The Neon Show

In this episode of 100xEntrepreneur Podcast, we take you through the journey of Priya Mohan, Startup Sensei, Venture Highway. She became a VC after exiting her Edtech Startup - Vidyartha to Byju’s.During the podcast, Priya shares her story of breaking the glass ceiling, being one of the few women leaders in the Indian Venture Capital industry. Listen to this podcast to learn about:Notes - 06:23 - Problem Statement solved by her first venture Vidyartha11:30 - Having clarity to become a VC post-exiting as a founder14:56 - Investing experience in Swiflearn being a parent & ex-Edtech founder16:58 - Portfolio companies where she has led investments 19:36 - How does Venture Highway differentiate itself from other VC firms?23:03 - “Having the opportunity to learn from Failures”.23:48 - “The biggest bias is Confirmation Bias”.25:52 - Pros & Cons of being a VC with a background as an Entrepreneur34:01 - “There’s no good or bad news, there’s just news”41:38 - Recommended read for listeners - “Principles” by Ray DalioSend us a text

In this episode of 100xEntrepreneur Podcast, we take you through the journey of Aloke Bajpai building ixigo over the last 13 years.Aloke is one of the few founders who experienced & survived the 2008 crisis. During the podcast, he shares how ixigo applied similar strategies and learnings to tackle the current pandemic. Aloke’s insights which we discuss during the podcast are on -00:28 - USP of ixigo - Built its major user base organically01:36 - Building quirky sharable content around travel03:56 - Where does ixigo stands in terms of net profits & GMV for FY20?07:26 - Launching ixigo assured & TARA assistant (i.e. Travel agent of the future)10:42 - How travel is going to open up in the next 6-12 months?13:50 - His lessons from surviving the 2008-crisis22:35 - 20% of ex-ixigo employees becoming entrepreneurs24:50 - Key-value props which have pushed ixigo into a higher orbit against its competitors28:49 - “ixigo Train App” having higher numbers of users vs all of its travel competitors apps combined31:19 - Pursuing Ph.D. in Survival Sciences32:39 - Identifying organic growth hacks to tackle Zero-budget marketing42:50 - Raising capital after the 2008-crisis50:45 - Destination for ixigo ahead: Becoming the most loved OTA in India56:33 - Mentoring first-time entrepreneurs & supporting them as an Angel InvestorSend us a text

In this episode of 100xEntrepreneur Podcast, we take you through the investment thesis opted by Jishnu Bhattacharjee, Managing Director, Nexus Venture Partners, behind investments in SaaS platforms like - Postman, Druva, & Observe.AI among others.Jishnu began his stint in the VC world with Nexus VP in 2008, and since then he has been part of many cross-border investments in SaaS startups.Jishnu’s insights which we discuss during the podcast are on -Notes - 00:28 - Joining Georgia Tech for MS & Ph.D.03:02 - Finding his first job offer based on his Ph.D. research paper05:32 - Joining Business school to move-out of his regular desk-job06:10 - Connecting with Naren during the early days of Nexus10:52 - Why did he choose to focus only on SaaS?15:27 - Journey of his first SaaS investment, Gluster which later got acquired by Red Hat17:33 - Discovery of Postman23:49 - Nexus being one of the few VC firms to have a common cross-border investment team & fund25:41 - “Product-first thinking” the common trait of all the SaaS investments by Nexus VP33:30 - How did organic growth come early for companies like Druva & Postman?43:37 - Key aspects influencing Postman’s valuation going forward51:37 - Broadening the horizon being an Entrepreneur- “Think broadly but act narrowly”58:22 - Thesis for future investments in SaaSSend us a text

In this episode, we bring Shanti Mohan, Founder, LetsVenture on the 100x Entrepreneur podcast who has been enabling Investors & Entrepreneurs to meet each other and make the best investments happen.Shanti with her experience at LetsVenture of seeing over 260+ funding rounds, helps us understand what distinguishes the good vs bad in terms of founders, investors, and deals in great detail.Listen to this podcast to learn about:Notes - 00:28 - Building LetsVenture being a 2nd-time entrepreneur 05:35 - Solving the problem of ACCESS15:05 - Serving as a marketplace for founders to fundraise16:12 - Enabling first-time investors to co-invest with Lead investors 17:42 - Building LetsVenture Plus for family offices and HNIs18:58 - Building MyStartupEquity for founders to manage their Cap. table & ESOP 23:31 - Helping founders and investors with legal compliance and due diligence 31:12 - What leads to failed transactions38:22 - Insights for angel investors40:39 - On competition from platforms like AngelList46:07 - Angel Investing as an asset-class then and nowSend us a text

In this episode of 100x Entrepreneur Podcast, we take you through the investment thesis of Rahul Chowdhri, behind investments in D2C, E-commerce & Edtech platforms like - Mamaearth, Shop101, & Swiflearn respectively.We also discuss the common question a new founder thinks about while entering the Edtech sector, “Is the Indian Edtech sector saturated with the large players like Byju’s, Unacademy, and other presents in the market?”.Rahul’s insights which we discuss during the podcast are on -Notes - 00:56 - His journey from working at BCG to joining Helion Ventures & then founding Stellaris Venture Partners03:25 - Sectors at which he looks after - Consumer Retail, Edtech, Agritech, Horizontal Content & Social Network platforms04:07 - Thesis behind investing in Mamaearth - Founder’s understanding of brand-perspective & online-thinking11:14 - Can digital-first D2C brands achieve $100M+ ARR & achieve $500M+ Valuation?12:10 - Moats which digital-first D2C brands can build to stay ahead of competitors14:10 - Indian D2C brands which he admires and why - OZiva, FableStreet, Yoga Bar16:35 - Are there still opportunities left for new players in Edtech, with large businesses like Byju’s & Unacademy already present?20:10 - Thesis behind investing in Swiflearn and the problem they are solving? 25:56 - Thesis behind investing in Shop101 & the company’s growth so far30:21 - Investments where their thesis didn’t work out and what were their learnings from it?36:53 - Biases among VCs & founders about “What models & monetizations would work out?”Send us a text

In this episode of 100xEntrepreneur Podcast, we have interacted with Mohan Lakhamraju where he shared his journey of building Great Learning and Great Lakes Institute of Management.Mohan initially worked with Tiger Global Management for 3 years, setting up their India office. During this period one of his focus areas was the education sector in India and South-east Asian markets.This was how he developed an inclination towards the education sector and decided to set-up a B-school specifically catering to management professionals in the Energy sector.Notes - 01:20 - Journey from IIT Bombay, UC Berkeley & Stanford University to joining Tiger Global06:19 - Realising himself to be more of an Entrepreneur than an Investor07:13 - Taking insights for online learning from the early journey of Coursera08:56 - How has high-quality education impacted his journey?10:15 - “Most people never experience excellence”17:05 - Learnings while building Great lakes & Great learning?23:33 - At what scale Great learning is currently operating in terms of enrollments & programs31:09 - What is the opportunity cost of not learning or not doing something new?38:50 - How is Great learning helping colleges & universities conduct effective online classes with their platform?43:36 - His viewpoint on the future for Edtech in India49:22 - His advice for entrepreneurs looking to build Edtech startupsSend us a text

In this episode, we are in discussion with Amit Somani, Managing Partner, Prime Ventures. Also bringing to you an entirely new format, in this episode, we discuss what goes behind building a successful podcast.Some of the key points which Amit & Siddhartha discussed and their experiences during the podcast were -01:07 - Idea to start a podcast and how has the journey been so far?05:19 - What have been their learnings being the host at a podcast?06:25 - How to go about and solve core problem statements like content creation & distribution while running a podcast?13:25 - What were the memorable moments while recording the podcast?15:43 - How did they improvise themselves and became a better podcast host overtime?18:04 - How to differentiate between open-ended & close-ended questions during a podcast and make the conversation more open & free-flowing?19:35 - How has being a podcast host helped them in their personal & professional life?23:21 - How to be an interesting guest?29:29 - What are some of their recommendations to someone who wants to start podcasting?Send us a text

After having an elaborate educational and career background in finance, right from becoming a CA & CFA to working at Morgan & Stanley and Citi, Ankur decided to join BlackSoil Capital.BlackSoil, growing fast into the Venture Debt fund space, has so far disbursed over Rs.450crore+ to VC backed start-ups & growth companies.Some of the notable startups under its portfolio are EarlySalary, Vogo, & Nearbuy among others. In this podcast, Ankur seeks to help our listeners understand the entire Venture Debt fund ecosystem and its working in a better way.Notes - 00:38 - Founding BlackSoil and initial focus areas02:39 - How is BlackSoil and its working structure different from other VC firms?03:30 - Value propositions which BlackSoil brings to the table while funding its portfolio companies06:54 - What are the interest rates, loan tenure, repayment modes which they currently offer as a working capital to Startups?09:06 - Which family-offices is BlackSoil currently backed by? How did they build that credibility?15:57 - How is Venture Debts different from traditional Bank loans for businesses?17:30 - How do warrants work in case of Venture Debt funding?18:59 - How’s the future of Venture Debt in India?Send us a text

Shruti is one of the few Indian-origin VCs in US who invest in Enterprise focused Startups globally.After spending 9 years of her career at IBM as an Engineer, she joined Samsung Next as a Principal, where she spent the next 2 years investing in early-stage startups. This was probably what worked out as a perfect mix of (a) Her understanding of Enterprise focussed SaaS businesses & (b) Venture funding ecosystem, which helped her start Array Ventures.Some of her notable investments are CasaOne, Blumira & Modal among others. In this podcast, Shruti shares her experience of supporting founders building early-stage SaaS businesses focussed on solving problems for Large Enterprises.Notes - 00:57 - Her journey from Mumbai to the US and transitioning from an Engineer-cum-Founder to a VC02:35 - How and why did she choose to start a fund to cater to startups selling to Enterprises?05:20 - Changing growth & opportunities for SaaS startups focussed on Enterprises in India & the US08:19 - Her thesis of investing in Blumira based on how their automated threat detection can benefit companies09:53 - Is the recent IPO of 6 Enterprise companies including Palantir, Snowflake, Sumo Logic, Bentley Systems, creating real value or is it a bubble?11:20 - Her learnings from Array VC exits: Passage AI, Hivy, & Simility13:10 - What would be an ideal exit for her - Large Acquisition (in 5-6 years) or IPO (in 10 years)?14:13 - What value does Array VC bring to its portfolio companies?16:10 - How’s the growth trajectory for her portfolio SaaS companies from 0 to $10M and then from $10M to $100M ARR?19:02 - What are things which worked for her portfolio companies for exponential ARR growth?Send us a text

Baskar’s journey is very similar to what classic Product-driven Tech entrepreneurs have, i.e. a college drop-out built several tech solutions from an early age, founded a fast-paced startup growing multi-folds over years.He co-founded Amagi Media Labs, in 2008 with the intent to revolutionize global content delivery & monetization of the Media Industry. Amagi is one of the few startups which experienced constant growth even in the Covid-19 circumstances and has no plans of slowing down its growth engines anytime soon.In this podcast, Baskar shares his experience of building tech solutions and his learnings from being a Tech entrepreneur for over two decades.Notes - 01:09 - Enabling end-to-end global virtualization of content delivery and monetization in Media Industry03:22 - Major emerging trends in Media & OTT platforms for broadcasters08:50 - Evolution of OTTs in the US and how Amagi helps them as a one-stop-shop!11:59 - His journey from dropping out of IIT Bombay (during MTech) to starting Amagi?21:12 - Transiting from an Advertising sales model to a Technology platform25:44 - Growth in Revenue from 2012 to till date28:35 - How was the fund-raising experience being in the Media industry?32:32 - What’s his end goal with Amagi? Going Public, achieving a $200 Million ARR or something else?36:34 - What are the processes which helped him as an entrepreneur & the company to grow exponentially?38:25 - How “letting go” is a very crucial part of the growth process?40:36 - How being open, vulnerable, and accepting your mistakes openly within the team can help a company grow?Send us a text