EASY Money Multiplication HACKS ft. TOP Investor Ajay Lakhotia | Trading Secrets | FO 67 Raj Shamani

the scope of building businesses in. India is much larger than what you see. in these countries the macro factors are. very favorable for India when you come. back to India. the the hustle which is here especially. with the youth the drive to build. something the drive to achieve something. it's it's unmatched it's unparalleled. the VC industry in India is still very. shallow and when I say shallow. they're like about 20 25 funds you can. count.

and that's pretty much it right yeah if. you compare this to China there are more. than 350 homegrown funds out there and. the count is even more in U.S it's a. major discrimination which I personally. feel is against the founder in India. whose caliber is not being judged in the. right lens in the right color simply. because he's sitting here in India and. building this business because this is. the same guy who would go out there in.

U.S. join a startup be one of the key members. and build that business out. in today's episode we have spoken about. what are the kind of ideas. of China startups. what are the kind of startups which gets. funded in India by the VCS conci. companies.

in order to multiply our money how we. Indians need to learn to get better at. money and why are hum Indians. we've spoken about all these things and. in the end we've spoken about one very. simple thing. yes. we've spoken about all of these things.

with the founder of stock grow Ajay. Lakota who spend his term as a VC bought. he went to do his Masters then he did. his job as a consultant in UK so he's. had an experience around the world. which they feel that it's gonna be.

India's first startup which is Gonna. Change lives forever make sure you watch. this episode till the end. thank you. how much do you sleep by the way like. what's your three hours for us that's it. that's it why even now like why like. with sir is it like the lifestyle you've. gotten. I think I adopted this whole habit of.

sleeping three four hours when I was at. ISB okay and that's one habit I've. carried from Business School uh makes. you much more productive uh you get. probably additional four or five hours. as compared to everyone else to think. about things to execute things to look. at different ideas right which doesn't. have if if I'm spending eight hours. sleeping I lose those eight hours. but then it didn't like sleep important. there's a battle around the world sleep. more to actually be more productive.

I think all of these are myths okay. right uh. if if you're excited about doing. something you'll not be able to sleep. that's so true. four hours three hours is good enough. because after that I actually can't. sleep once I wake up in the morning I. have to get back to action. that's the first thing actually work.

life balance is. is good for people right who say I have. a life which I want to drive a balanced. life. uh someone who's driven by purpose right. if you want to build something if you're. doing something which consumes you if. your purpose is consuming your thoughts. your life there's no work-life balance. this is your work this is your life. right if you go back saying I want a. balance in five other aspects you will. not be able to do what you want to do in. life wow that's so true but.

it's like a battle going on around the. world every day it's because you know I. also believe in this that. I believe there has to be immersion. when you're so I feel like instead of. trying to find a balance find different. phases and different slots back on right. so and you know. I sometimes go back to my friends my. family talking about this when they say. you don't celebrate your birthday on. your birth date I'm like no I need to.

find that window where I can actually go. and celebrate so it doesn't matter. whether it is this date or this event. it's my mindset if I feel like. celebrating something I'll celebrate it. a week later a month later but I have to. be in that mind frame of celebrating wow. yeah so like when celebration is there. 100 celebration exactly when there's. work this like it should not be like. you're celebrating on a weekend and then. you're like. so you can't even celebrate properly you. can't you can't even work properly so.

it's like what's life balancing right if. you are working you just work right and. if you need to take a break just take a. break do. you can't do both of them at the same. time uh doesn't work multitasking. doesn't work. Elon we need your help. how do you do that so I was I was. reading about Elon Musk okay like. because he's he's also like an immersion. kind of guy work work work work work but. he works on different things.

so he he takes a project. so he's like. when there's Tesla yeah then I'll finish. this project whether it takes a day a. month a year I'll do this then it's. SpaceX then if that does then it's. Twitter then it's whatever he wants to. do next. it's a project wise so do you also like. how do you manage your time right so you. have to be very good at context. switching context switching okay go. deeper on this let's put it like this if. you are say I'm currently talking to you. my whole mind is here I have probably 50.

other things I need to attend to but I. have in my mind put a focus at this. point in this present moment saying I. need to finish this this is critical and. important for me I'll go back to the. next priority after this and when I'm. doing that I'll put everything else at. Bay for that time right so it's it's. just opposite of multitasking you don't. need to do 10 things at the same time. you need to do one thing but do it very. well in that moment of time that's. important less interesting well so this.

is what you've learned in ISB okay sleep. for four hours do one thing at a time. what else did you learn from India's. I don't know. is it subjectively the best MBA call it. I don't know ranking wise because it's. always a battle uh between IMA and ISB. so what did you learn in isbp. or something and I think it. before I went to ISP okay.

I was working with captioning Consulting. in UK and I learned how big the IT. industry is and I was amazed by it. because before that I was in. manufacturing okay it's it's a different. ballgame yeah and then when you get. exposed to a industry which is so. different. so humongous and growing so fast you. want to know how this works you want to. build something out yeah. and I can't go back to my school day.

seeing now I'm switching from Commerce. to science I want to learn how it works. yeah. doesn't work like that right so the only. way for you to switch your career path. is actually to go to a business school. where they let you understand dynamics. of multiple Industries and it gives you. an option to change your pathway of life. change your career path. but when you go to business school and. especially in India. it's not a career transformation Journey.

it is a salary transformation. wrong and as as like shocked at the. behavior when I saw it pretty much in. all the business schools and this is. what this is saying entry this is your. salary entry this is your exit. you can't be treating students as. Commodities and a school as a factory. saying this is the guy who's coming in. at this package and going out at this. package that's the wrong way to do it.

and fortunately for me before I went to. ISB almost everyone I spoke to. especially the alums they all said one. thing. ensure that you are able to network very. well when you are in ISP it's like one. year. study what you want to study and don't. study what everyone else is studying. okay because then you'll get into that. racing uh. figure out what you want to do and. figure out very quickly that's important. because you don't have time it's one.

year course and then the more difficult. part is instead of focusing just on. studies ensure you network with people. because these 400 people in 10 years. would be the CEO CFO ctus of different. organizations and these are the guys who. are going to help you not now not in. short term because they'll all be trying. to find their own career paths but. position. in whatever you are trying to do.

build that Network and build Network. outside ISP ISB or any such business. school gives you that opportunity to. meet the leaders of different Industries. okay. most of the people are not able to. leverage that because they are extremely. focused on getting their scores I was. extremely focused on finding all the. people I could talk to create a network. so when I come out of the business. school I can tap into this network if. required.

that's super critical for everyone who's. going into a business school. and if you go with that Focus then you. are able to pick up the right courses. and the right people you want to speak. with okay just tell me like you spoke a. lot about networking and you believe in. this you've tried to do this how can. people network with people because you. know it's like a such Loosely used term. thank you okay there are giving an. example.

there are 500 students in my class yes I. Vibe with two random people right. now I am having fun with them yes and. then everything else if I've been trying. to talk to it it's so evident that it's. transactional yeah like it's evidently. because maybe. right so and that's what happens with in. forget like classmate let's just talk. about people who are one level above. yeah you look up to them their position. their power their their brain or.

whatever they wherever they are or their. career trajectory you want to talk with. them. they know that it's transactions yes you. know it's transactional approach sir can. you guide me. that's a horrible approach so how do you. make sure that you network well so that. like these people also answer is in your. question right okay you can't go and. network because people can sniff it out. they know it is transactional right so. you tell them it's not transactional.

these super honest seeing. this is what I think I can learn from. you as I move forward right now I don't. have any such thing agenda I just want. to know you better because I look up to. you right I'm not expecting you to give. me a job offer after a year when I pass. out I'm not expecting you to help me. with me with my resume I'm not expecting. you to do all of this I just like you. from what you are doing and I want to be. in touch with you that Honesty works it. touches people when people reach out to.

me on LinkedIn or when they meet me and. they say. sir I want a job I have to tell them. send me a resume because I don't know. you yeah right but when they say you. know I want to figure this out this is. interesting about you can you tell me a. little more it becomes very easy for me. to start a conversation with that person. and I remember that. and he wanted to understand these things. that's how our relationship starts. interesting you know I have a add up to. this like this is what I've learned in. my journey is so what you do is like you.

reach out to a person first is be. absolute honest yes like whatever you. like about that person it can be. position it can be money it can be the. car they're driving you know just be. honest and the second on top of that. what you can do is hey I feel that my. superpower is for example building a. story on internet okay that's my. superpower yeah then if you ever feel. like this is something today or in 10. years from now you'd need help in this.

I'll be there for you just remember. Manny exactly and I'll be there to help. you out regardless of whatever we are. working on it's just something I'm gonna. add well maybe I'll be able to add value. maybe you're May better than me I don't. know but I'm willing to help you out. with that so if it ever works out so. what you have done is you've just told. them one thing that you can help out. with and you have given a setup a. context that I'm ready to give you value. exactly if I'm valuable then only you. build a relationship with me neither. teacher exactly Raj I know so many. Founders in the industry today and. there's nothing that we exchange on a.

business perspective there's nothing. that we give it take from each other. but we know that if there's something I. need from them I can go knocking their. door saying I need help on this. particular aspect and they'd be more. than happy to help right that's how you. start building relationships which is. not transactional saying I'm here. whenever you need me and it gets. reciprocated interesting very. interesting thought but you said but. like let's going back to your story you. said you were working in in the UK so.

before that like what was your how did. you land up to UK so where are you born. like give me give me that like little. history of that born and brought up in. Calcutta uh in a business family in good. part of a business family is that you. learn a lot of things on the dining. table oh yes right bad part is there's a. competition right in your family yeah. the moment you start thinking of work. right there are five other people who. are thinking of building similar. businesses right in that family.

right but they're very interesting. nuances that I learned especially in. very early stage uh because I went out. building a business right out of college. okay so I in in Calcutta most of the. guys especially when you come from a. business family you would have like your. morning college and the rest of the day. is for you what do you do with that so. did you also go to Xavier's or I went to. bhavanipur college. morning college. so you start thinking about all the new. ideas which are there unfortunately.

there was no Google in 2000 2002 okay. and all your research would be like when. you go to Industry exhibitions. understand what's happening out there so. I got into manufacturing industry very. different ball game very difficult to. execute build business in a sector like. that and the few very interesting things. that I learned uh when I built this. business for like eight years. one is you should never land up in. middle of a supply chain right never.

landed in the middle of Supply chains. businesses it's good to inherit that. business that is your dad your uncle. your dadaji has been doing that business. you can inherit it never go and build a. business here build it either Where You. Are. either end of the supply chain otherwise. you'll always get squeezed out oh damn. right the other very interesting thing I. learned was.

you should always try and become a price. maker and not a price taker okay think. of every business even when I'm building. stronger am I a price maker or am I a. price taker right whenever you're. building business where you are a price. taker you will lose margin in that. business right. suddenly a large big business will come. in and you'll squeeze out your margins. and you are a dead guy there yeah. if you are a price maker right then you. are in command of that situation you. know my case price.

so you can play with both the price and. the supply of your product. third very interesting thing that I. learned and this is not me this is what. I learned from my dad he always used to. tell me saying. frictionless so that is. a very realistic example in Indian.

context is gutka Right a guy who can't. afford a cigarette can actually go and. buy a one rupee gutka and he would keep. buying it because it is giving him that. sense of pleasure yeah but it is. frictionless for him right the rupee. spent is not something he'll be worried. about true. or go on the other end when where you're. selling very small quantity right but. your margins are super high which is. like jewelry and diamond.

if you get stuck somewhere in between. and there's nothing wrong with any of. the other businesses right your struggle. would be relatively higher than the guy. who is building a business on either end. of these spectrums. interesting damn. I'm thinking about imagine a business. Bill currency. [Laughter]. is it like guys doing right after this. I'm playing like leadership team guys. are we thinking in the right direction. no but this makes so much sense because. so I come up I come from fmcg background.

right and FMC fmcg background map one of. the first rule is accessibility yes you. make it such accessible on such a point. that whatever you're selling it needs to. be available at one rupee as well yes. and it needs to be available at 1000. rupees as well so that it's so true. because people so I'll tell you how we. you know there were we used to sell uh. detergent like my father. a little premium detergent okay but it.

was a local market local name everybody. thought that how will we be able to. compete with likes of tide and surface. yeah okay our strategy was we launched a. one rupee pouch in smaller Villages so. what started happen these people started. buying our products only for expensive. party clothes. okay that's how it started and at that. time there was no uh you know aerial or. surf Excel anyone who's selling at one. rupees we were the only one and we got. like such a great market share because. it's a friction.

bang on that's exactly how this works. yes and it does and it helps and biggest. why biggest people started doing that. one rupee thing. it gave them all the more reasons to. start buying a 1kg product as well. so it's just yes it's a foot in the door. and once people get a taste of it and. they they decide that this is the brand. they are gonna go with then nothing. stops them yeah yeah interesting so. that's what you learned in your family. business so you went to bhavanipur and. then you went to UK how did you land of. the UK like I want to know that so I I.

only business guy in UK consulting firm. how did that happen so this actually. this manufacturing business was done. between me and my cousin brother okay uh. very unique learnings that we had and in. about eight years we got good inbound uh. interest to buy out the business okay. and this specially happened from uh my. clients who wanted to backward. integration okay will buy you out uh and. that's where I got the first taste of.

money right it was not crazy valuation. what we see these days right but we made. a decent amount of money and I moved out. of India I started spending time in. Europe I was actually learning how to. fly micro light aircraft crafts in. Scotland okay when I came across Camp. Gemini Consulting folks and started. talking to them and started working on. some of the Consulting projects with. them. and that's when.

I think the whole scope of how big this. industry is and how big this is gonna be. and how transformational it industry is. going to be as we move forward. uh dawned upon me and I wanted to learn. more understand more but there's only. limited scope for you when you are. working to figure out how the industry. works right. and that's when I said let me take a. break from life. figure out what I want to do next and. how I want to do this uh apply it to a.

couple of B schools and interestingly. ISB said this is a good place for you to. come back and learn uh. I had invited from some of the other B. schools in U.S and Europe. but there's one very specific reason I. came back to India. one I wanted to build the business back. in India okay you know if if I would. have been gone to say a Harvard or say a. London School of Business. once you come out of these Business. Schools you build businesses or you take.

up jobs in those countries. right and at that point of time in my. mind it was very clear that the the. scope of building businesses in India is. much larger than what you see in these. countries the macro factors are very. favorable for India okay okay go deeper. like why do you feel that at that time. you felt like water is there in India. like what did you feel like it comes. when you live in these countries and. you'll realize that one major thing. which is missing is challenges right if.

where you have challenge where you have. problems that's where you come and build. solution right yeah. that's one major issue secondly hunger. is not there most of the countries where. I was working visiting meeting people. are very complacent right they're happy. with their life so that drive of doing. something different Drive of building. something drive or disrupting something. is not there when you come back to India.

the the hustle which is here especially. with the youth the drive to build. something the drive to achieve something. it's it's unmatched it's unparalleled. to the I I kind of agree to this point. because if you look at India Left Right. Center our infrastructure is not solved. that's the first level of the problem. then after infrastructure our Healthcare. is not surviving that also comes in. infrastructure but like they're just.

putting it like more our education is. not solved our smartphone penetration is. not solved yet and this is so many. things this is all a function of the. large population that we have right. think of this and I'll try and give you. this perspective even if you build a. business amazingly well just for. Bangalore right you would have pretty. much solved it for a population which is. of the size of United Kingdom yeah right. City problems.

but you have pretty much built the. business for a whole country outside. India that the scope of work that you. have here that's the scope of scaling a. business that you have here. that's an interesting point okay now. let's go back to the ISB and we try to. pick pick up on Indian story again. so ISB may you want ISB after your. Consulting okay you're like okay I want. to learn I want to shift couriers what. happened after that so post ISB. uh very honestly speaking.

I was supposed to or I at least took up. a role with one of the it companies to. join their U.S office okay and that's. when Bollywood happened Bollywood. sure so 2010 caspers from Hrithik Roshan. to uh farana all these guys the. protagonists in their movies were always. investment bankers. right and it intrigued me saying yeah.

this is interesting. investment banker and maybe this is more. interesting yeah this is like a cool job. to me yeah I remember I was in 11th. standard I went to my teacher and I said. hey I want to become Financial Trader. because. so we reached out to me and couple of my.

friends who thought this is a cool thing. to do we reached out to Banks who would. offer these roles spoke to them and. that's how I landed up at icic Bank in. their Investment Banking team okay all. right so very interesting it's it's like. it's a high-flying job. but then I realized that Bollywood got. it wrong right in this whole uh. ecosystem ecosystem there's someone who. sits on top of investment bankers that. is a venture capitalist right and that's.

what I said yeah. so started interestingly I was speaking. with a lot of venture capital funds. primarily because as a banker I was. talking to them pitching to them a lot. of different businesses they could. invest in. and that's when uh Tema sex VCR worked. expensive they wanted to set up their. India oh nice right and as in. conversation with them they asked me to. come on the other side of the table so.

moved from India to Singapore. spent almost I think seven eight months. out there. and that's when we all realized seeing. sitting in Singapore and shuttling. between India and Singapore almost every. month is very difficult yeah right so. why not set up a office here in India. and if India the question was Bangalore. Mumbai Delhi right Mumbai you don't have. a VC ecosystem yep uh in fact BC. ecosystem is just now getting matured in.

India but uh Mumbai you don't have much. then you didn't have much so all the. only choice we had was Handler right. that's how we started building the. Bangalore office in Yuba City and uh I. think I did that for about five and a. half years okay all right so now let's. talk about VC industry okay Elementary. because recently I got into it I I. started dealing with VCS I started. talking to them she's got like my little.

taste very small it's it's a very. interesting industry uh it's very. closely guarded industry also right so. getting an entry into Venture Capital. fund is very difficult yeah the two. normal pathways are either through. Investment Banking or uh through. Consulting right so if the other third. like if you are like I said first time. founder who sold this company. yes which is a rare thing to happen in. India. but when I started we had like.

10 15 notable. funds in India who are writing checks. between say 5 to 15 million rest were. all very small funds were writing checks. between say half a million to two. million dollars. Raj it's I started in like 2011 it's 22. now in 10 years of time. it's not changed much the VC industry in. India is still very shallow and when I. say shallow.

they're like about 20 25 funds you can. count. and that's pretty much it right yeah if. you compare this to China there are more. than 350 homegrown funds out there and. the count is even more in U.S. so from an industry perspective we are. VC industry is still growing okay uh we. don't have real hedge funds in India not. a single Indian grown hedge fund who is.

able to write large checks uh not enough. LPS here in India. but the Pension funds the family offices. who are investing in Venture Capital. funds to invest in startups so. predominantly it is still driven by U.S. funds who have their offices out here. yeah. so okay you what's the problem why do. you feel like why because now. like our country has money like it's.

getting there I mean we are getting. enough there are a lot of hnis there a. lot of offices there are a lot of people. who have money in fact we I was just. looking at certain stats and how last. five years the. aums of certain mutual funds the certain. funds have like just grown dramatically. drastically right because retail is also. sorry it's important dude so what's the. problem why we are not able to grow like. a large chunk like why there are only 20. 25 people playing uh old school white.

British boy game so the the problem is. two-sided yeah right one is where you. have to see those. startups grow big and start giving very. large exits and reinvest back in the. ecosystem right. problem is a. is a very unique problem to India or I. would say southeast Asia where if the. industry is dominated by funds which are.

say primarily U.S or european funds. they would always go back and invest in. a business which they have seen either. in U.S or in China and they have seen. those businesses grow very big yeah. right. if there's a startup if there's a. Founder who goes and pitches his. business and the VC fund would say I've. not seen this happen in U.S in other. countries right I've not seen this. happen in China how can you build this.

here in India and it's. it's a major discrimination which I. personally feel is against the founder. in India whose caliber is not being. judged in the right lens in the right. color simply because he's sitting here. in India and building this business. because this is the same guy who would. go out there in U.S. join a startup be one of the key members. and build that business out. interesting so you mean like Indians go.

out there try to build bigger businesses. yes then Indians trying to build bigger. business here because the problems of. India are different in the business. which we need here are different and. nobody try to fund that because they've. not seen the similar kind of bang on. right and I've seen this in my VC live. okay uh without taking name of the. founders I think some of the largest. grocery uh supply chain businesses some. of their largest uh food delivery. businesses and I've seen them at like.

amazingly good valuations. uh. and we could not invest in spite of. having all the interest in doing that is. because we are always stuck in this. comparison saying this business has not. done well in these these countries the. unit economics are not viable there how. can it become viable in India right. their turnaround time is not crossing a. specific number in the U.S or in China.

how can it happen in India right so me. as a fund manager sitting here it became. so difficult for me to justify back to. my investment committee saying these. guys are killing it they are better than. their counterparts in any other country. we should invest in them and they have. done amazingly well in last five six. years now when I go back and see they. have done amazingly well you could have. gotten crazy returns in there. that's that's the pain but you know it's.

so true because. even now the founders which are coming. they are simply looking at what are the. successful businesses in U.S in UK or in. China yeah trying to copy paste the same. thing in India yeah whereas there are a. lot of businesses which are not built. for India they can't be made in India. because there's so many things in India. which is different. right you've touched a very interesting. point because. one is a business which he is passionate.

about he knows how to drive this build. this or if it is very unique he will. find a way of doing it yeah right the. other businesses are the business what. the VC wants to build yeah right then he. finds a Founder saying Raj is building. this business which is this blueprint. and I will help him build this out these. businesses are driven by VCS sitting on.

the board and the business life is one. quarter to the other quarter one Mis to. the other Mis seeing a matrices which. has been given to me these matrices I am. following so true and every quarter on. quarter I'll go back saying okay now. let's raise the next round yeah right. that's a Playbook which has been running. for last 10 years. I personally think it is Gonna Change. now okay because these last two years.

have been very unique. uh. kovid has really changed the way people. started looking at businesses. second major key issue is now even after. that in last one year the momentum with. which capital was being thrown specially. at uh businesses here or probably. globally right that momentum has. switched if we get into a recession next. year. only the businesses who knew how to.

build real economics the right unit. economics in their businesses would. survive. and that's also going to change how VCS. look at these businesses because if you. keep throwing Capital to solve a problem. it's not a scalable business model it's. a scalable Revenue model. oh interesting so should we be scared. now or should we not be scared like is. it is our next round gonna happen is.

what like everyone who is watching this. should think about it. was the because it's so true and I feel. but you know this this again your point. just bang on like it's. it just came into however like I just. realized key what he said before is. coming through here as well. key if everybody says that whatever. the sentiment of a market whatever. happens in the U.S just stuff there's.

the rumors of that affect Indian. marketers it does yes like like nobody. knows right now honestly whether the. funding will dry up in India or no. because there are large large family. offices also getting into it so on one. side there are a lot of interest in the. private world so there's a lot of funds. coming in but because the rumors are. there that hey you know us may Market. has dried up momentum of slow yeah so. India maybe people have started saying. the good tough timer coming tough time.

without actually knowing whether they'll. be able to do it or no but if you look. at and read about certain few funds they. have raised specific like way larger. than life kind of round just to deploy. in India if they have raised that kind. of money they're obviously going to. deploy it is. yes they have raised Capital but when a. VC fund raises Capital it's on paper. they don't have money sitting in their. Bank saying okay tomorrow I like what.

Raj is doing and I'll go into the check. they don't work like this he has to go. and knock his LP's door saying hey guys. I've found this business this is. interesting we have an agreement I'm. calling the money. and the lp has to honor his commitment. saying okay I'm giving you the money. right this chain is breaking down and. that's where the problem is there the lp. who promised to write the check if he is. not comfortable giving away money right. now you can't help it having said that. can businesses survive yes right the.

moment it's it's a mindset issue right. the moment I say I don't have to chase. the growth anymore because that growth. is coming at the cost of me burning a. lot of capital which in turn is given by. my investors. I'll recalibrate the business try and. bring it to a point where it is closer. to break even even if I want to do this. for a year can people do this can. Founders do it yes they can right.

it comes at a cost of at times. removing the flab in the system right it. sometimes comes at the cost of. recalibrating your whole business plan. but that's the decision of a Founder he. has to be very hard-headed saying I want. to build this business like this instead. of just chasing numbers and matrices. which are going to please the board. because that board currently is not in a. position to keep throwing money at your. business anymore that's that's a that's.

an interesting take and it's so true he. at the end of the day if LP decides that. hey no. then you can't do anything yeah and that. that sums up most of the things okay. tell me. you've you've studied business in the. U.S you have managed to fund in which is. again Southeast base uh based right so. you understand the Dynamics of both the. markets what is diff What is the. difference between U.S markets India. market and Chinese market or maybe like. the Southeast Market as well.

was a major difference or. what kind of different problems startups. face. and why this ecosystem is really very. well done in U.S like why there are the. U.S ecosystem is insanely good. comparatively to Indian ecosystem okay. think of when the VC industry really. took off in India in India ideally I. would say the number is about 10 to 12.

years back. so the founders in which we were all. investing right they were not as mature. as what we see today and the quality of. Founders have drastically improved in. last 10 years. VC ecosystem in U.S is much older much. deeper right and the capital has started. recycling out there that is if 20 years. back I invested five billion dollars. that money has come back to me right.

multiplied instead of 5 10 has come back. to me and I'm reinvesting that Capital. now and again that recycling of capital. has not started in India second there's. a lot of capital which goes into this. whole startup ecosystem by the. government okay the federal government. actually has a lot of open doors through. which it. funds the VC funds which it gives money. to the VC funds and the VC funds in turn. are able to deploy that money to build a.

lot of these businesses which may not. see the sun probably after two years. but that Capital comes in from the. government in India this has recently. started right where sidbi is partnering. with almost all the VC funds here which. has Merit and giving them the money to. deploy right.

China has a very different problem where. a lot of this money actually came from. government. a lot of this money came from a lot of. private players right. the tech. businesses really became very big but. they also became very powerful out there. yeah right. it's it's a very unique problem to face. out there where uh there's there's a. government backlash where the especially. the tech companies are not able to drive.

their businesses their way. I think we are all very fortunate to be. in a country like India. where The Regulators talk to the. industry. and there's a very clear conversation. and the outcome which you see is never. one-sided it's not that the government. decides and it goes and does that right. it's very pro-business government where. they take information from Consultants.

from businesses from Founders try and. figure out what works best for the. industry right and then the new. regulation comes out. I'm thinking of an incident. here's the difference right and I I. think I'm I can tell you this now. because I am on The Advisory Board of uh. multiple entities who talk to government. talk to regulators.

the ball is always in our court right. when a document comes to us saying this. is the regulation that we are trying to. work upon we need your inputs we are the. guys who are lazy enough not to go and. give the right input or we are the guys. who are serving our own personal. interest and not serving the interest of. the whole industry right when my inputs. don't go or don't go in the right flavor.

they are not taken in consideration and. then when the when the regulation comes. out I'll go out in the public and start. criticizing. it's not like that it's it's a mistake. at our and it's not the government oh. interesting point well let's go let's go. to the point where he said a lot of. people. uh you know. value your business because they've seen. some business just like that around the.

world yeah okay so the business You're. Building yeah is there a large business. around the world any large company which. has been able to do this uh. it was surprising and I you know it's. very unique I did not do enough research. before I started building this out okay. I want to know this part now it was very. impulsive so why did you decide to do. this 2019 uh December I was at ISB at a.

10-year reunion and I was discussing. with my friend saying what are you doing. with your money where are you investing. almost everyone was very excited about. stock market right it was in a boom but. everyone was very skeptical and had this. fear of losing their money and these are. guys who have who have done Finance. right people who are Cas CFA MBA. and at amazingly good positions in. different organizations and these are.

the guys whose money is sitting in their. fixed deposit saying. everyone wants to invest his money but. they have this very strong inhibition of. losing that money. which gave me this whole idea saying. right when I talk to folks and not just. in ISB it's like in different circles. different walks of life in my family. with my friends. everyone wants to grow his Capital.

everybody right but everyone is so. worried about the risk the reason being. they don't understand the risk out there. and when I was discussing so me and. Rahul the founder of mogulix we started. discussing this idea sitting out there. and one thing we realize is our. education system lacks this information. think of it like this. our families right our whole education. systems in childhood they don't teach us.

how to invest money right my parents. have always taught me how to save my. money. savings account and how not to spend. money. no one teaches us how to invest money so. the problem happens when you start. earning when you have that Capital you. have almost no Playbook saying how do I. invest my capital and you go and do. exactly what your last generation has. been doing you go and put it in the.

savings account. in March when your HR sends you a. message saying ATC savings. you go and put money in a Mutual. Insurance. that's it right and you only put that. much. rest of the money is sitting idle out. there that day you put out and help some. good bang I made insane commissions. without understanding you are so correct. on this think of the guy who's selling.

you the mutual fund right. it's. it's 90 of the people don't even know. the name of the mutual fund manager. invest care oh yes right so the guy. who's selling you the mutual fund is. generally a retail branch Bank uh. correspondent manager right who comes to. your home explains. right he would have not invested his own. money in that yeah right and he's just.

doing it because he needs to make that. two percent commission and meet his. Target but that's the that's the Lacuna. in this industry that's the problem in. this whole investment industry. most of the people learn at the cost of. losing their first few lakh rupees oh. yes and they don't come back saying boss. there's something wrong out there. there's some inherent evil in the market. you're so spot-on okay I started. investing the same way uh I I was.

fortunate that the 18 only my business. was doing good and I started making. money. and I was always this guy because I used. to read endless books about you do what. you understand yes find the right person. for him okay which is like a fair. strategy in most of the cases. so if I'm not like a good band guy who. was was my RN okay so he's the guy who's. helping me with everything and he's only. telling me I was like I told him I want. to invest in stocks and stuff huh.

then he comes out he's like. um. XYZ amount small small Savvy and for. next year and half or like 18 20 to two. years. I am going on. I like I invest in the right thing. because none of my friends are investing.

and I'm feeling so good I was like this. and that only to realize that most of. the mutual funds which are put in in. yeah they are um. where things are going maximum thing. which my mom and dad have invested in. are you lips and I it's just like and it. crashed it's crazy it's crazy and then. people talk about. and it's I was 20 and I started reading. about Investments because this is like a. new thing because somebody asked me one. of my friends he was in an another case.

he was like he made his quick money in. trading okay and he's like what's the. return you're getting on your phone I. was like yeah. I didn't even know that you asked at the. end of the year like what is the return. your mutual funds are growing at right. that's a stupid thing admired and I went. on and I saw that in last two years. I grew at two percent that's it yeah oh. my God two percent and it was a large. bank and I was like. why this happening and you would have. probably given two and a half percent in.

commission exactly so technically I lost. my money and after not bad. and now in my head okay and the guy who. sold me this is now work it now works at. another bank so he's not even there so. he'll come back again for instance. yes he did the same thing. I'm never trusting you B now my question. how do I go to my dad and tell him you. know I actually up because.

Indian parents they don't trust the. markets they don't trust Investments yes. the max they trust is bit of the flat. Lily or there's I mean that's it true. nothing else they're gonna trust that. right which most of the people have done. good jobs with their Investments or real. estate investment most of the people. have not so you just know this so I'm. just thinking how do I do this how do I. do this and and then I actually started. reading so it's so true that the. awareness and the education around it is.

right it's it's like cool thing to do. right but people don't understand it's a. necessity for us and Raja I learned. exactly the way you did I lost more than. 80 lakh rupees in stock market 2008. crash. I would call up my friends like every. week and our discussion was not around. right where have you invested our. discussion was who has generated higher. return in last week yeah it was a.

bragging right for us right because. Market was on an all-time high it was a. bull market and subco we took stock. market for granted yeah like it's not. about who is generating return it's. about who's generating yes one week and. it all crashed right okay and we were. not even so we were trading on tips. seeing logos. that's when I realized I have almost. zero clue about the market in which I.

keep investing all my money. I like almost no clue which one where. did you lose the most like give me one. stock which you lose I tell you mine. I invested like so when after the like. 20 when I started no I thought. like because I've read one book about. how to put in stuff I lost the maximum. money in real estate stocks oh right. this pizza. and there was no way for me to even go.

and sell the stock out there because. nobody would buy no one was buying it. real estate stuff I lost my maximum. money in a company called Switzerland. energy wow. so I I don't know how it's doing now I. have no idea I don't know if people have. made money on this but I invested. all-time high I think till last year. that company never came back to that. point and it has been years now it's. just so bad I lost so much money it was.

crazy and then second I lost my money in. Airline stocks. because you know in my head thesis with. renewable energies future yes so the. highest shares is launched so they're. gonna make money then Airlines again I. thought Airlines India's middle class. India is coming up so there's gonna be. high without realizing it Airline the. middle class Indians. I didn't know the global geopolitics and. so factors which matter first two part.

was right saying on a macro level is the. country doing well are they gonna spend. in say renewable energy one and second. are people gonna spend more on airlines. yes travel yes right but fundamentally. is the company doing well or not that's. something you never checked yes that's. never that's that that we never check so. how do we do it in stock grow tell me. now uh I stopped you in middle of it so. you came up with this because nobody. knew how they were doing with their.

money yeah. I after I lost the money first thought. was like um. so how do you do this. and the whole idea was I'm not right but. then there are at least. 50 other guys I know personally who have. made money while the market was crashing. right. they are probably smarter than me but. how are they small yeah.

how does a fund manager do this right. how does a hedge fund manager do. something like this with billions of. dollars. and that's where I discovered the only. course available is a CFA course out. there which okay tells you at least fund. manager investor yeah. and I was probably the worst student of. that time because I was not there to get. a job with the CFA degree. [Laughter].

class maybe now I would question some of. these Concepts there's a very. interesting Concept in CFA which used to. say markets are perfect right and they. teach you they drill this into you see. markets are perfect at any point of time. and everyone has all the information. about a stock okay it's like you know it. is fundamentally flawed because. sorry information and then every stock. would either be hitting an upper circuit. or a lower circuit business you will.

also be a buyer I'll also be a buyer. then there's no seller out there so that. whole concept is incorrect yes if. everybody believes that it's gonna win. it's not gonna win correct and I started. challenging a lot of these Concepts. which were being taught saying it's. probably not right. and that's where you go back and say. that's the reason people like us get. victimized every time there's something. that goes wrong in the market. and once you start questioning these.

subjects the topics what is being taught. you go beyond the books you start. talking to real people who are doing. these real trades and I started meeting. all of these readers Traders investors. understanding from them. right leave aside how a option is priced. how a future contract is priced when. they are trading in their Excel sheet. how are they pricing it what is the. outcome they are expecting leave aside.

the book. and that's where I realized that it's. everything is beyond what we are. studying and everything is in how people. are practicing it right the real Market. the real trades. unfortunately. everyone who even gets a glimpse of how. markets work is on literature yeah. and it's absolutely useless for most of. the people because if you start pricing. and building your model on those.

things that you see in the book you'll. always be wrong. so you mean like. theory is just to give you an. understanding of what works but what. really works is when you actually get. your hands dirty bang what you want and. get to learn this your cost of getting. your hand dirty is a few lakh rupees. that you'll lose in the market. which is an anti-thesis.

that's why we said you need something. which is experiential learning for. people that is they get to learn how. markets work they get to experience how. to buy and sell stocks but not let them. lose their real money if they do that. they'll be terribly discouraged if they. are discouraged they'll not come back. and that's how we started. conceptualizing stock row. let people experience stock market.

by buying and selling stock almost in a. real life scenario. but without losing capital. second most important thing is people. don't invest based on broker reports on. technical fundamental analysis. people invest based on what social cues. they get who are talking about it yeah. right and you know what's happening on. Twitter how many people talk about this. talk what kind of messaging is happening.

which friends of Maya buying and selling. this right so they buy on social cues. and that's why he said if they are all. buying on social cues where are these. social cues these are all off-market. conversations. right he's buying so you will buy and. because you are buying us yeah Raj smart. bundle. right. and you know finally you have no one to. blame because.

we have to qualify all of these social. cues. and we said let's bring all of these. offline murmur chatter online okay but. more importantly the guy who says he had. many last month does person returned by. nine. how do I know he's is he's honest yeah. he said let all of these people build. their portfolios online right on stock. Road in live markets social investing.

now if he is good enough he'll beat. everyone else right and we will reward. him for doing that we'll give him cash. prizes for doing that oh but now we have. built the incentive system seeing every. guy who is doing it right he'll keep. doing it right and he will work hard. towards it because one. we are giving him a lot of cash price. for doing it more importantly he's. validating what he is saying and he's. getting a lot of followers because now.

if I'm doing it right I have 50 000. followers who are checking on my. portfolio asking me how are you doing. this right and every guy who is Faking. It Right will get questions saying if. you are so good at markets where is your. stock grow portfolio yeah oh that's so. true in fact this gives me good. framework to decide who's going to be my. next fund manager right because all I. can do is like you know the moment you. make little money I don't know how but.

every fund manager in the city knows. they reaches out they reach out to you. and they're like okay invest with us. invest with us all we can do is here's. one quarter three months yeah yes my. stock broke out help me out show me that. this is what you would do for me if you. do it this is the amount I'm gonna give. you because then I'm like immunity like. I'm literally like immunizing myself. from bang on every other person and the. guy who was doing good last quarter may. not be good this quarter and it's not.

his problem it's because the sector he's. an expert and may not be doing so well. but there's some other guy and some. other sector which is doing very well. can you switch your capital from there. to here you can. but this today no one else to tell you. how to do this no one else to teach you. how to do this and the biggest problem. especially in stock market is it's a. distrust Market yeah right the the. emotional challenge that we face is we. don't trust it and what we are trying to.

do is seeing. solve this distress problem right create. trust in that market help every user. build his social trust Circle. and then there are other guys who are. following them auditing them talking to. them these are real people who are. building real portfolios generating real. returns. competing with other guys and beating.

them week on week if they are good you. ought to follow these guys you ought to. figure out how they are doing this and. then start your investment Journey with. them. interesting and how do you you just ask. them questions about how did you figure. that out or how did you do that the. moment if somebody's doing good if he's. doing good and because it's a social. platform people have access to top. portfolio and stuff right they can see. what they are doing and I can if I like. you I can start chatting with you I can. ask you questions in general.

people love getting followers right. people love answering their questions. the difference between a platform like. this and any other platform is. intent of a user here is not to troll. anyone the intent is to learn saying. right so he comes here with the with the. appetite saying. I have to invest my money I have to grow. my money I'm not here to prove people.

wrong I'm here to figure out who is. right. dude this is such a crazy thing I think. the first thing you should do is get all. the finance influences or talking about. trading Network and then let them. do so many of them trust me 50 of them. would say I'll do a. I'll do a video with you I'll talk about. you whatever I'll not put my portfolio.

on there. I know I know what do you mean YouTube. the guy has a million followers he has. so many strategies and the moment we say. these are interesting why don't you put. your portfolio out here they don't do it. yeah that's the case of course there are. a hundred factors and the guy I can lose. not only his money but social image and. like a lot of his social clout would go. down okay even one thing goes wrong. maybe the guy is right but if one. quarter goes around people are gonna.

which is okay explain right yeah and. then we have people from different walks. of life right there are guys who are. sitting out of like small town like say. Rajkot in Gujarat doesn't have a cacfa. qualification but he understands metal. sector so well that he beats the market. right and for me he's the real hero and. that's the real hero we want to create. out of different walks of life saying. they know how to. pick the sector they know how to pick.

these stocks they know how to read the. market right follow these real guys. yeah that's that's an interesting thing. let me see like and you must be having a. dashboard who made the magazine yeah yes. so we have a Champions chart it it's. very Dynamic right it keeps changing but. what you will see is the top hundred. guys usually would remain consistent. there'll be a 10 Fallout 10 new people. would come in. which is good because we see these new. ideas coming in we are trying to expand.

it Beyond stocks into Bond into Futures. and options because. Raj what has changed. majorly and especially from a macro. Factor perspective in our country is. one FD rates have gone down right yeah. so the whole idea of keeping money in. fixed deposits is is pretty much out. three and a half percent post tax it's. almost dead it doesn't doesn't make a. difference real estate returns have gone. down your rent return would be like two.

percent oh it's horrible I the the place. I live in Bombay the rental yield the my. landlord would be making is one percent. right so it's crazy and that. appreciation is not there yeah so the. whole idea of keeping money in real. estate is gone so now people are left. with two major options stocks and bonds. what is happening especially with the. generation is and understand this. the last generation uh my parents they.

were here to secure their life right. because India was a poor country we were. coming out of poverty at that point of. time so everyone wanted to have Roti. kapra McCann's security of life. My Generation when we started we were. persuading lifestyle and that's the. reason all these e-commerce businesses. grew because we were all spending right. now the Next Generation the millennial. generation which is there they don't.

have to worry about Security in life. they don't have to worry about lifestyle. because the last two generations have. solved it for them. the money that they have at their. dispense is the money that they'll be. investing right because everything else. is taken care of and these are the guys. who need to be equipped with the right. knowledge so they are not wasting their. money on buying depreciating assets but. they are utilizing that money and. investing in the right assets.

two okay here's a really like like. ending two three questions I have based. on all the things you have seen now you. have seen this all okay you have seen. people who have like on the platform who. have had great strategies or bad. strategies you've had your own. experience of losing money yeah then. your own experience of making money then. you have experience of private markets. around the world Consulting everything. okay tell me like what are the three. things majorly people should look at.

from a macro perspective in a particular. investment before that deciding like. this is whatever I want to buy what are. the three questions that you try to find. answers on. I'm sure there'll be a list of like 10. questions or 20 questions but like what. are the first three like if you don't. have answers to these three questions. like don't even think about this. particular investment right. right so. from a macro Factor perspective the. first thing that people have to think. about is. is this sector gonna do well and this.

answer is not gonna come from a. newspaper or from an expert this will. come from your own experience right say. for example and might sound like a lousy. example. say a recession is going to come right. what is the product in which people will. not stop spending. right answer is basic fmcg products and. not stop uh using toothbrush and. toothpaste I'll probably not stop. spending on soaps I'll not stop spending.

on alcohol probably the alcohol and tea. consumption will go up right if and. Common Sense is required if that is. gonna happen which businesses currently. are doing better than the whole sector. right if say sector return is eight. percent and there are two companies. which are doing 12 return see what are. they doing right is the management. quality good right so if I have trust in.

this sector if I have trust second level. in the company third if I have trust. third level in the management saying. they'll be able to maneuver through it. I'll go and invest my money there. how do you judge management. so difficult it's a Loosely used term. again like it's so you look at 100 like. teams okay there's one CEO who's been. doing good for five years and then it. changes and this is another CEO she's. like Raj show interestingly when people.

invest they don't look at management. okay right if say when you were doing. Swiss lawn you did not go back and see. who's the CEO the CEO I've only looked. at CEO didn't get anything about him but. okay right so today the advantage for us. is the moment we look at our business. it's very easy for me to go back on. LinkedIn and see their profiles what. have they done right if it's a company. which has outperformed market for say. couple of quarters there'll be enough.

coverage on it one by the Brokers and. second in media there'll be something. out there I can see the people and their. real profiles out there. and you'll see the transition point of. maybe this person. after that the transition happened. correct so when you can see that very. basic research you don't really need to. go and pick up the phone and speak with. the management but if you can see that. they have survived through difficult. times the management has come together. at this point.

this is how they have been performing by. the way the CEO CTO CFO their past. performance has equally been well. it's perfectly okay there was a there's. a simple. strategy which I read by one of the. people who used to work very closely. with Warren Buffett and the one simple. line and I thought this makes sense he's. like the first thing you have to do if. you if you're looking for. great consistent returns yeah and not. like extraordinary and extraordinarily. up to 200 things but if you're looking.

like great or like returns consistent. returns all you have to do is. you look at the financial Cycles every. 10 to 11 years there must be a crash yes. okay yeah so you look at companies which. have been there for two to three crashes. yes you see that what was their growth. were they growing during the crash also. or no if the first is you'd just you. know you just take these companies out. from the rest yes and then you all you. do math on these companies only so you. only have to focus on the company which.

like have been profitable for last 10 12. years they have survived the crash yes. and still they are growing up and down. growth it's okay cagr goes up and on but. in Legacy businesses which can't die. because you can't stop using them yes. the classic example is Coke right. irrespective of whatever Cycles you are. in you will not stop consuming cold. drinks oh yeah right see on the other. side when the crash happens the one. company or one sector which really gets. hit is the banking sector so right after.

the crash that's one sector you should. get in because if a economy has to build. back any country has to build back the. first sector which has to do well is the. financial sector right so that's always. a very good time to go and invest in a. bank income but then that's like such a. crazy time because everybody's scared. last year crashes. but when everyone is greedy you should.

exit when everyone is scared you should. invest and then learn all of this to. your platform because just say like you. know the code is easy to say but when. everybody is scared no you are also. everybody only. you are also scared agree agree everyone. is scared and that's the reason we need. a community where people can exchange. thoughts ideas comfort each other right. because when you are scared and I come. back with real stat saying every time. this happens Market comes up right it.

comes back. plus think of when covid struck right. when lockdown happened. markets went from twelve thousand to. seven thousand okay and I was like. building or I was starting to build. stock row every guy every friend said. this is the worst time to build a. platform like this yeah right I had like. almost one and a half two million dollar. in Angel commitment from my folks and.

everyone came back saying I think I'll. need two months three months right. because of the cash situation yeah I. want to invest but I'll do it after. three months yeah the thought I had in. my mind is. this is not what I'm building for six. months one year I'm building it for a. long term more importantly if I don't. build this today someone else is gonna. build this tomorrow. and I'll probably live a life of regret. saying I could have done that I should.

have done that and that's not what I. want to do right worst case scenario. I'll lose salary of one year I would. have learned so much in that one year. I'm not gonna die with that one year. salary in my bank account it would be. much more than that. it's worth taking a chance worst case. scenario I'll fail. but I'll not regret yeah best case. scenario it will work out trust me in. covet Times building a business. everything changed right yeah the whole. idea of how to build a startup was out.

of the window Talent was not there. Capital was not there it was sheer grit. determination and few folks who believed. in the idea coming together saying let's. do this and that's how it builds that's. how you did do you read. a lot a lot yes okay what tell me like. two three top books which you feel like. every young entrepreneur or young. investor or anyone wants to make I I. read a lot of philosophy books okay. right my favorite is Wayne Dyer okay. right and uh I think every time I'm.

at an emotional crisis point when I. don't know what to do I go back uh. sometimes read as books sometimes just. go through his videos Venn diagram any. one of the books which you would. recommend or no like any book I think. any of them they are all is there any. specific philosophy which you feel like. that helped you a lot. but you feel like this particular. Philosophy from window was like spot on. I'll walk you through it right so very. interestingly in one of his videos he.

explains. uh that. and he he walks through a specific. journey of a person saying. I am walking through a lane I can see. there's a hole. and I fall into it. I come out of it it was not my mistake. because I did not see it. I'm going through the same lean back I. fall into this again I could see this. this is my mistake. and in the third attempt he says I'm.

walking through the lane I can see this. hole. I move around it and now I'm in the next. Lane that is we do the same thing in our. lives. we go and keep making the same mistake. again and again we go through the same. experiences in our life. till we learn that lesson and we say. I've learned this lesson and that's when. you go to the next phase of life. I think I've done this so many times. every time I face the same problem I go.

back retrospecting why am I seeing this. again and again probably there's a. lesson to be learned and once you do. that you will actually go into the next. phase of your life. so the idea is that if you make mistake. most of the time you just ignore it. instead of actually sitting down and. retrospecting about okay yes where the. where did I make the mistake you will. never move to the next phase of life if. you keep doing the same thing. is it like all your motivational quotes.

about keep doing everything. isn't that true so that's one philosophy. any other books you felt like something. which is really interesting something. which I learned. very unique from one of my mentors. and he said. treat people the way you want to be. treated right whenever I'm building a. business and especially when I was. building stock Pro. the whole idea of how do you build the. culture of a business. and because it was so unique time.

see the identity of a startup was always. the establishment. that is where the office is what kind of. talent they have the CEOs the ctOS out. there. and what are the investors who are out. there. we had to throw almost all of these. Concepts out of the window. people were working from home. what had taken the center stage was the. product itself right nothing else. mattered.

and. in that time. thinking of what the business culture. would look like what the startup culture. would look like was very different. and I had to go back and start thinking. saying all of this is not gonna work how. do I build the culture in my company and. I went back to the very simple. philosophy saying. everyone whom I'm bringing on board has. to be someone like me who has that grit. that hunger that energy to build this.

out. his. his resume is a hygiene that is. a hygiene. his current position in his life is what. I'm trying to understand right he might. be a guy in his 40 in his 20 but what is. driving him right now is gonna help me. build this business. and the primary philosophy was again the. same thing I wanted to treat every guy.

who was coming on board exactly how I. want the world to treat me. and it takes a lot of time to do this. honestly like when you're thinking in a. startup like this kind of thinking is I. don't know how you are able to maintain. it because you want to break things move. fast every day and then you're going. down and trying to dissect. if I'm getting X person on board what is. the factor which is driving him or her. and like how you it's it's a slow. painful task it is that's the reason my.

team is like 55 people we it's not that. we screen a lot of people right but the. moment anyone in the team thinks that. you know the culture that we have built. that person is not going to be a fit to. that culture very politely tell that. person that you are very good at what. you are doing. we probably can't give you the kind of. pathway you're looking for right and. that's the reason we'll probably keep in. touch but probably find another. opportunity to bring you on board.

interesting well the last question of. the day I have we've covered like a lot. of things there's one question which I. ask everybody where do you feel is a. which is the next sector for India to go. and build stuff. because most of the sectors which people. were answering about last year are now. very not very in not in like very good. shape honestly so because this sport has. like a lot of entrepreneurs a lot of. people who are thinking to now become an.

entrepreneur or maybe are the people who. want to just grow their money or have. adopt a Founder's mindset. Raj I think this is super close to my. heart I have personally attempted to do. this and failed. uh and this is this is Agri sector or I. would say agritech. when you look at India's production as. compared to a lot of other developed. countries. we are far behind right but that is also. an opportunity for us seeing if we are. far behind there's so much to improve.

the whole supply chain is so broken. there's so much that can be done in just. the Agri Supply Chain. if if you think e-commerce consumption. is Big think of the food that we eat. every day right that consumption is much. much much bigger than the whole. e-commerce industry which say handful of. VCS funded and drove and it became so. big. if even.

50 of those same investors come back and. start investing in agritech sector. this sector can become super big yeah. in and you know it's in India. specifically this is one of the terms. which everybody says that we don't have. a problem of food scarcity we have a. problem of food quality and security. hang on so if we can solve that that'd. be like a massive opportunity and you.

know the mindset has changed I am. willing to pay a price for good quality. food yeah I'm not worried anymore saying. where is my food gonna come from for. next day. and that's what is growing that's the. that that far majority is now going. moving towards that they're ready to pay. more for the quality right if someone. really has to change this he just has to. go to a Mandi in the morning four. o'clock and see how the food is being. treated yeah. right the whole idea was Farm to folk.

has been out there and we have been. talking about it for last decade. there are few startups who have started. building this but that market is so huge. we can absorb at least 50 such more. startups who can each take one single. food producing Farm to Fork I'll manage. this whole change yeah only one fruit. one particular food of food like one. vegetable is sorted that's it so like I. have a our friend he has a business of.

avocados okay and he's minting like he's. he makes so much money is the business. growing he's always at the place where. there's more demand and less supplies. yes and I thought when we were having. this conversation five years ago I said. avocados. how are you even thinking of selling. avocados and he's like it's minimum 500. crore opportunity that's what he says. who eats avocado 500 crore worth of. avocado who's eating and I thought.

probably he's gonna export but he's not. even gone to a level where he started. exporting it's only India where he's. able to build like such a food chain. bang on you. see even if you go and solve street food. problem yeah right the whole supply. chain is so broken just for your and the. muriwalas of the world if you solve it. for them it's a multi-billion dollar. opportunity sitting out there that's my. next gig for sure I want to solve how do. we eat panipuri in the most hygienic in.

the world. am I investor in it. no thank the Lord I'm really passionate. about panipuri by the way like I really. wanted let's build this I I'll give you. the whole uh blueprint there are people. who have tried to do this right not got. funded at the right time but this is the. right time to build a business like that. especially post pandemic everyone is. so. I would say so. so ideal now saying as a hygiene yeah.

this is the perfect time to build this. damn thank you Lord thanks for giving a. very unconventional idea about building. a business guys go solve the problem of. what do you eat at probably like a radio. or a tailor try to solve their food. chain and you'll have a billion dollar. opportunity thanks a lot for doing this. thank you absolute pleasure absolute. pleasure talking to you thank you so. much for having me on this show thank.

you so much for watching this episode. till the end make sure that you like. subscribe share comment and at least. tell about this podcast to one person. because you never know that one. conversation can spark an idea and that. idea can be a start of a New Journey. which can turn into a billion dollar. industry and fasten our nation's growth. so make sure that you're contributing. just by sharing the right conversations. until the next episode keep figuring out.

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