Shows
Z47 MomentsThe man who sold his company to Jio for Rs. 700 Cr | Aakrit Vaish | Unstarted
What do you do with the regret of being right too early?Aakrit Vaish started Haptik in 2013: an AI chatbot company nine years before ChatGPT. By 2016 he knew the market wasn't ready. He kept going anyway. In 2019 he sold to Reliance Jio. In November 2022, he watched the world finally catch up to the thesis he'd carried for a decade and for a few weeks, sat with the sentence: "This should have been me."Today he's co-founder of Activate, an AI-native VC firm running with two partners, one employee and seven agents, and an advisor on...
2026-04-3045 min
Z47 MomentsHow Rebel Foods Built the World's First Cloud Kitchen Empire | Jaydeep Barman | Unstarted
What happens when you spend 13 years building something, and for most of those years, the people around you think it's not going to work out?Jaydeep Barman left a gilded career at McKinsey's London office to bet on a single roll shop in Pune. What followed was a decade-plus journey through India's costliest real estate market, the invention of an entirely new category (cloud kitchens — before anyone called it that), and the slow, painful work of staying in the game while companies that started years after him became unicorns overnight.In this conversation, Avnish and Jaydeep wr...
2026-04-2342 min
Z47 MomentsRaised $12.5M to eliminate US healthcare's biggest problem | Coral AI
What does it take to fix the most broken system in America — from the outside?Ajay and Aniket, co-founders of Coral AI, had zero healthcare experience when they started. What they had was a burning problem, a one-way plane ticket to the US, and a relentless drive to understand healthcare from the ground up — visiting 17 cities in 30 days, becoming interns, and reading thousands of faxes doctors still send in 2026.In this episode of Zee47 Moments, Ashwin and Vikram sit down with the founders to unpack how Coral is using AI to eliminate the administrative chaos of p...
2026-04-2037 min
Z47 MomentsBuilt a $70M company because he wasn't invited to birthday parties
Sanket Shah started thinking about business at 17. His first idea was putting ads on Mumbai's auto-rickshaws. The government said no. He went to Mantralaya three times, met the Chief Minister, got sent to the transport commissioner, and received government letters at home for four years.He got 4 rickshaws approved.Twenty-something years later, he's the founder of Invideo — a video creation platform operating at serious scale, with under 100 people. And right now, he's stopped looking at his revenue numbers entirely. He has two people running the existing business. He is fully allocated to what comes next.
2026-04-1637 min
Z47 Moments150 rejections, a government ban and starting over | The Dream11 story | Unstarted Ep 7
Harsh Jain built Dream11 from a family business detour and a love of fantasy football into a company that sponsored every IPL team, sent athletes to the Olympics, and had 300 million users.Then the government effectively ended the business he'd spent 15 years building.This conversation isn't about the rise. It's about what happens after the nuclear bomb falls — how you grieve something you loved, how you decide whether to fight or pivot, and how you keep 1,000 people from walking out the door.The questions Avnish and Harsh wrestle with:1. Do you really ne...
2026-04-0945 min
Z47 MomentsAI won't take your job, here's why | Intelligent Indians Ep 3
OpenClaw went from zero to more GitHub stars than React, a library that took a decade to build that following, in 60 days. One graph, vertical, like nothing the developer community had ever seen.When Z47’s founder, Avnish Bajaj saw that graph, something shifted.Six months earlier, the at Z47 had sat down to look at the velocity of AI deal-making, the valuations, the volume of capital flooding in, and called it a bubble. The consensus was clear: enterprise adoption would lag, the economics wouldn't close, and the correction would come.Then that graph hap...
2026-04-0735 min
Z47 MomentsHe shut down his first company and built a bigger one | Anil Goteti, Scapia | Unstarted Ep 5
What does it actually take to go from employee to founder — after 8 years inside one of India's greatest startups?In Episode 5 of Unstarted, Avnish Bajaj sits down with Anil Goteti, CEO of Scapia, to talk about the real founder journey — not the highlight reel. From leaving McKinsey after just one year, to carrying a US loan back to India, to building and shutting down his first startup before finding PMF with Scapia.This episode covers:- Why entrepreneurs are made, not born- The Monday Morning Test — knowing when to quit- What 8...
2026-03-2634 min
Z47 MomentsHe built a $1.5B seafood empire from India that nobody knows about | Utham Gowda -Captain Fresh
Most people have never heard of Captain Fresh.In 2020, Utham Gowda walked into Z47's office with one belief: take a shrimp from Chennai to New York, and it's a very profitable business. Nobody believed him. He built it anyway.Five years later: ₹10,000 Cr in revenue. ₹550 Cr EBITDA (annualised Q4 FY26). Distribution across 15 of the top 20 European retailers. One-third of the white-cloth restaurant market in the US. Three oceans, six countries, ten acquisitions — zero leverage, 100% management rollover on every deal.And by Utham's own accounting, another ₹600-700 Cr of EBITDA still on the table.
2026-03-2454 min
Z47 MomentsThe truth about about starting up in your 20s | Foxtale founder
What happens when you spend your whole career chasing external validation and it still isn't enough?Romita Mazumdar is the Founder and CEO of Foxtale, one of India's fastest-growing D2C beauty brands. But this conversation isn't about the business. It's about the years before it: the banking desk that made her feel seen for the wrong reasons, the VC firm where she was suddenly invisible, and the team dinner where someone asked a question she couldn't answer the expected way.In this episode, Avnish Bajaj and Romita attempt to answer: 1. When do y...
2026-03-1933 min
Z47 MomentsWhat Aman Gupta Won't Say on Shark Tank | Aman Gupta | Avnish Bajaj | UnStarted Ep3
Most founders look at Aman Gupta and think: “he's different. I could never build that.Avnish Bajaj has known Aman for over 20 years - since before boAt, before Shark Tank, before any of it. He knows that's not the truth. That's exactly why he invited him on Unstarted.Aman Gupta co-founded BoAt in 2016 and built it into India's largest consumer audio brand, with ₹3000+ crore in revenue and a 45% co-founder stake. What most people don't know: before boAt, there were 5 other companies. Most didn't work. Some ran simultaneously. He got fired from almost every job...
2026-03-1244 min
Z47 MomentsWhat if my startup fails? | Ahana Gautam, Open Secret | UnStarted Ep2Ahana grew up in Bharatpur, a small town in India where many believed girls shouldn’t always have the same opportunities. But her mother believed otherwise and pushed her to dream bigger.That belief eventually took her to Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and later to Harvard Business School. But this story isn’t about degrees or credentials. It’s about resilience, grit, and the relentless pursuit of building something meaningful.From taking bold bets to navigating failures, Ahana’s journey eventually led to building Open Secret - one of India’s most well-known healthy snacking brands tod...
2026-03-0532 min
Z47 MomentsDo you need work experience BEFORE starting up? | Revant Bhate, Mosaic Wellness | UnStarted Ep 1
Unstarted is a new Z47 series, by founders, for founders.Most people think they need more experience before they start.More operating. More pattern recognition. More certainty.If you’re waiting to feel “ready,” this episode will force you to rethink that.In Episode 1 of Unstarted, legendary investor Avnish Bajaj sits down with Revant Bhate (Founder & CEO, Mosaic Wellness — Man Matters, Be Bodywise, Little Joys) to unpack the real shift. What actually changes when you stop backing founders… and become one?This is a founder mindset autopsy.Inside thi...
2026-02-2638 min
Z47 MomentsThis company is building the IKEA of India
Beautiful things shouldn’t cost the world.India exports - $13B in home decor annually, expected to cross - $21B by 2030.Factories everywhere. But almost no global consumer brands built from here.In this episode of Z47 Moments, Sudipto Sannigrahi sits down with Abhik Ghosh, Co-founder & CEO of Trampoline (ex-Amazon, Wayfair), to unpack how they’re building an India-to-world home decor brand, starting factory-first.Abhik breaks down:Why they chose B2B before B2C and how it creates predictabilityHow trust with factories and sofa changed payment term...
2026-02-2436 min
Z47 MomentsWhy VCs regret not investing in Acceldata - From IIT to Silicon Valley
Enterprise AI doesn’t fail because models are weak. It fails because data pipelines break, permissions drift, costs explode, and governance is treated like an annual checkbox instead of everyday operational discipline.In this episode of Intelligent Indians!, Vikram Vaidyanathan sits down with Rohit Choudhury, Founder & CEO of Acceldata, for a deep conversation on how enterprise data systems actually behave at scale and why AI makes every weak foundation visible.Rohit’s founder journey mirrors the last 15 years of data infrastructure: from scaling InMobi in the pre-cloud era, to the Hadoop days at Horto...
2026-01-2740 min
Z47 MomentsHow this IIT Alum is scaling India's ₹10,000 Cr AI Initiative | Intelligent Indians #AI
India’s AI moment will be defined by architecture.In our new series Intelligent Indians! we sit down with the builders, policymakers, scientists, and founders shaping India’s AI decade as it unfolds. In the first episode, Avnish Bajaj and Vikram Vaidyanathan sit down with Abhishek Singh, CEO of the IndiaAI Mission, to unpack how India is designing AI as infrastructure, not experimentation.The conversation goes deep into what Abhishek describes as “DPI to the power of AI” for an ai learner in India extending India’s proven Digital Public Infrastructure (Aadhaar, UPI, DigiLocker, Account Aggregator...
2026-01-1330 min
Z47 MomentsWhere will $12 Billion VC capital go in 2026? | India’s Top Investors ExplainFuture Signals is Z47's view on where the next category-defining companies are likely to emerge, and the spaces we’re actively tracking alongside the founders building them. For Indian startups, 2026 promises to be an inflection year where experiments from previous years create a foundation on which the future is built.Market-defining investing rarely arrive fully formed. They are assembled, piece by piece, by founders who are willing to do the unglamorous work: shaping behaviour, stitching infrastructure, earning trust before scale shows up in a spreadsheet. Over the last two decades, we’ve observed India...
2026-01-1344 min
Z47 MomentsTrends in Term Sheets: What Founders Need to KnowBetween overprotective term sheets and oversimplified ones lies the real market. On this episode of #ZeroToInfinity, Avnish Bajaj and Tarun Davda, are joined by Archana Rajaram to weigh in on one of the most misunderstood parts of startup building: the term sheet. As the founder of River Law (formerly Rajaram Legal), Archana’s work has quietly shaped the “market standards” that nearly every Indian SHA now follows.In this episode, they break down the real-world changes in Indian term sheets post-2021:from liquidation preferences and reverse vesting to governance, exits, board control, and how AI is alr...
2025-11-271h 08
Z47 MomentsHow Emversity Is Bridging Higher Education with Real Industry Skills | Zero to InfinityIn this episode of Zero to Infinity, Rajat Agarwal and Chandrasekhar Venugopal sit down with Vivek Sinha, second-time founder and CEO of Emversity, to unpack one of India’s most urgent and least-discussed problems:👉 Why are millions of young Indians still unemployable after 16 years of education?👉 What will it take to build a truly job-ready workforce?👉 And why might the biggest opportunity in education lie in the “grey-collar” economy, not tech or test prep?Vivek takes us deep into the realities of India’s higher education system, the failure of legacy institutes to prepare students for real...
2025-11-2544 min
Z47 MomentsIndia’s Secret Advantage in AI: The FDE Revolution70% of enterprise AI projects never reach production. The solution: Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs).In this episode, Vikram Vaidyanathan and Rocketlane CEO, Srikrishnan Ganesan unpack the rise of the FDE model, from Palantir’s origins to how AI companies use it today to bridge the gap between prototypes and production.They discuss why traditional SaaS orgs break in AI, the governance needed to scale FDE teams, and why India is emerging as the global engine room for AI deployment.A crisp breakdown of the role shaping the future of enterprise AI.Chapters 00:01:29 - ...
2025-11-1944 min
Z47 MomentsHow MoEngage Is Powering Global Customer Engagement | Zero to InfinityFrom a small apartment in Bengaluru to powering over 2 billion users across 60+ countries, MoEngage is one of India’s most quietly global success stories. This is more than a startup story — it’s a story about India’s rise as a product nation, and the founders who are reimagining how the world engages with technology.Raviteja Dodda, Narasimha Reddy and Yashwanth Kumar built a world-class customer engagement platform out of India — long before “SaaS for the world” became a buzzword.We trace MoEngage’s journey through its toughest pivots, its cultural DNA, and the product decisions that made it ind...
2025-11-051h 17
Moneycontrol PodcastDream11 takes its game overseas, WazirX faces legal heat, again, Z47 doubles down on AI fintechs, and Amazon’s big job cuts | MC Tech3In today’s Tech3 from Moneycontrol, we bring you the top stories shaping the world of startups and tech. Dream11 expands to 11 international markets after its free-to-play model pivot, WazirX faces a new legal storm after its $230 million hack, Z47 doubles down on AI-first fintechs reimagining credit and lending, and Amazon plans to cut about 14,000 corporate jobs amid its AI overhaul.
2025-10-2806 min
ASYMMETRICOn Urban Company’s IPO, China, and the United States of AI with Avnish Bajaj of Z47The ASYMMETRIC Crew today:Revant: CEO, Mosaic WellnessShantanu: Founder & CEO, Bombay Shaving Company Chirag: Founder, GoKwikAvnish Bajaj: Founder & Investor Z470:00 Coming Up1:10 Intro2:30 Lenskart 3:20 On Urban Company’s IPO7:01 On MobiKwik10:20 The 4 Ps of IPOs in India14:45 Is Every IPO Unique?19:03 Behind Urban Company’s IPO Success31:27 On China’s Narrative Violation38:29 On China’s DeepTech39:25 On The United States of AI48:42 India’s Path Ahe...
2025-09-191h 19
Z47 Moments5 Consumer Trends We're Watching Closely | Part 1 | Zero to InfinityWe’re not seeing enough entrepreneurship in India, not for lack of talent, but because most founders haven’t yet internalized how quickly India’s consumption story is shifting.
As GDP curves bend upward and new behavior patterns emerge across services, spending, and aspirations, in this episode of the #ZeroToInfinity podcast, Kishan Kashyap, joined by Avnish Bajaj & Chandrasekhar Venugopal, maps out the biggest trendlines shaping consumer India through the next decade.
From rising discretionary income to evolving expectations around access, quality, and convenience, the Z47 team makes a case for how premiumization is no longer about luxury but about discernment, servic...
2025-07-0834 min
Z47 MomentsMeet the Founders of Finnable: ₹3,000 Cr Phygital Lending Powerhouse | Zero to InfinityIndia’s largest creditworthy segment remains invisible to the lending ecosystem, not because of a credit problem, but because of a design problem.When every lender chased the top tier or flooded the informal market, Finnable saw an opportunity to build for the 60–70% in between: salaried, PF-backed Indians earning ₹15–40K a month.Join co-founders Amit Arora and Nitin Gupta on the Z47 podcast as they trace their vision behind building a full-stack, risk-first, and collections-led lending engine—designed to scale, but built customer-backward.The duo, in conversation with the Z47 team, reflect on the decisions...
2025-06-2749 min
Z47 MomentsFrom (Z)omato to (A)ther: India’s Tech IPO Shift Decoded | Avnish Bajaj | Rajinder BalaramanIndia will see 100 tech IPOs by 2030. While Silicon Valley still waits for $5B+ exits, Indian founders are going public earlier - at $600 million.Why? Because market receptivity has fundamentally shifted. The buyers want this asset class.On the #ZeroToInfinity podcast, Avnish Bajaj and Rajinder Balaraman define what it actually takes to go public in India today. Through the lens of four distinct IPO waves, the duo traces how market expectations have evolved — from the early public-market pioneers, to the pricing missteps of 2021, and into a new phase where predictability and return on capital lead the way.
2025-06-1947 min
Z47 MomentsBeyond ISRO: India's SpaceTech Startups Are Firing UpThe next 30 global SpaceTech giants will be built and 10 could come from India.But DeepTech is clunky, Series A is brutal & government still writes 70% of the cheques. So what makes a SpaceTech startup VC-backable and what makes one global? That's where the duo of Anurag Srivastava & Sudipto Sannigrahi from the Z47 team map out the government to private inflection point, opportunity, the reality, and the path forward for India’s SpaceTech ecosystem. This episode of the #ZeroToInfinity podcast isn’t about rockets but what comes after launch. ISRO gives us the talent & India gives us the cost...
2025-05-2331 min
Z47 Moments4 P&L Secrets D2C / Consumer Brand Founders Use to MAXIMIZE GrowthHow do India’s top founders actually think through a P&L? This special episode of #ZeroToInfinity podcast takes you inside Z47’s experimental panel event with India’s leading consumer founders, including voices from Mamaearth, Urban Company, and Mosaic Wellness. From CAC to contribution margin, & retention to revenue models, Kishan Kashyap, Avnish Bajaj & Chandrasekhar Venugopal, share insights on what it really takes to build a durable consumer business in India today.Listen for a break down of the P&L as a series of strategic choices: It starts with revenue, where TAM is reframed...
2025-05-0942 min
ASYMMETRICZ47 (Matrix Partners) MD, Tarun Davda, on Founder Salaries, Board Meetings, & All Things GOVERNANCEThe ASYMMETRIC Crew today:Revant: Founder, Mosaic WellnessShantanu: Founder, Bombay Shaving CompanyChirag: Founder, GoKwikTarun Davda: Managing Director at Z4700:00 Coming Up00:55 Intro and Welcome to Tarun!2:22 Context for the Topic4:52 USA vs India Board Cultures10:36 The Debate on Taking Board Seats16:46 Thoughts on Governance23:49 The Slippery Slope to Malpractice27:39 Thoughts on Founder Salary41:25 Ex-Operators as Board Members43:27 Do VCs and Investors Add Value?50:54 How...
2025-05-021h 55
Z47 MomentsHow B2B Companies Scale to Infinity | Zero to Infinity | Avnish Bajaj | Sudipto SannigrahiWhat if the next great Indian startup isn’t another consumer app — but a B2B company quietly owning a supply chain, exporting to 40 countries, and compounding capital without ever chasing a billion-dollar valuation?This #ZeroToInfinity podcast episode walks us through a decade-long arc of insight — from Z47’s first B2B bets to the inflection points that changed everything: GST, UPI, COVID, and the rise of trust-based distribution models.Avnish Bajaj and Sudipto Sannigrahi lay out the real arc of India’s B2B evolution - from ignored category to unstoppable force. From how horizontal and vertic...
2025-04-1737 min
Z47 MomentsThe Last Software You Will Ever Shutdown - Meet the founder of WizCommerceZ47 invested in WizCommerce in 2022. Since then, Divyaanshu Makkar and team have scaled to $1mn in revenue from the B2B Commerce SaaS mid-market. In this episode of #ZeroToInfinity, Divyaanshu Makkar, Co-founder & CEO of B2B Commerce SaaS startup WizCommerce -, joins Sudipto Sannigrahi and Ashwin Pandian to unpack:🚀 WizCommerce's pivot from SourceWiz📈 Scaling to $1M ARR in 5 Quarters💥 India-made SaaS is eating the worldFrom selling to enterprises to winning trust in slow-moving industries — this episode is a crash course in building category-defining SaaS.Tune-in
2025-04-0734 min
The Neon Show10 Unicorns, 5 IPOs, 26 Acquisitions – India’s OG VC, Avnish Bajaj On Why Only Founders MatterIn this episode, Avnish Bajaj, Founding Partner at Z47 (formerly Matrix Partners India), shares what it takes to build one of India's most competitive VC firms and land the best startup deals.With over 20 years of experience, Avnish has been at the forefront of India’s venture capital industry. He co-founded Matrix Partners India in 2006 after a successful entrepreneurial journey with Baazee.com, which he later sold to eBay, serving as its Chairman & Country Manager.From founder to angel investor to VC, Avnish has done it all—scaling businesses, backing category-defining startups, and navigating the chal...
2025-03-211h 18
Z47 MomentsMeet the Founders of Wootz.work: Reimagining Indian Manufacturing for the World | Zero to InfinityWhat if India transformed from outsourcing hub to global engineering powerhouse?In this episode of #ZeroToInfinity, Sudipto Sannigrahi, Z47's investor in B2B Commerce and Manufacturing, sits down with the visionaries making it happen—Karan Anand and Himanshu Uniyal, founders of Wootz.work.Their conversation unlocks the ambitious blueprint behind India's largest advanced engineering export company.Witness how they're breaking the "build to print" ceiling, catapulting Indian manufacturing into the elite "build to spec" territory—where cutting-edge solutions aren't just manufactured but conceptualized, engineered, and perfected on Indian soil.The founders reveal how they...
2025-03-1346 min
Z47 MomentsThe Next Tech-Ade of FinTechFinTech is transforming the economy at every level.India’s financial ecosystem is at an inflection point, where technology isn’t just enabling transactions but engineering entirely new economic structures.In this episode of the #ZeroToInfinity podcast, Avnish Bajaj, Pranay Desai, and Vikram Vaidyanathan bring the sharpest insights to the table, revealing the forces shaping FinTech’s next decade.The businesses that will define the next decade are not where everyone is looking right now. This conversation reveals the contrarian bets, the high-stakes risks, and the market forces shaping the biggest opportunities ahead.If...
2025-02-2418 min
Z47 MomentsWhy Z47, Why Now: Developed Nation Building | Zero to InfinityWelcome to 'Zero to Infinity,' the new face of the Z47 Podcast. In this series premiere, tech veterans Avnish, Rajinder, Vikram, Tarun and Rajat chart the remarkable evolution of India's 25 year internet revolution. From the early dot-com pioneers to today’s AI-innovators today, travel back in time to the moments that shaped India’s digital transformation.Learn about Z47's mission: Developed Nation Building, as we work towards India’s emergence as a global digital superpower by 2047. This is one of those rare, unfiltered chats about the future of Indian startups that you wouldn't want to miss...
2025-02-0824 min
Z47 MomentsFounder Archetypes - The First Time Founder Edge Part 2Going deeper into their discussion on first-time and experienced founders, Avnish Bajaj and Chandrasekhar Venugopal dissect everything from failure zones founders should watch out for, to increasing one’s chances of success and finding purpose. But the question remains: How first-time founders truly leverage this evolved ecosystem to outpace seasoned counterparts? Can there be just one winner?Watch the second and final part of the #Z47Podcast on Founder Archetypes and find out! And, if you haven't already, catch episode 1 here: • Founder Archetypes: The First Time Fo... ▶️Some more of our podcasts that came up in the...
2025-01-1037 min
Z47 Momentsdd-Matrix CEO Sid Sheth Shares His Blueprint for Chip Success | Seed to SiliconThe DMII: Seed to Silicon edition in Bangalore brought together builders in India’s semiconductor story. Z47’s Sudipto Sannigrahi hosted d-Matrix CEO Sid Sheth on the panel about India’s rising semiconductor potential and d-Matrix’s growth. d-Matrix’s commitment to lowering adoption barriers and hyper-interactive video solutions promises to reshape the industry.The riveting chat was a goldmine: Sid’s insights about a vital space for India’s tech-ade are a blueprint for how Indian founders can chart a path to success in semiconductors.5 Key Takeaways:Breakthroughs Take Time: d-Matrix Took a YearEven though...
2024-11-1541 min
Z47 MomentsSaaS in the Era of AI: How to build an enduring SaaS AI company"If you are an AI founder, buy a .com domain and not .ai domain" says Pranay Desai (MD, Z47) as CIOs often restrict access to most .ai domains within their organisational networks. In conversation with Ashwin Pandian, Pranay addresses the facets of AI in SaaS, talking about various dimensions of the trade and shares insightful nuggets on the subject:He engages with key topics, including:▶️ The shift in role of CIOs - from enabling businesses and creativity to protecting them.▶️ The future being consolidated stacks instead of point solutions, as clients are sceptical about giving aw...
2024-10-0446 min
VC10X - Investing, Venture Capital, Asset Management, Private Equity, Family OfficeVC10X - India Will Add $5 trillion in Market Cap in Next 10 Years - Aakash Kumar, MD, Z47 & DeVCAakash Kumar is a Managing Director at Z47 & DeVC. Aakash likes to partner with founders in that early stage to enable them to generate maximum momentum.
In the past, as an active angel investor, he has enabled 100+ founders to start and build compelling businesses.
In this episode, we talk about -
- Aakash's operator experience at companies like Housing(dot)com & Hotstar
- The investment thesis at Z47
- Why did they rebrand from Matrix Partners to Z47?
- The thinking behind investing in companies like Ola...
2024-09-2545 min
Z47 MomentsEconomic PMF is the ONLY PMF: App Economy 3.0.How do you monetise your app business from 600 million connected smartphone users in India? This is the only question founders in India’s App Economy 3.0 need to ask themselves.Vivek Ramachandran, Chandrasekhar Venugopal and Aakash Kumar from Z47’s consumer team talk about the shifts in India’s app economy over the years and how engagement, retention and monetisation became the key pillars for app-based businesses.They answer questions useful to any and every founder trying to succeed in India’s app economy 3.0:▶️ What is the core nature of the value exchange in the app economy...
2024-09-2444 min
Z47 MomentsHow this founder turned 1000 interviews into a potential Rs.1000 Cr brand?Romita Mazumdar is channelling her love for skincare into a Rs. 1000 Cr Brand.She started with almost 1000 interviews over a course of six months to find a market gap. And now, inspired by the likes of P&G, she has her eyes set on the Rs. 1000 Cr mark for Foxtale.As a former VC, she closely observed consumer brands before shifting her focus to building in skincare, a category where she is a power user.In conversation with Z47’s Rajat Agarwal, Romita recounts her journey from investment banking to founding Foxtale and answers gripping questions th...
2024-09-1035 min
Z47 MomentsHow Unsecured Lending Became More Viable in India | Vikram Vaidyanathan | Anish PatilIf you’re a founder working to solve for an underserved market in unsecured lending, this episode is required listening! Vikram Vaidyanathan and Anish Patil trade trendlines in unsecured credit landscape, and highlight four key insights that underpin the Z47 thesis for this sector.👥Solving for Under-served Market PotentialBorrowers with low, but stable incomes and good credit culture have been under-served by traditional lenders, presenting an opportunity for new lenders. 🗂️Forecasting with Robust Payments DataThe evolution of UPI, account aggregators, and GST has streamlined underwriting, enabling precise borrower profiling, and accurate cash flow estima...
2024-08-1319 min
Z47 MomentsThe Future of E-commerce is Kwik & Bright! | Chirag Taneja | Avnish Bajaj | Rajat AgarwalHOW IS THE INDIAN E-COMMERCE TRANSFORMING? With the adoption of quick commerce, the launch of the latest GenAI technology, and the increasing purchasing power of GenZ, the Indian e-commerce industry is poised for transformation.In this episode of Matrix Moments, we analyse it further with Chirag Taneja, founder of GoKwik, a rapidly expanding e-commerce enablement startup, our founder Avnish Bajaj, who also launched one of India’s pioneering e-commerce ventures, Bazee, and Rajat Agarwal, MD at Matrix Partners India (aka Z47).📲Digital penetration of Indian e-commerce stands at just 6% today.It is set to inc...
2024-07-1342 min
Z47 MomentsIndia venture opportunity – part 2This episode is part 2 to the India venture opportunity, a podcast we hosted last year. We cover the state of affairs in the Indian startup and Venture community, the recent China ban, and its ramifications. Jio’s impact on start-ups and the fund-raising environment and the COVID effect on India’s digital economy among other topics. Tune - in
2020-09-3038 min
Z47 MomentsThe Whole Truth, and nothing elseIn today’s episode we have Shashank Mehta the founder of The Whole Truth, (formerly known as and nothing else) with Sanjot Malhi, Director, Matrix Partners India. Sanjot and Shashank dive deep into the brand story, starting with Shashank’s real motive and personal journey behind founding The Whole Truth and the reason behind the recent brand transformation exercise.
2020-09-0834 min
Z47 MomentsMobility trends & leanings from redBus's journeyIn an episode focused on the mobility sector, Tarun Davda, MD, Matrix India & Prakash Sangam, CEO, redBus decode the bus ticketing ecosystem, they talk about COVID recovery patterns, changing consumer behavior, and learnings from redBus’ journey in the international markets.
2020-09-0148 min
Z47 MomentsMoatsIn today’s episode, we do deep dive on the importance of economic moats for early-stage startups, and why they matter.
2020-08-2539 min
Z47 MomentsPerformance Management Systems Decoded In today’s episode, we have Rupali Sharma, ( VP, Human Capital, Matrix Partners India ) and Rajinder Balaraman, ( Director, Matrix Partners India ), they cover performance management systems & HR best practices for early-stage startups. We work closely with founders in this area and have tried to summarize some of the key learnings from our experience. Tune - in
2020-08-0532 min
Z47 MomentsThe Journey of building RazorpayIn today's episode, we talk to Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar, the Co-founders of Razorpay, as well as Vikram Vaidyanathan, Managing Director at Matrix Partners India. This episode is primarily focusing on the early part of the founder’s journey, we cover their fundraising process. Living together as founders and building an amazing product culture and much more.
2020-07-2842 min
Z47 MomentsDailyhunt’s Journey – Part 2Welcome back to part 2 of the Dailyhunt episode, with Virendra Gupta (Founder, Dailyhunt) and Umang Bedi (Co-Founder, Dailyhunt), as well as, Vikram Vaidyanathan (Director, Matrix Partners India). We talk about the dynamics of their partnership and also the cover the changing face of content consumption in India, and how Dailyhunt has been at the forefront in each of these changes. Tune in.
2020-07-1730 minZ47 MomentsDailyhunt’s Journey – Part 1In today’s Matrix Moment episode, we have Virendra Gupta ( Founder, Dailyhunt ) and Umang Bedi ( Co- Founder, Dailyhunt ), with Vikram Vaidyanathan ( Director, Matrix Partners India ). We talk about the dynamics of their partnership and also the cover the changing face of content consumption in India, and how Dailyhunt has been at the forefront in each of these changes. Tune in.
2020-07-1730 min
Z47 MomentsMarketplacesWith Marketplaces on the rise, today’s episode covers how Marketplaces have evolved as a sector and an analysis of the differentiated business models that work for different markets. Joining us to discuss this is Rajinder Balaraman ( Director, Matrix Partners India ) and Avnish Bajaj ( Founder & Managing Director, Matrix Partners India ). Tune in to know more.
2020-07-1438 min
Z47 MomentsThe Journey of building OfBusiness – Part 2Welcome to part 2 of Matrix Moment episode with Asish Mohapatra, Co-Founder & CEO – Ofbusiness opens up to Vikram Vaidyanathan, Managing Director, Matrix Partners India, about transitioning from an investor to entrepreneur, building Ofbusiness from ground zero, co-founder relationships & dynamics, his thoughts on profitability vs growth and much more
2020-07-0930 min
Z47 MomentsThe Journey of building OfBusiness – Part 1In today’s Matrix Moment episode Asish Mohapatra, Co-Founder & CEO – Ofbusiness opens up to Vikram Vaidyanathan, Managing Director, Matrix Partners India, about transitioning from an investor to entrepreneur, building OfBusiness from ground zero, co-founder relationships & dynamics, his thoughts on profitability vs growth and much more.
2020-07-0820 min
Z47 MomentsCOVID -19 & its after effects on the grocery business.In today’s Matrix Moment episode, we will cover the opportunities in the grocery and E-Commerce space post-COVID-19, joining us for this discussion are Vineet Rao and Sourjyendu Medda, the co-founders of DealShare as well as Tarun Davda, Managing Director at Matrix Partners India, and Gourav Bhattacharya, Director at Matrix Partners India.
2020-06-2541 min
Z47 MomentsThe journey of building Country DelightToday’s Matrix Moments episode is a masterclass on the journey of building Country Delight, India’s leading direct to home, mass premium, dairy, and fresh grocery brand. Country Delight currently serves 200,000 families across Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, and Bangalore. With a $50 million run rate along with the 3x year on year growth rate. The episode outlines the highlights and milestones of the journey with insights and inputs from both sides of the table – founders and investors. Tune in to know more.
2020-05-2746 min
Z47 MomentsMarginal Value addIn this episode Avnish and Rajinder talk about why not all margin is equal and how margins relate to valuation.
2020-05-0630 min
Z47 MomentsExit Strategy for startupsWhat is the change required to survive this crisis and how will each sector navigate their way through it? In this episode of Matrix Moments, the Matrix team shares their thoughts from a macro + sectoral view point. Tune in to know more.
2020-04-2035 min
Z47 MomentsOverreaction is the only reaction for FintechsIn this episode of #MatrixMoments, Vikram Vaidyanathan, ( Managing Director, Matrix Partners India ) and Rajat Agarwal, ( Director, Matrix Partners India ) share guidelines for Fintech firms on how to navigate their way through the perfect storm that is Covid-19 and why overreaction is the only reaction at this point. Watch the full episode to know more.
2020-03-2622 min
Z47 MomentsCovid - 19 & its implications on startup IndiaWith rapid evolution taking place in the business environment world over, we’re dedicating today’s #MatrixMoments episode to discuss and decode the implications of the Covid-19 on the startup ecosystem. Here’s how we at Matrix are thinking about it. Tune in to know more
2020-03-1719 min
Z47 MomentsBuilding India’s first discount broking model, ZerodhaIn this episode, Vikram sits down with Nithin to uncover what it takes to build and scale India’s largest tech broking discount firm, Zerodha. Nithin talks about the early years of his career, co-founding a company with his best friend and brother, what he looks for in a person when hiring, why he hasn’t raised any form of external capital till date and his future plans for Zerodha
2020-03-1130 min
Z47 MomentsDecoding the Founder – VC RelationshipJoining us in this episode of Matrix Moments is Asish Mohapatra, Co-Founder of OfBusiness – India’s leading tech driven B2B lending platform, and is also a Matrix portfolio company, along with Avnish Bajaj, Founder & MD, Matrix India. Prior to founding OfBusiness, Asish actually worked at Matrix as part of the investment team and worked very closely with Avnish during that time. This episode follows a role reversal of sorts, where Asish in the capacity of a founder interviews Avnish on all things fundraising, early stage and VC investing, he asks the hard questions that first time founders have always want...
2020-02-1138 min
Z47 MomentsCreating new Consumer brands digitallyIn today’s episode, we talk about DINVIBs i.e. Digitally Native Vertically Integrated Consumer Brands and our thesis behind investing deep into this sector. Joining us to discuss this is, Sanjot Malhi (VP & Consumer Sector Lead at Matrix Partners India), Avnish Bajaj (Founder and Managing Director at Matrix Partners India ) and Rajinder Balaraman (Director, Matrix Partners India). Tune in to know more.
2020-01-2825 min
Z47 MomentsCrafting Your Company CultureIn today’s episode we cover the importance of inculcating a strong and health culture in your company right from the early stages. Joining us to dicuss this is Ahana Gautam, ( Co Founder & CEO, Open Secret ), along with Avnish Bajaj, (Founder & MD, Matrix Partners ) and Rajinder Balaraman, (Director, Matrix Partners India)
2020-01-2126 min
Z47 MomentsA look back at 2019With 2019 coming to an end, we decided to do a quick look back and summarize some of the macro themes that emerged from the year. In some ways it’s been a record year for the Indian VC industry and a very busy year for Matrix, Avnish Bajaj (Founder and Managing Director Matrix Partners India), Vikram Vaidyanathan (Managing Director Matrix Partners India ) Tarun Davda (Managing Director Matrix Partners India), and Rajinder Balaraman (Director, Matrix Partners India) take us through the highlights of the year gone by and what to expect from 2020. Tune in to know more.
2020-01-0731 min
Z47 MomentsPOS FrameworkIn this episode, Avnish Bajaj, Founder & Managing Director, Matrix India, talks about decision-making and applying the 'POS framework' as a guiding tool to navigate through hard decisions, both personally & professionally. Tune in to know more.
2019-12-2709 min
Z47 MomentsFounding TeamToday’s episode, Founding Team, is about a topic that we as a firm are very passionate about, it’s also a topic that forms the basis of Matrix’s investment philosophy, foundersfirst!. In this episode, Avnish Bajaj talks about the importance of a strong founding team, how this can shape a company’s journey, frameworks that can help reach the ideal founding team, learnings from Avnish’s experience with his 2 prior co-founders at Baazee and then Matrix Partners India.
2019-12-1013 min
Z47 MomentsWhat’s "Neo" about them?!With the recent spate of investments made by Matrix Partners India in the NeoBank space, we decided to host an episode with serial entrepreneurs, Jiten Gupta (Co-Founder of a Neobank venture, Jupiter and previously founder of Citrus Pay) and Anurag Sinha (Founder of neocard, OneCard and previously founder of Walnut, a personal finance management startup) to discuss the current landscape and what makes Neobanking so exciting at a time like this. The episode was hosted by Rajat Agarwal, Director and fintech sector lead for Matrix India as well as Vikram Vaidyanathan, MD, Matrix India who has led the investment in...
2019-11-2832 min
Z47 MomentsGTM for startupsIn this episode, Avnish Bajaj, Founder & Managing Director, Matrix India talks about the varied GTM strategies used by startups to drive a wedge into the market.
2019-11-1916 min
Z47 MomentsFundraising & ValuationsIn this episode of Matrix Moments, Tarun Davda, (Managing Director, Matrix Partner India) guides founders on how to think about fundraising & valuations at the early stages. He covers how much capital is required to be raises at each stage, what the typical dilutions are at each stage, the downside that comes with raising too much capital and that at the end valuation is vanity, what matters is a founders percentage of ownership. Tune in to know more.
2019-11-0514 min
SAS DimensionRègle T7Dans la situation de prise en charge pour soins spécifiques de stomies, prothèses, autres appareils, le DP fait appel aux catégories Z43 à Z47 ainsi que Z49.0. Exemples :
patient ayant subi quelques mois plus tôt une résection sigmoïdienne pour perforation diverticulaire, ré-hospitalisé pour fermeture de la colostomie (rétablissement de la continuité colique) : DP Z43.3 ; l’affection ayant motivé la prise en charge n’existe plus, par définition elle n’a pas sa place dans le RUM (sinon éventuellement comme donnée à visée documentaire19).
séjour de mise en place d’un système diffuseur i...
2019-10-3104 min
Z47 MomentsStanza Living: transforming the student housing sectorStanza Living is one of India’s largest student housing networks, co-founders Sandeep and Anindya share their journey of building the company from ground zero, with guest moderator, Gourav Bhattacharya (Director, Matrix India) and also the investment lead for Stanza Living.
2019-10-2223 min
Z47 MomentsStartup Temperature CheckIn this episode, Avnish Bajaj (Founder & MD, Matrix Partners India) and Rajinder Balaraman, (Director, Matrix Partners India) discuss the current environment in the startup and investments ecosystem.Funding in early stage companies versus later stage, repeat entrepreneurs, investment cycle bubbles and the trends expected to play out in 2020, tune in to know more.
2019-10-1421 min
Z47 MomentsLearnings from Serial Entrepreneur, Bhavin Turakhia – part 2In part 2 of a 2 part episode, serial entrepreneur, Bhavin Turakhia, founder and CEO of Flock and Zeta, joins us to share learnings from his journey on what it takes, personally and professionally, to build and sell a series of successful companies. Tune in to know more.
2019-10-1029 min
Z47 MomentsLearnings from Serial Entrepreneur, Bhavin TurakhiaIn part 1 of a 2 part episode, serial entrepreneur, Bhavin Turakhia, founder and CEO of Flock and Zeta, joins us to share learnings from his journey on what it takes, personally and professionally, to build and sell a series of successful companies. Tune in to know more.
2019-10-0932 min
Z47 MomentsExitsIn this episode of Matrix Moments, Avnish Bajaj, Founder & MD, at Matrix Partners India shares his views on Exits: learnings from his journey with Baazee.com which was acquired by Ebay, key factors to evaluate when making this decision, and how to deal with multiple investors at a time like this.
2019-09-0312 min
Z47 MomentsFinding & Scaling PMFAs a company scales, how you scale & grow with it as a founder is crucial to business success. A fundamental part of this transition includes knowing how to shift your strategy pre and post attaining PMF, in this episode Avnish Bajaj, Founder & MD, Matrix India sums up the key indicators and metrics to keep in mind at each stage.
2019-08-2009 min
Z47 MomentsThe journey of building Citrus Pay & learnings on the fintech landscapeVikram Vaidyanathan, MD, Matrix India, catches up with Amrish Rau and Jiten Gupta, Founders of Citrus Pay, which was later acquired by PayU, where both founders took on the role of CEO and MD, respectively. In this episode they go over the journey of building Citrus from ground up, the decision making process that went behind exiting Citrus, their investment strategy as angel investors and lastly their advice to founders looking to startup in the fintech space.
2019-08-0637 min
Z47 MomentsInvestor Value Add & EngagementIn this episode of Matrix Moments, we deep dive into the relationship dynamics between a founder and his/her board. Specifically for first time founders, board room etiquette is an unknown area and thus we decided to put together an episode that covers all queries founders may have on this subject. From setting the right rules of engagement to knowing how to deal with a difference in opinion in the board room, Avnish Bajaj, Founder & MD, Matrix Partners India shares his views on the best practices to keep in mind when dealing with a board of investors.
2019-07-2318 min
Z47 MomentsMetrics & DashboardTracking and measuring your company’s performance is crucial not just at the early stages but through the course of your companies lifecycle. In this episode of Matrix Moments, Tarun Davda & Vikram Vaidyanathan, Managing Directors at Matrix Partners India, share learnings from their experiences with founders on why tracking the right metrics can help you measure what is working for your company and what isn’t. In addition to measuring performance, picking a North Star metric as the one metric to align the entire company on what is important helps keep all teams focused on working towards the same goal. List...
2019-07-1624 min
Z47 MomentsStructuring incentive plans – ESOP, Cash and Balanced ScorecardStructuring and designing an effective incentive plan is key at the early stages to help promote retention as well as high levels of motivation among the team. From cash versus equity, how much equity is apt at each stage, bonus plans to measuring employee performance through a balance scorecard, in this episode of Matrix Moments, Avnish Bajaj, Founder & MD, Matrix Partners India, outlines simple thumb rules to keep in mind when structuring your employees incentive plan.
2019-07-0916 min
Z47 MomentsThe State of the Indian Venture Market 2019In this episode of Matrix Moments Tarun Davda, (MD, Matrix Partners India) and guest speakers, Miten Sampat, (VP Corporate Development, Times Internet) and Samidha Sharma (Emerging Business Editor at Economic Times) discuss the current state of affairs within the Indian startup and VC ecosystem and the way forward from here
2019-07-0243 min
Z47 MomentsThe Terms of Term SheetsIn this episode of Matrix Moments, Avnish Bajaj, Founder & MD, Matrix Partners India, and Rajinder Balaraman, Director, Matrix Partners India, do a deep dive on the significance of terms within a Term Sheet, what founders should focus on, and essentially provide a guide for founders who are working on a Term Sheet for the very first time.
2019-06-1832 min
Z47 MomentsThe Journey of Building LoadShareIn this episode of Matrix Moments, we spoke with Raghuram Talluri, Co-Founder, LoadShare Networks, on the learnings of being a first time founder and scaling an asset light logistics platform. Rajinder Balaraman, Director, Matrix Partners India, also joined this episode to share insights from an investor perspective.
2019-06-1320 min
Z47 MomentsBudget & BurnAt the early stages a critical factor that determines your startups success or failure, is the level of spending or burn rates. Practicing extreme financial discipline is a crucial part of controlling your companies burn rate. Tune in to this episode of #MatrixMoments, where Avnish Bajaj, Founder & MD, Matrix Partners India, talks about the importance of business performances, plans, burn rates and budgets.
2019-06-1111 min
Z47 MomentsOrg 3.0Every successful company goes through 3 distinct phases, the startup phase (0 – 1), the scaling / growth phase (1 – 10) and finally profitability (10 – 100). The archetypes of people required to help the company transcend all phases, is different at each stage. Avnish Bajaj, Founder & MD, Matrix Partners India, shares his experience on building the perfect Org in this episode of Matrix Moments.
2019-06-0409 min
Z47 MomentsThe journey behind building ItiliteEpisode description: Founded by Mayank Kukreja and Anish Khadiya, Itilite is a corporate travel management solution that balances company’s savings and the traveler (employee’s) experience. Itilite is also a Matrix portfolio company and this episode features a conversation between Gourav Bhattacharya (Director, Matrix India) and Mayank (Co-Founder, Itilite) on what it’s like to make the shift from a stable job at Myntra.com to founding your company.
2019-05-0717 min
Z47 MomentsThe InMobi journeyVikram Vaidyanathan, MD, Matrix Partners India, catches up with Naveen Tewari, Co-founder, InMobi, who unravels the journey behind building India’s first unicorn startup. Naveen gets candid about strategies implemented for expansion to international markets, creating a family-like work culture and rising above the challenges that come with building a weatherproof company.
2019-04-2336 min
2019-04-0913 min
Z47 MomentsDiscovering Fintech Religion - Part 2As part of our guest series, Vikram Vaidyanathan, MD, Matrix India catches up with Rajeev Ahuja, Executive Director, RBL, Bank on “Discovering Fintech Religion”. The conversation is spread across a 2 part episode, and covers the transformational journey of Ratnakar to RBL Bank, a debate on Fin versus Tech, and phygital as a means for fintech companies and banks to scale.
2019-03-2825 min
Z47 MomentsDiscovering Fintech Religion - Part 1As part of our guest series, Vikram Vaidyanathan, MD, Matrix India catches up with Rajeev Ahuja, Executive Director, RBL, Bank on “Discovering Fintech Religion”. The conversation is spread across a 2 part episode, and covers the transformational journey of Ratnakar to RBL Bank, a debate on Fin versus Tech, and phygital as a means for fintech companies and banks to scale.
2019-03-2626 min
Z47 MomentsExtreme HiringHiring at the early stages helps define the momentum at which a company grows. In this episode, Vikram Vaidyanathan, MD, Matrix Partners India, captures some of his learnings from having worked closely with founders on what works when hiring for a startup. Dna based hiring versus hiring for skill set is another challenge that founders deal with and in most cases founders have found the former to be more effective at least in the initial phase of their company. Listen in to know more.
2019-03-1223 min
Z47 MomentsExtreme ReferencingHiring a strong team is the one of the proven ways to ensure startup success. Yet, it’s the biggest issue that founders / CEOs face when building their organization. In this episode of Matrix Moments, Tarun Davda talks about ‘Extreme Referencing’, and how this helps him go beyond the surface level interview process when trying to hire for senior executive positions.
2019-02-2624 min
Z47 MomentsState of the Indian Venture Ecosystem - Part 2: Forecast 2019In an attempt to forecast for 2019, this episode of Matrix Moments talks about the trends we expect to play out, sectors expected to explode (or not), the changing face of the average Indian entrepreneur and how 2018 will impact the momentum of 2019. Tune in to hear Avnish Bajaj, Founder & Managing Director, Matrix Partners India, take us through this.
2019-02-1211 min
Z47 MomentsState of the Indian Venture Ecosystem - Part 1: A Look Back at 2018A snapshot of the year gone by for the Indian Venture ecosystem: the aftermath of the Flipkart – Walmart deal, government policies surrounding angel tax, the possible rise of trade unionism within startups and the question on everyone’s mind – will India ever see IPOs for consumer internet companies in the near term?
2019-01-2913 min
Z47 MomentsLiving in the Middle of the Funnel (MoFu)In this episode, Avnish Bajaj, (Founder & MD, Matrix India) talks about MoFu: what it takes to continue retaining & engaging your users post the initial burst of customers, how to evaluate CAC, and what metrics to keep a track of.
2019-01-0811 min
Z47 MomentsExtreme ProductivityWhy do some people seem to have more bandwidth than others, and how do they achieve extreme levels of productivity? This episode talks about the principles and practices followed by successful leaders when it comes to time management, prioritization and clarity of thought.
2018-12-1813 min
Z47 MomentsMaking Sense of ValuationsGoing back to the fundamentals of investments and valuations, and to ascertain whether a company's valuation is more than just a quixotic pursuit. Avnish Bajaj (Founder & Managing Director, Matrix Partners India) gives us a piece by piece break down of the valuation techniques and strategies used to analyse and determine a company's real value versus price.
2018-12-1121 min
Z47 MomentsOperator VCs versus Investor VCsAddressing the much debated question of who makes a better venture partner - operators or investors? Tarun Davda, Managing Director, Matrix Partner India, talks about his journey of transitioning from an intrapreneur to a venture investor, what his experience has been like having been on the other side of the table as an operator, his views on both types of venture investors: operator VCs and investor VCs and the biases that come with each.
2018-12-0414 min
Z47 MomentsFear & GreedIn this episode, Avnish Bajaj (Founder & MD, Matrix Partners India), talks about the investment cycles of fear and greed with reflections from his first exposure to the high's and low's of the cycle. From Peter Lynch to Warren Buffet, he touches upon the investment philosophies that helped shape his own strategy and approach to the cycles, how to avoid the most common mistakes made in investing and navigate your way through a bear market.
2018-11-2714 min
Z47 MomentsIntrinsicsWe chose to launch our series with an episode on a topic that we believe is extremely integral for both personal and professional development, a concept that is at the core of Matrix’s ideologies and forms a large part of the foundation, intrinsics. In this episode, Avnish Bajaj (Founder & Managing Director, Matrix India) takes us through what he thinks are the traits required by an individual to succeed against all odds, the ingredients of what goes into the makings of the best founders, and the essence behind our foundersfirst! philosophy.
2018-11-1912 min