You have spent a lot of time in various large organisations such as Intel. How is it different in a start up?
The differences are huge. In a large corporation, one is not under as much pressure for managing costs as in a small company, where money is finite and may finish before one gets to the end of the runway. Even if one is granted a little extra runway, it will diminish the valuation, equity, and ownership, so much so that one begins to wonder whether it is worth pursuing at all. In a start up, the risks are huge. People are reluctant to join a start–up venture, as they cannot explain to their families why they want to join an obscure company instead of a large, well–known corporation. You have to set aggressive goals and sometimes things may go terribly wrong. But it is a wonderful learning process. You learn to let go, pick up the pieces, assemble them all over again and move on. Entrepreneurship also brings forth leadership qualities and gives you the chance to set the culture and vision of your company, rather than following. Yes, everything in a start up is about ten times more challenging.

As a venture capitalist, what is your perspective on Indians as entrepreneurs?
We are here because we believe in India. We believe in its growing economy and in the booming middle class, which at last has consumer power. We are also here because Indians are not only talented but have an entrepreneurial DNA. The only difference is that while in the USA, because of the leverage factor and efficient infrastructure, if you put in one, you get back ten. Here if you put in ten, the system gives you a divider of two and you get back five.

Everybody is throwing hurdles in your way–the government, the bureaucrats, the regulatory bodies. Everybody is questioning. If you can succeed here, then succeeding in the US is a cakewalk. I believe what makes Indians strong, are the adversities.

Which issues, according to you, need to be addressed to give the necessary fillip to entrepreneurs?
First and foremost is education. There is another India out there, which we tend to ignore. We need to bring them along. What is missing is a significant layer of managers, not in terms of people trained in MBA schools, but in terms of managing projects, programmes, etc. I believe that the country needs to connect the rural areas with the urban and give more options to the rural areas. I think we are too drunk with this ‘service’ thing. Service industry is great and we can continue in that for the next 10 to 15 years but somebody has to figure out how to include the remaining people.

In the context of the Indo-US Fund, what are the sectors you are looking at?
We are looking at technology and technology enabled areas. We do not want to get into haircut salons, shoe stores, real estate or equity. We stay away from private equity, even though people playing the private equity game are making a lot of money and are giving quick returns. In real estate too, one needs political contacts and the know-how to get land, subsidies, etc. We stay close to our knitting. My partners and I plan to focus on our respective strengths and do a lot of early stage and mid stage companies that have innovative content.