Rajiv Srivatsa is a Partner at Antler India, one of the most active early-stage venture capital firms. Prior to Antler, he co-founded Urban Ladder, an omni-channel furniture and decor retailer started in 2012. The company raised over $100M from SAIF Partners, Kalaari, Steadview, Peak XV Partners, Trifecta Capital and Ratan Tata. In November 2020, the company was acquired by Reliance Retail.

Prior to Urban Ladder, he served as a Senior Product Manager with Yahoo, and before that at Infosys. He is an alumnus of IIT-Madras and IIM-Bangalore.

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Episode Notes:

1. How did it all start for Rajiv (2:02)
2. When and why did Rajiv decide to start Urban Ladder (5:50)
3. Where does Rajiv’s love for consumer products come from (12:10)
4. How did idea of selling home decor / furniture originate (14:41)
5. How did Urban Ladder look at culture internally and build a great one at scale (28:45)
6. How has Rajiv’s leadership evolved over the years (34:12)
7. How and why did Rajiv decide to enter venture capital (42:35)
8. What does Rajiv enjoy the most - being an operator, founder or investor (55:10)
9. Rajiv’s advice to anyone on a break looking for a framework on how to develop a career plan (57:35)

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Social Links:

1. Follow ⁠Rajiv on Twitter⁠
2. Follow ⁠⁠Rajiv on LinkedIn⁠⁠
3. Follow ⁠⁠The Desi VC on LinkedIn⁠⁠
4. Follow ⁠⁠Akash Bhat on Twitter⁠⁠
5. Follow ⁠Akash Bhat on LinkedIn

Shwetank Verma is the co-founder of Leo Capital, a venture capital fund investing in companies inIndiaand South East Asia. Recent investments include CoLearn (edtech), WayForward (mental health), CoverGenius (Insurtech) and IndiaGold (Digital Gold). Leo Capital is backed by institutional investorsfrom Singapore and Silicon Valley.

Prior to Leo Capital, he led Open Innovation for MetLife Asia and was a part of the senior management team of LumenLab, MetLife's innovation consultancy. At LumenLab, he advised MetLife country CEOs andsenior leaders on growth, startup collaboration, culture change and new product development.

Prior to joining MetLife, he was a serial entrepreneur in healthcare and education in India. He serves asInnovation Adviser to the Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Singapore Management University.

He is also a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants England and Wales and holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Econometrics from the University of Nottingham (UK), where he was a Foreignand Commonwealth Office scholar.

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Episode Notes:

1. State of the industry in 2024
2. How does Shwetank define a good investor?
3. Takeaways from working with portfolio founders
4. Vision for India the next 5 years
5. Examples of building from India for the world from a category-creation play
6. Best investor persona: Operator vs Pure investor?
7. How did Leo build its internal thesis?
8. Why did Shwetank become an investor?
9. What does Shwetank like and dislike about investing?
10. How has Shwetank evolved as an investor?
11. Insights from working with Leo’s porticos
12. Advice Shwetank would give his younger self

. . .

Social Links:

1. Follow Shwetank on Twitter
2. Follow ⁠Shwetank on LinkedIn⁠
3. Follow ⁠The Desi VC on LinkedIn⁠
4. Follow ⁠Akash Bhat on Twitter⁠
5. Follow Akash Bhat on LinkedIn
   

Prayank Swaroop is a Partner at Accel, and joined the firm in 2011.

He focuses on cybersecurity, developer tools, marketplaces, and SaaS investments. Some of the investments led by him are - Aavenir, Bizongo, Maverix, OnsiteGo, Securden, Slintel, Skeps, and Zetwerk.

Prior to Accel, he worked at Adobe and Standard Chartered Bank in India and Singapore. He held positions across engineering, product marketing, pre-sales, and product management.

He has an integrated master's degree in Mathematics and Computing from IIT Delhi and an MBA from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.

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Episode Notes:

1. What made Prayank take a bet on venture as a career path (3:38)
2. Naivety in venture capital (7:10)
3. Where is venture as of October 2023, post the global slow down (9:50)
4. Sectors that have shown massive potential in spite of it being a dull year in terms of venture activity (18:18)
5. Insights gained by Prayank over the course of his ten years of investment experience (22:15)
6. How to evaluate people as an investor (27:38)
7. How would Prayank rebuild his career as an investor if given a chance to restart (38:37)
8. Advice to founders (48:15)

. . .

Social Links:

1. Follow Prayank on Twitter
2. Follow ⁠Prayank on LinkedIn⁠
3. Follow ⁠The Desi VC on LinkedIn⁠
4. Follow ⁠Akash Bhat on Twitter⁠
5. Follow ⁠Akash Bhat on LinkedIn