From visionaries to venture-backed, BTB’s series goes inside the minds shaping tomorrow’s economy. We speak to the founders, funders, and trailblazers reimagining value, not just through balance sheets, but cultural influence. What drives them? What are their insights on key industry trends? And what separates conviction from noise? Find out below.

Before founding Batch Systems, Manoj Srinivasan spent over 14 years rising through the ranks at Deloitte Consulting, becoming one of the youngest partners in the firm’s history. Across four continents, he counselled C-suite executives at Fortune 500 companies on corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, and technology-enabled transformation, with particular focus on how emerging technologies could drive business value. A trusted adviser to some of the world’s most innovative organisations in technology, media and telecommunications, he built a reputation for assembling high-performing multinational teams and delivering strategic recommendations that yielded tangible impact.

But corporate life, for all its prestige, had its constraints. Srinivasan wanted to build something swifter, more consequential: a platform that could transmute brand storytelling into measurable engagement whilst tackling a $500 billion global crisis. That conviction led to Batch Systems, a technology company bridging the physical and digital dimensions of brand experience.

Speaking on Beyond the Boardroom’s Founders & Funders, Srinivasan unpacks how he transitioned from partner to founder, and why the shift demanded a fundamental rewiring of his instincts. “At Deloitte, we were trained to mitigate risk before acting. As a founder, that luxury vanishes. If you wait to perfect the plan, someone else ships an MVP and wins,” he says. The transition compelled him to unlearn caution and embrace creative execution: fail fast, adapt faster.

For Srinivasan, design begins with one uncompromising tenet: brand first. He tells BTB that Batch Systems was built to render interactions effortless, with no clunky redirects, no app downloads, no ruptures in immersion. Every tap, scan or swipe must reinforce the brand, not distract from it. But beneath that experience lies a robust authentication infrastructure. His mission is to eradicate counterfeiting by making product verification not just secure, but interactive. That philosophy has become Batch’s hallmark, and the reason luxury, lifestyle and direct-to-consumer brands alike are adopting it to convert passive awareness into active loyalty. In just four years, the platform has protected over 90 million products for more than 250 brands, pushing for authenticity in an age of widespread counterfeiting.

The shift from verification to relationship is also where Srinivasan sees the real opportunity. Whilst many marketers still equate reach with relevance, the true metric is return engagement. “No matter what the technology, without integrity and quality, people don’t come back,” he shares. “Authenticity cultivates repeat customers, not impressions.” As AI permeates marketing workflows, Srinivasan remains a purist about the human touch, regarding technology as an amplifier, never a substitute. “AI can guide and enhance, but it shouldn’t author your brand’s soul,” he notes. For him, the next frontier isn’t automation but immersive engagement. Products will soon function as portals into culture, he predicts: imagine scanning a bottle of wine and instantly entering a community around it, or retail experiences where the tactile and digital coexist seamlessly.

Watch the full conversation to see how Srinivasan is reimagining brand engagement, and building an infrastructure where authenticity and culture converge.