๐จ PMs from Bangalore >>> Got something for you ! ๐
๐ค Have you ever thought about how AI would impact your career? I did and after talking to some 100+ AI Leaders in the last couple of months, Iโm thrilled to share a unique opportunity with all of you via Anybody Can AI ( by Lyzr AI) ๐
๐ญ Imagine a day where youโre immersed in all things AI, surrounded by fellow Product Managers who are just as eager to learn and grow. Thatโs exactly what weโre planning, and I canโt wait for you to join us at the 1st Edition of Anybody Can AIย #Socials
๐คTheyโre not just experts; theyโre passionate about sharing their knowledge, democratising AI for #NonDevelopers and got incredible insights on integrating AI into product management.
๐๏ธBut itโs not just about listening to talks. Itโs about having the real talk and engage in discussion about the "future of work". Whether youโre new to AI, havenโt yet started your AI journey or already pretty much some good experience - we have something in store for everyone.ย
๐๏ธโโ๏ธ๐๏ธโโ๏ธ This event will help you navigate the ever-evolving landscape of AI in product management and supercharge growth no matter where youโre in your AI journey.ย
๐ฏ And hereโs a fun twist: Weโreย #HIRING at Lyzr AI! This could be your golden ticket to landing that job and working w a team that has cracked $2M ARR in revenue in last 7 months.
๐ซ Weโre keeping it exclusive, so weโre looking for Product Managers with at least 2 years of experience. This isnโt just another networking meetupโitโs a game-changer.
So, are you ready to elevate your career with the power of AI? Letโs make it happen together. ๐
๐ Save the date and get ready for an unforgettable experience!
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.
Is #Community Building Just a New Buzzword That Has Recently Popped Up?
Last week, I attended the #Bangalore Community Builders Mixer at Urban Vault. It was a fantastic opportunity to reconnect with friends in this space.
One interesting discussion we had was about whether community building is just a new buzzword. While the term might be new, the practice has been around for centuries. Religious institutions are prime examples of communities coming together for the betterment of humanity and their beliefs, continuing their processes and rituals even without the physical presence of their leaders.
A personal favorite example of modern community-led growth is #Bitcoin. It has no CEO, CFO, or COO, yet it is widely adopted globally. At Draper Startup House, we firmly believe in the power of community, and we love building it every day. Communities like eChai Ventures and The Product Folks have been thriving for over half a decade.
Sohail Khan pointed out beautifully that communities with great SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) endure forever without needing their creators to constantly manage them. I completely agree.
Benefits of Building a Community:
1. Reduce Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) 2. Increase Brand Loyalty 3. Direct Interaction with Your Customers for Feedback 4. Foster Collaboration Leading to Partnerships 5. Enhanced Customer Retention 6. Create a Support System for Members 7. Drive Organic Growth Through Word-of-Mouth 8. Build a Strong Brand Identity and Reputation
#Communitybuilding is not just a trend; it's a timeless practice that drives real results.
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.
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.ย
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!
It's excited to explore GenAI's potential for startups. LLaMA 3โs advanced language capabilities and ChatGPTโs real-time conversational AI enhance content creation and customer support. Integrating these models with a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) system and APIs, combined with fine-tuning using specific data, ensures tailored sol
#Community - That space that always finds new people for you to meet, pushes you beyond limits, and puts you in situations that let you learn even if that means getting out of those formal shoes and playing pickleball barefoot after a fulfilling day at work or being behind the scenes at a large event amongst 50 other volunteers on a Saturday at a brewery.
You don't have to be the best, you need just to show up and magic happens! โจ
The last 4 days have taken me by storm, one that yet again reminded me that relationships and conversations are key to growth. While I continuously shuffled between my hat of being a volunteer at Headstart Network Foundation and leading a community at Razorpay Rize, the core of it all was interacting with founders, investors, enablers, partners and experts from 20+ cities in India that came together for #BangaloreSlushD.ย
Huge shoutout to all the volunteers in the frame who have full-time jobs and yet have spent time over the last 4 months to bring this together. Grateful to be a part of this! ๐คฉย
As I prepare for the week ahead, here's a quick reminder for anyone out there who needs a push - The Time to Startup Is NOW! ๐ย
๐ฆ Thank you for joining us in the eChai Ventures Fundraising for Startups meetup at Draper Startup House Koramangala, Bengaluru! ๐
I'm glad that Jatin Chaudhary was onboard when I said I'd curate and moderate a women-only panel for this subject. It wasn't a women-only event. Everyone was welcome. But the fact that I had these amazing women speakers from the world of venture capital spend their Saturday evening with us made it a wholesome gathering!
Sharing some snippets here -
Aditi Sinha believes she and her team at IndiaQuotient don't just invest in a startup but marry them! They grow together, brainstorm, pivot if need be and go beyond the boardrooms to show up in the journey. ๐ฐHeavy on India SaaS owing to the growth potential ๐ฐ Highlighted portfolio company FRND for their tightly knit tech team and immense learnings on consumer behaviour and power users ๐ฐInteresting investments this year include Utsav App in the spiritual tech space and kim.cc ๐ฐRecommends listening to The 20-minute VC by Harry Stebbings ๐ฐHiring: For founder office roles in Series A and Series C startups in her portfolio companies
Ashna Agarwal believes growing up in a Marwari family fuelled her curiosity since childhood. So she'd not just visit a restaurant for a family outing but also ask questions around how'd they make money to run that business. ๐ฐIn her work at Jungle Ventures, they invest in seasoned entrepreneurs and write a cheque size that's relatively bigger at that funding stage ๐ฐInteresting investments this year include NIC Icecreams and Atomberg Technologies ๐ฐRecommends reading The Economic Times and Inc42 Media that covers a large chunk of news without burning a hole in your pocket with all the paid subscriptions ๐ฐHiring: For a D2C startup in her portfolio company - Brand marketer with 7+ years of work experience
Vaishvi Bansal and her friends ran a Shark Tank style competition in college. From conceptualisation to execution, it was a three-month long rigorous learning that led to a total of eight startups raising around 25 Lacs! That was her first taste of what it takes to raise funds and "once you taste the blood, it's difficult to not go back to it", she quips. ๐ฐ In her work at Marwari Catalysts, they are mostly the first ones to write a cheque for the startups and bring co-investors with them ๐ฐJust the way founders look for a product market fit, they look for a founder market fit to ascertain that it's a good match! ๐ฐHighlighted her portfolio company Turms (Bigphi Technologies Pvt. Ltd.) which has MS Dhoni promoting it ๐ฐHiring: Her portfolio companies are hiring. You can visit the company's website for details
We โค๏ธ the elevator pitches from founders along with some thoughtful questions from the audience!
Sunday Cheer: Share a picture with your pet in the Comments! The last pic has Nivin Joseph's Paris ๐ถย
The current controversial job quota bill in Karnataka and the rising hate for migrants in Bangalore remind me of this book that I read last year.
"We are all descended from migrants."
We humans have been a migratory species fundamentally. Most people move in search of work or economic opportunity, to join family, or to study. Others move out of necessity to escape conflict, persecution, etc.
Curiosity has been central to the human species and it continues to remain rightfully so with the global migration that happens to date. Overall, the estimated number of international migrants has increased over the past five decades. As per a UN migration report, a total of 281 million people live in a country other than their country of birth.
Migrants have been central to building and scaling economies across the globe. Be it the Silicon Valley of the USA or the Silicon Valley of India, migrants have played a crucial role in both. Tech giants like Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook were all founded by first or second-generation immigrants. According to a report, migrants contributed roughly 10% percent to global GDP.
This book is a history of us all - after all, we have all descended from our migrant ancestors. And the book continues to be ever more relevant in the current geo-political scenario associated with migrants.
Feeling grateful about interacting with co-panelists from various industries for a marketing panel discussion organised by eChai Ventures & Growth School in Bangalore.
Some 'Ahaa' moments for me were:
1) Ayushi Mona Singh gives an incredible example of vimal panmasala to showcase how key it is to know your customer 2) Siddharth Kumar (SK) talking about how topicality can be leveraged for addressing key consumer pain points in your industry 3) Sanjeet Kathuria discussing challenges of tough industries like fintech especially while planning GTMs of various markets 4) Chandana Pitta having an incredible B2B SAAS marketer journey with a hypergrowth start ups and she sharing snippets of this wonderful journey 5) Deepu Sukumaran Nair explaining the 'why', 'what' and 'how' of personal branding on Linkedin.
The audience was incredibly wonderful and Jatin Chaudhary thanks for moderating the session so well :)
๐ฆ Thank you for joining us in the eChai Ventures Product Growth meetup at Urban Vault 1515, HSR, Bengaluru! ๐
Recapping a few highlights:
Aditya Vikram believes nothing succeeds like success. People want to be on the winning team. โค Helping people in the hour of need (start of Covid) by working on contactless deliveries at Amazon was gratifying. Though it also meant cutting short paternity leave. โค If India eCommerce market is growing by 100, Meesho is growing by 65. โค Co-signs what his mentor would say, "You become a seasoned product professional - not by building products but by shutting them down" โค If there was a product he may have liked to work upon, it'd be eSports FIFA โฝ โค Hiring at Meesho for his team ๐ข
Alok Agrawal says he joined Microsoft because of his wife. He may have been a Chef or a Cricketer in a parallel world ๐ โค Loved working on a product that helped people in the refugee camps. Contributing to the social impact it had felt fulfilling. โคEye popping numbers - MS Teams grew from 18 mn to 200 mn users during Covid. This growth was massively fuelled by Android phone users in the emerging markets. โค Being a PM is not as sexy as it sounds. Go for it if you like it while knowing that it's just a role. โค Hiring alert: His team at Mailmodo is hiring talent.
Sumit Malpani shares a hack from his work at Porter. "Follow Your User" and think of your user occupying a chair in every meeting that you sit in. โค During Covid, worked on the Ola Emergency product for people in essential services. Contributing to the impact it had was gratifying. โค Worked on Moj for Creators and built various Gamification modules for Creators at ShareChat, acquiring ~200k high quality creators, improving creator retention by 8pp. Reference reading: https://lnkd.in/gveZWpfw โค If there was a product he may have liked to work upon, it'd be Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. because it is a complex product with a great user experience. It is accessible, reliable and frictionless. From its colour coding to safety-related nudges, visual cues to clear instructions, everything adds to user delight.
It's a wrap! Do share resources - books, podcasts, newsletters, courses, platforms and communities that are helping you with your journey as a product professional. โจ
The event drew a diverse audience of over 45 attendees from 20 different countries, featuring a dynamic conversation between investors and founders, providing invaluable insights into the intricacies of fundraising.
Closing the event with a networking session, the audience engaged in meaningful conversations with a diverse array of startups and founders.
Events such as this play a crucial role in fostering connections, knowledge exchange and collaborative growth across international boundaries, empowering entrepreneurs to drive their ventures forward.
This event wouldn't have been possible without the support of Karan Bahadur and Jatin Chaudhary. Special thanks to Waleed Arshad and Mohammad Mustafa Hassan for their encouragement and support throughout the event.
Here's to many more successful collaborations and impactful events!
๐ฆ Thank you for joining us in the eChai Ventures FinTech Day meetup at Urban Vault 477, HSR, Bengaluru! ๐
Sharing glimpses from our gathering -
Mohankumar Swaminathan has seen the pivots and the growth at Scripbox in his 8+ years of being with the organisation where he is a product leader in his current role. With only 1,000 certified financial planners in India, their offering is a productised version that makes wealth management easier. So if you are not a Do It Yourself person and would like to let them Do It For You with all the years of domain expertise, then check them out now!
Nishant Prasad from Wint Wealth comes from a legal side and built his understanding of everything that goes into the business by leading with curiosity. That puts him in a position to not just interpret circulars by the regulatory bodies but also speak the language of his colleagues to decode how this affects everything else. Fintech picked up massively during Covid. People had time and money to think about investing! Investor protection Vs Progression is always a conversation to have.
Ravi K. Goyal believes there is no substitute to hard work. He is a seasoned professional in the Fintech space and started his entrepreneurial journey around 3 months ago. He is building rural-focused NBFC in secured lending. When asked about what's a major challenge in his industry, he says it has to be Recovery, among everything else.
Saloni Mehta believes that money is very personal. Everyone wants different things from their money. At Jupiter, she is working towards helping people see everything in one place and manage their money wisely. A framework she loves is - Track, Analyse, Decide, Act' in that order. If you are looking to sharpen your knowledge on finance, she highly recommends the book 'Let's Talk Money: You've Worked Hard for It, Now Make It Work for You' by Monika Halan.
It's a wrap! Do share resources - books, podcasts, newsletters, courses, platforms and communities that are helping you with your journey in becoming a smart investor โจ
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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.
