Founder & CEO of Zum, Ritu Narayan, Hosted by Soon Yu

Founder & CEO of Zum, Ritu Narayan, Hosted by Soon Yu

From Aconic by TAAF, Gold House, Stanford GSB Asian Alumni Chapter Founders

July 16, 2025 · Season 1 · Episode 20

About this episode

Ritu Narayan shares her journey and insights on building Zum, a company transforming school transportation.

One Mother's Sacrifice Inspires Daughter's Mission to Move Families Forward. In this episode, host Soon Yu interviews Ritu Narayan, the CEO of Zum, a company revolutionizing the school transportation system. Ritu shares her journey from India to becoming a tech leader in Silicon Valley, discusses her family's influence and the challenges she faced while building Zum. The conversation delves into Zum’s transition from serving individual parents to securing large school district contracts, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the pivotal moments that shaped the company. Ritu emphasizes the importance of staying passionate and making daily progress for aspiring entrepreneurs. This episode provides insights into scaling a technology-driven business and innovating within a traditionally stagnant industry. 2:24 Ritu's Family Inspiration and Background 4:15 Challenges and Sacrifices in Education and Career 12:29 Transition to the US and Tech Industry 20:19 The Birth of Zum: From Idea to Execution 27:08 Entrepreneurial Lessons from Stanford 31:25 Evaluating the Revenue Model and Lessons from Entrepreneurship 39:40 Pivoting to B2B 51:14 Rock Bottom Moments 57:30 Ritu’s…

People in this episode

Host: Soon Yu

Guest: Ritu Narayan

Topics covered

  • entrepreneurship
  • technology
  • education
  • school transportation
  • personal journey
  • business challenges

Keywords

  • Ritu Narayan
  • Zum
  • school transportation
  • entrepreneurship
  • Silicon Valley
  • COVID-19 impact
  • business scaling

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Zum

Places: India, Silicon Valley

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