Nitin Pokharna

Building a Human + AI powered equity research platform for retail investors. Leading product vision for a hybrid Human + AI research engine that analyzes financials, business quality, risks, price behavior, and disclosures in seconds. Built and scaled a community of 7000+ early adopters & power users through WhatsApp and Telegram, using contests, quizzes, and events to drive practical learning. Working closely with experienced equity research professionals to encode institutional-grade research frameworks into AI-powered tools for everyday investors. Driving go-to-market experiments to validate product–market fit for a new-age equity research experience. Owning fundraising, investor communication, and strategic partnerships with brokers, educators, and fintech operators

Phirodia Pokharna & Associates is a boutique chartered accountancy firm with a focus on Project Financing & Taxation Advisory Services for its limited set of clients. At PPA have worked on project finance assignments, preparing detailed projections, cash flow models, and CMA data for banks and financial institutions. Evaluated business plans, capex schedules, and funding requirements for clients across multiple sectors. Supported end-to-end debt raising processes — from documentation and submissions to responding to bank queries. Conducted financial statement analysis, ratio analysis, and risk assessment to evaluate project viability. Built a strong foundation in credit thinking, risk management, and how lenders actually underwrite projects.

StockZ11 is a gamified stock market learning platform that helped retail investors practise trading and investing through simulations, quizzes, and contests — growing to 400K+ downloads in India. Conceived and built a stock market simulation app focused on practical, game-based learning for first-time investors. Led product design across virtual portfolios, quizzes, and leaderboard mechanics to drive repeat usage and habit-building. Scaled the app to 400K+ downloads through performance marketing, influencer collaborations, and organic community growth. Set up in-app events, campaigns, and educational content pipelines to improve retention and learning outcomes. Owned P&L, hiring, partnerships, and day-to-day operations as founding CEO. As regulations around gamified trading and investor protection evolved, the long-term model became less viable — we chose to sunset StockZ11 and carry those learnings into building more compliant, learning/research-focused products.

Adkarlo.com was a B2B advertising marketplace that connected businesses with verified marketing and advertising agencies across India. Co-founded and built a marketplace with 1,500+ agencies listed across digital, creative, and offline advertising services. Designed the onboarding funnel and verification process for agencies to maintain quality and trust on the platform. Worked directly with SMEs and startups to match their marketing needs with the right agencies and budgets. Led product, operations, and early GTM experiments to validate demand, pricing, and business model options. Learned the dynamics of B2B marketplaces, lead quality, and service standardization in a fragmented industry. Ultimately, execution depth and focus weren’t strong enough to scale beyond early traction — a humbling lesson in operational excellence and GTM discipline that now shapes how I build and execute at later ventures