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After working at BCG for 2 years, Ishaan joined Sequoia India's Analyst Program in 2011. He spent around three and a half years at Sequoia India. He then went to business school and joined Sequoia India back in 2016.
In this podcast, Ishaan shares his experiences & learnings of investing in Consumer brands and Fintech Startups.
Notes -
00:42 - Joining Sequoia India's Analyst Program
01:57 - Investing experiences over 9 years at Sequoia
03:34 - Culture at Sequoia - “Singular focus on doing the right thing for all the stakeholders”.
04:45 - “We help the daring entrepreneurs build from Idea to IPO & beyond”.
06:23 - “While investing you never have the right or wrong answer”.
09:29 - Macro-trends driving Consumer Brands in India
11:05 - Financial Services in India are still unpenetrated
12:21 - Mamaearth - Being a digital-first personal care brand for their consumers
12:57 - Eruditus - Making Ivy league colleges more accessible
15:18 - Fintech Startups in India leveraging large digital footprint of their customers to serve them better
18:30 - Razorpay - Solving merchant payment issues with innovative solutions
20:34 - Scope & Future of Neobanks in India across various customer segments
28:37 - Challenges while investing from a large pool of amazing founders -
“It’s fine to grow slower, but importantly to grow sustainably.”
Mohit has been a successful Angel Investor since 2012 growing over 20x in his portfolio. He even considers his learnings from one of his early investments - Local Banya equivalent to an MBA degree.
Since 2017 he has been a part of the Investment Trust of India Group and manages investments in early-stage innovative ideas.
Some of his Portfolio Companies are - REVOS, Evolve Snacks, and ten3T Healthcare.
In this podcast, Mohit shares his experiences & learnings of investing in Startups which have sustainable growth models.
Notes -
00:42 - His learnings from being an Angel Investor
05:40 - Investing his own money in early ideas in Ecommerce Startups
09:32 - Co-investing in REVOS - Smart Mobility Platform
11:15 - Investment & Growth Thesis in Evolve Snacks
12:40 - Investing in Preventive Healthcare - ten3T Healthcare
18:04 - Avoiding over-ownerships in Portfolio Companies to have a downside protection
26:20 - Is securing a Hyper-investment a sure success parameter for a Startup?
28:59 - Important to have Sustainability in Investing v/s Spray & Pray -
Saknas det avsnitt?
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#100xEntrepreneur Podcast with Vaibhav Domkundwar, CEO at Better Capital
“Do Zero Paid Marketing - To Understand What’s Working And What’s Not”
Vaibhav has founded successful companies like Roamware (acquired by Audax Group) and Better Inc.
As a VC & a founder, he’s a core believer in implementing & experimenting with organic growth hacks to grow a company, this reflects in most of his portfolio companies as well.
Some of his Portfolio Companies are - Khatabook, OPEN Bank, Gramophone, and ShopKirana.
In this podcast, Vaibhav shares his experiences & learnings of investing in Startups which provide a simple but complete solution to a consumer problem.
Notes -
00:35 - His Journey from Founding Two Companies to Becoming a VC
05:20 - Investing in 45 Companies in Last 2 Years
07:02 - While making an Investment Decision it’s important not to Templatize a Founder’s Idea
09:30 - Investing in Asia’s first Neobank - OPEN
14:29 - Creating a product which completely solves a problem rather than offering a better way of dealing with it - Khatabook
16:05 - Agritech Portfolio Companies - Gramophone, Jai Kisan, BharatAgri
18:49 - Investing in a Truly AI-first company
30:57 - How does Better helps its Portfolio Companies? -
#100xEntrepreneur #Podcast with Rutvik Doshi, Managing Director, Inventus Capital Partners
Rutvik refers to himself as an “Accidental Venture Capitalist”, coming from a Product management & Software Engineering background.
He’s an IIT Kharagpur alumni and later did his MBA from INSEAD. During his early career, he worked at Broadcom Inc. & Google.
In this podcast, Rutvik shares his experiences & learnings of building relationships with founders, scanning through potential investments & more.
Notes -
00:35 - Accidental Venture Capitalist
03:50 - Being a part of Inventus Capital Partners
05:50 - Investing in PolicyBazaar & RedBus.in
09:14 - Scaling & Diversity in HealthifyMe
12:35 - Filters & Criteria to scanning potential investments
15:43 - Being a mentor to the founding team
22:30 - Giving 1st Priority to Founder / Business & then later check on the Market
32:10 - Common traits among founders who’ve scaled 100x
36:45 - Fine line between Conviction & Stubbornness in founders
37:55 - Challenges while fund-raising as a VC -
#100xEntrepreneur
#Podcast with Vidit Aatrey, Founder & CEO, Meesho
After completing his B.Tech. from IIT Delhi, Vidit worked with ITC & InMobi during his early career.
It was around 2015 when he decided to try out something and while exploring other options he came across this idea to create a platform (Meesho) where people could start & manage their business from the comfort of their home.
In this podcast, Vidit shares his experiences of building Meesho & understanding the core needs of their customers.
Notes -
00:40 - His career background and bringing an un-organized business online
04:30 - Building 1st version of Meesho
11:10 - Aggregating distributors on the platform
12:50 - Making investors understand the new business model
15:55 - What helped him keep growing while building a new business model?
17:40 - Tackling the growth slowdown 6 months after raising capital from SAIF Partners
26:25 - Listen or Die (Talking to users every 30 days)
27:43 - Meesho’s revenue model
29:30 - Current User Persona
32:38 - Culture & DNA of Employees at Meesho
35:55 - Change in Go to market strategy
41:45 - Hiring strategy for Key Leadership roles
48:50 - Irrespective of your growth don’t compromise with Culture Fit -
After completing his MMS from BITS Pilani in 1993, Rahul entered into the Investment Banking domain.
From 1997 to 2006, he was part of Walden International as an Investment Manager. It was the first Silicon-Valley based VC Firm to come & establish a presence in India. This was when Rahul experienced Venture Capital & Angel Investing from a close perspective.
Later in 2006, he cofounded Helion Ventures with a $140M fund size, which has since then made over 135 investments across Finance, Healthcare, Logistics & Agri.
Some of the Portfolio companies are MakeMyTrip, Bigbasket, RailYatri, and Ezetap among others.
In this podcast, Rahul shares his experiences of finding & nurturing Indian entrepreneurs for the past 15 years.
Notes -
00:38 - Sharing his Journey via his book - The Moonshot Game: Adventures of an Indian Venture Capitalist
03:10 - Working as an Investment Banker in 1995
09:05 - Cofounding Helion Ventures in 2006
22:10 - Starting multiple VC firms/funds from Helion
25:15 - Traits of founders who build great companies
28:22 - Three core reasons behind Investing in Bigbasket
32:30 - Taking tough calls as a VC based on your experience
38:50 - Giving synthesised advices as a VC vs a Canned-one
44:44 - Starting Unitary Helion Fund
45:17 - Building products for middle class by design & not by accident -
After completing his graduation from IIT Bombay, Hemant worked at AMD during his early career.
In 2012, after completing his MBA from Cambridge University, he joined Google, where he worked in New Partnerships & Development for 5 years, post which he joined Andreessen Horowitz in 2017.
Lastly, after seeing a huge potential in the growing Indian Startup Ecosystem, he ended up moving to India in 2018 and joining Lightspeed India.
Some of Lightspeed India portfolio companies are Udaan, Darwinbox, OKCredit, and Shuttl among others.
In this podcast, Hemant shares his learnings of building a Tech company in India, he also shares his Venture Investing experiences in India & the US.
Notes -
00:46 - Growing up in Middle of Himalayas to joining Lightspeed India
05:38 - Joining Corporate Development at Google after MBA
06:26 - Choosing Lightspeed India vs any other VC firm in the US
12:10 - Is it necessary to raise a Venture Capital to build a big company?
15:38 - Is it the right time to build a Tech company in India?
18:16 - Looking after Enterprise, Fintech & Logistics focused deals
19:59 - Big wins for Lightspeed in India - Byju’s, OKCredit, Udaan, OYO
25:25 - Difference b/w Venture Investing in US & India (Andreessen Horowitz vs Lightspeed)
30:42 - What Indian Entrepreneurs can learn from their US counterparts?
33:22 - “Most problems are solvable if you immerse yourself deep within”
38:33 - Best Founders know much better about a Market than a VC -
After completing his MBA from IIM Lucknow in 1998, Anand started his first EduTech company around the Dotcom boom - Brainvisa which became one of the largest eLearning companies in India and later on got acquired by Indecomm Global Services.
From 2007 to 2012, he backed several startups as an Angel Investor - Fasoos & MyDentist.
Later in his career in 2012, he became a Founding Partner at IndiaQuotient, Venture Capital Firm which has invested in over 50 startups in the last 8 years.
Some of his portfolio companies are LoanTap, Clip, and Sharechat among others.
In this podcast, Anand shares his understanding of the Indian Middle-class consumer & also shares his learnings on how can startups build products for them.
Notes -
00:35 - His Journey from Starting the first company in Dotcom boom to becoming a VC in 2012
01:50 - Experience with Early Portfolio Companies - Financial Services & Content
09:00 - Understanding Indian consumers & building products for them
16:55 - Investing in Indian Cosmetics Brand - Sugar
20:50 - Serving the average Indian consumer with disposable income
27:30 - Thesis behind building Indian Consumer Brands
32:50 - Core Themes for future Portfolio companies at IndiaQuotient
38:50 - Portfolio Companies in Small Business Software - Vyapar, Fleetx, BharatAgri
39:48 - Being bold & Taking Contrarian bets as a VC -
After graduating from IIT Kanpur in 1992, Manish worked with several top firms - Tata Elxsi, Motorola, Ittiam Systems & Sling Media.
In 2013 he started LetsVenture which enables Angel Investors, Family Offices and Funds to discover and invest in early-stage and growth startups.
Post that, in 2016, he started pi Ventures, which primarily invests in AI, IoT & Blockchain companies.
Some of his portfolio companies are FrontdeskAI, Wysa, and SigTuple among others.
In this podcast, Manish shares his experiences of investing and helping entrepreneurs build AI Startups.
Notes -
00:40 - From Graduating IIT Kanpur in 1992 to starting pi Ventures in 2016
06:50 - Keys learnings while building Venture firms
10:58 - Learning from path-breaking Entrepreneurs
14:08 - Unsolved problems & prospects for upcoming startups in AI
16:54 - Criteria for evaluating AI companies
27:52 - Helping in building AI Startups
28:22 - Convincing VCs to invest in AI Startups
30:15 - Challenges while fund-raising as a VC
37:26 - Advice for Founder’s who get lost in their Journey -
Sameer’s journey in India’s venture capital ecosystem began back in 2007 when he joined Reliance Ventures, where he focused on early-stage investments in the Technology, Media / Entertainment & Telecommunications domain.
After being with Reliance for 4 years he joined Nexus Venture Partners in 2011 & currently leads their Bangalore office. At Nexus in the last 9 years, he has been part of the investment team that has lead investments in over 35 of their Portfolio companies.
Some of Nexus portfolio companies are Druva, OLX, NetMagic, PaySense, Gluster, Rancher, H20, MapMyIndia, Pratilipi, Delhivery, Myupchar, Rapido, Snapdeal, Unacademy, Zomato, and Zolo among others.
In this podcast, Sameer shares his experiences of identifying top-notch founders & his signature style of signing the Term sheet in the first meeting with the founders in whom he sees potential.
Notes -
00:36 - From CFA Level-I to spending over 11 years in Venture Ecosystem
07:48 - I’m very fond of what I do as VC
10:50 - Investing in over 35 Portfolio Companies across - Business Services, Consumer Brands, Data & AI, Enterprise & Healthcare
16:30 - Top 2 Portfolio Companies in every fund
18:00 - Growth & Success of Postman and UnAcademy
20:19 - Story behind signing term-sheet at UnAcademy
27:11 - Size of Test Prep market in India
28:48 - Investing in Postman right around its buyout stage
33:37 - Signature style of getting Term-sheet signed & Investing then & there
38:30 - Learnings from Mistakes as a VC
41:05 - Identifying secular trends/shift in markets
44:48 - Guiding founders in situations where they are able to raise $50M+ but haven’t had experience building big startups
47:17 - Quality of founders is getting better & better
51:55 - Low-value creation in several crappy companies in India
01:01:20 - Low-key & Successful Portfolio Companies at Nexus Venture Partners
01:04:50 - Being called a P/E VC Investor
01:07:10 - Culture of hierarchy-free & openness at a VC firm -
Sanjay started his career in Silicon Valley in 1992 & spent over 7 years at his first company, working in different roles across - Sales, Customer Support, Engineering & Marketing. He then worked with Xerox & Portal Software in US before coming back to India in 2003.
From 2003 to 2011, he had several experiences most of which revolutionized entire ecosystems they were part of, right from mCheck, ZipDial, Ezetap & Aadhar Team (at UIDAI).
Finally in 2011, he started Angel Prime (now Prime Ventures) which invests in early-stage entrepreneurs to build great companies.
Some of his portfolio companies are Moneytap, Ezetap, Happay, and Kredx among others.
In this podcast, Sanjay shares his experiences & learnings from being on both sides of the Startup ecosystem - An Entrepreneur & A VC.
Notes -
00:38 - His journey from a small town in Karnataka to Silicon Valley & finally becoming a VC
04:04 - Part 1- Experience & Learnings in Silicon Valley (from working in Sales, Customer Support to Engineering)
05:55 - Working with Xerox
08:40 - Coming back to India and working with mPortal & mChek
11:20 - Realizing of being Ahead of Time at mChek
14:08 - Successful Startups which Controlled their Ecosystem like Paytm & those which rode the Ecosystem changes like PhonePe & GooglePay
16:49 - Part 2 - Working with Aadhar (UIDAI Team) & Experiencing the formulation of Aadhar
19:56 - Part 3 - Bringing together previous learnings & starting AngelPrime (currently Prime Ventures)
22:51 - Conceptualizing ZipDial while being on a flight
25:10 - Validating Market Fit in less than $100 at ZipDial
28:45 - Building Ezetap - Being on the Merchant Side
30:45 - Being the First Sculptor of the Company
34:16 - Formulating Market Specific Preferences as a VC
40:00 - Importance of being Honest & Open with your VC Partners
44:57 - There’s No Completely 100% Right or Wrong situation being a VC
47:59 - Being a Founder in Late 30s or 40s
50:37 - Having 360 days of Frustration & 5 days of Glory as an Entrepreneur -
#100xEntrepreneur
#Podcast with Sid Talwar, Managing Partner, Lightbox Ventures
In 2001, Sid founded Evolv, a vocational training company funded by Singapore Technologies. Over the next 6 years, he built it into a business that trained 20,000+ people annually across 200 cities in South Asia and the Middle East.
He later sold it to NIIT in 2007 but continued to lead the internal teams in adopting new technology as a transformative force in education and vocational training.
Post that, after being associated with GSF India for about a year, he Cofounded Lightbox Ventures in 2014.
Some of his portfolio companies are Furlenco, Embibe, Dunzo, Cleartrip, and Bombay Shirt Company.
In this podcast, Sid shares his experience of helping Entrepreneurs solve & avoid mistakes in their Entrepreneurial Journey.
Notes -
00:36 - His Journey of helping Entrepreneurs Solve & Avoid Mistakes
01:58 - Invest in Few Companies at a time to understand them better
04:03 - Top Exits from Fund-II
07:34 - Building relationships with Portfolio Companies
10:40 - What kind of businesses is Lightbox trying to promote?
18:39 - Investing in Embibe based on the Aditi’s conviction as a Founder
22:54 - Investing in Furlenco after getting to know Ajith Karimpana In & Out
26:34 - Challenges in building a subscription model in India for Furniture
35:42 - Thesis behind recent Investment in Nua
39:18 - Advice to Entrepreneurs while Pitching to VCs -
#100xEntrepreneur
#Podcast with Adith Podhar, Founding Partner, Gemba Capital
Adith belongs to a typical Marwari family from Mumbai, after completing his MBA from the University of Mumbai, he worked with ICICI Bank handling fundraising for individual investors in Private Equity.
During 2013 to 2017 he also headed Motilal Oswal Private Equity as their Vice President. In June 2017, he finally decided to start his own journey as an Early Stage Investors and started Gemba Capital.
Some of his portfolio companies are myHQ, ClearDekho and HoiFoods.
In this podcast, Adith shares his experience of operating as an Early Stage Investors and his learnings.
Notes -
00:42 - Journey from Typical Marwari family to experiencing different stages in Entrepreneurial Journey and finally becoming a VC
05:11 - Why he started Gemba Capital?
06:48 - How did he develop his Priority Sectors and created his Investment Thesis?
11:40 - Investments, Vision & Thesis in Fintech
13:19 - Difference between companies which have scaled faster compared to others
15:10 - Macro Factors behind Scaling faster and larger for a Company
16:44 - Why is Cashout / CreditLine model becoming a popular product in Fintech?
17:55 - How to crack your Distribution Channels suitable to your Products?
22:04 - Ideal Co-investors
24:20 - Overcoming Challenges and Hardships as a VC
29:57 - Is the Sequoia Surge Programme a Threat to Small/Early Stage VC Firms?
30:52 - Overcoming biases as a VC while Investing
33:22 - Mistakes & Learnings as an Angel Investor -
#100xEntrepreneur
#Podcast with Tej Kapoor, Co-Executive President of Fosun RZ Capital (India & Africa)
From 2007-13, Tej held several key positions at AOL in the United States and then at Naspers Group.
In 2016 he joined Fosun RZ Capital, where some of his portfolio companies are Gland Pharma, Delhivery, MakeMyTrip, Ixigo and Kissht.
In this podcast, Tej shares his experience of working with both Large scale markets as well as Seed-stage startups in India & China.
Notes -
00:47 - Journey from AOL in the US to Naspers and finally heading Fosun RZ (India & Africa)
04:17 - What is Fosun RZ Capital about?
05:42 - Typical Ticket Sizes
08:45 - Focus Markets in 2020 - Fintech, Travel, E-commerce, Consumer Brands
10:54 - Parameters to evaluate Seed/Early stage companies
12:41 - Shift from dealing with Large Ticket Sizes at Naspers to Seed Stage Investing at Fosun RZ
15:25 - Role of Storytelling in Fundraising by Early-stage founders
17:46 - Crucial aspects to building and selling your product
20:20 - Growth Scale of Ixigo & Delhivery
22:31 - Key investments & Thesis at Naspers
25:12 - Experience & Learnings in working with Founders of Ixigo, Delhivery & Ibibo
28:57 - How’s the Startup and Angel Investing culture in China?
34:50 - New Verticals of E-commerce Startups coming up in 2020
36:58 - Evaluation of a Fintech Startup & New opportunities in Fintech Space -
#100xEntrepreneur
#Podcast with Gaurav Munjal, Co-founder, Unacademy
“Every single mistake that entrepreneurs do 99% of that is already documented somewhere.” - Gaurav Munjal
Since his childhood Gaurav was an innovative person, at the age of 12 years, he created a similar to KBC-like quiz which was demonstrated amongst his classmates and the school.
In 2013 he started Flat.to (real estate platform for college students and bachelors across India) which later become FlatChat and got acquired by CommonFloor in 2014.
In 2015 he Co-founded Unacademy, which was originally a YouTube channel started back in his college days. Today Unacademy gets 140Million views / month on its youtube channels + app/web.
In this podcast, Gaurav shares his experience of scaling & creating a dent in the Edtech space, as well as lays down the path to how can one grow personally & professionally as an Entrepreneur.
Notes -
0:53 - Journey from a 12-year curious kid to Founder of Unacademy
03:32 - First Entrepreneurial Journey Flat.to (Real estate platform for college students and bachelors across India) (Later FlatChat)
09:12 - How he got started with Unacademy in 2015
09:54 - Learnings for building a product for Large markets
11:02 - Mistakes as a first-time Founder & Learnings
14:37 - “Learning should be part of a CEO’s schedule.”
17:05 - What do his notes or learning structure look like?
18:03 - How does his recall process work to revisit his ideas or tasks?
19:09 - Key milestones of Unacademy over the years
24:11 - Is storytelling a major pillar for an entrepreneur?
25:38 - Building a successful company that will create a dent in the Industry
28:25 - What is Unacademy replacing in the physical world?
32:42 - Getting the best educators on Unacademy
35:50 - How being an Obsessive founder helps him compared to other founders who are more relaxed?
37:53 - How does he transfer his passion for learning among his team members?
39:27 - “The values of an organisation are not what they put up on the wall, it’s what you do every single day!”
40:00 - Distribution & Branding at Unacademy
41:22 - What have been the Growth levers for Unacademy from 2015 - 2019?
45:16 - Cracking Monetisation
54:57 - Book recommendations by him for the listeners -
#100xEntrepreneur
#Podcast with Kitty Agarwal, Head of Corporate Development, Info Edge
Belonging from a Calcutta based Marwari business family, Kitty completed her MBA from IIM Ahemdabad in 2012, post which due to her interest in Entrepreneurship, she came in touch with Sanjeev Bikhchandani and joined Info Edge.
She has spent the last 6 years investing in early-stage consumer internet companies. Working closely with portfolio companies for strategy-building, monitoring progress and follow-on fundraising.
She also looks after deal sourcing, due diligence, and legal documentation.
Some of Info Edge’s Portfolio Companies include - Zomato, Ustraa, and MeritNation among others.
In this podcast, Kitty shares her experience of Early Stage Investing at Info Edge and How she closely works with Founders to enable Growth.
Notes -
00:41 - Her Journey from a Marwari Business Family in Calcutta to Info Edge
03:15 - How did investing in other Startups began at Info Edge?
05:50 - Recent 5 Investments
06:35 - First Cheque Size & the Stage at which they enter a business
08:00 - What value does Info Edge brings to the table apart from money in Portfolio companies?
08:56 - Misconception about Info Edge owing a greater than 50% stake in Portfolio companies
13:26 - Evaluation Process for Potential Portfolio companies
19:00 - What’s her take on Content-based startups in India?
20:55 - Potential Markets & Opportunities in 2019-20
26:30 - How does Info Edge help its Portfolio companies in setting up Corporate Governance
34:30 - Lessons for Founders, based on her experiences with their Portfolio companies -
#100xEntrepreneur
#Podcast with Shripati Acharya, Managing Partner, Prime Venture Partners
“I’ve more patience than the average person, because life is a marathon, not a sprint” - Shripati Acharya
Coming from a very humble background, Shripati did his schooling in Kendriya Vidyalaya, Bhopal. Later took admission in IIT Madras, then went to Stanford to pursue his Masters and finally did his MBA from Harvard.
In 1999, he Co-founded Snapfish (now part of HP) - One of the largest online photo services in the world with over 70M members. In his later career he worked at Senior Management roles at Cisco & UIDAI Aadhaar.
In 2011, he Co-founded Prime Venture Partners, one of India's Premier Early Stage Funds, focused on creating disruptive, category creating technology companies out India for local and global markets.
His Portfolio Companies include - Ezetap, Happay, and MyGate among others.
In this podcast, Shripati shares his deep insights of the SaaS opportunities in India & the core fundamentals of Early Stage Investing.
Notes -
00:36 - His Journey from Kendriya Vidyalaya in Bhopal to Stanford
01:47 - How did he start Snapfish?
03:10 - From being the Founder of Snapfish in the US, what brought him into the Indian Startup Ecosystem?
04:17 - How was Prime Venture Partners started?
06:06 - “Being a VC you should meet every entrepreneur with an open mind and not have preconceived notions”
08:24 - Operating Thesis at Prime Ventures
15:45 - Meeting existing Portfolio companies regularly for discussing Strategic Actions
17:27 - His thoughts on Wealth Creation & Public Marketing Investing
19:14 - What are the parallels between Early Stage Investing & Public Market Investing?
22:17 - Potential in Indian SaaS companies to go for an IPO
25:28 - Unfortuante failures or hurdles occur when Entrepreneurs are caught up in hindsight
32:54 - Is it possible to build breakout companies like Whatsapp in India? -
#100xEntrepreneur
#Podcast with Ashu Garg, Partner, Foundation Capital
After graduating from IIT Delhi, and later completing his masters from IIM Bangalore, Ashu worked at various companies such as - Unilever India, McKinsey & Company, Microsoft and a few others.
In 2008 he joined Foundation Capital and since then he’s been primarily investing in B2B & SaaS Companies for the past 11 years.
Foundation Capital invested early in Netflix.
His Portfolio Companies include - Localytics, QuanticMind, Opas.ai, ZeroStack and FundsIndia among others.
In this podcast, Ashu shares his deep insights of the B2B & SaaS space in US & the opportunities coming ahead.
Notes -
00:56 - His Professional Journey - A series of Serendipitous Events.
05:03 - What caught his interest in the B2B & SaaS market space?
07:23 - What are the key skills, he looks for in B2B founder?
10:05 - How to sell B2B or SaaS products?
12:01 - Why is having clarity on ICP (Initial Customer Profile) crucial for a business?
14:40 - How long does it take for him from - “First email from a founder to Cutting a Cheque”?
16:40 - Success & Struggles in Foundation Capital’s Portfolio Companies
25:10 - What’s his advice for founders who struggle to scale up in the SaaS market?
27:55 - When does he plans to invest more in Indian Companies?
31:23 - Themes he’s been on a look out for - Task Automation, Tools to make Development easy, Cybersecurity
27:15 - Will Startups in Credit Lending Space be able to make money?
38:00 - How can B2B entrepreneurs crack the next big thing? -
#100xEntrepreneur #Podcast with Amrish Rau, Co-founder at Citrus Pay, Head of Investments & Partnerships at PayU“Life is Game, Treat it as a Sport, Enjoy your time in the Field, & It will be Fantastic!” - Amrish RauAfter starting his career as a Sales Manager at Siemens Nixdorf in 1996, he later worked extensively with Teradata & First Data. He later started Citrus Payments in 2014, which was acquired by PayU for $130Mn in 2016, one of the biggest FinTech deals in India.As an Angel Investor, his Portfolio Companies are - CRED, Khatabook, Signzy, and OPEN Bank among others.In this podcast, Amrish shares his deep insights of the FinTech space in India & opportunities coming ahead.Notes - 00:56 - How did he grow from a Sales Manager at Siemens to one of the renowned names in Indian Fintech Space?05:20 - How does he treat his work life?06:36 - His experience of Investing in CRED, Mobile Premiere League, Khatabook, Dunzo & Bira 13:28 - Formation of Citrus Pay14:42 - Seeds of Entrepreneurship17:55 - First few years of Citrus Pay - Testing the Market19:26 - His thoughts on Business Capital requirement & Funding21:45 - “You should not tie your dreams to - How much funding I can raise?; Instead, think of - What problem statement can I solve?”23:11 - Pivots v/s Experimentation & Improvisation24:32 - Core Unsolved problems in FinTech for B2C & B2B27:15 - Will Startups in Credit Lending Space be able to make money?28:24 - Credit Lending opportunities in SMEs30:23 - Cost of money is extremely high through NBFCs31:37 - Other Markets he’s interested in - Transactions & eKYC32:52 - “The number of Quality founders, I meet every day, I’m soon going to end up broke being an Angel Investor.”35:26 - Preparation for the Big War in FinTech 37:33 - Advice to listeners - “Spend time in understanding the complexity of FinTech”44:45 - No.1 Golden Rule for a Cofounder is to put the Company First
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#100xEntrepreneur
#Podcast with Sasha Mirchandani, Founder, Kae Capital
In early 2000 Sasha was approached by two guys from IIM Ahmedabad with a Startup idea, to invest in. Later he went on to understand the entire Angel Investing & Seed Captial from his fellow Venture Capitalists.
After being a solo Angel Investor for over 5-6 years he started Kae Capital in 2012.
Some of the Portfolio companies include - Healthkart, LoanTap, Nua and 1mg among others.
In this podcast, Sasha shares his deep insights of the Indian Startup Ecosystem from his 18 years of Investing Career.
Notes -
00:36 - Mission of Kae Capital
01:56 - His 18 Year Journey as an Investor
06:53 - Looking at “How well the Founders deal with when the tough times come.”
08:52 - “There’s a Time & a Place for a Market to Take-off”
10:55 - Failures while trying to Time the Market
11:44 - Recent Investment & Thesis - Nua, Loan Tap, Zetwerk
14:37 - Quality of Founders in 2019 vs Quality of Founders 10 Years back
16:20 - Markets he prefers - Healthcare, AI, B2B Commerce & SaaS
17:10 - Experience investing in Analytics & Home Services ?
22:27 - The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
25:24 - Common Patterns in 100x Growth Startups
27:29 - Advice to Entrepreneurs “Start, Pivot, Stop, Repeat” - Visa fler