EP#11 Nitin Sharma – The first principles approach to venture investing & the deep tech opportunity for startups and investors

In this episode, Nitin Sharma, Angel Investor & Founder @First Principles, joins our host Digjay, to share his investment experience with early-to-growth stage companies, his first principles approach to venture investing, why he is bullish on deep tech & his approach to evaluating startups in this space. Nitin has been an experienced VC and advisor to high growth technology ventures in India as well as the US, over the last 14 years. With First Principles, Nitin is currently an active angel investor in 30+ startups in various sectors, including blockchain and other deep tech. He is also the founder of Incrypt Blockchain, a community of blockchain developers in India. Previously, he has been a founding Principal at Lightbox, now a $400mm AUM fund in India and a US venture investor at New Enterprise Associates (NEA), a $20bn fund where he co-led NEA's first ed-tech investment. Nitin also serves on the India advisory boards of AngelList, EMVC, TheBetterIndia & USC Viterbi School of Engineering. You can reach out to him here on Linkedin / Twitter. 

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Show notes – 

1. (00:59) Nitin’s background & experience with NEA, Lightbox and now as an angel investor 

2. (06:40) Applying a first principles approach to early-stage investing 

3. (09:10) Thesis & opportunities at First Principles 

4. (13:20) Benefits of decentralization & backing businesses that are building from India for the world 

5. (15:35) Why should investors be bullish on deep tech technologies like Blockchain, AI & IoT? 

6. (18:10) Unpacking blockchain as the internet of value; building a blockchain community 

7. (23:05) Separating noise from the signal when investing in deep tech companies 

8. (28:20) Angel investing 101; Meeting founder expectations and adding value beyond capital? 

9. (32:50) Rapid fire and closing remarks