Ep 71: Arpita Kapoor of Mech Mocha on making “India play games”

“If I wasn’t running a startup, I wouldn’t be the person I am today.” If there’s one thing most of the entrepreneurs will agree as the biggest influence while building their startups, it’s the personal transformation they go through. For Arpita, who comes from a small village called Pihani near Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, growing up was all about watching how generations of Indians were relying on mobile screens for everything from entertainment to business. At 27, she now runs Mech Mocha, backed by both Accel Partners and Blume Ventures. (Both are among FactorDaily’s backers, too.) Mech Mocha builds mobile games for Indian users. She met her cofounder Mohit Rangaraju while still in college. Together, they attempted an online food startup in the campus (IIT Guwahati), which didn’t work out. Now, Mohit helps her balance “excessive entrepreneurial optimism” with the realities of running a startup. “We balance each other out.”