I'm Sajith Pai, Partner at Blume Ventures. Ask me anything!

Hey Sajith, Great to see you here and very much thanks for doing this. 1. What factors does Blume consider while investing in a Tier 3 College founder with early product traction. 2. For B2B and B2C companies What are the approximate revenue and metrics to be called as an startup eligible for Preseed Funding. 3. Does Blume invest in Indian Startups wanting to serve primarily in U.S Markets whose problem statements also based in U.S Market. 4. How important is founder market fit. If a first time Tier 3 college founder is going to a unrelated sector and has early traction, will Blume fund them ? 5. Does Blume have a plan of starting an Incubator on the lines of YC.

Hey Sajit, I always wanted to understand. Why are most investors more likely to invest into founders from IIT/IIMs v/s from lower tier colleges? Thanks in advance

Hi Sajith, Blume Ventures is a dream for many. Here's a simple question: How do you know when a portfolio company is underperforming? Founders can sometimes hide the truth, and with a large portfolio, it's not feasible to check on every startup and consumer personally.

Hi @SajithPai! Glad to have you at GV. Enormous respect for your content and the public good you do sharing in-depth reports, thought pieces and podcast transcripts. Wanted your thoughts on a quick question I had: You consider WHJ as one of your top Anti-portfolio companies and you have said that several times. While I understand the sentiment you have wrt an early investor. It would have made you and Blume millions of dollars (post sale to Byju's). And obviously, Anti-portfolio is an after thought - i.e. If you were to do it all over again, you would go ahead with the investment. But another fact about WHJ that one shouldn't ignore is the rampant misselling done by the product including the much acclaimed and infamous Wolf Gupta. Several parents (not all of them privileged like the two of us) were scammed(FOMOed? / bullied?) into subscribing for a product that didn't make financial sense for them or educative sense for their kids. So, while the returns on Sale of WHJ were largely from existing (or new) investors of Byju's, they were also from hard earned money of naive parents who went beyond their means to provide good quality education to their kids and fulfil a dream that was just a marketing gimmick and never existed in the first place. With this context, would you still want to go back in time and invest in WHJ? And would you still consider it at the top of your Anti-portfolio? Disclaimer: I have nothing but respect for Karan Bajaj in his past life as an acclaimed author and media person)

Hey Sajith, Really great to meet you Your portfolio consists of Edtech startups, but unfortunately we have seen a lot of poor outcomes here. Had two questions: 1) What spaces within Edtech still make you bullish about it's future? 2) How do we as an ecosystem avoid another Byju's situation? Thanks in advance :)

Hey Sajith @salt here. the og grapeviner. Need your most candid response to this query: What’s the criterion for being seriously considered for a startup idea? How hard do you index on pedigree; (undergrad/masters + workexp)?

Hey Sajith, do you agree with the following statement? "When you have PMF, you'll know it for sure. If you are in doubt, you don't have PMF"

Do you think it’s a high integrity act when VCs build up companies from their own portfolio as great/exciting companies without disclosing they have a vested interest? How do you think these interests be disclosed while pumping/promoting the said startups? (Not saying you do it, just in general)

Hey @SajithPai thanks for doung this. - What advice would you give to a startup in the early stages of fundraising especially when they haven’t fully achieved PMF yet? - what are the most common mistakes startups make when pitching to VC and how to avoid them? - what are the earliest signs you look to determine whether a company has achieved or is in the verge of achieving PMF?

Have three questions: 1. How would you evaluate a startup like Grapevine: pre-revenue+some arbitrary monthly burn+extreme user love? How do you evaluate price discovery mechanisms for valuing such a company? 2. Do you think that Grapevine has an edge over other incumbents in the space to garner more mind share? If yes, what are your thoughts on Grapevine and have you heard about the app from your latent social circle (trying to understand its reach)? 3. Do you look at other funds and wonder what made them invest in a company? Does that bring a sense of FOMO on certain hot investments?

Hi Sajith, lucky to have interacted multiple times with you - welcome to Grapevine! For the audience here, can you share the inspiration behind the Indus Valley Report and how it has evolved since its inception? What has been the most rewarding aspect of authoring a report that has become such an anticipated fixture in the Indian startup ecosystem? One of my favourite reports out there ❤️

Hey Sajith, thrilled to have you here :) As someone who writes about tech, business, and culture, how do you think cultural contexts influence startup success in India?

Hey Sajith, I'm a founder working in the consumer tech space. Great respect for Blume's reports and have liked the people I have interacted with at the fund. We have gone through the Edtech, SaaS, AI cycles in the last few years. Do you feel consumer tech is making a come back? In all my VC interactions, I can sense less excitement about the sector. Is this true for blume?

Hi Sajith! Thanks for doing this. I’ve had opportunity to meet you. And found our interaction insightful. What’s your take on recent hot topic founder mode vs manager mode? Do you feel founder mode companies end up doing better in long run? When should a founder hang their boot and pass on the baton to executives?

Hey Sajith, good to meet you. I work as an analyst at a VC fund. What do you feel about the position of analysts/associates? Often, we meet with founders within our first year, and are perceived as just 'hurdles' to cross. For a long enough time, I also questioned if I add any value at all in any conversations. What is your thought on how this works, and any advice for somebody who is ~25 and in VC?

Hi Sajith great to have you here. Do you have any guidance on how to get started as an associate/analyst in the VC space for people who want to work in this space? Would love to hear your thoughts.

For folks who want to join a VC fund having some entrepreneurial experience and maybe a degree or two, what’s the best way? @SajithPai

What qualities do you look for in founding teams, and how do these qualities influence your investment decisions?

Hey Sajith, you had an unconventional path before joining venture capital. How did your transition to VC happen and what is your biggest (or two) lessons from your career?

At any point in your career, did you consider moving out of India? What would you advice somebody considering staying in India vs. going abroad today?