What's being posted about eChai.

I had a really good time at the eChai Ventures Women Founders Initiative in Bengaluru.

It was a great session with women founders from different backgrounds and industries. We spoke about the challenges of being a woman entrepreneur, building and growing businesses, AI and how it is changing the way we work, fashion, technology and a lot more.

What I enjoyed most was the openness of the conversations. Everyone brought a different perspective, and there was something interesting to take away from each discussion.

As a founder, I always enjoy meeting people outside my usual circle. Sometimes a simple conversation can give you a completely different perspective on a problem you’ve been thinking about.

A special thank you to Koral Jain for making everything so easy and comfortable and for bringing us all together. Really appreciate the effort behind putting these conversations together.

Wonderful meeting Sunita V Vandana Jain madhu chellam Adhunika Premkumar Vageesha Daga

Looking forward to more such conversations.

#WomenFounders #WomenEntrepreneurs #Entrepreneurship #AI #Technology #Bengaluru #eChai

After a great evening at Urban Vault, by eChai Ventures that I attended along with Nitish Reddy and Lokesh Yarramallu, discussing the challenges around GTM, sales, and building in today’s market.
I got to meet quite a few interesting people, hear different perspectives, and learn a lot from their experiences.

GTM is not just about having a great product, it’s about understanding who actually needs it, why they need it, and when they’re ready to buy.

Distribution can be as important as the product itself. A strong product without the right channel, positioning, or customer access can struggle to find its market.

Overall, an awesome session with some great conversations and valuable perspectives.
Looking forward to attending more sessions like this and learning from more people building, selling, and solving real problems.

Another great Saturday evening with the Bengaluru startup ecosystem at eChai Ventures Ventures’ Bengaluru Startup Meetup! 🚀

It was a great opportunity to meet founders, operators, and startup enthusiasts building across different sectors. What I enjoyed most were the open conversations — hearing what people are building, the challenges they are solving, exchanging perspectives, and making meaningful new connections.

Events like these remind me that some of the best learning in the startup ecosystem happens through conversations with people who are actually building and experimenting every day.

A big kudos to Koral Jain for being an awesome host and making the conversation engaging and interactive! 👏

And a special shoutout to Jatin Chaudhary — eChai consistently brings together a fresh and diverse group of founders, operators, and ecosystem folks. Building such a community city by city takes consistency, and it’s great to see the network continue to grow.

Kudos to the entire eChai Ventures team for creating spaces where people can connect, learn, exchange ideas, and build meaningful relationships.

Looking forward to many more conversations and connections! 🚀
venue: Urban Vault 477, HSR Layout , Bengaluru

#eChaiVentures #BengaluruStartups #fintech #StartupEcosystem #Founders #Networking #Entrepreneurship #Bengaluru #Startups #Startupcommunity

𝐀𝐭 𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐮….
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆

Speaking at Founder Startup House, Koramangala, Bengaluru….with two fellow founders Mrinal Rai Nupur Dave and a full house wonderfully moderated by Mansi Baheti….What caught my attention was not just the turnout, but the mix of the audience

Gen Z…Millennials…Seasoned professionals. Aspiring founders….Existing founders 🙌🏼

I observed something….
👻Gen Z wanted specificity, not gyaan.
🥸Experienced professionals asked fewer sharper questions.
👧🏻Young founders were thinking far beyond their current circumstances.
😅And almost everyone was more interested in real stories than success stories.

Maybe that’s how startup conversations are changing….People don’t want to be told what to do rather .. want to understand how you think when there is no obvious answer.

And honestly…those are the conversations I enjoy the most.

All this because of the efforts of Jatin Chaudhary …Applause to what eChai Ventures has build brick by brick …from Gujarat to San Francisco

#Entrepreneurship #Founders #StartupEcosystem #BengaluruStartupEcosytem

Can your startup outlive you ?

Last Saturday at the eChai Ventures meetup in Bangalore, I met Mrinal Rai, Co-founder of Intugine - Logistics through Innovation, a multimodal supply chain visibility SaaS platform working with enterprises like Flipkart, Titan, Diageo and Mahindra Logistics. He was kind enough to give me half an hour this week.

Since, stotio is also a B2B SAAS company, he felt like the right person to speak to about our product and ambition. I went in with GTM questions and came out with something more personal:

I told him something I don't say out loud. When I'm in a call with a senior enterprise leader, someone who has been in their industry for decades, I sometimes feel small. Not because I'm an introvert or because I struggle to speak to people. But a quiet part of me wonders, "How do I ask them what their problems are? How can I say that I can solve them?"

Mrinal didn't let that sit for long.

He said that in a business transaction, no one is big or small. Both sides are equals and they are there to help each other. He said that once I understand this, I'll be able to take meetings more confidently. I'm grateful to Mrinal for this learning 💛

I read about it later that this is called an Imposter Syndrome. And I don't think I'm alone in this. Has anyone else felt this? I'd love to know how you moved past it.
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Grateful for the rooms my workplace, stotio keeps putting me in. 🙏
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Last Saturday, I attended an eChai Ventures meetup in Koramangala. One of the panelists was DEBOPRIYA CHAKROBORTY, CEO of Antrapreneur, a business incubator that has supported 200+ startups in Gujarat. She was kind enough to meet with me this week.

During the meeting, she gave me many advices. Here's one that stuck with me:

✨ One thing is non negotiable in life - Consistency ✨
And it applies everywhere - at a company, at a gym, as a founder, in a relationship. Everywhere.

She gave a simple example: Calling your parents for 2 minutes every day matters more to them than sending diamonds once a month with no phone call in between.

In the context of personal branding, she encouraged me to share my work and thoughts consistently. Not for followers but to build data: When you're older and start forgetting all that you've done, scroll through your own social media. When you're feeling low, go back to your work and remember who you really are.

I want this LinkedIn to be that for me. A work diary I can open whenever I want to look back. I've tried being consistent before and it hasn't been easy. I'm hoping to stay consistent now.

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Grateful for the rooms my workplace, stotio puts me in. 🙏
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Had a really lovely evening speaking at the eChai Ventures meetup hosted at Founder Startup House

The session was full house, but more than that, it felt full of energy. There were young founders, experienced entrepreneurs, operators, and people still figuring out what they want to build.

Everyone had a question, a story, a doubt, or a small dream they were chasing.

That is what I love about such rooms.

No one has all the answers.
Everyone is trying.
Everyone is building something with hope.

A few thoughts stayed with me from the conversation, and I think all of us on the panel were aligned on this:

Build first.
Sell first.
Talk to customers first.
Raise last.

Funding is important, but it cannot replace clarity. The market teaches you faster than any pitch deck can.

I learned a lot from my fellow panelists DEBOPRIYA CHAKROBORTY and Nupur Dave. It was genuinely inspiring to listen to their journeys and the way they are building with so much honesty in their own spaces. There is always something beautiful about listening to people who have lived their lessons and are still kind enough to share them openly.

I also got to share a little bit of our own journey at Intugine. From starting with a gaming wearable called Nimble to eventually finding our way into supply chain visibility, it has been a journey full of wrong turns, hard lessons, and small moments of faith.

A big thank you to Mansi S. to Mansi S. for hosting the session so warmly and keeping the conversation so natural.

And as always, it is a pleasure to be part of an eChai Ventures session. Thank you Jatin Chaudhary ji for creating spaces where founders can speak honestly, learn from each other, and feel a little less alone in the journey.

The finish line keeps moving, so build stamina.

Intugine - Logistics through Innovation

#Startups #FounderJourney #BengaluruStartups #eChai #Building #Intugine

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the eChai Startup Network event by eChai Ventures in Bangalore - and it was honestly one of those events where you walk away with more ideas than you came in with.

What I really enjoyed was meeting founders and leaders from different stages of their journey and hearing how they think about building, selling, and scaling their businesses.
As the Product Owner at Piqual, it was especially exciting to introduce Piqual to founders and sales teams and have conversations around one of the challenges we’re working to solve - making B2B lead generation smarter and more effective with AI.

The conversations, questions, and curiosity around Piqual were genuinely encouraging. But more than that, the event was a great reminder that building a product isn’t just about what happens inside the product team - it’s about getting out there, listening to the market, and understanding the people you’re building for.

A big thank you to eChai Ventures for bringing together such a vibrant startup community. Always great to meet people who are building, experimenting, and figuring things out along the way. Looking forward to more conversations, more learning, and hopefully, some great collaborations ahead! 🚀

#Startup #Networking #Founders #AI #SalesTech #B2B #Piqual #eChai #Bangalore

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

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

What does it really take to build a consumer brand today?

Yesterday at Founder Startup House x eChai Ventures, that question took the room in a dozen different directions.

From how people discover products, to why they stay loyal, to what makes them switch overnight.

Listening to Dhananjay Yadav from NeoSapien and Vikas Bardia from Shoffr, I realized that consumer businesses are probably the closest you'll get to watching human behavior play out in real time.

One moment the conversation was around D2C and consumer brands.

The next, it was about the fitness industry and how rapidly it is evolving beyond just gyms and memberships.

What fascinated me wasn't a growth hack or a framework.

It was seeing how two founders look at the same market and notice things most people miss.

A customer decision.
A changing habit.
A small shift in behavior.

And suddenly, an entire business opportunity emerges.

These are the conversations I enjoy the most.

No pitch decks.
No buzzwords.

Just founders sharing how they see the world, and everyone in the room leaving with a slightly different perspective than they walked in with.

That's the magic of founder communities.

Sometimes the most valuable thing you take back isn't a contact or a note.

It's a new way of looking at a market.

Vikram Bharati Karan Bahadur Nivin Joseph Jatin Chaudhary Mansi Baheti
Suhani Jain