Sheel Mohnot is the co-founder of Better Tomorrow Ventures, one of Silicon Valley's favorite fintech investors. Previously, he built FeeFighters [acquired by Groupon], Innovative Auctions, and Thistle while having angel invested in companies such as Ramp, Flexport, and Mercury.
Timestamps:
00:00 - In this episode
01:29 - Introduction
03:33 - First liquidity event $$$: selling Fee Fighters to Groupon
08:37 - Building a cash-cow business leveraging ICANN auctions
12:13 - Does Sheel 'add value' for his portfolio founders?
15:58 - VCs = master manipulators?
18:29 - Great investments he wouldn't have made if he knew better
20:14 - The nature of the game rewards unbalanced founders
21:51 - Teaming up with a polar-opposite business partner
23:52 - Difficult fundraise despite the past successes - what LPs wanted to see
25:58 - The reason BTV will become less active in emerging markets
28:48 - Investing in IndiaGold in India, and BRKZ in Saudi
31:51 - Winning competitive deals against giant firms dropping term sheets
33:43 - Businesses Sheel isn't excited about + my contrarian opinion
35:09 - Are your 'work friends' real friends? founders, co-investors, etc
36:22 - Sheel's aspiration post-retirement [take a guess]
References:
IndiaGold - https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/26/indiagold-raises-12-million-for-its-gold-focused-digital-alternative-credit-platform
BTV raises Fund 3 - https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/01/better-tomorrow-ventures-closes-140m-remains-bullish-on-fintech
Sheel Mohnot - https://mercury.com/blog/sheel-mohnot
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Listen on all platforms:
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@TheDeluluPodSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/3vUDH5yEH6pvRkqM1TVaxSApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rally-cap-podcast/id1731710244
Where to find Sheel:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/smohnot
X/Twitter: x.com/pitdesi
Where to find Kyane:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyanekassiri
X/Twitter: x.com/kyanekassiri