Episode 15: Meet the founder of founders! This man invested in 165 startups. Ft. Rajesh Sawhney, Founder, GSF

Episode 15: Meet the founder of founders! This man invested in 165 startups. Ft. Rajesh Sawhney, Founder, GSF

In this episode of the ACLR8 podcast, we host one of India's most iconic startup investors: Rajesh Sawhney. Rajesh has invested in 165 companies over the last 15 years and sits on the board of many listed companies and unicorns. In today's episode we will try to cover 3 topics: * Trends and opportunities for young founders as we become a $10T economy * Fundraising 101 for early stage founders * Thinking long term about company building We hope you enjoy the podcast today and it inspires you to kickstart your journey. Do drop a note in the comments section about your feedback on the episode. Content Timeline:----------------- * 00:00 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX4P0esEenk&t=0s] - Intro * 01:22 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX4P0esEenk&t=82s] - Rajesh investment journey over the last 15 years. * 10:50 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX4P0esEenk&t=650s] - Learnings from Madhu Kela and public market investing. * 17:24 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX4P0esEenk&t=1044s] - Fundraising tips for early stage founders. * 31:45 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX4P0esEenk&t=1905s] - Common traits between successful founders. * 36:20 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX4P0esEenk&t=2180s] - India opportunity. * 43:24 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX4P0esEenk&t=2604s] - Building the right idea at the right time. * 48:00 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX4P0esEenk&t=2880s] - IPO projections for 2025. * 54:15 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX4P0esEenk&t=3255s] - India v/s China over the next 20 years. * 56:30 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX4P0esEenk&t=3390s] - India Spacetech opportunity. * 58:45 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX4P0esEenk&t=3525s] - Rapidfire * 59:00 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX4P0esEenk&t=3540s] - Renting v/s Buying a house * 1:00:20 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX4P0esEenk&t=3620s] - Top 3 cities to live in India. * 1:02:00 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX4P0esEenk&t=3720s] - IITs v/s IVY league colleges. * 1:03:00 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX4P0esEenk&t=3780s] - Gambhir v/s Dravid as Indian team coach. * 1:04:25 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX4P0esEenk&t=3865s] - Can Singularity and AGI be achieved? * 1:06:00 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX4P0esEenk&t=3960s] - Pickelball: Serious sport or fad? * 1:07:00 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX4P0esEenk&t=4020s] - Will Tiktok be sold to Elon Musk? * 1:07:42 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX4P0esEenk&t=4062s] - Ranking India's last 5 PMs * 1:10:09 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX4P0esEenk&t=4209s] - Advice to early stage founders building the next big business from India. #startup [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/startup] #funding [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/funding] #entrepreneurship [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/entrepreneurship] #fundraising [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/fundraising] #startupindia [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/startupindia] #accelerator [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/accelerator] #incubator [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/incubator] #aclr8 [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/aclr8] #aclr8vc [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/aclr8vc] #GSF [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/gsf] #RajeshSawhney [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/rajeshsawhney]

Episode 14: The Indiamart story! Building a ₹14000 crore listed tech company. Ft. Brijesh Agrawal

🚀 Coming from a small town in India to build an INR 14K crore company.🚀 Being the first Indian B2B marketplace to list publicly.🚀 Building profitably and building the technology backbone for 70M SMB’s in India.This is the IndiaMart story...Had a wonderful chat with Brijesh Agrawal, Co-Founder, IndiaMart on how they are building the technology layer for Bharat enabling millions of MSME’s to become more efficient and scale.. ❤️We talked about:✅ The initial IndiaMart thesis and how it has evolved over the last 25 years.✅ Building the business profitably, being persistent and being customer focussed.✅ Identifying categories where you can solve a high value need for a customer.✅ Critical elements for running and scaling B2B marketplace business.✅ How a founder’s role evolves as they grow from 0-1 to 1-100 to finally listing their company.🙌 The IndiaMart journey is truly inspiring for any early stage founder building in the SAAS / B2B space in the country. Building the next big thing? Apply to the ACLR8 program today! www.aclr8.vc/apply#startup [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/startup] #msme [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/msme] #smb [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/smb] #entrepreneurship [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/entrepreneurship] #founder [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/founder] #aclr8 [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/aclr8] #aclr8vc [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/aclr8vc] #indiamart [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/indiamart] #ipo [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/ipo]

Episode 13: The Dressfolk Story! Building an Ethnic Wear Brand from India to the World! Ft. Nitin Mehrotra

Shot a super episode with Nitin Mehrotra, Founder & CEO, DressFolk on his journey of building India's most loved ethnic wear brand. We talked about:- Nitin's growing up journey and how his family background inspired him to startup in the fashion space- DressFolk evolution over the last 8 years and finding PMF- Building and scaling a D2C fashion business in India today, profitably- Raising funding from people like Ghazal Alagh and some of India's best angel investors and funds. - Way forward, future of India's handlooms and dreams of going globalDo check it out and let us know how you like the podcast! Content Timelines:⁣⁠ * 00:00⁠ - ACLR8 Intro * 01:16⁠ - Pre cap * 02:27⁠ - Nitin's family history and how that inspired Dressfolk * 12:00 - Dark side of the fashion industry * 16:15 - Initial days of Dressfolk * 24:50 - India's ethnic wear market and opportunities for D2C brands * 32:25 - Supply chain challenges and capacity building with artisans * 37:00 - Scaling D2C at Dressfolk * 45:40 - Meta ads strategy * 48:00 - Fundraising journey * 1:00:30 - Rapid fire with Nitin * 1:05:15 - Closing remarks Follow us on Instagram: / aclr8.vc

Episode 12: How to build a career in content & marketing! Ft. AyushWadhwa, Founder & CEO, Owled Media

Learn content, marketing & advertising from Ayush Wadhwa ( @AyushWadhwa  [https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCRZYyVRDShzD1Dg1E1EOoCg]) the founder of one of India's best media companies, Owled Media ( @owledmedia9296  [https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCMaGlqanTONxwGKEwe0t7Dg]) At just 26, in a short span of time, Ayush has accomplished a lot. He is a creator, runs Owled Media, and has done done advertising campaigns for some very large brands. He is a super active angel investor and recently also started LIT school. His career is an intersection of content, marketing and technology. From this podcast our goal is to help young people understand how can they build a career in content, marketing and advertising. Catch the full episode now and let us know what you think! Content Timelines:⁣ ⁠00:00⁠ - Pre-cap 00:55⁠ - Intro 02:37⁠ - Ayush's Personal Journey 05:23 - Why Content 11:15 - Building Owled Media 16:30 - Challenges in running an agency 18:52 - Learnings from Chris Cox (Meta, Chief Product Officer) 22:11 - Career Opportunities in Content 26:10 - Creator Mindset 29:40 - How much do creators earn 32:05 - Creator led brands 34:50 - Rapidfire with Ayush 43:42 - Feedback on ACLR8 44:40 - Advice to young founders building in content Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aclr8.vc/

Episode 11: ‪@ixigo‬ 's journey to IPO! 🚀 Building Travel for Bharat. 🇮🇳 Ft. Aloke Bajpai

98x oversubscribed! This was the crazy demand for the ixigo stock at their recent IPO. But what many don't know is the 17 year old journey of grit, determination, never giving up in the face of innumerable challenges and always building for Bharat. ⁣ Had the immense pleasure of hosting Aloke Bajpai, Co-Founder & Group Chairman, Ixigo, to the ACLR8 Founder Academy Podcast, hosted by Karan Jindal. Aloke shared his and Rajnish's journey of getting inspired by the movie Swades and coming back to India to start Ixigo. We talked about:⁣ * ✅ building at scale for Bharat⁣ * ✅ being resilient in the face of setbacks⁣ * ✅ being customer obsessed⁣ * ✅ building profitably⁣ * ✅ being in it for the long term…⁣ and so much more 🙏⁣ This episode is a gold mine of insights for any founder building a large consumer tech business in India today. Watch the whole episode now and let us know what you think. ❤️⁣ Content Timelines:⁣ * ⁠00:00⁠ - Intro⁣ * ⁠01:30⁠ - 98x oversubscribed IPO⁣ * ⁠02:45⁠ - ixigo's customer first DNA⁣ * 04:30⁠ - Inspired by the movie "SWADES" * ⁠08:20⁠ - Idea thesis (2007-2011)⁣ * ⁠11:40⁠ - Pivoting from meta search to OTA⁣ * ⁠14:45⁠ - Fundraising challenges⁣ * 18:10⁠ - Doing the boring everyday⁣ * 20:18⁠ - Focussing on trains rather than flights (2011-2013)⁣ * 24:38⁠ - Tracking product market fit⁣ * 26:18⁠ - Raising only $21M till IPO⁣ * 28:20⁠ - Near death experiences (2015-2019)⁣ * 31:25⁠ - COVID stories⁣ * 40:20⁠ - Metrics to track for profitability⁣ * 43:10⁠ - 1 fundraise, 2 acquisitions, 1 IPO filing (2020-2021⁣) * 48:45⁠ - IPO journey⁣ * 52:30⁠ - Finding your ideal co-founder * ⁠55:50⁠ - AI trends for the future⁣ * 58:15⁠ - Thoughts on ⁠‪@aclr8‬⁠ as a platform⁣ * ⁠59:57⁠ - Closing remarks