GHP #85 - VC #7 - Investing in Visionary Founders with Sai Senthilkumar!

Episode 85 is with Sai Senthilkumar, Principal at Redpoint Ventures!

Redpoint Ventures partners with visionary founders to create new markets or redefine existing ones. The firm invests in startups across the seed, early and growth phases. Since 1999, Redpoint has backed over 465 companies with 140 IPOs and M&As, including Netflix, Twilio, and Zendesk. Currently, the firm manages $4 billion across multiple funds.

Sai is a Stanford University graduate and former Investment Banker turned VC focussed on growth investing. Pivoting his career from engineering and banking to VC, Sai looks for emerging companies and markets to support within infrastructure software.

We speak with Sai about his career thus far. He details the transferrable knowledge and networking skills he used to transition from IB to VC. He describes what makes an interesting market or company for investment, visionary founders and how to identify them, and the metrics and factors that go into a successful investment. 

Redpoint Ventures
https://www.redpoint.com/

Timestamps
2:30 - Intro to Sai
4:18 - Transferring Skills from IB to VC
5:20 - What Makes a Great Mentor?
7:45 - RedPoint Ventures
12:19 - Sai’s Day to Day
16:00 - What Makes a Market Interesting to Invest In?
17:17 - How to Invest in Developing Markets
20:55 - Investment Case Study - Monte Carlo
25:25 - Due Diligence Process at RedPoint
29:00 - Growth at All Costs Model
31:00 - Key Metrics for VC’s
33:20 - What makes a Visionary?
35:20 - How to Become a VC
37:25 - Lightning Round