The Exchanges

Q And, and what, what was your decision making framework for yourself to, to join Bloom or was it a gut call?

A Yeah, so I knew Karthik well. I knew Ashish well. I met Sanjay and I really liked the team. Um, so they're wonderful people, Karthik, Sanjay, Ashish. Then I met Arpit as well. Uh, so the senior team at Bloom came across as very friendly. I felt welcomed there. And, um, I had enough awareness of the startup world, VC world, um, to know what my, Broad day-to-day job would be. Um, I knew enough about VC. I'd read a lot about it. Uh, I had some queries, um, uh, but, uh, and once they were confirmed, I kind of felt, uh, that, you know, this would be a, you know, a good experiment for the rest of the next 1015 years of my life. The, the fact is, I was looking to kind of move on from times because, um, uh, I was, uh, you know, I worked two decades in a company. I worked across multiple divisions. I knew many members of the times, uh, senior, uh, senior team, including the family, uh, but over time, you can now get a sense of, um, there are certain things you want to try, certain things you've been thinking about, et cetera, and I felt Bloom would give me that platform, and I felt there were very few entry points into VC or the startup world which would come as conveniently as Bloom did, because, uh, you know, they knew me, they kind of were chatting about it. Everything else would be through a conventional hiring framework where I would always be at a disadvantage. So those were facto…

AI assessment note: “the downside was low and the upside was high. Like, you know, and, uh, and which is, it's always a great decision making framework”

Q But, but certainly you believe because you are, you are so much bullish about EdTech that EdTech is a permanent vacuum, right? The kind of opportunities it's offering. Yeah.

A Yes and no. Um, so yes, it is a reasonably permanent vacuum because it's also bringing in, uh, non-consumers, people who don't have access. Uh, so, so for example, in small, smaller towns, um, uh, COVID spurred that, uh, you know, um, kind of, we also, because of, Jio and digitalism. Anyway, I've been consuming Anacademy, Vedantu, Topper, but a lot of the content became free, and they got to kind of taste some of this. Uh, what was typically paid for earlier became free. Um, two, I think, uh, because they were forced to suddenly not go, uh, and you know, they started looking at some of the content, and they found that this is content actually good. Uh, this content is better than anything that we get in our hometown. Like, if you are in Satna, for example, like, you know, like, You know, I mean, these are towns where I think, I don't know how many cafe coffee days there are, or how many flyovers there are. I mean, two markers of modernity I look at. So, uh, maybe there are, uh, so there, I mean, typically if you had good GE or neat coaching, you would go to Bhopal. Or you would go to Gualier or the nearest town. So now suddenly you're able to kind of get access to an academy, Vedantu, Topper, all of this good content, you know, and I think it's sort of spurs and yes, where it solves for access for non-consumers. I think it's a great model. I think COVID is, it sort of spurs tha…

AI assessment note: “Yes and no. Um, so yes, it is a reasonably permanent vacuum because”

Q And how do you think about moats, especially in the sectors you are, uh, yeah. Interested. And some of the companies you invested in, what, what do you think are the moats are?

A So, um, So yeah, moats is an interesting one. And I think about it, it matters and it doesn't matter. Um, so I think at very early stages, uh, you, you shouldn't worry so much about moats as much as a consumer friction you're solving for. If the consumer friction is compelling, then in the consequence of operating, you will gather enough data, which could become a moat, or you'll become a compelling brand, which is a moat, or you'll become like a marketplace, which is a moat, et cetera. So I think at the early stage, uh, I think we shouldn't think about moats. Uh, we should certainly put it in the marketing material to sell our funds to other investors. So I certainly make sure they put that, but I never think about moats because I feel like, uh, like, you know, so maybe at the early stage, not having a moat is a moat, you know, because paranoia is a moat, um, uh, and, and, and certainly speed of operations could be a moat, but these are hard for other people to understand. So I think, uh, typically in edtech, I think consumer data, user data is a moat, uh, especially if you have someone, for example, who's on that, like, for example, take Doubtnut. I don't know how to think about this, but if, if I'm on Doubtnut and I query X number of things and I have doubts, and if Doubtnut is able to aggregate that into a pattern, then that's a moat, right? They know that Sajid comes, look…

AI assessment note: “typically in edtech, I think consumer data, user data is a moat”

Q Once a founder is there with you, and you are mentoring him, what, what is your advantage as a VC?

A So it certainly helps that I've seen how large companies function, which I think is a, it's a good trait to have because a lot of our, uh, founders are selling into those companies as much. Uh, it's also good to kind of, I've also seen the Indian consumer evolve and I've seen sharp discontinuities. So I am confident that if I've seen some of these sharp discontinuities, then I know that I can, I can take certain leaps of fate. Um, I think, so these are some of the advantages that I bring. Also, I think it's good to have, even if you are a VC, a certain functional skill. And I think, uh, my functional skill, uh, uh, it's, it's, it's, it's certainly not very sharp, but sort of at the junction of the conjunction of marketing, uh, business strategy, uh, uh, uh, sort of cop dev, some aspects of it sort of are hugely helpful to my founders. And, um, uh, so, so, so this is something that I'm able to give because I've worked Uh, so many years, et cetera. But I also think that, um, um, beyond the point, you should not overthink it. I, I, I, I, I'm stunned by how young the founders are. And, uh, it's certainly something I've spoken about that, uh, you can actually spend days here, uh, uh, you know, in, in, in the venture world and not meet someone above Um, of course there are older founders too, not denying that. And, and, and I think there is a lot of, um, and learning needed to be don…

AI assessment note: “these are some of the advantages that I bring. Also, I think it's good”

Q And you participated in six rounds, like continuously in Unacademy. Today, the company is at Billion valuation in the, the recent round. And if you also measure by revenue, you know, they are doing phenomenally well with Gaurav has said some of us public conversations, like they are doing 80 to a hundred. They will be like achieving, uh, 80 to a hundred CR. Am I right?

A Uh, well, uh, I can only reveal what Gaurav has revealed. Uh, so they're doing extremely well. And, uh, I think the last round, uh, uh, Uh, I mean, they will, they will get to the kind of numbers that you mentioned in valuation, but the last round was, uh, the general Atlantic, uh, uh, and Facebook led a hundred and ten million dollar round, which valued them at five hundred and ten million post. Uh, yes, uh, we invested in them, uh, from the first round as part of the seed check, and then the state invested, and that's, uh, really, uh, a deal that Karthik led. Karthik's huge conviction in the space. Uh, and, uh, I think primarily his conviction in the space was, uh, computer in every pocket, and he, he, he sort of saw education, health, and fintech as the new roti kapda makaan for fund two, and out of that he sent, like, uh, when he heard Gaurav's pitch, he saw it as the computer in every pocket. This is a mobile phone. Anyone who wants to think mobile first in education, uh, I have, I, I, I, I kind of have a strong view, and many, and Gaurav, of course, Uh, of course, now he's a force of nature, formidable, one of the great entrepreneurs who's come out of India. Uh, but at the time, uh, you know, of course, Gaurav was very different, but Karthik saw promise in the team. It was a team and, uh, Roman, of course, uh, you know, uh, would left IAS to kind of start this. So, so we …

AI assessment note: “the last round was... valued them at five hundred and ten million post.”

Q And you mentioned a little earlier that, yeah, you need a brand, right? So what was Ajit's Pi brand when you entered into, uh, venture world?

A It's a great question. And I always feel that, um, you know, if, uh, when you present yourself to a VC firm, uh, if it's, it's fine if you are in your early twenties, uh, say you've studied in one of the good undergrad institutions, IITs, NITs, BITs, whatever, you know, SRCC, um, Stevens. And then you've worked two, three years in consulting, and you didn't have done any startup. You don't need to have startup exposure, and then you can apply as an analyst or even an associate. You know, it's fine. I think at that point, come a brand. I mean, your brand is like your pedigree, uh, to an extent, uh, you know, the signaling that you do through your, uh, work experience, et cetera. Uh, and the, the, the firm's really buying you for your brain power. But as it gets older, as you get into your thirties, et cetera, then I think the firm is also buying you for many other things. Uh, firms basically buying you for like driving leverage, um, uh, or driving access to certain networks. So if you are like a founder who's done a startup, sold it, then, you know, you bring that experience. You can counsel other founders within your portfolio. You have enough relationships within the ecosystem. So a firm will take a chance on you and say, you can come in as a principal or a partner or whatever, whatever happens. Uh, at my level, um, so when you, when you're in your, and I would kind of say in …

AI assessment note: “built brands for ourselves through, uh, creating content... I used to write a lot”