Episódios
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Karthik Prabhakar is the Managing Partner at PeerCapital, an early-stage investment fund in India focused on seed to Series A rounds. Karthik has been a part of the Indian tech ecosystem since 2005, with a wealth of experience in venture capital, product development, and marketing. Prior to PeerCapital, Karthik was the Managing Director at Chiratae Ventures (formerly known as IDG Ventures).
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Episode Notes:
What still excites Karthik about India today (2:35) Staying ahead of trends as an investor (5:11) India’s trajectory over the next 10-15 years (10:18) Karthik’s evolution as an investor from the beginning to now (17:40) How to build a strong network in venture capital (21:20) Building a world-class institution in venture capital (26:40) Measuring the factors that contribute to a VC fund’s brand (31:30) The importance of branding for a VC fund (33:45) PeerCapital’s success in building a brand (40:22) How to genuinely add value as an investor (46:46) Is competition beneficial for a VC fund? (54:30) Why gaming is a focus area for PeerCapital (57:05) Top 3 lessons from Karthik’s investing career (1:03:35). . .
Social links
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Aditya Nambiar is the co-founder of Fennel, a modern feature engineering platform that enables you to author, compute, store, serve, monitor, and govern both real-time and batch ML features, backed by Foundational Capital. Before diving into entrepreneurship, Aditya built products at Google and Facebook, and is an IIT-B alumnus.
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Episode notes:
Introduction (1:40) Why choose entrepreneurship? (2:32) The mindset shift: Small teams solving big problems vs. hyper-focused challenges (9:05) When is a product truly ready to ship? (12:10) What does it take for someone transitioning from big tech to thrive in startups? (16:44) Beyond technical skills: What to look for in an early startup hire (21:08) The personal impact of startup life on founders (25:51) Key learnings from building a startup (32:58) Aditya’s life purpose (36:05) How to enjoy the process of pursuing your purpose (38:25). . .
Social links
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Mayuresh Raut is the Co-founder & Managing Partner of Seafund, investing in pre-Series A startups in India with investments in companies such as Wigzo, Inc42, Zippee, ClooTrack among others. SEA Fund’s mission is to help the next set of technical founders, with small amounts of early capital in getting to market to build efficient and scalable businesses. He is an Engineer and an MBA and is an alumnus of Virginia Tech and INSEAD, has over 21 years of leadership experience with global clients in Manufacturing, Construction & Analytics in Financial Services & Healthcare and has been investing in startups for over 10 years.
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Episode Notes:
Why pursue a career in venture capital? (2:33) What excites investors about India today compared to when they first started? (4:24) Improving policy-making: How India has evolved (10:24) Areas where India can excel on the global stage (18:55) Adopting a long-term perspective on investing (32:15) Accelerating India's middle-class growth and GDP (36:17) Cultivating the next generation of top entrepreneurs (43:35) India's trajectory over the next decade (52:13). . .
Social links
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Swati Bhargava is the Co-Founder of CashKaro.com, India’s largest Cashback & Coupons site, backed by Kalaari Capital, Korea investment partners and Affle. Swati first started Pouring Pounds with her husband Rohan Bhargava in the UK in 2011. Seeing the huge opportunity in India they launched CashKaro.com in April 2013. Swati is an alumnus of the London School of Economics and has worked at Goldman Sachs in London for 5 years before embarking on the path of entreprneurship. In this episode we’ll cover her decade long journey building a consumer business and all things she’s learned about being a founder and growing as leader.
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Episode Notes:
Swati's journey into entrepreneurship (2:54) Influence of parents on career decisions (7:30) Essential advice for aspiring and first-time entrepreneurs (10:40) Embracing uncertainty in entrepreneurship (15:25) Founder’s evolution as the company grows (18:35) Cultivating company culture (23:55) Pros and cons of having your life partner as a co-founder (31:40) Early days of CashKaro: Customer acquisition, attracting investors, and brand building (34:50) How capital empowers founders (39:04) Taking a step back to move forward (42:42) Investor sentiment in 2024 (45:28) Transformations in the Indian startup ecosystem over the past decade (47:45) CashKaro’s larger vision and future outlook (52:54) Spirituality and mental resilience as a founder (59:36) The importance of vulnerability in leadership (1:02:52) Advice to a younger Swati (1:09:02). . .
Social links
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Anish is the Co-founder and CEO of Open, a neo-banking platform which provides business banking services to SMEs and startups. With over 17 years in the fintech industry, Anish has a rich entrepreneurial background. In 2001, he co-founded his first startup, iFuturz Wireless, focusing on mobile value-added services. In 2007, he founded CashNxt, a plug-and-play mobile payment and financial inclusion platform for semi-urban and rural markets, which was later acquired by a Latin American company. In 2009, he built Neartivity Wireless, an NFC-based payment processing platform. In 2013, he co-founded Zwitch, India’s first developer-focused payment platform, which was acquired by Citrus Payments in 2015. At CitrusPay and later at PayU, Anish interacted with numerous SMEs and realized that banking was broken for small businesses, with owners struggling to track their income and expenses, leading him to found Open.
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Episode Notes:
Introduction (1:50) Why entrepreneurship? (2:37) Selling his first company (9:00) Building fintech in India from 2010 to 2024 (13:45) Why Open and what was the vision for the company when it was initially founded? (18:48) Building trust as an early Neo bank in India (23:20) Lessons from building multiple startups (28:20) Building and nurturing culture (33:20) Building during the years of the pandemic (40:55) Growing as a leader (47:55) Challenges of building a company at scale (52:20) Vision for Open in the coming years (56:38) Advice Anish would have given himself early in his career (58:55). . .
Social Links:
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Edul Patel is the Co-founder & CEO of Mudrex, a crypto exchange platform on a mission to democratize investing, with its primary goal being to make crypto investing easy and accessible to all. The company has raised over $22M from Y Combinator, Nexus Venture Partners, Tribe Captial, QED Investors and Arkam Ventures.
Edul brings with him over 10 years of experience deep-rooted in finance, entrepreneurship, and building tech-driven applications. Previously Co-Founded Niffler, which was acquired by Tapzo where he led the product team to build the core infrastructure and the app.
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Episode Notes:
Intro (1:50) How Edul got into entrepreneurship (2:45) Why so many IITians become founders (6:45) Overcoming insecurities as a founder (13:13) Learnings as a second-time entrepreneur (17:40) The origin of Mudrex (22:02) How Indian VCs viewed crypto in 2017 (29:36) The crypto and web3 movement: why community matters (35:15) Building investor confidence in crypto after recent events (42:17) What Edul has learned about himself as an operator (45:45). . .
Social Links:
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Navin Honagudi is the Managing Partner at Elev8 Venture Partners, an India-focused $200M Growth-stage fund. Elev8 focuses on Series B and C rounds of financing in hyper growth companies. He bring 18+ years of experience investing in early and growth stage technology firms and also held the positions of Co-founder and Partner at Kae Capital.
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Episode Notes:
Introduction (1:48) How Naveen entered venture capital (2:24) Comparing entrepreneurs: 2000s vs. today (4:45) Indian VC landscape & expected exits/returns in the 2000s (8:38) What Elev8 looks for in founders (11:45) Why India is exciting today (18:01) Opportunities in offline to online transition in India (25:30) Emerging sectors like faith-tech (28:15) Next billion dollar opportunities: alcohol, sex-tech, betting, gaming (32:25) Summarizing investment experiences: CVC, consumer VC, and growth-stage VC (37:25) Investing in early-stage vs. growth-stage (42:15) Advice Naveen would give his younger self (45:28). . .
Social Links:
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Sanket Shah is the Founder of invideo, an AI-powered video creation platform for creators, boasting over 25 million users worldwide. As a trusted leader in the industry, InVideo serves customers in 190 countries and has raised over $52 million from investors including Tiger Global, Peak 15, RTP Global, Titan Capital, and Hummingbird Ventures. Prior to InVideo, Sanket founded MassBlurb, which was acquired by Mobikon in 2016.
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Episode Notes:
Introduction (2:00) How to discover your superpowers? (2:50) Why did Sanket decide to be an entrepreneur? (3:40) How did growing up in an entrepreneurial family influence Sanket's decision to become a founder himself? (7:20) How did the idea for invideo come into being? (13:03) Early days of invideo (18:18) Serving the anti-power user (23:20) How does invideo ensure stickiness with its product (32:37) Fostering a culture of multifaceted thinking within the organization (37:25) Sanket’s view on hiring, culture and leadership within the company (42:55) Internalizing as a founder (58:20) Reflecting back on the journey and advising a younger self (1:02:25). . .
Social Links:
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Ashok is the Co-founder and CEO of IDfy, an online fraud detection and identity platform that provides background verification services to banks and financial institutions. He started his career in semi-conductors, building high-speed network processors. His MBA degree took him away from Engineering and into the world of Business Strategy. He worked with British Telecom in London for 5 years before deciding that his heart lay in creating value grounds-up.
The company has raised over $54M from IndiaMart, KB Investment, Blume Ventures, Elev8 Venture Partners among many others.
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Episode Notes:
Introduction (2:00) Was entrepreneurship part of Ashok’s career plan (3:04) Early influence of entrepreneurship (4:40) Learnings from building (13:50) What does entrepreneurship teach you about failure and setbacks (25:00) Struggling with mental health as founders (30:00) Evolving as a founder: Doer to enabler (39:45) Building a ‘change culture’ (44:01) Impact of entrepreneurship on personal life (51:35) Advice to self and other founders (54:29). . .
Social Links:
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Rajiv Srivatsa is a Partner at Antler India, one of the most active early-stage venture capital firms. Prior to Antler, he co-founded Urban Ladder, an omni-channel furniture and decor retailer started in 2012. The company raised over $100M from SAIF Partners, Kalaari, Steadview, Peak XV Partners, Trifecta Capital and Ratan Tata. In November 2020, the company was acquired by Reliance Retail.
Prior to Urban Ladder, he served as a Senior Product Manager with Yahoo, and before that at Infosys. He is an alumnus of IIT-Madras and IIM-Bangalore.
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Episode Notes:
How did it all start for Rajiv (2:02) When and why did Rajiv decide to start Urban Ladder (5:50) Where does Rajiv’s love for consumer products come from (12:10) How did idea of selling home decor / furniture originate (14:41) How did Urban Ladder look at culture internally and build a great one at scale (28:45) How has Rajiv’s leadership evolved over the years (34:12) How and why did Rajiv decide to enter venture capital (42:35) What does Rajiv enjoy the most - being an operator, founder or investor (55:10) Rajiv’s advice to anyone on a break looking for a framework on how to develop a career plan (57:35). . .
Social Links:
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Shwetank Verma is the co-founder of Leo Capital, a venture capital fund investing in companies inIndiaand South East Asia. Recent investments include CoLearn (edtech), WayForward (mental health), CoverGenius (Insurtech) and IndiaGold (Digital Gold). Leo Capital is backed by institutional investorsfrom Singapore and Silicon Valley.
Prior to Leo Capital, he led Open Innovation for MetLife Asia and was a part of the senior managementteam of LumenLab, MetLife's innovation consultancy. At LumenLab, he advised MetLife country CEOs andsenior leaders on growth, startup collaboration, culture change and new product development.
Prior to joining MetLife, he was a serial entrepreneur in healthcare and education in India. He serves asInnovation Adviser to the Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Singapore Management University.
He is also a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants England and Wales and holds a Bachelor ofScience in Economics and Econometrics from the University of Nottingham (UK), where he was a Foreignand Commonwealth Office scholar.
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Episode Notes:
State of the industry in 2024 How does Shwetank define a good investor? Takeaways from working with portfolio founders Vision for India the next 5 years Examples of building from India for the world from a category-creation play Best investor persona: Operator vs Pure investor? How did Leo build its internal thesis? Why did Shwetank become an investor? What does Shwetank like and dislike about investing? How has Shwetank evolved as an investor? Insights from working with Leo’s porticos Advice Shwetank would give his younger self. . .
Social Links:
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Prayank Swaroop is a Partner at Accel, and joined the firm in 2011.
He focuses on cybersecurity, developer tools, marketplaces, and SaaS investments. Some of the investments led by him are - Aavenir, Bizongo, Maverix, OnsiteGo, Securden, Slintel, Skeps, and Zetwerk.
Prior to Accel, he worked at Adobe and Standard Chartered Bank in India and Singapore. He held positions across engineering, product marketing, pre-sales, and product management.
He has an integrated master's degree in Mathematics and Computing from IIT Delhi and an MBA from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.
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Episode Notes:
What made Prayank take a bet on venture as a career path (3:38) Naivety in venture capital (7:10) Where is venture as of October 2023, post the global slow down (9:50) Sectors that have shown massive potential in spite of it being a dull year in terms of venture activity (18:18) Insights gained by Prayank over the course of his ten years of investment experience (22:15) How to evaluate people as an investor (27:38) How would Prayank rebuild his career as an investor if given a chance to restart (38:37) Advice to founders (48:15). . .
Social Links:
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Priya Saiprasad is a General Partner at Touring Capital, a fund investing in enterprise-focused AI powered global startups. She co-founded Touring after 13 years in venture capital, M&A and enterprise technology.
She was most recently a Partner at SoftBank Vision Fund, where she led investments into category-defining software companies including Pixis, Vendr, Observe.ai, CommerceIQ, Sendoso and Skedulo.
Previously, Priya was at Mayfield Fund focused on early-growth investments, and a founding member of M12 (Microsoft’s Venture Fund), where she led investments in Go1, Workboard, PandaDoc, Element AI (acquired by ServiceNow), and Bonsai (acquired by Microsoft). Prior to that, she was a Deal Lead in Square’s M&A team leading acquisitions at the intersection of software and machine learning.
Priya was recognized by Forbes in 2018 as part of their 30 under 30 in Venture Capital list. She is actively involved with All Raise, Neythri, and several prominent Women in Tech associations. Priya holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.
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Episode Notes:
How did Priya end up in venture (2:36) What about venture surprised Priya the most (6:00) Insecurities as/of an investor (11:25) Learnings as an investor when investments haven’t really worked out (17:02) How can one acquire the skills to assist founders, even if they haven't personally experienced those challenges? (25:05) Investing is personal: Do investors derive guidance from aspects of their life when making investment decisions? (29:35) How does competition drive investors (34:52) Prestige and perception in venture (41:30) Advice Priya would give her younger self (47:20). . .
Social Links:
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Rohit Bansal is the Co-founder Snapdeal, one of the largest online marketplaces in India. The company has raised over $1.7B from eBay, Kalaari Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Intel Capital, BlackRock, Temasek Holdings and SoftBank. He is also the Co-Founder of Titan Capital, which has invested in companies such as Mamaearth, Dealshare, OLA, RazorPay and OfBusiness. He an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
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Episode Notes:
Introduction (2:00) What motivated Rohit to become an entrepreneur (2:57) Why is entrepreneurship on the rise in India (10:30) How did Rohit get into investing (14:30) How did and does Rohit deal with tough moments in life (19:26) How do founders continue to stay motivated over the years (27:58) What frameworks does Rohit deploy to navigate tough situations in life (31:39) Why it’s important for founders to look after themselves (36:20) Looking back at his career what is Rohit the most proud of? (41:15) What is Rohit dedicating the next 5-10 years of his life towards (45:45) What advice would Rohit give his younger self? (52:02). . .
Social Links:
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Shubham Goel is the Co-foudner and Co-CEO of Affinity, a relationship intelligence platform for dealmakers. The company has raised over $120M in funding from Menlo Ventures, MassMutual Ventures, Pear VC and Advance Venture Partners. Prior to Affinity, Shubham completed his BS in Computer Science at Stanford University.
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Episode notes:
What made Shubham pick entrepreneurship (2:00) Propensity of risk increasing as the company grows (6:08) The journey until the ah-ha moment (10:06) The aha-moment (17:00) Unlocking the operator and leader persona as a founder (25:15) Getting the most out of your teams as a leader (31:10) Things that have surprised Shubham in the company building journey (37:15) What would Shubham do differently if he were to build Affinity from scratch today? (43:54). . .
Social links:
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Sumeet Mehta is the co-founder and CEO of LEAD, an edtech company helping digitize and transform affordable private schools to better serve students from middle and low-income groups of families. Before co-founding LEAD, Sumeet was Chief Executive Officer at Zee Learn (2007-2012). He transformed the institution from a pre-school franchise company to an education company with a presence in pre-schools and K-10 schools, and science activity and animation classes. Prior to that, Sumeet spent eight years at Procter & Gamble Singapore, where he was involved in in brand management, leading businesses in Australia, Southeast Asia, and India. Sumeet is an alumnus of IIM-Ahmedabad and PEC Chandigarh.
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Episode Notes:
Introduction (1:40) How and why did Sumeet co-found LEAD? (3:08) How do you 'figure out' your mission as a founder? (8:18) Do founders take time to introspect about their personal growth? If they do, how frequently do they engage in this practice, and what methods do they employ? (14:23) How can a founder effectively address and manage their insecurities while continually learning and growing in their role? (19:20) What has Sumeet learned about himself over the course of his entrepreneurial journey (24:00) The toughest part of building a company (28:36) Working with your significant other as a co-founder (32:08) Non-negotiables as a founder (34:50)Fostering a culture of long-term thinking among employees (39:02)
Advice Sumeet would offer his younger self (41:11). . .
Social links:
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Sankar Bora is the Co-founder & COO, Dealshare, a social ecommerce startup in India, that has raised close to $400M in venture money from marquee investors such as Alpha Wave Global, Tiger Global, Matrix India, Alteria Capital and WestBridge Capital. Prior to this, he co-founded Myntra in 2007, which was sold to Flipkart in 2010.
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Episode Notes:
Why entrepreneurship? (2:30) What gave Sankar the conviction to embark on the path of entrepreneurship (5:50) Early days of Mantra (10:32) A few mistakes made at Myntra (14:25) How to pick co-founders? (20:34) Learnings from building Myntra (22:50) Validating the thesis around Dealshare (27:50) What did Sankar get right about building Dealshare and early signs of success (33:45) Understanding the diversity of Indian customers Nurturing consistency at Dealshare (43:25) What has entrepreneurship taught Sankar (46:20). . .
Social Links:
Dealshare on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dealshareindia
Sankar on Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/SankarBora6
Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc
Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash
Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc
Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash
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Aloke Bajpai is the Co-founder and CEO of ixigo.com a platform that aggregates and compares real-time travel information, prices and availability for flights, trains, buses, and hotels, and allows ticket booking through its associate websites and apps. Since ixigo's launch in 2007, the company has gone from a bootstrapped startup to India’s leading travel search and planning business, with over 20 million active users every month across mobile and web.
Aloke graduated from IIT Kanpur in 2001 and started his career at Amadeus in Europe where he held key product and technology roles, building and managing large scale web-based products and networks for the first four years of his career. He then went to INSEAD for his MBA, and returned to India to build ixigo.
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Episode Notes:
Intro (2:15) Why entrepreneurship (4:11) What frameworks did Aloke decide to take the plunge into entrepreneurship (11:20) Why did Aloke pick travel as an industry to disrupt (14:35) The Aha-moment for Ixigo (17:38) Conversations with VCs in the early-stages (24:15) How did Aloke and team convince their first investors (30:00) Leveraging VCs to grow the company (32:40) Evolution of Aloke’s leadership styles over the Yeats (37:40) How do you build a strong internal company culture (42:15) How did Ixigo navigate the pandemic and the challenges that came with it? (46:50) Overall learnings building Ixigo (55:20) Advice to younger self (59:18). . .
Social Links:
ixigo on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ixigo
Aloke on Twitter: https://twitter.com/alokebajpai
Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc
Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash
Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc
Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash
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Rajat Tandon is the President of IVCA, India's apex body representing the interests of PE/VC industry, Real estate, Infrastructure and Credit funds, Limited Partners, Family offices & Corporate VC's. Rajat leads the planning, development, and implementing IVCA’s regulatory advocacy activities, while also effectively influencing regulatory outcomes in support of the alternate asset class.
Previously, Rajat was part of the leadership team at NASSCOM, where he headed NASSCOM’s 10,000 Startups initiative, providing crucial support to technology startups in India.
With his early stint as entrepreneur and extensive corporate experience in the IT & Telecom and GIS/Navigable maps, Rajat competently bridges the gap between boardroom expertise and on-the-ground experience. Over the past 25+ years, he has worked in various positions ranging from technical support, sales leadership, service delivery to strategic initiatives at Siemens, Nortel, and Nokia.
Rajat also brings with him his extensive network in the startups space, having worked closely with most of the eminent industry leaders. His knowledge of the startup ecosystem, its constituents, successes, opportunities, and challenges run deep. He is also a member of CII National Start-up Council.
A Post-Graduate in Business Management from the Indian Institute of Management Technology (IIMT), Ghaziabad, Rajat also has a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Pune University. When not busy with the VC-PE and startup communities, you will find him spending quality time with family or enjoying a game of Golf.
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Episode Notes:
Introduction (2:00) The evolution of the Indian VC ecosystem in the past decade (3:20) IVCA's pivotal role in the advancement of the Indian VC ecosystem (5:06) Rajat's career path (7:45) IVCA's remarkable milestones and contributions (17:55) Envisioning a thriving startup ecosystem (26:04) Inspiring success stories from India's vibrant startup landscape (42:20) Rajat's lasting legacy: Shaping the future of Venture Capital (51:29). . .
Social Links:
IVCA on Twitter: https://twitter.com/indianvca
Rajat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rajattandy
Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc
Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash
Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc
Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash
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Rohit Sood is the Partner at Bertelsmann India Investments (BII), an investment firm that invests in companies in the digital, education, media, and services sectors. The firm also focuses on early-stage, as well as growth-stage investments. Rohit was the founding team member and has been part of Bertelsmann from Day 0 having seen the growth of the fund over the last decade as well played an instrumental part in shaping India’s startup ecosystem. Prior to Bertelsmann, he spent some time at Deutche Bank and holds an MBA from IIM-Kohzikode with a Bachelors from IIT Delhi.
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Episode Notes:
Intro (1:50) Why did Rohit pick a career in venture (3:42) Trading vs venture capital (7:30) Indian growth story: 2010-present (10:37) Learnings from backing companies that haven’t scaled as per expectations (16:10) How does Berterslman conduct its post mortem on startups (20:40) How does one build a great working relationship with their portfolio founders and guide them (28:06) How and what do investors mean when they talk about market? (32:42) Can the market be manipulated (35:42) Thoughts on investing in the ‘Valley of death’ (41:15) Exits for VCs (50:10) Insights from investing in winners (54:50) What can we expect from India in the coming years (1:03:01) How has Rohit evolved as an investor over the years (1:07:30). . .
Social Links:
BII on Twitter: https://twitter.com/biifund
Rohit on Twitter: https://twitter.com/doostihor
Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc
Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash
Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc
Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash
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