Aakash Kumar

My journey began at IIT Bombay in 2005, but the entrepreneurial bug led me down a different path. 

‍

I dropped out in 2009 to launch my first venture - a recruitment classifieds platform, which I couldn’t turn into a large scale outcome. Second stint as an entrepreneur was building a venture in gaming, operating, which I exited in 2013.

‍

Then, I joined housing.com as their chief strategy officer, handling critical M&A, fund raise and exit decisions during a transformative period. Driven by my lifelong passion for product and coding, I took the role of product lead at Indus OS building multiple products for the Bharat's first time internet user, the company, later got acquired by PhonePe.

‍

My operational journey culminated at Hotstar, where I led growth and monetization. Was fortunate to have been on that ride and scale the platform on back of ads and subscription to a $500M business. 

‍

Investing was a parallel journey that started while I was still building companies. I began with public markets in India and the US, but after my second venture, I knew venture capital was my calling. 

‍

During my operational roles, I actively invested, eventually backing about 100 companies over a decade. This wasn't just about returns - it was partly for my learning, and partly to give back to the ecosystem.

My investment thesis hinges on a simple principle: value creation must lead to value extraction. Best founders have an insane growth mindset, and they think of a venture with that holistic lens and don’t obsess about only creating a product or service.

‍

I focus deeply on the people - their intellectual curiosity, honesty, and growth mindset. These qualities ultimately determine how founders approach both value creation and extraction. Smart founders don't chase small markets - they find ways to expand them. So always founders over markets.

The ecosystem has become significantly more supportive. There are more investors, more founders, and more local tribal knowledge being shared. 

‍

This has created a stronger foundation for company creation. The networks are stronger, resources are better distributed, and there's much more shared learning across the community, making it easier for new founders to build and scale.

Product-market fit isn't a single milestone but a journey through multiple stages - acquisition, engagement/retention, monetization, and profitability. For Indian companies targeting global markets, the primary challenge lies in the acquisition PMF due to market familiarity gaps.

‍

However, here's the interesting part - global markets often offer clearer paths to monetization and profitability than India. So while the initial market understanding and acquisition might be challenging, once solved, building global products can be more straightforward than navigating India's complex monetization landscape.

'Colossus podcasts' for deep insights into building breakthrough businesses. For perspective-changing reads: 'Autobiography of a Yogi' and 'The Wealth of Nations'.