Bhavin Turakhia

I had a lot of fun recording a podcast episode with Shiva Singh Sangwan. We discussed the evolution of Humba Ventures & Susa Ventures; tips for raising and building a fund; how to improve investment sourcing & picking; the role of luck in investing, and so on. https://lnkd.in/eiqsStej

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Episode 341 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Somak Chattopadhyay, Managing Partner at Armory Square Ventures. Yes, markets like the Bay Area, NYC, and Boston get a lot of attention when it comes to building startups and having the ability to raise capital, but there are lots of other places to build a successful company. This has always been the case, but the pandemic definitely pushed this reality further.  This is why a firm like Amory Square Ventures exists. There are lots of secondary markets where entrepreneurs need access to capital and it is also a very important matter for the local economy for these companies to grow and create jobs, versus relocating. Somak shares the details of what led him down the path to start Armory Square Ventures, a seed and early stage venture fund, and why their approach of investing in seconday markets has not only been a differentiator for their firm but what they also consider as an optimism engine and a community catalyst for regions outside Silicon Valley. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Advice on how founders can push back on advice from investors. * Somak’s background story and his early career in startups. * How he landed in venture capital at Edison Ventures and Tribeca Venture Partners. * The details on what they are targeting for investments and portfolio company examples like Machinery Partner and ACV Auctions, a Buffalo company that went public. * Somak’s anti-portfolio, companies that he reviewed and an investment didn’t work out and went on to be a successful company. * Advice on building a marketplace. * And so much more. #venturecapital #startups #marketplaces

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Inspired by multiple events and chats with founders over the last 18 mths. I believe more such situations are going to play out in the mths ahead as startups run out of cash and need to explore distressed situations and closing. So here’s a short article on what to think about and look out for.

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At Highbeam we believe that D2C brands should have access to fair, responsible capital to fund their growth. Ampla was one of the earliest lending innovators in this space, with transparency around APRs (when most lenders focused on fixed fees) and revolving lines of credit (when most lenders only offered cash advances). Therefore it's unfortunate to hear about possible issues with ongoing lending operations at Ampla. We know how stressful a time this must be for Ampla team members and customers and hope things stabilize and resolve soon. Despite potential issues at Ampla, there is a robust ecosystem of well capitalized lenders and most brands we've worked with recently have had multiple options to chose from. As a banking partner in this space, our relationship led approach means we're committed to ensuring operators can access the right credit stack for their stage of growth. With Highbeam capital providing the flexibility needed, and insights built into the banking platform -- we can help find the right solution. If we can be helpful to you, please DM me and the team will take it from there.

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第3弾は、Y CombinatorのWebサイトで「Healthcare」で分類されている、メンタルヘルス×モニタリング（1社）、企業の医療費削減（1社）、在宅介護支援（1社）、カップル向けAI恋愛アプリ（1社）について、スタートアップについてそれぞれまとめました。ぜひnoteをご覧ください。 ブログ記事はこちら（Here is the blog post）↓ https://lnkd.in/gT-RcVVJ *Although the articles are in Japanese, please feel free to contact me in English if you are interested in the content. I would like to introduce companies from the Y Combinator Winter 2024 Batch. Part 3 summarizes each of the startups categorized under "Healthcare": One in Mental health x monitoring, One in Reducing corporate healthcare costs, one in Home care support, and one in AI relationship app for couples.

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DePIN & RWAs dominance isn't as far off as most people think. Across every innovative cycle, three fundamental pillars emerge: foundational technology development, proliferation of infrastructure, and a surge in application development. As we venture into the third cycle, DePIN and RWA protocols are poised to become market leaders paralleling the dominance witnessed by infrastructure projects from 2015 to 2024.

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"Health is an investment, not an expense." — Anonymous Just a few days ago, our teams at DeVC and PeerCapital brought together an incredible group of entrepreneurs and enablers to explore the real investments and expenses in healthcare. On stage, we had the dynamic trio of Mayank Banerjee , Dilip Kumar and Tarun Bhambra, who combined their wit and wisdom to delve into: - The consumerization of healthcare, preventive vs. curative approaches, accessibility and affordability challenges, offline vs. online dynamics, and how founders can bridge skill gaps. - The evolving role of AI and tech in healthcare, and how founders are strategically allocating resources to build cutting-edge solutions. - Collaborating with doctors, aligning incentives across systems and how ambitious change starts with robust foundational systems (think CAC's and LTV's). The conversations were raw, experiential, and refreshingly honest. If it weren’t for the ticking clock and the rainy day, we might still be chatting! It was inspiring to engage with so many passionate builders committed to reshaping India's #healthcare future. Let’s keep the dialogue alive. We invite more of your participation and views. Together, we are investing in the future of health. #healthtech #investing #founders

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Special Realistic Optimist edition today, courtesy of Eliot Pence at Tofino Capital. Tofino invests in startups in frontier markets. They notably invested in CAAFiSOM, Somaliland's first VC-backed company. The questions Tofino is attempting to answer: (i) how do you invest in e-commerce in countries where e-commerce doesn't exist yet? (ii) how can you segment e-commerce's chronological phases? (iii) what e-commerce adjacent tech can you leverage to gain exposure? A rare, free edition of The Realistic Optimist. Dive in! https://lnkd.in/gcAgiDkf

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Episode 338 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Tasneem Dohadwala, Founding Partner at Excelestar Ventures LLC. It’s a lot more common to find VC firms that are investing into deep tech or hard tech, but when Tasneem started Excelestar Ventures in 2010, it was far from the norm. Not only was it abnormal to invest in companies building highly advanced engineering products, but it was also a very challenging time in the tech industry in general. So, to start a new VC firm was very rare. Excelestar Ventures is a bit different than most VC firms as they operate an evergreen fund which gives them flexibility, especially during different economic cycles, in terms of the types of investments they can make versus having to raise a new fund every 2-3 years. The firm is also passionate about funding disruptive businesses led by under-represented founders. Across Excelestar’s entire portfolio, 61% of their companies are minority-led and 50% are female-led. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Fundraising advice for women or minority founders and why you should always be thinking about asking for introductions. * Tasneem’s background story and how she got her career starting in finance, plus her decision to go back to B-school at HBS. * All the details about Excelestar Ventures in terms of the companies they are targeting, including her interest in personalized medical devices, as well as how their due diligence process works. * Tasneem’s involvement with Golden Seeds, a firm focused on investing in women-led companies. * Advice for pitching your company and the importance of being able to properly articulate the value proposition of your company, having the right market size for that investor, and another factor that she calls the confirmatory mindset. * And so much more. #podcast #venturecapital #startups #medicaldevices

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Conducting Impactful Product Reviews: Steering Your Product Towards Success 🚀 In my dual role as an advisor and operator, I've observed that product reviews—crucial meetings intended to guide product direction—are often underutilized. Here’s how you can make these reviews more impactful: 1. Whether you are solving for Pre or Post Product-Market Fit (PMF): Harping on these four aspects consistently improves the team's muscle to define these well. Customer Definition: Know who you're building for. 🎯 Problem Identification: Use frameworks like BELT to precisely identify customer problems. https://lnkd.in/dJERFbre Value Proposition Hypothesis: Explore multiple value propositions to increase the odds of success. 🔍 Success Metrics: Establish clear and measurable success metrics, along with check metrics to track progress. 2. Assessing Risk of Impact and effort: The balance of risk and impact dictates the level of confidence required before shipping a product. Itamar Gilad’s confidence meter is a practical tool to quantitatively align team expectations on the necessary confidence levels. Remember, not all products require the same degree of certainty. ⚖️ 3. Purpose of the Review - Discovery or Delivery: If the focus is on discovery, prioritize finding a compelling value proposition supported by solid insights. 🕵️‍♂️ For delivery, concentrate on reviewing the design and development stages to ensure they meet planned objectives. 🛠️ Leveraging these strategies in product reviews can significantly enhance your team's ability to make informed decisions, align on priorities, and ultimately drive your product towards success. If you are running a startup or scale-up, especially in consumer products, I encourage you to check out the product review brief that is now a Reforge artifact. We used this artifact at PropertyGuru and other companies to create impactful products (https://lnkd.in/gGDTHHhN). This concise, two-page document is highly effective, especially if you are just starting with this process. It is a forcing function to think clearly and rigorously. The artifact when combined with a consistent ritual creates non linear impact. #ProductManagement #Leadership #Innovation #BusinessStrategy #ProductDevelopment #Reforge.

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The Council's first SPV of 2024 is down in the books and oversubscribed. Running SPVs where we have pro rata or extra allocation in fund deals is a muscle we are building pretty late in the game as a firm. As a solo GP with a tiny team, it's crippling to think of the extra work required and risk of not meeting platform minimums to run an SPV. But 7 of our port co's have recently raised follow on funding where we had pro rata. These are awesome deals for our LPs, angel members, and syndicate community. We simply can't afford to let them slip through the cracks. These allocations are only becoming more valuable as our firm grows, so we must start NOW! Proud to say this one went off without a hitch and our syndicate community is small but THRIVING. Wish us luck as we keep building. Note our SPVs are now on Sydecar. The best way to get access is to know someone on The Council Fund team and be on our SPV email list. **What's an SPV?** An SPV is a Special Purpose Vehicle. It allows multiple angel investors to pool together into one larger investment into a company. This helps the founder keep paperwork and investor relations to a minimum (less names on the cap table = simplicity!). When people say they're investing with a "syndicate" or they are "syndicating a deal," SPV is the entity and process by which they do that. A "syndicate" is like a community of people that invest via SPVs together.

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https://lnkd.in/eHCVBHAs Had an interesting conversation which led to this article by Timothy from The Realistic Optimist. TLDR; DFIs should stay clear from meddling in venture capital. Maybe focus on funds of funds or SME fundings.

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Zepto raises $665 million at a $3.6 billion valuation. Here's why this raise is exciting for the Qcommerce space and startup ecosystem: Zepto's repeated fundraising success is impressive. > Pioneered the 10-minute commerce game. > Reached $1 billion GMV in under 2 years. > Founders are among the youngest in the startup world. > Built an exceptional team quickly. > Raised significant funds despite strong competition from Swiggy, Blinkit, BBNow, and others. > India is leading in aggressive Qcommerce growth. Reflecting on my TinyOwl days in the early FoodTech space, competition was fierce, and investors were cautious. However, things are different now: > Markets have scaled, unlocking multi-billion dollar opportunities. > IPOs are now viable, even for third or fourth ranked players with strong financials. Investors may feel relieved, but the Qcommerce space will remain highly competitive for the next few years. Consumers, meanwhile, are spoiled for choice. Interesting times ahead.

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I really like this PMF Framework from Sequoia. https://lnkd.in/gT2nWttx

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The debate about whether AI will benefit incumbents or startups more continues to unfold. Undoubtedly, we will see the emergence of groundbreaking companies creating products that are currently beyond our imagination. We have also, of course, already observed how some of the world's largest corporations have reaped significant advantages from this ongoing shift in paradigms. However, based on firsthand observations of developments at Ramp, I am convinced that the future truly belongs to those organizations that have reached this pivotal moment in history with the necessary scale, momentum, focus, agility and talent. I continue to witness that through tremendous effort and unparalleled execution, you can unlock opportunities that to many on outside look unbelievably lucky. Well, here’s to the best lucking team I’ve ever known 💯🙏🗽 Bravo Eric, Karim, Gene, Michael, Geoff, Scott, Max, Jacob, Daniel, Sam, Colin, Nik, Megan, Yunyu, Rahul, Will, and so many others who continue to astound me with their work.

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Oftentimes in life, we take frictionless experiences for granted, like using our credit card to buy something and assuming the transaction will just work. But behind every seamless and ordinary activity, there is usually a very powerful infrastructure in place. That’s the story of Plaid. Started in 2013, Plaid helped revolutionize financial services and usher in a new generation of fintech development. Many of the financial applications you use today leverage Plaid as their backbone infrastructure. On this week’s episode of Building One, Zachary Perret, Plaid's CEO and co-founder, shares some great insights and lessons on how they saw the opportunity in an industry that was stubbornly behind. Including:  // How the best source of insight & empathy can be your own experience  // Pivoting from a consumer product to B2B  // The value in designing for a very narrow and simple experience at first // What it’s like to build within a highly regulated industry // and the importance of always being willing to ask for advice Want to learn more about Plaid and how they created a powerful infrastructure that changed the fintech industry? Listen to this week’s episode.  🎧 Apple: https://bit.ly/44kVNNg 🎧 Spotify: https://bit.ly/4doaFP5

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Great analysis of the acquisition of Teampay by Serra Ventures Portco Paystand and how together they will transform the B2B payments system. https://lnkd.in/gqRCESE9

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A rapidly maturing startup ecosystem, heightened due diligence practices, and a steady pipeline of startups gearing up for public markets, India is clearly the promised land for investors and entrepreneurs alike. In a recent interview with Vibhuti Sharma from DealStreetAsia, I delved into how India remains a key focus for RTP Global. We discussed how with our new $1B fund, we are doubling down on the region's potential, backed by our dedicated team in India supporting early-stage entrepreneurs. India is an essential part of RTP Global's long-term vision, and we remain committed to nurturing innovative startups that can scale globally

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