1947 Rise

Arjun Vaidya is a D2C founder & investor. He built Dr. Vaidya’s to India’s largest Ayurveda brand online. Dr. Vaidya’s was recently acquired by RP Sanjiv Goenka Group – making it one of India’s first D2C exits. He now leads venture investing for Verlinvest in India SHOW NOTES Arjun’s journey from growing up in India to moving to the US and then moving back to India (1:00) The journey after moving back to India and repackaging of Dr. Vaidya’s (6:30) What made him join Verlinvest and the vision he holds (14:26) What’s the best part about his job (17:40) The hardest part about his job  (18:20) What frameworks does he use when things are not going in the right direction (19:12) What is he most excited about outside of work (20:28) If money and attention are not needed anymore, what would he work on (21:50) What do his friends know him for (23:10)

Nishchay AG is the Co-founder and CEO of Jar. A daily gold-savings app that saves spare change & auto-invests for you. Jar currently has 5M users and is backed by Tiger Global and others. SHOW NOTE: Nischay’s journey from growing up in India to moving to the US and then moving back to India (1:00) The journey after moving back to India and were there self-doubts at the beginning (2:30) What made him join Bounce (8:00) The origins of Jar (15:00) The magical outcome he holds for Jar (17:52) Favorite part about his job (19:30) The hardest part about his job (19:51) His advice to those who are planning to move back to India (24:00) What frameworks does he use when things are not going in the right direction (29:30) What drives him (31:00) What do his friends know him for (35:00)

Vaibhav Domkundwar is the CEO and founder of Better Capital. Better Capital is one of the best Pre-seed / seed-stage funds in India. Portfolio companies include Slice, Open, Teachmint Rupeek, Khatabook, and many more. The combined value of the portfolio companies is $5B+ SHOW NOTES Vaibhav’s journey from growing up in India to moving to the US and then moving back to India (1:00) The journey after moving back to India and were there self-doubts at the beginning (4:50) The origins of Better Capital (7:00) The evolution of angel investing in India over the past decade (11:00) The things that he struggles with (17:00) What’s the best part about his job (22:00) His advice to those who are planning to move back to India (25:00) What drives him (30:00)

Nitin Sharma is the General Partner, Co-founder, Antler India. Antler is a global early-stage venture capital firm that invests in the defining technology companies of tomorrow. SHOW NOTES Nitin’s journey from growing up in India to moving to the US and then moving back to India (1:25) The journey after moving back to India (First Principles and Antler India) (7:20) The vision that Nitin holds for Antler India (14:30) The evolution of the Indian tech ecosystem from 2013 to 2022 (19:00) Skills that he picked up from his experience in the US that ended up becoming valuable in India (25:45) His advice to those who are thinking about moving back to India (33:00) What frameworks does he use when things are not going in the right direction (37:00) If money and attention are not needed anymore, what would he work on (40:00)

Monish Darda is the Co-founder and CTO of Icertis. Currently valued at $2.8B, Icertis is the contract intelligence company that pushes the boundaries of what’s possible with contract lifecycle management. SHOW NOTES Monish's journey from growing up in India to moving to the US and then moving back to India (1:00) The journey after moving back to India (7:30) The journey of building Icertis and multiple companies before Icertis (15:15) His advice to those who are thinking about moving back to India (22:30) Skills that he picked up from his experience in the US that ended up becoming valuable in India (28:00) What does he struggle with (34:00) What frameworks does he use when things are not going in the right direction (37:00) If money and attention are not needed anymore, what would he work on (40:00) What do his friends know him for (42:00)

Nirmit Parikh is the founder and CEO of Apna. India's largest professional networking & job opportunities platform for the rising workforce. SHOW NOTES Nirmit's journey from growing up in India to moving to the US and then moving back to India (1:00) The journey after moving back to India and how did the idea of building Apna come about (13:00) What's the magical outcome Nirmit has for Apna (26:00) What does he struggle with? What frameworks does he use when things are not going in the right direction? (31:00) His advice to those who are thinking about moving back to India (38:00) Failures (42:00) If money and attention are not needed anymore, what would he work on (46:00)

Gautam Shewakramani is the Head of APAC and India; International Product and Growth at On Deck. Previously he built a company and headed International Product and Growth for Quora and Skillshare. SHOW NOTES The journey from growing up in India to moving to the US and then moving back to India (1:00) The journey after moving back to India (5:30) His company building experience which involved tons of highs and lows (8:25) How did Quora come about? (14:00) On Deck's visions for India (17:40) On Deck and ODX are relevant to India. India is special for On Deck and On Deck is special for the Indian tech ecosystem (19:00) His advice to those who are thinking about moving back to India (28:00) Skills that he picked up from his experience in the US that ended up becoming valuable in India (28:00) What frameworks do you use when things are not going in the right direction? (37:00) What do his friends know him for (40:00)

Amrit Acharya is the Co-Founder & CEO of Zetwerk. Currently valued at $1.33 Billion, Zetwerk is a universal manufacturing network powered by new-age technology. SHOW NOTES The journey from growing up in India to moving to the US and then moving back to India (1:00) How did Zetwerk come about (6:20) His advice to those who are thinking about moving back to India (8:15) Skills that he picked up from his experience in the US that ended up becoming valuable in India (10:00) Favorite stories at Zetwerk (13:00) Where is Zetwerk today as a company (16:00) His approach towards cold emails and planting seeds with people (20:30) What frameworks does he use when things are not going in the right direction? (25:00) Books he would recommend (30:00) If money and fame are not needed anymore. What would he work on (34:00)

Bradley Tusk is an American businessman, venture capitalist, political strategist, and writer. He is the founder and CEO of Tusk Ventures, the first venture capital fund focused on investing in early-stage startups in regulated industries SHOW NOTES Setting the context: Three waves of the internet (1:00) A call from Travis Kalanick (Uber) was an inflection point for Bradley. He took Uber as his first client not knowing what equity was meant. Ignorance is good sometimes 😉(3:20) What pushed Bradley to bet on Uber and take equity back when it was a year-old startup (9:40) His investment in Coinbase (13:00) They need you more than you need them. That's called access to deals. Bradley has built one through differentiation at Tusk Ventures (14:50) What types of founders succeed that are building in regulated industries (21:00) When should a startup start thinking about regulatory frameworks? Removal of Travis Kalanick, you need aggressive founders like Travis to build something transformational, how Akshay BD thinks about policies and regulations in India His advice to founders building in Web 3.0 (48:00)

Abhi Kumar heads M12 Asia, the venture arm of Microsoft. He leads series A-C venture equity investments for M12 in Asia (ex China), partnering with stellar entrepreneurs and teams to help amplify their growth. Develop the brand, ecosystem partnerships & peer engagement for M12 across APAC. SHOW NOTES The journey from growing up in India to moving to the US and then moving back to India (1:00) M12's focus in India and its investments (8:40) Favorite part about his job at M12 (10:40) Skills that he picked up from his experiences in the US and Hong Kong that ended up becoming valuable in India (12:15) If he had recently moved back to India, what would he work on? India is a lot different than what it was back when he moved back? Advise to Indians living abroad and thinking about moving back to India (14:20) Turning points in his life (17:35) What does he struggle with (20:10) Favorite failure (23:00) Rapid-fire questions (25:00)