The Exchanges

Q Now coming on to more personal side of yours. What's your daily routine like?

A So my daily routine typically I get up by about five 30. So, uh, I, I do yoga and meditation for an hour and a half till about eight AM. So eight, eight to nine, uh, family time breakfast, uh, daily course. And then we kind of get going on the work. Mostly I schedule my internal activities in terms of where I need to spend time myself directly. Uh, I, I schedule that in the first half of the day. Second half is typically allotted to, uh, conversations with a lot of founders, my partners, uh, colleagues, uh, and then I keep my evening free to meet at least one or two entrepreneurs, or I, I try to average it out over a week by about seven to five to seven entrepreneurs a week. I try to meet in person, talk to them, even if I funding them or not in secondary, I would like to just keep meeting different entrepreneurs to learn from them.

AI assessment note: “So my daily routine typically I get up by about five 30.”

Q Who have been your ideal co-investors in this one and a half year of Eagle 10 Ventures journey?

A Uh, so Eagleton Ventures, uh, is, uh, honestly blessed to have a great investors who are on the table, uh, with us, uh, who have not only contributed to investing into the startup that we've selected, but also to a thought process because there are people who have been investing, uh, for a while, like Mr. Ivan Fernandez, who has had multiple exits in a serial entrepreneur, uh, from the early eighties and nineties, uh, And he's built multiple companies, sold multiple. So he brings a different perspective to evaluation. Uh, he different, he brings a different perspective to see how much of scale can be possible. What are the things which are required? What are the challenges that the founders will see a few years down the line? Uh, Kailash Ambawani, who was, uh, until recently CEO of Actians, uh, he's another, uh, market investor that we have. And he definitely, uh, I really love his hands down approach to evaluating technology behind The idea and the product. He really does a deep dive in tech evaluations and understands the product and where he thinks there are, you know, kind of gaps in the solution where it could be addressed. So he brings a very keen eye on them. We have Mr. Ravi Reddy, who's also investor in Eagleton Ventures itself. He's been a product leader in the ecosystem. He's had a diverse, rich experience of over a couple of decades in various Uh, domains and techno…

AI assessment note: “So these three have been my favorite so far.”

Q So what's your typical check size at Eagleton Ventures and at which stage of the company you come in?

A So we typically come in as a first external, uh, seed capital. That's what we prefer. Uh, the check size typically varies between one to three CR. Our sweet spot being two CR. And, uh, we typically have about six to 10 investors who joined the round as an angel. And we, we also try to ensure that we bring in the investors who would be able to add the significant value to the startup. By, ah, the virtue of the experience that they have gathered in the, in the, in the leadership roles, they have been, ah, by virtue of being in different geographies where the, the market access could be easier for a founder with the investors on table, as well as the, the set of investors who have been in serial entrepreneur themselves. So their experience of founding companies and building large organization helps the founder.

AI assessment note: “first external, uh, seed capital... check size typically varies between one to three CR”

Q What books have you read recently, and which books have shaved your life?

A Uh, the most recent book, uh, I picked up was, uh, one of my favorite one and I, I've read it twice already. It's Born to Run. Uh, it's very interesting book about and philosophy of how do you be, how to be happy, uh, and, uh, yet achieve your purpose of life and go about it. The second book, uh, that I've read is about, uh, Shoe Dog, uh, about the Nike founder's journey and it, it, it was so hard hitting, you know, it's, When you start reading these autobiographies, you really connect with them on a personal note. You know, sometimes we think those very well, uh, established entrepreneurs are something totally different, but when you start reading it, you see that they have done the mistakes that you yourself have done. You just start relating with them and suddenly the possibilities, uh, you know, are infinite for you yourself and you learn from them so much. And the third book that I've really loved was, uh, the autobiography of Rafa. It's very interesting. I've been an ignorant sports fan, so I really loved reading about him, how he has gone about, how he has built his mental toughness, and how does he see, you know, kind of growing himself in that direction.

AI assessment note: “The most recent book, uh, I picked up was... Born to Run.”

Q So let's come on more on investing side. How did you found Eagleton Ventures?

A So Eagleton Ventures as a journey was very, very interesting. I was working, as I mentioned to you earlier, I was with a corporate earlier and my colleague, my co-founder, Pramod, he's from Citrix. So we had a bunch of people who were already exploring angel investment and we kind of had discussion. So they did their first investment before we could formally structure it. And Eagleton Ventures was born out of the experiment that they wanted to conduct By contributing to the startups as a tech, uh, senior management professionals. And that's where we joined hands, uh, because we have, we found a purpose where we could marry our, uh, rich domain experience in tech leadership roles and the needs of a founder, uh, with an early stage funding and especially the mentorship and guidance that we could give as a group.

AI assessment note: “Eagleton Ventures was born out of the experiment that they wanted to conduct”

Q Prashant, so how is Eagle 10 Ventures contributing towards making the journey of a founder of a startup, TenX?

A So, uh, our philosophy is very, very simple. We invest into companies, which we believe that we will be able to add a 10 X value with our network, with our mentorship, with our technical deep expertise, as well as our geographical market reach that we can provide to the founder. So once we decide to invest into a company, we work closely with the founder, uh, with specially. So once, uh, once an investment is done, we map out the investors or the different geographies where the founders would like to expand to, What help does he need month on month basis? We have a monthly call or quarterly, whatever that works out for the founder. Where is he looking forward to from our mentorship? Because one of the things that I've learned is founders sometimes see it as a little bit of intrusion that investors trying to kind of control or getting into too much. So we let it flow from the founder to us saying, okay, these are the 10 things I'm looking forward to in six months, or we would set our own goals with him in the board meeting. And then we kind of ensure that there is an access or the solutions to that is provided from our own group at first. If not, we figure out how we can go about it. For example, if, ah, we have invested into, let's say a company which is empowering enterprises to scale faster by providing certain things and he needs, ah, quick sales or faster sales cycles, ah, …

AI assessment note: “add a 10 X value with our network, with our mentorship, with our technical”

Q And what's the common reasons where you see the companies who have raised the seed around shutting down?

A So, uh, most, mostly the common reason is because they're unable to achieve the numbers that they think. As I mentioned earlier, raising the first capital or even the, uh, family, fools, friends around, it's easier. Maybe you can raise 50 lakhs or a crore, but then after that, what? Like a lot of people don't have a clarity beyond that point. So they struggle to get either the product market fit or as I fondly call it as a founder market fit, because Early on hustling is fine. Probably you do it for a year, year and a half, and then you realize probably you're not able to grow this in this market, or there are things that you have not understood. Then it gets even harder because you've gone through one cycle of, um, uh, funding, and now you need to justify, uh, what happened to the fund, like fundraise. How did you use it? What, what are the things that you have gone wrong or right about, and how can you correct it now? And in that journey, if you haven't found a meaningful answer, it's even harder.

AI assessment note: “mostly the common reason is because they're unable to achieve the numbers”

Q And what kind of experience do you would like to fund with these founders? For example, do you prefer fresh college graduates with new ideas or certain five to 10 year experienced founders in corporate?

A There is no direct preference because both have their pros and cons. People who are really fresh out of college, the energy that they have, the hustling ability they bring to the table is definitely exemplary. The people who are, who have spent time working with startups or have led large teams or have spent, say, seven to eight years in corporate, they do bring a little bit of maturity to execution, but again, it depends, right? So experience is very, very A relative term. Somebody who would have worked in, let's say a sector and trying to do a startup in a very different sector. The experience is just the number of years or more gray hairs, nothing more than that, right? So it's, it's, uh, there is no finite rule that we apply saying these many years, etc. It just depends when we talk to a founder, you know, when we, we definitely make a point to meet them, meet them in a person multiple times before we make an investment decision. So when we meet a founder, we analyze his depth, Of understanding of what he's trying to do. Does he understand the market really well? Does he understand the journey of the execution? Because it's, if somebody comes with a very preoccupied thought that this is what I'm going to do and is not open to learning in the journey, it's very hard for him. So we try to assess this aspect that how much is he able to kind of bring to the table and how much c…

AI assessment note: “There is no direct preference because both have their pros and cons.”

Q You have been a three X entrepreneur. The three X journeys were Media Assist currently, Online Prasad previously, and Just Play previously. What are your key learnings from being a founder or what kind of mistakes you made as a first time founder, which you would advise other founders not to make?

A So, uh, my favorite mistakes, uh, if I have to put, let's say three or five, uh, first one was when we were building a Plurify, which is just play sports, uh, we, we kept on building the product for a considerable amount of time and we invested our energy. Uh, we should have just shipped a lot faster. We should have iterated a lot often. Um, so I think that's a key thing that I have learned the hard way is to, you know, kind of Uh, iterate faster, ship out way faster than, you know, make the mistakes. We were very apprehensive in terms of how the product would be accepted. We should have just let it go faster. Uh, second mistake is, uh, has been about Uh, being overworked as a, as an entrepreneur, uh, that I have done, you know, it's, it's also known as a burnout for an entrepreneur. Um, most of the entrepreneurs think that they need to, you know, keep clocking the hours. Uh, but I learned the hard way that, you know, uh, it's important to kind of take a pause, a moment of reflection really helps to see, to reassess. And, uh, on this note, I'm one of my favorite quotes is, Even Ferrari takes a pit stop, right? So a lot of people just don't understand that they need to take a pause and learn what they've been doing, reassess things, relook at those things. Third one is always in terms of the hiring. I think we have made considerable bad hires or we haven't hired the really the b…

AI assessment note: “first one was when we were building a Plurify... we should have just shipped a lot faster.”

Q What are the common mistakes you see entrepreneurs making while getting the first round of investment in the investor not being right for the kind of market entrepreneurs or getting a wrong set of investors?

A So, uh, typically, uh, founders who raise the first round of capital, the, the, there are a few things that they may or may not, uh, understand really well. One is, is this investor really right for me? Because there are, I've seen a lot of entrepreneurs who just take the money because it's available and on the table and they badly need it. Uh, what's more important is to see what's the contribution that this person whom I'm taking as an investor is going to do to my company. Does he align with my vision of building this company in a larger scheme of things? Uh, it's, it's, it's just as good as getting another co-founder on the table. A lot of people don't understand it. They go for the money first and then the value later. I would always advise that you should never go for the money first, even if the money is 10 X less, but the guy is going to be an amazing guy who's going to take your company probably 10 X or a hundred X and he understands and he can really contribute to your thought process. Uh, that you should go for it. I think that's the, the biggest mistake a lot of people raising first capital do. Second, a lot of people who, who tend to go for a first check rarely really understand how to apply, uh, the, the amount that they've raised really well. Are you raising the money for growth? Are you raising the money for expansion? How do you define it? What's the use of the…

AI assessment note: “They go for the money first and then the value later.”

Q When Eagleton Ventures is formed, it was formed as a fund of funds. So what are the typical challenges or differences between a fund of funds and a single seed investor?

A Uh, the challenges are plenty. I believe just because the decision makers are more, um, the amount of time taken to evaluate to get a yes or no or go ahead from each investor who's interested in participation. So it has its own pros and cons. Uh, the challenges, as I mentioned, the time taken to invest easily, it's not less than a month and a half where an individual angel investor would be able to take quicker bets. In terms of time. Second, uh, we as a, uh, early stage investment family, we really believe in collaboration in terms of evaluation, as well as, uh, the investing. And the third part is co-mentoring. So we really want to kind of bring in the right set of investors for a particular startup. So that kind of collaboration does take its own time. But, uh, given these challenges, the, the beauty of having a diverse set of, uh, domain experts from the technology, World for a founder are plenty where you have an access to different geographies where our investors are. We have a significant investor presence from Middle East to US to Europe to India. So it does help the founder who has a little bit of product validation by customer, um, customer acceptance. If he's making early revenues, we will be able to take the startup way forward in different geographies, help them with our network. Connects. It's easier. We've already seen the validation in terms of our startup compa…

AI assessment note: “the decision makers are more, um, the amount of time taken to evaluate”

Q What's your investment thesis for 2019 and 20, where if you find a great team, you would invest?

A So, as I mentioned earlier, the thesis is going to be on a tech, uh, very clearly a sector agnostic, but if you look at 2019 and 20 are going to be redefining moments in the startup ecosystem, just simply because the, the access to capital is easier, far more smarter founders are emerging. Uh, the information, uh, available to founders to not make the mistakes that people have done. Uh, there are founders who have built companies, had exits or built large companies are available as mentors. So the, the whole paradigm has shifted in the past, uh, past year and a half in India. So I'm, uh, betting on a great team, which is assembled to solve an interesting tech, uh, problem, uh, tailored towards more towards enterprise, uh, solutions.

AI assessment note: “the thesis is going to be on a tech, uh, very clearly a sector agnostic”

Q And what are the key criteria where you evaluate? Is the founder or the team needs to be pre-revenue? How many co-founders are ideal for you for investment?

A So we typically look for, uh, the first criteria definitely we have is a great team in place. So there is no fixed number of founders that we look for, but definitely a single founder I have seen, it's a little bit of challenge predominantly because from my own entrepreneurship journey, I've learned that a founder always needs another shoulder to cry on. It's in the crisis that founder really needs somebody else. So my personal preference is to have at least two co-founders in the team, uh, or three or four is also perfectly all right. Uh, we definitely look forward to a team which is very well balanced, uh, because we look for companies which are playing the enterprise game where we can contribute. Uh, here we need a little bit of maturity in terms of, you know, building sales pipeline, cracking the sales meeting. So a team has to be balanced, uh, with a little, uh, uh, somebody who can handle the product side, who can keep building the product and somebody who can crack the sales. So a balance is very, very important rather than having a heavy team on either of the functions.

AI assessment note: “my personal preference is to have at least two co-founders in the team”

Q What have been your mentors in life and how should founders look for a mentor?

A So my mentors have been, uh, uh, apart from my parents, uh, my first teacher in my college, uh, who really shaped my thought process, uh, especially because those are the formative years where you're pretty raw, right? And you, those are the guys who really guide you in the direction, uh, more than you just career. A lot of time people look for mentors who help them shape the career, but this is, I mean, your, your career is just one Function of your or one part of your journey as a individual. So, uh, that I think as a, as an entrepreneur, we should look for somebody who really helps you find your purpose of life and kind of helps you grow as a person eventually, right? In whichever dimensions possible. So my teacher from my school, uh, was instrumental in shaping up my thoughts and he keeps reminding him in a lot of times. I think one of the thing that he said to me, uh, it always kind of rings. In my ear all the time is about we should be like a river, right? River flows. It doesn't matter what obstacles it hits, right? It encounters numerous things, right or wrong, and it keeps flowing towards its goal, right? On the way, nourishing Everything that comes in its way. So that's how we as an individual should be. Our journey should be more meaningful to people whom we touch and as well as to us. I think when we give, we automatically get back. So, and second is my spiritual gu…

AI assessment note: “my mentors have been, uh, uh, apart from my parents, uh, my first teacher”

Q Early stage funds like Eagleton Ventures, how do they make a name for themselves when they are funds like Safe, Sequoia, Matrix, Assel entering the seed stage?

A Uh, I would just answer this as an entrepreneur myself. Like I used to get this question a lot more often. Like if, if you have a competitor who comes in, how do you do? I mean, we welcome it. It's a great sign for the ecosystem that there are large funds who are entering into seed stage. It just means the capital is available on the table, uh, for founders. Uh, it encourages more entrepreneurs to take the, uh, uh, the jump into entrepreneurship because it's easier to raise funds than the earlier era. So it's, it's a great thing for us, uh, honestly, and, um, uh, if you look at, there are strong opportunities of collaboration as well. Let's say a startup needs, uh, an early stage check of a million dollar. It's possible with multiple people or multiple funds or multiple angel groups contributing it together, like two 50 K each. You could have three or four groups contributing to an early check, uh, of a startup. Now compare this with an ecosystem in US where the early checks have been significantly larger. In India, the early checks have never been more than two or three CR, right? Past probably four, five years earlier, it was very difficult for an entrepreneur to raise maybe two, three CR as a first check. Now it's possible to even raise higher, a million dollar. So it's a welcome sign to have the larger player. Obviously it helps the entrepreneur and the ecosystem.

AI assessment note: “there are strong opportunities of collaboration as well. Let's say a startup needs”

Q And what are the sectors you are preferring to invest in, and which are the sectors you stay away from?

A Uh, typically we would really love to be sector agnostic as we believe we, we want to be part of a journey of a founder who's building something very exciting in the tech space. So tech has to be main gameplay because we believe we are from tech background. Most of our investors are senior management professionals from this experience. Uh, so we want to be part of meaningful journeys, uh, where tech is a significant play as well as Something that can scale up a lot faster is going to be a tech gameplay, right? So when Eagleton Ventures comes in, we want to kind of take the startup, ah, 10 X. So that's what, ah, 10 in Eagleton stands for. So we want to take startups 10 X with our capital as well as our guidance and, ah, mentoring.

AI assessment note: “typically we would really love to be sector agnostic”