People by WTF

I sat down with Nikos Christodoulides, the President of Cyprus — and the rare leader who came to politics as a historian first. Cyprus is a country of a million and a half people sitting on the bridge between Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, which makes it one of the most strategically placed nations on earth right now. We got into why he believes the world is sliding back into raw power politics, why the institutions built after World War II no longer reflect reality, why India has to be at the centre of whatever replaces them, and why he thinks war is the easiest mistake a country can make and the hardest to undo. We also talked about democracy under pressure, why he moved from the left to the centre-right over a lifetime, what AI might do to work and governance, and what it actually feels like to wake up every day and carry the weight of a country. He told me it's a very lonely role — and that the only thing that matters is whether history, not tomorrow's headlines, judges you well.

00:00 Introduction
03:07 Being a historian first, a politician second
08:02 Why power politics is returning to the world
12:03 The case for India on the UN Security Council
17:01 How postwar institutions favoured the incumbents
22:23 Whether democracy still delivers economic progress
27:02 Designing a new regional order from India to Europe
34:39 Why interests, not values, reshape alliances
40:53 The only real way to avoid war
42:35 Where he stands on left versus right
46:02 Moving from academia into political reality
47:11 What AI could do to work and democracy
52:08 Thinking about the next generation, not the next election
56:22 What it feels like to hold power
1:03:09 What diplomacy taught him about negotiation
1:07:57 A closing argument for India's leading role

#NikhilKamath – Co-founder of Zerodha and Gruhas
Host of 'WTF is' & 'People By WTF' Podcast
Twitter/X: https://x.com/nikhilkamathcio/
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Nikos Christodoulides – President of the Republic of Cyprus
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikos-christodoulides-660b02139/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikoschristodoulides/?hl=en
X: https://x.com/Christodulides

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Most politicians know history. My next guest is a historian who became a president. He runs Cyprus — a million-and-a-half people sitting on the bridge between Europe and the Middle East — and he thinks the world is sliding back into the kind of power politics he spent his academic life studying. We got into why starting a war is easy and finishing one is almost impossible, why he believes India has to lead the next world order, and what it actually feels like to hold power. Full episode drops soon.

#NikhilKamath – Co-founder of Zerodha and Gruhas
Host of 'WTF is' & 'People By WTF' Podcast
Twitter/X: https://x.com/nikhilkamathcio/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikhilkamathcio/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikhilkamathcio?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nikhilkamathcio/

Nikos Christodoulides – President of the Republic of Cyprus
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikos-christodoulides-660b02139/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikoschristodoulides/?hl=en
X: https://x.com/Christodulides

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#WTFiswithnikhilkamath #PeopleByWTF #WTFOnline

I always assumed India was becoming the pharmacy of the world, until this conversation made me sit with the sharper truth that we're the generic pharmacy of the world, and from there we got into whether China really killed our API industry or whether Indians still quietly lead it, why a drug like semaglutide turns into a miracle and a problem the second everyone wants it, the side effects nobody wants to talk about, the ethics of running a prescription-driven business, whether the global enthusiasm around Indian hospitals is actually justified, and why fear might be the single biggest thing holding Indian entrepreneurship back.

#nikhilkamath Co-founder of Zerodha and Gruhas
Host of 'WTF is' & 'People By WTF' Podcast
Twitter: https://x.com/nikhilkamathcio/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikhilkamathcio/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikhilkamathcio
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nikhilkamathcio/

Rajeev Juneja-Vice Chairman & Managing Director at Mankind Pharma Ltd
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajeev-juneja-27882a24b/

G.V Prasad Reddy-MD & Co-Chairman at Dr. Reddy's
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gvprasadster/

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#WTFiswithnikhilkamath #PeopleByWTF #WTFOnline

Martin Escobari is the co-president of General Atlantic, one of the largest growth equity funds in the world, and he says entrepreneurs and gangsters have more in common than we admit — so few make it, so many die early, and the ones that survive are almost always wounded in some specific way. He grew up in Bolivia in the 80s through 35,000% inflation, eleven presidents in ten years, and three coups; his family lost everything in a revolution; and he now believes America is converging towards the volatility he escaped, not the other way around. I brought in Arian, a 21-year-old founder who cold emailed Sam Altman from India, and asked Martin to allocate $100 billion across three industries with a blank slate today — AI, healthcare, energy transition, and the rise of the new consumer in the global south. We got into why India hasn't produced a truly global company, why four out of seven frauds in General Atlantic's entire history happened here, why the next generation of Indian founders has to build without shortcuts, and why fiction makes better investors than non-fiction. The most interesting two hours I've spent at a dinner table this year.

Timestamp:
00:00 Introduction
05:14 Engineering a happy life
08:22 Surviving Bolivia's hyperinflation
12:19 Trauma as the engine behind every entrepreneur
20:17 Built-for-turbulence companies and spear fishing the storm
25:31 Is America still worth the journey, and what is wealth for
31:00 Capitalism, communism, and learning to think critically
37:19 Submarino, the IPO crash, and the India that almost was
43:02 Aryan's story: cold-emailing Sam Altman from Mumbai
51:18 The four mega-trends and where to put 100 billion
1:01:53 Why India has never built a global company
1:10:25 How General Atlantic is built: perpetual capital and pooled bets
1:16:14 Manifestation, the 8-second rule, and the checklist for great companies
1:24:23 Failure, dead ends, and the courage to change your mind
1:28:36 The venture-to-IPO value chain, monopolies, and young revolutionaries

#nikhilkamath Co-founder of Zerodha and Gruhas
Host of 'WTF is' & 'People By WTF' Podcast
Twitter: x.com/nikhilkamathcio
Instagram: instagram.com/nikhilkamathcio
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nikhilkamathcio
Facebook: facebook.com/nikhilkamathcio

#MartinEscobari — Co-President and Head of Global Growth Equity at General Atlantic
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/martin-escobari
Twitter: x.com/MartinEscobari

Watch 'WTF is' Podcast on Spotify
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Watch 'People by WTF' Podcast on Spotify
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Watch 'WTF Online' on Spotify
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#WTFiswithnikhilkamath #PeopleByWTF #WTFOnline

Martin Escobari is the co-president of General Atlantic — one of the largest growth equity funds in the world, with over $5 billion deployed into India. He grew up in Bolivia in the 80s with 35,000% inflation, eleven presidents in ten years, three coups, and a family that lost everything in a revolution.

I sat him down with a few Columbia Business School students and a 21-year-old AI founder named Arian and asked him the questions a 20-year-old and a 40-year-old would each ask differently.

Full episode drops soon.

#nikhilkamath Co-founder of Zerodha and Gruhas
Host of 'WTF is' & 'People By WTF' Podcast
Twitter: x.com/nikhilkamathcio
Instagram: instagram.com/nikhilkamathcio
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nikhilkamathcio
Facebook: facebook.com/nikhilkamathcio

#MartinEscobari — Co-President and Head of Global Growth Equity at General Atlantic
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/martin-escobari
Twitter: x.com/MartinEscobari

Watch 'WTF is' Podcast on Spotify
Spotify Link

Watch 'People by WTF' Podcast on Spotify
Spotify Link

Watch 'WTF Online' on Spotify
Spotify Link

#WTFiswithnikhilkamath #PeopleByWTF #WTFOnline