[Read #1] Kunal Shah's take on CapEx v/s OpEx mindset of Talent

Kudos to him for speaking up on this issue. As a founder you feel working anything less than 365 days is a crime Link: https://analyticsindiamag.com/kunal-shah-tells-entrepreneurs-to-take-two-days-off-a-week-to-think/ Kunal Shah Tells Entrepreneurs to Take Two Days Off a Week to Think

Dude is desperate to invest in AI Indian startups. A nice read though

Dude wants to desperately invest in AI Indian startups... A nice read for ai enthusiasts

Been spending way too much time on Grapevine lately - absolutely loving it @Micheal_Scott! Posted the Prosus report takeaways yday - lots of you DMed asking questions. Then I saw NewsAnchor break down the entire Prosus Annual Report - great stuff. I was an Associate at one of the largest VC funds in India, so I enjoy going through new reports and summarising them - found my notes from Bain's India Venture Capital Report 2024. Thought of sharing the unedited summary that I shared with the Partners at the fund, have a bunch of these - can share more if of value to any of you here (ofc removing the confidential parts) Notes: 1/ India's maintaining its gravitational pull despite the global funding crunch. Sure, overall funding nosedived 63% to $9.6B, but we're still the #2 destination in Asia-Pacific. Might not necessarily be a crash, it's a necessary course correction. 2/ Early-stage investing is showing remarkable resilience. Seed deals now comprise 70% of all deals, up from 60%, with average check sizes holding steady at $1.4M. Smart money is quietly positioning itself for the next wave of innovation. 3/ The tech-only playbook is being rewritten. While consumer tech, fintech, and SaaS still command 60% of funding, traditional sectors like BFSI are gaining ground, with average deal sizes jumping from $8M to $15M. We're witnessing the birth of tech-enabled, not just tech-centric, growth stories. 4/ The unicorn factory has hit pause, with only 2 new billion-dollar valuations vs. 23 in 2022. Mega-rounds ($100M+) plummeted from 48 to 15. This isn't a drought; it's a return to fundamentals. The era of grow-now-profit-later is firmly behind us. 5/ Generative AI isn't just hype; it's reshaping the landscape. Funding exploded from $15M to $250M, with 80% flowing to existing companies integrating AI. India's quickly becoming a laboratory for practical AI applications, not just speculative moonshots. 6/ Electric mobility is rewiring itself. While overall funding dipped slightly to $600M+, charging infrastructure investment surged 50%. The real opportunity isn't just in vehicles; it's in building out the entire EV ecosystem. 7/ Exits are defying gravity, leaping 1.7x to $6.6B. Public market sales led the charge at 55%, even as IPOs cooled. LPs are getting liquidity, and the secondary market is proving surprisingly robust. There's still appetite for quality assets. 8/ PE is no longer just watching from the sidelines. These players doubled their share to 25% of investments, going toe-to-toe with traditional VCs. The lines between growth equity and venture capital are blurring, and it's changing the game for late-stage rounds. 9/ We're watching natural selection in real-time. Yes, 35,000+ startups shuttered and 20,000+ layoffs hit the headlines. But companies like Groww and Indifi turned profitable. This isn't a bubble bursting; it's an ecosystem strengthening its foundations. 10/ Domestic VCs are coming of age. While overall fund-raising halved to $4B, homegrown VCs led 90%+ of raises. They're not just following; they're specializing, with thematic funds like Omnivore's $150M agritech vehicle. The ecosystem is bootstrapping its own future. 11/ Regulation isn't just tightening; it's evolving. Angel Tax expanded and lending norms got stricter, but we're also seeing innovative policies like UPI for foreign travelers. India's crafting a uniquely balanced approach to fostering innovation while maintaining stability. Topics we can discuss during our standup: 1/ Can India produce global tech giants if it's primarily adopting rather than pioneering in areas like AI? How do we enable this? 2/ How will the shift towards profitability impact India's ability to foster truly disruptive innovations? Implications for us, how should we be evaluating deals differently? 3/ With domestic VCs leading the charge, how will this change India's startup narrative on the global stage? 4/ Is this maturation setting the stage for more resilient, globally competitive Indian startups, or are we risking our innovation edge? How do we look at thesis driven investing v/s fomo investing? Link to Bain's report - https://www.bain.com/insights/india-venture-capital-report-2024/ P.S. Do note that this is 6+ months old - data points mostly look diff now but sharing it anyways. Will post more as and when I get time :)

Zepto brothers have been in the news lately for good reasons. The recent fund raise and the Nikhil Kamath podcast. I think both of them are quite brilliant, yes they did have privilege, but they used it quite well. Moreover, both of them seemed to be very well spoken, had the numbers in their mind, quite confident(although Aadit’s body language seemed to be a little off). Considering that these guys are so young, I felt like there’s a lot to learn for me from them.

I started my career as a humble analyst in a tech company, worked my way into finance and venture capital and eventually am heading to a top tier bschool in USA, where I will be paying what it costs to go to an ISB/IIM yearly. We have the Warikoos, and countless others breaking down personal finance and urging people to save. I have mostly done the opposite - i.e., spend liberally but not be profligate. Here’s my view. We are a poor country. If you find yourself in a place with the resources to spend more than the average person you’ve grown up around, please do! Spend on what makes you happy, pushes you, drives you, and allows you to step change your life. Security can be achieved with a good insurance plan and decent emergency funds. Beyond that, please spend on experiences that make you a better person, give you access to better people and enrich your life. Eventually time is the most finite commodity we’ll have. We have 1000s of podcasts on savings, mutual funds, ETFs etc. Does anyone talk about spending effectively to enrich your experience? No. I am pointing to a larger theme of a scarcity mindset that indians have, because we have grown up in a low-middle income country. It’s where we come from, but that doesn’t mean we cannot experience abundance. Life is short, don’t listen to people making money off you watching their personal finance videos.

Hey GV folks, long-time lurker, first-time poster here. I'm a product leader at Zomato, managing a team of 8 PMs. Today, I want to share a practice that's become the cornerstone of our product philosophy - and it all started with me being "punished" by my first manager. At the cost of self praising, this is some really good advice so I hope you’re able to extract the maximum value out of this. Five years ago, I was a cocky new PM, fresh out of a fancy consulting gig. I thought I knew everything about our users based on data and surveys. My wake-up call came when I royally screwed up a feature release. Instead of firing me, my manager did something unconventional - she made me spend a week as a delivery partner. I was pissed. Riding around Bangalore in the March heat, navigating traffic, dealing with hangry customers - how was this supposed to make me a better PM? But on day three, while waiting for an order outside Truffles (fellow Bangaloreans, you know the wait I'm talking about), I struck up a conversation with a few seasoned delivery partners. What I learned in those 30 minutes blew my mind. They shared hacks they'd developed, pain points I'd never considered, and insights about customer behavior that no amount of data could have revealed. I realized I'd been building features in a vacuum, completely disconnected from the real world our app operated in. That week changed everything. I rewrote our entire product roadmap based on what I learned. The results? Our delivery partner satisfaction scores shot up, and our order completion rates improved significantly. Since then, I've made it a point to spend one day every month doing deliveries. It keeps me grounded, provides constant insights, and reminds me who we're really building for. When I started managing other PMs, I knew I had to institutionalize this practice. Now, it's mandatory for everyone on my team to do a delivery day once a month. No exceptions. At first, there was resistance. "We have data for this," they'd argue. "I can't waste a whole day delivering food!" But after their first experience, they got it. Now, our team meetings are buzzing with insights from the field. Here's why I believe every product manager should regularly step into their users' shoes: 1. Data doesn't tell the whole story: Numbers can show you what's happening, but not why. Real interactions reveal the context behind the data. 2. Empathy drives innovation: When you experience user pain points firsthand, you're more motivated to solve them creatively. 3. It challenges assumptions: Nothing humbles you faster than realizing your "brilliant" feature is actually a pain to use in the real world. 4. It builds credibility: When you can say "I've done this myself," your team and stakeholders listen differently. 5. It's a reminder of impact: In the daily grind of KPIs and metrics, it's easy to forget that we're affecting real people's lives. This practice keeps that front and center. Some practical tips if you want to try this: - Don't just observe. Actually do the job. - Engage in conversations. Users (and front-line workers) are usually eager to share their experiences if you show genuine interest. - Look for workarounds and hacks. These are gold mines for product insights. - Pay attention to the environment and context in which your product is used. - Reflect on the experience immediately after. What surprised you? What frustrated you? To my fellow PMs out there: when was the last time you truly stepped into your users' shoes? If it's been a while, I challenge you to give it a try. You might just find your next big product breakthrough while waiting to pick up someone’s 1 am order from Empire :) P.S. Took a photo while waiting for my order, would probably have been fired long back had it not been for this evening!

I'm a PM with 2.5+ years of experience. I have a habit of reading product management newsletters. But now I'm planning to start with good product management books. Suggest a book that you've read and was practically useful in your work. This can help folks like me facing this issue of choosing between an ocean of books out there.