Manish Chandra

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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I had a lot of fun recording a podcast episode with Shiva Singh Sangwan. We discussed the evolution of Humba Ventures & Susa Ventures; tips for raising and building a fund; how to improve investment sourcing & picking; the role of luck in investing, and so on. https://lnkd.in/eiqsStej

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Episode 341 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Somak Chattopadhyay, Managing Partner at Armory Square Ventures. Yes, markets like the Bay Area, NYC, and Boston get a lot of attention when it comes to building startups and having the ability to raise capital, but there are lots of other places to build a successful company. This has always been the case, but the pandemic definitely pushed this reality further.  This is why a firm like Amory Square Ventures exists. There are lots of secondary markets where entrepreneurs need access to capital and it is also a very important matter for the local economy for these companies to grow and create jobs, versus relocating. Somak shares the details of what led him down the path to start Armory Square Ventures, a seed and early stage venture fund, and why their approach of investing in seconday markets has not only been a differentiator for their firm but what they also consider as an optimism engine and a community catalyst for regions outside Silicon Valley. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Advice on how founders can push back on advice from investors. * Somak’s background story and his early career in startups. * How he landed in venture capital at Edison Ventures and Tribeca Venture Partners. * The details on what they are targeting for investments and portfolio company examples like Machinery Partner and ACV Auctions, a Buffalo company that went public. * Somak’s anti-portfolio, companies that he reviewed and an investment didn’t work out and went on to be a successful company. * Advice on building a marketplace. * And so much more. #venturecapital #startups #marketplaces

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Will we need websites at all? How can you compare the current AI boom with the age of oil exploration? What does it mean when we say in the world of AI, compute vs. data will have gravity? During the Antler India Residency 4 that concluded recently, we had our good friend Hemant Mohapatra stop by to chat with founders re: his and Lightspeed's take on AI, and especially AI for India, incl. one of their marquee investments Sarvam AI. Sharing our interaction w/ Ishavasyam Dash

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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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My Entrepreneurial Kickoff for 2025 In 2024, a dream of mine came true: co-founding my own startup with my childhood best friend, Aayush Shah. We incorporated our company, kickstarted beta development, tackled compliance hurdles, and laid out a multi-year roadmap. Now I’m stepping into 2025 with a positive outlook—knowing we’re just months away from our beta launch! Our startup, Zennoia, is transforming how early-stage ventures interact with investors — from the very first pitch to long-term collaboration. What type of content to expect from us: • Bi-weekly updates on our journey • Short videos & reels to share behind-the-scenes moments • Candid conversations about both the highs and lows of startup life This year, Aayush Shah and I will both be sharing content from our unique perspectives—though not limited to just “tech” or “business.” As an engineer, Aayush Shah will talk about coding challenges and product development, but he’s also diving into the business side of things to understand how engineering decisions align with market realities. Meanwhile, I (Sharvil Ved) bring a business perspective, but I’m immersing myself in the technical foundation that fuels our vision. Each new insight shows how engineering decisions shape strategic outcomes—and how real impact arises when business insights and technical execution work in tandem. If 2025 is your year for bold moves—whether you’re starting something new, scaling up, or stepping outside your comfort zone—let me know! I’d love to cheer you on or swap stories. Where to Find Us Zennoia • LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit: @zennoia • X (Twitter), YouTube: @zennoiaofficial Sharvil Ved (Me) • LinkedIn, instagram and youtube: @sharvilved • X: @sharvil_ved Aayush Shah • All Platforms: @shahaayush1999 Here’s to turning big ideas into realities and celebrating every step along the way!

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I first met Mike Maples, Jr in 2010, when Founders Network was just an idea. Over the years, Mike and his team at Floodgate (special shoutout to Arjun Chopra) have been great mentors, sharing their insights and guiding our founders. Most recently, their advice played a pivotal role in helping us launch Founders Network Fund. Today, Mike shared the key ideas with FN'ers from his new book Pattern Breakers (https://a.co/d/buKBd5O ), which explores the insights he’s gained from backing companies like Twitter, Twitch, and Okta -- and which put him on the Forbes Midas List 8x. This is the most important book on startups in the last ten years, according to Steve Blank. My notes on the key concepts of his talk: 1) Inflections – "not a trend but a change event that represents a turning point in our ability to provide empowerment." e.g. The GPS chip in iPhone 4s 2) Insights – "a non-consensus and right insight about the future that's powerful and non obvious and leverages inflections." e.g. Lyft = GPS + strangers driving you 3) Founder future fit – "Living in the future before other people live in the future and then try to build what's missing in the future." If you're a founder, check out the book. Grateful for the impact Mike and Arjun continue to have on both me and the Founders Network community!

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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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The #givingback founder, Vijay Rayapati There are founders who build, scale and grow, and there are founders who build, scale, grow and give back. Vijay is the second type. It was great to meet him in the #BayArea on a beautiful sunny day and discuss GTM, fundraise and scaling. His accomplishments with Atomicwork is a playbook to follow for any SaaS founder. The best part that struck me was his simplicity, calmness and most of all willingness to help, amidst his crazy schedule. Had an engaging discussion about transforming procurement and supply chain, the Easework AI way. #FounderConnect #GivingBack #GTM #Fundraise #EaseworkwithAI #ProcurementTransformation

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I have embarked on a new startup journey - Reselleo. Unsaleable inventory in the form of surplus, returns, or damages is a ubiquitous problem occurring globally. Reselleo offers brands and retailers a D2C resale platform. In India, a whopping 97% of retail needs are met by unorganized retailers, and resale of inventory that failed to sell in primary channels falls within this category. Reselleo is enabling brands to bring their unsaleable inventory sales into organized retail, boosting revenue recovery while prioritizing sustainability. With a network of demand partners, Reselleo is focused on helping brands resell their deadstock inventory first, followed by exploring other avenues like nonprofits for donation, and recyclers for unusable inventory. Join me on this journey towards more sustainable and efficient inventory management with Reselleo.com. #Reselleo #Startup #Sustainability #InventoryManagement #D2C #RetailRevolution

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🌟 India’s Incredible Contributions to AI in the U.S. 🌟 Did you know that Indian innovators are leading the charge in building some of the largest AI-focused billion-dollar companies in the U.S.? 🇮🇳✨ Here are some remarkable achievements: 🔸 HighRadius – Valued at $3.10 Billion 🔸 Uniphore – Valued at $2.5 Billion 🔸 Eightfold.ai – Valued at $2.2 Billion 🔸 Moveworks – Valued at $2 Billion 🔸 H2O.ai – Valued at $1.5 Billion 🔸 Cambridge Mobile Telematics – Valued at $1.5 Billion 🔸 SparkCognition – Valued at $1.4 Billion 🔸 SeekOut – Valued at $1.2 Billion These companies are transforming industries with cutting-edge AI technologies, thanks to Indian founders and co-founders. India’s talent continues to redefine global innovation in technology and artificial intelligence. 🚀 #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #India #Innovation #TechLeadership #Startups #Entrepreneurship #Technology #GlobalImpact #IndianTech

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🚨🔔 Upasna Gautam , Hitha Palepu and I are seeking your help ❤️ for SxSW 2025, we have a fantastic panel we’ve put together and we need YOUR VOTE to help us get this across the line. ———- All you need to do is go to the link in my Highlights (SxSW) and click the button to vote for us ——————- ……. More about our panel: Bringing 3 unique perspectives, our session is designed for emerging leaders navigating a technology driven world, aiming to lead with integrity and humanity, no matter what your title is. Balancing technological innovation with authentic leadership is key, and this session ensures you can thrive in a hyper-connected, rapidly evolving environment. We’ll share actionable strategies so that you learn to lead with purpose, regardless of your position. You’ll walk away knowing how to position yourself as a thought leader. Remember: You don’t have to wait until you reach the top to become a leader! TO VOTE : Please go to my comment below to vote and show your support ❤️🙏 https://lnkd.in/g9ZpFrMY #sxsw #sxsw2025 #sxswpanelpicker2025 #leadership #womeninleadership #womeninbusiness #ai #humanintheloop #womeninproduct #productmanagement #bethechange

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Excited to announce the launch of Bracket by BoldCap 🚀 India's first Go-To-Market platform for entrepreneurs building global AI companies. For the past year, Bracket has been exclusively supporting our portfolio founders to tackle the complexities of scaling AI-native products in the global market, especially North America. Today, I am excited to launch Bracket; to provide all AI builders with the same GTM accessibility.. 🎯 The new landscape shift has made it absolutely clear that traditional SaaS playbooks no longer fit the bill for AI-native products. We are redefining this through Bracket – our closely curated community of 50+ GTM operators across North America and Europe who offer the resources, networks, and the new-age playbooks that founders need in their $0-$1M journey of building an AI company from India to the world. 🌍 We work with some of the smartest minds in GTM globally– from the Revenue director at Clari, Pricing leader at DocuSign, GTM leader at Databricks, Sales leader at Outreach to Growth Leader at Snowflake and many more– all exceptionally talented operators who have built multiple GTM motions from scratch and are now committed to support the upcoming generation of entrepreneurs along with us. We deeply believe this is what our ecosystem needs: accessibility to the right leaders in the global market, and we aim to bridge this for Indian founders. Thanks to our early GTM partners Jyoti Swarnkar Samuel Sunderaraj Kiran Surapaneni Merritt Baer Murali K Atul Sahai Ramana Narayanam Sara Archer Sara Jones Shiv Sundar Stan Rymkiewicz Andreas Drakos Andres Lozano Sanudo Ashwath M. Brant W. Cody Harris Connor Williams Daniil Krets Jake Haselden Jeff de Ruyter Karthik Ramamoorthy Kevin Flitcroft Laura Handy LeeRon Yahalomi Paul McGhee Shane O'Neill (and the list goes on.... unfortunately not able to tag more) who shaped Bracket into a powerful community along with us. Big shout out to Aditi Gera for all her effort on putting this together and to the rest of the BoldCap team Shiv Tayal Pratham Chadha Kevin D'Souza. Thank you Bhuvana Kamath and YourStory Media for this exclusive coverage - https://lnkd.in/gZBXTsmv If you're founder in the AI software space, we are excited to work with you! BoldCap

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Luv Gupta Amrita Agrawal Ambrish Gupta Mayank Chouhan Abhinav Mehta Rohit Kumar Singh Saransh Mahere Dr. Kartikey Gupta Thrilled to unveil Forescribe's xAI suite, featuring Smart Alerts and AI Post Mortem—innovations in SaaS Ops designed to elevate strategic oversight for CIOs, COOs, and their teams. 📨 Smart Alerts delivers proactive, tailored insights, enabling faster decision-making to keep your digital landscape aligned with your vision. ✨ AI Post Mortem now offers executive summaries on product spend, usage, and benchmarks with Forrester’s Digital Transformation Maturity Model—empowering leaders with clear, instant actionable insights. With xAI, unlock real-time data to drive transformational outcomes and make every tech investment count. 💰 🥂 Kudos to the teams involved in taking this live. Learn more about Forescribe xAI initiative here: https://lnkd.in/gzxxxh6W

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Really enjoyed conversation with Gabriel Jarrosson. We spoke about our sales challenges, startup pivot, founder split and my favorite topic, what Saatvy Health (YC S23) is about. #startup #wellness #health

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Susan Wojcicki made Google work. And we are all lucky that she did. From selecting office spaces (starting with her garage & then all the epic ones thereafter) to selecting board members, from designing the new hire orientation to the first onsite daycare, from negotiating the biggest partnerships to making game changing acquisitions to deciding how to tell the Google story the night before the IPO, from mentoring fresh college grads to mentoring former CEOs who joined Google in senior leadership roles, Susan was involved in every single important decision that Google ever made. The reason why Google today is the company that touches billions of people's lives daily and does that with empathy, humanity and a fundamental belief that doing good is the primary north star is because of Susan. The same founders, the same vision and the same leadership team could have produced an entirely different type of company if it were not for Susan's unreal abilities as a leader who always knew what was the right thing to do. Why did Susan have such a monumental impact? When I first joined, I understood that amidst the breathtaking ambition of the founders & the chaotic execution of a hyper-growth company where the inmates ran the asylum (by design), there was one sacrosanct unwritten rule = "Susan gets what Susan wants". Everyone in the company understood this. And this meant that whenever anything important was stuck, you knew that Susan could solve it. She always did. Utter chaos would turn into serenity once Susan took hold of an initiative. She was a magician IRL whose craft was sublime & inspirational to watch. But why did Susan get what Susan want from every stakeholder in the company, many of whom had come from very powerful prior positions/experiences from all over the world and didn't even report to her? = Because she had better judgment than any of us. It was as self-evident as the rising sun. Now imagine how this could be at a company that hired the best of the best, had tens of thousands of people, many of whom went on to lead other great companies all over the world. Why was Susan so special? = I don't know. We all know she just was. I have worked in Silicon Valley for 33 yrs now across many companies in all sorts of organizations. I have never met anyone like Susan. I got lucky that she was my boss for most of my time at Google and through immense patience, persistence, ridiculously great insight & empathy, Susan figured me out before I figured out myself. She gave me the best performance review ever which summed up everything and was very actionable and a review that I still think about every day ("Keval, you are so lazy, imagine if you were not"). The outpouring of love we see for Susan and her beautiful family is because losing Susan is like losing mom. No one will take her place in our hearts and minds. Thank you Susan for everything. May the almighty give strength & peace to Dennis Troper & family.

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CLSA published a detailed research report on India quick commerce. Recommended reading. Who will be the first to create a $50-100Bn company in India internet? #Zepto #Zomato #IndiaInternet

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Looking forward to meeting women entrepreneurs who are on their journey to create some pathbreaking ideas and inspiring others to do the same. #advaitawomenentrepreneurs #womeninbusiness #entrepreneurship #womenentrepreneurs #EmpowerWomen #womenleaders #businesswomen

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