Lalithnarayan

The Mughals brought language, food, architecture, music, art and syncretism to India. And they brought Narendra Modi’s party to power economist.com/asia/2026/04/1…

The ambition of early-stage Indian founders seems to have hit an inflection point. More and more young builders are taking aim at massive, technically complex problems that require bleeding-edge innovation. In our recent Tigerfeathers essay, we refer to this as The Age of Audacity. I have a few theories that seek to explain this shift, but in this post I will focus on just one: a psychological watershed has taken place. Young builders in India are daring to do greater things because the glass ceiling has been shattered. If you are a young Indian kid with a dream to do something magnificent in tech, you have plenty of role models: - If you want to build a global AI powerhouse, just look at @AravSrinivas of Perplexity. - If you want to build a domestic consumer business, @aadit_palicha and @v0hra have shown that two 19 year old dropouts can do it - And if you want to build a transformative deep tech business, then there are plenty of great role models, including @awaisahmedna and @kshitijgokul, who started @PixxelSpace when they were still in college If these people could will their dreams into existence as teenagers and outsiders, then there is no reason why others can't do it too. This is how bold founders think. Khushi Mittal (@khushhhi_) falls into this category. Her company, Aspera Industries, is building autonomous aircraft from India. The plan is to start with seaplanes that can ferry cargo, before eventually moving on to passenger aircraft. If it works, it won't just herald a new paradigm in global aviation, it will inspire a new generation of dreamers. Today, when a schoolgirl from Lucknow looks up at a plane in the sky, she is told that it is made by Airbus or Boeing. Companies far away, with seemingly unreachable technology. But tomorrow, if she was told that the aircraft was designed and manufactured in India, the range of possibilities that she is capable of even imagining will expand. The dream comes closer to home. Who knows what wonderful things she will go on to do in the future. For this and several other fascinating reasons, Khushi - a Lucknow girl herself - makes the case that it is high time for an Indian plane company. Read her entire essay, complete with historical vignettes, personal stories, and business plans, on Tigerfeathers now. Link below. Fittingly, Khushi's own journey saw her spend time at Pixxel. It was there that she learned to "go big and dare mighty things". I believe that with each new story like that of Khushi and Aspera, more and more young people will internalize that message. And thus, The Age of Audacity will roll on. Link: tigerfeathers.in/p/wings-over-i…

we were xhigh when we named this model openai.com/index/gpt-5-1-…