At ACLR8, our goal is to build the best early stage accelerator program in the world, helping founders from Bharat build large, generational and iconic companies. Founder Academy is our exclusive podcast featuring the top startup founders, investors and operators in the country. Our goal is to help build the best resource for any early stage founder to learn from and connect with the best folks from India's startup ecosystem.
In this episode of the ACLR8 podcast, we host one of India's most iconic startup investors: Rajesh Sawhney. Rajesh has invested in 165 companies over the last 15 years and sits on the board of many listed companies and unicorns. In today's episode we will try to cover 3 topics:Trends and opportunities for young founders as we become a $10T economyFundraising 101 for early stage foundersThinking long term about company buildingWe hope you enjoy the podcast today and it inspires you to kickstart your journey. Do drop a note in the comments section about your feedback on the episode. Content Timeline:-----------------00:00 - Intro01:22 - Rajesh investment journey over the last 15 years. 10:50 - Learnings from Madhu Kela and public market investing. 17:24 - Fundraising tips for early stage founders. 31:45 - Common traits between successful founders. 36:20 - India opportunity.43:24 - Building the right idea at the right time.48:00 - IPO projections for 2025.54:15 - India v/s China over the next 20 years.56:30 - India Spacetech opportunity.58:45 - Rapidfire59:00 - Renting v/s Buying a house1:00:20 - Top 3 cities to live in India.1:02:00 - IITs v/s IVY league colleges.1:03:00 - Gambhir v/s Dravid as Indian team coach.1:04:25 - Can Singularity and AGI be achieved?1:06:00 - Pickelball: Serious sport or fad? 1:07:00 - Will Tiktok be sold to Elon Musk?1:07:42 - Ranking India's last 5 PMs1:10:09 - Advice to early stage founders building the next big business from India. #startup #funding #entrepreneurship #fundraising #startupindia #accelerator #incubator #aclr8 #aclr8vc #GSF #RajeshSawhney
Shot a super episode with Nitin Mehrotra, Founder & CEO, DressFolk on his journey of building India's most loved ethnic wear brand. We talked about: - Nitin's growing up journey and how his family background inspired him to startup in the fashion space - DressFolk evolution over the last 8 years and finding PMF - Building and scaling a D2C fashion business in India today, profitably - Raising funding from people like Ghazal Alagh and some of India's best angel investors and funds. - Way forward, future of India's handlooms and dreams of going global Do check it out and let us know how you like the podcast! Content Timelines: 00:00 - ACLR8 Intro 01:16 - Pre cap 02:27 - Nitin's family history and how that inspired Dressfolk 12:00 - Dark side of the fashion industry 16:15 - Initial days of Dressfolk 24:50 - India's ethnic wear market and opportunities for D2C brands 32:25 - Supply chain challenges and capacity building with artisans 37:00 - Scaling D2C at Dressfolk 45:40 - Meta ads strategy 48:00 - Fundraising journey 1:00:30 - Rapid fire with Nitin 1:05:15 - Closing remarks Follow us on Instagram: / aclr8.vc
Learn content, marketing & advertising from Ayush Wadhwa ( @AyushWadhwa ) the founder of one of India's best media companies, Owled Media ( @owledmedia9296 ) At just 26, in a short span of time, Ayush has accomplished a lot. He is a creator, runs Owled Media, and has done done advertising campaigns for some very large brands. He is a super active angel investor and recently also started LIT school. His career is an intersection of content, marketing and technology. From this podcast our goal is to help young people understand how can they build a career in content, marketing and advertising. Catch the full episode now and let us know what you think! Content Timelines: 00:00 - Pre-cap 00:55 - Intro 02:37 - Ayush's Personal Journey 05:23 - Why Content 11:15 - Building Owled Media 16:30 - Challenges in running an agency 18:52 - Learnings from Chris Cox (Meta, Chief Product Officer) 22:11 - Career Opportunities in Content 26:10 - Creator Mindset 29:40 - How much do creators earn 32:05 - Creator led brands 34:50 - Rapidfire with Ayush 43:42 - Feedback on ACLR8 44:40 - Advice to young founders building in content Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aclr8.vc/
98x oversubscribed! This was the crazy demand for the ixigo stock at their recent IPO. But what many don't know is the 17 year old journey of grit, determination, never giving up in the face of innumerable challenges and always building for Bharat. Had the immense pleasure of hosting Aloke Bajpai, Co-Founder & Group Chairman, Ixigo, to the ACLR8 Founder Academy Podcast, hosted by Karan Jindal. Aloke shared his and Rajnish's journey of getting inspired by the movie Swades and coming back to India to start Ixigo. We talked about: ✅ building at scale for Bharat ✅ being resilient in the face of setbacks ✅ being customer obsessed ✅ building profitably ✅ being in it for the long term… and so much more
If your goal is to build India's largest consumer D2C brand then this is the episode for you.
What does ₹15 crore worth of free publicity do to the scale and trajectory of a D2C brand?
Building one of India's largest Beauty & Personal Care D2C Brand.
Building a large business, while reviving a cultural legacy, and providing social impact.❤️ Raising funding from some of India's top investors, getting an all Shark Deal at Shark Tank India and all of this while just being 24 years old!
Today's guest at the founder academy, is someone who has been a founder and investor. As a founder, Arjun founded Dr. Vadiya's. Scaled it to one of the fastest growing Ayurveda D2C brands in the country and sold it for 100 crores in 4 years. As an investor, Arjun founded V3 ventures and raised over $100M to invest in some of India's best consumer brands. In this episode we discussed: Arjun's personal journey while growing up and what inspired him to entrepreneurship Building and scaling Dr. Vaidyda's Selling Dr. Vaidya's to RPSG group for INR 100 crores Journey as an angel investor and Arjun's top 3 investments featuring Lahori Jeera, P-TAL and Knya Med Starting V3 Ventures and raising a $100M fund to invest in consumer brands Advice to early stage founders on fund raising Top sectors and categories Arjun is excited by Top investments from the fund featuring - Kuku FM & Dil Foods Investing with Empathy and building a partnership with founders Importance of work life balance Rapid fire with Arjun featuring many things people don't know about him. Catch the full episode and let us know what you think. ------------------ Content Timelines: 00:00 - Pre-cap 01:30 - Intro 02:35 - Arjun's personal journey 04:02 - Building Dr. Vadiya's 08:20 - Figuring out your strengths and MOAT while building a D2C brand 10:45 - Challenges in raising money for Dr. Vaidya's 11:50 - Selling Dr. Vadiya's for INR 100 crores 16:50 - What inspired Arjun to start angel investing 18:50 - 3 of Arjun's top investments as an angel 23:45 - Starting V3 ventures and raising $100M for the first fund 30:00 - Importance of content creation for brands and founders 31:05 - 3 categories that V3 ventures is excited by 37:00 - Unique investments from V3 40:30 - Transition from founder to investor 43:00 - 3 questions that founders need to answer before starting a brand 44:00 - Rapid fire with Arjun 46:30 - Arjun's association with ACLR8 48:00 - Future of WA commerce in the country featuring Business on Bot 49:10 - Ending remarks
Had an amazing conversation with Akshay Ghulati, Co-Founder & CBO, Shiprocket, at the ACLR8 studio! ❤️
From growing up in Ambala to building a company with annualized sales of INR 4000 crores!
Building an INR 500cr D2C consumer appliances brand for Bharat!
Financial Inclusion for 100cr Indians with Ankit Agrawal, Founder & CEO, InsuranceDekho
Raise fast, raise effectively and raise from the best! Learn the secrets of fundraising from one of India's best early stage investors, Apurva Chamaria. Apurva heads Startup & VC at Google India, and has invested in 100+ companies over the last 10 years. In this episode of the ACLR8 Founder Academy, Karan Jindal and Apurva Chamaria discuss everything that a founder needs to raise fast, raise effectively and raise from the best. Some key concepts discussed in this podcast are: Mindset of a founder while building a Billion dollar company. Understanding what type of businesses require funding. Traits of successful founders who have built large, venture funded, companies. Does being from an IIT / IIM impact your chances of fundraise? Can a founder from a Tier - 2/3 city, raise as effectively? Understanding when to raise, how much to raise, and who to raise from? Key elements to a perfect elevator pitch and the perfect pitch deck. How to build and cultivate a strong network. Closing the deal fast and effectively.Understanding a no from an investor and dealing with it. If you are building the next big thing from India, and need support in raising funds, mentorship from unicorn founders, access, route to market, partnerships then apply to our cohort today. Website: www.aclr8.vc Application Link: www.aclr8.vc/apply Content Timeline: ----------------- 00:00 - Intro 02:36 - Founder mindset for a Billion dollar company v/s Million dollar company 07:37 - Do all ventures require funding? 10:35 - VC expectations while funding companies. 13:00 - Exciting sectors to build in for founders. 20:52 - Don't be an air conditioned office founder. 22:04 - Traits of successful founders from Apurva's portfolio. 29:36 - Does being from an IIT / IIM background increase funding success? 32:15 - How can founders who are not from IIT / IIM raise funding? 36:29 - When is the right time to raise money? 42:34 - How much to raise? How to value your company? And who to raise from? 47:39 - Ideal founding team structure to build a large venture. 54:14 - Building the perfect elevator pitch and pitch deck. 1:02:42 - Closing a deal with an investor. 1:06:37 - What if you are not able to raise money. 1:16:40 - Ending statements. #startup #funding #entrepreneurship #fundraising #startupindia #accelerator #incubator #aclr8 #aclr8vc
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