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People ask me this question a lot, How do I start building a community?

Me:  Borrow Inspiration from Existing Communities to Find Your First Members
Don’t reinvent the wheel — your first community members are already hanging out somewhere else.

Back in early 2020, during the peak of the COVID pandemic, I wanted to create a space for founders who often felt invisible because they were not in Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Singapore, London, or San Francisco, but were building startups from Nashik, Kochi, Guwahati, Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, and even Milpitas.

My goal was to enable founders from 2nd/3rd-tier cities building Startups to get support in their journey to overcome challenges.

I looked at communities I admired (eChai, TiE global chapters, SaaSBoomi, Super Morpheus, Headstart and a few more) and realized my first members were already out there — I just had to find them.

By the end of 2020, Grittiest had served 170+ founders from underserved cities.

Founders loved it! Grittiest's focus was to serve unserved founders in 2nd/3rd-tier cities and magic happened.

Here’s the hack for How do I start building a community👇
1. Identify 3–5 communities where your ideal members already gather
2. Observe what people love & what frustrates them
3. Engage authentically before inviting anyone over
4. Reach out personally, not with a broadcast message

The most loyal members often come from the margins, not the mainstream. Start by borrowing energy from the communities your people already love. Just focus on what they get from your community initiative.

Built /building a community? Where did you find your first members? #CommunityGrowth101

A productive weekend in London.

We had some wonderful meetings to shape the startup ecosystem globally. Discussing plans for next year on bringing big tech giants closer to the startup #ecosystem, dining with a few investors, exploring the ecosystem, and attending the refreshing eChai Ventures event, thanks to Abhishek Singh for organising.

Had a fascinating conversation with Roop Bhadury about #AI's transformational impact worldwide and how it will reshape industries in the next decade. The kind of conversation that reminds you why we're building what we're building.

This week, we're opening applications for Platvix Build Studios for those who pre-registered (link in the comments).

Next year is going to be big. Democratising the creation of startups and raising capital for early stage founders. We're doing the hard work so you don't have to.
Stay tuned.

#BuildStudio #Startups #London #AIStartups #VentureCapital

One of the most beautiful things about startups has nothing to do with funding rounds, valuations, or exits.

It’s community.

Over the last decade, I’ve been fortunate to be part of founder ecosystems across London, San Francisco, Boston, Nagpur, Pune, Mumbai, Delhi, and many places in between.

And the pattern is always the same.

A founder needs help.

Before investors show up, before customers sign, before the media writes about them, someone from the community steps in.

An introduction is made.

A deck gets reviewed.

A candidate is referred.

A customer call is arranged.

A founder who has already walked the path spends an hour helping someone they’ve just met.

No invoice.

No equity.

No expectations.

I’ve experienced this repeatedly through eChai Ventures.

Over the years, I’ve hosted and spoken at eChai Ventures events across multiple cities. What has always stood out to me isn’t the event itself, it’s the culture that follows.

Founders helping founders.

Operators helping founders.

Investors helping students.

People making introductions simply because they believe it might help.

A lot of that culture comes from Jatin Chaudhary.

For years, he has quietly connected thousands of people across India’s startup ecosystem. Most of those introductions never become LinkedIn posts. Most of the support never gets announced.

Yet opportunities are created because of it every single day.

I’ve seen the same spirit in communities like NSRCEL, in Boston startup circles, in San Francisco founder networks, and increasingly in India’s venture ecosystem.

The older I get, the more I realise that careers are rarely built alone.

They’re built because someone opened a door.

Someone took a call.

Someone made an introduction.

Someone helped when there was no immediate benefit to them.

In a world obsessed with transactions, communities like these remind us that generosity still compounds.

And often, the most valuable people in the room are not the richest.

They’re the ones willing to help without keeping score.

Capital builds companies.

But community builds everything else.

What do founders discuss when the pitch decks are closed?

Today, eChai Ventures brought together founders, investors and operators in Ahmedabad for a candid conversation with Hari Balasubramanian.

It wasn't a rehearsed keynote when we met. The discussion moved from his early investment journeys involving Wow! Momo, Mukunda Foods Pvt. Ltd., Spinny, Rapido and Brevistay to some of the harder questions founders are confronting today:

▶️ Where is capital really going?
▶️ What has AI changed about building and selling software?
▶️ Is conventional SaaS becoming harder to fund?
▶️ How do founders and investors actually achieve liquidity?

Recalling the conversations, I found a few ideas that stayed with me.

▫️Capital is no longer India’s biggest constraint. The constraint is whether a team has a bold enough idea and the operating capacity to deploy that capital intelligently.
▫️AI has made building faster. It has not made distribution easier. Product creation is getting cheaper, while customer access, domain expertise, trust, and monetisation are getting more valuable.
▫️SaaS is not dead. But the comfortable middle is being squeezed. Either reach enormous user scale or own a workflow so deeply that a smaller number of customers will pay serious money.
▫️Paper valuation is not a return. Liquidity is. Many meaningful companies take 10 to 15 years to build, while the structures funding them often expect answers much earlier.

Perhaps the most important lesson was this:

A strong ecosystem is not built through speeches. It is built through rooms where people speak honestly, challenge each other and make the right introductions.

Thank you, Hari Balasubramanian, for sharing decades of experience without trying to make the journey sound neat.

Thank you, Jatin Chaudhary, Umesh Uttamchandani, eChai Ventures and DevX for creating the room.

Amish Trivedi Anil Motwani Anuj Dalal Bhavesh Patel Jash Gor Jayesh Kadivar Koumal Kalantry Nikita Lalwani Rahul Kumar Vikas Mundhra Viraj Rajani Balkrishna Agarwal Chirag Panchal Amit Gupta Dr. Isha Goswami Dr. Saiful Khan Ekta Shah Harsh Joshi Ishani Dave Mitesh Shethwala Murtuza Badami Er. Nandan Shukla Sagar Thakker Satya Mehta Shyam Parmar Sweety Patel Twinkle Barot

The carousel here distils the entire conversation.

This week, while most people are consuming startup content, others will be sitting in rooms with the people actually building companies.

And honestly?

That's an unfair advantage.
This week's board at Founder Startup House :

📍6 Aug | 6 PM
→ How Founders & Operators Use AI (with eChai Ventures)
https://lnkd.in/dza2Hj4X
📍 7 Aug | 6 PM
→ Build Production-Grade AI Apps with Nebius Token Factory (Basecamp x Elevation Capital)
https://luma.com/wawucly2
📍 8 Aug | 6 PM
→ Fundraising for Startups (with eChai Ventures)
https://lnkd.in/dza2Hj4X
📍 9 Aug | 11 AM
→ Building Consumer & D2C Brands (with eChai Ventures)
https://lnkd.in/dza2Hj4X
📍 9 Aug | 4 PM
→ Failcode Bengaluru (with eChai Ventures)
https://lnkd.in/dza2Hj4X
📍 9 Aug | 5 PM
→ Mafia & Board Game Night (Basecamp x Elevation Capital)
Register:- https://luma.com/ztck7x53
📍 9 Aug | 9 PM
→ Smash It Like a Founder — Founder Badminton Night
Register:- https://luma.com/oh8oqbjh
4 days.

One building.

And that's exactly why the same people keep getting lucky.

And RSVP now to get the alumni status of Founder Startup House through the 3 day cohort !
https://lnkd.in/dZc2sr2R
Vikram Bharati Karan Bahadur Nivin Joseph Mansi Baheti Suhani Jain

#founders #events #community #network

𝗔 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆, 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀!

It was a wonderful experience being part of the panel discussion on “SEO Marketing for Startups”organised by eChai Ventures

What impressed me most was the enthusiasm of the audience. Their active participation, thoughtful questions and willingness to understand digital growth showed that startup founders and professionals are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of building a strong and sustainable online presence.

𝗠𝘆 𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁:

🔸 Entrepreneurs are eager to learn and adapt to the changing digital landscape.
🔸 Awareness about organic marketing and long-term brand building is steadily increasing.
🔸 Audiences value practical experiences and honest conversations more than theoretical knowledge.
🔸 Interactive discussions create better learning than one-way presentations.
🔸 Networking events like these help founders exchange ideas, discover opportunities and build meaningful relationships.
🔸 Every panel member brought a different perspective, making the conversation more valuable and engaging.

A heartfelt thank you to eChai Ventures and Chintan P. for inviting me and creating such a collaborative platform for the startup community.

I had an amazing time sharing the stage, exchanging experiences and having fun with my fellow panel members Vishvam Mangroliya , Neel Patel 🦕 and Manasi Shah

Looking forward to many more insightful conversations and meaningful connections!

#echai #startups #entrepreneurship #digitalawareness #networking #businessgrowth #digitalmarketing #founders #startupcommunity #learninganddevelopment

Attended my first echai startup meetup at DevX, Noida, and it was a great experience stepping outside the usual academic and professional environment.

What I enjoyed most was meeting people from different backgrounds — founders, engineers, and people working on ideas across technology and business.

It was interesting to see how differently people approach problems, build products, and think about opportunities.

As someone from an Aeronautical Engineering background with a growing interest in aerospace, AI, data, and entrepreneurship, conversations like these give me a much broader perspective beyond the aerospace industry itself.

Grateful for the conversations and looking forward to attending more such events, learning from different people, and gradually building meaningful connections.

#Networking #Startups #Entrepreneurship #Aerospace #AI #Noida #echaiventures

Saturday evening was a great learning and networking experience at eChai Ventures ’s “Fundraising for Startups: Panel Conversation with Founders & Investors.”

It was great connecting with founders building across Social Commerce, Deeptech, Fintech and other emerging sectors, and understanding how investors evaluate startups at different stages.

A key highlight was hearing Swapna Gupta — share her perspective on fundraising, Deeptech and how investors evaluate opportunities.

A few takeaways that stood out:
🔹 Deeptech needs conviction, capital and patience. Building deeptech businesses often requires significant time and capital before commercial validation becomes visible.
🔹 The fundraising bar changes at every stage. Seed is largely about the founder, team and ability to execute. As companies move towards Series A and B, investors increasingly look for traction, validation and data.
🔹 A crowded market isn't necessarily a bad market. Competition can validate demand. If existing products aren't solving the problem well, there is still an opportunity to build better and capture market share.
🔹 Warm introductions matter. Portfolio founders, alumni networks and trusted connections can help startups get the attention needed for that first conversation.

I also had the opportunity to ask Swapna about the intersection of Deeptech and Fintech.
With AI becoming an important layer in financial services, we can automate processes, reduce human intervention and build smarter financial products.

But an interesting question remains:
At what point does an AI-enabled Fintech product actually become Deeptech?
Is applying AI enough, or does Deeptech require proprietary technology, significant R&D and defensible IP?

Definitely something I want to explore further.

A special kudos to Jatin Chaudhary and the entire eChai team for creating open spaces where founders, investors and ecosystem builders can connect, learn and exchange ideas.

#StartupFundraising #Deeptech #Fintech #VentureCapital #AI #Startups #eChai #banglorestartups #startupindia