Rohit Chauhan

Agilitas x Virat Kohli partnership is one of the masterstroke deals I have seen in recent times. Virat invests 40 CR in Agilitas for a 1.94% stake, putting Agilitas’s valuation around 2000 CR. 📈 In turn, Agilitas acquires one8world, making Virat a co-founder and shareholder. They now get two very important growth levers: ⬇️ 1. A powerful manufacturing (via Mochiko Shoes - a 600 CR+ footwear brand that Agilitas acquired in 2008 ), 2. India’s biggest athlete — exclusively aligned. Easily becomes a 4000 CR revenue brand in the next 5 years. Footwear + retail scale requires capital — but this partnership compresses customer acquisition, product cycles, and brand-building like few others. Even Virat said in his podcast with Abhishek Ganguly, the co-founder of Agilitas that, “I didn’t want a brand deal… I wanted to build something that outlives me.” And Abhishek said something even beautiful - “An ambition to build from India but be globally relevant.” This isn’t marketing. This is legacy building with shared skin in the game. And that is how startups work - shared ambition with one goal (to make the company big) and food (read stake) in the table for everyone! A company that can be built in the long term with culture, capital, and conviction aligned. This might be the first time in India, where an athlete joins hands with a sport company to re-imagine and build the sport ecosystem of India - truly revolutionalising the game with a clear vision. 🙌

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Recko | A Stripe company's $150M acquisition proved that India Talent can build world class software. Here are the top learnings from my podcast with Saurya, Co-founder, Recko: 1. Recko was founded in 2017 by Saurya and Prashant to fix the complex and broken process of financial reconciliation in fast-growing B2C companies like Flipkart and Blinkit. 2. Getting the product off the ground was really tough. Early customers openly said they didn’t need it, and investors thought the idea was pointless. Recko was trying to build in a new category where there were no benchmarks or clear paths to follow. 3. Their first big break came from Myntra, who reached out just when Recko was down to their last $500. Over the next 3 to 4 months, they worked closely with Myntra’s finance team to solve huge reconciliation problems involving millions of data rows. That work earned them the credibility to build the product. 4. Indian VCs passed on Recko for several reasons: Lack of investor-focus on B2B during 2017-18 , the perception that back-office products were unsexy and the pressure for fast hockey stick growth. In some cases, even customers denied they had the problem Recko was solving, which confused potential investors further. 5. Saurya shares that India’s B2B ecosystem has “over-indexed” on cost advantages and marketing-heavy models. But to truly compete globally and reach higher valuations, companies should start with a solid product that offers real value through Tech and product superiority, not just by being cheaper. 6. For early-stage B2B startups, the most important metrics is not ARR, but product shape & product usage- how often the product is used and how critical it is to the workflow of the business. If your product becomes part of a company’s core workflow, it’s much harder for them to stop using it- even if it’s tough to sell at first. 7. Stripe's acquisition of Recko was primarily a product acceleration and product suite completion strategy. With financial operations closely tied to payments, Recko brought deep expertise in that space- something Stripe's customers were already asking for. 8. Recko was acquired at a 75X revenue multiple of $2 million ARR - A result of the product's unique strength, very specific domain knowledge, and "thickness" in its product layer. This contrasts with companies offering easily replicable solutions or operating in crowded, benchmarked categories, which give them lesser leverage in acquisitions. 9. The acquisition process took about six months, with four of those months spent on intense due diligence. Founders must manage conflicting expectations from investors and employees while maintaining highly confidential communication throughout. 10. Saurya advises founders to prioritize long-term relationships over attempting to "squeeze the last drop" of money during an acquisition, as future collaborations are likely. 

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I am convinced that the venture ecosystem in India (which I too am a part of) is collectively suffering from a massive blind spot. We are obsessed with the fleeting attention of 20-year-olds, while ignoring a quiet, loyal, and colossal market that is emerging right before our eyes. The next great consumer market in India is not the young; it is the old. Our startup world is chasing India's youth dividend, but the real, overlooked opportunity is in its 'wisdom dividend'. The numbers are staggering if you just care to look. By 2050, India will be home to nearly 350 million people over the age of 60. That is a market larger than the entire population of the United States. But here is the statistic that truly matters: the spending power of this demographic is projected to rocket to nearly $1 trillion by 2030. The prevailing myth is that this is a population that is technologically illiterate and has no money. That is a dangerously outdated assumption. Think of the millions of retired civil servants, army officers, teachers, and corporate professionals. They have pensions, savings, and assets. More importantly, they have real, pressing needs and they value trust far more than discounts. This is the AgeTech opportunity. It is not about building flashy apps. It is about building for dignity and dependence. Imagine a startup that does not just offer another social network, but a community platform that helps a retired colonel in Pune find a trusted travel group for a pilgrimage. Think of fintech that is not about complex crypto trading, but about a simple, secure card for a pensioner, which her son in America can top-up and monitor. Consider health-tech that uses simple remote monitoring, allowing a daughter in Mumbai to be assured of her father's vitals in Chennai, sending an alert if a fall is detected. The playbook for Gen Z will fail spectacularly here. You cannot win this market with cashbacks or viral marketing. The currency here is trust, reliability, and human-centric design. The customer support cannot be a chatbot; it needs to be a person who speaks with empathy. For founders, this is a call to build with heart. The problems are real, the loyalty is unparalleled, and the market is enormous. It is one of the few spaces where you can build a business that delivers both immense profit and profound social good. Also, I have a personal bias - I am in my early 30s now. One day I will be a senior citizen, too. I would love to invest in some companies today that can make my life better on the other side of 60 =) ---- I've begun to share my learnings from the world of startups more frequently to gain wider perspective. Thus, if you hold any additions or differences to the thoughts I shared above, do share in the comments. That will help widen my thinking horizons. Thanks! Best, Shiv

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A book is an introvert’s favorite friend and also the main source of their learning. Here are two of my all time bests: Outsiders ( Will Thorndike) - As they say, the CEO’s main job is to allocate capital (and bandwidth when there is no excess capital). Contrary to popular belief, bombastic and charismatic CEOs like Jack Welch of GE are not history’s best business leaders. Just as in cricket, the quiet champions let their bat (and ball) do the talking, in business, the greatest CEOs let their capital (and resource allocation) do the talking. Will Thorndike (also hosts probably the best podcast on business - 50X) tells us the stories of 8 such incredible CEOs and their exploits in this book. An absolute gold mine. The Hard Thing About Hard Things (Ben Horowitz) - This is probably the exact opposite of the above book in terms of scope and lessons. It talks about what it means to be a founder, when you have no capital, no nothing, and you set out to do something from absolute scratch. Anyone who has founded a company knows that the headlines are misleading. Only they know how close they are to demise all the time in spite of all the blood, sweat, hate, fear, nightmares, turmoil while trying to be upbeat and inspirational (it’s the biggest irony of entrepreneurship).  They don’t count the hours and think about work-life balance ( what would you call taking a shower while constantly thinking about how to make next month’s payroll or some other impossible problem - work? life?). The truth is, if you imagine the worst possible situation a founder goes through, you would still be underestimating the founder's struggle.  This book is for these founders, relatable and inspiring, scary and motivating at the same time. While we are on the subject, let me throw in a couple of terrific podcasts as well, for inspiration, reflection, and connecting the dots: https://lnkd.in/dXjhwm78 https://lnkd.in/dTScMn2k At Rebel, some of us learn through reading, and here is a list of books recommended by Rebels https://lnkd.in/dgbVjaPT

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We didn’t plan to build a SaaS company. We just wanted to fix something our dads struggled with their entire lives. All three of us: Sharad, Rohan, and I grew up around factories. - My dad worked in an Indian Railway engineering unit. - Sharad Sen Sharma managed inventory at NTPC at various places. - Rohan Sen Sharma's father was running Mid sized manufacturing. Many conversations had one theme: Firefighting in manufacturing operations Manual processes, paper trails, endless coordination. Factory operations were happening very inefficiently… with broken or no tools. Years later, when we started working with SME manufacturers, we saw the same chaos still existed. Despite expensive ERPs and digital tools, factories ran on Excel, WhatsApp, and last-minute calls. Most systems were too complex, too rigid, or too expensive. That’s when we spotted and immediately resonated with the problem and gap. SME Manufacturers didn’t need more features They needed clarity with an easy way to run their operations: A simple, intuitive system that actually fits their workflow from inquiry to dispatch. So we built the first version of TranZact. And when the first few customers said: "This is exactly what we needed." We knew we were onto something valuable, real and worth our time and energy. Today, TranZact helps 10K+ Indian factories run faster, smoother, and smarter. Have you ever stumbled into a mission you didn’t see coming? Would love to hear your turning-point story �� #startup #journey #founder

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Recently heard my Head of Delivery, Sajal Saxena, say, ‘Working with Enterprises is like playing a chess match. You have to play strategically and always keep your end goal (win) in mind.   Here are a few stark differences that I observed:   1. Speed: In startups, the stakeholders are fewer, so decision-making is very clear. Speed is key, and execution happens fast. But in enterprises, nothing exists in isolation, everything is connected. Which means that even minor changes can have large-scale impacts. All the stakeholders have to be onboarded before deciding everything. Multiple stakeholders mean multiple perspectives, multiple opinions and a potpourri of considerations. This reduces the speed significantly. Enterprise deals take between 9–12 months to close, whereas we would have executed two projects in the timeframe for startups.   2. Number of Stakeholders: In a startup the number of stakeholders is hardly 2 or 3. In many cases, CXO decides and others commit on the other hand, in enterprises, there are at least 7-8 stakeholders, each with their own perspectives. For example, the IT team worries about how changes might disturb integrations and create technical debt. Risk and compliance teams flag concerns about regulatory and governance issues. Sales leaders push for agility, some prioritize speed over perfection, while other leaders are on the opposite side (a huge topic—story for another time). Finance teams focus on ROI, delays, and cost implications.   3. Best is the Safest: In enterprises, because of too many stakeholders and too many different systems, many times the best alternative is the one that is perceived as the safest by all stakeholders. Sometimes, it may even end up as the least disliked option instead of the logical most liked option.   4. Articulation is very important in Enterprises: Enterprises are used to working with an established set of processes and hence, they expect articulation that sticks to certain set patterns. It isn't advisable to break the mold and try something very different while pitching to enterprises. Startups, on the other hand, don't focus much on the packaging or articulation. If they feel something will work, they'd accept it even in a barebone structure.   5. Enterprises think long term: Enterprise decisions are (or should be) carefully planned with long-term implications in mind, as even small mistakes can have huge consequences at scale. Startups, meanwhile, prioritize short-term survival, knowing they must adapt for the long run as they grow   These are my 5 observations while selling to enterprises. Do share your thoughts (if any)   Selling in an Enterprise setting is a long game and a game of patience. It is quite possible that at the end of it you may not have anything to show for at all. But if played well it is the real sales game. Even as I write this, we are in touch with 6–7 large enterprise customers who we will hopefully onboard this financial year. Let's see how many we convert.

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Piyush Goyal’s recent statement got me thinking - not as a founder, but as the father of a 14 year-old. AI is evolving faster than we ever thought. As every week rolls in a new wave of AI tools and agents - it’s clear that for a generation of digital natives growing up today, AI won’t be a tool they "learn"— it will be the water they swim in. But here’s the catch: As AI gets more advanced ---> the most valuable skill tomorrow won’t be how to use an AI agent, but how to build one. Those who can design, train, and tailor AI models for specific use cases will shape the future. The rest? Consumers in a world run by creators. Now pause for a second and ask—is India’s ed-tech sector or education system preparing our kids for this reality? We talk about STEM and "21st-century skills"—but is there a structured roadmap to help a 12-17 year-old understand, experiment with, and create AI? The answer is largely no. There is no real curriculum. No policy clarity. No platform that teaches the building blocks of AI in a fun, age-appropriate, and career-relevant way. -------- So what does this do to a teenager growing up in 2025? Is he/she excited about the future? Or overwhelmed by it? Will the skills they learn today even matter in 10 years? In this mad AI gold rush, are we doing what we did with climate change—forgetting the generation that’s yet to come? As founders, educators, and technologists, we must ask: Can we build age-appropriate AI learning paths for kids and teens? Can we integrate AI/ML education into mainstream ed-tech offerings? Can we build sandbox environments where kids create AI, not just use it? ---------------------- At TalentGum, we're asking these questions every day as we design hobby-based learning experiences for children. But the road ahead needs all of us—startups, policymakers, VCs & parents - to think beyond “content delivery” & towards AI literacy, creativity, and agency. Let’s not leave the next generation behind. Let’s build an ed-tech ecosystem where they can thrive in an AI-first world—not just survive it. What would you like to see in India’s AI learning ecosystem for teens and kids? #startupmahakumbh #parents #piyushgoyal

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