From Doctor to Startup Guru: Ritesh Malik on Failure, Happiness & 138 Investments | Podcast

What happens when a doctor leaves behind the “safe path” to chase joy, ideas, and impossible dreams? Meet Dr. Ritesh Malik — the doctor-turned-millionaire, founder of Innov8, angel investor in 138+ startups, and one of India’s most inspiring entrepreneurs. In this episode of the Humans of Bombay Podcast, Ritesh takes us through his rollercoaster journey of risk, failure, reinvention, and success — with a good dose of humor and real talk. Here’s what you’ll hear: ✨ Why he went against his family’s expectations to follow entrepreneurship. ✨ The 90 proposals that shaped his resilience (yes, you read that right!). ✨ Building Innov8, getting into Y Combinator, and scaling against all odds. ✨ His unique philosophy on joy as the ultimate metric of success. ✨ The art of failing forward: why rejection is the best startup mentor. ✨ What he looks for before investing in founders & startups. ✨ His take on mental health, grit, optimism, and finding balance between capitalism & humanity. Ritesh’s story is not just about money or startups — it’s about rediscovering yourself, embracing failure, and finding your “why” in a chaotic world. 👉 If you’ve ever dreamed of breaking the mold, this episode will remind you why life’s greatest ROI is happiness. #RiteshMalik #StartupIndia #Entrepreneurship #Investing #YCombinator #Motivation #HumansOfBombay #Podcast #KarishmaMehta 00:00 – Precap 01:38 – Introduction 02:45 – Choosing startups against family expectations 05:07 – Finding joy & success in entrepreneurship 09:43 – Ritesh Malik’s Innov8 journey & Y Combinator 15:15 – Discovering your Why 21:39 – Embracing failure & trial and error 26:59 – Ritesh Malik’s strategy for startup investing 29:36 – Investing journey: 138+ startups 31:33 – Founder qualities that matter 33:08 – Power of simplicity in business 38:37 – Mental health & happiness in entrepreneurship 46:40 – Grit, optimism & leadership lessons 48:22 – Balancing capitalism & humanity 51:50 – Ritesh Malik’s final advice: Momentum, Subtraction & People Links: Humans of Bombay Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialhumansofbombay/ Uncovered by Humans of Bombay: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGvxyG0IG2yOxgfNe_0Waxw LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/humans-of-bombay Ritesh Malik: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drriteshmalik/ YouTube: www.youtube.com/@drriteshmalik Karishma Mehta Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karimehta05/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karishma-mehta-b22151174/ About Humans of Bombay – Humans of Bombay is a movement that started 11 years ago. We believe that every person has a story to tell and we want to help them tell these stories. In these years we’ve published stories across genres – stories of love, hope, faith, and courage. And through our storytelling, we’ve built an engaged community of over 6M! Our idea is simple – to strike a chord with our community and catalog the beat of humanity, one story at a time.