May 24, 2020 · 47m · neon-show
Anup Jain, Orios Venture Partners, on identifying the best founders & investing in Consumer Brands
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In this episode of the 100x Entrepreneur Podcast, Anup Jain, Managing Partner at Orios Venture Partners, discusses his journey from consumer brand executive to venture capitalist, detailing Orios' investment framework, portfolio case studies, and crisis navigation strategies.
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 1.8 Guest teaching 2.3 Guest disagreement 0.2 Siddhartha pushing back 0.4
speaking balance: gold is Siddhartha, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 45:15 Defending operator VCs against spreadsheet investors
Anup pushes back against the traditional investor mold, arguing that career spreadsheet analysts lack the tier-3/4 on-the-ground operational reality necessary to properly mentor founders.
Hardest push from Siddhartha ▶ 44:54 Challenging seed fund power dynamics at later stagesSiddharth directly challenges Anup on whether large growth funds squeeze out early-stage investors on cap tables during mega-rounds.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 29:42 Deconstructing India SaaS and subscription shiftAnup explains why early SaaS was purely cross-border arbitrage and why COVID created the inflection point enabling domestic paid SaaS.
Siddhartha holds their own ▶ 43:00 Identifying entrepreneur empathy in early-stage investingSiddharth draws on his perspective as an entrepreneur to articulate how operator-led investors connect more deeply with early-stage founders missing projections.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Siddhartha as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Siddhartha pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anup Jain's Career Journey and Transition to Venture Capital | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Siddharth introduces Anup and sets up an open-ended biographical question. Anup gives an extensive monologue detailing his corporate background and pivot to venture investing. | |
| Orios Venture Partners' Investment Philosophy and Selection Framework | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Siddharth prompts Anup about Orios's investment philosophy by citing portfolio names. Anup breaks down their three core investment pillars and evaluation framework. | |
| Key Portfolio Investments: BeatO, MoneyOnClick, and Gully Network | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Siddharth asks about specific deals led by Anup since 2018. Anup provides detailed breakdowns of BeatO, MoneyOnClick, and Gully Network. | |
| Navigating the COVID-19 Crisis and Implementing Cash Preservation | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Siddharth frames the unprecedented nature of the COVID crisis compared to 2008 and the dot-com crash. Anup categorizes portfolio companies into positively and negatively impacted buckets and outlines cash preservation actions. | |
| Misfits Accelerator Cohorts, Funding Pace, and Market Consolidation | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Siddharth asks exploratory questions regarding the Misfits accelerator pace and probes whether M&A is being pushed onto founders. Anup explains time allocation and clarifies their open stance on opportunistic consolidation. | |
| Case Studies: PharmEasy's Supply Chain Thesis and Zostel's Recovery | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Siddharth asks about the origin story of PharmEasy and asks how hospitality-exposed companies like Zostel survive. Anup explains the broken pharma distribution value chain and outlines Zostel's survival path. | |
| Post-COVID Tailwinds: Enterprise SaaS, Digital Consumer Shift, and EdTech | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | Siddharth questions why Orios had stayed away from SaaS and EdTech. Anup reframes the premise by distinguishing past cross-border SaaS models from the emerging domestic enterprise subscription shift. | |
| Personal Angel Investments, Global Exploration, and Culinary Passions | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Siddharth inquires about Anup's angel investing track record and personal interests. Anup shares his angel successes and failures as well as his culinary and travel hobbies. | |
| The Operator Advantage in Venture Capital and Managing Cap Table Dilution | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | Siddharth pushes Anup on whether being an outsider without a traditional finance background puts him at a disadvantage and asks if growth investors push aside seed VCs. Anup defends the operator advantage and explains why cap table dilution is natural and welcome. |
Statements from this episode (8)
Indian grocery retail is a market worth nearly $500 billion
“Grocery retail is one of the largest segments of retail in the country almost five hundred billion dollars.”
Gully Network reached 22 stores in Bangalore and achieved product-market fit
“They already have 22 stores in Bangalore. I would say they've achieved product market fit.”
MoneyOnClick immediately halted loan disbursements during COVID-19 to evaluate portfolio risk
“So what they especially started to do was stop the dispersals immediately and started taking a very careful look at their existing portfolio of borrowers and stayed in touch with them to work out and figure out as to what was the risk on that portfolio for fut…”
Nearly all Orios Venture Partners founders took salary cuts during COVID-19
“Nearly all our companies, the founders have taken salary cuts. They have also asked their teams to take cuts wherever necessary. You know, non-essential expenditure has been completely curbed.”
Some Orios portfolio companies moved 30% of their workforce permanently remote
“Some of the companies have even taken calls of reducing their office space and moving 20 to 30% of their employees permanently on a work from home basis.”
Indian medicine margins exceed 65% with value captured by unorganized middlemen
“The actual cost or the margins of the product, which is a medicine was extremely high upwards of, you know, 75, 65, 75%. And a large part of that value was being cornered by the unorganized players of stock is distributors and various middlemen.”
Orios Venture Partners avoided SaaS investments due to overseas due diligence challenges
“We have tended to sort of stay away from SaaS businesses in the past because we couldn't you know do due diligence on customers overseas. And therefore we kind of stayed away from that. We felt that it was too early in that space.”