Vikram Vaidyanathan

I fell in love with two aspects: going on these unbelievable journeys with founders who are forces of nature shaping the world. And as a VC, you have to reinvent yourself every couple of years to stay relevant, and that clicks with my growth mindset - continuous learning is key to a full life.

I started with financials and mobile tech companies before the internet took off, and then invested in mobile internet and fintechs. I became deeply interested in how technology could impact penetration of financial services and overall goods and services. That led to investments like Razorpay, OfBusiness, Five Star, Dailyhunt and others.

Over time that led to a large financial services and fintech portfolio, which we continue to double down on. Around 2018-19, we saw a new wave of enterprise SaaS founders, and I fundamentally believed Indian companies going global were going to own a giant share of the future software stack and that led to investments in Rocketlane, Atomicwork etc.

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Finally I love building new parts of the firm - our Bangalore office, our fintech franchise, our global software team, and our affiliate pre-seed program - so my entrepreneurial energy today goes into building Z47.

When we say founders first, we pick founders over everything else - over markets, over business models. That's who we are. Because great founders can spur market creation, shape industries, and define business models. When you live founders first, you follow founders with their unique insight into new markets with the intent to help maximize their potential and growth.

Founders are often more right than we are because they've dedicated their lives to solving specific problems and really understand their customer/consumer. When we find promising partnerships, we double down on our investments to back the founders and set them up to win.

First, we bring our network of experts - sometimes it's a bank partnership, access to regulatory advisors, and definitely founders/CXOs with through cycle experience. Second, with our network, we try to add ~5 meaningful hires that can change the trajectory of the company. Finally, for big decisions - e.g., capital allocation, fundraise - it helps to have thoughtful partners who can look around corners and learn from patterns of success.

On the big calls, we believe founders have taken a huge opportunity risk in their lives, and should make the decisions in their company - we need to earn our spot at the table, and help make their decisions slightly better.

Two things give me goosebumps: one is that we can take products and services that were previously limited to top cities and extend them to the entire nation - financial services, health, education, jobs, consumer products (“Made in India for India”). The second is that India is emerging as a global superpower again, and our founders are building global companies (“Made in India for the world”) with confidence, world-beating ambition and some unique advantages - technology talent density, India stack + datasets, scale and cost.

We're at a very unique point in our country's history and therefore as early stage investors we are privileged to invest in a very diverse opportunity set.

A better phrase is work-life integration. I love what I do, so I don't know where my work stops and my home life begins - it’s one life. My wife is also a leader at a scaled startup, and between us we have dynamic lives. We have two boys, and my mother is part of our nuclear unit, and we create moments of togetherness and growth on a weekly, monthly basis that bind us as family.

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I can take time off when I need to, but I'm always available to founders. My kids, family understand that commitment, and have tremendous respect for founders they meet at home and their relentless intensity that drives their companies.

A book I loved was 'Ocean of Churn' by Sanjeev Sanyal to understand India’s evolution and influence from Africa to Southeast Asia. A Must-watch: Annie Duke and Howard Marks on 'Thinking in Bets' for decision-making frameworks.