E36: Kris Gopalakrishnan (Ex-CEO Infosys & Chairman, Axilor Ventures)

Kris Gopalakrishnan is the co-founder and former CEO of Infosys, and currently serves as the chairman of Axilor Ventures, an early-stage seed fund based out of Bangalore. He is recognized as a global business and technology thought leader and was voted the top CEO (IT Services category) in Institutional Investor’s inaugural ranking of Asia’s Top Executives and selected as one of the winners of the second Asian Corporate Director Recognition Awards by Corporate Governance Asia in 2011. He also was selected to Thinkers 50, an elite list of global business thinkers, in 2009. He was elected President of India’s apex industry chamber Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for 2013-14, and served as one of the co-chairs of the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2014.

In January 2011, the Government of India awarded Kris Gopalakrishnan the Padma Bhushan, the country’s third-highest civilian honor.

Follow Kris Gopalakrishnan (@kris_sg), host Akash Bhat (@bhatvakash) and our podcast (@thedesi_vc) on Twitter.

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The Desi Startups of the Week:

1. PLUC: India’s first mobile storytelling platform for meaningful stories by unfound mobile creators.

2. Pathway Ventures: A new VC fund focused on the human side of the future of work. They’re investing in companies that drive economic mobility through innovative models of earning, learning, and community building.

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In this episode, we will cover:

1. What is Kris hoping accomplish as the first chairperson of the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH)? (3:55)

2. What can founders today learn from the Infosys story? (7:50)

3. Building long-lasting, sustainable businesses in today’s world (14:09)

4. Guarding your investments as a VC (17:48)

5. How has the pandemic impacted Axilor Ventures (20:30)

6. When and why did Kris decide to start a fund? (25:03)

7. What has surprised Kris the most about the venture ecosystem (28:13)

8. How much pressure was on the Axilor team to deliver exceptional results given their stellar reputation (31:25)

9. How much has Kris’ risk appetite changed from his days as operator to now as a vc 32:34)

10. What risk is Kris willing to take? What is he not? (35:26)

11. Insights from Axilor’s portfolio construction (38:43)

12. What are the core economics of venture capital that all entrepreneurs need to understand? (44:00)

13. How do you build a ‘successful’ business without venture funding (47:14)

14. What can India’s policy makers do to support and grow the momentum within the startup ecosystem (50:35)

15. Are SPACs one way of retaining businesses in India? (56:24)

16. Rapid fire (59:00)