The Startup Operator

Alok is finance professional turned investor and is a partner at Stellaris Venture Partners. He mostly invests in SaaS startups in the Indian ecosystem and has witnessed the evolution of both the SaaS space and the VC space for the past decade. In this episode Alok spoke about how the VC and SaaS spaces have evolved, how the people in these industries have changed, what new entrepreneurs should keep in mind while raising funds in 2021 and more in his conversation with Roshan Cariappa.

Topics:

00:00 Introduction

00:45 Alok's thoughts on record fundraising this year

04:40 Raising capital in 2021 as a new entrepreneur

05:57 Raising cash in a remote era

09:25 Evolution of the Venture Capital over the past decade

13:49 Building differentiators as a VC firm

18:02 Industries Alok is looking at

22:52 Evolution of SaaS startups

27:40 Metric/benchmark driven mechanism of SaaS

30:41 What's different with people in SaaS today 

32:38 How have exit sizes affected startup valuations?

34:33 Surprises Alok had along the way

36:57 Advice for entrepreneurs

39:21 Books and podcasts

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Connect with Alok :

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alok-goyal-536557/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/alokgoyal1971

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Connect with Us: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startup-operator

​Twitter: https://twitter.com/OperatorStartup​​

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Raghunandan is a serial entrepreneur and has founded several startups like TaxiForSure and Serendipity Infolabs and more. He is currently the founder of Zolve, a fintech startup solving problems with cross border finance and more. In this episode he spoke about the nuance of the same, building a consumer product for the world and more with Roshan Cariappa. 

Key Highlights:

00:00 Introduction

01:13 What is Raghu doing differently with Zolve?

03:46 Raghu's thoughts on raising funds and access to capital

08:18 Downsides of access to capital

12:26 The nuances of solving for cross border finance

15:59 Idea to Product to Company 

18:49 Executing on this problem

21:16 Building a sustainable moat

25:19 Advice on building partnerships with incumbents

26:42 Building a consumer product for the world from India

30:10 What's coming up at Zolve

30:53 Being an investor and a founder

33:05 Books and podcast recommendations

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Connect with Raghunandan :

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/graghunandan/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/raghugnandan

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Connect with Us: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startup-operator

​Twitter: https://twitter.com/OperatorStartup​​

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Welcome to #50 episode of The Startup Operator Roundup. Today we have Roshan Cariappa and Gunjan Saha discussing - 

1. Record Startup Funding in 2021

2. FAME II Revisions

3. Acquisitions in the ecosystem

4. Karnataka's Fintech Taskforce

and more!

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Hit the like button if enjoyed this roundup, and do not forget to share among your operator friends! 

Listen to our interviews and conversations with investors, operators, and founders on your favourite podcast platforms.

#startups #unicorns  #technology #roundup #podcast #news

Ujjwal is a serial entrepreneur and has founded startups like WealthPack, Privy and Tickertape. He spoke about what he is doing differently this time, what the new age investor is like and building for them and more in his conversation with Roshan Cariappa. 

Key Highlights: 

00:00 Introduction

01:00 Learnings from being a serial entrepreneur

02:17 Ujjwal's thoughts on the market

05:12 Competition and collaboration with incumbents

11:36 Building for the new age investor

15:05 Building trust in the community

17:28 Aligning different operations to a single mission

19:34 Customer acquisition 

20:55 Building partnerships in the ecosystem

22:08 Dealing with Compliance and regulation

24:08 What's next for TickerTape

26:47 Working with Smallcase team

27:38 How is Ujjwal preparing for the next level

28:48 Books and podcast recommendations

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Connect with Ujjwal :

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/uankur/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ujjwal_ankur_

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Connect with Us: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startup-operator

​Twitter: https://twitter.com/OperatorStartup​​

-------------------------------------

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Shikha is the founder and CEO of AltMat a company that converts agricultural waste into sustainable natural textiles. In this interview she spoke about its use cases, the value proposition for its supply chains and what it takes to make sustainable material mainstream and more with Roshan Cariappa.

Key Highlights:

00:00 Introduction

01:23 Founding journey of AltMat

09:37 What is AltMat and what are it's use cases

13:04 Prioritising use cases

14:12 Managing supply chains and manufacturing

17:33 Working with farmers and paying fair price 

20:04 Value proposition to supply chains

24:04 Do enough consumers care about sustainability?

27:30 Making sustainability mainstream

30:02 Working with government

32:31 The nuances of operating in the sustainability space

35:09 What's next for AltMat

37:43 High level challenges Shikha is solving

39:10 Going from idea to product to company

42:03 Books and Podcast recommendation

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Connect with Shikha Shah :

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shikha-shah/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/shikhashah1234

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Connect with Us: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startup-operator

​Twitter: https://twitter.com/OperatorStartup​​

-------------------------------------

If you liked this episode, let us know by hitting the like button and share with your friends and family. Please also remember to subscribe to our channel and switch on the notifications to never miss an episode!

Welcome to #49 episode of The Startup Operator Roundup. Today we have Roshan Cariappa and Gunjan Saha discussing - 

1. Nykaa and PayTM's mega IPOs

2. Zomato goes from startup to startup investor with its own fund

3. Acquisitions in the ecosystem

4. Good Glamm turns unicorn

5. Bharatpe launches MSP program so merchants can own company stake 

and more!

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Hit the like button if enjoyed this roundup, and do not forget to share among your operator friends! 

Listen to our interviews and conversations with investors, operators, and founders on your favourite podcast platforms.

#startups #unicorns  #technology #roundup #podcast #news

Vivekananda is a Chartered Accountant turned entrepreneur with Bounce, a smart last mile mobility company. He spoke about the nuances of solving the this problem, building in the EV space and more in his interview with Roshan Cariappa.

Key Highlights:

00:00 Introduction

01:18 CA to entrepreneur

03:40 Principles to pivot 

06:09 Advice for building from first principles

07:47 Nuances of solving for last mile mobility in India

08:54 Choosing between build v/s buy v/s ignore

10:15 How has Bounce become more efficient

12:51 Dealing with theft/damage

14:55 Building the logistics ecosystem

16:12 How did Covid affect Bounce

18:51 EV landscape in India

21:03 Competition in the EV space

23:35 Regulatory tailwinds in EV 

25:26 The next 2-4 years for Bounce

27:13 Next level challenges Vivek is solving

27:53 Giving back to the community

29:42 Books and Podcast recommendations

30:54 Why should someone join Bounce

32:23 Closing remarks

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Connect with Vivekananda  :

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivekananda-hallekere-0483bb19/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/vivekanandahr

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Connect with Us: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startup-operator

-------------------------------------

If you liked this episode, let us know by hitting the like button and share with your friends and family. Please also remember to subscribe to our channel and switch on the notifications to never miss an episode!

Welcome to #48 episode of The Startup Operator Roundup. Today we have Roshan Cariappa and Gunjan Saha discussing - 

1. UPI crosses $100Bn transaction value in october

2. Competition between incumbents and startups in EV space

3. Acquisitions in the ecosystem

4. CAIT celebrates record high festive sales this season

5. New policies for better map innovation 

and more!

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Hit the like button if enjoyed this roundup, and do not forget to share among your operator friends! 

Listen to our interviews and conversations with investors, operators, and founders on your favourite podcast platforms.

#startups #unicorns  #technology #roundup #podcast #news

Abhimanyu Saxena is a software engineer turned founder. He has co-founded InterviewBit and Scaler Academy. In this episode he spoke about how colleges can adapt and evolve to be more relevant, closing the loop between learning and employment, scaling a cohort based learning course to an institution and more in his interview with Roshan Cariappa. 

Key Highlights: 

(00:00) Introduction

(01:11) Improving employability

(05:04) How can colleges adapt and evolve?

(10:25) Founding journey of Scaler

(17:20) Pivoting from InterviewBit to Scaler

(19:56) What is Scaler?

(26:51) Closing the loop between learning and employment

(30:59) Scaler's typical customers

(31:35) Doing the 0-1-10 in customer acquisition

(35:07) Lessons from running cohort based learning courses

(38:05) Scaling a cohort based course to an institution 

(40:32) Moving beyond income sharing agreements

(45:19) How is Abhimanyu evolving as a founder

(48:13) Culture v/s process

(49:48) Books and podcast recommendations

(51:07) Closing remarks

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Connect with Abhimanyu :

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhimanyusaxena/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/asxna?s=20

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Connect with Us: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startup-operator

​Twitter: https://twitter.com/OperatorStartup​​

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Vineet is a serial entrepreneur with a background in finance and has founded several startups in the finance space. He is currently the co-founder and CEO of StockEdge and Elearnmarkets. In this episode he spoke about the evolution of investors in India, what financial literacy means, the fundamentals of investing and more in his interview with Roshan Cariappa. 

Key Highlights:

(00:00) Introduction

(00:52) Evolution of investors in India

(04:31) What does financial literacy mean

(07:29) Fundamentals of investing and trading

(09:58) Going from idea to product to company with E-learnmarkets

(13:56) Customer acquisition process

(16:24) Working with trainers and influencers

(18:54) Impact of social/community investing

(21:34) High level challenges Vineet is solving

(24:17) Vineet's outlook for Indian markets 2021 and beyond

(26:13) Vineet's Books and podcast recommendations

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Connect with Vineet :

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vineet-patawari/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/vineetpatawari

-------------------------------------

Connect with Us: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startup-operator

-------------------------------------

If you liked this episode, let us know by hitting the like button and share with your friends and family. Please also remember to subscribe to our channel and switch on the notifications to never miss an episode!