In this episode of Hidden Foundations, Kendall sits down with Suchit Bachalli to explore how family, education, entrepreneurship, and early sales experience shaped the way he leads today. Suchit shares how he built Unilog brick by brick with his father, what boarding school in India taught him about independence, and how selling software on the streets of Mumbai became the foundation for his belief in empathetic leadership.
The conversation moves through family business, working with a father, private equity, board structure, company culture, AI, social media, parenting teenage daughters, and the future of education. Suchit also explains why Unilog hires for empathy, why business leaders need to work on the business instead of only in it, and why critical thinking, imagination, and being more human may matter even more in the age of AI.
Chapters:
00:00 Cold Open: Empathy, AI, and the “Done Deal”
00:46 Meet Suchit Bachalli
01:12 Building Unilog With His Father
03:03 Working With a Father and Founder
05:28 Boarding School and Early Independence
08:37 Education, Values, and Family Expectations
09:33 Selling Software on the Streets of Mumbai
12:29 How Sales Built Empathetic Leadership
14:44 Building a Culture of Empathetic Experts
17:13 Amazon, Distribution, and Customer Relationships
21:12 Peer Groups and Growing as a CEO
24:38 Private Equity, Boards, and Letting Go
29:26 Protecting Culture Through a PE Transition
32:53 Teaching Kids Business Through a “Done Deal”
37:05 Money, Values, and Raising a Daughter
40:26 Social Media, Algorithms, and Teen Independence
43:26 Culture, Performance, and Partnership
48:30 AI, Time Distortion, and Business Transformation
51:00 AI, Education, and Critical Thinking
54:20 Where to Find Suchit
54:32 Advice for the Next Generation
