83: How He Built India's Leading Venture Debt Fund, Ishpreet Singh Gandhi, Stride Ventures | 1947 VC

Back in 2015, when the start-up landscape in India was at a nascent stage, as a banker Ishpreet pioneered the first-ever debt solutions for startups in India. In 2018, Ishpreet founded Stride Ventures and today it has become —India’s leading venture debt fund. They have partnered with companies like Zepto, Bira, Sugar, Spinny, Zetwerk and many more.

00:00 Top Moments 00:26 Intro 02:31 Starting Stride Ventures in 2015 and pioneering venture debt in India 05:40 Thesis, portfolio, fundraising, and venture debt business model 12:10 Check sizes, sectors, and stages of investment 14:09 Journey of building Stride Ventures 16:55 Vision for Stride Ventures as a startup bank in 3-5 years 19:23 Prioritizing tasks and product roadmap 20:43 Early lessons when starting Stride Ventures 24:16 Challenges in building a venture debt firm 28:11 Advice for startups open to venture debt 31:25 Tough moments and confidence boosters 34:36 Typical day routine 36:03 Unexplored areas of learning 36:34 Outside work obsession 38:40 Alternative pursuits if not building Stride Ventures 39:48 Perception by friends outside work 41:12 Dream dinner guests, dead or alive