The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | Fundraising

In today’s episode, Melissa Frakman, Founding Partner @Emphasis Ventures (EMVC), joins our host Digjay, and talks about the Indian fintech ecosystem, the importance of having advisors/investors that have diverse perspectives & access to global networks and why adopting a collaborative approach is a good bet when building for a complex market like India. EMVC is an early-stage VC fund that invests in fintech startups in India and other high-growth markets. Melissa brings 15 years of experience participating in India’s digital revolution and is a sought-after advisor for Indian founders interested in going global. Named on the “Global Fintech PowerList” by Innovate Finance, Melissa has led Asia early stage investments, supported new market strategy, and built partnerships for several Fortune 100 companies. Melissa also serves as a mentor to accelerators like Techstars India and Village Capital. She is based in Washington, DC and Mumbai. You can connect with her on Linkedin / Twitter ---- If you liked our episode, you can subscribe to our podcast on any of the major podcasting platforms like Spotify, Apple iTunes and Google Podcasts. Please leave us a review on Apple iTunes to help others discover this podcast. You can visit thevcpreneur.com and follow us on Twitter @thevcpreneur_ & Instagram @thevcpreneur for more episodes and interesting insights on the startup ecosystem. You can also follow our host Digjay on Linkedin & Twitter ---- Show notes – 1. (01:35) Melissa’s connect with India’s fintech ecosystem 2. (03:22) Starting Emphasis Ventures (EMVC) with focus on providing global connectivity to early stage startups in India 3. (05:10) Why is it important to have access to a cross-border network and advisors with diverse viewpoints? 4. (08:40) Backing founders with unconventional backgrounds and those who do not have a proven track record; Approach for such founders to stand out and attract attention from top VCs 5. (12:30) What should founders focus on when building a fintech product in India? 6. (15:10) Adopting a collaborative approach to scale up & survive the fintech competition 7. (17:30) Focus areas for early stage founders  8. (19:15) Key strengths and areas of improvement for the Indian startup ecosystem vs it’s peers 9. (22:10) Fintech domains that Melissa is excited about 10. (24:30) Rapid fire and closing remarks

In today’s episode, Vinay Singh, Founding Partner @Fireside Ventures, joins our host Digjay, to share his path leading up to Venture Capital, the business of building & investing in consumer brands, the expectations of new age consumers and the corresponding change in narrative with the rise of modern D2C brands or Brands 2.0. Vinay Singh is a Founding Partner at Fireside Ventures, an early-stage consumer-focused venture fund which has invested in brands like boAt, Mama Earth, Vahdam Teas & Bombay Shaving Company to name a few. With 7+ years at Hindustan Unilever as Marketing Manager for a multi-crore brand, extensive expertise in digital marketing at McKinsey & Co., and Bankbazaar.com, Vinay has a unique perspective on the intersection between consumer brands and technology. He has also been an entrepreneur, as the founder and CEO of Stepni.com, which was later acquired by Quikr. You can reach out to him here on Linkedin ---- If you liked our episode, you can subscribe to our podcast on any of the major podcasting platforms like Spotify, Apple iTunes and Google Podcasts. Please leave us a review on Apple iTunes to help others discover this podcast. You can visit thevcpreneur.com and follow us on Twitter @thevcpreneur_ & Instagram @thevcpreneur for more episodes and interesting insights on the startup ecosystem. You can also follow our host Digjay on Linkedin & Twitter ---- Show notes – 1. (1:05) Vinay’s path leading up to being a VC with Fireside Venture 2. (05:02) Fireside Ventures - Focus on consumer brands 3. (09:25) What are the characteristics of Brand 2.0? 4. (13:57) Differentiating your brand among increasing competition; importance of building a brand narrative that resonates with your customers 5. (16:15) Evaluating early-stage consumer brands; Key questions that a brand should be able to answer before fundraising 6. (18:33) How Fireside partners & assists direct-to-consumer brands in it’s portfolio? 7. (23:17) Key elements that should be a part of a consumer brand’s fundraising pitch 8. (27:33) Rapid fire and closing remarks

In today’s episode, Dhruvil Sanghvi, Founder & CEO @LogiNext, joins our host Digjay, to share LogiNext’s journey of scaling up and becoming a global SaaS company, importance of seeking customer feedback, achieving product-market fit, performing due diligence and picking the right investors at early stages of a startup. LogiNext is amongst the fastest growing global SaaS companies in the delivery & logistics space backed by marquee investors like Tiger Global, Steadview Capital, & Alibaba. Dhruvil, an alum of Carnegie-Mellon university, has been a pioneer in driving transformation & automation in the logistics management space. He is also one of the youngest tech business heads to be named in the coveted Forbes India 30 under 30 and Entreprenuer 35 under 35 lists. Before starting his journey as an entrepreneur, he worked as a consultant to many Fortune 500 companies such as Ernst & Young and Deloitte. He is also an early stage investor and mentor for young entrepreneurs. You can connect with him here on Linkedin / Twitter ---- If you liked our episode, you can subscribe to our podcast on any of the major podcasting platforms like Spotify, Apple iTunes and Google Podcasts. Please leave us a review on Apple iTunes to help others discover this podcast. You can visit thevcpreneur.com and follow us on Twitter @thevcpreneur_ & Instagram @thevcpreneur for more episodes and interesting insights on the startup ecosystem. You can also follow our host Digjay on Linkedin& Twitter ---- Show notes – 1. (01:14) The genesis of the idea behind LogiNext, customer segment and business model 2. (06:00) Going from 0 to 1 – Building a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), hiring and defining founder responsibilities 3. (07:56) Dhruvil’s definition of Product-Market fit, importance of seeking customer feedback at an early stage, using customer feedback to validate your product idea 4. (12:30) Scaling up from x to 10x – Building repeatable processes, investing in people 5. (14:46) Balancing growth and profitability 6. (18:38) Building a global distribution channel for your product 7. (21:40) Founder-Investor dynamics, benefits of going through an incubator/accelerator at an early-stage 8. (23:06) How to perform due diligence on investors at seed stage? Picking up signals when pitching to investors 9. (26:56) Rapid fire and closing remarks

In today’s episode, Adith Podhar, Founding Partner @Gemba Capital, joins our host Digjay, to discuss among other topics, the nuances and challenges of running a micro-VC fund, evaluating founders at early-stage startups, the portfolio creation approach for first time VCs, identifying and avoiding VC investment biases and decoding the art & science of venture investing. Adith is the Founding Partner at Gemba Capital, a micro-VC fund which invests in angel and seed rounds in tech enabled startups that are focused on the India consumption story and cross border SaaS. Some of his portfolio companies include myHQ, ClearDekho, SureClaim, ShopKirana, Upekkha, Kaarva, SleepyCat, and HoiFoods, among others. Prior to starting Gemba Capital, Adith worked at Motilal Oswal PE (MOPE) fund in Mumbai with responsibilities across the investment cycle from deal sourcing - due diligence - negotiation - execution - monitoring - exit. He started his career with ICICI Bank, as a product manager for PE in the International Private Banking division. Adith is also the founder of 'Crepeteria' - a chain of quick-serve restaurants. Crepeteria got seed funded and Adith ran it for 4 years expanding it to 3 cities. You can connect with him here on Linkedin / Twitter If you liked our episode, you can subscribe to our podcast on any of the major podcasting platforms like Spotify, Apple iTunes and Google Podcasts. Please leave us a review on Apple iTunes to help others discover this podcast. You can visit thevcpreneur.com and follow us on Twitter @thevcpreneur_ & Instagram @thevcpreneur for more episodes and interesting insights on the startup ecosystem. You can also follow our host Digjay on Linkedin / Twitter Show notes – 1. (01:10) Adith’s background and how he ended up starting his own micro VC fund 2. (03:20) Thesis and Opportunity at Gemba Capital 3. (08:12) Relationship with large VC funds 4. (09:30) Evaluating founders at early stage startups; The ‘Founder Attribute Score’ methodology 5. (12:00) Defining & achieving Product Market Fit; Growth vs Profitability 6. (16:40) Challenges of running a micro VC fund – Long feedback loop, raising funds from LPs, building your brand/network, competition 7. (18:30) Niche/thematic funds vs Sector agnostic funds 8. (20:45) Portfolio creation for early stage VCs 9. (22:20) VC investing – An art or a science? 10. (23:50) Common investment biases of a venture capitalist & how to avoid them 11. (28:40) Rapid fire questions and closing remarks

In today’s episode, Sumukh Sridhara, Founder & CEO @EquityList, joins our host Digjay, to discuss among other topics, AngelList's role at various stages of a startup’s lifecycle, how it is democratizing access to venture investing, the making of EquityList, how EquityList was born out of this startup OS approach to building products and the culture of having a founder mindset at AngelList. Sumukh is the founder of EquityList, an equity management product for Indian companies. Sumukh also heads product & engineering at AngelList India, which as a platform, is the most active early stage investor in India. You can connect with him here on Linkedin / Twitter If you liked our episode, you can subscribe to our podcast on any of the major podcasting platforms like Spotify, Apple iTunes and Google Podcasts. Please leave us a review on Apple iTunes to help others discover this podcast. You can visit thevcpreneur.com and follow us on Twitter @thevcpreneur_ & Instagram @thevcpreneur for more episodes and interesting insights on the startup ecosystem. You can also follow our host Digjay on Linkedin / Twitter Resources – 1. EquityList blogs with explainers on ESOPs, equity management and how to use EquityList for managing your cap table  2. A guide for founders how to use AngelList in India Show notes – 1. Sumukh’s background and how he ended up working at AngelList 2. How AngelList plays a role in the lifecycle of a startup and helps them with fundraising, hiring and product launch? 3. How AngelList is democratizing access to venture investing through its syndicates platform for investors? 4. The scale at AngelList – portfolio of ~5,000 startups globally; how it leverages its massive data set to innovate and build new products for VCs and Startups? 5. Genesis of the idea behind EquityList, an equity management product for Indian companies. What differentiates EquityList from other competitors in the market? 6. The need for a ‘Startup Operating System’ approach to build products that can catalyze the growth of startups 7. Differences & similarities between Silicon Valley & the Indian startup ecosystem 8. Developing the founder mindset at AngelList & straddling between the role of an operator & a founder 9. The ‘Naval effect’ at AngelList 10. Rapid fire and closing remarks

In today’s episode, Maximilian Rofagha, Founder & CEO @Finimize, joins our host Digjay, to talk about his learnings and experience as a 2x entrepreneur, why he thinks startups are in the business of making bets, why he started his 2nd startup – Finimize, what does it mean to build a community around your business, and the approach to building products that solve for broad problems like financial literacy. Max is the founder of Finimize, a UK based startup which is building the world’s largest finance community. Finimize which is known for its jargon-free daily newsletter, is building a suite of products to help users make informed financial decisions. Prior to Finimize, Max founded DeinDeal, Switzerland’s second biggest multi-category ecommerce player after Amazon which was later acquired by media conglomerate, Ringier. He also mentors at Techstars and Startup Bootcamp and was named one of Forbes "30 under 30" for Finance in 2016. You can connect with him on Linkedin / Twitter. If you liked our episode, you can subscribe to our podcast on any of the major podcasting platforms like Spotify, Apple iTunes and Google Podcasts. Please leave us a review on Apple iTunes to help others discover this podcast. You can visit thevcpreneur.com and follow us on Twitter @thevcpreneur_ & Instagram @thevcpreneur for more episodes and interesting insights on the startup ecosystem. You can also follow our host Digjay on Linkedin / Twitter. Show notes – 1. Why Max always wanted to be an entrepreneur? 2. Learning’s from his 1st startup – importance of culture, not getting stuck in frameworks 3. Genesis of the idea behind his 2nd startup, Finimize 4. Approach to solving a broad based problem - running experiments, testing your hypotheses, being selective about user feedback 5. What does it mean to have a community for your product/company? How Finimize built a global community around its business? 6. Importance of decoding ‘distribution’ at an early stage of a startup; different frameworks to figure out the best approach to do that 7. Picking the right investors for your startup 8. Rapid fire and closing remarks

In today’s episode, Anup Jain, Managing Partner @Orios Venture Partners, joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path leading up to venture capital, importance of taking risks, collaborating with the startup ecosystem, how Orios is #backingmisfits and what are the fundamentals of building a direct-to-consumer brand. At Orios Venture Partners, Anup focuses on investments at the firm in sectors such as Fintech, B2B marketplaces, D2C Brands, Social Commerce, Edtech and Healthtech. He is a member of the Investment Committee and actively involves himself with portfolio companies on business growth, brand management and building teams. He joined Orios in late 2017 after an operating experience of 20 years in managing consumer businesses and building brands across India/ Asia/ Australia. His prior work-ex includes leadership roles at P&G, Whirlpool, Yum Brands and Bata as also a startup stint with indya.com. He’s also been an angel investor in areas of Agri-tech, B2B tech and Digital Media. Anup is an alum of Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) and Delhi College of Engineering. You can connect with him on Linkedin/Twitter. If you liked our episode, you can subscribe to our podcast on any of the major podcasting platforms like Spotify, Apple iTunes and Google Podcasts. Please leave us a review on Apple iTunes to help others discover this podcast. You can visit thevcpreneur.com and follow us on Twitter @thevcpreneur_ & Instagram @thevcpreneur for more episodes and interesting insights on the startup ecosystem. You can also follow our host Digjay on Linkedin/Twitter. Show notes – 1. Anup’s path to venture capital – why taking risks is key 2. Backing misfits via Orios’ Accelerator program 3. What are the benefits of an accelerator model for both startups and investors? 4. Thesis and approach for identifying the next set of unicorns 5. What metrics does Orios measure to rate its own performance (apart from returns for its LPs)? 6. How can we collaborate better to help accelerate the growth of the startup ecosystem in India? 7. Fundamentals of building a direct-to-consumer brand 8. Rapid fire and closing remarks

In today’s episode, Sid Talwar, Founding Partner@Lightbox joins our host Digjay, to share his learnings as a first time entrepreneur, what led him to start Lightbox, why Lightbox prefers to maintain a lean portfolio of startups and how to think/respond in crisis situations.  Sid is a Co-founder and Partner at Lightbox, a venture capital firm based out of India. Lightbox invests in emerging technology companies at an early stage. Prior to Lightbox, Sid founded Evolv, a vocational training company funded by Singapore Technologies. Over six years he built it into a business that trained 20,000+ people annually across 200 cities in South Asia and the Middle East. He 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. An entrepreneur at heart, Sid left NIIT to get more involved in the start-up community in India. Over the next few years, leading up to Lightbox, Sid advised several startups and angel funds before founding Lightbox in 2010. You can reach out to him here on Linkedin / Twitter  If you liked our episode, you can subscribe to our podcast on any of the major podcasting platforms like Spotify, Apple iTunes and Google Podcasts. Please leave us a review on Apple iTunes and help others discover this podcast. You can visit thevcpreneur.com and follow us on Twitter @thevcpreneur_ & Instagram @thevcpreneur for more episodes and interesting insights on the startup ecosystem. You can also follow our host Digjay here on Linkedin / Twitter  Show notes –  1. Sid talks about his first startup Evolv and his learnings as a first-time entrepreneur  2. Personal and professional costs of entrepreneurship and why it’s not necessary to be a founder to demonstrate success in life?  3. Founder personalities; Realizing the importance of team members and building a culture of retaining talent  4. Why Sid started Lightbox; Thesis and Vision of the fund  5. How Sid allocates time to portfolio companies and why Lightbox prefers to maintain a lean portfolio?  6. How to optimize decision making as a VC, despite long feedback cycles of a VC fund  7. How should founders evaluate which VC/investor will add most value to their company?  8. Responding vs reacting to crisis situations and being thoughtful before making pivots  9. Rapid fire questions and closing remarks

In today’s episode, Pranav Pai, Founding Partner @3one4 Capital joins our host Digjay, to share about his journey leading into venture capital, how 3one4 Capital differentiates itself from other VC funds, challenges of founding and managing a venture capital fund, the key metrics used at 3one4 Capital to measure it's performance as a VC fund and preparing their portfolio companies for a crisis. Pranav is a Founding Partner at 3one4 Capital - an early-stage venture capital fund based in Bangalore, India. The fund manages a corpus of ~INR 800 Cr (+$110MM) with a portfolio of 50+ early-stage investments across various technology, product, and platform companies in India and US. Pranav has been awarded the “35 under 35” Entrepreneurs of India for 2017 and the “40 under 40” Alternative Investments Professionals of India for 2020. Some of his investments include Licious, Betterplace, Open, Jupiter, ToneTag, DarwinBox, Faircent, Bugworks, Pocket Aces, YourStory, and Tracxn. Pranav is a Stanford Alum, and is the co-president of Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs India. You can connect with him here on Linkedin / Twitter If you liked our episode, you can subscribe to our podcast on any of the major podcasting platforms like Spotify, Apple iTunes and Google Podcasts. Please leave us a review on Apple iTunes and help others discover this podcast. You can visit thevcpreneur.com and follow us on Twitter @thevcpreneur_ & Instagram @thevcpreneur for more episodes and interesting insights on the startup ecosystem. You can also follow our host Digjay here on Linkedin / Twitter Show notes – 1. Pranav’s background and path to Venture Capital (VC) 2. How is 3one4 Capital different from traditional VC funds? 3. Attracting the best startups; Startup evaluation process at 3one4 Capital 4. Learnings from his time at Stanford and working in the Bay Area 5. Challenges of launching a Venture Capital fund 6. How does 3one4 Capital assess its own performance as a VC fund? What are the qualitative aspects that they focus on? 7. How to prepare yourself and your portfolio companies for a crisis; Surviving the pandemic 8. Rapid fire questions and closing remarks

The VCpreneur podcast provides a unique perspective of the startup world, through the lens of Venture Capitalists (VCs) and Entrepreneurs. The podcast features successful VCs and Entrepreneurs discussing the art & science of building products, scaling startups, fundraising and investing in a venture. Listen in to learn from individuals who have been there, done that and made a dent in the venture universe. If you are a current or aspiring entrepreneur, a venture capitalist, or someone who simply wants to enhance their knowledge about the startup ecosystem, this show is for you! We will be releasing our first episode very soon. Until then you can subscribe to this podcast on all popular podcast platforms like Spotify, Apple iTunes and Google Podcasts. Please leave us a review on Apple iTunesand help others discover this podcast. You can visit thevcpreneur.com and follow us on Twitter @thevcpreneur_ & Instagram @thevcpreneur for more episodes and interesting insights on the startup ecosystem. You can also follow our host Digjay here on Linkedin/Twitter