Meet Vaishvi Bansal , a former founder of StarYup Ventures, turned investor and now serving as a Portfolio Manager at Marwari Catalysts

Marwari Catalysts is an accelerator program that invests in early-stage startups.
They first provide mentorship for 3 months and then invest in the startups, offering guidance across all segments of the business.

🌟 Favorite Startup: Cloud Kitchen Prasadam 🌟
She shared that one of her favourite startups is a cloud kitchen that prepares Prasad and sends it directly to customers' homes.

📌 Tips for Aspiring Founders:

1. Do Your Research: Vaishvi advises founders to thoroughly research and approach venture capitalists who specifically invest in their sector. Understanding the investor’s focus area can significantly increase your chances of securing funding

2. Tailor Your Pitch: When preparing to pitch, it’s crucial to tailor your presentation to the specific requirements of the investor.
A personalized pitch demonstrates that you’ve done your homework and are serious about your venture.

📚 Vaishvi's Recommendations:
• Atomic Habits by James Clear: Vaishvi highly recommends this book, which has been instrumental in her journey. It teaches how small, consistent actions can lead to significant impact over time—valuable advice for any founder

• Inc42 Media Newsletter: Stay updated on the latest startup trends, news, and insights by subscribing to this newsletter.

Upon being asked what she enjoys most, Vaishvi shares that she enjoyed her time as a founder more than as an investor. Why? Because as a founder, you get to build everything from scratch—a process she finds incredibly exciting.

Reach out to Vaishvi Bansal if you are looking for investment for Startups.

Key Takeaways from Vaishvi Bansal:
✅ Enjoy the startup journey and embrace the challenges of building from scratch.
✅ Research and approach investors who align with your sector.
✅ Customize your pitch to match the investor's specific interests and requirements.
✅ Consistency is key—small habits can create big impacts.

I would like to thanks Vaishvi Bansal and other panelist Aditi Sinha and Ashna Agarwal for sharing their insights and tips for the investment.

A special thanks to eChai Ventures , Draper Startup House , and the amazing co-hosts Radhika Mohta , and moderator Mansi Baheti, Nivin Joseph , and Tanya mary for organizing such an insightful event.

P.S. Feel free to reach out to me, Bhavik Gupta and follow Startups Manch, if you’re interested in startups, funding, finding innovative ideas, or exploring new opportunities.

A passionate musician turned Investor meet Pranav Sanghvi, Principal at Merak Ventures, an early-stage B2B Tech VC Fund and a TedX speaker.

Born & brought up in Bombay, Pranav was a passionate musician under the stage name One&One. Across his music career, Pranav played at numerous Indian and international music festivals.

Coming from a business family, Pranav highlighted that he got the opportunity to learn the how real businesses were built & scaled, a skill that eventually helped him break into the Indian venture capital ecosystem.

In 2020, Pranav switched to a career in investments with the MABS Family Office & spent the next few years building a portfolio that now has over 20 early-stage businesses across different sectors.

This experience, coupled with a keen interest in meeting with and learning from early-stage Founders, led him to pursuing a long-term career in venture capital.

Pranav joined Merak in late 2022 & has been with the firm for almost 2 years now.

Merak Ventures is a sector-agnostic venture capital fund that invests in early-stage B2B and emerging technology companies that are solving hard, real world problems and creating large-scale impact.

The firm’s investment focus spans across all B2B and Tech first or tech-enabled early-stage businesses across different sectors.

Investment Ticket Size:
• First cheque: USD 0.5-1.5 million (approx. INR 5 crores)
• Sweet spot: USD 1 million

During a recent conversation, Pranav emphasised the importance of storytelling when pitching to investors.

As an early-stage investor, his primary responsibility is to back meaningful businesses and generate promising financial returns for their investors.

If you have an innovative idea that addresses a significant real-world problem, consider reaching out to Pranav Sanghvi
.
Key Takeaways from My Interaction with Pranav Sanghvi:
✅ As an investor, Focus on financial returns while solving real-world problems
✅ Insights into investing in emerging technologies and sectors with high growth potential
✅ Strategies for identifying and nurturing early-stage startups

A special thanks to eChai Ventures , Draper Startup House and the amazing co-hosts Mansi Baheti and moderator Tanya Mary and Nivin Joseph for organizing such an insightful event.

Build a Product that your users can't live without it Says Sriram Natarajan.

Meet Sriram, a TEDx Speaker, Former Engineering Lead at Google, and now building Yuni , a GenAI Startup, Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst | Research, and LEAD from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

It was such a great opportunity to learn about OpenAI, LLM models and building AI products from Sriram.

He presented a case study on predicting a final exam score using AI, covering everything from prototype design and pilot testing to production with Llama 3.1.

We discussed the policies, guradrails and the billions of parameters required to build AI models, and how domain-specific datasets are essential for developing AI products.

Even though I don't have an engineering background, I was able to understand the design concepts you talked about at the event.

Sriram also explained some challenges in AI, such as predicting simple math problems, where AI incorrectly predicted 9.11 as greater than 9.9.

There's still a lot to improve in AI. However, AI is the next big reality, and it will be exciting to see how it evolves in the coming years.

I really liked your answer about monetizing AI products.
You explained it well with an example: Two years ago, hardly anyone used ChatGPT, but now if you ask people, many would be willing to pay if the free usage stopped. So, the key is to create a product that your users love and encourage users to pay for them.

As you all know, Bangalore is an IT city, and our software engineers had many questions about building great AI products.

If you're building AI products and seeking expert guidance, connect with Sriram Natarajan.

I sincerely thank Sriram for coming and making the event great.

Key Takeaways from the Recent Event with Sriram Natrajan:

✅ Understanding the complexity of AI development and the importance of robust datasets in building effective AI products.

✅ Insights into overcoming AI challenges, such as improving accuracy in simple tasks, highlighting the ongoing need for AI refinement.

✅ Strategies for creating product dependency and effective monetization, ensuring users see the indispensable value in AI solutions.

✅ Networking with industry leaders and gaining valuable perspectives on fostering innovation and collaboration within multidisciplinary teams.

A special thanks to eChai Ventures, Draper Startup House , Mansi Baheti, and Jatin Chaudhary for organizing such an insightful event.

P.S: Follow Bhavik Gupta and Startups Manch for startup ideas and exploring opportunities.