EP#64 Somesh Dash – Growth investing at IVP, earning the trust of marquee founders and the value of mentorship in venture

In this episode, Somesh Dash (General Partner, IVP), joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path leading up to IVP, IVP’s stellar track record of 130+ IPOs and how has the firm managed to win the trust of marquee founders, the importance of mentorship in building a legacy venture firm, learnings from founders of Snapchat, Discord and Lyra Health, some of IVP’s anti-portfolio companies, the potential of the Indian startup ecosystem, the value of independent board members, learnings from fellow investors and more.

IVP is a venture capital firm that invests in companies on the path to rapid growth. Since its inception in 1980, the firm has invested in 400+ companies with a stellar track record of 130+ IPOs and 25+ exits of >$1 billion. The firm has $8.7bn in total committed capital and has invested in marquee companies like Twitter, Coinbase, Brex, Slack, Discord, UiPath, Lyra Health, FTX, Harness among others.

Somesh joined IVP in 2005 and focuses on growth investments in Enterprise Software, Consumer Internet, and Digital Health companies. He was recognized by The New York Times and CB Insights in 2019 as one of the top 100 venture capitalists. A Stanford and UC Berkeley alum, Somesh is also a board member of the US India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), Advisory Council at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and the Tech Interactive. You can connect with Somesh here on Linkedin / Twitter.

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Show notes –

1. (01:50) Somesh’s background & path leading up to IVP
2. (10:19) IVP’s thesis and past investments
3. (14:33) The firm’s stellar track record of 130+ IPOs and how it has managed to win the trust of marquee founders
4. (20:03) Importance of apprentice & mentorship in building a legacy venture firm
5. (22:02) Learnings from founders of Snapchat, Discord and Lyra; Common thread that cuts across these outlier founders
6. (30:00) Anti-portfolio at IVP and reflecting on missed opportunities
7. (36:37) The promise & potential of the Indian startup ecosystem
8. (42:31) The value add by independent board members, particularly those that have experienced difficult times in their own career
9. (43:25) Learnings from fellow investors that are on boards of IVP’s portfolio startups
10. (48:05) Importance of coaching and mental wellbeing
11. (52:05) Rapid fire and closing remarks

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