From career truths to conscious capitalism: The conversations that defined VENIX 2026
IIM Bangalore’s annual festival brings together leaders, entrepreneurs and thinkers for two days of purposeful dialogue
10 August 2026, Bangalore: The first two days of VENIX 2026, IIM Bangalore’s flagship festival, brought together leaders from business, entrepreneurship, finance and academia for a series of conversations on careers, purpose, conscious capitalism and what it takes to build for the long term.
From reflections on success and leadership to candid accounts of entrepreneurship and the evolving role of capitalism, the sessions offered students a range of perspectives on navigating careers and creating impact in a rapidly changing world.
Day 1: Fireside Chats, Panel and Keynote
Day 2 opened with a fireside chat with Mr. C.K. Venkataraman, former MD of Titan and author of The Tanishq Story, moderated by Prof. Suresh Bhagavatula, Chairperson, BBA DBE, and faculty of Entrepreneurship at IIMB. Mr. Venkataraman urged students to cultivate their interests outside work, stay emotionally invested in what they do, noting that "success is more because of us," since it is built by many people, which means its lows are shared too.
A second fireside chat featured Kenneth Castelino, Co-Head, Goldman Sachs, moderated by Zain Inhonvi, Vice President, HCM, Goldman Sachs. From research in physics to two decades at Goldman Sachs, Kenneth credited two pieces of advice from his mentors for keeping him grounded through two decades at the firm: strive to be the best at what you do and remember that a strong team will always outperform a strong individual.
The Conscious Capitalism panel, moderated by Prof. Arjun Ramachandra, IIMB Young Faculty Research Chair, and Prof. Manaswini Bhalla, Chairperson, PGP and PGPBA, examined whether capitalism needs reform or needs to return to its founding fairness. Pranav Pai, Managing Partner and CIO, 3one4 Capital, urged students to succeed in India now; Narayan Ramachandran, investor and Co-Founder, The Takshashila Institution, called for regular self-reflection; Prof. B Mahadevan, former faculty in Operations Management, IIMB, offered a Bhagavad Gita framework of giving first, circularity and mutual nourishment; and Srikanth Balakrishnan, owner of JCSS, argued that purpose defines profit, not the other way around.
The day closed with a keynote from Sandeep Das, PGP'09, Author and Storyteller, on the Unsaid Truths About Your Career. Opening with the lesson to "never judge an opportunity by its size or its glamour," he offered ten unfiltered takeaways spanning negotiation, delusion, pressure, health, and playing the long game.
Day 2
A fireside chat on Building in India: Beyond the Headlines featured Kanika Gupta Shori, COO and Co-Founder, Square Yards, and Kiran Shah, Founder, Go Zero, moderated by Rakshit Ravindranathan, EPGP'27, and Sadhana, PGP'27, IIMB. Mr. Shah spoke about walking away from Apsara, his family's ice cream business since 1971, to build Go Zero, saying, "If you don't grow and pivot, you will probably die," a decision that has made Go Zero five times the size of Apsara in four years, run by a lean team of just 35 people. Ms. Gupta Shori traced her path from an accidental entrepreneur, starting Square Yards from Hong Kong with a six-month-old baby, to leading a 9,500-person organisation across 40 cities, recalling candidly that "being a woman, being a new mother, the struggles were real," and crediting her resolve to "work even harder, to grow even bigger" for carrying her through.
VENIX 2026 closed with a panel titled ‘Ideas That Scale: Building Brands, Businesses and Influence,’ moderated by Bhavika Waghdhare, PGP'27. The panel brought together five creators who have turned content into careers. Siddharth Warrier, neurologist and content creator, argued that "putting content on the internet is like writing a book used to be," framing content as the modern version of sharing expertise rather than a departure from one's profession. Kushal Lodha, content creator and podcaster, broke down the economics of the business, insisting that "if you want to make good money, you have to be credible, you have to be consistent," since monetisation follows authority rather than the other way around.
Nivedan Rathi, Founder of Future & AI, described content as the newest form of leverage, noting that "for the first time, an individual has leverage as a multiplier; there is no gatekeeping." Alpana Sharma, Creator, Storyteller and Cultural Commentator, spoke about the loyalty her content has built, recalling that she wakes up to "fifty women telling me something new started in their life" because of what she shares. And Akash Majumdar, Content Creator and Founder of The Creative Cult, closed the panel with a reminder to prioritise consistency over virality, urging the room that "your aim should not be how do I make a viral video; your aim should be how do I make videos I would enjoy watching."
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