How we got here 

The Secret says the law of attraction helps you get where you want to be if you feel it in your core, so did we all feel it in our core? Well the answer is strangely mixed. I strongly feel it’s a forbidden fruit syndrome that led me and us to where we are today – investing through the VC route.

Let me explain, as a Chartered Accountant doing your articles in the Big4 is considered to be a big deal, its like getting your letter from Hogwarts, most qualified CAs if they do not article with the Big4 make it a point to join them by hook or crook post qualification. I am no different! I am able to accept this today but back then it was more they needed me as I was the best and they couldn’t find anyone better. The analogy here is that the same notion applies to VC firms. Accountants at large aren’t the first choice for most VC firms, it’s the ivy league MBA folks or Entrepreneurs with exits behind them who are given the first swig. So going back to the big4 analogy most CAs either want to be in the Investment Banking space or want to work for a VC when they finish (provided they have heard of these options!) 8 out of 10 do not make it for the above-mentioned reasons.

We started DC Capital way back in the first decade of the new millennium for one of the strangest reasons, if you are a non Big4 you don’t get access to assignments in the assurance risk and diligence space easily, more importantly you do not get access to even the middle management let alone the top management. Deal making opens these doors without a hitch, so basis our 2-bit analysis we setup DC Capital to advise firms on their M&A pursuits along with fund raising, to be fair quite a few corporations gave us a chance and we did reasonably well. That story is for another blog. While we did deals, we saw a few patterns that gave us the first nudge towards setting up a fund sometime down the line.

1. Most VC firms (at least back then) consisted of people who were picked based on academic qualifications rather than years of experience or the ability to run businesses (most of them didn’t get their hands dirty prior)
2. The VC/PE firms that did well were largely consisting of people with prior entrepreneurial / industry experience
3. Entrepreneurs want to have people on board who have sailed the ship prior to pointing the ship in the correct direction
4. The Indian VC space was still blooming (and struggling at that) the thrust was not yet there
5. Ability to filter good deals from all the froth or the cluster helped.
6. Taking point 1 further, VCs sometimes didn’t realise they are largely financial investors there for financial returns played one upmanship games with entrepreneurs

The above may or may not agree with most but this is what we saw as opportunities for us to someday launch a fund. While we went about our deal making journey, a few things happened, I happened to get an opportunity to run a business in India to begin with and Asia to finish with for a multi national corporation. The Indian VC space post Flipkart and others gave a major thrust to the startup culture where the Indian VC’s shone bright with timely investments. Raising money to invest in India both locally and internationally became more fruitful.

However the VC recruitment for outside Ivy league folks and esp CAs remained a forbidden fruit. Lo and Behold! Artha99 Investment Advisors! This completes the forbidden fruit story and may look like a revenge romance for us in VC investing, but It runs deeper than it seems.

We began to look at ideas and avenues where the India Stack came into play. From our collective experience we were able to judge entrepreneurs better. During our employment years angel investing into startups helped. Having an ear to the floor across industries helped as well. The network built during the IB years brought us deals that were not easily available to others. Also Ganesh and me had a lot of fun in planning this as much as we had in planning the DC Capital chapter. This first shout out is more to capture our journey so far and to give a different take on why sometimes we end up doing things that is always in our horizon but we have a twisted way of getting there. The follow ups will focus more on core investing, our mindset and rationale on investing in the startups we have and will continue to do.

Till then…Ciao.

V