I am more of a mentor who also invests than the other way round. I like emerging tech and it’s engineering for building solutions for the challenges we face today. Hence, I focus on the tech and product market fit more than other dimensions though I am aware of many of the commercial aspects in such ventures. 

2. Describe your workday and leisure day, how does it look like

I primarily work from home with a few in person meetings in a week to meet new ventures or help existing ones. My day job is to handle the tech, contracts and business model aspects of Crayon data while my cofounder runs the operational side of the business. In other words, I take care of the technology, data privacy and security and customer contract clauses as my primary job. We operate in the Fintech domain where the interplay between data and commercial contracts is intricate when you work across borders. 

3. What is your view on the future of India as a market

India is a key market today for consumption and a target for many global ventures. We are a region of demand than just being a region of talent supply. Our investments in core sector and policy action by Govt to evolve them into a more modern digital ecosystem makes it an interesting market for high tech solutions. Our Bharat market which used to be a segment for social and financial inclusion is also an important consumer market. In other words, our rural consumers are using more digital goods to access products and services while the price points may differ from Urban. 

4. Help describe your investment thesis and ideas you would like to back

As I had mentioned earlier, I invest in very few ventures but I pick mostly tech driven ones. I believe that Angel investing is about getting involved and hence I will pick only those where I can add value and capital is just an add on. In that sense, I differ from the popular investment thesis of a portfolio model and place very few bets. Mathematically, a portfolio at scale will regress to the mean and starts looking like a mutual fund! 

5. What are your 5 key learnings from your experience as a venture investor

• Early stage investments are a high risk and return game. So invest in those ventures you understand rationally and connect with emotionally. 

• There are no financials as the past track record and the price discovery would not have happened. So it is important to know the domain you are investing in.

• Promoter quality and cohesion are important factors as the differences crop up when you scale and not when you start! 

• Promoter team should be coachable as they will pivot a few times and need mentor help. Vision without traction is not a business! 

• In India, we have a tendency to raise capital through informal channels and the capital treatment in the books becomes an issue if a prior understanding does not exist. Is it an equity or debt or grant is a question that gets strange reactions and emotions. 

6. Top 5 advice you would give to startup founder

• Write a founder’s agreement.

• Account for funds from family and friends in a formal way and tag them right on the cap table.

• Differentiate between seeking validation of the idea versus pitching the idea for business.

• Do not under-specify and over engineer your product.

• Look for functional completeness in your team and clarify who is in the founding team and who is in the leadership team. 

7. How do you support your portfolio companies

• I give time and put effort to review where they need help and provide it. 

• Most of the help is sought in terms of introductions to customers or investors.

• Act like a sounding board for operational matters on the floor - founder disagreement, hiring and positioning issues, compliance, team structure and GTM related issues are common topics. 

8. Books or Blogs you would like to recommend entrepreneurs

The hard thing about hard things by Ben Horowitz: there are some points in the book which need fine tuning for Indian context but most of the points made are valid. 

About Vijaya Kumar Ivaturi:

Vijaya Kumar (known as IVK) is Co-Founder and CTO of Crayon Data, a Big data analytics product company in Singapore with a development centre in Chennai. He is also an active member of Indian Angel Network, a syndicate for early stage capital to invest in start-up companies, in emerging areas of technology.

He consults in the areas of business strategy and transformation through new age technologies covering the areas of embedded systems, Cloud services, Big Data analytics and Mobility. Also, he is one of the co-founders of India Innovation Labs, a start-up in the field of augmented reality and Robotics, which focuses on the Digital media and tourism sector.