Sachin Jaiswal

Excited and looking forward to discussing the evolving challenges of raising capital for early-stage startups at SAASCON24. Join me as I dive into the current trends, what founders need to know, and how we can navigate this more challenging environment. #SAASCON24 #StartupFunding #EarlyStageStartups #SaaS #Entrepreneurship

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Like to order deliveries from the comfort of your own home? Zepto's recent $665 million funding will now allow the company to set up even more store across India to serve you better. Read all about it only in my new article at Entrepreneur India. . . . Follow and connect for more industry news and updates . . . #News #Update #Zepto #Funding #Investment #EntrepreneurIndia #AdityaPranMahanta https://lnkd.in/gYvATrUE

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If you doubted the rise of India as a powerhouse, Pine Labs, a significant fintech player, is now relocating its headquarters from Singapore to India following approval from a Singapore court. This strategic shift mirrors other successful Indian startups like PhonePe, Razorpay, and Groww, embracing the trend of ‘reverse flipping’. The move signifies growing confidence in the Indian market and its potential. Key factors enabling this move include: - Favorable economic policies - Growing domestic market - Increasing investor confidence - Greater certainty of an exit at a higher valuation - Ease of accessing capital - Regulatory changes - Maturing capital markets - Cost-effective listing process All great signs for India! #India #Fintech #PineLabs #Startups #BusinessGrowth

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Interesting and relatable piece by Nutgraf / The Ken Praveen Gopal Krishnan in my inbox today. Few VCs balance this line well, even fewer can project an authentic narrative of what they actually do. In my observation of actions, a VC is a financier first and last, and anything else is marketing until proven otherwise. #vc #startups #india #founder

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💔 From $22B in 2022 to ZERO today. The fall from grace of once the world’s most valuable Edtech startup and the froth that goes with growth at all costs. I shared an article from TechCrunch earlier this year of how investors were then valuing the company to be worth nothing. Now, the founder has come out and admitted that the enterprise he founded is worth ZERO. This is despite BYJU’s raising $200m early this year. Some crazy burn rates we are talking about here, not to mention all the liabilities that the company carries to fuel its growth ambition. Investment theses in tech companies, especially the Edutech ones, need a serious correction, along with other considerations like SAFEs “based on YC templates” offered by startups that operate in small markets and have never qualified to be YC candidates in the first place - I wonder if such founders are aware of whether these ‘SAFEs’ are safe for Who in the transaction. Yet, founders who have raised money from investors may have at one time or another, believed that their investors will back them up no matter what, when they were urged to go all out and all in to grow their enterprise, often at all costs. We could almost hear encouraging words like “don’t worry about burn, stay focused (on growth) and we will back you up all the way”, or in Chinese, that could sound like “敢敢去做,别担心。我们支持你”, and in BYJU’s case, “(The founder) alleged that many of his more than 100 investors had urged him to pursue aggressive expansion into as many as 40 markets. But, he added, those very investors got cold feet when global markets tumbled following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, sending the venture capital market into a downward spiral.” Thus, when investors back out (either for legitimate reasons or maybe they just didn’t trust the founders anymore), the deck falls and all sorts of instruments have to be called in to keep the company afloat. For BYJU’s, it was the rights issue to raise $200m this year, putting the company’s value to be $250m, from $22B just two years back. What then, is the problem here: Founder blindness? Founder arrogance? Investor frothiness? Promises broken? In any case, fingers will point, and lawsuits could fly in BYJU’s. For startup founders and business owners: - When is a suitable time to raise $? - And when they have raised the money, how should founders manage their investors and the $ they have in the bank? What are your thoughts on this? Eric Lam I help entrepreneurs scale for exit. I wrote 📙The Fast Founder: from Startup to Exit in 36 Months 📕. Delighted to have you connect with me on matters regarding startups, education & Gen-AI for the layman. #edtech #investing #fundraising #fallfromgrace #founders #accountability #investorrelations https://lnkd.in/g9TqTaHW

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While the IPO window still feels like it’s nailed shut, and some verticals (AI) are faring better than others (SaaS), the overall startup outlook (at least on the layoff front) has improved. When startup fundraising plummeted in the summer of 2022, the key measure of success shifted from rapid growth to a clear path to profitability. Tech layoffs overall are now at a two-year low, despite recent downsizing at Miro and Dropbox, suggesting a potential stabilization across the industry. It will be interesting to see how these numbers look in H1 2025 as innovation in AI continues. #startupoutlook #startuptrends

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For this week’s episode of The Lobster Talks podcast, I had the privilege of going behind the scenes with Laduram Vishnoi, the founder and CEO of Middleware - a pioneering observability platform for cloud-native applications. Laduram's entrepreneurial journey is nothing short of unconventional. He shares candid details about bootstrapping Middleware by self-funding and building a team in India, allowing him to kickstart development without burning through millions. Even more impressive? Raising an outstanding $6.5 million seed round amid the chaos of the Silicon Valley Bank crisis. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Laduram also dives deep into: -His unique strategies for managing a distributed workforce across multiple timezones -How he persevered to get into Y Combinator after 5 previous rejections -Actionable advice on nailing the fundraising process as a solo founder What truly sets this conversation apart is Laduram's vision for leveraging cutting-edge AI to transform observability and tackle skyrocketing cloud costs head-on. I was blown away by the insights and inspirational story shared in this episode. It's a must-listen for any aspiring entrepreneur or anyone passionate about innovation in cloud technologies. Check out the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/eqawwxcX And let me know - what's your biggest observability and monitoring challenge in today's cloud environment? Share your thoughts in the comments! #startups #entrepreneurship #podcast #ycombinator

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Weekly Recap 1. Recorded an episode with Arun Antony of YE Stack - They have a very interesting hypothesis 2. Talked with Arav Behl building BuilderCast podcast 3. Talked with Adil building WeCrack Cohort 4. Preparing for a big episode today Ft. Co Founder of Blume Ventures 5. Received a really kind message from an upcoming guest 6. Received an encouraging message from Amrit Sheneva building Flashmates, Hiremart, and more Next week is going to be an interesting one

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Finsire has recently started its learning series - Ideally by chatting with the best folks in the Industry. Here, with Siddharth Shetty, Co-founder and CTO of Account Aggregator (AA) from DigiSahamati Foundation, we speak about the data exchange's inception, growth, and future in India. - We use AA for various reasons, including pushing boundaries in India's data exchange layer with various use cases. - It's been about three years since it went live, and over 70 million cumulative Indian accounts are linked. - One-of-a-kind data sharing network from India that is not seen anywhere across the globe, baring Singapore with https://lnkd.in/gyrCQtVQ - Different approach to protect consumers as compared to the previous models that existed to attain consumer data by various methods used by Plaid or Salt Edge Onemoney Finvu (Cookiejar Technologies) Protean eGov Technologies Anumati by Perfios AA NADL - Account Aggregator Computer Age Management Services Limited KFin Technologies Ltd. Enjoy - Please click on the link below and watch the video!

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India’s Oyo, once valued at $10 billion, is finalizing new funding at a $2.5 billion valuation. This marks a steep decline from its $10 billion valuation in 2019. The startup, which has raised over $3 billion from backers like SoftBank, Peak XV Ventures, Lightspeed, Airbnb, and Microsoft, has struggled to attract institutional investors. In recent months, it has aggressively pitched to high-net-worth individuals after withdrawing its IPO application twice in the past four years. Once a red-hot Indian startup active in markets including the U.S. and Europe, Oyo has now scaled back its international presence. #venture #downround https://lnkd.in/gE2GjYnM

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Only TWO days left to apply for the RippleX Fellowship program! If you are a student/dropout/recent grad building a b2b software company in Canada/US, this is the program for you. In our last batch we had some amazing mentors like: - Braden Ream (CEO, Voiceflow): Mastering storytelling and navigating selling into enterprises - Rahul Parmar (Prev. Senior Director of Sales, Drata): Sales 101 – Converting pilots to real revenue, creating urgency among buyers, and best practices to manage a sales process - Nicholas Chepesiuk (CEO, OnCall Virtual Care, now part of Qualifacts): Striving towards product-market fit, utilizing creative outbound strategies, and the importance of building trust with customers in the early days - Justin Sky (CEO, Rose Rocket): Identifying venture-scale markets, learning when to pivot, and building strong organizational culture - Josh Gray (CEO, Artemis): Conducting customer validation, segmenting your ICP, and advice for young founders Apply here: https://lnkd.in/e2iAu6vi

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I am happy to announce that Pepsales has closed pre-seed funding led by Chiratae Ventures 🙌 🙌 🙌 As a founder, you’re often told that it’s a lonely road—filled with long days, tough calls, and countless challenges. But with the right people, it doesn’t have to be like that. Throughout my career, I’ve been incredibly fortunate to work with visionary leaders who believed in me before I even believed in myself. Along the way, I’ve been inspired by teammates from around the world who pushed me to do better every day. But when it comes to building a company, that’s a whole different game. It’s about embracing uncertainty and hoping you’ll find the right partners who share your vision. When Abhinandan Sahgal and I started Pepsales just six months ago, in a challenging macroeconomic climate, finding those partners felt like an uphill climb. Then one day, Venkatesh Peddi, Naimil Shah and the team at Chiratae Ventures came along. Their conviction in us was truly a game-changer. Every conversation with them has been insightful, and when they offered to invest in Pepsales, it was one of those “pinch me” moments that founders dream about. But let me be clear—this is Day 0. The road ahead is long, and we’ve barely scratched the surface. We’re laser-focused on continuing our mission to empower sales teams with AI that transforms how they sell. There’s so much more to build, more problems to solve, and more milestones to hit. That said, the right partners make all the difference. Whether it’s brainstorming ideas or navigating the challenges of scaling a company, having that support is invaluable. Here is to everyone who believed in us—thank you. We’re beyond grateful, and even more excited for what’s ahead. This is just the beginning. And now, a shameless plug: if you’re a B2B SaaS company looking to empower your sales team to drive and deliver a world-class experience with every demo—without the hassle of digging through mountains of data to find that one key insight—we’d love to have a conversation. We’re here to help you add real value to your sales funnel. #FounderJourney #SaaS #AI #Pepsales #Gratitude #DayZero #B2BSales Link to our announcement - https://lnkd.in/g5V7j2Nh

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I recently came across an article on founder coaching that really struck a chord with me. As a Venture Partner at Seedcamp, I spend a lot of time working closely with founders, helping them build out the right teams, fine-tune their products, craft their go-to-market strategies, and figure out how to operationalize and scale their businesses. These are all critical areas of focus, and they often involve making big, external changes. But one thing that doesn’t always change as quickly is the founder’s mindset. It’s not uncommon for founders to keep approaching problems the way they always have—after all, it worked in the past, right? But the reality of startups is that things are constantly shifting, and what worked two months ago may not be the right move now. Running a 20-person team the same way you ran a 6-person team, for example, often leads to issues. Sometimes it’s because founders feel tied to a vision they’ve sold to investors, employees, or customers, and they don’t want to backtrack, even when the evidence is telling them otherwise. Other times, they’ve been inspired by another founder’s success story or advice, and they try to replicate it—even when it’s clear the same approach isn’t working for them. In many cases, founders focus so much on fixing external problems—hiring the right designer, bringing in an operations person, or improving their sales team—that they miss the opportunity to look inward and consider how they might need to evolve alongside their business. As startups grow, the challenges start to shift from solving specific problems to scaling yourself as a leader. Founder mode might feel heroic, but it’s also a fast track to burnout for both the founder and their team. That’s why it’s essential to not only work on your product, processes, and culture but also on yourself. Sometimes, the roadblocks are coming from within. That’s why I’m such a strong advocate of founders investing in coaching. It can be a game-changer when it comes to navigating these challenges.

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Just stumbled upon a tech-twitter discussion where someone working in Private Equity shared a screenshot and had mentioned in his mail that he will share the signed document via Legitt. One step closer to the vision. The vision is 36 months from now, any business, whether a single-person-show, a small team, a mid-size business or an enterprise business, will use Legitt AI in one form or the other. Legitt AI is no more just a Contract Management Platform. It's much more than that. Write to me for a demo and learn how you can super-charge your business with Legitt AI.

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Breakdown of startup funding across sectors in 2024: 1. #Fintech: - 18.3% of seed stage funding - 17.1% of growth stage funding - 23.8% of late stage funding - Total funding: $2.5 Bn (17% decline from 2023) 2. #EnterpriseTech: - Raised $1.8 Bn - 167 deals 3. #ConsumerServices: - Raised $1.8 Bn - 48 deals - Boosted by Zepto's $1.3 Bn funding 4. #Ecommerce: - Raised $1.5 Bn (42.3% decline from 2023) - 203 deals (highest number of deals) 5. #Cleantech: - $829 Mn - 75 deals 6. #Healthtech: - $716 Mn - 78 deals 7. #Deeptech: - $460 Mn - 78 deals #Source: [1] After rough ride in 2024, Indian startups look for a promising new year https://lnkd.in/dVjxwUGC [2] Over 1 lakh 40 thousand recognized Start Ups in the country, over ... - PIB https://lnkd.in/dU9UQCN9 [3] After rough ride in 2024, Indian startups look for a promising new year https://lnkd.in/dkmzBN4q [4] Startup Funding Recap: November 2024 - PrivateCircle Blog https://lnkd.in/dP4MUx3Y [5] Unveiling the Indian Startup Funding Landscape in 2024 - LinkedIn https://lnkd.in/dcUTBRYB

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Startup founders in India, I need your input. We're facing significant hurdles with the Google Play Store review process for our app, Queo Health. Current situation: App stuck in review for almost a month Zero feedback from Google Multiple unanswered support tickets 3-month delay in our app launch This lack of communication is severely impacting our business timeline and plans. Despite Google's promise of 48-72 hour response times, we've been waiting for weeks. Questions for the community: Has anyone else experienced such lengthy review times recently? What strategies have you used to get a response from Google Play support? How are you managing the uncertainty in your release schedules? Let's share experiences and solutions. Perhaps together I can find a way to navigate these challenges. #GooglePlayStore #AppReview #StartupChallenges #TechSupport #MobileDevelopment

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🌟 Thrilled to unveil the journey of building a global SaaS company from India! 🇮🇳🚀 In this engaging podcast with Rohin Dharmakumar from The Ken, I share some of the core mental models that have been instrumental in my entrepreneurial path: 1️⃣ Risk Taking: Embracing and navigating risks has been key to our success. 2️⃣ Mental Toughness: Insights into how my early life experiences shaped the resilience needed for the entrepreneurial journey. 3️⃣ Opportunities Ahead: Discussing the exciting opportunities that lie ahead for Indian SaaS companies. 4️⃣ Choosing a Co-Founder: Essential criteria and insights on selecting the right partner. Building global companies from India is not just a goal—it's a lifelong mission. Join me as I discuss the lessons learned, the challenges overcome, and the promising future of building a global company from India. 🎧 Listen here: https://lnkd.in/grehUQQ9 #Entrepreneurship #SaaS #India #GlobalBusiness #Podcast #MentalModels # AI

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“Money Following Money” Funding Reset for startups With the IPO market thriving and startups like Zomato 1,150% return to Sequoia and Swiggy 3,391% return to Accel, delivering stellar exits, investors are now prioritizing late-stage opportunities. Strong exit opportunities are redirecting capital toward startups with proven market traction. - Declining Seed Funding: Seed rounds fell 40% - Late-Stage Surge: Late-stage funding climbed 22%  - Focus on Fundamentals: Investors now demand clear unit economics, sustainable growth, and profitability over hyper-growth models. Ganesh Raju of Turbostart aptly sums up the transition: “The market is evolving from prioritizing quantity to emphasizing quality.” The future belongs to those who can turn this funding reset into an opportunity. What’s your perspective on this shift?

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