That’s the question Tarun Mehta had to confront while building Ather.
Because in India, the benchmark isn’t mediocre — it’s Hero, Bajaj, TVS, Honda. These companies wrote the book on quality, cost, marketing, and distribution.
So Ather couldn’t compete on the things legacy giants had mastered for decades.
They needed a different kind of edge.
That meant going all-in on things the industry didn’t value enough at the time:
⚡ A national charging network
📱 Software-led intelligence
🔧 Deep, expensive engineering and R&D
💡 Product obsession over marketing muscle
These were contrarian bets when Ather started — but they became the foundation for a new standard.
As Tarun puts it:
“In scooters, an upgrade is not about the network — it’s about the experience.”
In this episode of The Blume Podcast, Tarun Mehta sits down with Karthik Reddy to unpack how Ather built differentiation in an industry full of giants — and why conviction beats conformity.
🎧 Watch the full episode now — a masterclass in building against the grain.