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Bikhchandani: Early-stage investors contribute at most a two percent difference to success
“The secret of early stage investing is actually to invest behind founders and teams and companies that are going to succeed anyway. Maybe we made two percent difference. But you've got to be humble enough, enough to recognize that.”
Bikhchandani: Info Edge will never exercise a board veto unless illegal
“There is no way we're going to exercise a veto on the board, even though we have the right to do it as per the agreement, because, you know, ultimately you have to let it be the founder's call. See, unless there's something that's blatantly wrong or illegal yo…”
Traditional TAM Calculations Fail When Industries Are Actively Being Restructured
“What I'm saying is that when new markets have been created when industry is being restructured, what you thought was TAM may not be the TAM.”
Bikhchandani: Strategic Acquisitions in India Rarely Deliver VC-Level Returns
“You know, if you look at
Strategic sales.
And you leave out Flipkart, they typically don't give you the kind of return that a VC investor would expect and hope for.”
Bikhchandani: Public Markets Will Not Tolerate Startup Losses Beyond Two Years
“Now, as a loss making company go public, you better be sure that you're going to be making a profit in one or two years after you go public. No, I don't think public markets are willing to tolerate losses over five years, seven years further.”
Early-stage investing is backing founders who will succeed anyway
“So you see, you, the secret of early stage investing is actually to invest behind founders and teams and companies that are going to succeed anyway. Maybe we made two percent difference. But you've got to be humble enough, enough to recognize that.”
Policybazaar and Zomato would have succeeded without Info Edge's backing
“So, actually, if you're telling me policy will succeed because of us, that's not true. They were going to succeed anyway, yeah. We are fortunate we went in. Likewise for Zomato.”
Bikhchandani: IPOs and Profitability Grant Complete Independence From VC Agreements
“And to do that you your best independence from venture capital and p agreements is profits is profit and is going public because when you go public all vcp agreements fall away”
Info Edge's Venture Fund Is Structured With a 14-Year Fund Life
“It's 12 plus two years.
So it's a 14 year fund.
I mean, 12 plus two.
So you can end up with a 14 year fund.
Which gives you a very long holding period, which means, you know, you can afford to be very patient.”
Bikhchandani: Policybazaar's ₹20Cr seed check took 8-9% of Info Edge's treasury
“It was a big, it was about eight, nine percent of our treasury. Entire treasury. We didn't have a fund, right? We just had a balance sheet.”
Bikhchandani: Policybazaar uniquely gives board members direct access to next-level management
“Very often, you'll see that in your, in the companies you're invested in, you only know one or two people. The investors. The others are shielded from investors. That is truly, truly different policy. That we get to meet everybody.”
Bikhchandani: Info Edge lacks Silicon Valley networks and refuses to build them
“We don't have networks in Silicon Valley, for example. We're not even trying to get them. It's not our strength. It probably will not become our strength also because we're not trying.”
Bikhchandani: Teaching Management Teaches More About Management Than Studying It
“I learned more management while teaching management than while studying management. Because when you're teaching management, you're in front of an audience of 50 or 60. They're asking you questions. Right? If you're studying management, you know, you can get a…”
Bankers Warned SEBI Would Reject Info Edge's Non-Standard IPO Rationale
“However, the bankers told us, if you put these reasons, you will never get your SEBI permission. You gotta put five standard reasons.”
Info Edge's Board Paused New Startup Investments Around 2012
“So we finally agreed in, in the board, I agreed that we will not do any more new companies for a while. We could support the old companies if needed, but we won't do new companies.”
Info Edge and Temasek Committed $425M Across Four Venture Funds
“Since then, we've got a total of four funds. Total commitment for twenty-five million. Half from Temasek and half from Profits of InfoEdge. From InfoEdge.”
Capital Scarcity Forces Startups to Build Their Business on Customer Money
“So really you had to sort of, with meager capital, somehow try and build a business, which means that you have to build on customer money. So this kind of frugality in fiscal discipline got ingrained in our system for the first 10 years.”
Info Edge Has Maintained Excess Cash Reserves Since 2004
“Post 2004, five, we have always had a lot of cash on our books, on our balance sheet, in our bank. More than most investors, analysts will say is required.”
Info Edge Invested 20 Crore Rupees Into PolicyBazaar Before Product Launch
“We invested 20 crores on a PowerPoint. Before the product was launched, and therefore, it was a big sum of money for us.”
Bikhchandani: Irrationally Valued IPOs Will Inevitably Correct Post-Listing
“You know, you can't go at a valuation which is completely irrational, and that's stupid of you to do that. Market won't take it, and if the market does take it, somehow you force it, the valuation will correct in the aftermarket, and that's not a good idea.”
Bikhchandani: Insurers price identical risks differently due to varied assessment models
“Different insurance companies will price the same risk differently because their risk assessment models are different. And it's not as if their strategy is to undercut price. They believe this is a lower risk and therefore they'll charge a lower premium.”
Bikhchandani: Info Edge wrote a massive 2008 check pre-PowerPoint
“Ha, it was a large check for us in 2008. But in 2008 was a large check for us. We, on a PowerPoint or even pre-PowerPoint.”
Bikhchandani: Kitty Agarwal leads Info Edge's Policybazaar decisions without board interference
“Decision to hold, decision to sell, decision to invest more a lot of that thinking has been led by Kitty. So I would not overrule Kitty on anything policy without discussing it. I can't recall the last time I overruled anything.”
Bikhchandani: Info Edge considers its 17-year Policybazaar stake a financial holding
“See, jobs is strategic investment. The rest is a financial investment. But they hope we've stayed, I think, 17 years in Policy Bazaar, so it's more than just financial. It's not strategic because it's not a business. It's not allied to a business that we own a…”
Info Edge Remains Invested in PolicyBazaar and Zomato Since Their Early Rounds
“Look, we invested in Policy Bazaar in 2008. We are still shareholders. We invested in Zamaatwo in 2010. We are still there.”
Bikhchandani Did Not Draw a Salary for Six of His First Ten Years
“So in the first 10 years of being in Antrimana from 1990 to 2000 I didn't take a salary for approximately six years, right?”
Info Edge Raised 7.3 Crore Rupees ($1.7M) Before the Dot-Com Crash
“We had to make do with what we'd raised, which was 7.3 crores, which was 1.7 million dollars then, exchange it was 40 rupees that time.”
Info Edge's Post-Funding Salary Bill Reached 4x Monthly Sales Collections
“So, I recall there was a point in time when we, the sales collections every month was 25% of our salary bill. In other words, salary build was Forex of our sales collections, and we had some 16 months of money left.”
Info Edge Reached 84 Crore Revenue Before Its October 2006 IPO
“We were 84 CR in March. We are ending March 2000 six. We went public in October. And in March, 2007, we did one 47 CR.”
Info Edge Benefited From a Scarcity Premium as India's Sole Internet IPO
“We also had scarcity premium. We were the only internet company out of India going public.”
Info Edge Deployed Over 200 Crores Into Startups Between 2007 and 2012
“Between 2007, when we had our first investment. To 2012, in five years, we had more than 200 crores invested.”
Naukri's Billings Dropped 44% During the Initial COVID-19 Quarter
“Knockly sales growth, buildings growth in April, June, 2000, 20, was -44%.”
Info Edge Holds Approximately ₹3,400 Crore in Cash on Its Balance Sheet
“So the company currently has got about three, eight, 3405 hundred crores, 3400 crores, I think, of cash in the books.”
Info Edge's Series A Was Its Only Funding Round Before Going Public
“Six years from our series A, first round. And series A was the only round we ever had.”
Naukri Launched by Manually Transcribing Job Ads From 29 Print Publications
“I used to get 29 newspapers and magazines from around the country into our office, and two-day entry guys would just input the appointment ads in our own words, in our own format. And we'd upload it.”
Info Edge Solo-Funded Zomato for Four Rounds Before Sequoia Capital Joined
“We were actually solo for the first four rounds. Not first, first four rounds. Fifth round when Sequoia came in.”