229: What if my startup fails? Ahana Gautam, Open Secret UnStarted Ep2

Ahana grew up in Bharatpur, a small town in India where many believed girls shouldn’t always have the same opportunities. But her mother believed otherwise and pushed her to dream bigger. That belief eventually took her to Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and later to Harvard Business School. But this story isn’t about degrees or credentials. It’s about resilience, grit, and the relentless pursuit of building something meaningful. From taking bold bets to navigating failures, Ahana’s journey eventually led to building Open Secret - one of India’s most well-known healthy snacking brands today. This conversation dives into the real founder journey behind the brand: the risks, the setbacks, and the determination it took to keep going. But this isn’t just a success story, in this episode, Ahana openly shares about failed experiments, her mother’s contribution to her life and why she’s passionate about unjunking India. If you're building a startup, thinking about entrepreneurship, or navigating early-stage chaos - this conversation will give you clarity on what truly matters. Chapters 00:00 Introduction: Growing up in Bharatpur & breaking glass ceilings 06:40 IIT, Harvard and Open Secret 16:12 Q1 - Leaving behind a job in US to startup 18:00 Q2 - How does Ahana deal with failures 23:17 Q3 - How does one maintain funding until profitable 27:30 From -47% EBITDA to profitable growth 39:00 Women-led manufacturing and leadership 43:30 Losing her mother during COVID and finding strength About Open Secret Open Secret is a better-for-you snacking brand focused on removing maida, trans fat and artificial preservatives from everyday Indian packaged foods. With strong repeat rates and rapid quick commerce penetration, it is one of India’s fastest-scaling health-focused FMCG startups. Unstarted is built for 1 to 1 founders — people thinking about starting, or just getting started. Real questions. Real answers. Real founders. Have a question you want answered by top founders? Submit it here: Follow Z47 Website - Instagram - / z47.vc LinkedIn - / z47-vc

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229: What if my startup fails? Ahana Gautam, Open Secret UnStarted Ep2 is an episode from Matrix Moments by Matrix Partners India.

This episode is 32:53 long.

This episode was published on Mar 5, 2026.

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