Opinion
Gulati: Very few venture fund managers successfully return capital to investors
“I think our space has been one of the biggest problems or challenges with our space is very few fund managers have actually been successful in giving back money.”
Disclosure
Gulati: ITI Fund refuses to co-invest with angel groups or smaller investors
“We don't partner with you know, angel groups or, you know, smaller investors. We only partner with marquee people who add more value to that particular business.”
Assertion Contradicted
Gulati: 98% of Americans listen to podcasts weekly while 98% of Indians do not know what podcasts are
“98% Americans at some point in time in the last one week alone have consumed a podcast. We are creating a podcast as we speak, but 98% of India doesn't even know what the word podcast means.”
Opinion
Gulati: Rapid 100x Growth Companies in India Suffer Higher Mortality
“I think India has seen far more mortality of hundred X growing companies versus they've seen steady growth.”
Opinion
Gulati: Paper Boat scaled quickly from nowhere and suddenly fizzled out
“Take an example, not just for a local, but I look at paper boat, right? A brand which was built out of nowhere scaled up really quickly and now suddenly fizzled off.”
Opinion
PhonePe and Google Pay are kicking Paytm's ass with superior products
“I think PhonePay is a phenomenal product. I think GooglePay is an even better product and both of which are kicking their asses, right?”
Disclosure
LocalBanya burned a ₹200 crore ad budget but lost to BigBasket
“I mean, you know, even for us at Local Banya, we had 200 crores of ad expense from Times of India. Big Basket didn't have that. But we couldn't beat them, because they were just a better product.”
Insight
Gulati: Investors know within 15 minutes whether they will invest
“As investors, within the 1:15 minutes, we know in our mind whether we are going to do it or not. And if you're not going to do it, just be upfront about it.”
Disclosure
Gulati: ITI Fund will never invest in companies where he holds personal angel stakes
“So the day I got into a formal fund structure, I made a conscious call that I would never personally invest in any firm. I would never invest money from my fund into a company which I'm already invested in, because that's just wrong.”
Assertion Contradicted
Gulati: ITI Group holds almost $10 billion in cash
“But the ITI group, you know, essentially is is a group which is worth almost ten billion dollars in cash.”
Disclosure
Gulati: ITI Fund caps portfolio company equity ownership at 20%
“So, you know, I would say typically we straddle between 10 to 18% at max. I would not want to be on owning more than 20% of any company at all.”
Opinion
Gulati: BigBasket Is Built to Last and Outperforms Competitors
“So today would I say that Big Baskets a product which can, you know, be here to stay? Absolutely. In that space, you know, I don't want to name all the other guys, but You know, this has carved a niche so many miles above itself, above the others.”
Insight
Gulati: Startups Scaling on Shaky Foundations via Capital Will Fail
“If you have a shaky foundation and you're just trying to build more layers because you have availability of capital, you will fizzle out. WeWorks is the biggest example of that.”
Disclosure
Gulati visits founders' homes and families for investment due diligence
“I take an abnormal amount of time in actually going to their houses, to meeting their family, stalking them on LinkedIn and Facebook and seeing common friends, talking to them about that particular entrepreneur, doing a lot of these, you know, social channel b…”
Disclosure
Gulati: First angel check was 8.5 to 9 lakh rupees into Ecom Express
“It was a eight and a half, I think nine lakh rupee check. You know, it was basically all my earnings from three years of working in corporate that I put in all that money. I bet all that money.”
Disclosure
Gulati: Ecom Express angel investment returned more than 20x upon Warburg entry
“It was a little more than twenty-x. When Warburg came out when Warburg came in, we sold at a much higher multiple.”
Insight
Gulati: Investors are 10x more driven when deploying personal savings
“I learned very early on when you're putting personal checks and with money that you've really hard earned and it's not coming as a, you know, so-called business entity or something of those lines you're, 10 times more driven to actually make that company work.”
Disclosure
Gulati: Exited Grab.in investment at 7x to 8x return
“Again, so it wasn't actually, it should have, you know, it was a space which probably should have done a 15, 20 X but we, I think net net, I probably worked out with seven or eight X on that.”
Disclosure
Gulati: Invested 35 lakh rupees in LocalBanya before it collapsed
“35 lakhs, right? Which was a large check for me back then.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Gulati: LocalBanya liquidated 68 lakhs of FMCG inventory in one Sunday
“I think one of my biggest life changing and evolving activity was the liquidation sale at local Banya where we had to, you know, give up our Kalina work workspace. I mean the whole warehouse and we liquidated 68 lakhs worth of FMCG products in one Sunday.”
Assertion Partly supported
Gulati: In 2012, India did $3B annual e-commerce GMV versus China's $7B Singles' Day
“To give things into perspective, India was doing three billion dollars worth of GMV for the full year, while China on its 11 11 singles day did seven billion that year itself.”
Disclosure
Gulati: ITI Fund writes checks between $100K and $600K
“So from the fund, we do a minimum ticket size of a 100,000 dollars and take it up to about 600,000 dollars.”
Disclosure
Gulati: ITI Fund always enters as the first institutional investor
“First institutional investor, always. That's our style. Wherever we come in, we are definitely the first institutional investor on board.”
