I was curious about the Open session of eChai Ventures at i-Hub Gujarat and to learn about communities, especially for how Christopher Fong runs one (Xoogler.co) with ex-Google employees. During the event, I was intrigued by some lesser-known insights about Google and its work culture 😂 👀 and much more amazing talks!
And I'll always remember my first live Polaroid, which you took with the crowd and showed us there—it was cute, haha! 📸😊 and I really liked your concept and working behind it!
Hey and Congratulations to you and Kushagra Shrivastava on the launch of Key —wishing you much success!
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
Hosted echai AI Day Bangalore. Here are the quick takeaways:-
1. Finding the Right Co-founders: Look for committed co-founders through platforms like Y Combinator Co‑Founder Matching and Entrepreneur First.
2. Where to use AI: Identify problems that are repetitive, error-prone, and disliked by those performing them. Can you apply AI to achieve an acceptable level of accuracy and make the process either faster, cheaper or better?
3. Selling Your Product - Create champions in the companies where you are selling; they will advocate for your product behind you. Understand their motivations and align your product to meet those needs.
4. Value Proposition: Customers buy solutions to their problems, not AI itself. So have a clear alignment with the goals and the OKRs of the company.
5. AI Funding Strategy: Focus on winning customers, not chasing VCs. If people love your product, VCs will come to you. The goal of fundraising is to quickly secure funds and get back to building your business. Don't drag out the process for months for minor valuation gains—it won't matter in the long run.
I recently had the pleasure of attending the eChai Ventures AI Day event in Surat, organised by Jatin Chaudhary and held at LOGICWIND. The event was an incredible opportunity to connect with some amazing founders and engage in insightful conversations. Traveling from Ahmedabad to Surat for this event was totally worth it!
Here are some of the fantastic startups and founders I had the chance to meet:
A big thank you to Maitri H. Modi for hosting such a fantastic event and to Nachiket P. for providing the venue. I look forward to staying connected with everyone I met and continuing these inspiring conversations.
Meraj Faheem started all with introducing himself & Journey of his Studentpreneur life where he Started India's First Hacking School BootCamp!
Like How he got his First Client through SEO-Search Engine Optimisation via google and from there it all Started and became India's First and initially he charged 80K then it goes around 150K he adds!
And after his clients experience over Hacking School they started suggesting it to their network as well as friends of friends of them this is how it started growing organically 📈
The main step of a Founder towards sales is to make that initial Connection and maintain relationship with their customers first to get to their 500th Customer.
Like one of the best Example is how the customer of Google got his Account Suspended due to some reason but wanted to recover it and until Larry page Former CEO of google made it happen by recognising the customer who was one of their 100th customer and redirected him to his manager to solve the problem😮💨
This is what the real meaning of relationship with customers is🙌🏻✨️
So maintaining that relationship with your customers should be your first priority where it helps you to grow more and more because you are selling your Services/products to them right?
Creating that Familiarity of you in public makes lot of differences as well as it is not possible in one or two meet but third time it can🔥
Founders should me known for their Brand💥
Every Business Should have their Data bases like the best example is Mark Zuckerberg before launching Facebook he restricted it to Harward .edu by inviting his Friends, Friends of friends, classmates to make a profile and to conect with each other by Leveraging his first degree Network totally🔥
The takeaways and Main points were-
1. "You Cannot Bribe/Manipulate/Influence Everyone-You Need to Win them"
2. Increase Familiarities between people and yourself.
3. You should be know for the Right Things.
4. Make your Data bases perfect.
5. Dont burn money in marketing learn sales first!
Our discussion on machine learning models was truly enlightening, and his deep knowledge and passion for technology were nothing short of inspiring.
Beyond the tech talk, I thoroughly enjoyed learning about SaiNageswar’s enthusiasm for travel and our shared love for exploring new places. It’s always refreshing to connect with someone who brings such a well-rounded perspective and genuine curiosity to the table.
A big thank you, SaiNageswar Satchidanand, for your time and the engaging conversation. I’m excited to stay connected and continue sharing insights and experiences!
The eChai Startup Open House was a fantastic event, offering a vibrant and informal setting to connect with innovative startups and like-minded entrepreneurs. It was a great opportunity to discover new possibilities, share ideas, and build meaningful relationships within the startup community.
I wish I met you earlier in life Jatin Chaudhary! Thank you for sharing how you help tens of thousands of people via eChai Ventures, it’s wonderful hearing how you started it in 2009 and run so many events around the world 🌎🌍🌏. Thank you Nishant Bijani & Hitesh Umaletiya for introducing me to Jatin. I learned so much that I’ll be putting to use in Key and Xoogler.co to help more communities and people 🙏.
The location we met at is to die for 🪦.
Please sign up at key.ai to access our community product, early access to it is about to begin! 🚀 Kushagra Shrivastava and I are hiring a growth manager and business analyst incase anyone is looking for a job.
Meeting people is my passion, and listening to their stories is my fuel.
Thanks Jatin bhai( eChai Ventures ) for building a platform to connect people at great places (GVFL Limited) to exchange notes, ideas & most important to help each other in anyway possible.
Christopher Fong: He is super smart & helpful guy. He is the founder of Xoogler (Ex-Google Community) , More than 33000 People community. He is Hiring for senior engineer, Growth Marketer, & Business Analyst - do connect with him.
Jitendraa Lakhwani: A Dear friend & running a leading HR firm based in Ahmedabad serving the globe. The sky is the limit to what they can deliver in Hiring. Do reach out to him for hiring requirements, especially overseas hiring.
Anay Mashruwala: Promotor of M/s. Venus Engineering Works a company in field of Manufacturing and marketing of Industrial Valves. And A prof. In the field of Entrepreneurship.
Niraj Harlalka: Education is passion for all but few execute on his passion & Niraj bhai is one of them,ON a mission to help children to learn Decision Making as a skill.
Balkrishna Agarwal: Founder, Tezi App - Connecting Brands to Retailers. If you are building in Fashion Tech reach out to him.
Ketul Shah: Computer Vision and Machine Learning (MLOps Enthusiast), AI team lead at Groundup.ai .
Addressing a diverse group of product managers was a joy, reaffirming the excitement of solving customer problems through effective product management.
Before I tell you more about the Demo Day, let me share with you why I was astonished listening to these wonderful founders and feedbacks from the community.
➥ Every founder had a story to tell. ➥ Their enthusiasm was super infectious. ➥ The opportunity to collaborate opened up. ➥ The atmosphere was thrilling and invigorating. ➥ They were all solving a problem in unique ways. ➥ Relevant questions were being asked by the people. ➥ Experts from various fields provided valuable feedback. ➥ All the founders were deeply passionate about their ideas.
I know by now you’re wondering what these Demo Days are all about.
Well, Demo days are all about the founders from the community that get a chance to present their business, get early feedback, engage with investors and enablers and collaborate with various people from within the community.
You can check out eChai Ventures for more details and information on other such events happening in Mumbai.
Thank you Jatin Chaudhary, founder of eChai Ventures for creating an amazing platform that supports start-up founders through such interactive meet-up events and its community as well as presenting me with an opportunity to host the show.
Today, I interviewed a student from one of the top engineering colleges. As I reviewed the projects he had worked on during his studies, I was thrilled to see that, instead of doing the usual projects found on most engineering resumes, he took a different approach. He identified a problem within his institute and developed a SaaS tool to address it, which is now actively used by his college. Even more impressive, he is continuously gathering feedback and refining the tool.
Curiously, I asked him why he chose to apply to AllEvents rather than going through the traditional campus placement process. His response was insightful: He heard from a friend who works at AllEvents about our dynamic culture and the exciting growth opportunities we offer, and that made all the difference.
At AllEvents, we take great pride in our culture. We believe in creating an environment where every team member can thrive, learn, and grow. It’s not just about filling roles; it’s about building careers and futures.
This story is a testament to the power of culture in hiring. It’s not just about what we do, but how we do it that attracts talented individuals. And it’s moments like these that remind us why investing in our people and our culture is so important.
We’re excited about the future and are always looking to welcome passionate, talented individuals to our team. If you're looking for a place where you can grow, be inspired, and contribute to something bigger, let's connect! 🚀
According to a research study, our brain makes upward of 35,000 decisions each day. That adds up to millions of decisions in our lifetime - some decisions are big and some small. Some will shape and change our future forever such as which college to go, or which job to take. While some will be insignificant like what to eat for lunch today or what to wear to the office.
There are only two things that will determine how our life turns out:
1. Luck 2. Quality of our decisions
Fortunately or unfortunately, we only have control over one of these two. Therefore, it is extremely important to have a high-quality decision process.
Recently I started reading "How to Decide" by Annie Duke, an American former professional poker player and I've been hooked from the first few pages. The book provides you with invaluable insights and frameworks to make thoughtful and strategic decisions that can set you apart personally and professionally. Whether it is navigating your career moves, business strategies, or personal choices, the book offers practical tools, like decision trees and backcasting, to systematically analyze options and potential outcomes.
If you are looking to improve your decision-making process, then do give this a read.
As some of you may know, I was a panellist at the eChai Ventures x GrowthSchool Marketing Summit on Saturday. It was an incredibly enriching discussion with my fellow panellists, whose insights across multiple industries were a goldmine of information 🙇🏻♀️
If I had to summarize the entire session into exactly 3 key takeaways, these would be:
1. Knowing your customer is an iterative process. Your customers will behave differently across geographies, markets, scales of operations, and sizes. Research, read, engage with them on social media, and learn everything you can about them.
2. Gone are the days of “shiny,” “buzz-worthy” marketing. Data is the best tool in a marketer’s arsenal. Excel is your best friend, and analyzing trends is your protein supplement. 😉
3. When it comes to content creation, don’t try to reinvent the wheel by focusing on creating “trends”. Unless you are Kim K 💁🏻♀️ Observe what is working, and then leverage it within your industry.
What floored me completely was the diversity of participants in the session—from Bitcoin to fintech to influencer marketing, we had them all! They asked tough questions and made the session even more fruitful.
Kudos to Jatin Chaudhary for moderating the session, and punctuating it with his thoughtfully curated questions and marketing puns. And thanks to the GrowthSchool team for being such wonderful hosts.
If you met me and want to discuss a specific problem in depth, feel free to block time via my Topmate!
👉 𝐙𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐝: One of the interesting conversations was around how to align/retrain people who have taken the company from zero to one and have them effectively contribute in the company's journey from one to hundred. This is required because it takes very different people to bring something to life vs people who take something that is alive and take it to scale. One of the things we do at Momentum91 is to build a 'New Initiatives' team. This is our 'zero to one' team and it always works on the frontier. Things that have not yet been figured out completely yet. This team builds solutions on those lines. This way, once they have charted the path, the rest of the team comes in and makes the path more 'followable' through processes, frameworks and templates.
👉 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐨-𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐯𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐨-𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬: I am of the opinion that starting a company is like entering a haunted house that might have a treasure buried inside. I would not go in alone. I need someone to keep me honest, be sad when we have lost, share joy when we have won. I need someone to fight, debate and argue with. It's a personal and arguable choice. Some folks are comfortable going at it alone as well. If you are like me, consider finding a co-founder who has complimentary skill sets. A person whose thought process is different than yours and a person you fully trust.
👉 𝐄𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐯𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩: Almost everyone on the panel had degrees in things that were drastically different from the nature of the company they were running, including myself. It's important to understand that half of running any company is the same - whatever one builds, they still have to build a team, figure out marketing, learn sales, read balance sheets and keep the company compliant - things that are not taught. A good way to look at education is to think of that as 'time allotted to build an approach' - an approach of problem solving. If one is able to build that approach, most things get easier.
It was fun listening to other people's stories around recruiting their first 5 team members, journey of meeting their co-founders and approach towards making difficult decisions under uncertain circumstances with less than accurate data.
Thank you Jatin for the opportunity. Until next time.
All of us aspire to be this, but there are very few who achieve it.
One such person who has been persistent for more than a decade and not just years is Jatin Chaudhary, Co-Founder of eChai Ventures - a friendly global startup network that hosts engaging startup growth meetups and enables cross-border collaborations.
eChai Ventures was started more than 13 years ago in Ahmedabad, India and it has grown immensely in recent years with Startup Growth meetups in 25+ global startup cities in 10+ countries including the US, Canada, Singapore, Australia, UK, Estonia, UAE, and others.
Before starting eChai Ventures, Jatin sold long-distance services in Canada while working in a call center in Gandhinagar, architectural stone products in the USA and European markets while working with an exports group in Ahmedabad, strategic concepts to Microsoft Corporate Teams while working with a high-end technology consulting company in Udaipur, and HP enterprise servers and Softwares to SMEs and large businesses in Gujarat while working with India’s largest IT products distributor.
Then how did Jatin get into the startup domain? He loves networking and genuinely helping individuals to grow - what better place to do so than a startup community? He was one of the early believers in the "Startup India." He was recently awarded 'Startup Ratna' by GUSEC-Gujarat University for eChai Ventures’ contributions to the Startup Ecosystem in Gujarat.
I have been lucky to listen to him a couple of times and his simple words powered with persistence inspire everyone in the room. Presently his LinkedIn job title reads "Salesman at eChai Ventures" and rightfully so since he is extremely good at selling his vision and able to attract the right partnerships and organize high-quality large gatherings at low cost.
The story of eChai serves a crucial lesson for aspiring entrepreneurs: success rarely comes overnight. It's the product of consistent effort, unwavering belief in one's vision, and the resilience to keep moving forward, even when faced with setbacks. It's a powerful and beautiful reminder that with persistence, a local idea can indeed blossom into a global success.
Every time I share my journey, I am reminded of all that I had to let go in order to be where I am. . But, when I look back, I feel everything was worth it and I'd do it all over again 😀 my mistakes were mine and it's proof that I did it, I tried, I learnt and I grew! . Every meet up they ask me, have you failed? Oh yes! I have failed a million times, and I still fail daily in a lot of places, but after failing, I cry, get disappointed, take a break but then once again, ask for help, try another way, do more research and keep trying till I succeed. . Have I given up? Yes, I have. There are times when you know giving up on that particular idea is making more sense, then you give up and work on something else. . So yes I am where I am because of my mistakes, failures and flaws but I've moved forward with my persistence and determination 🩷 . A warm hug to myself, for we often forget to appreciate ourselves 💕
For an entire week, Nihal Ahamed M and I found ourselves venting our frustrations about feeling underwhelmed with the current community activities for early-stage founders. We were eager to take our eChai Ventures Chennai Chapter to the next level but felt like we were searching in the dark.
That was until we met the Sai Ranganathan AVP of StartupTN. His drive, wise thoughts, and inclusive strategy for the TN startup ecosystem left me pleasantly surprised. It’s easy to get lost in one vertical and believe it’s the only one that matters, but his insights inspired me to think broader, more comprehensively, and with an eye on the future.
It was the push we needed at the right time. Now, something is cooking, and things are brewing! I’m absolutely excited and can’t wait to take this to the next level.
A big thank you to Bala Subramanian for setting up this meeting!
Had a fantastic experience at the Speaker Session hosted by Jatin Chaudhary and eChai Ventures on 12-7-2024 at GUSEC. The session was insightful and provided a #wealth of knowledge from industry #leaders, attracting numerous #entrepreneurs and young minds:
📌 Riddhi Sharma (BabyOrgano) emphasized the critical role of company culture in driving organizational success. She highlighted how a positive and inclusive culture can boost employee #morale, increase #productivity, and foster innovation.
📌 Gaurav Barot (Tridhya Tech Limited) shared an inspiring story about how he rewarded his employees by giving them cars. This gesture not only motivated his team but also demonstrated his commitment to #recognizing and appreciating their #hard work and dedication.
📌 Shrijay Sheth (LegalWiz.in) delved into the intricacies of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs). He explained how offering stock options can align the interests of employees with those of the #company, creating a sense of ownership and #long-term commitment.
📌 Kuntal Shah (CricHeroes) discussed his company's progressive policy of offering unlimited leaves. He explained that this policy is based on trust and empowers employees to manage their #work-life balance, ultimately leading to higher job satisfaction and #productivity.
Overall, the session was amazing and provided deep
#insights into innovative practices that can transform workplace dynamics. Kudos to eChai Ventures for organizing such an enlightening event!
When Last-Minute Plans Create Unforgettable Moments with Draper Startup House and eChai Ventures.
Sometimes, the best things happen on a whim! What started as a spontaneous Friday evening VC meet with Pranav Sanghvi from Merak Ventures turned into a powerhouse session of insights, pitches, and breakthroughs. 💡
In just 2 minutes, each startup had the chance to showcase their vision—and they delivered big time! From game-changing feedback to invaluable validation, every founder walked away with something that could propel their journey forward. 🌱
The energy was electric, the ideas were bold, and the takeaways? Pure gold. ✨
Huge kudos to all the founders who stepped up to pitch and to Pranav for dropping some serious knowledge bombs. This is what the startup ecosystem is all about—learning, growing, and supporting each other!
🔥 Want to catch more of these epic events? Hit that follow button and stay in the loop!
Sharing the stage with other industry leaders at eChai Ventures' Startup Growth Meetup at Nasscom Startups COE IoT Gurgaon was incredibly productive.
It was a fantastic meeting with inspiring co-speakers who are experts in funding, growth strategies, scaling, and disruptive marketing. They shared their knowledge, leaving me feeling motivated.
Thanks to eChai Ventures for hosting a productive Startup Growth Meetup and the co-speakers for sharing their insightful information as well as to the amazing audience for the engaging conversations.
I am excited to share with all that we have been selected as one of the Top 30 startups in SolarX India Startup Challenge by International Solar Alliance and Invest India.
For last few years, we have been working hard at Cibos Techno Solutions Pvt Ltd and LAARI for micro-entrepreneurs across India providing them access to Modular Infrastructure, and Solar compatible DC Heating and Cooling technology and helping them with financial inclusion so that they have access to sustainable and affordable business technologies and solutions.
But I really didn't expect Harshil Karia to share everything he shared.
He candidly talked about the business challenges, collaboration possibilities and his views on the future trends...(things that you don't hear in podcasts)
And why I was so apprehensive...may be because I have not seen agency owners in Ahmedabad collaborate the way Harshil managed to get us to talk to each other in a 2 hour meet up.
Thank you Harshil Karia for your openness and sharing things candidly 💛💙
eChai Ventures partners with select brands as their growth partner, helping them expand market reach, drive revenue growth, amplify brand visibility, and strengthen hiring efforts.
eChai Ventures is a global startup network connecting entrepreneurs through local meetups in 20+ cities worldwide, enabling cross-border collaborations via startup panels, demo days, cricket, and pickleball leagues.
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