Kanupriya Poddar, CEO of MagickWorld on building India’s first travel platform for kids.

Reinventing Kids Hospitality in India. Today my guest is Kanupriya Poddar, CEO of MagickWorld. She is building a platform to help parents discover kid-friendly stays, experiences, shops, and enrichment services across cities. In this episode, she shares how she launched MagickWorld alongside her 8-year-old daughter (a mini-entrepreneur, Shark Tank fan, business mindset!), onboarded 100+ local businesses within two months of soft launch, and cracking the distribution model. She reflects on lessons from her McKinsey background, explains why she prefers top-down strategy over bottom-up execution, and talks about bootstrapping, investor interest, the pressure of startup life , and staying grounded with advice from her father. And finally she shares must visit Jaipur recommendations, including places to see, do, and eat, along with advice for anyone considering leaving a corporate career to build a startup and much more! In this episode we talk about: 🚀 Building MagickWorld Creating the world’s first kids-focused lifestyle & travel ecosystem The problem MagickWorld is solving for parents & families Launching with a free directory model Onboarding 100+ local businesses in 2 months Cracking distribution and early customer acquisition Managing supply & demand in a two-sided marketplace 👩‍💼 Founder Journey Going from McKinsey to startup life Lessons learned from McKinsey: simplifying complexity Tackling “elephants in the room” in business Bootstrapping vs investor interest Managing early-stage pressure Getting advice from her father Building a startup while raising an 8-year-old daughter Her daughter as a mini-entrepreneur (Shark Tank fan, business mindset) 🧠 Strategy & Product Thinking Top-down vs bottom-up strategy — and why she prefers top-down Developing the product roadmap Pricing & discovery challenges for small businesses Pay-to-play discovery vs affordable visibility Solving real customer problem statements 🤖 AI, Tech & Future Vision Being optimistic about AI Building an AI recommendation bot The future of kids hospitality & family travel What hospitality in India looks like in 2026 🌏 Geography, Culture & Hospitality Running hospitality businesses in Singapore & India Why Indians are great at hospitality globally Why Jaipur is the hospitality capital of India Staying in Jaipur instead of moving to Bangalore Jaipur’s rise in tech talent & innovation Predictions for Jaipur in the next 5–10 years 🍽️ Jaipur Recommendations Best things to see, do, and experience Weekend itinerary ideas Food & restaurant recommendations Why she’s obsessed with Jaipur’s culture and energy 💡 Advice & Takeaways Advice for people thinking of quitting corporate jobs to start a company Hiring strategy: young talent & unconventional thinkers Staying resilient as a founder Links YouTube: Instagram: Facebook: LinkedIn: @magickworld Hosted And Produced by Neil Patel Enjoyed this episode? Don’t forget to

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Kanupriya Poddar, CEO of MagickWorld on building India’s first travel platform for kids. is an episode from The Indian Startup Show by Neil Patel.

This episode is 00:41:18 long.

This episode was published on Jan 28, 2026.

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