BOOK · TAMIL · 2026
Seyaligalin Kathai (செயலிகளின் கதை)
The stories behind fifty-two mobile apps
Where did the apps on your phone come from, and who built them? This Tamil book traces the founding stories of 52 apps, from WhatsApp and Netflix to Zomato, Nykaa and DeepSeek. It covers how each one started, who the founders were, how the company was funded and how it grew.
Venkatarangan Thirumalai · Zero Degree Publishing · Released at the Chennai Book Fair, January 2026 · In Tamil
Fifty-two founding stories, one pattern-spotting exercise
I work with founders. The questions they bring me are the same ones these 52 founders faced: what to build first, when to raise money, how to grow without breaking the product, when to say no.
Writing this book meant studying 52 of those journeys closely. In my own blurb I called it a handbook for startup founders as much as a book for app users. On this site, that is the part that matters.
What these founders had in common
Great apps come from anywhere
Only some of these stories are from Silicon Valley. The founders came from India, Kazakhstan, Israel, Australia and Ukraine, among other places.
WhatsApp’s co-founder grew up in Ukraine.
Founders often start from their own life
Several of these apps started with a problem the founder faced personally, or with a skill they had built long before.
Spotify’s founder was earning from writing software at 14.
It is never too late
Some founders started after long careers in other jobs.
Nykaa’s founder left a senior corporate role at 48 to start the company.
The early story is the real story
The official biographies are polished and tell you little. The early, unguarded interviews explain far more about the company.
See “How I researched it” below.
“The official websites give you a founder’s polished biography. The real story is in the early interviews, given before the company became big.”
The apps in the book
Messaging & social · 9
WhatsApp, TikTok, Truecaller, Telegram, Signal, BeReal, Bluesky, Beeper, Discord
Entertainment & media · 9
Netflix, Spotify, Subway Surfers, Pocket Casts, Roblox, Kuku FM, Webtoon, JustWatch, The Athletic
Learning & productivity · 9
Google Photos, Duolingo, Canva, Dex CRM, Blinkist, Raindrop.io, Seekho, Brilliant, Airtable
Shopping & commerce · 5
Meesho, Nykaa, Temu, Phia, Tedooo
Food & groceries · 5
Zomato, Zepto, Kitchen Stories, HappyCow, Foodnoms
AI · 4
Perplexity, DeepSeek, Windsurf, Suno
Getting around · 4
Grab, Flighty, Rapido, inDrive
Health & wellbeing · 3
Forest, Headspace, Flo
Life & community · 4
Tinder, MyGate, Chani, Plantix
How I researched it
Most of these founders’ stories are hard to find. The official websites and wiki pages have polished biographies with nothing interesting in them, and AI tools struggled too.
So I started with LinkedIn: the founders, then the people around them. I checked what I found against other sources and pieced the story together. YouTube helped most. The founders’ early interviews and talks, given before their companies became big, told me the real journey of each app. Where it helps, I also explain in Tamil the technology that makes the app work.
1. Find the people
Founders and their early colleagues, via LinkedIn
2. Listen to the early years
Interviews and talks from before the company was big (YouTube)
3. Verify, then write
Cross-check every fact, then tell the story simply
52
apps
52 weeks
weekly column in Madras Paper
I chose the apps by their popularity online; most were also the leaders in their category by usage.
Launch and response
Pa. Raghavan, editor of Madras Paper, recommends the book (in Tamil).
At the Zero Degree stall with the publishers, Chennai Book Fair, January 2026.
Who it is for
- Tamil-reading founders and would-be founders: 52 short case studies in your own language.
- Students and young engineers: how real products started, told simply.
- Anyone curious about the apps on their phone.
Get the book
| Paperback (Amazon India) | Buy on Amazon → |
| Publisher | Zero Degree Publishing → |
The book is in Tamil.
More in this vein
- my English book, on the founder-to-CEO journey → The Founder Catalyst. Nykaa and Airbnb appear in both books.
- my first Tamil book → Nutpam