# Lalit Gangwar

> Lalit Gangwar is the chief operating officer and a founding-team member at Pocket FM, where he moved from building the platform's India growth playbook to launching and scaling its United States business, and then to leading global audio operations. An IIT Madras graduate with earlier product and growth experience at consumer technology companies, he has become a prominent advocate for serialized audio, microtransaction-led monetization, data-guided commissioning, and the use of AI to shorten the journey from story idea to audience test.

- **Role:** Chief Operating Officer at Pocket FM
- **Organizations:** Pocket FM, Zomato, HealthKart, Dineout, Townrush, Vodafone
- **Education:** Engineering degree, Indian Institute of Technology Madras
- **Known for:** Built Pocket FM's early India growth and marketing playbook; the company said the platform reached more than 150 million users within his first year., Helped establish Pocket FM's United States business, including local teams, systems, content operations and a market-specific growth playbook., Advanced from India head of growth to global growth leader, US country head and chief operating officer.

## Career timeline

- **2014-2015** — Worked as a management trainee at Vodafone.
- **2015** — Joined Townrush as a founding team member before the company was acquired by Grofers.
- **2015-2017** — Worked in product management at Dineout.
- **2018-2019** — Served as a senior product manager at HealthKart.
- **Before 2021** — Held a role at Zomato before joining Pocket FM.
- **2021** — Joined Pocket FM to lead growth in India and helped develop its early growth and marketing playbook.
- **2022-2023** — Led global growth as Pocket FM expanded beyond India, including into the United States.
- **2024** — Became vice president and US country head, responsible for American content operations and revenue growth.
- **2026** — Was elevated to chief operating officer with responsibility for global audio operations, growth, monetization and execution.

## Achievements

- Built Pocket FM's early India growth and marketing playbook; the company said the platform reached more than 150 million users within his first year.
- Helped establish Pocket FM's United States business, including local teams, systems, content operations and a market-specific growth playbook.
- Advanced from India head of growth to global growth leader, US country head and chief operating officer.
- Helped lead an audio platform that reported more than 250 million global listeners, more than 100,000 audio series and more than 300,000 writers in April 2026.
- Oversaw the business during its shift toward microtransaction-led monetization and AI-supported content creation, testing and localization.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Pocket Entertainment announced that it had surpassed a $500 million annualized revenue run rate, with Pocket FM as its flagship platform.
- **2026-04** — Gangwar was elevated to chief operating officer of Pocket FM, taking end-to-end responsibility for global audio business operations.
- **2026-04** — He said Pocket FM's microtransaction model and broader use of AI were central to its growth, while describing the US as a strong contributor and Europe as an emerging region.

## Links

- Website: https://pocketfm.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lgangwar

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/lalit-gangwar
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-28