And it sounds so easy. It’s really not.

So this was like the best one, and it’s crazy because it’s changed my life.

The biggest thing that actually people—not just co-founders—in our lives do is we assume.

So actually, as a product person, you just say, “That’s an assumption.”

Right? Like let’s say you’re discovering something and you’re building a feature. You’re like, “No, that’s an assumption. Go speak to the customer. Hear from their mouth what they’re trying to say. Don’t assume what they want.”

So that sounds very normal when you’re building product.

But people go about life assuming stuff.

Like if your friend doesn’t call you, you’ll be like, “Oh my God, she’s such an a-hole. Like she probably forgot about me, or she was too busy for me.”

Maybe she’s having a terrible day, and you just assumed.

And then you move through your life with this big assumption.

So what happens is, in rapid startups, communication is full of assumptions and everything gets lost because you can assume ill intent, but it was never meant to be. It was just an assumption.

So a very good framework is saying, instead of saying, “Dude, you did this. Fuck you,” or “This is so terrible,” and then just getting into an argument…

Realize, okay, maybe you’re upset. Maybe it’s a story.

You could say something like:

> “Hey, by the way, when this thing happened, my story—like what I tell myself, not what you did, I don’t know what you meant to do—my story was this. Can you clarify?”

Okay?

And then that allows you to be curious and allows the other person to not feel that they need to defend themselves, right?

They haven’t done anything wrong.

It’s like innocent until proven guilty.

And then you end up facilitating this conversation.

And I think that was a really big one for me.

And also just realizing that we need to champion each other holistically.

So it’s not just like, “I’ll be a little bit annoyed at you at work and that’s fine.”

No.

You really believe that, to make it work, the other person needs to be happy, feel protected, and feel secure.

And it’s your job, with every interaction, to give them that.

So yeah, a lot of deep stuff.

Very life-changing when you know that.

So when you were talking earlier about what you love doing, you’re like, “Oh, Siddhi loves books. Siddhi does this…”

One thing you didn’t mention, which you’ve definitely said to me, is that you have a passion…

…to level the playing field for women when it comes to funding and all that sort of stuff. And I know that’s a big passion of yours, but you didn’t mention it, so I’d love to bring that up because you are two female founders, but you’re also two female minority founders as well.

And we all know the stats about how few women get funded and how difficult it is for women. And there is clearly still a big gender disparity amongst all of this sort of stuff.

But also, your finance background—you totally know how that feels. So I’d love to just talk through that a little bit, about how it’s been in your journey as female founders, as minorities, and what you’re planning to do and how you’re going to help other women.

Of course.

Actually, it all started in trading, where I really believed the world was equal.

And I remember getting into an argument with a client who was a lot older. She was a customer, and I was like, “No, it’s all the same. You don’t understand. This is ridiculous.”

Then I went back to work the next day, and my desk was like, “Oh my God, did you just call out a client?”

And then we became really good friends.

What she told me was, “You’re just really young. Wait two or three years. When you grow into a higher role, like you’re not the analyst anymore, that’s when you’ll realize.”

And that’s exactly what happened, like clockwork.

I think I was called aggressive and all these things—and I am—but I wasn’t hearing guys being called aggressive.

And it was just so frustrating.

I think it can actually become really negative because then you end up lashing out, which then hurts you.

Actually, I always joke that if I was still in trading, I would have really spiraled the f*** out because there were little things that started bothering me, and then I’d just say, “What the hell? Do not talk to me like that,” or “Get the f*** out.”

And I think these things just don’t go down really well.

But basically, I realized there was a clear difference.

And obviously, you need representation at the top, and that’s the only way to change stuff.

But luckily for me, I decided that wasn’t for me anymore.

Startups are actually way more friendly. People aren’t as rude, or it’s not as rudimentary, or like the Wild West, which trading was.

But I suppose people don’t say what they’re thinking.

And I would just assume that if any investor out there gets two companies, they would just assume the one funded and founded by a male is better.

And the thing is, statistically that’s true because the stats show all the big companies have been built by men.

So if you were just pattern matching, why would that not be true?

And I think it takes a while, and you really have to be conscious of your unconscious bias to fight that.

So I think what we’re fighting is not sexism—it’s actually unconscious bias.

It’s years of ingrained pattern matching where it’s like, obviously, male companies or the Mark Zuckerbergs in Silicon Valley are building the biggest companies.

And I think, as a female founder, you just have to realize that everything you say has to be confident.

You have to fight that unseen battle.

And I think female founders do come across actually less confident.

It’s like they prep less. They already—I think obviously because you know all of these stats—you’re already a little bit more scared.

Then you get questions which are slightly more unfair.

That puts you on the back foot.

And it’s all a cycle.

But I feel like the way Henna and I have counteracted that is we just go, “Whatever.”

We have built confidence.

We will practice or whatever.

And we will build a very, very big company.

And I think you will get a lot of rejections, and that’s fine.

And I think when I go into conversations like that, I don’t think I’m a female founder.

I’m just a founder.

And I have beaten all these odds of moving countries, being deported, getting to YC, getting into Columbia AI, whatever.

So I think there is no problem I can’t solve.

And I think in that mindset, you just forget that you’re female.

Because their odds are not stacked in your favor, but that shouldn’t stop you from doing your best version.

Actually, you should copy men that do really well.

And I think that’s actually true.

People who are really successful—watch them, understand what they’re doing really well, then copy it and adapt it to your style.

No one’s saying become manly.

Just learn what they do really well.

I love a lot of that advice.

And I just think we spend so much time thinking, “Why are men more successful?”

But like you said, it is, annoyingly, a vicious cycle.

It’s like men are going to become more successful because there is this unconscious bias, as they get access to more funding and so therefore they’re able to do more.

And then women don’t have as much confidence, and therefore…

It’s like it’s never going to…

And the network, by the way.

Men are so social.

I keep saying that.

Even my partner—you would think, on the surface, I’m extroverted and he’s introverted.

But he’s always in touch with his guy mates, always playing a game on his phone.

They’re just connected.

Whereas women don’t do that.

And for women, every conversation is one-to-one.

It can be deeper, but that’s hard.

I wish I just watched some stupid sports.

Like, every woman I saw, I was like, “Hey mate, have you seen this one sports thing?”

And we immediately had the same conversation like ten times a day.

So I think women really need to understand that’s something they have to fight and build—that network—which men get a lot more naturally because their interests are sports, then they talk about investment, then something else.

Whereas with women it’s like, “Oh my God.”

Every conversation could be a whole new thing.

And it’s draining.

And it’s harder.

It’s so funny you say that because that’s almost exactly the same thing with my partner as well.

So many people are just like, “You two are so opposite.”

He seems super quiet.

I’m the loud one.

So on the surface people assume that when we go networking, I’m going, “Oh, hi,” around everyone, and he just hasn’t talked to anyone.

It’s the other way around.

He’s a really confident networker.

I’ve seen him.

He’ll just talk to people, get cards, have a chat, make business.

He does really well at his job.

I’m sitting there going, “I’m just going to hide in the corner.”

I’m just not going to talk to anyone.

I don’t like it.

And it’s really interesting.

He’s also yet in chats with his guy friends and stuff like that.

And we just don’t do that.

We’re both really busy.

My friends and I are like, “Oh, do you want to catch a drink?”

“Oh, we’ll sync our diaries.”

And it never happens.

It’s such a different thing.

So I totally see it.

I just think that, as women, there’s also a little bit of a narrative that women are more disadvantaged that people kind of use as an excuse.

And I think that becomes a dangerous thing.

But what are your thoughts on women who are doing great things?

Because I feel like there are women out there who do have power and influence.

And like you were saying, you really want to be able to help level the playing field.

How important is it for women like yourself, who have done really well, to talk about it?

And what do you hope to help other women do?

Oh, I think it’s so important because I think it can go two ways.

Sometimes women in power who really made it have had such a hard time that they’re not necessarily hardwired to then bring up other women because it’s like, “Oh, you also have to jump through hoops.”

Whereas there are a lot of women that I see nowadays in the tech ecosystem that are very vocal.

And that’s exciting because they understand they need to help, whether that’s trying to build funding, whether that’s mentorship, or whatever.

So I think, same for me.

I think my goal always was to build a unicorn company or a decacorn company.

All the wealth, etc., goes back into funding women-led businesses, which then basically creates more equality because more women get hired and all that stuff.

But then I also realized I don’t have to wait until the end.

You can do things now.

I actually realized, like, unconscious advantage.

When a guy will reach out to me and a woman reaches out to me, I will actively be like, “Okay, why did you respond to that guy? Now go respond to that woman.”

And sometimes the messages are better, right?

So I won’t be responding because it’s a guy or a girl.

But then I will give the benefit of the doubt and say, “Okay, I’m going to take that extra time just to do that little bit.”

Which doesn’t cost you very much.

But it helps because you’re remembering that that path isn’t the easiest.

Yeah, I love that, and I think that’s so nice to give back.

I always find that as well.

When I see other people who look like me struggling…

I don’t have as much time for mentoring at the moment, but any sort of young Black woman who comes to me and says, “I’m really struggling. Do you have some advice?”

I’m like, “I’ve got time for you.”

Because I know what a struggle it is.

I know how I’ve been rejected and how I’ve been treated.

So I feel like giving half an hour of your time could be really life-changing for them—to hear that advice and know they’ve got someone who has their back.

And it’s not going to be that much of a detriment to me.

So I feel like that’s what I always do too.

So I think it’s really important.

That’s incredible.

And I think, yeah, even little things like just message back.

Write an answer back.

Obviously, I can’t do that with everyone.

I feel like there’s just so little time.

But it’s about being aware and then being like, “Okay, if I can, let me just make out that one minute, that ten minutes, that little response.”

Yeah.

Oh, love it.

Is there anything else that you would give advice to founders out there?

Because I feel like you’ve had a whole lot of a journey, and you’ve done so many things. What advice would you give to people who are there now, like in the middle of their startup? They want to scale, they want to get bigger, they want to get to where Why Hangry is. What advice would you give them right now?

One step at a time.

Follow your customer.

Customer is king.

See what they’re doing. Talk to them. No assumptions.

As a founder, you should constantly be doing that. I still do it. I do it with customers. I do it with chefs.

Keep talking. Keep building.

Your product.

Distribution is important, but even for distribution and copy, speak to your customer.

How does a customer talk about your business?

So I think it all goes back to the customer, and that’s really important.

So do that.

And then B is, yeah, just do back doors.

People don’t knock on enough back doors.

There’s so much competition at the main door of a building.

Don’t do that.

Don’t try to get into a club with the main queue.

Just go find that weird back door because they exist.

If you are being creative enough, crazy enough, something exists.

You can always reach out to someone on LinkedIn.

People actually are terrible at cold emailing.

Get really good.

Say something that’s interesting.

You know, I actually cold emailed…

No, I’ll say the story, and I’ll make it TL;DR, but it’s really interesting because I’m like, more people need to do it.

So I went to Slush, which is a conference in Finland.

I then was meant to go to a bagged party.

We didn’t have tickets.

So I said that I’m the OnlyFans CEO, Amrapali Gan, because I’m brown, she’s brown, and for VIP they just check your name.

So they let me in.

I think that was really funny because everyone sort of got in with whatever different names, and it was fine.

It was a fun party.

We paid for our drinks, came back out.

Then a year later, I actually messaged Amrapali Gan on LinkedIn telling her that I did that as a story.

And she responded being like, “Haha, that’s really funny.”

And it is a very funny story.

I just feel, obviously, it stands out.

Like, how many people are messaging her on LinkedIn telling her they kind of used her to get into a random party?

I think people need to be creative, out of the box.

There is a lot you can do.

So just, yeah, be crazy and keep going.

Oh, do you know what? I love that.

That is the best piece of advice because now I’ve got so many cool ideas.

And I just want to set a challenge now for everyone listening to do the most crazy thing.

Do the most crazy outreach and just see where it leads because you never know.

I love that so much.

Thank you so much for today.

It’s been brilliant, and I loved having you on.

Thank you so much. I really enjoyed it.

Thank you.

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