The Neon Show

#100xEntrepreneur #Podcast with Vidit Aatrey, Founder & CEO, MeeshoAfter completing his B.Tech. from IIT Delhi, Vidit worked with ITC & InMobi during his early career. It was around 2015 when he decided to try out something and while exploring other options he came across this idea to create a platform (Meesho) where people could start & manage their business from the comfort of their home.In this podcast, Vidit shares his experiences of building Meesho & understanding the core needs of their customers. Notes - 00:40 - His career background and bringing an un-organized business online04:30 - Building 1st version of Meesho11:10 - Aggregating distributors on the platform12:50 - Making investors understand the new business model15:55 - What helped him keep growing while building a new business model?17:40 - Tackling the growth slowdown 6 months after raising capital from SAIF Partners26:25 - Listen or Die (Talking to users every 30 days)27:43 - Meesho’s revenue model29:30 - Current User Persona32:38 - Culture & DNA of Employees at Meesho35:55 - Change in Go to market strategy41:45 - Hiring strategy for Key Leadership roles48:50 - Irrespective of your growth don’t compromise with Culture FitSend us a text

After completing his MMS from BITS Pilani in 1993, Rahul entered into the Investment Banking domain. From 1997 to 2006, he was part of Walden International as an Investment Manager. It was the first Silicon-Valley based VC Firm to come & establish a presence in India. This was when Rahul experienced Venture Capital & Angel Investing from a close perspective.Later in 2006, he cofounded Helion Ventures with a $140M fund size, which has since then made over 135 investments across Finance, Healthcare, Logistics & Agri.Some of the Portfolio companies are MakeMyTrip, Bigbasket, RailYatri, and Ezetap among others.In this podcast, Rahul shares his experiences of finding & nurturing Indian entrepreneurs for the past 15 years. Notes - 00:38 - Sharing his Journey via his book - The Moonshot Game: Adventures of an Indian Venture Capitalist03:10 - Working as an Investment Banker in 199509:05 - Cofounding Helion Ventures in 200622:10 - Starting multiple VC firms/funds from Helion25:15 - Traits of founders who build great companies28:22 - Three core reasons behind Investing in Bigbasket32:30 - Taking tough calls as a VC based on your experience38:50 - Giving synthesised advices as a VC vs a Canned-one44:44 - Starting Unitary Helion Fund45:17 - Building products for middle class by design & not by accidentSend us a text

After completing his graduation from IIT Bombay, Hemant worked at AMD during his early career. In 2012, after completing his MBA from Cambridge University, he joined Google, where he worked in New Partnerships & Development for 5 years, post which he joined Andreessen Horowitz in 2017.Lastly, after seeing a huge potential in the growing Indian Startup Ecosystem, he ended up moving to India in 2018 and joining Lightspeed India.Some of Lightspeed India portfolio companies are Udaan, Darwinbox, OKCredit, and Shuttl among others.In this podcast, Hemant shares his learnings of building a Tech company in India, he also shares his Venture Investing experiences in India & the US. Notes - 00:46 - Growing up in Middle of Himalayas to joining Lightspeed India05:38 - Joining Corporate Development at Google after MBA06:26 - Choosing Lightspeed India vs any other VC firm in the US12:10 - Is it necessary to raise a Venture Capital to build a big company?15:38 - Is it the right time to build a Tech company in India?18:16 - Looking after Enterprise, Fintech & Logistics focused deals19:59 - Big wins for Lightspeed in India - Byju’s, OKCredit, Udaan, OYO25:25 - Difference b/w Venture Investing in US & India (Andreessen Horowitz vs Lightspeed)30:42 - What Indian Entrepreneurs can learn from their US counterparts?33:22 - “Most problems are solvable if you immerse yourself deep within”38:33 - Best Founders know much better about a Market than a VCSend us a text

After completing his MBA from IIM Lucknow in 1998, Anand started his first EduTech company around the Dotcom boom - Brainvisa which became one of the largest eLearning companies in India and later on got acquired by Indecomm Global Services. From 2007 to 2012, he backed several startups as an Angel Investor - Fasoos & MyDentist.Later in his career in 2012, he became a Founding Partner at IndiaQuotient, Venture Capital Firm which has invested in over 50 startups in the last 8 years.Some of his portfolio companies are LoanTap, Clip, and Sharechat among others.In this podcast, Anand shares his understanding of the Indian Middle-class consumer & also shares his learnings on how can startups build products for them. Notes - 00:35 - His Journey from Starting the first company in Dotcom boom to becoming a VC in 201201:50 - Experience with Early Portfolio Companies - Financial Services & Content09:00 - Understanding Indian consumers & building products for them16:55 - Investing in Indian Cosmetics Brand - Sugar20:50 - Serving the average Indian consumer with disposable income27:30 - Thesis behind building Indian Consumer Brands32:50 - Core Themes for future Portfolio companies at IndiaQuotient 38:50 - Portfolio Companies in Small Business Software - Vyapar, Fleetx, BharatAgri39:48 - Being bold & Taking Contrarian bets as a VCSend us a text

After graduating from IIT Kanpur in 1992, Manish worked with several top firms - Tata Elxsi, Motorola, Ittiam Systems & Sling Media.In 2013 he started LetsVenture which enables Angel Investors, Family Offices and Funds to discover and invest in early-stage and growth startups.Post that, in 2016, he started pi Ventures, which primarily invests in AI, IoT & Blockchain companies.Some of his portfolio companies are FrontdeskAI, Wysa, and SigTuple among others.In this podcast, Manish shares his experiences of investing and helping entrepreneurs build AI Startups. Notes - 00:40 - From Graduating IIT Kanpur in 1992 to starting pi Ventures in 201606:50 - Keys learnings while building Venture firms10:58 - Learning from path-breaking Entrepreneurs14:08 - Unsolved problems & prospects for upcoming startups in AI16:54 - Criteria for evaluating AI companies27:52 - Helping in building AI Startups28:22 - Convincing VCs to invest in AI Startups30:15 - Challenges while fund-raising as a VC37:26 - Advice for Founder’s who get lost in their JourneySend us a text

Sameer’s journey in India’s venture capital ecosystem began back in 2007 when he joined Reliance Ventures, where he focused on early-stage investments in the Technology, Media / Entertainment & Telecommunications domain.After being with Reliance for 4 years he joined Nexus Venture Partners in 2011 & currently leads their Bangalore office. At Nexus in the last 9 years, he has been part of the investment team that has lead investments in over 35 of their Portfolio companies.Some of Nexus portfolio companies are Druva, OLX, NetMagic, PaySense, Gluster, Rancher, H20, MapMyIndia, Pratilipi, Delhivery, Myupchar, Rapido, Snapdeal, Unacademy, Zomato, and Zolo among others.In this podcast, Sameer shares his experiences of identifying top-notch founders & his signature style of signing the Term sheet in the first meeting with the founders in whom he sees potential. Notes - 00:36 - From CFA Level-I to spending over 11 years in Venture Ecosystem07:48 - I’m very fond of what I do as VC10:50 - Investing in over 35 Portfolio Companies across - Business Services, Consumer Brands, Data & AI, Enterprise & Healthcare16:30 - Top 2 Portfolio Companies in every fund18:00 - Growth & Success of Postman and UnAcademy20:19 - Story behind signing term-sheet at UnAcademy27:11 - Size of Test Prep market in India28:48 - Investing in Postman right around its buyout stage33:37 - Signature style of getting Term-sheet signed & Investing then & there38:30 - Learnings from Mistakes as a VC41:05 - Identifying secular trends/shift in markets44:48 - Guiding founders in situations where they are able to raise $50M+ but haven’t had experience building big startups47:17 - Quality of founders is getting better & better51:55 - Low-value creation in several crappy companies in India01:01:20 - Low-key & Successful Portfolio Companies at Nexus Venture Partners01:04:50 - Being called a P/E VC Investor01:07:10 - Culture of hierarchy-free & openness at a VC firmSend us a text

Sanjay started his career in Silicon Valley in 1992 & spent over 7 years at his first company, working in different roles across - Sales, Customer Support, Engineering & Marketing. He then worked with Xerox & Portal Software in US before coming back to India in 2003.From 2003 to 2011, he had several experiences most of which revolutionized entire ecosystems they were part of, right from mCheck, ZipDial, Ezetap & Aadhar Team (at UIDAI).Finally in 2011, he started Angel Prime (now Prime Ventures) which invests in early-stage entrepreneurs to build great companies.Some of his portfolio companies are Moneytap, Ezetap, Happay, and Kredx among others.In this podcast, Sanjay shares his experiences & learnings from being on both sides of the Startup ecosystem - An Entrepreneur & A VC. Notes - 00:38 - His journey from a small town in Karnataka to Silicon Valley & finally becoming a VC04:04 - Part 1- Experience & Learnings in Silicon Valley (from working in Sales, Customer Support to Engineering)05:55 - Working with Xerox 08:40 - Coming back to India and working with mPortal & mChek11:20 - Realizing of being Ahead of Time at mChek 14:08 - Successful Startups which Controlled their Ecosystem like Paytm & those which rode the Ecosystem changes like PhonePe & GooglePay16:49 - Part 2 - Working with Aadhar (UIDAI Team) & Experiencing the formulation of Aadhar19:56 - Part 3 - Bringing together previous learnings & starting AngelPrime (currently Prime Ventures)22:51 - Conceptualizing ZipDial while being on a flight25:10 - Validating Market Fit in less than $100 at ZipDial28:45 - Building Ezetap - Being on the Merchant Side30:45 - Being the First Sculptor of the Company34:16 - Formulating Market Specific Preferences as a VC40:00 - Importance of being Honest & Open with your VC Partners44:57 - There’s No Completely 100% Right or Wrong situation being a VC47:59 - Being a Founder in Late 30s or 40s50:37 - Having 360 days of Frustration & 5 days of Glory as an EntrepreneurSend us a text

#100xEntrepreneur #Podcast with Sid Talwar, Managing Partner, Lightbox VenturesIn 2001, Sid founded Evolv, a vocational training company funded by Singapore Technologies. Over the next 6 years, he built it into a business that trained 20,000+ people annually across 200 cities in South Asia and the Middle East. He later sold it to NIIT in 2007 but continued to lead the internal teams in adopting new technology as a transformative force in education and vocational training.Post that, after being associated with GSF India for about a year, he Cofounded Lightbox Ventures in 2014. Some of his portfolio companies are Furlenco, Embibe, Dunzo, Cleartrip, and Bombay Shirt Company.In this podcast, Sid shares his experience of helping Entrepreneurs solve & avoid mistakes in their Entrepreneurial Journey. Notes - 00:36 - His Journey of helping Entrepreneurs Solve & Avoid Mistakes 01:58 - Invest in Few Companies at a time to understand them better04:03 - Top Exits from Fund-II07:34 - Building relationships with Portfolio Companies10:40 - What kind of businesses is Lightbox trying to promote?18:39 - Investing in Embibe based on the Aditi’s conviction as a Founder22:54 - Investing in Furlenco after getting to know Ajith Karimpana In & Out26:34 - Challenges in building a subscription model in India for Furniture35:42 - Thesis behind recent Investment in Nua 39:18 - Advice to Entrepreneurs while Pitching to VCsSend us a text

#100xEntrepreneur #Podcast with Adith Podhar, Founding Partner, Gemba CapitalAdith belongs to a typical Marwari family from Mumbai, after completing his MBA from the University of Mumbai, he worked with ICICI Bank handling fundraising for individual investors in Private Equity. During 2013 to 2017 he also headed Motilal Oswal Private Equity as their Vice President. In June 2017, he finally decided to start his own journey as an Early Stage Investors and started Gemba Capital. Some of his portfolio companies are myHQ, ClearDekho and HoiFoods.In this podcast, Adith shares his experience of operating as an Early Stage Investors and his learnings. Notes - 00:42 - Journey from Typical Marwari family to experiencing different stages in Entrepreneurial Journey and finally becoming a VC 05:11 - Why he started Gemba Capital? 06:48 - How did he develop his Priority Sectors and created his Investment Thesis? 11:40 - Investments, Vision & Thesis in Fintech 13:19 - Difference between companies which have scaled faster compared to others15:10 - Macro Factors behind Scaling faster and larger for a Company16:44 - Why is Cashout / CreditLine model becoming a popular product in Fintech?17:55 - How to crack your Distribution Channels suitable to your Products?22:04 - Ideal Co-investors24:20 - Overcoming Challenges and Hardships as a VC29:57 - Is the Sequoia Surge Programme a Threat to Small/Early Stage VC Firms?30:52 - Overcoming biases as a VC while Investing33:22 - Mistakes & Learnings as an Angel InvestorSend us a text

#100xEntrepreneur #Podcast with Tej Kapoor, Co-Executive President of Fosun RZ Capital (India & Africa)From 2007-13, Tej held several key positions at AOL in the United States and then at Naspers Group.In 2016 he joined Fosun RZ Capital, where some of his portfolio companies are Gland Pharma, Delhivery, MakeMyTrip, Ixigo and Kissht.In this podcast, Tej shares his experience of working with both Large scale markets as well as Seed-stage startups in India & China. Notes - 00:47 - Journey from AOL in the US to Naspers and finally heading Fosun RZ (India & Africa)04:17 - What is Fosun RZ Capital about? 05:42 - Typical Ticket Sizes08:45 - Focus Markets in 2020 - Fintech, Travel, E-commerce, Consumer Brands10:54 - Parameters to evaluate Seed/Early stage companies12:41 - Shift from dealing with Large Ticket Sizes at Naspers to Seed Stage Investing at Fosun RZ 15:25 - Role of Storytelling in Fundraising by Early-stage founders17:46 - Crucial aspects to building and selling your product20:20 - Growth Scale of Ixigo & Delhivery 22:31 - Key investments & Thesis at Naspers25:12 - Experience & Learnings in working with Founders of Ixigo, Delhivery & Ibibo28:57 - How’s the Startup and Angel Investing culture in China?34:50 - New Verticals of E-commerce Startups coming up in 202036:58 - Evaluation of a Fintech Startup & New opportunities in Fintech SpaceSend us a text