I labelled the phrase “amazing stuff” as a rallying cry for startups and tied it to India’s ‘Age of Audacity’.
What phrase did I label as a rallying cry for startups in the context of India’s ‘Age of Audacity’?
- Total Gujarat Jalebi Fafda sales (Dussehra): > ₹500 crore.
- Ahmedabad contribution: ₹200 crore in a 24‑hour window.
- Average vendor top‑line during the day: ₹3 Lakh.
I outlined a two‑pronged strategic shift for Indian founders: build foundational “rails” instead of only end‑user apps, and target global markets rather than focusing solely on India. The aim is to unlock network effects, attract larger capital, and overcome the real bottleneck—venture‑capital appetite—by eventually having a unicorn‑founder‑turned‑VC.
Decision: Prioritise building platform “rails” rather than just applications. “Build rails, not just apps”.
Decision: Target global customers from the outset. “Sell to the world, not to India”.
Decision: View bureaucracy as a secondary problem, not the primary growth bottleneck. “Bureaucracy is a problem but not the bottleneck.”
Decision: Venture‑capital scarcity will be solved when a unicorn founder raises an obscenely large fund and becomes a “risk‑on” VC akin to a16z or Founders Fund. “VC appetite is one real bottleneck, but it will be solved once a unicorn founder raises an obscenely large fund and becomes the risk‑on VC that a16z / Founders Fund are.”
- Notable Indian‑born founders with US‑based unicorns and their valuations:
- Perplexity – $20 B
- Skild – $14 B+
- Baseten – $13 B
- Together – $8 B
- Glean – $8 B
- Modal – $5 B
- Rubrik – $25 B
- Harness – $5 B
- Distyl – $2 B