Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

New Delhi, Jun 12 () Gaming and sports media company Nazara Technologies on Friday said it has undertaken an equity swap of stocks from Kae Capital worth Rs 14.6 crore to become the majority stakeholder in Halaplay Technologies. Nazara has invested in Halaplay over the years in two tranches. The first round of investment was carried out with Kae Capital in November 2017 and second round with Delta Corp in March 2019. "The company has now gone ahead and bought Kae Captial stocks in Halaplay making them the majority investors in the fantasy sports vertical," a statement said. Halaplay is a real money-based daily fantasy sports (DFS) platform. Launched in 2017, the company has seen a strong growth in user base and total transactions, it added. In the past, Nazara has invested in startups such as Nodwin Gaming, Next Wave Multimedia, Sportskeeda, Paper boat apps, Mastermind Sports, Moonglabs Technologies, Bakbuck, CrimzonCode, InstaSportz, NZWorld among others. SR ANS ANS

Nazara buys Kae Capital stake worth Rs 14.6 cr in Halaplay Technologies

<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Shubhankar+Bhattacharya&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Shubhankar Bhattacharya</a> is Partner at <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Kae+Capital&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Kae Capital</a>, a leading Indian <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=venture+capitalist&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">venture capitalist</a> (VC) firm investing in early stage <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=start-ups&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">start-ups</a>. He has browsed through thousands of pitches and met hundreds of <keyword id="6362513" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Startups">startups</keyword>. 
 
Few know, but Shubhankar was once an <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=entrepreneur&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">entrepreneur</a>. His start-up Yaqsh wanted to tap into India’s $60 billion jewellery market. Unfortunately, it died due to lack of funding. 
 
In his recent book, ‘VCs are from Venus, entrepreneurs are from Mars’ he busts the myths that exist between VCs and entrepreneurs. 
“So the next time you are frustrated with the opposite side, remember that entrepreneurs are from Mars and VCs are from Venus,” writes Shubhankar. “Appreciating the fact that the two sides are naturally different will help you to be more respectful of the differences and allow you to be more loving.” 
 
Here is an <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=entrepreneur&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">entrepreneur</a>-turned-VC’s guide to avoid rejection and get your startup funded: 
 
#1 VCs appreciate referrals. This can be from other <keyword id="6359051" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="investors">investors</keyword>, companies in their portfolio or people in their network. This validates you over a complete cold deal. 
 #2 If you’re trying to pitch to a fund, the best way forward is to find out if someone in your network is connected. Use that connection to land an introduction. 
 #3 Once introduced, reach out personally. Bringing up the fact directly - you’re looking out for funding. Don’t beat around the bush. Convoluted messages don’t work.​ Offer a presentation. Just 10-15 slides that communicate all important information. 
 #5 If the VC likes what he/she sees, they’ll invite you for a meeting or call. 
 #6 The important thing here is to figure the logistics of the meeting. Nail the time, place and date. Make it definite. Don’t leave it vague in the air. 
 #7 Most pitches end in a note. If a VC says no, important thing is not to lose your cool. If you’re that good, it’s the VC’s loss. There are a hundred others to reach out to. 
 #8 That’s the ideal mindset. Be calm. 
 #9 Are you up for it? 
 #10 Then what are you waiting for?

7 Steps: A VC’s Guide
to Funding Your Startup

<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Venture+capitalists&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">VCs</a> need entrepreneurs and vice-versa. However, the mystique around them can get inexplicable. Ever thought why these guys play hard to get? 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Venture+capitalists&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Venture capitalists</a> (VCs) call themselves ‘relationship capitalists’, but the relationship between the VC and the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=entrepreneur&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">entrepreneur</a> is often a strained one. Why do they act cold, send curt emails and pretend not to be paying attention. Are they even listening? 
 
Shubhankar Bhattacharya is a Partner at <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Kae+Capital&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Kae Capital</a>, a leading Indian <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Venture+capitalists&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">venture capitalist</a> (VC) firm investing in early stage start-ups. He has browsed through thousands of pitches and met hundreds of startups. His recent book, ‘VCs are from Venus, entrepreneurs are from Mars’ busts some of the biggest myths around VCs and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=entrepreneurs&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">entrepreneurs</a>. 
 
Business Insider asked him to list the least known facets of an Indian VC’s life. 
 
There is emotion in a decision 
As much as you’d like to rationalize the process, there’s an emotional side to the way a VC evaluates opportunities. Sacrifice and determination are very attractive qualities. 
 
Secondly, humility and politeness are respected. Maintain decorum during the pitch and after it. The ability to rally peers to the cause is a turn on. There are some proxies for it. Imagine a smart guy leaving his job, then convincing a friend/colleague who had to sacrifice his high-paying job. 
 
Somebody who writes passionately for their cause, and has a loyal group of customers is also a big turn on. 
 
Never chase VCs 
A lot of entrepreneurs have the impression that they have to keep chasing. That has a very negative effect. Excessive following up feels pushy and negative. 
 
However, it may work in cases where it’s a hot market, and investors have the fear of missing out. They may think the entrepreneur following up repeatedly means he is in advanced talks with other investors. 
 
Having said that, that’s not usually how it works. The best way is to make an impressive pitch, be assertive, and never chase VCs. 
 
They know pitching is difficult 
It’s way more taxing to pitch. We VCs often claim ours is a tough job. 
 
Imagine your company is at stake. You’re trying to make ends meet and are still expected to look assertive and confident. You keep pitching to 100 investors, and each one rejects you. That’s extremely hard. 
 
VCs aren’t the enemy 
It’s not an unequal relationship, and shouldn’t be looked up as one. 
 
Many entrepreneurs think it’s not in the VCs interest to invest. We’re put up on a pedestal. That’s not true. 
 
Nastiest things a VC hears 
‘What makes you think you know any better than me!’, ‘With a vision like that you would have never recognized a Facebook or WhatsApp!’ and 'do you know who I am!’ 
 
Fortunately we don’t deal with people who swear deliberately. 
 
VCs make mistakes too 
Any investing behavior comes with a herd mentality. Anything done differently is perceived as risky behavior. 
 
There’s a distinction between the VC and the firm as a whole. VCs with entrepreneurial background do come with a better understanding of this relationship dynamics. On a unilateral level, it might not be possible for them to vouch for the firm or an entire industry. 
 
Some VCs may be partial 
We sometimes think if an entrepreneur reaches out, and no investor makes him/her an offer in the first few weeks, he/she is not worth it. This alienates a lot of people. 
 
Sometimes, we also unfairly judge a ‘nice guy’. We think they would finish last. We come with this mindset that entrepreneurs must be extreme, and if someone’s mellow or soft-spoken, we think he’s not forceful enough. That need not be the case. 
 
The last is a bit of an open secret. While VCs tend to be reasonably holistic in terms of background, we do have a soft spot for degrees from premium colleges.

Things your VC
won't tell you

Bengaluru, Manufacturing platform <keyword id="7466761" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="zetwerk">Zetwerk</keyword> has raised $120 million (nearly ₹880 crore) in its Series D round led by US-based <keyword id="2779666" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Greenoaks-Capital">Greenoaks Capital</keyword> and <keyword id="455799" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Lightspeed-Venture-Partners">Lightspeed Venture Partners</keyword>. <keyword id="136147" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sequoia-Capital-India">Sequoia Capital India</keyword> and Kae Capital also participated in the round, Zetwerk said on Tuesday. This Series D round comes after the company's $21 million Series C round in July 2020, bringing the total equity capital raised by the company to $193 million. "The <keyword id="6651103" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Global-manufacturing-industry">global manufacturing industry</keyword> has had to swiftly adjust to the new normal, and digital solutions have become essential. Zetwerk accelerates this digital transformation with state-of-the-art productivity tools and remote project management," Amrit Acharya, Co-founder &amp; CEO, Zetwerk, said in a statement. "2021 will see further pace of growth as companies seek to diversify their procurement to minimise disruptions and become more agile and resilient." Zetwerk was founded in 2018 by <keyword id="6386086" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Institutes-of-Technology">Indian Institutes of Technology</keyword> (IIT) alumni Acharya, Srinath Ramakkrushnan, Rahul Sharma and Vishal Chaudhary with the aim of making it the go-to platform for the global manufacturing industry. It runs business-to-business marketplace for manufacturing parts. The platform is increasingly being adopted globally, with the company growing 3X year-on-year in 2020, despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, said Bengaluru-based Zetwerk. Zetwerk is modernising the manufacturing industry using proprietary technology and project management techniques. Since its founding, Zetwerk has forged deep partnerships in three key segments - precision parts, capital goods and consumer goods, serving a diverse range of product categories including prefabricated structures for infrastructure projects, sheet metal parts for electric vehicles, precision parts for aerospace, assembly lines for consumer durables, etc. With this fundraising, Zetwerk said it will further strengthen its technology and continue its expansion into new categories and regions. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/home-first-finance-company-ipo-lists-at-618-19-premium-over-the-issue-price/articleshow/80662539.cms">Warburg Pincus-backed Home First Finance Company IPO lists at 19% premium over the issue price</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/enterprise/news/indias-principal-economic-advisor-says-the-real-monopoly-to-be-worried-about-is-in-search-internet-and-social-media/articleshow/80663403.cms">INTERVIEW: Google and Facebook ahoy! India’s Principal Economic Advisor says the real monopoly to be worried about is in search, internet and social media</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/budget-2021-22-prioritises-gaganyaan-indias-human-spaceflight-mission-over-all-others-heres-why/articleshow/80663272.cms">Budget 2021-22 prioritises Gaganyaan, India’s human spaceflight mission, over all others — here’s why</a>

Zetwerk raises $120 million from Greenoaks Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners

If you are or have been an entrepreneur trying to raise funds from <keyword id="6357097" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="venture-capital">Venture Capital</keyword> (VC) investors, you have, in all likelihood, had to deal with a LOT of rejection (Or, no response to your mails/follow-up). 
 
Fund-raising can seem like a hellacious gauntlet for every entrepreneur. 
 
After all, <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.quora.com%2FWhat-percentage-of-ALL-start-ups-raise-angel-seed-VC-funding">less than 1% of startups end up raising money from a VC.</a> 
 
(…and I know what it feels like to be part of the 99%.) 
 
You may even be forgiven for thinking that VCs have no interest in actually financing a company. 
 
If you have received yet another rejection from a VC, do take a few minutes out to read this post before you judge yourself unfairly or let your (uncensored) opinions go wild. 
 
1. It is a Numbers Game 
 <keyword id="592787" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="raising-funds">Raising funds</keyword> from a VC isn’t an ordeal just for the 99%. 
 
<a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftechcrunch.com%2F2015%2F06%2F08%2Flessons-from-a-study-of-perfect-pitch-decks-vcs-spend-an-average-of-3-minutes-44-seconds-on-them%2F%23.ols2kx%3AJsiz">A study </a>showed that even for the 1% of the firms that are successful in raising a seed round, they end up contacting an average of 58 investors, which result in 40 meetings (Most of which, undoubtedly, do not end with a positive investment decision) 
 
The monopsonistic nature of the VC-Entrepreneur market puts entrepreneurs at an unambiguous disadvantage. 
 
No wonder the odds are so overwhelmingly against them. 
 
2. A ‘No’ can become a ‘Yes’… 
 
Here is a rather interesting and unusual observation : 
 
Nearly two-thirds of all fresh investments we have done at Kae Capital since the beginning of 2016 (Most of which haven’t been announced at the time of this writing) were companies we had rejected in the past. 
 
While it might be a <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSampling_bias">sampling abberation</a>, the power of this empirical evidence suggests that a ‘No’ from a ‘VC’ can indeed become a ‘Yes’. 
 
There might be several plausible explanations for this. Here are just a couple: 
 
The overwhelming effect of the Numbers Game can lead to (as much as we VCs hate to admit it) a hasty decision (<a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftechcrunch.com%2F2015%2F06%2F08%2Flessons-from-a-study-of-perfect-pitch-decks-vcs-spend-an-average-of-3-minutes-44-seconds-on-them%2F%23.ols2kx%3AJsiz">Studies show that the average time VCs spend on each slide is 12 seconds</a>). A second, or even a third look, when backed by greater rigor, or a stronger gut-feel, can lead to a reversal in the decision 
 
Time offers several luxuries, including those which allow entrepreneurs room for a well-suited pivot, a more refined business model or approach, or simply, traction that becomes hard to ignore — All of which are very desirable from a VC’s standpoint. 
 
There is a catch though. 
 
3. …But only if you are worthy (Otherwise it can become “Hell No!”) 
 
To give credit where it is due, the vast majority of entrepreneurs I meet are very polite and gracious when it comes to accepting rejection. 
 
Ever so often though, I receive a response such as 
 
“What makes you think you know how to pick a good investment ?” (The answer to which is, “Nothing at all. I am just another dude with an opinion”) 
 
or 
 
“You will regret this. We are going to be a Billion/Trillion dollar company !” (Wouldn’t be the first time we have missed a company that went on to be valued at over a Billion dollars. As for the Trillion dollars, leaving <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Fbusiness%2F2016%2F05%2F01%2Fsaudi-aramco-how-do-you-put-a-price-tag-on-the-worlds-most-impor%2F">Saudi Aramco</a> aside, the world is still waiting for its first Trillion Dollar company, so I wish you the best.) 
 
If as an entrepreneur, you see a clear disconnect with a VC, or are that sure of building a Billion dollar company, surely starting petty squabbles isn’t the most productive use of your time ? 
 
But such an outburst is likely to prevent the VC from ever revisiting an investment, and negative word-of-mouth is likely to poison future fund-raising prospects further. 
 
Speaking of which… 
 
4. Don’t underestimate the power of goodwill and referrals 
 
Of all the sources that result in a flow of deals to a VC, the most precious are undoubtedly those that come through high-quality referrals from close-knit networks. 
 
At Kae Capital, our recent history shows that referrals have accounted for a majority of our investments (Including those we had rejected in the past). 
 
What, perhaps, is underappreciated though, is that when the referral is from a fellow VC, it implies that the company was rejected during their own evaluation and yet, was deemed good enough to be referred to other VCs. 
 
We have also referred a few deals to other VCs. Over time, some of them have gone on to do rather well and raised significant external funding. 
 
As bittersweet the competitive nature of the VC industry might be, it always feels good to see a company that you had referred do well, even if it means you missed out on the deal.

Here's what you should do when investors say no

A leading media group recently reached out to us with an interesting question: 
 What is the future of <keyword id="6357097" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="venture-capital">Venture Capital</keyword> (VC) Investing? 
 
There is an <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FInception">Inception</a>-like quality to this question that I found particularly intriguing. 
 
Why? 
 
One of the more obvious, and yet under-appreciated, aspects of a VC’s job is that we are constantly predicting (or trying our best to predict) the future. 
 
 
 
<a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fdilbert.com%2Fstrip%2F1992-07-23">Image source</a> 
 
In the vast majority of cases, these “predictions” go spectacularly wrong. 
 
That might be because we aren’t as good at predicting the future as we would like to believe, or maybe it is because the future is, by design, unpredictable, as Nassim Nicholas Taleb posited in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Swan_(Taleb_book)">The Black Swan</a>. 
 
However, that might be hard for the followers of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostradamus">Nostradamus </a>to accept. After all, many credit the 16th century prophet with predicting world events as significant as World Wars, the rise of Napoleon and Hitler, and even, believe it or not, <a href="http://ca.nberra.com/index.php/2011/07/nostradamus-predicts-the-rise-of-facebook/">Facebook</a>. 
 
If even a fraction of his predictions are legitimate, or can be attributed to skill, Nostradamus would make a damn fine VC. 
 
 
 
<a href="http://hubpages.com/education/Nostradamus-Prophet-or-Poet">Image source</a> 
 
Recently, I was watching a documentary that claimed that Nostradamus’ “predictions” were nothing more than a retelling of past events. It proposed that Nostradamus believed in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historic_recurrence">Historic recurrence</a>, the concept that similar events and patterns keep repeating themselves over time. 
 
As Niccolò Machiavelli, one of the greatest writers of the Italian Renaissance era wrote in his Discorsi : 
 
“ Whoever considers the past and the present will readily observe that all cities and all peoples… ever have been animated by the same desires and the same passions; so that it is easy, by diligent study of the past, to foresee what is likely to happen in the future in any republic, and to apply those remedies that were used by the ancients, or not finding any that were employed by them, to devise new ones from the similarity of events.” 
 
In other words, the Past is the Future. 
 
How might such a thought be useful for us if to we are to attempt even a guess about what the future holds for the VC industry ? 
 
In many ways, VC investing today shares similarities with where stock market investing was in the 1950s. 
 
The 1950s was a time when stocks were still a relative novelty and the transaction process was time-consuming and expensive, besides being largely under the control of brokers. 
 
The extent to which the penetration of stock market investing has grown can largely be attributed to three factors : 
 
Reduction of the cost and time taken to invest 
 
Reduction of the information asymmetry between buyers and sellers 
 
Reduction of the minimum investment sizes (Think of the small monthly mutual fund investment plans) 
 
Today we find ourselves in a time when a significant proportion of consumers are either already stock market investors, or are considering entering the market, even if it is with a small starting position. 
 
But regular stock market investing is still primitive in comparison to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithmic_trading">algorithmic trading</a>, and in particular, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithmic_trading#High-frequency_trading">high frequency trading</a>, both of which refer to the process where trades are automated, executed and turned around real fast, and are driven by automated processes. 
 
To appreciate what this means, consider <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.equedia.com%2Fthe-shocking-truths-about-high-frequency-trading%2F">this</a>: 
 
Not only are stocks being held for no more than 16 seconds, the software’s decision to buy or sell a stock is made in less than 10 milliseconds. Some say it’s as fast as half a millionth of a second — that’s more than a million times faster than the human brain can process a decision. 
 
<a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.equedia.com%2Fhow-fast-is-high-frequency-trading%2F">High Frequency Trading already accounts for more than 50% of all stock trading volume</a> in the US. 
 
It is no longer the future. 
 
If anything, it is the past and the present. 
 
The possibility that VC is heading in the same direction might not be a ludicrous one to suggest. 
 
After all, we already have an <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaivc.com%2F">Artificial-Intelligence (AI) powered VC firm</a>. 
 
 
 
<a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaivc.com%2F">Image source</a> 
 
(Spoiler Alert : Don’t get your hopes high, at least not yet) 
 
Shouldn’t we be celebrating how technology is making investing a more convenient and presumably, more intelligent process ? 
 
What might we be overlooking ? 
 
Ivan Lo has some <a href="http://about:blank">pretty grim prophecies</a> over trading being taken over by software : 
 
“The world is literally on the brink of a financial collapse and we have software programs running and gauging our day-to-day markets. It’s a scary thought. 
 
Software programs have bugs. At any given time, the wrong input our output could cause catastrophe. I am sure everyone has had their computer crash or had some kind of weird malfunction with a software program before. Imagine when it happens with software trading programs that control billions of dollars worth of wealth — ie. flash crashes.” 
 
If you think such dire predictions have no precedent in the world of investing, think again. 
 
<a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FLong-Term_Capital_Management">Long Term Capital Management </a>(LTCM) began in 1994 with a team that included Nobel laureates and a game-changing quantitative investment model that returned 21% in the first year, 43% in the second year, and 41% in the third year. 
 
Nothing could go wrong for LTCM, until it did — With a spectacular loss of $4.6 Billion in 1998. 
 
So how can we use technology in a way that helps us and yet saves us from a potential (inevitable?) implosion ? 
 
Think of a time when the prevalent transportation solution takes the blame for urban pollution and congestion and exacerbates housing woes. 
If you are thinking of the present times and fossil-fuel based transportation, think again. 
 
I am talking of 19th Century London and New York. And Horses. 
 
I first read about this problem in <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fffbsccn.wordpress.com%2F2009%2F11%2F17%2Fsuperfreakonomics-and-the-parable-of-the-horse-manure-there-is-so-much-i-dont-know%2F">Superfreakonomics </a>(And for those interested, it makes for an absorbing read), described in the book as one of “Horse Manure”. 
 
To appreciate what this problem was, imagine travelling back in time to 19th Century London and New York. The most dominant technological solution and one which require little/no human effort was horses, or vehicles that ran on horses.Everything was transported by horse-drawn vehicles of one kind or another — people, goods, food — everything. 
 
Why would that be a problem though ? 
 
As <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnofrakkingconsensus.com%2F2011%2F03%2F29%2Fthe-horse-manure-problem%2F">Donna Laframboise</a> puts it, 
 
“Horses are lovely animals, but when crowded into cities they cause a variety of problems. The 15 to 30 pounds of manure produced daily by each beast multiplied by the 150,000+ horses in New York city resulted in more than three million pounds of horse manure per day that somehow needed to be disposed of. That’s not to mention the daily 40,000 gallons of horse urine.” 
 
But that was not all. 
 
In 1894, the Times of London estimated that by 1950 every street in the city would be buried nine feet deep in horse manure. One New York prognosticator of the 1890s concluded that by 1930 the horse droppings would rise to Manhattan’s third-story windows. 
 
 
 
That is horse poop on the streets of New York (<a href="https://www.petpooskiddoo.com/blog/dirt-carters-to-crossing-sweepers-to-white-wings-the-original-pooper-scoopers/">Image source</a>) 
 
So what saved us from drowning in Horse manure? 
 
Superfreakonomics believes it was the adoption of the automobile. While that is an elegant and largely correct answer, I believe credit is also due to a more humble missing link : The Bicycle. 
 
Mass-produced automobiles could only be used if there were smooth, paved roads on which they could be driven. 
 
And what triggered the decision to produce such roads ? You guessed it — Bicycles. 
 
How bicycles might have contributed to cleaning and decongesting urban centers is not a very difficult thing to explain. Bicycles are pollution-free and because they became the first ubiquitous transportation solution (Everybody could afford a bicycle), they allowed people to live further away from city centers in less densely populated and more affordable areas. 
 
Bicycles solved the problem of pollution, traffic and expensive housing rentals. 
 
Should we be surprised that all these problems were solved by a technological innovation (The bicycle) that actually increased the extent of physical human exertion during travel ? 
 
Technological improvements aren’t always about reducing human effort. 
 
What would our history lesson on horses and bicycles have to do with investing ? 
 
I decided to ask Google who the best investor in the world is, and the response wasn’t a surprise : 
 
 
 
I see poetic beauty in the fact that by popular opinion, the gold standard of investing today continues to be Warren Buffet, an individual who has been investing since the 1940s and 1950s. 
 
One of the defining qualities of Warren Buffet’s investing style, popularly called ‘Value Investing’, is <a href="http://www.morningstar.in/videos/617497/greenblatt-patience---the-secret-to-value-investing.aspx">Patience </a>— A distinctly human quality (Albeit a rare one), and a clear anti-thesis of High-frequency trading. 
 
Warren Buffet’s example is something all VCs, whether current of aspiring, should constantly remind themselves of. 
 In all likelihood, the future will be a time where millions of people will be eligible to call themselves Angel Investors and will directly compete with <keyword id="47360" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="VC-funds">VC funds</keyword> for access to deals. AI systems will reach a stage of maturity when they are able to analyze early-stage private companies and give us a direct recommendation on whether to Buy or Sell (Much like similar systems exist in the public markets today). 
 
It might also be reasonable for us to speculate that such AI systems will be able to predict the next “hot” business model to invest in. 
 
However, the best VCs will continue to be defined by a uniquely human power, their ability to make sense of the indecipherable : The -X-Factor that defines the best entrepreneurs. 
 
For all the advances in technology and learning systems, identifying a truly remarkable entrepreneur will remain one of the final frontiers that technology might not be able to conquer. 
 The vast majority of decisions made by <keyword id="910849" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="VC-investors">VC investors</keyword> will largely be driven by machine recommendations, the sort of decisions that attract a consensus. 
 
The best VCs though, will differentiate themselves by backing their conviction in exceptional Entrepreneurs that have crazy ideas, even when such decisions conflict with a machine-driven recommendation, and be patient enough to not act on market speculations. 
 
In most cases, such ideas are too crazy and hare-brained for AI systems to understand (Which, is a rather beautiful irony). 
 
<a href="http://thestudioexec.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/inception-1920x1080-wallpaper-829789.jpg">Image source</a> 
 
About the author: Shubhankar Bhattacharya is a Venture Partner at Kae Capital, an early stage VC fund. He can be reached via his <a href="https://in.linkedin.com/in/shubhankar-bhattacharya-a1063a3">LinkedIN profile</a>.

The past is the future

New Delhi, Feb 6 () Property brokerage firm Square Yards, which is backed by Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group, has acquired Mumbai-based rental platform Azuro as part of its expansion plan, a top company official said. Founded in 2016 by IIT Bombay alumni Altaf Ahmad, Sushant Kumar, Sudhanshu Mishra, Ayush Agrawal and Vishal Chauthmal, Azuro offers rental and property management solutions. It helps in finding a tenant, background checks, automated rent collection, property maintenance and tenant exits. The entire team of Azuro, including its co-founders, have joined Square Yards and will continue to operate under the larger umbrella with the same brand name. Square Yards founder and CEO Tanuj Shori said, "Square Yards is building an integrated intermediary ecosystem for the real estate industry and this requires the best of technology and talent. Azuro's innovative approach in grabbing market share in the large rentals and property management sector gives us opportunity to add synergies to the current value chain." "Both rentals and property management are multi-billion opportunities, but currently under-served in India. We will look forward to scaling this business in India and further globally in countries like UAE, Canada and Australia where we have a significant presence," he added. Azuro co-founder Ahmad said the company aims to catalyse the next phase of growth by leveraging Square Yards' platform using its reach, operational resources, and the consumer platform squareyards.com. Azuro has been backed by Kae Capital, Mumbai Angels, White Unicorn ventures, who will now join the cap table of Square Yards after the acquisition. Gaurav Chaturvedi, Partner at Kae Capital, said the unification is aimed at capturing a big opportunity in the O2O (offline to online) real estate services market. In India, about USD 32 billion (about Rs 2.27 lakh crore) of rent transactions take place annually and the brokerage opportunity of USD 3 billion (about Rs 21,300 crore) is expected to grow further as more consumers are inclining towards shared economy from asset ownership models. With the impending roll out of the Model Tenancy Act, 2019, Square Yards said there are bright chances for the rental housing market to not only get regulated but also ripe for disruption through the use of technology. In September, Square Yards raised USD 25 million (around Rs 175 crore) through preferential issue of equity shares to investors, including Times Group. The company has so far raised USD 50 million in equity and over USD 25 million in debt financing since its inception in 2014. Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group's private equity arm had invested USD 12 million in Square Yards in November 2016. The Gurugram-based company had clocked a revenue of Rs 220 crore in the 2018-19 financial year. It reported a 56 per cent growth in revenue at Rs 75.5 crore for the second quarter of this fiscal. MJH RVK

Square Yards acquires rental & property management firm Azuro

New Delhi, Nov 23 () Loanzen, a start-up that provides financial solutions to logistics industry, on Sunday said it has raised funding from Zephyr Peacock India Growth Fund.
 However, it didn't disclose the funding amount.
 Existing investor Kae Capital also participated in the round, a statement said.
 "Loanzen will invest the funds raised in development of technology, build data analytics teams, scale operations in existing locations across Karnataka and expand to new markets," it added.
 While Loanzen declined to comment on the amount of funding or valuation, sources suggest the company has raised about USD 4-5 million (about Rs 28-35 crore) in this round.
 Zephyr Peacock India Growth Fund is a private equity fund investing in small and medium enterprises in India.
 Loanzen provides loans to purchasers of used commercial vehicles, including operators of small CV fleets and first-time buyers. These purchasers have limited financing options due to inadequate credit history and lack of documented income. 
 It uses proprietary underwriting processes based on alternate data sources to meet the needs of its customer segment.
 "Given the rapid growth in the logistics segment with increasing penetration of technology, we are looking to scale up over the coming year...We are planning to target a Rs 75-80 crore loan book addressing a base of over 2,000 customers in the coming year," Loanzen co-founder Madhu Sudhan said.
 Headquartered in Bengaluru, the company is currently serving customers in Karnataka and plans to expand to other states in south India in the coming months.
 Abhijeet Kudva, Managing Director at Zephyr Peacock, said Loanzen's loans have helped over 500 drivers and vehicle operators already.
 "We expect Loanzen to become a leader in logistics financing, supporting over 15,000 customers in the next three to five years," he added. SR RVK

Loanzen gets funding from Zephyr Peacock India

<ul><li><keyword id="922093" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Healthkart">Healthkart</keyword> has raised $25 million in a Series G round, according to filings sourced by paper.vc.</li><li>The startup has raised <keyword id="6357455" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Funding">funding</keyword> from Belgium-based Advent Management.</li><li>Founders Prashant Tandon and Sameer Maheshwari had split to run Healthkart – for nutritious and wellness products – and <keyword id="2962726" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="1mg">1mg</keyword> as the online pharmacy. </li></ul>Online <keyword id="245935" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Health-and-Wellness">health and wellness</keyword> retail startup Healthkart has raised $25 million in a Series G round, according to filings sourced by paper.vc. The Sequoia-backed startup has raised funding from Belgium-based Advent Management. Healthkart has been rapidly growing its business along with raising funds. The startup had <a href="https://inc42.com/flash-feed/healthkart/">raised</a> $12 million from Sequoia India, Kae Capital and others in 2016. According to reports, the startup also raised funds from a <a href="https://www.vccircle.com/sequoia-backed-healthkart-to-get-new-investor-in-10-mn-capital-raise/">follow up</a> round in July 2018. Launched in 2011 by Prashant Tandon and Sameer Maheshwari, the startup also expanded to offline businesses in 2013. In 2015, Healthkart separated its drugstore business to start a different vertical – 1mg. While 1mg works as an e-retail platform for medicines, Healthkart offers nutrition products, protein supplements etc, online. Healthkart also runs its private label – Incredio – along with other popular brands on its platform. While Tandon looks after the business of 1mg, Maheshwari runs the Healthkart business. 1mg <a href="https://inc42.com/buzz/exclusive-epharma-startup-1mg-raises-inr-314-cr/">raised</a> $45 million in April 2019 at a reported valuation of $200 million. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/curefit-raises-75-million-from-anand-piramal-accel-partners-and-others/articleshow/69215063.cms">Three-year old Curefit clocks in $100 mn in revenue and over $245 mn in total funding</a>

Healthkart, one of India’s first health e-tailer, raises $23 million

Ever since the RBI granted licenses to 11 companies to start payments banks in 2015 , we have seen three fully functioning, the latest one being Paytm. Vijay Sekhar Sharma, the founder, has recently raised 1.4 billion USD from <keyword id="163404" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Softbank">Softbank</keyword> and Alibaba. In a release addressed to media, Sharma said, “"RBI has given us an opportunity to create a new kind of banking model in the world. None of our deposits will be converted into risky assets." While <keyword id="6385180" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Airtel-Payments-Bank">Airtel Payments Bank</keyword> offered free talktimes, Paytm Payments Bank defines itself as the first bank with zero online fees for any transaction, which includes virtual debit card, <keyword id="285745" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="NEFT">NEFT</keyword>, IMPS. The only things that would be charged are cheque books, demand draft and debit cards, which would be physical. In India, payments bank can collect deposits up to Rs 1 lakh, has to invest 75% of its deposits in government securities, can offer different payment solutions, but can't lend. This comes to the bigger question how would they make money? Shubhankar Bhattacharya, venture partner at Kae Capital told The Economic Times, “For starters, payments banks can't issue loans or credit cards, and are modelled to cover the cost of capital through transaction charges on their payment product. Therefore, payments banks need to find other avenues to improve the yield on the assets made available to them from their depositors.” "Payments banks are more likely to cross-sell services that are being offered on their platform," added Bhattacharya. “They need very high volume to start churning profits. Wallet was the game of boys. Payments banks is the game of men," <keyword id="3849285" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ashita-Aggarwal">Ashita Aggarwal</keyword>, head of marketing, SP Jain Institute of Management and Research told ET. The 11 entites, which were granted licenses last year, Tech Mahindra, Cholamandalam Investment and <keyword id="25455" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="finance">Finance</keyword> Company and a consortium of Dilip Shanghvi, IDFC Bank and <keyword id="3371770" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Telenor-Financial-Services">Telenor Financial Services</keyword> have already given up on the venture. It’s for us to wait and watch how Sharma makes Paytm Payments Bank successful like the mobile wallet.

How viable are payments banks in India?

I recently came across an intriguing piece of research discussed in the book <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FThinking%2C_Fast_and_Slow">Thinking, fast and slow</a> written by Daniel Kahneman (BTW the book is a masterclass in behavior analysis). 
 A large-scale study of the impact of <keyword id="6375224" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="higher-education">higher education</keyword> collected data from about 12,000 people who had started their higher education in elite schools in 1976. 
 
When they were 17 or 18, the participants had filled out a questionnaire in which they rated the goal of “being very well-off financially” on a 4-point scale ranging from “not important” to “essential”. The questionnaire they completed twenty years later included measures of their income in 1995, as well as a global measure of life satisfaction. 
 A whole 19 years after they stated their <keyword id="3860764" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Financial-aspirations">financial aspirations</keyword>, many of the people who wanted a <keyword id="2645234" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="High-income">high income</keyword> had achieved it. 
 
Among the 597 physicians and other medical professionals in the sample, for example, each additional point on the money-importance scale was associated with an increment of over $14,000 of job income in 1995 dollars. 
 
Nonworking married women were also likely to have satisfied their financial ambitions. Each point on the scale translated into more than $12,000 of added household income for these women, evidently through the earnings of their spouse. 
 
Evidently, goals offer a great deal more than a mere climax for our ambitions. Goals have the power to create reality, or as the Buddha said : 
 
“What we think, we become” 
 
The aforementioned research also threw some light on why goals make us work harder to achieve our objectives. 
 
In the sample study, the effect of income on life satisfaction was larger for those who had listed being well-off financially as an essential goal : 0.57 on a 5-point scale. The corresponding difference for those who had indicated that money was not important was only 0.12. 
 
We end up deriving greater happiness from the same outcomes if they are aligned with our goals. 
 
 
 
<a href="http://dilbert.com/">Image Source</a> 
 
It shouldn’t come as a surprise then that ambition and the desire to achieve extraordinary goals are amongst the most desirable qualities Venture Capitalists (VCs) look for in entrepreneurs. 
 
However, ambition is also one of the most difficult qualities to assess, especially <a href="https://shubhankar.co/why-humility-is-an-unfair-advantage-c216ef54cd95#.s6nycfjjl">when certain pretentious actions and behaviors are thrown into the mix</a>. 
 
In a <a href="http://timreview.ca/article/1023">comprehensive study of 21 Finnish technology companies, conducted by Arto Wallin, Kaisa Still and Katja Henttonen</a>, the trio found an elegant correlation between an entrepreneur’s ambition and how (s)he articulated the firm’s aspirations and growth plans. 
 
 
 
Since goals tend to become reality, a startup’s future can be predicted (with relatively more favourable odds) based on the scope of its goals. 
 
But then, it would be preposterous to suggest that most certain entrepreneurs are not ambitious enough to be crazily hungry for success. 
 
The distinction that needs to be made though is that different entrepreneurs define ‘success’ differently, either overtly, or in more subtle ways. 
 
In other words, 
 
An entrepreneur who defines success as the act of raising external funding would derive much greater happiness (Economists call this “utility”) from a successful fund-raise than anything else. 
 
An entrepreneur who defines success as achieving profitability would likely be quite satisfied when said goal is accomplished because the marginal utility of incremental effort might not be worth the trouble. 
 
A great case study in how the best entrepreneurs use goals to define their companies is <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.corporate-ir.net%2Fmedia_files%2Firol%2F97%2F97664%2Freports%2FShareholderletter97.pdf">Jeff Bezos’ 1997 letter to Amazon’s shareholders</a>. The fact that Amazon continues to attach this letter with every annual shareholder letter bears testament to the hallowed position the company’s goals occupy. 
 
The following extract from the <a href="http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/irol/97/97664/reports/shareholderletter01.pdf">2001 annual letter</a> in particular is very revealing : 
 
“In every annual letter (including this one), we attach a copy of our original 1997 letter to shareholders to help investors decide if Amazon.com is the right kind of investment for them, and to help us determine if we have remained true to our original goals and values. I think we have.” 
 
Nearly two decades since the 1997 letter, I think we can all emphatically say based on how things have gone with Amazon : 
 
‘Yes, they have’ 
 Speaking of entrepreneurs and their goals, <keyword id="6355315" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Elon-Musk">Elon Musk</keyword> had a pretty elaborate <a href="https://www.tesla.com/blog/secret-tesla-motors-master-plan-just-between-you-and-me">‘Secret Master Plan’ for Tesla Motors back in 2006</a> which he neatly summarized as : 
 
Build sports car 
 
Use that money to build an affordable car 
 
Use that money to build an even more affordable car 
 
While doing above, also provide zero emission electric power generation options 
 
Don’t tell anyone. (Sure !) 
 
With the early reception to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Model_3">Tesla Model 3</a> and the <a href="http://www.teslarati.com/tesla-solarcity-merger-ok-institutional-shareholder-services/">Tesla-SolarCity merger</a>, the master plan seems to have been executed to prophetic levels of perfection. 
 
The obvious follow-up was the <a href="https://www.tesla.com/blog/master-plan-part-deux">Master Plan, Part Deux</a>, which, in short, is : 
 
Create stunning solar roofs with seamlessly integrated battery storage 
 
Expand the electric vehicle product line to address all major segments 
 
Develop a self-driving capability that is 10X safer than manual via massive fleet learning 
 
Enable your car to make money for you when you aren’t using it 
 
 
 
<a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fyourstory.com%2F2016%2F07%2Felon-musk-master-plan-2%2F">Image Source</a> 
 
Determined entrepreneurs have time and again proved that focus can help achieve some pretty audacious goals. 
 
<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/09/15/jeff-bezos-on-nuclear-reactors-in-space-the-lack-of-bacon-on-mars-and-humanitys-destiny-in-the-solar-system/">Jeff Bezos</a> and <a href="https://spaceflightnow.com/2016/09/27/spacexs-elon-musk-announces-vision-for-colonizing-mars/">Elon Musk</a> have now set their sights on seeing millions of humans across outer space. 
 
Hopefully we will all be working on our own set of ambitious goals while enjoying the new neighbourhood. 
 
(<a href="https://shubhankar.co/">Shubhankar ​Bhattacharya</a> is a Venture Partner at Kae Capital, an early stage VC fund.) 
 
(Main Image: Thinkstock)

Why Ambition & Goals Matter

How do VCs answer the question-“Should I invest in this Startup?” 
 Before I get to that, I’ll quickly digress to share the story of a remarkable sporting achievement that gave more impetus to a hitherto, underused method for evaluation of <keyword id="6362513" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Startups">startups</keyword>. 
 
Back in 2002, the Oakland Athletics baseball team created history by finishing first in their division. 
 
No mean feat, especially when you are an underdog, with severe financial limitations and having lost 3 of your best players to the elite teams. And then to top it all, going on to set an American League record for the longest win streak with 20 consecutive wins. 
 
More interestingly, the way in which the Oakland A’s achieved all of this was so incredible and unique at the same time, that it inspired a <a href="http://www.amazon.in/Moneyball-Art-Winning-Unfair-Game/dp/0393324818">book</a> (which went on to become a bestseller) and a Hollywood <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1210166/">movie</a> starring <keyword id="3557" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Brad-Pitt">Brad Pitt</keyword> that received 6 Academy Award nominations including one for Best Picture. The movie’s screenplay, was written by no less than <keyword id="377733" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Aaron-Sorkin">Aaron Sorkin</keyword> (of The Social Network and Steve Jobs fame). 
 The book details how <keyword id="784180" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Billy-Beane">Billy Beane</keyword>, Oakland Athletics’ General Manager, and the brain behind what came to be known as the ‘<keyword id="248886" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="Moneyball">Moneyball</keyword>’ strategy catapulted them to unprecedented success with 4 more division crowns. 
 
Moneyball in a nutshell 
In sports, the Moneyball model is about finding undervalued (or under-the-radar) players and buying them on the cheap to put together a competitive team. 
 
It gets you the maximum bang for your buck using data and detailed analysis to identify value, which your non-moneyball competitors are yet to spot. They do this by measuring in-game activity of players to make cost-effective purchase decisions through comparison and heavy use of statistics. 
 
It has been used extensively in baseball, basketball and football, with remarkable success. 
 
Moneyball and Consensus 
In his recent article titled, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/The-Selection-Dilemma/articleshow/55028022.cms">The Selection Dilemma</a>, Kae Capital’s Shubhankar Bhattacharya, talks about Indian skipper, MS Dhoni, getting selected into national team despite non-consensus amongst selectors (such scenes play out quite often in the movie Moneyball as well). 
 
In the context of Dhoni’s selection, it could be argued that it might not have been entirely, an emotional decision. Perhaps, those selectors who pushed his case for inclusion were playing Moneyball in their heads. 
 
Let me elaborate… 
 
Although conventional wisdom suggests relying on batting averages or runs scored to determine who the better batsmen is, the Moneyball approach would not consider it to be an effective metric at all. Depending on the format of the game (test/ ODI/ T20), it would consider other, more effective metrics, given the team’s requirement or objective for a particular position. In this case, that happened to align with the stated reason by then captain Sourav Ganguly for Dhoni’s inclusion over fellow wicketkeeper-batman, Dinesh Karthik (who had scored more runs than Dhoni in domestic matches that season). 
 
Ganguly mentioned that he needed a batsmen who could perform under pressure on a bigger stage. In Moneyball terms, that probably maps to higher strike rate, runs scored and partnerships stands specifically in the slog/ death overs or while batting second in internationals. Did Dhoni’s stats better Karthik’s in that regard? Unfortunately, I do not have the data. But, his inclusion was justified when he consistently finished tight games for the national side, filling in a precise requirement. 
 
The Game VCs play – Selection or Moneyball? 
Coming back to the article, Shubhankar, goes on to elaborate on how the job of a VC is akin to that of the selector, in identifying promising startups that have been overlooked or misunderstood and hence passed on by other investors. He further illustrates via a 2x2 matrix on how the most successful bets come from non-consensus investments that are not necessarily backed by data or even common sense. 
 
But, if data can really provide actionable decisions, then why do VCs still largely rely on their ‘gut feeling’ or go by their ‘instinct’ before investing? 
 
The Moneyball Dilemma 
That’s because you cannot solely rely on statistics to tell you everything about a startup. Some things cannot be measured statistically or accurately — like a founder’s grit, or for that matter, the craziness of an idea! 
 
Just like sometimes, the only way a coach/ manager/ selector can assess certain qualities of a player, is to watch him/her play, VCs like to assess founders too, over several months and many meetings before they take a bet. 
 
Data scientists, however, would argue that everything can be measured — if you can see it and discriminate it based on those values, a stat can be made for it. According to them, a stat being unavailable only means that the stat doesn’t exist, yet! 
 
They might have a point. 
 
Given the massive advances in machine learning, the Moneyball approach can not only throw data points, but also help find the narrative in that data and its impact (there’s already <a href="http://www.theaivc.com/">AIVC</a> — the world’s first Venture Capital fund powered entirely by Artificial Intelligence). 
 
Coming back to the first question… 
How does a VC answer the question, “Should I invest in this Startup” 
 
I believe the answer will always be a mix of the emotional and the rational. 
 
The emotional ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ determines the faith the VC has in the team and the idea; and the rational will always be a percentage that goes something like, 
 
“There’s a 72.8% chance that the startup will attract follow-on funding” 
 
or 
 
“a 48.2% probability that this startup gets acquired” 
 
or 
 
“a 12.9% chance this startup will list publicly in the next 8 years.” 
 
The latter, in fact, is based more on the evaluation of business models and traction gained. And in that, it aligns with those startups in the [Successful + Consensus] quadrant, which will almost always give less than ideal or maximum returns. The reason is because investors make a beeline to invest in those companies that seem to have everything going right. Thus providing diminishing returns as their value is driven up. 
 
Having said that, investors and founders alike, need to move towards an increasingly advanced set of statistics and make it a bigger part of public discussion when it comes to determining performance of startups. That would mean the media would need to play an active role in the process by not glorifying vanity metrics such as GMV or number of app downloads or number of items sold. A case in point being the recent <a href="http://qz.com/274278/the-real-reason-why-indias-shopping-websites-are-at-each-others-throats-this-week/">war</a> <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Companies/BhnTNmAinnOChvZLwMe86M/Indias-ecommerce-war.html">of</a> <a href="http://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/now-flipkart-and-amazon-fight-over-no-1-spot-in-terms-of-diwali-sales-264705.html">words</a> between the CEOs of Flipkart and Amazon India over Dussera and Diwali sales figures. 
 
Such efforts can also help reign in valuation bubbles. Overvaluing and over-investing, in startups or business models, that are fundamentally broken or flawed, can be thus controlled when the industry moves towards a ‘gold standard' for evaluation via metrics. 
 
Also, such complex metrics would also help overcome the conundrum posed by <a href="http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/Goodharts-law.html">Goodhart’s Law</a>, as these metrics will be hard to game. 
 
Final thoughts 
In the end, both approaches try to find value where it is not immediately apparent. However, many questions remain to be answered as one system cannot completely replace the other. To choose one, would be ill-advised and plain foolish. 
 
Perhaps, if VCs can evaluate their bets in retrospect and share the data, it could merit a follow-up article. If you had like to reach out in that regard (or even otherwise), I’m on <a href="https://twitter.com/prajaret">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/praveenrajaretnam">LinkedIn</a>.

Playing Moneyball with Startups — the Metrics Dilemma

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="http://broadbandcapital.com/">Jeff Appel</a>Last year's Team USA champions: Jeff Appel (L) and Bill Ackman (R)</div></div></div>Some of the biggest names in finance from both sides of the Atlantic will face off against each other at tennis in London this weekend.The Wimbledon finals may be making all the headlines, but the second annual Finance Cup will also been taking place at the prestigious Queens Club in west London.Team Europe are looking for revenge after their 8-1 defeat to the Team USA in New York last year.Organised by American Jeff Appel and Swede David Anving, the cup brings together some of the top tennis players from Wall Street and Europe's financial sector and has become one of the best networking opportunities in business.The 41-person tournament mixes high-flying kings of finance such as hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman with young up and comers from the City and Wall Street. Players are recruited by Appel and Anving.Make no mistake, this is no casual meetup between bankers to hit a ball around - many of these players have ATP rankings, have beaten top pros, and were among the best at their colleges and universities.Some of the biggest companies in finance are represented, including Goldman Sachs by its Co-Head of Global Securities Pablo Salame and Head of the European Private Credit Group James Reynolds, JP Morgan Executive Director Alfredo Caturano, HSBC Nordic Private Banking head Tobias Hildebrand, and of course Perishing Square Capital billionaire Bill Ackman.The competition will take place over three rounds in a single day, with four doubles matches in each round spread over the Open, Mid-Level and Senior categories.BI caught up with the cofounders to hear what the tournament is all about.<h2>'The initial idea was friends just getting together'</h2>It all started with a Business Insider article from two years ago, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-tennis-community-2014-10?IR=T" target="_blank">when Appel took BI on a tour of Wall Street's tennis culture on Randall Island every Sunday</a>.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="https://twitter.com/HarryCicma?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Harry Cicma</a>Team Wall Street's Jeff Appel (L) and Team Europe's David Anving at Queens to practice before the tournament.</div></div></div>Anving, who had been the captain of the tennis team at the University of Michigan, saw the report and sent Appel a blind email suggesting they meet up - which they did in Paris, taking in the French Open.Soon afterwards, the idea of the tournament took hold and Anving bought a European team to New York. Appel recalls that he and Anving "quickly became kindred souls. David and I wanted to create something that was altruistic. We want to help young people who have given so much to tennis."Anving says: "For us, the initial idea was friends just getting together, but since the first year we've had a lot of young kids who are maybe in college now and want to get into Wall Street or the City of London to work. So at a personal level that gives me the most satisfaction. And it's a big team - there's 40 people in total so it's great for networking."Anving, a partner at Global Asset Management Capital, found 3 top employees through the Cup's co-founder. This seems to be Appel's main goal for the tournament. He says: "A lot of great friendships and business relationships have come out of this. We want to help other people and hope this will be a tradition that goes on for many years."Anving adds: "It's great to meet people from both the US and all over Europe. Even if you've never met them before you tend to have common friends and there's a sense of community."<h2>'The Mayor of New York Tennis'</h2>Appel - known as the "Mayor of New York Tennis" and ranked no.12 in the USTA 45s Singles category - can also be credited with getting Bill Ackman back into the game after sending him his own blind email. Ackman is now a major part of Team USA.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="https://twitter.com/HarryCicma?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Harry Cicma</a>Jeff Appel (far left) with members of the team.</div></div></div>"The tennis community in New York is very ingrained in the finance community," Appel <a href="http://www.blacklabeltennis.com/2014/09/tennis-over-all.html" target="_blank">told Black Label Tennis in 2014</a>. So why are so many great tennis players so suited to the world of finance?"That's a good question," says Anving. "I guess because both require an intense amount of hard work and discipline. A lot of these guys were really good in college and just want to keep that intensity up. [Finance] jobs are a lot like tennis really, you look at traders where it can be so up and down, and I think that mentality for tennis comes in very helpful."Appel knows that Team Wall Street needs to stay on its toes this weekend, saying: "David aggressively recruited for Team Europe this year and did a great job. We're looking forward to great matches and know that the change to grass courts will be an extra challenge."Anving is confident, saying: "Our team is much better than it was last year… but so is Team USA. I think we need a couple of wins in the older and younger sections, but in the mid-level we're really strong."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table center"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-appel-1501266">Jeff Appel</a></div></div></div>Here are team rosters for the annual Tennis Finance Cup. Keep an eye on Business Insider for the results after the weekend:<div title="Page 2">Wall Street (USA) Roster - Open CategoryAmer Delic: ATP ranking #60 Singles #74 Doubles and works at Meritage Capital.Mac Styslinger: 2016 Captain of National Champion UVA Team, with an NCAA ranking of #5 Singles, #1 Doubles. He works at Fidus Partners.Kaes Van't Hof: ATP #605 Singles, #155 Double, with 5 Career doubles titles. He works at Wexford Capital.Drew Courtney: ATP ranking #212 Doubles and NCAA ranking of #15 Singles, #1 Doubles. He works at Brown Advisory.</div><div title="Page 3">Jason Pinsky: #1 USTA Boys 18s and NCAA #11 Doubles, he works at Table Management.Marc Powers: #1 Singles and Doubles all 4 years at Yale University and Ivy Player and Rookie of the Year. He works at Samlyn CapitalMid 37-46 CategoryGraydon Oliver: ATP ranking #29 Doubles, and reached round of 16 2-times at Wimbledon and US Open ? NCAA #9 Singles, #1 Doubles. He works for Avalon Advisors.Kevin Kim: ATP ranking #63 Singles, #118 Doubles, 9 ATP Challenger Singles Titles. He is at California Bank &amp; Trust.</div><div title="Page 4"><div><div>Thomas Blake: ATP ranking #264 Singles, #141 Doubles and #1 Singles and Doubles at Harvard. He's with Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.Kunj Majmudar: ATP ranking #728 Singles, #409 Doubles and NCAA #25 Singles, #1 Doubles. He is Director at Seven Bridges Advisors.Rodolfo "Rudy" Rake: ATP raning #353 Singles, Doubles #501 and #4 World Junior, #1 in USA. He has beaten Roger Federer and is Managing Director at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Jonathan Pastel: ATP ranking #718 Singles, #905 Doubles and NCAA #30, he is Director - Alliance Bernstein </div></div></div><div title="Page 5">Senior +47 CategoryRichey Reneberg: ATP ranking #20 Singles, #1 Doubles, won 3 ATP Tour Singles Titles and 19 ATP Tour Doubles Titles. Also on US David Cup 5 times and 1996 Olympic team. He is a Principal at Taconic Capital Advisors.Eoin Collins: ATP ranking #461 Singles, #308 Doubles and won ATP Challenger in Japan. He works at SVP Comerica Bank.Steven Hentschel: NCAA ranking #16 Singles and #1 Singles and Doubles Princeton University. He is the founder &amp; CEO of Hentschel &amp; CompanyWalter Dolhare: ATP ranking #708 Singles, #596 Doubles and #2 Singles and Doubles for University of Notre Dame. He works as Head of Markets Division at Wells Fargo Securities.</div><div title="Page 6">Jeffrey Appel: Founder of Finance Cup - Captain Team Wall Street. Captain Eastern National Open Team - 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015 National Champions. USTA rankings of #12 45s Singles, #1 Eastern 45s Singles. He is the Senior Managing Director of Broadband CapitalEddie Barretto: ATP rankings #610 Singles, #600 Doubles and NCAA #33 Singles, #14 Doubles. He is Managing Director at BTIG.Pablo Salame: Played Boris Becker in French Open Juniors and top ranked junior in Ecuador. He is Co-Head of Global Securities &amp; Chairman of Partnership Committee at Goldman Sachs.Bill Ackman: Co-Captain Team Wall Street and two-time NY State HS Doubles Quarterfinalists. He is the Founder &amp; CIO of Pershing Square Capital Management.</div><div title="Page 7"><div><div> City of London (Europe) Roster - Open CategoryLudovic Walter: ATP ranking #279 Singles, #335 Doubles. Won 3 Singles Futures Titles. He works at Barclays Capital in Credit Research.Zoltan Csandi: NCAA #1 in Doubles and wins over John Isner and Victor Hanescu. #1 in Romania in 18 and under. He is Partner at Evercore ISI.Jamie Baker: #186 ATP Singles ranking. Played in Main Draws of Australian Open and Wimbledon. United Kingdom Davis Cup Team. He works at Banco Santander.Barry King: #600 ATP Singles ranking, #431 ATP Doubles. Irish Davis Cup Team 2009-2011 and #2 Singles and #1 doubles at Notre Dame ? University of Notre Dame. He works at Davy Stockbrokers Capital Markets.Nejc Smole: #608 ATP Doubles ranking and #1 University of Denver. he works at Central Bank of Luxembourg.Luben Pampoulov: #ATP 393 singles, #346 Doubles rankings. Won Sofia Challenger in Doubles and two <keyword id="6354868" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="UK">UK</keyword> futures ATP singles, and Swiss singles satellite. He is the Co-founder of Partner GSV Asset Management.</div></div></div><div title="Page 8">David Anving (Injured): Founder of Finance Cup - Captain Team City of London. Runner-up in the Swedish Championships in Doubles +21 ? Team captain at the University of Michigan. He is a Partner at GAC.Mid 37-46 CategoryJohn Doran: ATP #357 Singles, #253 Doubles rankings, won 1 Satellite and 2 Futures Titles and 5 Futures Doubles Titles. He is a Principal in Technology Crossover Ventures.Tobias Hildebrand: ATP #427 Singles, #210 Doubles rankings. He won Tampere and Scheveningen Challenger Doubles Titles and reached 5 finals and was a Swedish National Champion over 35, singles and doubles. He is Head of HSBC Nordics Private Banking.Oliver Freelove: ATP #535 Singles, #239 Doubles rankings, and ranked #4 in Singles NCAAMarex Spectron Lassi Ketola: ATP # 653 Singles, # 288 Doubles rankings and Finnish Davis Cup Team. He is an Executive Director at Julius Ba¨r.</div><div title="Page 9">Philipp Stockhoff: Top 5 in Germany as a junior and Regional German Champion in juniors and Men's ? Currently playing Bundesliga +40. He is a Partner at E&amp;Y Finance.James Reynolds: Ranked junior in France and Won 2016 ITF Senior 40s Marbella. He is Head of the European Private Credit Group, Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking.Senior +47 CategoryMario Visconti: ATP #154 Singles ranking and ATP Challenger singles win. French Open Singles 2nd Round 1993 and Italian Davis Cup Team 1993-1994. He works is a Principal at Banca Monte Dei Paschi S.p.AMartin Persson: ATP #1077 Singles ranking and Semi-finalist NCAA National Clay Court ChampionshipsAlfredo Caturano: Won Italian National Championship in Doubles. He is an Executive Director JP Morgan and Co-Founder and CEO Madrague Capital Partners.</div><div title="Page 10">Zubin Irani: Played Junior Wimbledon and Junior US Open and ranked top 30 in the world in Juniors Semi-finalist at NAIA collegiate championships. He is Managing Principal at Westbrook Partners Rupert de Laszlo: Played futures in France, US, Spain, and the UK and coached a number of top 100 ATP and WTA player. He is a Principal at Prosperitas Capital.Rajweer Ranawat: One of the top junior players in India. Played #2 for Jacksonville University. He works at AS Capital.Christer Gardell: Semi-finalist in the European Championships in Doubles +55 and Winner in the European Championships in Mixed Doubles +50. Ranked #2 in the world in mixed doubles +50, ranked #15 in the world in doubles +50. He s the Founder and Managing Partner of Cevian Capital.Jan Vrbsky: #4 in the Juniors in Czech Republic and Czech Republic National Team in the Juniors. He is the Managing Director and Co-Head Equity Trading at Baader Bank</div> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/regret-avoidance-selling-lottery-tickets-mega-millions-2016-7">We tested an economic theory by trying to buy people's lottery tickets for much more than they paid</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="VlOTU2MDE6tCw0GqSor_wM7L40EQEVfv" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

Forget Wimbledon -&#160;Wall Street's best tennis players are taking on Europe's financial elite in London this weekend

By now, much has already been said, and written, and experienced, about the two apps that have been making the headlines in the last couple of months (i.e. ever since they released) : Pokémon GO and <keyword id="3484573" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Prisma">Prisma</keyword>. 
 To state the obvious, <keyword id="3047629" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Pokemon-Go">Pokemon GO</keyword> and Prisma are the latest Blockbusters, a highly exclusive and hallowed set of products, brands and trends that define or change user behavior and consumption, and do so really fast. 
 
Apart from the more common usage of the term in movies and music, the pharmaceutical industry reveres its <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.investopedia.com%2Fterms%2Fb%2Fblockbuster-drug.asp">blockbusters</a> (A blockbuster drug is one that generates more than $1 Billion in annual sales) and so does the gaming industry (Think of Angry Birds, Candy Crush &amp; Temple Run before Pokemon GO ever happened). Harry Potter, iPhone, Tesla are also examples of the fact that Blockbusters take many forms. 
While our own affinity towards our favourite (or most recent) Blockbuster may make us feel otherwise, the truth is that in most cases it is near impossible to spot a Blockbuster a priori. 
 
 
 
<a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/211739619954966718/">Image source</a> 
 
(Should you disagree, I would love to read your thesis on how you would have predicted, before its release, that <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmashable.com%2F2014%2F12%2F03%2Fpsy-broke-youtube-gangnam-style%2F">Gangnam Style would become the most viewed video on YouTube</a>) 
 
With that said, an exercise in pattern recognition is an enticing proposition for most VCs, and in this post, I look at 3 ( or is it 4?) features that 
seem to set Blockbusters apart. 
 
Aspirational 
Soon after Viagra’s launch, TIME magazine ran a story on the pill titled ‘<a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcontent.time.com%2Ftime%2Fmagazine%2Farticle%2F0%2C9171%2C139084%2C00.html">The Viagra Craze</a>’ in which Bob Guccione, publisher of Penthouse magazine, prophesied that the drug will : 
 
“…free the American male libido from the emasculating doings of feminists. ….and the ability to have sex by older men will make them 
healthier and live longer. It will fool the biological clock when men are still active in the later years. It is a very significant effect of the drug that many haven’t contemplated.” 
 
 
 
<a href="http://content.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601980504,00.html">Image source</a> 
 
Coming from the Publisher of the Penthouse Magazine, the dream of everlasting youth and good times is an aspiration too potent for a lot of men to resist. 
 
Viagra’s annual sales peaked at <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.drugdangers.com%2Fviagra%2F">$2 Billion </a>while Pfizer (The makers of the drug) predicted that the best case would be <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Fpredicting-new-drug-sales-2014-4%3FIR%3DT">$500 Million</a>. 
Blockbusters are able to trigger aspiration to powerful and unpredictable effect. 
 
Other examples of aspiration driving a Blockbuster’s adoption and growth , include : 
 
• The “Gangnam Style” video was a parody of <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmusic%2Fshortcuts%2F2012%2Foct%2F25%2Fgangnam-style-seouls-most-exclusive-neighbourhood">Gangnam, Seoul’s most expensive and most exclusive neighbourhood</a> 
 
• People have always to get their portraits done. A desire served well, both by selfies and the Prisma app (More on this later in this post) 
 
• In the beginning of the 20th century, cars were nothing more than a rich man’s horse, until the <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fpulse%2Ftoo-expensive-game-changer-shubhankar-bhattacharya%3Ftrk%3Dmp-reader-card">Ford Model T came along in 1908 </a>with Henry 
Ford boldly calling out its mission as “ “This car will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one.” 
 
• And what would explain the Pokémon GO hysteria ? The prestige that comes with <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.complex.com%2Fpop-culture%2F2016%2F07%2Fpokemon-go-player-complete-pokedex">catching them all</a>, and the fear that the Pokémon “<a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fplay.google.com%2Fstore%2Fapps%2Fdetails%3Fid%3Dcom.nianticlabs.pokemongo%26hl%3Den">might get away!</a>”. 
 
Scarce and Imitable 
 
After its triumphant launch for Apple users, there was much excitement for Prisma’s launch on the Android Play store. 
 
Within just a matter of days though, it was found that over <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.scmagazine.com%2F15m-downloaded-fake-app-prisma-from-google-play%2Farticle%2F513750%2F">1.5 Million users had downloaded fake versions of the Prisma app</a>, much the same way that <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftechcrunch.com%2F2016%2F07%2F18%2Fbeware-the-fake-pokemon-go-apps%2F">large numbers of users had downloaded fake Pokémon GO apps</a>. 
 If you have searched for <keyword id="3582526" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="blockbuster-games">blockbuster games</keyword> such as Candy Crush Saga or Temple Run, you would know that many imitation versions of the games exist, to the extent that Candy Crush and Temple Run have almost becomes genres, not standalone games. 
 
Outside the world of apps, the proliferation of “fake iPhone” manufacturers in China has now become a well-known and well-accepted fact, <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reuters.com%2Farticle%2Fus-apple-china-idUSKCN0RN2EF20150924">one that many believe has in fact helped build Apple’s brand awareness in China</a>. 
 
Imitation, of course, can take many more forms, as <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FDuck_face">Duck face selfies</a> and <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.teenvogue.com%2Fstory%2Fnew-selfie-face-fish-gape">Fish gape selfies</a> constantly remind us. 
 
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. 
 
Might this be corroborated by the observation that scarcity tends to heighten the demand of a Blockbuster ? And is it possible that imitations of a Blockbuster actually do it more good than harm, by extending its access ? 
 
So much for <a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FPorter%2527s_five_forces_analysis">Porter’s five forces</a> and what it taught us about barriers to replication being a good thing. 
 
Technological Relevance 
 
Duck face sefies got me doing some research on the origins of the modern selfie. 
 
From 2006 to 2009 (back when MySpace existed), the term ‘<a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newyorker.com%2Ftech%2Felements%2Fthe-return-of-the-selfie">MySpace </a><a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newyorker.com%2Ftech%2Felements%2Fthe-return-of-the-selfie">pic</a>’ described an amateurish, flash-blinded self-portrait, often taken in front of a bathroom mirror. Self-portraits shot with cell phones, or “selfies” — cheap-looking, evoking the MySpace era — became a sign of bad taste. 
 
Facebook, on the other hand emphasized photos that were presented in crisp focus. Owing to cameras’ technological limitations, a well-focussed photograph was typically taken from at least three feet away, by another person. 
 
The subject of the MySpace bathroom selfie — with its tableaux of bathroom counter, mirror, face, and upper body — always looked alone. Selfies were for people without friends; the savvy moved on to the more advanced network — Facebook. 
 
 
 
<a href="https://medium.com/r/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chethstudios.net%2F2010%2F04%2F40-hilarious-facebook-comic-strips.html">Image source</a> 
 
Facebook conquered MySpace because it distanced itself from the Selfie. 
 
Yeah, that happened. 
 
Selfies came back with a bang when the iPhone4 became the first iPhone to introduce a front-facing camera, a feature that is now a staple of every smartphone. 
 
Selfies, and therefore Instagram, Snapchat, and now Prisma could not have become Blockbusters before the front-facing camera became ubiquitous. 
 
What if cellphones with front-facing cameras had been mass produced while MySpace was still alive ? 
 
What if… 
 
<a href="http://i.imgur.com/Od0OkrG.jpg">Cover Image Source</a> 
 
About the author: Shubhankar Bhattacharya is a Venture Partner at Kae Capital, an early stage VC fund. He can be reached via his <a href="https://in.linkedin.com/in/shubhankar-bhattacharya-a1063a3">LinkedIN profile</a>.

You Searched For "Kae Capital" and got 14 results

Nazara buys Kae Capital stake worth Rs 14.6 cr in Halaplay Technologies

PTI

7 Steps: A VC’s Guide to Funding Your Startup

Saikat Pyne

Things your VC won't tell you

Saikat Pyne

Zetwerk raises $120 million from Greenoaks Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners

IANS

Here's what you should do when investors say no

Shubhankar Bhattacharya

The past is the future

Shubhankar Bhattacharya

Square Yards acquires rental & property management firm Azuro

PTI

Loanzen gets funding from Zephyr Peacock India

PTI

Healthkart, one of India’s first health e-tailer, raises $23 million

Sanchita Dash

How viable are payments banks in India?

BI India Bureau

Why Ambition & Goals Matter

Shubhankar Bhattacharya

Playing Moneyball with Startups — the Metrics Dilemma

Praveen Rajaretnam

Forget Wimbledon - Wall Street's best tennis players are taking on Europe's financial elite in London this weekend

Matthew Nitch Smith

The blueprint of a blockbuster

Shubhankar Bhattacharya

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides

You Searched For "Kae Capital" and got 14 results

Nazara buys Kae Capital stake worth Rs 14.6 cr in Halaplay Technologies

PTI

7 Steps: A VC’s Guide to Funding Your Startup

Saikat Pyne

Things your VC won't tell you

Saikat Pyne

Zetwerk raises $120 million from Greenoaks Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners

IANS

Here's what you should do when investors say no

Shubhankar Bhattacharya

The past is the future

Shubhankar Bhattacharya

Square Yards acquires rental & property management firm Azuro

PTI

Loanzen gets funding from Zephyr Peacock India

PTI

Healthkart, one of India’s first health e-tailer, raises $23 million

Sanchita Dash

How viable are payments banks in India?

BI India Bureau

Why Ambition & Goals Matter

Shubhankar Bhattacharya

Playing Moneyball with Startups — the Metrics Dilemma

Praveen Rajaretnam

Forget Wimbledon -&#160;Wall Street's best tennis players are taking on Europe's financial elite in London this weekend

Matthew Nitch Smith

The blueprint of a blockbuster

Shubhankar Bhattacharya

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides

Forget Wimbledon - Wall Street's best tennis players are taking on Europe's financial elite in London this weekend