Living Your Values & Building a Business That Outlasts You with Fable Co-Founder & Executive Chair, Alwar Pillai #142
Wed Jan 21 2026
Most digital products reflect the people who build them, not the people who use them.
That insight led Alwar Pillai to build Fable, a company with 70% of its workforce living with a disability - they’re a business that wholly promises to practice what they preach.
They’ve brought people with disabilities into the heart of product development for some of the most recognised brands in the world; Microsoft, Walmart, Meta and Figma to name but a few.
So how did Alwar build something that’s scaled true to her vision, and how has she navigated the journey from designer to Founder, to CEO, and back out again? Join us on this week’s episode of Extrology.
Lee and Alwar discuss:
Designing beyond the “average user”The journey from compliance to usability in accessibilityBuilding Fable as a bridge between disabled users and tech giantsLeadership, succession, and letting go as a founderAI bias and the future of inclusive productsAlwar Pillai:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alwarpillai/
Fable:
https://makeitfable.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/makeitfable/
Send us a text
Get in touch: lee@extrology.com
Extrology:
https://www.extrology.com/
https://www.instagram.com/extrologypodcast/
https://www.tiktok.com/@extrology
https://substack.com/@extrology
https://www.youtube.com/@extrology
Lee Cooper:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/leecooperrecruiter/
More
Most digital products reflect the people who build them, not the people who use them. That insight led Alwar Pillai to build Fable, a company with 70% of its workforce living with a disability - they’re a business that wholly promises to practice what they preach. They’ve brought people with disabilities into the heart of product development for some of the most recognised brands in the world; Microsoft, Walmart, Meta and Figma to name but a few. So how did Alwar build something that’s scaled true to her vision, and how has she navigated the journey from designer to Founder, to CEO, and back out again? Join us on this week’s episode of Extrology. Lee and Alwar discuss: Designing beyond the “average user”The journey from compliance to usability in accessibilityBuilding Fable as a bridge between disabled users and tech giantsLeadership, succession, and letting go as a founderAI bias and the future of inclusive productsAlwar Pillai: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alwarpillai/ Fable: https://makeitfable.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/makeitfable/ Send us a text Get in touch: lee@extrology.com Extrology: https://www.extrology.com/ https://www.instagram.com/extrologypodcast/ https://www.tiktok.com/@extrology https://substack.com/@extrology https://www.youtube.com/@extrology Lee Cooper: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leecooperrecruiter/