TEDxIIM Bangalore

Speakers

Speakers may not be confirmed. Check the event website for the latest lineup.

• Adarsh Menon

  Adarsh Menon brings over two decades of experience across India's most iconic consumer organizations, with stints at Hindustan Unilever and Flipkart that shaped his understanding of scale, disruption, and values driven leadership. Today, as a Partner at Fireside Ventures, he works closely with early stage founders, helping them navigate the journey from idea to icon. Fireside is known for backing new age consumer brands rooted in authenticity and purpose, and Adarsh brings a rare operating lens to that work, drawing on deep experience in revenue building, M&A, alliances, and cross functional team leadership. His investing philosophy mirrors his career: businesses grow strongest when anchored in trust, clarity of values, and long term thinking.

• Ayyappan R

  Ayyappan is the founder of FirstClub, a next-generation retail platform rethinking how Indian households experience quality. With over 17 years of experience across modern retail and e-commerce, he has led and scaled multiple journeys—from zero to one, one to ten, and ten to one hundred—helping shape some of India’s most influential consumer businesses. He began his career at Flipkart, where he became the company’s youngest Senior Vice President, playing a key role in scaling high-impact categories during the early days of Indian e-commerce. He later served as Chief Business Officer at Myntra, and went on to become the CEO of Cleartrip, continuing to build category-defining brands with strong operational and consumer foundations. Recognised as an Economic Times Young Leader, Ayyappan believes the next chapter of Indian retail will not be defined by speed or scale alone—but by trust, taste, and the brands consumers choose to believe in. That belief led to the creation of FirstClub.

• Chetan Solanki

  Prof. Chetan Solanki, known as the Solar Man of India, is a former IIT Bombay professor, solar energy pioneer, and founder of the Energy Swaraj movement. A recipient of the IEEE Empower a Billion Lives Grand Prize and honours from the Prime Minister of India, he has spent decades making solar energy accessible to all. His mission is simple: energy self-reliance for every Indian.

• Khurshed Batliwala

  Khurshed Batliwala is a globally respected teacher, facilitator, and thought leader whose life’s work has been devoted to exploring the inner dimensions of human potential. Associated with the Art of Living Foundation for several decades, he has worked closely with students, professionals, educators, and changemakers across cultures, guiding them toward clarity, resilience, and conscious leadership. His work goes beyond motivation or instruction. It focuses on something more fundamental - cultivating inner silence, emotional balance, and a sense of responsibility that extends beyond the self.

• Mazhar Kamran

  Mazhar Kamran is an Indian cinematographer and filmmaker, whose career spans over three decades across feature films, documentaries and television, and blend artistic rigor with cultural depth. He began his journey in cinema after graduating from the Film and Television Institute of India. Mazhar’s work as Director of Photography includes some of Indian cinema’s most influential films, like Satya and Jhankaar Beats, classics in their own regard. His directorial debut, Mohandas, was critically acclaimed and selected for the Fribourg and San Francisco International Film Festival. Beyond mainstream cinema, Mazhar has directed and produced a range of documentaries and films on Indian cultural heritage and literary figures. He is currently a faculty member at the School of Design, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, where he teaches filmmaking, world cinema and visual storytelling.

• Rishabh Telang

  When Rishabh Telang opened Cult's first fitness center in Bangalore in 2015, gym penetration in India was just 0.2%. Most people who signed up quit within months. Rishabh didn't blame willpower. He blamed the system. A former basketball player and Wipro analyst, he had trained in elite facilities worldwide and noticed one consistent pattern: people show up when fitness feels social and non-intimidating. That became Cult's founding idea, machine free group workouts where beginners and athletes train side by side. Within a year, Cure.fit acquired Cult and scaled it nationally. Today, as Co-Founder at cult.fit, Rishabh has helped over a million Indians experience lasting transformation through community and consistency. He continues to push the model forward, launching formats like Pilates Circle, hosting The Health Edit Podcast, and designing systems that make movement accessible. With fitness penetration still under 1%, he sees not a crisis but an opportunity to get 100 million Indians moving every day.

• Shiv Tandan

  Shiv Tandan is an award winning artist, educationist, and founder of Stone Paper Stories, whose work is driven by one radical question: what if learning could feel alive? Known widely for the cult hit song "Dooron Dooron", his creative reach spans films, theatre, live performances, and children's music. Through Fixing Education, his YouTube channel with over 40,000 subscribers, he challenges parents, teachers, and students to rethink what truly matters in learning. Through Cham Cham Express, he creates original children's music that opens up conversations we rarely have. Trained as a systems engineer at the National University of Singapore, Shiv brings analytical rigour and creative freedom to everything he does. His work has earned international recognition, including the Sultan Padamsee Playwriting Award, a National Award in Singapore, and the Davis Projects for Peace Award. At a time when education, AI, and the future of learning are all converging, his perspective is as timely as it is necessary.

• Siddharth Warrier

  Dr. Siddharth Warrier is an accomplished neurologist and educator whose work brings scientific insight into the lives of people. He completed his medical training from Grant Medical College in Mumbai, followed by an MD Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital, Mumbai. He is also a Member of the Royal College of Physicians, UK. Professionally, Dr. Warrier has served as a Senior Resident in neurology and currently practices as a consultant neurologist. Alongside his clinical practice, Dr. Sid is a noted creator on the topic of neuroscience and has over 8lakh followers across platforms. He shares insights about cognition, behaviour, mindfulness and mental wellbeing and his work has resonated with diverse audiences. Dr. Warrier’s interests extend to science-inspired literary expression, and he is the recipient of the International Hippocrates Medical Poetry Award. It is an honour to introduce a visionary who has reshaped the way India thinks about energy, sustainability, and responsible living.

• Tvisha Tuli

  Ms. Tvisha Tuli is a content creator whose work focuses on informational videos, digital marketing, and brand management. Through short-form content, she breaks down complex ideas around personal branding, social media strategy, and online growth into accessible, practical insights. Her work reflects how content today is not just about creativity, but about strategy, consistency, and understanding human behaviour at scale. In an age where everyone is a creator and every brand is a storyteller, she examines what it truly means to build credibility in the digital space. Today, she brings a perspective shaped by algorithms, audiences, and the evolving nature of influence.

• Yugandhara Lad

  Ms Yugandhara Lad is an award-winning women-in-tech leader, entrepreneur, and philanthropist whose life journey stands as a powerful testament to resilience guided by purpose. She is the Founder of Virtualyyst, one of India’s fastest-rising AI and technology companies. In 2025, Virtualyyst was featured by Forbes India among the Fastest Growing Tech Companies, a recognition of its innovation and rapid growth. Her leadership and contributions have been recognised with several prestigious honours, including the Asia’s Women in Tech Award 2025, along with multiple recognitions for excellence in entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology-driven impact. Her philanthropic initiatives are deeply personal and rooted in lived experience. She recently adopted an orphan school supporting over 700 children, where Virtualyyst is building a fully digital learning ecosystem to provide modern education, digital literacy, and future-ready skills.