EP#47 Arjun Vaidya – Building Dr. Vaidya’s, overcoming self-doubt as a founder and his approach to fundraising & exits

In 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 Verlinvest as their Venture Lead for India. Verlinvest is a leading family owned evergreen investment group with over €1bn in AUM & investments in companies like BYJU’S, Epigamia and Wakefit among others. Prior to starting Dr. Vaidya’s, Arjun worked at a PE firm called L-Capital. A Brown university alum, Arjun is also an active angel investor (25+ investments) & a mentor to many young DTC founders in the ecosystem. You can connect with him here on Linkedin.

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Show notes –

1. (01:41) Arjun’s background & path leading up to entrepreneurship & venture capital
2. (02:53) Genesis & inspiration behind starting an Ayurveda brand
3. (09:29) Brand differentiation & identifying what your brand stands for
4. (12:47) Initial challenges, pivoting the business & overcoming self-doubt as a founder
5. (20:11) Fundraising & scaling up - When to raise funding & whom to raise from?
6. (26:18) How to think through an exit decision?
7. (33:01) Rapid fire and closing remarks

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