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.
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.
It's excited to explore GenAI's potential for startups. LLaMA 3’s advanced language capabilities and ChatGPT’s 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
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.
Pleasure hosting the eChai Startup Social in Gandhinagar x GNLU!
It was an amazing opportunity to connect, share, and collaborate with fellow entrepreneurs, educational leaders, and enthusiastic professionals and students. The small group setting facilitated candid conversations and meaningful exchanges, making it a truly productive gathering.
Here's to more such events that foster innovation and collaboration in the startup ecosystem!
Stay Tuned!🚀
- Ekta Shah, Co-Founder & CEO of Biziverse - Vishal Dhamecha, Founder of Rhyno EV - Rushirajsinh Jadeja , A1 Acid Limited - Harshal Patel, Caxsol - suraj soni, Cybx Technolabs - Gajanan Pawar, Team Building Coach from Kreedatantra - Niravkumar Suthar, Assistant Professor, Computer Department,VGEC - Zahinraza Asaria, VC Fellow - Anthill Ventures - Jaydip Solanki, Senior Odoo Developer - Rohit Kuntal, Event Organiser - Govind Prajapati, Innovator - Taksh Patel, Innovrative
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. 💰Heavy on India SaaS owing to the growth potential 💰 Highlighted portfolio company FRND for their tightly knit tech team and immense learnings on consumer behaviour and power users 💰Interesting investments this year include Utsav App in the spiritual tech space and kim.cc 💰Recommends listening to The 20-minute VC by Harry Stebbings 💰Hiring: 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. 💰In her work at Jungle Ventures, they invest in seasoned entrepreneurs and write a cheque size that's relatively bigger at that funding stage 💰Interesting investments this year include NIC Icecreams and Atomberg Technologies 💰Recommends 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 💰Hiring: 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. 💰 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 💰Just the way founders look for a product market fit, they look for a founder market fit to ascertain that it's a good match! 💰Highlighted her portfolio company Turms (Bigphi Technologies Pvt. Ltd.) which has MS Dhoni promoting it 💰Hiring: Her portfolio companies are hiring. You can visit the company's website for details
We ❤️ 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 🐶
Cracking the Code on AI in Business: What We Learned! 🔥
Yesterday’s meetup was a deep dive into how AI is reshaping the business landscape. Yash Shah broke down some fascinating insights that really got us thinking.
Key Takeaways:
- Autopilot vs. Copilot: AI is either doing the work for you or helping you do it better. Think Alexa vs. ChatGPT. Both are game-changers, but in different ways.
- Verticalized AI: It’s not just about having AI; it’s about fine-tuning it for specific industries or even individual clients. The days of generic solutions are fading fast.
- AI-Native Experiences: The real disruptors will be companies that build with AI from the ground up, not just retrofitting old systems.
- Data is King: Accurate data is the fuel for AI. If your data’s off, your AI won’t hit the mark either.
- Distribution Challenges: Even with AI, getting your product in front of the right audience is tougher than ever.
It’s clear—AI is here to stay, but the winners will be those who can think strategically about how to leverage it. Thanks to eChai Ventures and GVFL Limited for hosting the event.
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 :)
While trying hands-on - Wow! I'm the God with AI super power... 😇
While fine-tuning prompts - **spends 3 hours** - is this really that good? 😱
Once the romance is over - It's good, not great.. HI will prevail over AI. 🤯
Well, some AI enthusiasts met at GVFL Limited yesterday as part of eChai Ventures' AI meet up yesterday. A big shoutout to Yash Shah for putting together his thoughts in a comprehensive deck. Quite insightful.
Happy to see the enthusiasm around AI and some folks doing really epic work in this space. Here's to you guys:
Vinit B Yadav showcased how Veloxhire.AI can solve bulk hiring problem. Ketul Shah at Groundup.ai is making a formidable use case for industry application of AI and Amit Tiwari at ATSN AI is creating awesome chat application using AI.
🦄 Thank you for joining us in the eChai Ventures Product Growth meetup at Urban Vault 1515, HSR, Bengaluru! 🚀
Recapping a few highlights:
Aditya Vikram believes nothing succeeds like success. People want to be on the winning team. ➤ 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. ➤ If India eCommerce market is growing by 100, Meesho is growing by 65. ➤ Co-signs what his mentor would say, "You become a seasoned product professional - not by building products but by shutting them down" ➤ If there was a product he may have liked to work upon, it'd be eSports FIFA ⚽ ➤ Hiring at Meesho for his team 📢
Alok Agrawal says he joined Microsoft because of his wife. He may have been a Chef or a Cricketer in a parallel world 🌎 ➤ Loved working on a product that helped people in the refugee camps. Contributing to the social impact it had felt fulfilling. ➤Eye 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. ➤ 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. ➤ 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. ➤ During Covid, worked on the Ola Emergency product for people in essential services. Contributing to the impact it had was gratifying. ➤ 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 ➤ 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. ✨
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!
Just wrapped up an incredible 2-day trip to Bengaluru, where I had the pleasure of connecting with some of the most talented engineers, product builders, entrepreneurs, investors, and tech enthusiasts. The energy here is as vibrant and innovative as it is in Silicon Valley!
I had a fantastic session with the engineering team at Nium, where we explored the challenges and opportunities of integrating GenAI features into the FinTech world. The enthusiasm and insightful questions from the audience were truly inspiring. We also delved into how AI is reshaping the software engineering process and how both engineering and product teams can adapt to this ongoing disruption. Thanks to Ramana Satyavarapu, Mahathi Mahabhashyam, Sujoy Das, and the entire Nium team for the opportunity!
Later, I visited Draper Startup House, where we discussed the journey of productionizing GenAI applications and the pitfalls to avoid. A huge thanks to eChai Ventures and Draper Startup House for hosting me. The startup culture in Bengaluru is electric, and it's clear we will be witnessing some amazing AI products emerging from Bengaluru soon! Thanks to Nivin Joseph, Jatin ChaudharyMansi Baheti for organizing this event.
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.
