The Desi VC with Akash Bhat

Abhishek Goyal is the Co-founder, Vice Chairman, and Executive Director of Tracxn, a leading research firm that provides market intelligence data on private companies. Since its founding in 2012, Tracxn has secured funding from top investors like 3one4 Capital, Elevation Capital, Prime Venture Partners, and angel investors including Sachin and Binny Bansal, and has grown to become a highly profitable business. After much success, Tracxn debuted on the NSE in October 2022, becoming one of the few venture-backed startups to go public. Abhishek's strategic leadership and unwavering commitment to excellence have been vital in the growth and success of the company. Before Tracxn, Abhishek gained experience working with esteemed organizations such as Amazon Development Centre (India) Private Limited, Yahoo Software Development India Private Limited, and Accel. He also served as a consultant with 3i Infotech Limited and Erasmic Consulting Private Limited. Abhishek has been recognised as part of the '40 under 40' list by Fortune India in both 2018 and 2019, highlighting his success as a young entrepreneur. He holds a bachelor's degree in technology with a specialization in computer science and engineering from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Episode Notes: 1. What was it like before and after Tracxn's IPO? (3:38) 2. Why did Tracxn's founders choose to go public instead of selling the company? (6:10) 3. How has Abhishek's leadership role changed since the IPO? (7:30) 4. How did Tracxn's investors learn about the IPO process, and what was their reaction? (15:53) 5. What's the best analogy for a company going public? (20:20) 6. Why did Abhishek choose to become an entrepreneur? (22:30) 7. What was Tracxn's first milestone? (26:00) 8. Would Abhishek do things differently if he had to build Tracxn again? (30:30) 9. What were some of the toughest days as a founder? (33:33) 10. What is Abhishek's superpower as an angel investor? (38:18) 11. What's the biggest lesson Abhishek has learned over his career? (44:23) 12. Abhishek tips on leadership and management (47:15) 13. What advice would Abhishek give his younger self? (57:00) . . . Social Links: Tracxn on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tracxn Abhishek Goyal on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AbhishekTracxn Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash

Sanam Rawal is the Founder and Partner at Metamorph (previously known as Passion Connect), a Blume Ventures-incubated human resource advisory platform that helps startups grow with talent acquisition, talent branding, acquisitions, research, learning and development and more. With offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, and Pune, Metamorph has assisted in the hiring of more than 800 candidates, including CEOs and senior vice presidents for well-known startups such as Unacademy, Slice, HealthifyMe, Dunzo, Cashify, Purplle, and many more. Episode Notes: 1. How did Sanam become involved in the world of venture capital? (3:45) 2. Sanam's perspective on working within the Blume ecosystem (15:25) 3. A glimpse into the early days at Metamorph (18:36) 4. How does talent matching occur at the portfolio level? (26:08) 5. What makes founders choose to work with Metamorph despite having their own HR teams? (30:10) 6. The role of HR firms in M&A processes (35:04) 7. Overcoming challenges when working with portfolio startups (42:57) 8. Metamorph's strategy for hiring the best employees to support startup growth (48:45) 9. Addressing the reverse brain drain phenomenon (51:50) 10. Key takeaways from building and developing Metamorph (54:06) 11. Sanam's proudest achievement during her time at Metamorph (1:00:33) . . . Social Links: Sanam Rawal on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sanam_Speaks Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash

Jen Abel is the accomplished Co-Founder of JJELLYFISH, a Boston-based firm renowned for its pioneering approach in assisting B2B startups to achieve early-stage sales proficiency and success in the United States, as well as the UK and Australia markets. With over six years of experience in the industry, JJELLYFISH has empowered over 200 B2B/enterprise startups to validate their sales process and go-to-market strategy, demonstrating a commitment to delivering exceptional results. The firm's highly skilled team has a proven track record of generating impressive revenue and driving substantial outcomes for companies headquartered in Asia, Europe, Australia, and North America. JJELLYFISH's range of services caters to diverse needs, including acquiring first-time US customers, defining US go-to-market strategies, or transitioning from the SMB market to mid-market/enterprise levels. The firm's expertise in these areas is unparalleled, and they have demonstrated a remarkable capacity to navigate and succeed in complex markets. Episode Notes: 1. The inspiration behind co-founding JJELLYFISH (2:52) 2. The evolution of the sales process in the US over the years(8:27) 3. The benefits of founder-led sales for startups (15:20) 4. The right time to invest in sales teams (23:15) 5. Jen's definition of PMF (33:55) 6. Common pitfalls Indian founders face while selling in the US (45:34) 7. Tips for improving sales skills for founders (50:47) 8. Advice for founders entering US markets (57:37) . . . Social Links: JJELLYFISH on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jjellyfish_co Jen Abel on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jjen_abel Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash

Rahul Chowdhury is the Managing Partner at N+1 Capital, India’s first revenue based debt fund. He brings 18+ years of intensive entrepreneurial and operating experience. He is a two-time founder, having founded and sold DenuoSource, a Chicago-based data analytics firm, in 2011. He later founded Reboot, India's first refurbished IT asset lifecycle management firm. How does revenue-based-financing (RBF) work? N+1 will provide startups access to capital, at a premium, without taking any equity share or collateral from the company. Further, it collects a percentage of the borrowing entity’s monthly revenues to pay the capital back, and gives steady returns to its limited partners on a quarterly basis. Unlike venture debt firms, N+1 isn’t dependent on future fund-raise of the startup, but will invest on the basis of its revenue outlook. Episode Notes: 1. What motivated Rahul to pursue a career as a venture capitalist? (3:38) 2. The impact of Rahul's operator journey on his venture capital journey (6:02) 3. With whom does Rahul do business? (12:50) 4. Key characteristics of successful entrepreneurs (15:41) 5. Rahul’s decision making process (23:10) 6. How important are metrics and numbers in investment decision making? (35:40) 7. How does Rahul view black swan events and their impact on predicting the trajectory of startups seeking revenue-based financing? (38:18) 8. Evaluating businesses of varying sizes with respect to revenue based financing (45:31) 9. How significant is TAM to a revenue-based-financing investor? (55:20) 10. Challenges of revenue based financing in India (58:38) 11. Why VCs like to collaborate with a revenue-based-financing firm? (1:04:20) 12. What were the LPs' concerns about a revenue-based-financing firm? (1:09:51) 13. Personality-Fund-Fit for a fund manager (1:15:35) 14. Things about India that continue to surprise Rahul (1:21:28) . . . Social Links: N+1 Capital on Twitter: https://twitter.com/np1capital Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash

Tarun Sharma is Managing Partner at MegaDelta Capital Advisors, a sub-advisor to Millenna Capital, a Mauritius based investment fund as well as an investment manager of MegaDelta Capital Fund I, a SEBI registered Category II Alternate Investment Fund. The fund has invested in companies such as GOQii, Nova, IDfy, Naaptol, Firstcry, MoneyTap etc. and others. MegaDelta typically invest $15-25M across sectors of such as Healthcare, Enterprise technology and Engineering Services. Tarun has more than 18 years of work experience, including 16 years in principal investing and investment advisory in India and around the world. He currently serves on the boards of GreytHR Software, Intelligence Node, Panacea Medical Technologies, and Air Works Engineering, as well as Nova Fertility and FirstCry.com as a Board Observer. Tarun formed the core investment advisory team for NEA India prior to joining MegaDelta Capital, leading investments in consumer, healthcare, and technology companies. And before that, he worked for Peepul Capital Private Equity, where he was involved in transaction structuring and execution, as well as actively managing portfolio companies in the consumer and media sectors. He began his career at Goldman Sachs International in London, first with the Equity Derivatives team and then with the Global Macro Proprietary trading team, where he developed a strong understanding of macro themes and translated them into investible opportunities. Tarun received an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad, India and earned his B.Tech. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Delhi, India. Episode Notes: 1. Intro (2:45) 2. Tarun’s journey into venture capital (4:12) 3. The evolution of the Indian venture capital landscape over the last 15 years (12:05) 4. How has Tarun evolved as an investor over the years? (16:20) 5. The role of a successful fund manager (21:35) 6. Takeaways from investing and collaborating with portfolio founders (case in point: Firstcry.com) (31:02) 7. Healthcare in India: Why haven't venture capitalists done more in this sector? (43:21) 8. Where is the real opportunity in healthcare in the next 4-5 years? (48:13) 9. Advice Tarun would give himself (55:20) . . . Social Links: Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash Podcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivc Akash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash

Kanika Mayar is a Partner at Vertex Ventures SEA & India (VVSEAI), a fund part of the global Vertex Ventures network of funds, with portfolio companies such as Licious, FirstCry, Nium, Binance, Grab, Yatra, and Happy Fresh. In addition to Southeast Asia and India, the Vertex Global Network is comprised of affiliates in Silicon Valley, China and Israel. Kanika joined Vertex Ventures in 2020 and focuses on opportunities in India in agritech, B2B, consumer, and health tech. Kanika has worked in private equity, asset management, and investment banking for over 9 years.Prior to joining Vertex, Kanika was an Investment Officer with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) where she focused on investing in early-stage technology, telecom, renewable energy and infrastructure companies across India and South Asia. Before IFC, Kanika was with Goldman Sachs’s Investment Banking team covering transactions in natural resources in Europe.Kanika holds a Bachelor in Economics from the Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.Episode Notes:1. Intro (1:30)2. Kanika's professional trajectory (2:42)3. A general overview of the VC industry in recent years (7:00)4. India's macro trends (14:22)5. Kanika's India thesis (21:23)6. Portfolio startup learnings (31:51)7. Establishing long-term relationships with founders (41:20)8. Advice to anyone entering venture capital (51:30). . . Social Links: Vertex Ventures on Twitter: https://twitter.com/VertexVenturesKanika Mayar on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KanikaMayarPodcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vcAkash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakashPodcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivcAkash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash

Aprameya Radhakrishna is a serial entrepreneur and the co-founder and CEO of Koo, an Indian microblogging and social networking app also known as the Indian Twitter. The company has raised a little over $50M from marquee investors such as Accel, Kalaari Capital, Blume Ventures, 3one4 Capital, Tiger Global among many others. He founded his first venture, TaxiForSure with Raghunandan, which was acquired by OLA in 2015 for $200 million. In 2017, Aprameya launched his second venture, ‘Vokal,’ a user-generated content platform in Indian languages, with partner Mayank Bidawatka. After that, he realised that content in regional Indian languages was sparse, as most social media platforms carry an English-first approach and are built primarily for English speakers residing in urban centres. This gave him the idea of developing a multi-lingual micro-blogging platform for Indians, Koo, to communicate and connect with their linguistic and cultural communities. In July 2020, he won the Prime Minister’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge. Episode Notes: 1. Intro (2:20) 2. Reflections on free expression in the context of microblogging and social media (3:50) 3. Growing Koo within different sections of the Indian populations (8:55) 4. How did the idea for Koo come about, and what factors aided the company's growth? (12:50) 5. Learning from building TaxiForSure that translates to building Koo (17:10) 6. The initial set of milestones that established the Koo brand (20:04) 7. Expansion during the pandemic (23:48) 8. Lessons from India's growth that will help Koo expand to the United States (26:47) 9. Creating richer community experiences (29:40) 10. Taking on Twitter (33:52) 11. Scaling values as businesses grow (37:44) 12. Creating a brand with a purpose (41:38) 13. How do investors perceive Koo’s growth in the coming years? (47:37) 14. Lessons learned as a serial entrepreneur in India (50:18) . . . Social Links: Koo on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kooindia Aprameya Radhakrishna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/aprameya Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vc Akash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakash

Shyam Menon is the founding partner of Bharat Innovation Fund (BII), an India-based early-stage venture capital fund that invests in IP-driven deep tech, healthcare, agritech, fintech, mobility, logistics, enterprise and renewables startups. The fund has invested in Fire Compass, CreditVidya, Shifu, Detect Technologies, among many others. He has worked in the technology industry for over 25 years. Prior to launching BII, Shyam co-founder Infuse Ventures, India’s first clean tech focussed early-stage venture capital fund backed by BP, IFC, MNRE, SIDBI and other prominent LPs, and spent several years abroad working across global institutions such as the World Bank, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Conduit Ventures, Fuel Cell Energy, and Acumentrics Corp.Shyam graduated with honors from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology with a Bachelor's degree in Metallurgical Engineering and Missouri University of Science and Technology with a Master's degree in Material Sciences. Despite beginning his Ph.D. at UC Davis, he decided to discontinue it and pursue a career in the impact space.Episode Notes: 1. Intro (2:20)2. The origin story of Bharat Innovation Fund (3:00)3. Why did Shyam decide to bet on the Indian startup story in 2007/08? (37:47)4. Backing dreamers and disruptors (44:30)5. How has Shyam evolved as a fund manager (1:02:30). . . Social Links: BII on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bharat_fundPodcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vcAkash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakashPodcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivcAkash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash

Tushar Vashisht is the Co-founder and CEO of HealthifyMe, a digital health and wellness company that provides smart meal plans personalized by expert nutritionists and customized workout plans with certified fitness coaches. The company has raised just over $100M from Khosla Ventures, Chiratae Ventures, Athera Venture Partners, Blume Ventures among several others.Vashisht began his career on Wall Street at BlackRock. He later joined Deutsche Bank as a corporate finance analyst in San Francisco before moving to Singapore. In 2009, he joined the Aadhaar project headed by Nandan Nilekani, and in 2012 he co-founded HealthifyMe with Mathew Cherian and Sachin Shenoy.Episode Notes:1. Introduction (2:50)2. What led Tushar to found HealthifyMe (4:05)3. How did Tushar and his team validate their HealhtifyMe thesis? (8:40)4. How do you find early adopters and solicit feedback as founders? (13:48)5. How does the life of a founder change when they raise capital (22:05)6. The pandemic's impact on HealthifyMe as a company (28:55)7. Which is more difficult: building in the early stages or empowering leaders within an organization? (36:47)8. Tushar’s frameworks for decision making (39:55)9. Tushar's advice to his younger self (44:52). . . Bonus: Ud ja Re by Tushar Vashisht . . . Social Links: HealthifyMe on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HealthifyMeTushar Vashisht on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tusharvashishtPodcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vcAkash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakashPodcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivcAkash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash

Upasana Taku is the Co-founder, COO and Chairperson of MobiKwik, a financial services company that provides a fintech platform designed for online payments (incl. BNPL), life insurance, and loans. The company has raised $178M from marquee investors such as Sequoia, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Blacksoil, AmEx Ventures, Orios Venture Partners, Cisco Investments among many others. Upasana built the company from scratch and now has 32 million users and 100,000 merchants, doing close to 500,000-1,000,000 transactions every day. Episode Notes:1. What inspired Upasana to found Mobikwik (4:23)2. How does one validate an idea or a business in its early stages? (10:30)3. The evolution of the CEO's role (23:08)4. The vision for MobiKwik (30:53)5. Thoughts on monetizing UPI (41:55)6. Differentiating consumer and fintech products, companies, and offerings (45:50)7. What advice would Upasana give herself if she had to start over? (51:10). . . Social Links: MobiKwik on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MobiKwikUpasana Taku on Twitter: https://twitter.com/UpasanaTakuPodcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedesi_vcAkash Bhat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhatvakashPodcast on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedesivcAkash Bhat on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bhatvakash