Shows
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#69 Arpit Maheshwari – Investment philosophy at Stellaris, balancing mindshare when investing in different sectors and managing relationships with startups that are unable to achieve venture scaleIn this episode, Arpit Maheshwari, Principal @Stellaris Venture Partners, joins our host Digjay, to talk about his background and path leading up to Stellaris, the investment philosophy at Stellaris and the journey from Fund I to Fund II, stand-out attributes of select founders from Stellaris’ portfolio, scaling up as an investor and balancing mindshare between different sectors, managing relationships/conversations with startups that are unable to achieve venture scale and value add from investors.
Stellaris is an early-stage sector-agnostic investment firm, currently investing from its second fund of $225mm. Since its inception in 2017, the firm has invested in...2023-04-0940 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#68 Vishesh Khurana – Building Shiprocket to enable e-commerce in India, the scale up journey and approach to inorganic growthIn this episode, Vishesh Khurana, Co-Founder @Shiprocket, joins our host Digjay, to talk about his background and path leading up to Shiprocket, macro tailwinds that shaped Shiprocket’s evolution and its current product stack, challenges faced when scaling up Shiprocket, empowering leaders and people management, Shiprocket’s inorganic growth playbook, fundraising journey and value add from investors.
Shiprocket is a logistics enablement platform that offers SaaS solutions to online sellers and D2C brands for aggregating and choosing the best logistics partner to ship their e-commerce orders. Shiprocket is backed by some marquee investors like Lightrock, Temasek, Zoma...2023-03-2643 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#67 Anjali Bansal – Investing in climate and sustainability, the importance of having a strong board and building longevity as an investorIn this episode, Anjali Bansal, Founding Partner @Avaana Capital, joins our host Digjay, to talk about her path leading up to Avaana Capital, investing in process & product innovation, key headwinds & tailwinds in the current climate tech cycle, innovative sustainability startups from Avaana’s portfolio, the role of the board at early stages of a startup, importance of having a diverse board, how can founders draw maximum value from their board, and what to overindex on to build longevity in one’s career.
Avaana is an early/growth stage fund that invests in technology and innovation-led start-ups catalysing clim...2023-01-2243 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#66 Vishesh Rajaram – Opportunities & challenges in climate-tech and unpacking the iterative process to master deep-tech investingIn this episode, Vishesh Rajaram, Founder & Managing Partner @Speciale Invest, joins our host Digjay, to talk about Speciale Invest’s journey with fund I, added advantages of a larger fund II, whether climate tech is at its inflection point today, challenges faced by founders building in this space, Vishesh’s approach to building a thesis in frontier-tech, his portfolio construction strategy at Speciale Invest, overcoming valleys of death as a deep tech startup, and the promise of the Indian frontier-tech story.
Speciale Invest is an early-stage investment firm that invests in deeptech startups - both hardware & software - ac...2022-12-1842 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#65 Aditya Kulkarni – Building Stoa: India’s alternative to a traditional MBA, leveraging early-stage investors and scaling a profitable edtech businessIn this episode, Aditya Kulkarni (Co-founder & CEO, Stoa), joins our host Digjay, to talk about his past experience as an edtech entrepreneur, meeting his co-founder Raj and stumbling upon the idea of building Stoa, the value proposition of Stoa’s alternative MBA program, building community as a moat, fundraising philosophy at Stoa, leveraging investors in the 0 to 1 phase, the importance of aligning incentives of internal teams with the broader vision of the company as you scale the business, and more.
Stoa School is building India’s alternative to a traditional MBA. The program helps students pick up skil...2022-11-2751 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#64 Somesh Dash – Growth investing at IVP, earning the trust of marquee founders and the value of mentorship in ventureIn this episode, Somesh Dash (General Partner, IVP), joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path leading up to IVP, IVP’s stellar track record of 130+ IPOs and how has the firm managed to win the trust of marquee founders, the importance of mentorship in building a legacy venture firm, learnings from founders of Snapchat, Discord and Lyra Health, some of IVP’s anti-portfolio companies, the potential of the Indian startup ecosystem, the value of independent board members, learnings from fellow investors and more.
IVP is a venture capital firm that invests in companies on the path...2022-10-3058 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#63 Mark Kahn – Investing in startups building for the rural economy, identifying founders that scale and staying relevant as a venture investorIn this episode, Mark Kahn (Managing Partner, Omnivore), joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path leading up to Omnivore, Omnivore’s investment thesis and evolution of the agritech opportunity in India, how and why India stands out compared to other global agritech markets, attributes of founders that are able to scale & raise follow-on rounds, the case against investing in solo-founder led startups, staying relevant as a venture investor, importance of finding a wedge as a first time VC and more.
Founded in 2010, Omnivore invests in early-stage startups developing breakthrough technologies for agriculture, food, climate, and th...2022-10-1644 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#62 Pearl Agarwal – Building Eximius Ventures, the Web3 opportunity & parallels between a founder and a first time fund managerIn this episode, Pearl Agarwal (Founder & Managing Director, Eximius Ventures), joins our host Digjay, to talk about her path leading up to Eximius Ventures, the investment thesis & key focus areas at Eximius, the Web3 opportunity, marquee portfolio startups at Eximius, parallels between a founder and a first time venture capitalist, winning the trust of LPs & founders, building the foundation to scale up to a larger fund and more.
Founded in 2020, Eximius is an early-stage micro-VC fund that invests in startups across sectors like fintech, healthtech, gaming & web3. The fund has already made investments in marquee startups like...2022-09-1848 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#61 Pankaj Makkar – The bull case for India, mental models to identify stellar startups and Bertelsmann’s India investment playbookIn this episode, Pankaj Makkar (Managing Director, Bertelsmann India Investments), joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path leading up to Bertelsmann, evolution of Bertelsmann’s India investment strategy and why now is a good time to accelerate investments in India, challenges faced in evaluating growth stage startups, mitigating the noise when investing in a ‘hot’ sector, Pankaj’s perspective on the exit landscape in India, mental models to identify stellar startups and more.
Bertelsmann India Investments (BII), is a strategic investment arm of the global Bertelsmann Group which has invested more than $1bn in over 250 companie...2022-08-2846 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#60 Madhu Shalini Iyer – Leveraging data science to invest in startups and the global investment perspective at Rocketship VCIn this episode, Madhu Shalini Iyer (Partner, Rocketship VC), joins our host Digjay, to talk about her path leading up to Rocketship VC, genesis of Rocketship VC and its unique data-led approach to investing in startups, incorporating qualitative inputs from past deals to refine data algorithms, combining data with the human element to make the final investment decision, outlier founders from Rocketship’s portfolio, cross-geography learnings for founders given Rocketship’s global portfolio, how Madhu’s global experience has shaped her personality and more.
Rocketship VC is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that uses machine learning and da...2022-08-0754 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#59 Jatin Desai – Backing outlier founders and investing in deep-tech/IP creating startupsIn this episode, Jatin Desai (Managing Partner, Inflexor Ventures), joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path leading up to Inflexor Ventures, the thesis and evolution of the fund, Jatin’s approach to evaluating & investing in deep tech startups, commercialization of deep tech startups, importance of having exit strategies as an investor, outlier founders from Inflexor’s portfolio, Jatin’s learning curve as a VC, deeptech themes that Inflexor is excited about, how being a venture capitalist has influenced Jatin’s personality over the years and more.
Inflexor Ventures is an early stage venture capital fund that inv...2022-07-1742 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#58 Smita Deorah – Democratizing quality education in India, the growth playbook at LEAD & selecting the right investors for your startupIn this episode, Smita Deorah (Co-Founder & Co-CEO, LEAD), joins our host Digjay, to talk about her path leading up to LEAD, the genesis phase and what led Smita to make LEAD her life’s work, how LEAD plans to radically improve the state of education in India by transforming schools, the growth playbook & key challenges faced when building a scalable B2B product/service, what should founders focus on when hiring the core team for a mission driven startup like LEAD, Smita’s fundraising experience, LEAD’s criteria to select their investors & value-add from each of them, how being an ent...2022-06-191h 02
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#57 Ben Mathias – Investing in growth stage startups, value add beyond Series A and why founders should focus on building capital efficient businessesIn this episode, Ben Mathias (Managing Partner, Vertex Ventures), joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path leading up to Vertex Ventures, history & thesis at Vertex, key defining moments in evolution of India’s startup ecosystem, why it is important for startups to focus on building capital efficient businesses, advice for first time VCs, nuances of investing in growth stage startups, adding value to founders beyond Series A rounds, outlier founders from the Vertex SEA portfolio & what differentiates them from the rest, how being a VC has influenced Ben’s personality over the years and more.
Vert...2022-05-2943 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#56 Mayank Banerjee – Building Even Healthcare, choosing the right co-founders and understanding the investor perspective when fundraising as a founderIn this episode, Mayank Banerjee (Co-Founder & CEO, Even Healthcare), joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path leading up to Even, choosing the right co-founders, the problem statement that Even is solving for, challenges faced in the 0 to 1 journey, attracting quality talent at the earliest stages of a startup, straddling between the short term & long term vision, the importance of understanding the VC perspective when fundraising as a founder and having a thesis about the kind of investors you’d like to have on your cap table.
Founded in 2020, Even is a healthtech company that partners di...2022-05-0833 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#55 Sanjay Nath – The journey from a fund manager to a firm manager, the platform approach of supporting founders and building an enduring VC brandIn this episode, Sanjay Nath (Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Blume Ventures), joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path leading up to Blume Ventures, the genesis of Blume to build an institutional seed stage fund, challenges faced as a first time fund manager, change in investment & hiring strategy with a growing fund size, the platform and community approach of supporting founders, building a strong VC brand, identifying founders that can build global companies from India, his learnings from a decadal career in VC and more.
Founded in 2010, Blume is one of India's leading early-stage venture funds with...2022-04-0345 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#54 Mihir Gupta – Building Teachmint, leveraging inorganic growth to scale up and lessons from fundraisingIn this episode, Mihir Gupta (Co-Founder & CEO, Teachmint), joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path leading up to Teachmint, surviving the 0 to 1 phase as first time founders, building a foundation to scale up rapidly and how to sustain momentum after scaling up, benefits & challenges of pursuing inorganic growth, finding a balance between core venture building & fundraising, aligning fundraising strategy with market dynamics, optimizing for 'conviction' & 'speed' of decision making when choosing your investors and more.
Founded in 2020, Teachmint is an edtech-infrastructure startup that helps teachers and institutes create their own virtual classrooms and build direct...2022-03-1343 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#53 Shiv Sharma – Building Stocktwits in India, pioneering social finance & cracking a new market with an established productIn this episode, Shiv Sharma (VP International, Stocktwits), joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path leading up to Stocktwits, the reducing gap between startups from India & The Silicon Valley, making the switch from venture capital to the operating side, how Stocktwits is building the world’s largest social finance app, leveraging community to drive financial literacy, why now is the right time for the company to enter India, launching a product in a new market & importance of collaborating with local partners when doing so.
Founded in 2008, Stocktwits is the world's leading social network and community of...2022-02-2737 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#52 Jyotsna Krishnan – Building conviction as a ‘founding investor’, Elevar’s unique investing DNA and backing entrepreneurs that build for the underserved marketsIn this episode, Jyotsna Krishnan (Managing Partner, Elevar Equity), joins our host Digjay, to talk about her path leading up to Elevar Equity, Elevar’s unique investing DNA, taking concentrated bets while investing at very early stages of a company, why ‘aspiration’ is the key emotion that founder’s should tap on when building for the underserved markets, building conviction as a ‘founding investor’, Elevar’s North-star metric as a VC fund, how being a VC has influenced Jyotsna’s personality over the years & more.
Founded in 2006, Elevar Equity is a VC firm that invests in transformative and scalable ven...2022-02-1341 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#51 Rohan Verma – Building Breathe Well-Being, re-inventing chronic care with a community-first approach and nailing the timing of your fundraiseIn this episode, Rohan Verma (Co-Founder & CEO, Breathe Well-being), joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path leading up to entrepreneurship, making the switch from B2B to B2C, the key problem statement that Breathe Well-Being is trying to solve & it’s unique product positioning, key learnings from his entrepreneurship journey, achieving balance & focusing on mental wellness as a founder and the importance of nailing the quantum & timing of your fundraise.
Breathe Well-Being is a digital therapeutics company that helps people prevent, manage and reverse chronic conditions using a community-first approach. The startup has built a...2022-01-2346 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#50 Amit Gupta – Playing the long game and building category creating startups like InMobi & YuluIn this episode, Amit Gupta (Co-Founder & CEO, Yulu), joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path leading up to entrepreneurship, the switch from mobile (InMobi) to mobility (Yulu), evolution of Yulu’s product over the past 5 years, leveraging public & private partnerships to build a strong foundation, what does it take to build a category-creating startup, learnings from previous ventures & the importance of playing the long game, fundraising experience at InMobi & Yulu and his angel investing playbook.
Yulu is a micro-mobility platform powered by shared electric two-wheelers that aims to reduce traffic congestion and air pollution in In...2021-12-1944 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#49 Rajan Bajaj – Building Slice, re-inventing payments & the pursuit of building a quality consumer product for IndiaIn this episode, Rajan Bajaj (Founder & CEO, Slice), joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path leading up to entrepreneurship, the problem statement & need for a product like Slice today, pivots made since founding the company in 2016, how Slice differentiates itself - both on the product & distribution front, the fundraising challenges faced during early days of Slice and what according to him is the biggest value add from investors.
Slice is a leading fintech startup that aims to build a smart, simple, and transparent financial platform to redesign the financial experience for millennials. Founded in 2016 by a...2021-12-0538 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#48 Ritu Verma – Seeding startups that are building for the next billion, challenges faced as a GP and the importance of collaboration in venture capitalIn this episode, Ritu Verma (Co-founder & Managing Partner, Ankur Capital), joins our host Digjay, to talk about her path leading up to venture capital, thesis & vision at Ankur Capital, learnings from past investments in Agritech & Healthtech, common blind spots faced by founders in the 0-1 phase, Learnings from Fund I, challenges faced as a GP, collaborating with fellow VCs & more.
Ankur Capital is an early stage VC fund that invests in startups with transformative technologies building for the next billion Indians. The fund has invested in some marquee startups like Wasabi, Rupifi, Cropin & Niramai among others. Prior...2021-10-3140 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#47 Arjun Vaidya – Building Dr. Vaidya’s, overcoming self-doubt as a founder and his approach to fundraising & exitsIn this episode, Arjun Vaidya (Venture Lead India, Verlinvest; Ex-CEO, Dr. Vaidya’s), joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path leading up to entrepreneurship & venture capital, his inspiration behind starting an Ayurveda brand, initial challenges, pivots & overcoming self-doubt as a founder, brand positioning & differentiation, learnings from the fundraising process & how should founders think through an exit transaction.
Dr. Vaidya’s is India’s largest D2C Ayurveda brand that offers ayurvedic products to treat illnesses and maintain wellness. Arjun & his co-founder Trisha, successfully exited the business to RPSG in 2021. Post the exit Arjun has now joined...2021-10-1038 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#46 Ashish Dave – Evaluating seed vs growth stage startups, the learning-unlearning cycle in VC and balancing between due diligence & speed of decision makingIn this episode, Ashish Dave (CEO @Mirae Asset Venture Investments, India), joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path leading up to venture capital, setting up Mirae’s India Venture arm, due diligence missteps by VCs when optimizing for speed, sharing cross-learnings from other geographies with portfolio companies, evaluating seed & growth stage startups, the constant upskilling & unlearning required in venture capital & more.
Mirae Asset Group, a leading financial services company headquartered in South Korea which manages ~$1.5bn across multiple funds. Mirae’s India portfolio includes marquee startups like Ola, BigBasket, Shadowfax, Unacademy, Jupiter among others. Prior to M...2021-09-2642 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#45 Aprameya Radhakrishna – Building the vernacular ecosystem for Bharat, lessons on fundraising & identifying the right sounding board as a founderIn this episode, Aprameya Radhakrishna (Co-founder @Koo, Vokal & TaxiForSure), joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path leading up to entrepreneurship, founding TFS & exiting to Ola, founding Vokal & Koo to build the vernacular ecosystem for India, identifying people that can act as a sounding board, retaining talent, fundraising lessons & more.
Koo is a regional language microblogging and social networking platform with >$10mm users, while Vokal is India’s largest vernacular Q&A platform. Prior to Vokal & Koo, Aprameya founded TaxiForSure, a cab hailing platform which was later acquired by Ola for $200mm in 2015. An IIM-Ahmedabad alum, Ap...2021-09-1236 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#44 Anurag Ramdasan – The venture capital learning curve, supporting founders in their follow-on fundraise and establishing a strong VC brandIn this episode, Anurag Ramdasan (Partner@ 3one4 Capital), joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path leading up to 3one4 capital, overcoming the venture capital learning curve & key skill sets required to break into VC, the decision making process at 3one4, learnings from anti-portfolio startups, supporting startups in their follow-on fundraise, establishing a strong VC brand & more.
3one4 Capital is one of the top performing early-stage VC firms in India with a portfolio of 50+ active startups including startups like Koo, Licious, Open, Darwinbox, Betterplace. Anurag leads investments at 3one4 Capital and has been with the fund...2021-08-2938 min
The Startup OperatorRoundup #38 : India's most valuable SaaS - Postman, Behind the scenes of Food Delivery Business, Zetwerk turns Unicorn and more!Welcome to #38 episode of The Startup Operator Roundup. Special guest Digjay Patel joins Roshan Cariappa and Gunjan Saha to discuss - 1. Fundraises by Ultrahuman, Rapido, Smallcase, Zupee 3. India's most valuable SaaS - Postman 4. Mint - Cred's latest lending product 5. MSME credit by Facebok 6. New Unicorn - Zetwerk 7. Behind the scenes of Food Delivery Business Hit the like button if enjoyed this roundup, and do not forget to share among your operator friends! Listen to ou...2021-08-2237 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#43 Shruti Gandhi – Investing in enterprise tech startups, the operator VC perspective & differentiating oneself as an emerging VCIn this episode, Shruti Gandhi (Founder & Managing Partner @Array Ventures), joins our host Digjay, to talk about her path leading up to venture capital, the evolution of Array’s enterprise tech thesis, how engaging with potential customers can help early stage startups to validate their product & help VCs to support their investment decision, what founders should focus on before thinking about going global, differentiating oneself as an emerging VC, staying ahead of the curve in enterprise tech & more.
Array Ventures is an early stage VC fund that invests in enterprise tech startups solving problems using big data, AI...2021-08-1524 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#42 Anubhav Jain – Building Rupifi, learnings from Seed to Series A and why speed matters at early stage startupsIn this episode, Anubhav Jain (Co-founder & CEO@ Rupifi), joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path leading up to founding Rupifi, the recent positives & challenges faced by the SMEs, what is embedded finance & it's use cases, Rupifi’s embedded cash-flow based lending model, importance of speed at early stage startups, what founders should optimize for - between Seed & Series A rounds, role of early stage investors in raising subsequent funding rounds & more.
Rupifi is a fintech startup that helps MSMEs find suitable financing on different digital B2B platforms and marketplaces using an embedded cash-flow based le...2021-08-0148 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#41 Sushma Kaushik – Investing in the Bharat opportunity, DNA of impact entrepreneurs & the evolving exit landscape for impact fundsIn this episode, Sushma Kaushik (Partner @ Aavishkaar Capital), joins our host Digjay, to talk about her path to VC, the genesis of Aavishkaar Capital & it’s key portfolio startups, the evolution of the fund’s thesis across 4 funds, unlocking of the massive Bharat opportunity, the DNA of impact entrepreneurs, the evolving exit landscape for impact funds & key learnings from Sushma’s decadal experience as a VC.
Aavishkaar Capital is an early-stage VC firm & the equity arm of The Aavishkaar Group which is focused on developing the impact ecosystem in Asia and Africa. Aavishkaar Capital has ~$500mm in AUM...2021-07-1843 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#40 Pankaj Mitra – Decoding corporate VC, Cisco’s symbiotic relationship with portfolio startups & collaborating with traditional VC fundsIn this episode, Pankaj Mitra (Director & India Head @Cisco Investments), joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path to corporate VC, Cisco’s mandate in India, the symbiotic relationship with its portfolio companies, learnings from other enterprise tech ecosystems like US & Israel, difference between Corporate & traditional VC and how Cisco collaborates with & invests in other VC funds.
Cisco has a portfolio of ~10 start-ups including - Whatfix, Videonetics, Mobikwik, Mobstac and CloudCherry - that it has already invested in directly or through investment partnerships with VC funds. Cisco is also an LP in VC funds like Aavishkaar, St...2021-07-0439 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#39 Manish Singhal – Evaluating & backing disruptive ideas, challenges of raising a VC fund and the bull case for deeptech in IndiaIn this episode, Manish Singhal (Founding Partner @Pi Ventures), joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path to venture capital, thesis for Pi Ventures & key portfolio startups, framework for evaluating disruptive ideas, fund allocation strategy as an early stage VC, learnings from his failed attempts to raise a venture fund, role of LPs in differentiating yourself as a VC fund & the bull case for deeptech in India.
Pi Ventures is an early-stage VC fund focused on investing in disruptive ideas leveraging machine learning, AI, and IoT. So far the fund has backed 13 startups from its 1st...2021-06-2037 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#38 Shruti Kapoor – Building Wingman, unpacking B2B sales and scaling up as an entrepreneurIn this episode, Shruti Kapoor (Co-founder & CEO @Wingman), joins our host Digjay, to talk about her path to entrepreneurship, building Wingman, winning your first 5 customers at a B2B startup, scaling up as an entrepreneur, the Y-Combinator experience & what founders should optimize for when fundraising for their startup.
Wingman is a Y-Combinator backed SaaS startup that empowers sales teams with conversation intelligence, actionable insights on successful playbooks and delivers real-time coaching. The company has also raised funding from notable VCs like Speciale Invest & Venture Highway. Since the start of her career, Shruti has worked across lifesciences research...2021-06-0634 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#37 Abhishek Goyal – The VC to founder journey, entrepreneurship lessons from the VC experience & investing in FlipkartIn this episode, Abhihshek Goyal, Co-founder @Tracxn & Serial Angel Investor, joins our host Digjay, to talk about his exciting journey as an entrepreneur, VC & an angel investor, learnings from his previous startups & scaling his latest venture – Tracxn, how being a VC & an angel investor influences his operating style as an entrepreneur, Abhishek’s investment in Flipkart, his approach to angel investing & fundraising advice for founders.
Abhishek started his career with Yahoo & Amazon and also founded two startups before joining Accel Partners. After working for 3 years at Accel, Abhishek plunged back into entrepreneurship, and launched two more startups — UrbanT...2021-05-1634 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#36 Anshuman Bapna – The massive cleantech opportunity, building a strong culture at a remote-first startup and managing pivots & exits as a founderIn this episode, Anshuman Bapna, Founder @Terra, joins our host Digjay, to talk about the ‘why’ & ‘how’ behind his latest venture - Terra, investor trends & the massive opportunity in clean tech, building a strong culture at a remote first startup, managing pivots & how should a founder think about exits.
Terra is an online climate school which is on a mission to activate 100 million highly-skilled, climate-conscious professionals by 2030. The company aims to turn climate focused intentions into real world impactful actions. An alumnus of IIT-Bombay and Stanford Business School, Anshuman is a serial entrepreneur who has founded & exited multiple...2021-04-2544 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#35 Sanjay Swamy – Identifying category creating startups, adding value as an operator VC & finding investor-founder fitIn this episode, Sanjay Swamy, Managing Partner @Prime Venture Partners (Prime), joins our host Digjay, to talk about his journey as an entrepreneur & now as a VC, the genesis story & investment philosophy at Prime, adding value as an operator VC, finding investor-founder fit, identifying & backing category creating startups and the VC-founder relationship at Prime.
Prime VP is an early-stage VC fund focused on backing category-creating tech companies out of India building for the local and global markets. It has a portfolio of 25 startups so far, which includes startups like Recko, MyGate, MoneyTap & Dozee among others. Before starting...2021-04-1138 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#34 Rahul Mathur – The ‘build in public’ approach for startups, challenges faced by a first time founder and the Insurtech landscape in IndiaIn this episode, Rahul Mathur, Founder & CEO @BimapPe, joins our host Digjay, to talk about his background & path leading upto BimaPe, the current insurtech landscape in India, striking a balance between founder vision & customer feedback, challenges faced as a first time founder, key advantages of ‘building in public’, fundraising at a pre-product stage and benefits of having multi-stage investors on your cap table.
BimaPe is a Mumbai based Insurtech startup that is trying to demystify insurance and its management for individuals and families across India. Prior to starting BimaPe, Rahul was the Startup Lead at Accenture’s FinTec...2021-03-2843 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#33 Anirudh Damani – The micro-VC investment model, cap table discipline by founders & learnings from investing in 85+ startupsIn this episode, Anirudh Damani, Managing Partner @Artha Venture Fund, joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path to VC, investing in startups through his family office before starting his own fund, benefits & mechanics behind managing a micro VC fund, Artha’s investment thesis, fund allocation & deal sourcing strategies, and how founders can keep their cap tables clean in their initial funding rounds.
Artha Venture Fund is an early-stage sector agnostic fund that has been investing in start-ups since early 2012. Prior to launching the fund, Anirudh was an active angel investor in many early-stage startups. Anirudh al...2021-03-1440 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#32 Vindhya C – Unpacking product management, building ‘customer-centric’ products & founder-product manager dynamicsIn this episode, Vindhya C, Founder @OnThatJob / Product @Pexels, joins our host Digjay, to talk about her experience as a product consultant with early stage startups, the typical lifecycle of a product & how modern no-code creator tools are changing that, building ‘customer-centric’ products, common missteps by founders at the MVP & product-market-fit stage of a startup, identifying and hiring good product managers & Founder-PM dynamics.
‘OnThatJob’ is a cohort-based learning program that helps people understand the scope of a specific job, especially in the early stages of a startup. Vindhya, popular on Product Twitter as Vindytalks, is known for her blog...2021-02-2842 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#31 Dhimant Parekh – Building The Better India, the shift from content to commerce & the role of community in establishing a strong brandIn this episode, Dhimant Parekh, Founder & CEO @The Better India, joins our host Digjay, to talk about his journey building Asia’s largest content platform for impact, his learnings from the 0-1 phase, importance of developing deep customer relationships, leveraging community to build a strong consumer brand & his fundraising experience at The Better India.
Dhimant along with his co-founder & wife Anuradha started The Better India in 2008, right after graduating from ISB. What started as a side project then has now scaled up to become Asia’s largest content platform for impact. Later the duo also launched a new...2021-02-2136 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#30 Prasanna K – Understanding SaaS fundamentals, building Upekkha & accelerating growth for SaaS startupsIn this episode, Prasanna K, Founding Partner @Upekkha Catalyst, joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path leading upto Upekkha, the fundamentals of a SaaS business, validating the need for your product, acquiring your first 50 customers & retaining them, what is value SaaS & how Upekkha is helping founders scale their SaaS business & more.
Upekkha is a Value SaaS Accelerator working with B2B SaaS startups to help them scale & achieve profitable growth. Prasanna has >15yrs of experience in tech & product at firms like Amazon & Tejas Networks. Prior to starting Upekkha, Prasanna worked closely with 120+ startups at Microsoft’s In...2021-02-1439 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#29 Rajiv Srivatsa – Co-building startups at Antler India, the Urban Ladder experience & unpacking the fundraising lifecycle of a startupIn this episode, Rajiv Srivatsa, Partner @Antler India & Co-founder @Urban Ladder, joins our host Digjay, to talk about the Antler India program, building & scaling Urban Ladder, raising funds from Mr. Ratan Tata, difference in fundraising approach between 0-1 & 1-10 stage, managing stakeholders expectations & overcoming valleys of death as a founder. Prior to joining Antler India, Rajiv co-founded Urban Ladder (UL), one of India's top omni-channel furniture brand. Over ~8 years, UL raised over $100mm from top Indian VCs, like Kalaari Capital, SAIF Partners (now Elevation Capital) & Steadview Capital. Prior to UL, he served as a Sr Product Manager with Yahoo...2021-02-0748 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#28 Raja Ganapathy – The ‘skin-in-the-game’ marketing model, partnering with founder-led companies & building a strong VC brandIn this episode, Raja Ganapathy, Founding Partner @Spring Marketing Capital, joins our host Digjay, to talk about his background and path to venture capital, the gap in the marketing ecosystem and how Spring Marketing Capital aims to plug that using their skin-in-the-game model, importance of articulating the founder’s vision & how it impacts product roadmap, the brand as well as the culture of a startup, his experience working as a CMO at Sequoia India & how new age VC firms can build a strong brand to attract founders.
Raja has worked with founders for most of his working li...2021-01-3146 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#27 Vaibhav Domkundwar – Building leverage as a founder, simplifying decision making for investors & bootstrapping vs fundraisingIn this episode, Vaibhav Domkundwar, Founder & CEO @Better Capital, joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path to angel investing, learnings as a 2x entrepreneur, about Better Capital, evaluating founders at early-stage startups, bootstrapping vs fundraising, building leverage as a founder & how to build your brand as a first-time angel investor.
Vaibhav is a UC Berkeley alum, a 2x entrepreneur & now a full-time investor. He founded 2 companies - Roamware which was acquired by PE firm Audax, and Better which was a self-financed startup studio that has now evolved into an early stage venture firm. Today, Better h...2021-01-2442 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#26 Vinay Bansal – Democratizing angel investing & growing with startupsIn this episode, Vinay Bansal, Co-founder & CEO @Inflection Point Ventures (IPV), joins our host Digjay, to talk about the genesis of IPV, building a trust based platform for both founders & investors, funding startups from Seed to Series A/B and how IPV operates like an angel network while helping founders like VCs & PEs do.
Vinay is a finance professional with 20+ years of experience across Fortune 50 companies, private equity & startups. Last, he was Senior Advisor at TPG Global & before that CFO/CIO at Wildcraft India. He is a Chartered Accountant by qualification and spent the first 14 years of h...2021-01-1733 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#25 Karthik Venkateswaran – Building Jumbotail, scaling a marketplace model & hiring for valuesIn this episode, Karthik Venkateswaran, Co-founder & CEO @Jumbotail, joins our host Digjay, to talk about his journey from serving in the Indian army to founding his own startup, the challenges of scaling a marketplace model, hiring employees based on the company’s core values, advantage of going deep in one market before scaling to other geographies, and what founders should particularly look for in their seed stage investors.
Jumbotail aims to organise the food & grocery ecosystem in India using technology & has raised close to $50mm in funding so far from a range of Indian as well as in...2021-01-1040 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#24 Sasha Mirchandani – Angel investing to venture capital, learnings from missed investment opportunities & building a legacy VC fundIn this episode, Sasha Mirchandani, Founder & Managing Partner @Kae Capital & Co-founder @Mumbai Angels, joins our host Digjay, to talk about his learnings from investing in startups over the last 2 decades – from being an angel investor in early 2000s to starting his own VC fund in 2012, how Kae Capital leverages it’s LPs to add value to their portfolio startups, building a legacy VC fund, Sasha’s list of anti-portfolio startups (Oyo, Ola, Meesho, Unacademy) & key learnings from these missed opportunities.
Sasha founded Kae Capital in 2012 which is a Mumbai based sector agnostic VC fund that usually invests in see...2020-12-2027 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#23 Vishesh Rajaram – Backing mission-oriented founders & investing in disruptive tech startupsIn this episode, Vishesh Rajaram, Founder & Managing Partner @Speciale Invest, joins our host Digjay, to talk about his learnings as a venture capitalist (VC) – at Venture East earlier and now at Speciale Invest, backing early-stage startups in disruptive technology domains like Space-tech, micro-mobility, clean energy & robotics, how deep-tech startups can reduce risk and gain trust of investors and iterating investment strategies as a VC.
Vishesh who has about 13 years of experience across enterprise technologies and consumer services. Vishesh started his venture capital journey with Venture East in 2007, one of India’s oldest VC firms. After spending almost a de...2020-12-1333 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#22 Priya Mohan – Lessons from an entrepreneur turned VC, key considerations when evaluating an exit and importance of maintaining mental wellbeing for VCs & foundersIn this episode, Priya Mohan, Startup Sensei @Venture Highway, joins our host Digjay, to talk about her learnings as an entrepreneur and a VC, selling to Byju’s, evaluating exit opportunities, choosing the right VCs, embracing vulnerability and the importance of maintaining mental wellbeing for VCs and founders.
Venture Highway is an early-stage VC fund that invests in tech-enabled startups across different sectors. Before Venture Highway, Priya co-founded Vidyartha, an educational technology platform for students in grades 6-12, which she exited successfully to Byju’s - an Indian edtech unicorn. Prior to her operating role at Vidyartha, Priy...2020-12-0637 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#21 Bhaskar Majumdar – The value of GPs with complementary skill sets, learnings from investing in startups from different geographies & the art of identifying exit opportunitiesIn this episode, Bhaskar Majumdar, Founder & Managing Partner @Unicorn India Ventures, joins our host Digjay, to talk about his experience as an entrepreneur & and an investor, challenges faced by first time VCs, importance of having complementary skillsets among General Partners, overcoming long feedback cycles and being agile as a VC fund and the art & science of evaluating exit opportunities as a founder.
In the past decade, Bhaskar has established himself as a well-regarded early stage investor and advisor, especially in the UK and India. He has exited businesses as an entrepreneur and as an investor and brings...2020-11-2935 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#20 Utsav Somani – The AngelList India journey, advantage of having good angel investors on your cap table & starting a micro fund to bridge the gap between India & the Silicon ValleyIn this episode, Utsav Somani, Partner @AngelList India & @iSeed, joins our host Digjay, to talk about his exciting journey & vision at AngelList India, the asymmetric upside from writing good cold emails, advantage of having angel investors on your cap table along with institutional VC funds, and starting his own micro fund iSeed, to bridge the gap between India & the Silicon Valley
AngelList is platform that is democratizing angel investing and helping startups with fundraising, launching products and hiring talent. Besides leading AngelList India, Utsav is also an experienced angel investor with a portfolio of more than 30 companies...2020-11-2231 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#19 Mikhil Innani – Making a career in startups, leading and measuring growth at scale ups & building the AWS of lendingIn this episode, Mikhil Innani, Managing Director & CEO @Apollo Finvest, joins our host Digjay, to talk about his varied experiences of scaling products across multiple startups (Pharmeasy, CouponDunia, Hotstar), cultivating a strong team culture at early stages of a startup, defining and measuring growth when scaling up & how he is building the AWS of lending at his latest venture – Apollo Finvest.
Apollo Finvest is a public listed NBFC which is currently building the "AWS for Lending" platform enabling fintechs to offering digital loans in 2020-11-1541 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#18 Rajul Garg – Building a personal brand in venture capital, collaboration & competition among VCs & why fundraising is an important skillset for a founderIn this episode, Rajul Garg, Founder & Managing Partner @Leo Capital, joins our host Digjay, to talk about his experience of being an entrepreneur, an angel investor & now a venture capitalist. He also talks about collaboration & competition among VCs, importance of building a personal brand in venture capital, Founder-VC fit and why he thinks fundraising should be a core skillset for a founder today.
Leo Capital is an early stage VC fund that makes tech investments into India, SEA and US companies. Some of their portfolio companies include the likes of Sheroes, BeatO, Edureka, Flixstock. Rajul was the...2020-11-0834 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#17 Ishpreet Gandhi – Decoding venture debt, key use cases & benefits to founders and the outlook for venture debt in IndiaIn this episode, Ishpreet Gandhi, Founder & Managing Partner @Stride Ventures, joins our host Digjay, to talk about the rise of venture debt as a funding alternative for startups, specific use cases & benefits of venture debt to founders, how Stride Ventures differentiates itself from traditional venture debt firms & the outlook for venture debt in India.
Stride Ventures is a venture-debt fund focused on lending to growth-stage startups with investments in companies such as LetsTransport, Stellapps & Sugar Cosmetics. Ishpreet has over 13 years of experience encompassing Banking, Private Equity and Venture Capital. During his last stint as Regional Head (North...2020-11-0131 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#16 Anirudh Pandita – Adopting a beginner’s mindset to build disruptive products, the data driven approach to distribution & key tenets to cultivate a strong team cultureIn this episode, Anirudh Pandita, Founder @Pocket Aces, joins our host Digjay, to talk about the art & science of building products in the content space, the data-driven approach to cracking distribution, the value in adopting a beginner’s mindset to come up with disruptive innovation & the importance of building a strong team culture as you scale your startup
Pocket Aces is a new-age, socially-distributed, digital entertainment company, making highly engaging content for the millennial audience. The company operates multiple content brands including FilterCopy (short videos), Dice Media (multi-episode web series), Gobble (lifestyle videos), Jambo (young-adult animation shorts) an...2020-10-2537 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#15 Smita Aggarwal – The incentive to build for the underserved markets & investing in impact creating fintechsIn this episode, Smita Aggarwal, Global Investments Advisor @Flourish Ventures, joins our host Digjay, to talk about her path leading up to Venture Capital, key criteria for investing in impact creating startups, the untapped Fintech opportunities in India, the incentive to build products for the underserved markets & how VCs play a role in evolution of founders.
In her present role with Flourish Ventures, a global fintech focused fund of the Omidyar Group, Smita invests in innovative fintech start-ups that help advance financial health and inclusion in Asia. Previously at Omidyar Network she led multiple new investments in...2020-10-1832 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#14 Brij Bhasin – How Limited Partners can add value to startups & the importance of raising ‘smart’ capital at initial rounds of fundingIn this episode, Brij Bhasin, General Partner @Rebright Partners, joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path leading upto venture capital, how LPs can a play a role in collaborating with & supporting startups, how accelerators & micro VCs can help build a strong foundation for early-stage startups & why it is critical for founders to choose the right investor for their startups.
Rebright Partners is an early stage Japanese Venture Capital Fund investing across multiple domains in India & SEA. Brij leads the India investments for the firm. Prior to Rebright, Brij was a founding member with GSF (India’s...2020-10-1131 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#13 Ray Newal – Identifying signals that matter to investors & how accelerators add value to the startup ecosystemIn this episode, Ray Newal, Managing Director @Techstars India, joins our host Digjay, to talk about his roller coaster journey as an entrepreneur, his learnings from building a startup in India, the key signals that investors look for when investing in early-stage startups, the value of mentorship for founders & how accelerators maximize value for startups by collaborating with different stakeholders in the ecosystem.
Ray Newal is a Canadian entrepreneur and early stage investor, currently serving as the Managing Director of Techstars India, where he leads the Techstars Bangalore Accelerator, with a focus on emerging markets. Before joining...2020-10-0441 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#12 Jitendra Gupta – Building a strong foundation for your startup, the importance of sharing equity upside with your employees and the pursuit of transforming the banking experience in IndiaIn this episode, Jitendra Gupta, Founder & CEO @Jupiter, joins our host Digjay, to talk about his learnings as a 2-time entrepreneur, the importance of sharing equity upside with your early employees, leveraging investors and how he aims to transform the banking experience in India with his latest venture Jupiter.
Jitendra is a well-known fintech entrepreneur and angel investor in India. Currently he is the Founder@Jupiter, India’s first & only co-created banking experience dedicated to millenials. Prior to Jupiter, Jitendra founded Citrus Pay in 2010, which was acquired by PayU - a fintech company that provides payment technology to...2020-09-2728 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#11 Nitin Sharma – The first principles approach to venture investing & the deep tech opportunity for startups and investorsIn this episode, Nitin Sharma, Angel Investor & Founder @First Principles, joins our host Digjay, to share his investment experience with early-to-growth stage companies, his first principles approach to venture investing, why he is bullish on deep tech & his approach to evaluating startups in this space. Nitin has been an experienced VC and advisor to high growth technology ventures in India as well as the US, over the last 14 years. With First Principles, Nitin is currently an active angel investor in 30+ startups in various sectors, including blockchain and other deep tech. He is also the founder of Incrypt Blockchain, a...2020-09-2039 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#10 Dr. Anand Anandkumar – The pursuit of solving problems at scale & the fundraising playbook for deep science startupsIn this episode, Dr. Anand Anandkumar, Founder & CEO @Bugworks, joins our host Digjay, to talk about his experience of working in different domains across multiple geographies, what led him to become an entrepreneur in his late 40s and his pursuit of solving problems at scale, fund raising challenges for deep science startups & how should founders navigate these challenges.
Listed in the top 36 global gamechanging startups to watch out for in 2019 by CB Insights, Bugworks Research is a deep science startup that aims to discover novel treatment options for resistant bacterial infections. The company has won many national...2020-09-1336 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#9 Melissa Frakman – The Indian fintech opportunity, tapping global markets & adopting a collaborative approach to scale your startupIn today’s episode, Melissa Frakman, Founding Partner @Emphasis Ventures (EMVC), joins our host Digjay, and talks about the Indian fintech ecosystem, the importance of having advisors/investors that have diverse perspectives & access to global networks and why adopting a collaborative approach is a good bet when building for a complex market like India.
EMVC is an early-stage VC fund that invests in fintech startups in India and other high-growth markets. Melissa brings 15 years of experience participating in India’s digital revolution and is a sought-after advisor for Indian founders interested in going global. Named on the “Global...2020-09-0628 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#8 Vinay Singh – The business of building brands and investing in new-age consumer companiesIn today’s episode, Vinay Singh, Founding Partner @Fireside Ventures, joins our host Digjay, to share his path leading up to Venture Capital, the business of building & investing in consumer brands, the expectations of new age consumers and the corresponding change in narrative with the rise of modern D2C brands or Brands 2.0.
Vinay Singh is a Founding Partner at Fireside Ventures, an early-stage consumer-focused venture fund which has invested in brands like boAt, Mama Earth, Vahdam Teas & Bombay Shaving Company to name a few. With 7+ years at Hindustan Unilever as Marketing Manager for a multi-crore brand, ex...2020-08-3030 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#7 Dhruvil Sanghvi – The art of scaling up, benefits of an accelerator and partnering with the right investors for your startupIn today’s episode, Dhruvil Sanghvi, Founder & CEO @LogiNext, joins our host Digjay, to share LogiNext’s journey of scaling up and becoming a global SaaS company, importance of seeking customer feedback, achieving product-market fit, performing due diligence and picking the right investors at early stages of a startup.
LogiNext is amongst the fastest growing global SaaS companies in the delivery & logistics space backed by marquee investors like Tiger Global, Steadview Capital, & Alibaba. Dhruvil, an alum of Carnegie-Mellon university, has been a pioneer in driving transformation & automation in the logistics management space. He is also one of the...2020-08-2329 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#6 Adith Podhar – The micro-VC perspective, investor biases and decoding the art & science of venture investingIn today’s episode, Adith Podhar, Founding Partner @Gemba Capital, joins our host Digjay, to discuss among other topics, the nuances and challenges of running a micro-VC fund, evaluating founders at early-stage startups, the portfolio creation approach for first time VCs, identifying and avoiding VC investment biases and decoding the art & science of venture investing.
Adith is the Founding Partner at Gemba Capital, a micro-VC fund which invests in angel and seed rounds in tech enabled startups that are focused on the India consumption story and cross border SaaS. Some of his portfolio companies in...2020-08-1632 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#5 Sumukh Sridhara – Equity management for startups, the culture & founder mindset at AngelList, and the ‘startup OS’ approach to building productsIn today’s episode, Sumukh Sridhara, Founder & CEO @EquityList, joins our host Digjay, to discuss among other topics, AngelList's role at various stages of a startup’s lifecycle, how it is democratizing access to venture investing, the making of EquityList, how EquityList was born out of this startup OS approach to building products and the culture of having a founder mindset at AngelList.
Sumukh is the founder of EquityList, an equity management product for Indian companies. Sumukh also heads product & engineering at AngelList India, which as a platform, is the most active early stage investor in India. You...2020-08-0933 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#4 Maximilian Rofagha – Why startups are in the business of making bets and the quest to build the world’s largest finance communityIn today’s episode, Maximilian Rofagha, Founder & CEO @Finimize, joins our host Digjay, to talk about his learnings and experience as a 2x entrepreneur, why he thinks startups are in the business of making bets, why he started his 2nd startup – Finimize, what does it mean to build a community around your business, and the approach to building products that solve for broad problems like financial literacy.
Max is the founder of Finimize, a UK based startup which is building the world’s largest finance community. Finimize which is known for its jargon-free daily newsle...2020-08-0228 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#3 Anup Jain – Taking risks, backing misfits & the fundamentals of building a direct-to-consumer brandIn today’s episode, Anup Jain, Managing Partner @Orios Venture Partners, joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path leading up to venture capital, importance of taking risks, collaborating with the startup ecosystem, how Orios is #backingmisfits and what are the fundamentals of building a direct-to-consumer brand.
At Orios Venture Partners, Anup focuses on investments at the firm in sectors such as Fintech, B2B marketplaces, D2C Brands, Social Commerce, Edtech and Healthtech. He is a member of the Investment Committee and actively involves himself with portfolio companies on business growth, brand ma...2020-08-0239 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#2 Sid Talwar – Learnings as a first time entrepreneur, founder personalities and why Lightbox prefers maintaining a lean portfolio of startupsIn today’s episode, Sid Talwar, Founding Partner@Lightbox joins our host Digjay, to share his learnings as a first time entrepreneur, what led him to start Lightbox, why Lightbox prefers to maintain a lean portfolio of startups and how to think/respond in crisis situations.
Sid is a Co-founder and Partner at Lightbox, a venture capital firm based out of India. Lightbox invests in emerging technology companies at an early stage. Prior to Lightbox, Sid founded Evolv, a vocational training company funded by Singapore Technologies. Over six years he built it into a business that trained 20,000+ peo...2020-07-2632 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingEP#1 Pranav Pai – Founding & Managing a VC fund, measuring key fund metrics and preparing your portfolio companies for a crisisIn today’s episode, Pranav Pai, Founding Partner @3one4 Capital joins our host Digjay, to share about his journey leading into venture capital, how 3one4 Capital differentiates itself from other VC funds, challenges of founding and managing a venture capital fund, the key metrics used at 3one4 Capital to measure it's performance as a VC fund and preparing their portfolio companies for a crisis.
Pranav is a Founding Partner at 3one4 Capital - an early-stage venture capital fund based in Bangalore, India. The fund manages a corpus of ~INR 800 Cr (+$110MM) with a portfolio of 50+ early-stage investments ac...2020-07-2635 min
The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | FundraisingThe VCpreneur - Trailer EpisodeThe VCpreneur podcast provides a unique perspective of the startup world, through the lens of Venture Capitalists (VCs) and Entrepreneurs.
The podcast features successful VCs and Entrepreneurs discussing the art & science of building products, scaling startups, fundraising and investing in a venture. Listen in to learn from individuals who have been there, done that and made a dent in the venture universe.
If you are a current or aspiring entrepreneur, a venture capitalist, or someone who simply wants to enhance their knowledge about the startup ecosystem, this show is for you!
We will...2020-07-1102 min