Jani pasha — CEO
In 2018, we began with a WhatsApp group with a simple hypothesis: people in tier-2/3 towns weren’t really using the internet meaningfully yet. We believed that if we started with local content in their own language, they’d come back every day; once there was a habit and trust, that same space could naturally grow into classifieds and, eventually, something they used for almost everything online. This spark became Lokal. Our first instinct was to put everything in one place & one app - local updates, classifieds, jobs, matrimony and more. It worked, till it stopped working. Users gave us the insight - when one use case outweighs the others, everything else seems like noise. We listened. Like how Craigslist quietly seeded a generation of focused companies & marketplaces, we began unbundling and verticalising. Today, Lokal is a house of focused apps, many products, one mission: to connect Tier-2/3+ India to the Knowledge, opportunities, tools and experts they’ve always deserved. We now operate dozens of live apps across categories like: Edutainment & Skill Learning – practical skills and learning in regional languages (GyanTV) Matrimonial Matchmaking – hyperlocal, compatibility-first partner search (Lokal Matrimony) Agri Consulting – farmer-first advisory in local languages (AgriLokal) Local Jobs – blue- and grey-collar opportunities close to home (Lokal Jobs, Sahi Jobs) Social & Community – Place to find & post social updates (Lokal app) Emotional Well-being & Peer Support – safe spaces to talk and feel heard (Dostt & Eaze) Astrology & Guidance – instant access to trusted Astrologers via chat and voice (AstroLokal) Advisory Services – early bets in legal help, financial guidance, career counselling, and more Under the hood, Lokal is a discovery and access platform: local-language internet + deep Bharat insight+ AI. When someone opens a product we’ve built, they don’t wade through clutter; they get a straight line to what they came for. This is the story new teammates walk into: a company that started as a whatsapp group, became a family of focused apps, and kept one belief at the centre, access changes lives. We ship fast. We learn fast. We build for Bharat. We are backed by leading global and domestic investors including Y Combinator, Sony, Global Brain, India Quotient, and 3one4 Capital
Stackforce AI infers this person is a B2C entrepreneur with a strong focus on product management and innovative solutions.
Location: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Experience: 13 yrs 2 mos
Skills
- Entrepreneurship
- Product Management
- Operations Management
- Project Management
Career Highlights
- Co-founded multiple successful startups.
- Expert in building AI-native products.
- Strong background in product management and operations.
Work Experience
Lokal
Co-Founder and CEO (8 yrs 1 mo)
TheSoup - AI Based News Platform
Cofounder (1 yr 6 mos)
Zoomo India
Sr Product Manager (1 yr 3 mos)
Growth Product Manager (1 mo)
Halfteaspoon.com
Cofounder (9 mos)
Jagriti Sewa Sansthan
Yatri (Fellow) (1 mo)
Tata Steel
Manager (7 mos)
Intern (1 mo)
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
Undergraduate Representative to Institute Senate (1 yr)
Education
Bachelors of Technology at Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
Summer 2019 at Y Combinator
