Jun 29, 2020 · 1h 0m · neon-show
Somesh Dash, IVP on learnings from the crisis of 2002 & 2008 and investing in resilient companies
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In this episode of the 100x Entrepreneur Podcast, IVP General Partner Somesh Dash discusses growth-stage venture investing, macro crisis management across three market crashes, and the immense potential for Indian founders to build enduring, multi-billion-dollar global tech enterprises.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. How this is scored →
Siddhartha as informed peer 3.5 Guest teaching 3.5 Guest disagreement 1.0 Siddhartha pushing back 0.4
speaking balance: gold is Siddhartha, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 49:29 Pushing back on unicorn valuation hype
Somesh directly counters Siddharth's celebratory list of eight SaaS unicorns, pointing out that unicorn status is merely an arbitrary private valuation rather than proof of a sustainable $100M ARR business.
Hardest push from Siddhartha ▶ 31:54 Host calls out IVP for missing Zoom and SalesforceSiddharth directly interrogates Somesh on how a premier enterprise growth firm managed to miss category-defining giants like early Salesforce and Zoom.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 44:40 Dismantling premature exits and unicorn milestonesSomesh schools the ecosystem on why seeking quick M&A flips or celebrating paper unicorn marks stunts startup ecosystems compared to building public market compounders over decades.
Siddhartha holds their own ▶ 48:46 Host cites specific Indian enterprise SaaS leadersSiddharth demonstrates detailed market knowledge by reeling off specific Indian SaaS companies achieving unicorn valuations including Freshworks, Druva, and Icertis.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Siddhartha as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Siddhartha pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IVP's Growth-Stage Investment Strategy and Crossover Model | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Siddharth opens with an extensive and accurate list of IVP's portfolio companies to frame his question. Somesh graciously explains IVP's crossover growth model and focus on taking companies from $10M to $100M+ ARR. | |
| Crisis Management and Macro Learnings from 2002, 2008, and COVID-19 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | Siddharth asks a broad scene-setting question about navigating crisis events in 2020. Somesh delivers a comprehensive historical comparison between 2002, 2008, and COVID-19, breaking down cash burn management and remote labor dynamics. | |
| Formative Experience at Sony Entertainment Television in Mumbai | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Siddharth prompts Somesh on his early experience working at Sony in Mumbai post-9/11. Somesh reflects warmly on Indian entrepreneurial grit, corporate dealmaking, and building operational resilience. | |
| Academic Journey at UC Berkeley and Intellectual Exploration | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | The host inquires into Somesh's academic path at UC Berkeley and Stanford as a first-generation Indian American. Somesh shares his family's academic roots and the intellectual breadth of Berkeley's faculty. | |
| Sector Focus: SaaS, Cybersecurity, and Contrarian Consumer Bets | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | Siddharth lists IVP's sector concentrations across enterprise infrastructure, future of work, and consumer platforms. Somesh walks through IVP's 40-year history, detailing contrarian Series B bets on Twitter and Snap when market sentiment was hostile. | |
| Missed Opportunities and Assessing COVID-19 Sectoral Shifts | 5 | 4 | 2 | 3 | Siddharth challenges Somesh directly on how an enterprise-focused fund managed to miss Salesforce and Zoom. Somesh takes the critique with humor, candidly breaking down their miscalculation on cloud communications and incumbent defense. | |
| Second-Order Technology Shifts: Modern Stack and Digital Communities | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | Siddharth asks a forward-looking question about second-order effects beyond immediate pandemic shifts. Somesh provides detailed domain insights on the modern developer stack (ELT vs ETL) and faith-based community subscription platforms. | |
| Building Long-Term Public Giants: Silicon Valley vs. India Ecosystem | 3 | 6 | 2 | 0 | Siddharth invites a comparative analysis of the Silicon Valley versus Indian venture ecosystems. Somesh educates on the hazard of chasing paper unicorn valuations and premature exits, urging Indian founders and LPs to build resilient $100B+ public corporations. | |
| Remote Work, Immigration Restrictions, and the Globalized Indian Ecosystem | 5 | 5 | 3 | 1 | Siddharth highlights India's growing list of eight SaaS unicorns, but Somesh immediately reframes away from valuation vanity metrics toward underlying ARR fundamentals, while criticizing US immigration policy for accelerating India's talent advantage. | |
| Mental Health Advocacy, Lyra Health, and Sushant Singh Rajput | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | Siddharth brings up the tragic suicide of actor Sushant Singh Rajput to discuss mental health. Somesh outlines his thesis behind Lyra Health and Thrive Global, while pointedly dismissing media scapegoating and calling for institutional healthcare reform. | |
| Concluding Thoughts and Inspiring the Next Generation of Builders | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Siddharth closes the conversation with words of appreciation. Somesh offers encouraging closing advice for Indian founders to build the next global giants from India. |
Statements from this episode (14)
Dash: Datadog, CrowdStrike, and Rubrik can reach $1B in ARR
“Many times we do get involved in companies where they not only reach a hundred, but they have a path to a billion of revenue or ARR, as we've seen with Netflix, and we think that potential exists with, Datadog and CrowdStrike and many other companies that are …”
Dash: Commercial real estate is largely wasteful and hybrid work will persist post-COVID
“I think we're all realizing that commercial real estate is predominantly a big waste of money. I think we're all learning that there are hybrid work modes that we will all move into even post COVID that are just better.”
Dash: Rise of remote work will disproportionately benefit Indian tech talent
“The reality is there's going to be a global workforce of skilled you know, tech workers, and I think it really stands to benefit the Indian startup ecosystem because India is one of the best labor forces when it comes to deep steam training, engineering, and b…”
Dash predicts India will produce enduring public tech companies from COVID era
“I actually predict there will be in India in particular not just more unicorns form. Cause I think the concept of a unicorn is a little bit myopic. It is a private market mark, private company valuation that a investor puts. To me, the sign of true ecosystem s…”
Dash: Indian media tears down entrepreneurial success stories instead of celebrating them
“I do think one of the problems is the media and the ecosystem hasn't done a good enough job of promoting those role models and kind of putting them into curriculum K through 12 and really celebrating those successes versus taking them down at the first opportu…”
Dash: IVP was among the founding investors in Netflix
“IVP was an early investor in Excite, Ask Jeeves, and one of our most, I'd say, important investments in the last 40 years was being the founding investors in Netflix.”
Dash: IVP and Benchmark co-led Twitter's Series B at $200M valuation
“I think perspective led us to leading the Series B of Twitter in February of 2009. The world seemed, the financial markets seemed like they were going to end, and valuations were plummeting, and in that, we and Benchmark Capital co-led around in Twitter at aro…”
Dash: IVP passed on Zoom by underestimating cloud and overestimating Cisco
“What we got wrong on that one is we underestimated the sheer size Of the transition going on with sort of cloud communications. And we also probably overestimated the ability of the incumbents, namely Cisco and others to beat the startups.”
Dash: 20 IVP companies saw COVID tailwinds while 6 to 12 faced headwinds
“Our portfolio is about 85 or so active investments, and within that we see probably about 20 of our companies that have seen marked tailwinds, accelerations that we didn't expect, we didn't predict, We see about half a dozen to a dozen that have seen tougher t…”
Dash: Faith-based, community-oriented subscription services will expand in US and India
“I do fundamentally believe in both the Indian and US ecosystems that there's going to be more faith-based, community-oriented subscription services that supplement a lot of the ad-based models or commerce-based models That we saw the last 10 to 15 years.”
Dash: India will not produce a $1T venture-backed company by 2030
“I am personally hopeful that in my lifetime I'll see a trillion dollar market cap Indian company founded in India and supported by Indian venture capitalists, but that's not going to happen in the next 10 years.”
Dash: IVP makes its first completely remote investment via Zoom
“IVP has you know, made our first investment, which we're announcing in a few weeks, completely remote. We met the entrepreneur through Zoom. We did diligence virtually, and we are leading a pretty big round in his company.”
Dash: Next-gen Alexa or Google Voice will probably be built in India
“And so I think audio is another platform where the next generation of Alexa, Google voice will probably be created in India. And there's going to be a lot of innovation happening, both enterprise and consumer in the voice space in the next 10 years.”