It was a great privilege to host and coordinate the Bengaluru Startup Meetup, organized by eChai at Urban Vault in Bangalore. ๐ซ
A special highlight was our main speaker, Manesh Jain (Founder and CEO of many startups such as FloMobility, MockBank & Sourceweb), who shared his incredible journey, the challenges he faced, and valuable insights from his experiences with multiple startups. ๐
With a vibrant crowd of around 50 participants, including established entrepreneurs, early-stage founders, and aspiring entrepreneurs, the event was a fantastic opportunity to connect, share experiences, and build meaningful relationships within the startup ecosystem.
The energy in the room was inspiring, and Iโm confident that every attendee walked away with fresh ideas and motivation to create successful ventures that contribute to a better world.
It was my pleasure to host the eChai Venturesโs startup openhouse in Bangalore yesterday!๐๐
Huge thank you to Jatin Chaudhary for the opportunity and to all the participants in the echai community for enaging with each other so positively and making extremely helpful contributions!!
For anyone in Bangalore, this event happens every Sunday at Draper Startup House, Koramangala!!
Please check their website to find relevant events in your city!
๐ Thrilled to Have Been a Speaker at the โProduct Growth Playbookโ by eChai Ventures!
I had the incredible opportunity to join the amazing event hosted by eChai Ventures, where I shared the stage with Kush P. and Darshan Suthar to discuss some of the most critical aspects of product management.
We dived into: - Getting started with AI as a Product Manager - Defining Product-Market Fit (PMF) and frameworks to achieve it - Common mistakes and how to carefully avoid them - Tips for PMs working at a startup competing with industry incumbents
A huge thank you to the organizers especially Jatin Chaudhary and the host for creating such a vibrant platform to exchange knowledge and experiences and to everyone who made the time to attend.
Looking forward to many more such thoughtful conversations!
Last Saturday, I had the privilege of moderating a stellar panel on Bootstrapping at Draper Startup House in collaboration with eChai Ventures โ and it was truly a session to remember.
I was thrilled to host some of the most inspiring and talented founders:
Amal Mishra, Co-founder of Urban Vault, who shared his remarkable journey of bootstrapping to 57 managed workspaces in Bangalore. His story of overcoming asset-heavy challenges by leveraging his furnishing business showed us the power of strategic thinking.
Vikas Bardia, CFA, Co-founder of Shoffr, captivated the audience with how he led one of Indiaโs first customer-led funding rounds, raising $1.1M from 110 customers! He bootstrapped to 57 cars, and post-funding, has now scaled to 110 cars. His insights on maintaining a bootstrapped mentality while growing were incredibly valuable. As he put it, โThe service inside the car is broken, not the app.โ
Jeevan Gnanam, from Sri Lankaโs Hatch Works โ one of Asiaโs top coworking spaces โ and co-founder of SpectrifyAI, shared key insights on scaling businesses while managing multiple ventures. His focus on hiring champions who help you grow was a game changer.
Rishav Agarwal, founder of Picxeleโข and angel investor in 60 startups (including Zypp electric & Crib), gave a masterclass on what angel investors look for in founders and the red flags to avoid.
Despite the rain, we had a full house with 82+ attendees โ a testament to the energy and passion of the startup community.
Don't miss out! This Saturday, weโre back with an amazing VC panel to dive into fundraising strategies and expert insights from the best in the game.
๐ฆ Thank you for joining us in the eChai Ventures gathering on 'Building Startup Teams and Company Culture' at Urban Vault HSR, Bengaluru! ๐
Sharing glimpses -
๐ธ Ankita Shree is the Managing Director at Mamacoco Hospitality and runs the restaurant Moglu on St. Mark's Road, Bengaluru with her husband Kiran Narayanan, PhD. "My heart was not in bureaucracy and my partner needed a co-founder. So I moved out of my role as an IRS Officer and moved in to the startup world as a co-founder at a deep tech startup", she says. She strongly believes that Kiran has a gift for food and flavours. Moglu is Kiran's nickname! Their golden rule to hiring is to have people with an attitude to learn and grow. She loves the word 'nurture' because it captures everything she does beautifully. Some of the hardest decisions have included shutting down a Quick Service Restaurant - Matka Junction, and moving from a veg only offering to one that will serves veg and non veg, starting mid-September. People aren't willing to pay a premium for good vegetarian food, as yet. "Food and flavours have no boundaries. We create them', she sums up. She highly recommends reading Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.
๐ธ Jaitee Wazalwar ๐ is the co-founder at Credfino which enables transformational growth for accounting/tax firms through remote staffing and consulting. She believes her highs and lows. revolve around the people she works with, in their victories and setbacks. While building the startup, a lot of disruption happens when moving from one stage to another. They recently let go of a big client that contributed to 45% of their business, while retaining all the people who worked on it. This was hard but needed for the company's growth. Having worked in the manufacturing industry in a previous avatar, she recalls how people would want to talk a man instead of her. One of her female founder mentor shared the hack she used by 'hiring a guy for 15K monthly' so that the suppliers could talk to a guy. Her book recommendations include Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You by John Warrillow, and Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman.
๐ธ Nida Sahar is the founder Nife Labs which is Interconnecting Cloud & Edge Infrastructure to help customers deploy, manage and scale applications anytime anywhere. Her brand name has a backstory that's as beautiful as her poetry. Nickel and Ferris form the core of the earth and they'd like to be the core of your cloud, hence Ni + Fe is Nife! She has been a fan of checklist and games ever since she was a teenager. As she gamifies and plans the next set of moves for herself and her startup, she continues to remain inspired by the poem 'On his blindness' by John Milton. She strongly believes in independence and creating a way to achieve what people would like to do and grow. She recommends reading The Startup Owner's Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company by Steve Blank and Bob Dorf.
Building Startup Teams and Company Culture: Insights from Industry Leaders ๐
Today, I had the pleasure of attending an inspiring event organized by eChai Ventures in collaboration with Urban Vault, focused on one of the most crucial aspects of any startupโbuilding effective teams and fostering a strong company culture. ๐ฑ
The event was beautifully hosted by Radhika Mohta, who brought so much positivity with her million-dollar smile. ๐ The panel featured three incredible leaders:
Ankita Shree: Managing Director of Mamacoco Hospitality Pvt Ltd and an Isha Hatha Yoga Teacher at Isha Foundation, who shared her unique perspective on balancing business with mindfulness. ๐งโโ๏ธ
Jaitee Wazalwar ๐: Founder of Incredence and Co-Founder of Credfino, who emphasized the importance of resilience and adaptability in team building. ๐ช
Nida Sahar: Founder of Nife, who discussed the role of innovation and trust in cultivating a thriving company culture. ๐
Each of these leaders brought their own experiences and insights, making it a truly enriching session. I walked away with valuable lessons on how to lead with intention, build cohesive teams, and create a culture that not only drives success but also nurtures growth. ๐ก
Kudos to eChai Ventures for organizing such a wonderful event! ๐
Our first-ever "Anybody Can AI Socials - Product Manager Edition" was a blast! We brought together brilliant minds from across industries, all eager to infuse AI magic into their products. The room buzzed with interactive discussions, groundbreaking ideas, and the shared excitement of shaping the future of tech.
From AI newbies to seasoned PMs, everyone left inspired and armed with practical knowledge to revolutionize their workflows. Who knew learning about AI could be this fun?
Missed out? Don't worry - this is just the beginning! Stay tuned for more Anybody Can AI Socials. Because in this AI revolution, everybody's invited to the party! ๐๐ค
๐ฆ Thank you for joining us in the eChai Ventures Product Growth meetup at Urban Vault Headquarters in HSR, Bengaluru! ๐
Glimpses -
Aditya Agrawal is a product leader at Cuemath. He left no stone unturned to remind all of us in the room about our math marks and tuition classes from school days! There are over 4,000 tutors on the platform, largely women who consider Cuemath to be a source of income and identity. He believes that the two most important deliverables for a product manager are the value to the customer and the viability to the business. He recommends reading 'Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value' by Melissa Perri. Shout out to Amal Mishra for the warm welcome extended to his college senior ๐
Ashish Singh is not just a product leader at Paytm, he is also certified to climb the Mount Everest! He shared titbits from his days at Swiggy sprinkled with buzzwords like customer lifetime value, churn score, priority support and the icing on the cake - customer satisfaction score which witnessed a massive jump during his tenure. He believes that 70% of product management is identifying the right problem and knowing when to solve it. His go-to book recommendations include 'The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact' by Chip Heath, and 'Principles: Life and Work' by Ray Dalio.
Madhurita M. is a product leader at Meesho, a board games enthusiast, F1 fan and a globe trotter who has been to 35+ countries! She shared insights from building her favourite products and activating people on return. She believes it's important to understand your customer really well at the n-th level. The skill to ask the right questions to know what they truly want is critical. This will ensure that the need for iterations and pivots drastically reduces. Whether you are looking to break in to product or get better at it, what gets you anywhere is curiosity! Go through apps from start to finish. Think through why someone would add these features and how that impacts your experience.
Sameer Mandge is a product leader at GoKwik. Recalling his days from Amazon, he says when Amazon launched in India, the default check out option was COD. They went through a journey of introducing changes for the new users and the existing users to eventually reduce COD. While Cash On Delivery is a growth lever, they aimed at reducing it owing to higher return to origin, frequency of purchase and more reasons. Return To Origin is an important step as it adds to merchant cost and operations to bring the undelivered orders back. He believes that customer keeps evolving and so do their needs. It's important to do your customer research well and put a clear persona to your user. He recommends reading 'The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business' by Charles Duhigg and 'The Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you' by Rob Fitzpatrick.
If you are fundraising in 2024, then you should read this post.
Recently attended a startup event "Fundraising for Startups" as a panelist. As the only startup founder among the VC panelists, it was interesting to hear their perspectives and provide my own. The event was organized by HSBC in collaboration with eChai Ventures.
1. Dry powder money is still there and startups with clear vision and execution are getting funded. 2. The time for due diligence has increased and therefore, having enough runway is important before fundraising. 3. AI as a use case is certainly a favorite area but not the only one attracting funding. 4. College degrees are not that pertinent anymore as long as you have a solid business understanding and team (Lots of non-IIT and non-IIM founders are emerging) - alumni network may open doors but wonโt convert only on basis of college.
Money flows where the innovation is and India now has the 3rd largest startup ecosystem in the world. In Q1 2024, Indian startups raised a total of $2 billion fund and added three unicorns to its fleet in 2024 so far - fintech SaaS Perfios, Bhavish Aggarwal's AI venture Krutrim and Logistics startup Porter. While overall investor sentiment has been cautious, the funding winter scenario is a bit milder than expected as the growth of the Indian economy encourages investment in new ventures.
Overall, lots of new learnings with old and familiar faces. Thanks to Jatin for bringing us all together to share our learnings and network with fellow founders, investors, and industry leaders. Looking forward to more such events in the future.
I had an amazing time speaking at the recent D2C Day event organized by eChai Ventures It was an honor to be part of such a dynamic and inspiring gathering.
The energy in the room was electric, and the level of talent and curiosity in the audience made me optimistic about where India's digital ecosystem is heading.
Sharing my journey with Minicult.in, from starting in my nephew's room to a Brand, was truly exciting for me. We also had a fantastic Q&A session, answering many insightful questions from the audience.
A huge shoutout to Jatin Chaudhary for organizing such a fantastic event and to eChai Ventures for being the perfect event partner and Nanda Kumar for hosting the panel and keeping the conversation dynamic and engaging!
Amazing sharing an open conversation on "Basics Of Startup Fundraising" with Samson, Angad, Nivin, and all the incredible folks who joined us at Draper Startup House.
๐Founders, Techies, Creators and Marketers - all under one roof one evening!! What an amazing turnout it was... ๐ฏat Draper Startup House organised by eChai Ventures!!
After all, who doesn't want it?? And doesn't get excited about it??
Right from #SteveJobs to an Aman Gupta!! And that's exactly what Penchala Tharun ๐, the dynamic host made us do - think, ask, grill, imagine, visualize, find answers and have some serious fun.
As an experienced #BrandMarketer, it was always on my list to:
1. Quash doubts about Marketing for Startups - especially in Tech domain. 2. Clear misconceptions around Budgeting for Marketing 3. Guide them on how to go about GTM. 4. How to crack the Sales/Investor Pitch or Presentation. 5. And last but most important, the DON'Ts! ๐ I did try my best to address these in the short span of time that we had. If you still have any queries, please feel free to DM or write to: [email protected]
Our resident entrepreneurs got to pitch their hearts out, and the feedback they received was pure gold. The energy was unreal!
But it wasnโt just about funding. What made this week extra special were the amazing backstories these VCs sharedโfrom an Airforce veteran turned VC, to a DJ turned VC, to a super young college grad already making waves in the venture world. These stories were pure inspiration, especially for anyone thinking about starting their journey in VC.
We also hosted two panel events with these incredible VCs, attracting nearly 200+ attendees! It was a blast and a huge success for our community.
Had a fantastic time at the Product Social hosted by eChai Ventures last weekend! It was enlightening to engage with fellow product enthusiasts and exchange insights.
The session was about '๐๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐จ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐ฏ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ'. If you do not know who Amartya Jha is, he is the founder of CodeAnt AI (YC W24)
CodeAnt AI (YC W24) helps companies detect and auto-fix bad code without breaking existing logic!
He shared with us his amazing journey and how he was able to raise the initial funding from Y Combinator!
There was extensive discussion around howย #AI is changing software development and its future implications.
I was also able to meet young entrepreneurs who were building startups leveraging AI to solve realistic problems.
During his recent visit to the US, Ankit Kedia was invited to join an insightful panel at "๐๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฆ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐-๐๐ฝ๐: ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ ๐๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป," held on Monday earlier this week at Draper University, San Mateo.
The event, which drew a diverse audience of over 45 ๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐จ ๐๐ง๐ค๐ข 20 ๐๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐๐ค๐ช๐ฃ๐ฉ๐ง๐๐๐จ, featured a dynamic conversation between investors and founders, providing invaluable insights into the intricacies of fundraising.
Hosted by eChai Ventures and Draper Startup House, the event featured a dynamic panel conversation with investors and founders, offering valuable insights into the complexities of fundraising. Ankit and fellow speakers Abhishek Kaushik, WeCP and Abhinav Das shared their Entrepreneurial experiences and success stories to guide start-ups on their fundraising journeys.
Closing the event with a networking session, Ankit engaged in meaningful conversations with a diverse array of start-ups and founders.
Events such as this play a crucial role in fostering connections, knowledge exchange, and collaborative growth across international boundaries, empowering entrepreneurs in driving their ventures forward.
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 CoโFounder 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 gainsโit won't matter in the long run.
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 ๐๐ปโโ๏ธ
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 โshiny,โ โbuzz-worthyโ marketing. Data is the best tool in a marketerโs arsenal. Excel is your best friend, and analyzing trends is your protein supplement. ๐
3. When it comes to content creation, donโt try to reinvent the wheel by focusing on creating โtrendsโ. Unless you are Kim K ๐๐ปโโ๏ธ Observe what is working, and then leverage it within your industry.
What floored me completely was the diversity of participants in the sessionโfrom 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!
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 Indiaโs 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 Venturesโ 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.
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. ๐ก
In just 2 minutes, each startup had the chance to showcase their visionโand they delivered big time! From game-changing feedback to invaluable validation, every founder walked away with something that could propel their journey forward. ๐ฑ
The energy was electric, the ideas were bold, and the takeaways? Pure gold. โจ
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 aboutโlearning, growing, and supporting each other!
๐ฅ Want to catch more of these epic events? Hit that follow button and stay in the loop!
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.
