Prediction Not checkable as stated
Poddar: Online education will be perceived as superior to offline learning
“I would argue over time, people should think about a tech as even better than the offline education that they were getting. Because of because of democratization of content from the supply side, because you can get the best suppliers or best supply of content …”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Poddar: Gen Z will drive a completely new paradigm in e-commerce
“In fact, one hypothesis I have, ah, which might be counter-intuitive today, is that all the commerce companies have been built for people of our age. Ah, but people 15 years younger to us, 20 years younger to us, don't think like we do. They need something dif…”
Prediction Open · timeframe Nov 2040
Poddar predicts India will create 40 to 50 decacorns in 10-15 years
“I would be surprised if in the next 10 years we don't have 40, 50 more decacons being created. That's a large number. It will happen. And maybe not any, maybe 15 years, but it will happen.”
Prediction Open · timeframe Jul 2030
Poddar: Multiple Indian EdTech Startups Will Hit $5B-$10B Revenue Within 10 Years
“I strongly believe that in the next five, 10 years we should see multiple five billion dollar, ten billion dollar revenue companies coming out of India in education.”
Disclosure
Poddar: Passing on Meesho was a "stupid mistake"
“I think Misho was a big miss. And I think the reason was the same. I assumed that this would be a feature on Flipkart or Snapdeal or Amazon. Because you have, they have logistics, they have payments, they have supply base, they have user base, they have consum…”
Assertion Contradicted
Poddar: Largest Indian non-RMG game now generates $65M-$70M revenue
“Today is 65, seventy million dollar revenue.”
Insight
Poddar: Outlier VC returns only come from non-consensus investment decisions
“Hardly any good deal has happened where there was complete consensus. So, because outlier outcomes will only come when there's no consensus. So one person has to truly, truly, strongly believe in it, and then of course debate, fight it out, get other people fe…”
Insight
Poddar: US venture is 15 years ahead of India
“Comparing with US is wrong, because US is 15 years ahead of us. And when you have one hundred billion dollar company being created, then for the next 10 years, that firm is, is very, very aggressive.”
Insight
Poddar: Real Deals Only Happen After Continuous Founder-VC Engagement
“Real deals only happen after continuous engagement because that's when the founder also knows you. That's the only time. Otherwise it's a FOMO investment.”
Assertion Partly supported
Poddar: Unacademy is generating roughly 100 crore INR monthly in bookings
“And I think now they are doing about a hundred crores. A month booking, which is phenomenal. It's perhaps the second largest revenue generating company in the country.”
Insight
Poddar: EdTech Unbundles Teaching Into Top Lecturers, TAs, and Mentors
“It is really the paradigm of education then changes that the lecturer is different from
from doubt solver to is different from mentor which is effectively unbundling of the different roles that the teacher standing on the podium in the offline coaching insti…”
Assertion Supported
Poddar: Under 10% of India's 6.5M College Graduates Get White-Collar Jobs
“I think 6.5 million people graduate out of colleges in India every year. But the number of number of new white collar jobs being created every year is maybe, maybe less than 10% of that.”
Prediction Held up
Poddar: Remote Work Will Accelerate Software Job Creation in India
“And as remote work becomes the becomes a new standard the job, the software jobs in India will actually increase even more.”
Insight
Indian EdTechs Capture More Value Via Full-Stack Infrastructure Unlike US Counterparts
“In U.S. The tech companies are catering to a very thin sliver of the market because of the existence of public and private infrastructure of education. In India, the entrepreneurs are creating, are really creating their infrastructure from bottoms up full stac…”
Insight
Poddar: Traditional TAM Is the Wrong Metric for Evaluating EdTech Companies
“Bookish market size is perhaps the wrong number to look at when you're evaluating education companies”
Insight
Poddar: Second-Place EdTech Startups Suffer From Poorer Quality Customers
“It's important to have focus and be the winner in your category, because number two will almost always surely get poorer quality customers and would have it more difficult to build a company.”
Insight
Poddar: Counting out startups because incumbents can compete is a mistake
“I thought that large companies can do a lot And so startups, the startup will fail, that startup will fail, and that was a stupid mistake that I did for many companies. I think large companies move at their own pace, and that's why entrepreneurial energy is im…”
Insight
Poddar: Founders can change everything except market size and profit pools
“Market size matters a lot more than people, than, at least as an entrepreneur, I gave importance to. You can change everything, but you cannot change market size really. Best entrepreneurs can create the market, but still market size has to be there. There has…”
Insight
Poddar: Every meeting with a founder can make or break a VC's career
“You know, at every meeting you are having, this could be the career creating meeting.
Or career killing meeting.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Poddar: VCs missed Groww by underestimating India's wealth tech market
“Many, many VCs said could not invest in Grow because of India wealth tech market was not large enough.”
Insight
Poddar: India is uniquely suited for quick commerce due to density and labor
“I think that is a clear trend that the world has changed around us, and India is a unique market where this is happening because, ah, because customer expectations are high, And because of density and availability of, ah, labor force, it is just possible to do…”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Poddar: Current Period Will Prove To Be The Best Time For Startups
“In fact, I can bet that when those questions are being asked, that is the time when best companies are under the way, and maybe five years from now, we'll look at this period as the best, Time to create interesting companies.”
Insight
Poddar: Consumer VC is fundamentally a bet on behavior change
“And I would argue as a consumer VC, you are betting on behavior changes.”
Insight
Poddar: Biggest consumer VC mistake is assuming you understand shifting behavior
“A biggest mistake you can do Is we think we know. Because every five years you don't know. It will, the market will change completely. And, ah, and just being, being young and curious at that point of time is actually very critical.”
