Kanupriya Poddar, CEO of MagickWorld on building India’s first travel platform for kids.
The Indian Startup Show
Why Jaipur is the strategic base
She argues Jaipur's hospitality ecosystem, investor base and improving tech talent make it ideal for MagickWorld.
Reinventing Kids Hospitality in India. Today my guest is Kanupriya Poddar, CEO of MagickWorld. She is building a platform to help parents discover kid-friendly stays, experiences, shops, and enrichment services across cities. In this episode, she shares how she launched MagickWorld alongside her 8-year-old daughter (a mini-entrepreneur, Shark Tank fan, business mindset!), onboarded 100+ local businesses within two months of soft launch, and cracking the distribution model. She reflects on lessons from her McKinsey background, explains why she prefers top-down strategy over bottom-up execution, and talks about bootstrapping, investor interest, the pressure of startup life , and staying grounded with advice from her father. And finally she shares must visit Jaipur recommendations, including places to see, do, and eat, along with advice for anyone considering leaving a corporate career to build a startup and much more!
In this episode we talk about:
🚀 Building MagickWorld
Creating the world’s first kids-focused lifestyle & travel ecosystem
The problem MagickWorld is solving for parents & families
Launching with a free directory model
Onboarding 100+ local businesses in 2 months
Cracking distribution and early customer acquisition
Managing supply & demand in a two-sided marketplace
👩💼 Founder Journey
Going from McKinsey to startup life
Lessons learned from McKinsey: simplifying complexity
Tackling “elephants in the room” in business
Bootstrapping vs investor interest
Managing early-stage pressure
Getting advice from her father
Building a startup while raising an 8-year-old daughter
Her daughter as a mini-entrepreneur (Shark Tank fan, business mindset)
🧠 Strategy & Product Thinking
Top-down vs bottom-up strategy — and why she prefers top-down
Developing the product roadmap
Pricing & discovery challenges for small businesses
Pay-to-play discovery vs affordable visibility
Solving real customer problem statements
🤖 AI, Tech & Future Vision
Being optimistic about AI
Building an AI recommendation bot
The future of kids hospitality & family travel
What hospitality in India looks like in 2026
🌏 Geography, Culture & Hospitality
Running hospitality businesses in Singapore & India
Why Indians are great at hospitality globally
Why Jaipur is the hospitality capital of India
Staying in Jaipur instead of moving to Bangalore
Jaipur’s rise in tech talent & innovation
Predictions for Jaipur in the next 5–10 years
🍽️ Jaipur Recommendations
Best things to see, do, and experience
Weekend itinerary ideas
Food & restaurant recommendations
Why she’s obsessed with Jaipur’s culture and energy
💡 Advice & Takeaways
Advice for people thinking of quitting corporate jobs to start a company
Hiring strategy: young talent & unconventional thinkers
Staying resilient as a founder
Links
https://magickworld.in/
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@magickworldindia
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/magickworldindia
Facebook: https://www.Facebook.com/magickworld
LinkedIn: @magickworld
Hosted And Produced by Neil Patel
https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/neilpatel2
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