117: Downturns & M&A's

The driving forces propelling the Indian startup ecosystem forward all share a common thread—they are all People. Founders, investors, employees—all united working towards growth and success.  At Matrix, we believe in putting our founders first, and now, we want to shine a spotlight on the talent and teams that move these visionaries forward. In the very first episode of "People First" by Matrix Moments, Avnish Bajaj and Rupali Sharma from Matrix Partners India, highlight the pivotal role of human capital teams in shaping successful ventures. The episode covers: 💼 People First Philosophy: The significance of prioritizing founders and recognizing that, at their core, founders are people. This underscores the essence of the podcast's title, "People First." 🚀 Evolution of VC Ecosystem: The Indian venture capital landscape focusing not only on investments but also on aiding companies in building robust teams. 💰 Investment in Human Capital Teams: As the venture ecosystem expanded, why Matrix invested in a human capital team, viewing it as a strategic function crucial for supporting startup growth. 🏆 Value Creation: The core objective is to expedite startups' value creation, with human capital teams playing a vital role in ensuring that the right talent propels this growth. 🌐 Reinvention: Founder roles and team dynamics evolving to stay relevant. Managing human capital strategically is a vital competitive advantage in the digital age. 🤝 Communication and Transparency: Fostering trust and collaboration within the organization for clarity in expectations and skillsets, ensures optimal returns.

On the latest episode of Matrix Moments, Ashish Aggarwal, Co-Founder, AppBroda and Vivek Ramachandran, Matrix Partners India discuss the world of mobile apps and the growing segments in the gaming landscape in India. This episode covers -  📈 Growth Potential: Discover why India's gaming industry is on the brink of an inflection point in the next 18 months. 🌐 Developer Talents: Learn about India's vast developer talent pool and their evolving role in the global gaming industry. 🌍 Global Perspective: Gain insights into the importance of expanding beyond local markets to maximize revenue and user acquisition. 💡 Monetization Strategies: Advice on incorporating ads, premium formats, and effective user acquisition to boost your game's success. 📈 Scaling Success: How developers who started small and grew into million-dollar studios and why now is the perfect time to embrace the entrepreneurial plunge in the gaming industry.

Atomicwork leverages the power of AI to seamlessly bring together employees, IT systems, and HR operations. On the latest episode of Founder Moments, Vijay Rayapati, CEO and Co-Founder of Atomicwork, along with Vikram Vaidyanathan and Pranay Desai, discuss his phenomenal founder journey.   This episode covers -   🚀 The Minjar Journey: Vijay shares insights from his entrepreneurial experience with Minjar, highlighting the challenges faced in fundraising, seeking suitable partners, and entering foreign markets. He also discusses the significance of cultural alignment, which ultimately led to the sale of the startup.   💼 Building a SaaS company: Vijay emphasizes the creation of value through service and encourages a deep focus on redefining AI rather than simply adding it on top of existing solutions. He introduces the concept of Act 1 in a company's evolution, describing it as an iterative phase where various approaches are explored to solve problems.   👥 Co-founders' Chemistry: He also elaborates on the qualities that drew him to his co-founders. Patience, perseverance, curiosity, and a shared cultural context played crucial roles in their partnership.   📈 Team Building and Hiring: Vijay highlights the founder's role in not only selecting but also fine-tuning the team's DNA to align with the company's vision and values.

Amidst the lack of innovation & transparency in traditional fixed return assets, which constitute approximately 70% of Indian household savings (with around 45% in FDs), a significant opportunity arises to bridge the gap. #FoundersFirst #MatrixMoments #MatrixFintech

In the latest episode of Matrix Moments, Sudipto Sannigrahi, and Anurag Srivastava, delve deeper into the existing B2B landscape and cover why Matrix Partners continues to be bullish on the segment and the fundamentals that make a good B2B business This episode covers: 1. Is B2B still an attractive segment to build in 2. Fundamentals of a good B2B business 3. Sustainable, defensible moats in a good B2B business 4. Pitfalls for B2B founders to be aware of in their 10 – infinity journey 5. Importance of good corporate governance Traditionally centered on distribution, B2B investments are now shifting toward core IP-led manufacturing. We consider ourselves fortunate to witness the inner workings of a diverse range of B2B businesses, spanning from well-established companies like OfBusiness, FarMart, Captain Fresh, and VEGROW to upcoming innovative product companies like ZippMat, XIMKART, and bijnis among others.

On the latest episode of Matrix Moments, we feature seasoned entrepreneurs including Arvind Parthiban, CEO & Co-Founder at SuperOps.ai; Rishi Kulkarni, Managing Director at LegalZoom; Vijay Rayapati, Co-founder and CEO of AtomicWork; along with Pranay Desai. These founders share valuable insights from their second innings building SaaS companies. This episode covers -  Strategically aligning go-to-market approach with market demand. Embracing market immersion and adapting to international markets. Fostering agility for success in the dynamic SaaS landscape.

The Indian SaaS ecosystem has demonstrated greater resilience than its global counterparts. Revenues crossed $7 billion, formation of new SaaS companies expanded three-fold, and India now corners 2% of the global SaaS market, as per a report by SaasBoomi and McKinsey. SuperOps.ai; Rishi Kulkarni, Managing Director at LegalZoom; Vijay Rayapati, Co-founder and CEO of AtomicWork, and Pranay Desai, delve into the journeys of second-time SaaS founders.   Explore the driving forces that led to embarking on a fresh journey, coupled with their approach across pivotal domains including market strategies, co-founder synergies, product innovation, customer exploration and much more.

On our latest episode of Founder Moments with Salone Sehgal, Founding Partner at Lumikai Fund, and Aakash Kumar, we shine a spotlight on why India stands at the cusp of revolutionizing gaming. This episode covers: 👥 Shifting Demographics 📈 India's Gaming Potential 🖥 Emergence of Indian Talent 🎮 Convergence of Gaming and Social Media & much more!

After building a large profitable digital company, what do such infinity founders do next?! Become “Digital Industrialists!” Up next on Matrix Moments, we discuss a counter narrative concept – that its okay for infinity founders to start multiple businesses as long as it is about value creation for all stakeholders and not value capture. As big a violation of first principles of company building as it sounds, we invite you to tune in to know more in our latest episode.

GenWise, founded by Geentanshu, Nehul, and Rajat, is driven by a collective vision to develop a lifestyle app that empowers the elderly and bridges the digital gap between generations.   GenWise leverages innovative features such as a personal digital assistant, streamlined digital passbook, medication reminders, scam education, and engaging social tools. They employ cutting-edge technology, including artificial intelligence, for a seamless user experience, creating an elder-friendly digital environment.   Within two months of their launch, GenWise has hit ~100k installs     Hear the founders next on Matrix Moments, as they share their vision to empower and enrich the digital experiences of the elderly through India's first lifestyle app.

The tailwinds in the Media Social and Gaming space are building up to a perfect storm. At a high level Media, Social and Gaming seems to be converging especially for GenZ. Marry this with the fact that AI is going to disrupt Media Social and Gaming by significantly altering the Quality/Quantity isoquant as well as allowing for personalization at scale. High velocity of content will also lead to innovations in content management in general.   At the core of this lies content, catering to ever-changing attention spans. With its multi-modal capabilities encompassing text, image, video, audio and more, AI acts as a catalyst, igniting revolutionary experiences, sparking creativity and fostering meaningful connections between content creators and their audiences. It’s why we’re calling this piece ‘Feel good inc.’ internally. If you thought you are binging today, wait for AI to be properly integrated into your content.   Up next on Matrix Moments, Tarun, Aakash and Chandrasekhar Venugopal, delve deep into the AI Revolution in Media and Social, where they uncover the potential, challenges and countless opportunities that lie ahead in this evolving landscape.

Scapia has made a remarkable entry into the market with the launch of its co-branded credit card in collaboration with Federal Bank. The response has been overwhelming, with massive growth in customer sign-ups. Tailor-made for travel lovers, the card turns a customer's everyday expenses into exciting travel rewards. And the perks are unparalleled! From zero-forex markup to unlimited domestic lounge access, zero joining and annual fees, it is the ultimate travel companion. Founder Anil Goteti’s passion for travel and understanding of the younger generation's needs, has been the driving force behind Scapia.   Brace yourselves for our latest episode of Founder Moments, as Vikram uncovers Anil’s approach to building Scapia and his vision for the future. With less than 5% of the population currently possessing credit cards and India projected to have 200 million credit cards in circulation by 2030, the opportunities are vast.

To unlock India's immense potential in the semiconductor industry, Sudipto and Nivedith deep dive into the possibilities that lie ahead on our latest episode of Reflections.   1. The Complex Semiconductor Supply Chain: Dive deep into the intricacies of the semiconductor supply chain and its pivotal role in shaping the industry. 2. India's Role in the Global Semiconductor Value Chain: Explore India's limited participation and the golden opportunities arising from recent changes. 3. The Semiconductor Opportunity in India and its Subsets: Uncover the vast potential of the semiconductor market in India, along with the most promising subsets. 4. The "Right to Win" for Indian Companies: Discover winning factors that can drive Indian companies to make a mark in the global semiconductor value chain. 5. Commercial Implications of Moore's Law: Explore how Moore's Law evolution impacts the semiconductor landscape and the commercial implications of advanced technologies like 3D architecture. 6. Notable Players in RISC-V Adoption: Learn about leading global and Indian companies driving the adoption of RISC-V. 7. The Rise of Artificial Intelligence and India's Role: Discover how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing semiconductors and the potential role of India in this transformative trend. 8. Where will the Next Set of Indian Founders Emerge: Uncover potential sources of the next wave of Indian founders and valuable insights for those building in India.

On our latest episode of Reflections, join us as we unravel opportunities in Fintech infrastructure and Banktech. We will explore the changing landscape of BaaS and delve into how it has revolutionized the delivery and accessibility of financial services. The episode covers: 🚀 BaaS 2.0: BaaS 2.0 represents the evolution and maturation of the concept since its initial inception. BaaS 2.0 offers a more robust and scalable platform, enabling a wider range of services and features. 🔀 Fintech vs. SaaS: What aspects are different? While both Fintech and BaaS focus on leveraging technology in the financial sector, they differ in their primary offerings. 💡 Exciting spaces and our investment framework: Within the BaaS ecosystem, we are excited about certain spaces like payment gateways, lending platforms, wealth management solutions and more. We will discuss our investment framework used to evaluate and select opportunities. 🌐 Identifying adjacencies and tapping into them: Adjacencies play a crucial role in the growth and expansion of BaaS platforms. Tapping into adjacencies is essential for expanding the customer base, increasing revenue streams and creating synergies. 🔧 Skillsets required for building a Banktech play: Building a successful Banktech platform requires a specific set of skillsets. These include expertise in banking operations and regulations, technology infrastructure, regulatory compliance, and customer experience. 📲 Indian rails as public goods vs. private in the US: Boon or bane? The Indian rail infrastructure, including Aadhaar Authentication (AA), Unified Payments Interface (UPI), and Open Credit Enablement Network (OCEN), is considered public goods. In contrast, the rail systems in the United States are predominantly private. Comparing these two models raises important questions about the benefits and challenges of each approach. 🌍 Global expansion: Is it imminent? As the BaaS industry grows, evaluating the Total Addressable Market (TAM) in India is crucial to assess its potential for building a large-scale business. Additionally, exploring the feasibility and necessity of expanding to geographies similar to India provides valuable insights into global expansion opportunities and challenges.

In our latest episode of Reflections, we explore the use cases of generative AI in fintech with Aakash Kumar, Anish Patil, and Anand Khetan. Hear them as they discuss AI's disruptive impact, emerging patterns in technology development, future trends, as well as risks and opportunities in financial services. Tune in!

In this latest episode, Ankur Edkie and Sneha Roy pull back the curtain on how they have built a rapidly growing business. Tune in.

In this exciting new episode of Matrix Moments, Tarun Davda, MD, Matrix Partners India, is in conversation with Dilsher Malhi, the founder of the booming gaming platform, Zupee. Dilsher delves into the trends in the gaming industry, human psychology, and the advent of AI in the gaming space. Join the conversation as they talk about Dilsher’s journey and what he learned along the way.

In our latest episode of Matrix Moments, we uncover what's next for Matrix Partners India in the next Techade, with the closing of our fourth fund.

"The best product wins, right, and the best product means the founder who has the closest insight to the consumer, who spent time on the backend researching it, truly passionate about it I think can really create large opportunities." shares our VP, Chandrasekhar Venugopal, on our latest episode of Matrix Moments titled " Indian ConsumerTech - Coming back to Life." Joining him are our Founder and MD, Avnish Bajaj, our MD, Rajinder Balaraman, and our Principal, Siddharth Agarwal. What's next for ConsumerTech? Will ConsumerTech witness an evolution? What would this mean for entrepreneurial innovation? Tune in to know this and much more

To go IPO or not to go IPO is a dilemma that companies face as they consider raising capital and providing liquidity. Despite the potential benefits, some choose to remain private to avoid the challenges and limitations of being publicly traded. The objective of this podcast is to spark a discussion to share our perspectives. We have framed both the positives and some of the issues to think through before a company decides to go public.

In our latest episode of Founder Moments, listen in from Vijay Rayapati, Co-founder and CEO at Atomicwork, on why every founder should be thinking of GenAI, how AI can be leveraged within organisations and his predictions for the future.

Watch our Founder and MD, Avnish Bajaj, in conversation with our MD, Rajinder Balaraman, on what it takes to be an infinity entrepreneur.

"A lot of raw materials today are untouched across all the value chains and functionality that we spoke about. Choose out a new raw material, choose out a new value chain, or choose out financing to learn the market structure a lot better," said Asish Mohapatra, Co-founder and CEO, OfBusiness, as one of the four B2B verticals founders should invest in. Watch him in conversation with Sudipto Sannigrahi, Principal, Matrix Partners India.

“The West or the US specifically has always been built on a 222 kind of model, it’s 2 percent growth, 2 percent inflation, 2 percent interest rates, and India has always been more 777, 7 percent growth, 7 percent interest rate, 7 percent inflation, give or take in India maybe a little bit more but it’s not a shock to the Indian economy and you can see it around you because people are spending, businesses are investing.” said Rajinder Balaraman, MD, Matrix Partners India in our latest episode of Matrix Moments on “Environment, Valuation and Starting up in 2023” with Avnish Bajaj, Founder & MD, Matrix Partners India.

2022 was a year of unprecedented change and disruption, with the world having to adjust to a new normal. As we look back at the past year, it is important to take stock of what happened and reflect on what we have learned. At the same time, it is also important to look ahead and anticipate what the coming year may bring, Tune – in.

In this episode, Aakash, Principal at Matrix Partners India, talks to Shanav, VP of investments at Jump Crypto, about what builders in the crypto space can look forward to and other interesting trend lines for 2023.  Tune in to know more

In today's episode, Avnish Bajaj and Rajinder Balaraman, discuss Founder Market Fit and how it differs from the concept of building within a domain. Tune in to know more.

In today's episode, Aakash, Principle at Matrix Partners India, talks to Andrew Vranjes, GM, APAC at Blockdaemon, about the future of Staking, selling, and building a business in enterprise in the domain of Web3. Tune in to know more.

In today's episode, Ayush Chamaria, Associate VP, along with Vipul Allawadhi, Co-Founder, Kutumb and Prashant Sachan, Founder and CEO, AppsForBharat, deep dive into vertical social communities

Anurag Sinha, co-founder & CEO of OneCard shares advice on the key choices he made while building OneCard - important decisions related to choice of domain, market risk, profit pools, GTM, followership and much more.

Blockchain, Web3, crypto what is so fundamentally transforming about these technologies and where do we see value creation emerging over the next few years in this space? Tune in to hear Matrix's POV on this and more.

In this episode, we dive deep into Aakash Kumar's (Principal at Matrix) journey of crypto investments - he talks to Rajinder Balaraman (MD at Matrix) about why he's been an early believer of the space, his thoughts on the rise (& fall) of the market & more. Tune in.

In today's episode, Anurag Sinha, Co - founder and CEO, OneCard, in conversation with Avnish Bajaj, Founder and Managing Director, Matrix Partners India, tells us what it takes to build for scale, learnings from his company building journey & much more. Tune in.

Revant Bhate, Co-founder & CEO at Mosaic Wellness, shares advice on building for growth at the seed stage, in conversation with Aakash from the Matrix team. Tune in.

Talent has increasingly become a competitive advantage amongst fast-growing companies and on today's episode, we have Maya john& Anuradha Bharat, HR leaders respectively at Dailyhunt (VerSe Innovation) & Razorpay, in conversation with Rupali Sharma, to share learnings from their journey & give us their perspective on building the org of the future. Tune in.

Hear from Srikrishnan of Rocketlane on his journey of creating the customer onboarding category, in conversation with Pranay from Matrix Partners India, learn about the importance of driving the narrative, tactical advice to build a thriving community of advocates, and how to measure your brand efforts. Tune in

In today’s episode we have Shashank Kumar and Harshil Mathur, co-founders of Razorpay, along with Vikram Vaidyanathan, MD at Matrix Partners India. In this episode they talk about the evolution of Razorpay and learnings from its hypergrowth journey - tune in the find out.

In today's episode, we have Vamsi Krishna, CEO & Co-founder, Vedantu as well as Mayank Kumar, Co-founder & MD at upGrad, who walk us through their respective company building journeys as well as the their thoughts on how they expect the future of edtech to unravel. Tune in the find out

In part 4 of our gaming series, we talk to Manish Agarwal, CEO, Nazara Technologies, Thomas Purtell, Co-founder & CEO, Omlet, and Anirudh Pandita, Founder, Loco,  talk about the untapped opportunities within the gaming industry. Tune in.

In part 3 of our gaming series, we talk to Manish Agarwal, CEO, Nazara Technologies, Thomas Purtell, Co-founder & CEO, Omlet, and Anirudh Pandita, Founder, Loco,  about the rise of Web3 and how we expect it to impact and transform the gaming industry.  Tune in to find out.

In part 2 of our Gaming series, we cover the rise of Estreaming and the key trends stemming from it, with insights from Manish Agarwal, CEO, Nazara Technologies, Thomas Purtell, Co-founder & CEO, Omlet, and Anirudh Pandita, Founder, Loco. Tune in.

Avnish Bajaj of Matrix Partners India on how he picks winners and what it takes to be one Founder and managing director of one of India's most well known venture capital firms, Matrix Partners India, Avnish Bajaj, has a knack for picking winners. It’s not luck; it’s an ability he hones through intense research and also by studying human nature and decision making.   So, how does he pick a winner? What are the traits he looks for in entrepreneurs? Avnish talks about all that on this episode of The Uppercase Podcast. Tune in

In part 1 of our Gaming series, we talk about the future of e-sports with Manish Agarwal, CEO, Nazara Technologies, Thomas Purtell, Co-founder & CEO, Omlet, and Anirudh Pandita, Founder, Loco. Tune in for an insightful discussion.

Today on Matrix Moments, we address the recent manufacturing explosion - how much of it is real? what are the tailwinds contributing to this boom and why now? tune in to find out.

On today’s episode, Shashank Mehta, founder of The Whole Truth gives us a play by play rundown on what it takes to build a consumer brand from scratch, while in conversation with Rajat Agarwal, MD, Matrix India. Tune in.

On today's episode, we talk about perishable supply chains - the challenges that come with it, & the learnings we've gained from partnering with our founders who are building in the space. Tune in for more.

In today's episode Chirag Taneja, Co- founder & CEO, GoKwik, walks us through the business building frameworks that have helped him scale and build a fast-growth company.

Ankush Jain (Sales Head @ OfBusiness) & Vasant Sridhar (Co-founder & CSO @ OfBusiness) talk to Rajinder about the construct of their management trainee programme and the leadership factory they've built out at OfBusiness. Tune in to know more.

On today’s episode we dive deep into the makings of an ideal B2B marketplace. Tune in to know more.

In this episode, we discuss the what, why, how of b2b marketplaces. Tune in to know more.

Today we talk about corporate governance & digital companies, why this topic has gained increasing importance in board rooms and the global practices we’ve seen companies follow. Tune in.

In this Episode, Jivraj Singh Sachar speakS with Vikram Vaidyanathan, Managing Director, Matrix Partners India on his journey as a venture investor.

In today’s episode we hear from the founders of FarMart on the ground reality of building a large SaaS led Agri company. Tune in to know more.

In this episode we discuss Captain Fresh’ org building journey with Utham, Venu & Abhishek along with Rupali Sharma, Director, Human Capital, Matrix Partners India

On today's episode, we discuss the ins & outs of the role of a junior VC - a crucial role that helps drive the core function of a VC firm. Tune in for a candid conversation between Nitisha & Avnish.

In today’s episode, we take stock of the current market volatility and its impact on the early stage startup ecosystem - tune in to hear our perspective.

As a first time founder  - how do you decide the dynamics of your board?When should the board discussion happen?  when does it become relevant? How many people should be on a board, who should be on the board? We try to unpack learnings & reflections from our experience of being on boards, tune in to find out.

The Matrix team takes stock of the year gone by and discuss trend predictions for 2022. Tune in to hear our thoughts.

Inside out vs outside in: what is the better business strategy to adopt for an early-stage startup? Tune in to hear our thoughts.

On today's episode we have Ilya Sukhar (Partner at Matrix Partners) in conversation with Vikram Vaidyanathan (MD at Matrix Partners India). Through this conversation, we uncover Ilya's journey from founder to VC, learnings & insights gained from his journey at Parse.com, YC, Facebook and Matrix. They then dive deep into Ilya's investment in Fivetran -  leading provider of automated data integration. He takes us through the thought process behind the investment and much more. Tune-in

At the early stages, building your company's recruitment muscle is paramount to its growth, but is an in-house head of talent a necessity to accelerate this process? Tune in for key insights on team building & recruitment from Avnish Bajaj & Rajinder Balaraman.

Here's #AMatrixMoment with our take on the role of an executive coach, tune in to find out.

On today’s episode Avnish Bajaj, Founder & Managing Director at Matrix Partners India, & Sudipto Sannigrahi, VP at Matrix Partners India, dissect the Hard clauses in a term Sheet.

What does a 'chief of staff' role entail, and when is the right time to hire one? SHOW LESS

On today’s episode we have the co-founders of DaMensch, Gaurav Pushkar & Anurag Saboo, along with Sudipto Sannigrahi, VP at Matrix Partners India. They talk about the origin of the brand DaMensch, how the company attained strong customer love over a short span of time and what it takes to build a profitable D2C brand and much more.

"What if I want to startup but don't have a groundbreaking idea?" SHOW LESS

On today’s episode we have Rajinder Balaraman, Director at Matrix Partners India, as well as Vikram Vaidyanathan, Managing Director at Matrix Partners India. They cover they key markers that help determine a company’s IPO readiness, the right size for an IPO, the role played by the board of directors and the board can be leveraged for an IPO and much more. Tune – in.

On today’s episode we have Dana Stalder, Partner at Matrix Partners. Dana is in conversation with Vikram Vaidyanathan, Managing Director at Matrix Partners India. They cover Dana’s journey into the venture capital world, his learnings from his investments in Afterpay  and much more. Tune – in.

While each co-founder has a unique set of strengths, a company ultimately needs one decision maker - but how should a founding team decide who amongst them becomes CEO? Tune in to hear our take on it.

In today's episode, we speak with Sumit Chhazed, the founder of OTO Capital, a company focused on reimagining the two wheeler ownership experience. Sumit opens up about why he chose this market & his vision to transform the future of bike ownership in India. Tune in to know more.

Should startup founders hire an external CEO? and if so, is there a right time/stage to bring in an external CEO? Tune in to find out how we think about it.

In today’s episode we are in conversation with Sandeep Jethani, Co-founder of dezerv. and Sarthak Malhotra, senior associate at Matrix Partners India and Vikram Vaidyanathan, Managing Director at Matrix Partners India. In this episode we cover dezerv. Differentiated integrated portfolio approach and much more. Tune-in.

Joining us today is Utham Gowda, founder of Captain Fresh, along with him are Sudipto Sannigrahi, Vice President at Matrix and Tarun Davda, Managing Director at Matrix Partners India. In this episode, we cover Utham’s journey from a banker to a founder of a B2B Sea Food Marketplace.

One of the toughest questions employers struggle with & there are various schools of thought around it, here's #AMatrixMoment where Avnish Bajaj & Rajinder Balaraman discuss a framework to help think through it. Tune in to know more.

Hi and welcome back to part 2 of our Delhi edition Founder Moments episode. In todays episode we take stock of startup environment and the growing and burgeoning founder eco-system in Delhi NCR. we have with us today, Chirag Taneja, the Co-founder of GoKwik, Anindya Dutta, the Co-founder of Stanza Living, Amit Lakhotia, Founder of Park+, and Asish Mohapatra, Co-founder of Ofbusiness, along with Avnish Bajaj, Founder and Managing Director at Matrix Partners India. Tune - in.

Todays discussion is heavily centered around the prevailing start-up environment and we’re here to essentially take stock of the current scenario, from the overheated funding situation, to exits, MNA’s, remote hybrid working models, the COVID impact, all of these and more. We have with us today, Chirag Taneja, the Co-founder of GoKwik, Amit Lakhotia, Founder of Park+, Anindya Dutta, the Co-founder of Stanza Living and Asish Mohapatra, Co-founder of ofBusiness, along with Avnish Bajaj, Founder and Managing Director at Matrix Partners India.

Today on FounderMoments, we dive deep into Bijnis's journey of empowering the manufacturer community & their vision of taking factories to the world!

What should founders be raising and what's the market standard? Avnish Bajaj & Rajinder Balaraman discuss the thought process behind this decision for both the founder and investor. Tune in to find out.

Co-founder conflicts: one of the trickiest situations that a founding team goes through. How should founders engage with one another amidst a conflict & maneuver such a situation? Tune in to find out.

Amidst the current overheated funding environment - what is the right speed, size & frequency a founder should fundraise at? Here's #AMatrixMoment where Avnish Bajaj & Rajinder Balaraman discuss the nitty gritties of fundraising, tune in.

In today’s episode, we have Chirag Taneja, co-founder of GoKwik in conversation with Rajat Agarwal, MD at Matrix Partners India, and Sarthak Malhotra, Senior Associate at Matrix Partners India. Through the course of this episode, we discuss the growing need for the one-click check-out product such as GoKwik, what led Chirag to start this company, the early traction received, and much more.

"The best businesses raise money inbound, not outbound" - Avnish Bajaj #AMatrixMoment with our perspective on fundraising when you don't need it. Tune in.

In today’s episode, we have Deepanshu Arora, co-founder of Toddle, In conversation with Rajat Agarwal, Managing director at Matrix Partners India. As part of this episode, we cover the learnings from Deepanshu’s journey of building a global EdTech platform, from what triggered the inception of the company and what it's like to sell to schools, to managing a team remotely and much more

Deepanshu Arora, co-founder of Toddle - Your Teaching Partner, talks to Rajat Agarwal on his journey of building a "teachers-first" global edtech platform. Here's a snippet where Deepanshu shares his POV on what it's like working with international schools as his clients. Stay tuned for the full episode!

In today’s episode we have Anindya Datta and Sandeep Dalmia the co-founders of Stanza Living. In conversation with Tarun Davda, Managing Director at Matrix Partners India. In this episode we cover what it takes to hyperscale a phygital business amongst pandemic and biggest learnings that have emerged from this experience

There's a lot that has been said about this - if you're a founder who is fundraising & thinking about this, here's #AMatrixMoment capturing our take on it.

India, US, Singapore are some of the more common options that founders consider but what are the driving factors for this decision? #AMatrixMoment on our perspective, tune in to find out.

In today's episode, we have Sourjyendu Medda and Vineet Rao, the co-founders of DealShare in conversation with Tarun Davda, Managing Director at Matrix Partners India. We talk about what makes them unique and also cover highlights from their growth journey.

What's the right burn rate for your company? and how does this vary across stages? One of the most discussed topics by founders & VCs both, tune in to hear Avnish Bajaj share a framework to help think through it.

In today’s episode, we have Shri and Vignesh the Co-founders of Rocketlane. They’re in conversation with Pranay Desai Vice – President, at Matrix Partners India. They talk about the team's deep SaaS history, learning from their prior venture, Konotor, their vision for Rocketlane and much more.

This episode is an audio recording to the recent Clubhouse session, that Tarun Davda, Managing Director at Matrix Partners India, Did with Priya Rajan, MD at Silicon Valley Bank, as well as Anand Chandrasekaran, Who is Executive VP at Five-Nine, Anand was formerly Director, messenger platform at Facebook and prior to that CPO at Snapdeal. In this episode, they cover the latest trend emerging in India tech. Matrix’s investment strategy through and post-Covid. IPO and MNA trend amongst other topics.

Announcing your company's fundraise is a big deal - but when is the right time to announce it? and more importantly, why should you be announcing it? Tune in to find out how we think about it.

Network effects: one of the most spoken about & most important concepts for tech businesses - it helps a co. scale, build moats and contributes to virality. But what really is a network effect? Tune in to hear Avnish Bajaj summarize network effects in a nutshell.

Product versus distribution capability - what's more crucial for a founder to focus on at the early stages & why? Tune in to know how we think about it.

Sameer Nigam, Co-founder, and CEO at PhonePe takes us through his journey of building India’s leading payments platform. In conversation with Vikram Vaidyanathan, MD at Matrix Partners India, they cover Sameer’s early days at Flipkart to starting up & scaling PhonePe & then selling to Flipkart, and much more. Tune in

This episode is part 2 of the episode we did earlier on Marketpalces. Joining us for this podcast is Rajinder Balaraman (Director, Matrix Partners India) and Avnish Bajaj (Founder & Managing Director, Matrix Partners India).

About Tarun Davda: He is the Managing Director of Matrix, India. Prior to joining Matrix, Tarun was the Co-founder, India CEO and Board Member at StepOut.com, a venture-backed startup. StepOut became India’s #1 online dating site with over 5 Million users. Before that, Tarun established BigRock.com (incubated by the Directi group) - India’s #1 provider of domain name registration and other web services. Tarun started his career at Infosys as an IT consultant. He has an MBA from the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad and an Engineer from VJTI, Bombay.

Tarun Davda (Managing Director at Matrix Partners India) speaks to Utsav Somani of AngelList India to take stock of the current startup scenario and Indian entrepreneurial drive

In today's episode, we have Nithin Kamath the founder and CEO of Zerodha, India’s largest tech-broking discount firm as well as Vikram Vaidyanathan, Managing Director at Matrix Partners India. This is Nithin's second podcast with us and in an unplugged and candid conversation with Vikram.

Here's a snippet, from our #FounderMoments episode, where Kunal Bahl (Founder & MD, Snapdeal) talk to Tarun Davda (MD, Matrix India) about the people that were most instrumental in his childhood & the qualities he imbibed from them very early on. Tune in to find out. To catch the full episode, go here: https://lnkd.in/ec4GxSn

As a founder how do you determine what your own compensation should be? & what is the right salary to be drawn across stages?    Here's how we Matrix Partners India think about it, tune in:

A conflict within the founding team is a situation that unfortunately arises more often than not, but when conflict does occur amongst two or more founders, how should one tackle it? Tune in to hear how Avnish Bajaj thinks about it.

LTV-CAC – what’s the right number early-stage founders should track?

Is marketing a scalable function for companies to leverage? Avnish Bajaj, Founder & MD, Matrix Partners India,  decodes how marketing is used to “fuel the fire” and why it’s far more impactful for digital businesses. Tune in for more.

s founder reverse vesting standard practice? Avnish Bajaj, Founder & MD, Matrix Partners India & Rajinder Balaraman, Director, Matrix Partners India, decode how we think about this at Matrix Partners India. Tune in for more SHOW LESS

How should founders think about it at across the different stages of a startup? Avnish Bajaj, (Founder and MD, Matrix Partners India) shares his perspective, while in conversation with Salonie Ganju, ( Marketing Manager, Matrix Partners India ) Tune in to find out

Valuation versus dilution is something all founders spend a lot of time thinking about. Avnish Bajaj (Founder & MD, MPI) shares his point of view on how founders should approach this.

What matters more – growth or profitability? In this episode, Rajinder Balaraman, Director, Matrix Partners India, and Avnish Bajaj, Founder and MD at Matrix Partners India talk about hacking the way to profitable growth vectors and loops.

In today’s episode, we have Tarun Davda Managing Director at Matrix Partners India, with Kunal Bahl, co-founder of Snapdeal and Titan Capital. Through the course of this conversation, we cover Kunal’s early childhood and background that helped him shaped him into who he is today. The biggest learnings from his journey at Snapdeal, transitioning from an entrepreneur to an investor.

Here's a snippet from an upcoming episode where Debleena Das & Rajinder Balaraman share learnings and insights on team building at the early stages.

How much should a founder worry about competition & the threat of being disrupted by a new startup? tune in to find out how Avnish Bajaj, (Founder and MD, Matrix Partners India), and Rajinder Balaraman, (Director, Matrix Partners India) think about it.

In today’s episode, we have Revant Bhate, the co-founder of Mosaic wellness in conversation with Sanjot Malhi, Director and the lead for the consumer sector at Matrix Partners India. Mosaic Wellness is a house of brands, focused on redefining the Indian wellness market and on today's episode we cover Revant’s transition from investor to founder and what that was like, what it takes to build a consumer brand in India and the problem they aim to solve through their recently launched brands ManMatters and Bodywise. Tune in to know more.

The pandemic & recent global trends have brought about a shift in the way companies are thinking about profit pools at the early stages,  but what’s really changed? and how does one go deeper into the value chain of an industry in quest of the right profit pool - tune in to find out.

In this episode, Sanjot Malhi (Director & consumer sector lead at Matrix Partners India) sits down with Aarti Gill & Mihir Gadani, the co-founders of OZiva, to dissect & decipher their journey of building India’s leading clean, plant-based nutrition brand.

In this episode, we explore the concept of “gamification” and the impact it has on user growth & retention at the early stages, tune in to know more.

In today’s episode we take stock of the biggest learnings from the last 12 months and trends we think will explode in 2021. Tune in to find out!

In today’s episode, Rajinder & Avnish are crystal ball gazing into the future of commerce – tune in to know more about trends and sectors we expect to explode in 2021.

While choosing to ‘work from office’ is a personal & company specific decision, we at Matrix Partners India have slowly inched back towards operating from the office, with all measures & protocols in place. Tune in to hear what our experience has been like over the last few months.

Harsh Jain, CEO and Co-founder, Dream11, sits down with Tarun Davda, Managing Director at Matrix Partners India to retrace the journey of building Dream11 – they discuss the key inflection points, fundraising struggles, winning the IPL title sponsorship, Harsh’s personal growth journey as a leader & much more. Tune in.

Welcome back to episode 5, the last episode of this series. In today’s episode we talk about the unsolved opportunities in the agri-tech space. We have with us Thirukumaran Nagarajan, co-founder of Ninjacart, Shashank Kumar, Founder & CEO, DeHaat, Karthik Jayaraman, Co-founder of WayCool and Shobhit, Co-founder of VeGrow. The conversation was moderated by Ankush Goyal, Sanjot Malhi & Tarun Davda who look over the investments in the agri-tech sector for Matrix Partners India.

Welcome back to part 4 of this series. In today’s episode we discuss the importance of technology adoption in the Agri tech sector and how behavioural change plays a large role in the farmer community when it comes to leveraging tech. This episode is part 4 of a 5 part series on the Indian Agritech ecosystem, with insights from Thirukumaran Nagarajan, co-founder of Ninjacart, Shashank Kumar, Founder & CEO, DeHaat, Karthik Jayaraman, Co-founder of WayCool and Shobhit, Co-founder of VeGrow. The conversation was moderated by Ankush Goyal, Sanjot Malhi & Tarun Davda who look over the investments in the agri-tech sector for Matrix Partners India.

Welcome back to part 3 of this series. In today’s episode, we discuss about the journey of Ninjacart and learnings on building unit economics positive business in Agri. We have with us Thirukumaran Nagarajan, co-founder of Ninjacart, Shashank Kumar, Founder & CEO, DeHaat, Karthik Jayaraman, Co-founder of WayCool and Shobhit, Co-founder of VeGrow. The conversation was moderated by Ankush Goyal, Sanjot Malhi & Tarun Davda who look over the investments in the agri-tech sector for Matrix Partners India.

Welcome back to part 2 of this series. This episode is focused on the inception of WayCool and insights from Karthik's journey on building and scaling the company. Also part of this episode are prominent founders from the agri-tech startup industry, Thirukumaran Nagarajan, co-founder of Ninjacart, Shashank Kumar, Founder & CEO, DeHaat and Shobhit, Co-founder of VeGrow. The conversation was moderated by Ankush Goyal, Sanjot Malhi & Taun Davda who look over the investments in the agri-tech sector for Matrix Partners India. Tune in.

In this episode we deep dive into one of India’s largest industries, which is agriculture, and the associated agri-tech disruption that is underway in India, we discuss the opportunities and the pitfalls in agri-tech, with Thirukumaran Nagarajan, co-founder of Ninjacart, Shashank Kumar, Founder & CEO, DeHaat, Karthik Jayaraman, Co-founder of WayCool and Shobhit, Co-founder of VeGrow. The conversation was moderated by Ankush Goyal, Sanjot Malhi & Taun Davda who look over the investments in the agri-tech sector for Matrix Partners India.

This episode is part 2 to the India venture opportunity, a podcast we hosted last year. We cover the state of affairs in the Indian startup and Venture community, the recent China ban, and its ramifications. Jio’s impact on start-ups and the fund-raising environment and the COVID effect on India’s digital economy among other topics. Tune - in

In today’s episode we have Shashank Mehta the founder of The Whole Truth, (formerly known as and nothing else) with Sanjot Malhi, Director, Matrix Partners India. Sanjot and Shashank dive deep into the brand story, starting with Shashank’s real motive and personal journey behind founding The Whole Truth and the reason behind the recent brand transformation exercise.

In an episode focused on the mobility sector, Tarun Davda, MD, Matrix India & Prakash Sangam, CEO, redBus decode the bus ticketing ecosystem, they talk about COVID recovery patterns, changing consumer behavior, and learnings from redBus’ journey in the international markets.

In today’s episode, we do deep dive on the importance of economic moats for early-stage startups, and why they matter.

In today’s episode, we have Rupali Sharma, ( VP, Human Capital, Matrix Partners India ) and Rajinder Balaraman, ( Director, Matrix Partners India ), they cover performance management systems & HR best practices for early-stage startups. We work closely with founders in this area and have tried to summarize some of the key learnings from our experience. Tune - in

In today's episode, we talk to Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar, the Co-founders of Razorpay, as well as Vikram Vaidyanathan, Managing Director at Matrix Partners India. This episode is primarily focusing on the early part of the founder’s journey, we cover their fundraising process. Living together as founders and building an amazing product culture and much more.

Welcome back to part 2 of the Dailyhunt episode, with Virendra Gupta (Founder, Dailyhunt) and Umang Bedi (Co-Founder, Dailyhunt), as well as, Vikram Vaidyanathan (Director, Matrix Partners India). We talk about the dynamics of their partnership and also the cover the changing face of content consumption in India, and how Dailyhunt has been at the forefront in each of these changes. Tune in.

In today’s Matrix Moment episode, we have Virendra Gupta ( Founder, Dailyhunt ) and Umang Bedi ( Co- Founder, Dailyhunt ), with Vikram Vaidyanathan ( Director, Matrix Partners India ). We talk about the dynamics of their partnership and also the cover the changing face of content consumption in India, and how Dailyhunt has been at the forefront in each of these changes. Tune in.

With Marketplaces on the rise, today’s episode covers how Marketplaces have evolved as a sector and an analysis of the differentiated business models that work for different markets. Joining us to discuss this is Rajinder Balaraman ( Director, Matrix Partners India ) and Avnish Bajaj ( Founder & Managing Director, Matrix Partners India ). Tune in to know more.

Welcome to part 2 of Matrix Moment episode with Asish Mohapatra, Co-Founder & CEO – Ofbusiness opens up to  Vikram Vaidyanathan, Managing Director, Matrix Partners India, about transitioning from an investor to entrepreneur, building Ofbusiness from ground zero, co-founder relationships & dynamics, his thoughts on profitability vs growth and much more

In today’s Matrix Moment episode Asish Mohapatra, Co-Founder & CEO – Ofbusiness opens up to  Vikram Vaidyanathan, Managing Director, Matrix Partners India, about transitioning from an investor to entrepreneur, building OfBusiness from ground zero, co-founder relationships & dynamics, his thoughts on profitability vs growth and much more.

In today’s Matrix Moment episode, we will cover the opportunities in the grocery and E-Commerce space post-COVID-19, joining us for this discussion are Vineet Rao and Sourjyendu Medda, the co-founders of DealShare as well as Tarun Davda, Managing Director at Matrix Partners India, and Gourav Bhattacharya, Director at Matrix Partners India.

Today’s Matrix Moments episode is a masterclass on the journey of building Country Delight, India’s leading direct to home, mass premium, dairy, and fresh grocery brand. Country Delight currently serves 200,000 families across Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, and Bangalore. With a $50 million run rate along with the 3x year on year growth rate. The episode outlines the highlights and milestones of the journey with insights and inputs from both sides of the table – founders and investors. Tune in to know more.

In this episode Avnish and Rajinder talk about why not all margin is equal and how margins relate to valuation.

What is the change required to survive this crisis and how will each sector navigate their way through it? In this episode of Matrix Moments, the Matrix team shares their thoughts from a macro + sectoral view point. Tune in to know more.

In this episode of #MatrixMoments, Vikram Vaidyanathan, ( Managing Director, Matrix Partners India ) and Rajat Agarwal, ( Director, Matrix Partners India ) share guidelines for Fintech firms on how to navigate their way through the perfect storm that is Covid-19 and why overreaction is the only reaction at this point. Watch the full episode to know more.

With rapid evolution taking place in the business environment world over, we’re dedicating today’s #MatrixMoments episode to discuss and decode the implications of the Covid-19 on the startup ecosystem. Here’s how we at Matrix are thinking about it. Tune in to know more

In this episode, Vikram sits down with Nithin to uncover what it takes to build and scale India’s largest tech broking discount firm, Zerodha. Nithin talks about the early years of his career, co-founding a company with his best friend and brother, what he looks for in a person when hiring, why he hasn’t raised any form of external capital till date and his future plans for Zerodha

Joining us in this episode of Matrix Moments is Asish Mohapatra, Co-Founder of OfBusiness – India’s leading tech driven B2B lending platform, and is also a Matrix portfolio company, along with Avnish Bajaj, Founder & MD, Matrix India. Prior to founding OfBusiness, Asish actually worked at Matrix as part of the investment team and worked very closely with Avnish during that time. This episode follows a role reversal of sorts, where Asish in the capacity of a founder interviews Avnish on all things fundraising, early stage and VC investing, he asks the hard questions that first time founders have always wanted to know but haven’t got the answers to. Tune in.

In today’s episode, we talk about DINVIBs i.e. Digitally Native Vertically Integrated Consumer Brands and our thesis behind investing deep into this sector. Joining us to discuss this is, Sanjot Malhi (VP & Consumer Sector Lead at Matrix Partners India), Avnish Bajaj (Founder and Managing Director at Matrix Partners India ) and Rajinder Balaraman (Director, Matrix Partners India). Tune in to know more.

In today’s episode we cover the importance of inculcating a strong and health culture in your company right from the early stages. Joining us to dicuss this is Ahana Gautam, ( Co Founder & CEO, Open Secret ), along with   Avnish Bajaj, (Founder  & MD, Matrix Partners ) and Rajinder Balaraman, (Director, Matrix Partners  India)

With 2019 coming to an end, we decided to do a quick look back and summarize some of the macro themes that emerged from the year. In some ways it’s been a record year for the Indian VC industry and a very busy year for Matrix, Avnish Bajaj (Founder and Managing Director Matrix Partners India), Vikram Vaidyanathan (Managing Director Matrix Partners India ) Tarun Davda (Managing Director Matrix Partners India), and Rajinder Balaraman (Director, Matrix Partners India) take us through the highlights of the year gone by and what to expect from 2020. Tune in to know more.

In this episode, Avnish Bajaj, Founder & Managing Director, Matrix India, talks about decision-making and applying the 'POS framework' as a guiding tool to navigate through hard decisions, both personally & professionally. Tune in to know more.

Today’s episode, Founding Team, is about a topic that we as a firm are very passionate about, it’s also a topic that forms the basis of Matrix’s investment philosophy, foundersfirst!. In this episode, Avnish Bajaj talks about the importance of a strong founding team, how this can shape a company’s journey, frameworks that can help reach the ideal founding team, learnings from Avnish’s experience with his 2 prior co-founders at Baazee and then Matrix Partners India.

With the recent spate of investments made by Matrix Partners India in the NeoBank space, we decided to host an episode with serial entrepreneurs, Jiten Gupta (Co-Founder of a Neobank venture, Jupiter and previously founder of Citrus Pay) and Anurag Sinha (Founder of neocard, OneCard and previously founder of Walnut, a personal finance management startup) to discuss the current landscape and what makes Neobanking so exciting at a time like this. The episode was hosted by Rajat Agarwal, Director and fintech sector lead for Matrix India as well as Vikram Vaidyanathan, MD, Matrix India who has led the investment in market leading fintech companies like, Razorpay, Mswipe, Five Star Business Finance, and OfBusiness to name a few.

In this episode, Avnish Bajaj, Founder & Managing Director, Matrix India talks about the varied GTM strategies used by startups to drive a wedge into the market.

In this episode of Matrix Moments, Tarun Davda, (Managing Director, Matrix Partner India) guides founders on how to think about fundraising & valuations at the early stages. He covers how much capital is required to be raises at each stage, what the typical dilutions are at each stage, the downside that comes with raising too much capital and that at the end valuation is vanity, what matters is a founders percentage of ownership. Tune in to know more.

Stanza Living is one of India’s largest student housing networks, co-founders Sandeep and Anindya share their journey of building the company from ground zero, with guest moderator, Gourav Bhattacharya (Director, Matrix India) and also the investment lead for Stanza Living.

In this episode, Avnish Bajaj (Founder & MD, Matrix Partners India) and Rajinder Balaraman, (Director, Matrix Partners India) discuss the current environment in the startup and investments ecosystem. Funding in early stage companies versus later stage, repeat entrepreneurs, investment cycle bubbles and the  trends expected to play out in 2020, tune in to know more.

In part 2 of a 2 part episode, serial entrepreneur, Bhavin Turakhia, founder and CEO of Flock and Zeta, joins us to share learnings from his journey on what it takes, personally and professionally, to build and sell a series of successful companies. Tune in to know more.

In part 1 of a 2 part episode, serial entrepreneur, Bhavin Turakhia, founder and CEO of Flock and Zeta, joins us to share learnings from his journey on what it takes, personally and professionally, to build and sell a series of successful companies. Tune in to know more.

In this episode of Matrix Moments, Avnish Bajaj, Founder & MD, at Matrix Partners India shares his views on Exits: learnings from his journey with Baazee.com which was acquired by Ebay, key factors to evaluate when making this decision, and how to deal with multiple investors at a time like this.

As a company scales, how you scale & grow with it as a founder is crucial to business success. A fundamental part of this transition includes knowing how to shift your strategy pre and post attaining PMF, in this episode Avnish Bajaj, Founder & MD, Matrix India sums up the key indicators and metrics to keep in mind at each stage.

Vikram Vaidyanathan, MD, Matrix India, catches up with Amrish Rau and Jiten Gupta, Founders of Citrus Pay, which was later acquired by PayU, where both founders took on the role of CEO and MD, respectively. In this episode they go over the journey of building Citrus from ground up, the decision making process that went behind exiting Citrus, their investment strategy as angel investors and lastly their advice to founders looking to startup in the fintech space.

In this episode of Matrix Moments, we deep dive into the relationship dynamics between a founder and his/her board. Specifically for first time founders, board room etiquette is an unknown area and thus we decided to put together an episode that covers all queries founders may have on this subject. From setting the right rules of engagement to knowing how to deal with a difference in opinion in the board room, Avnish Bajaj, Founder & MD, Matrix Partners India shares his views on the best practices to keep in mind when dealing with a board of investors.

Tracking and measuring your company’s performance is crucial not just at the early stages but through the course of your companies lifecycle. In this episode of Matrix Moments, Tarun Davda & Vikram Vaidyanathan, Managing Directors at Matrix Partners India, share learnings from their experiences with founders on why tracking the right metrics can help you measure what is working for your company and what isn’t. In addition to measuring performance, picking a North Star metric as the one metric to align the entire company on what is important helps keep all teams focused on working towards the same goal. Listen in to know more.

Structuring and designing an effective incentive plan is key at the early stages to help promote retention as well as high levels of motivation among the team. From cash versus equity, how much equity is apt at each stage, bonus plans to measuring employee performance through a balance scorecard, in this episode of Matrix Moments, Avnish Bajaj, Founder & MD, Matrix Partners India, outlines simple thumb rules to keep in mind when structuring your employees incentive plan.

In this episode of Matrix Moments Tarun Davda, (MD, Matrix Partners India) and guest speakers, Miten Sampat, (VP Corporate Development, Times Internet) and Samidha Sharma (Emerging Business Editor at Economic Times) discuss the current state of affairs within the Indian startup and VC ecosystem and the way forward from here

In this episode of Matrix Moments, Avnish Bajaj, Founder & MD, Matrix Partners India, and Rajinder Balaraman, Director, Matrix Partners India, do a deep dive on the significance of terms within a Term Sheet, what founders should focus on, and essentially provide a guide for founders who are working on a Term Sheet for the very first time.

In this episode of Matrix Moments, we spoke with Raghuram Talluri, Co-Founder, LoadShare Networks, on the learnings of being a first time founder and scaling an asset light logistics platform. Rajinder Balaraman, Director, Matrix Partners India, also joined this episode to share insights from an investor perspective.

At the early stages a critical factor that determines your startups success or failure, is the level of spending or burn rates. Practicing extreme financial discipline is a crucial part of controlling your companies burn rate. Tune in to this episode of #MatrixMoments, where Avnish Bajaj, Founder & MD, Matrix Partners India, talks about the importance of business performances, plans, burn rates and budgets.

Every successful company goes through 3 distinct phases, the startup phase (0 – 1), the scaling / growth phase (1 – 10) and finally profitability (10 – 100). The archetypes of people required to help the company transcend all phases, is different at each stage. Avnish Bajaj, Founder & MD, Matrix Partners India, shares his experience on building the perfect Org in this episode of Matrix Moments.

Episode description: Founded by Mayank Kukreja and Anish Khadiya, Itilite is a corporate travel management solution that balances company’s savings and the traveler (employee’s) experience. Itilite is also a Matrix portfolio company and this episode features a conversation between Gourav Bhattacharya (Director, Matrix India) and Mayank (Co-Founder, Itilite) on what it’s like to make the shift from a stable job at Myntra.com to founding your company.

Vikram Vaidyanathan, MD, Matrix Partners India, catches up with Naveen Tewari, Co-founder, InMobi, who unravels the journey behind building India’s first unicorn startup. Naveen gets candid about strategies implemented for expansion to international markets, creating a family-like work culture and rising above the challenges that come with building a weatherproof company.

As part of our guest series, Vikram Vaidyanathan, MD, Matrix India catches up with Rajeev Ahuja, Executive Director, RBL, Bank on “Discovering Fintech Religion”. The conversation is spread across a 2 part episode, and covers the transformational journey of Ratnakar to RBL Bank, a debate on Fin versus Tech, and phygital as a means for fintech companies and banks to scale.

As part of our guest series, Vikram Vaidyanathan, MD, Matrix India catches up with Rajeev Ahuja, Executive Director, RBL, Bank on “Discovering Fintech Religion”. The conversation is spread across a 2 part episode, and covers the transformational journey of Ratnakar to RBL Bank, a debate on Fin versus Tech, and phygital as a means for fintech companies and banks to scale.

Hiring at the early stages helps define the momentum at which a company grows. In this episode, Vikram Vaidyanathan, MD, Matrix Partners India, captures some of his learnings from having worked closely with founders on what works when hiring for a startup. Dna based hiring versus hiring for skill set is another challenge that founders deal with and in most cases founders have found the former to be more effective at least in the initial phase of their company. Listen in to know more.

Hiring a strong team is the one of the proven ways to ensure startup success. Yet, it’s the biggest issue that founders / CEOs face when building their organization. In this episode of Matrix Moments, Tarun Davda talks about ‘Extreme Referencing’, and how this helps him go beyond the surface level interview process when trying to hire for senior executive positions.

In an attempt to forecast for 2019, this episode of Matrix Moments talks about the trends we expect to play out, sectors expected to explode (or not), the changing face of the average Indian entrepreneur and how 2018 will impact the momentum of 2019. Tune in to hear Avnish Bajaj, Founder & Managing Director, Matrix Partners India, take us through this.

A snapshot of the year gone by for the Indian Venture ecosystem: the aftermath of the Flipkart – Walmart deal, government policies surrounding angel tax, the possible rise of trade unionism within startups and the question on everyone’s mind – will India ever see IPOs for consumer internet companies in the near term?

In this episode, Avnish Bajaj, (Founder & MD, Matrix India)  talks about MoFu: what it takes to continue retaining & engaging your users post the initial burst of customers, how to evaluate CAC, and what metrics to keep a track of.

Why do some people seem to have more bandwidth than others, and how do they achieve extreme levels of productivity? This episode talks about the principles and practices followed by successful leaders when it comes to time management, prioritization and clarity of thought.

Going back to the fundamentals of investments and valuations, and to ascertain whether a company's valuation is more than just a quixotic pursuit. Avnish Bajaj (Founder & Managing Director, Matrix Partners India) gives us a piece by piece break down of the valuation techniques and strategies used to analyse and determine a company's real value versus price.

Addressing the much debated question of who makes a better venture partner - operators or investors? Tarun Davda, Managing Director, Matrix Partner India, talks about his journey of transitioning from an intrapreneur to a venture investor, what his experience has been like having been on the other side of the table as an operator, his views on both types of venture investors: operator VCs and investor VCs and the biases that come with each.

In this episode, Avnish Bajaj (Founder & MD, Matrix Partners India), talks about the investment cycles of fear and greed with reflections from his first exposure to the high's and low's of the cycle. From Peter Lynch to Warren Buffet, he touches upon the investment philosophies that helped shape his own strategy and approach to the cycles, how to avoid the most common mistakes made in investing and navigate your way through a bear market.

We chose to launch our series with an episode on a topic that we believe is extremely integral for both personal and professional development, a concept that is at the core of Matrix’s ideologies and forms a large part of the foundation, intrinsics. In this episode, Avnish Bajaj (Founder & Managing Director, Matrix India) takes us through what he thinks are the traits required by an individual to succeed against all odds, the ingredients of what goes into the makings of the best founders, and the essence behind our foundersfirst! philosophy.