In this episode of 100xEntrepreneur Podcast, we chat with Shailesh Ghorpade, Managing Partner and CIO, Exfinity Venture Partners

Throughout the podcast, Shailesh shares his deep understanding of the SaaS startups building for Enterprises from his close to two decades of experience working at Infosys, Suzlon & Azure Capital, and others.

02:31 - Intro of Shailesh
03:25 - Background in the VC ecosystem
06:07 - Major milestones at Exfinity Venture Partners
08:36 - Fund growth over-time & thesis change
09:50 - Investing early-on in AI startups like Mad Street Den
13:29 - Identifying Mega-trends while looking out for potential portfolio companies
17:33 - Differentiating factor between top portfolio companies vs other portfolio companies funded around the same time
19:59 - Essential fundamentals to get from 0 to $1Mn ARR early-on
22:52 - Standing out amongst thousands of SaaS businesses in India
25:47 - Approaching Enterprises to validate problem statements as a SaaS founder
35:23 - Challenges restricting founders in between $1Mn to $10Mn ARR
39:50 - India market not completely ready for SaaS offerings
48:39 - Hiring the right people for Enterprise SaaS startups
59:55 - Book Recommendation - Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach

Shailesh Ghorpade on Exfinity's journey to partner with the best SaaS startups of India

In this episode of 100xEntrepreneur Podcast, we chat with Krishna Kumar, Founder & CEO, CropIn Technology- a leading "Full-Stack AgTech"​ organization that provides SaaS-based solutions to agribusinesses globally. CropIn serves 220+ agribusinesses and numerous governments and non-government organizations present in over 52 countries. CropIn has digitized over 5 million acres of farmland, enriched the lives of nearly 2.1 million farmers, and gathered data on 265 crops and 3,500 crop varieties. 

In this episode, Krishna shares his journey of being the change-maker and being one of the first entrepreneurs to step into Agritech in India.

Listen to this podcast to learn about:

01:57 - Intro of Krishna & his journey
04:08 - Interacting with farmers and key-stakeholders within the Agri-Ecosystem
05:10 - Identifying the problem statement
06:43 - Building the team at CropIn
10:30 - First project with Safal- a subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board
15:12 - Pooling initial $10k from his friends
19:50 - Scaling up from first few clients to going global in 52 countries
28:56 - Enabling banking ecosystem for lending & insurance for farmers
34:55 - Tech Products & offerings from CropIn for farmers
42:49 - Leveraging AI to transforming agriculture at scale
45:15 - Potential for upcoming Agritech startups in India
47:18 - Adoption of Agritech offerings by Enterprises

Inside the mind of Krishna Kumar, Founder, CropIn- the largest Agritech SaaS startup of India

Kunal Kapoor is someone who dons many hats – an actor, director, and entrepreneur. Some of the well-known movies he has been a part of – Rang De Basanti, Don 2, and Dear Zindagi among others.

In 2012, he joined hands with Varun Sheth & Zaheer Adenwala with a mission to create a change in society and connect people to access healthcare and share happiness and co-founded Ketto. 

Over the years, Ketto has emerged as Asia’s most trusted crowdfunding platform with a network of over 55 lakh donors who have funded around 2 lakh, online fundraisers. So Ketto as a platform has successfully raised over ₹1100 crore in online donations since its debut in 2012.

In this episode, catch Kunal talking about becoming an entrepreneur, what’s it like running an online crowd-funding platform, gaining the trust of investors in the vision, and much more.  

To anyone looking to get into the crowdfunding space, this conversation is a great place to start. From making the right use of technology to building a sustainable business model for investors, this podcast will guide you through all.

Notes –

01:30 – Intro of Kunal Kapoor & Ketto

02:16 – Becoming an Entrepreneur & Co-founding Ketto

03:27 – Democratization of Capital

04:12 – Initial challenges with Ketto

05:17 – Building an online presence for NGOs

09:41 – Future plans at Ketto around medical & health services

12:15 – Ketto’s impact during the pandemic

14:20 – Business model at Ketto (As a Profit venture)

16:46 – “Building a tech company is like bodybuilding, but building a tech company with a celebrity is like bodybuilding on steroids.”

18:47 – Growth & Scaling-up plans at Ketto

23:24 – Essential mental models for Kunal as an entrepreneur

25:31 – “Whether it’s acting or entrepreneurship, it’s not as glamorous as it looks.”

Kunal Kapoor on building Ketto, the largest Crowdsourcing platform in India

We help you become 100x of yourself by bringing you the best of leaders from the VC & Startup community sharing their mindsets, milestones, and growth stories.
100x Entrepreneur Podcast is also among the top 15 podcasts in Asia in the Busines category. 

The podcast series by Siddhartha Ahluwalia is made for young professionals, entrepreneurs and investors. 

Through this podcast series I am living my purpose of positively impacting 1 Billion people, helping them grow and reaching their maximum potential in life.

100x Entrepreneur

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