When Startups & Poker Collide: India’s First Founder Poker Series Shuffles the Deck!
On May 7, 2025, entrepreneurship got a new game plan as India’s Founder Poker Series dealt the ultimate hand! Co-hosted by PokerBaazi (India’s poker powerhouse) and Offline (the exclusive founder network), this event brought together 120 of India’s sharpest startup minds. The result? A mind-blowing mix of strategic gameplay, business brilliance, and a whole lot of competitive energy! The stakes were high, the chips were flying, and the entrepreneurs were all in — proving that business and poker might just be the perfect match!
Entrepreneurs Meet Poker: A Match Made in Strategy Heaven
The Founder Poker Series wasn’t just any poker tournament — it was a meeting of minds where entrepreneurship and poker were showcased as two sides of the same coin. Entrepreneurs, who are accustomed to high-stakes decisions, swapped pitch decks for poker chips, highlighting the similarities between making business moves and playing a game of poker.
“Founders are always making calculated steps on people, on ideas, on timing. Poker felt like a natural extension of that world. It’s about reading situations, managing risks, and trusting your instincts. That’s not just a game, that’s a Tuesday at a startup,” said Matt Chitharanjan, Co-founder and CEO of Blue Tokai.
This analogy between poker and business resonated deeply throughout the tournament. Both require sharp decision-making, risk management, and the ability to stay ahead of your competition — traits that successful entrepreneurs live by every day.
The Final Table: A Battle of Brains
The stakes were high as participants from diverse sectors, including fintech, healthtech, AI, and legal-tech, competed. The final table featured a blend of some of the sharpest minds in business, each vying for the crown.
The victorious Matt Chitharanjan was joined by a stellar lineup of finalists, who showed that success in business is not just about financial strategies but also about mental sharpness and calculating the right moves under pressure.
Founder Poker Series
Finalists of the Founder Poker Series:
- Ashish Shah – Pepperfry
- Ankit Maheshwari – Innovaccer
- Aakarsh Nayyar – Aliste
- Revant Bhate – Mosaic Wellness
- Saurav Suman – Proho
- Rohan Desai – Medflix
- Shivam Singla – Leegality
- Sudeep Singh – Feather & Spun
- Vaibhav Jain – Hubilo
- Varun Ganjoo – Baazi Games
- Utsav Somani – Offline
- Ravi Mittal – Socioboxx
- Vinit Kore – BigHit Sportz
- Anirudh Bhardwaj – Recur Club
- Sumit Lakhani – Awfis
- Karn Nagpal – Rosmerta Technologies & My Raasta
These entrepreneurs, not only seasoned in business but also adept at strategy, demonstrated how poker is about much more than just luck. It’s about staying calm, thinking critically, and making moves that will outsmart the competition.
Beyond the Cards: Building Community Through Strategy
While the poker chips were in play, the event also fostered valuable networking opportunities. PokerBaazi and Offline used the tournament to create a platform for entrepreneurs to bond over shared challenges and experiences in the startup world. Between hands, the participants discussed equity, business scaling, exits, and much more.
Poker isn’t just a game; it’s a way to connect with other founders who understand the risks and challenges of running a business. The event was an opportunity to build relationships and share strategies for growth, said one of the finalists, Revant Bhate.
The tournament, thus, became a blend of mental sharpness and business networking — a perfect reflection of the synergies between entrepreneurship and poker.
The Significance of the Founder Poker Series: A New Era for Mind Sports
The success of the Founder Poker Series marks a pivotal moment in the evolution of mind sports in India. By combining the excitement of poker with the strategic thinking of entrepreneurship, this event has set a new standard for networking, competition, and community-building among India’s entrepreneurial leaders.
The tournament also underscores how poker, long known as a game of chance, has gained recognition as a legitimate skill-based competition. With its blend of strategy, decision-making, and risk management, poker is now firmly established as a “mind sport” — much like entrepreneurship itself.
FAQs
- What is the Founder Poker Series?
The Founder Poker Series is an exclusive poker tournament for India’s top entrepreneurs, merging business strategy with competitive poker gameplay. - Who won the Founder Poker Series?
Matt Chitharanjan, Co-founder and CEO of Blue Tokai, was crowned the winner of the inaugural Founder Poker Series. - Which industries were represented at the event?
The event saw participants from various sectors, including fintech, healthtech, AI, legal-tech, and more. - What did participants discuss during the event?
Participants engaged in discussions on topics like equity, business scaling, exits, and the challenges faced by entrepreneurs while playing poker. - Why is poker considered a “mind sport”?
Poker is considered a mind sport because it requires strategic thinking, decision-making, and risk management, all of which are essential for both success in business and poker.
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