Everything Vani Kola said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Kola: Most successful founders do not come from big-tech executive roles
“The so-called pedigree is not as important to me as the potential. So I'm assessing for the potential, but not your past is a small indicator of your future, especially for an entrepreneur, especially for a first time entrepreneur. Most successful entrepreneur…”
Kola: Clarity of insight builds great companies, not polished storytelling
“People confuse storytelling to clarity of thought, ok? Now you're gonna go all over the place when it is not clear for you that simple clarity of thought of insight, whatever that is. That creates great companies, right?”
Kola: Kalaari Capital's Fund I returned 2.7x; Fund II nearing 4x
“Our first fund, I returned to .7 X. Our second fund, we are returning close to four X. We've already returned to X. And so I know I, we are in the highest performance category. In the top 25, if not the top 10% of fund returns that we have generated from India”
Kola: Only 1.5% of Indian startup funding goes to women CEOs
“Literally only of all the funding that has happened in India, 1.5% has gone to women who are CEO founders. They may have been co-founder in some capacity, then the number goes up by a little bit, even then it's not that much, but women CEO is 1.5%, right?”
Kola: No company succeeds when the founder is the sole problem solver
“No company can be successful if you are the only firefighter, if you are the only problem solver, if you are the smartest in the room, right?”
Kola: Capital is among the most misunderstood assets in startups
“Capital, which I think is one of the most, how should I say, misunderstood asset, often because we get emotional about money. In the startup ecosystem. Neither is money that important, nor is money that unimportant, right? To your success, you know?”
Vani Kola refuses late-night founder calls unless there is an emergency
“You use discretion to my time, and I refused to take his call at levin pm, and he said, well, you know, blah blah blah. I said, look, my family matters. This is not an emergency. It could, it can wait. If it was an emergency, I will hundred percent take your c…”
Kola: Bootstrapped First Company for 18 Months After ~100 Rejections
“My first company, I was probably rejected by a hundred investors, combination of angels and VCs and all of that. And I think for like close to 18 months, I bootstrapped myself.”
Kola: Kalaari created $10M fund to catalyze ecosystem backing for women
“More importantly, the ten million fund was to call the, call out the elephant in the room, ok? And make it a point that needs to be part of the ecosystem discussion, And also to do something about it, because when you do something about it, more people do some…”
Kola: Meditation works like an operating system killing rogue mental processes
“That program is your meditation that allows you to understand what is your priority, and are my cycles going there? And you know, if you see some rogue application taking away your CPU, you're gonna kill that, right? But in our own life, 90% of the time, the r…”
Vani Kola
the Neon Show 1