The Founder Knows Best

I’m just about to complete my first month with Canaan Partners and wanted to say hello. I’ve spent the last 15 years in various international operating and venture capital roles. At my last assignment as the founding director of Clearstone Venture Advisors, I helped build a platform to focus on early stage investments in verticals like financial services, telecom, media, and education, and served on the Boards of Billdesk and Games2Win.

At Canaan I will lead new investments in early-stage, India-based technology companies in the consumer Internet, mobile, software, and managed services industries. Over the last 5-7 years we have seen multiple Indian startups that have achieved critical mass and are now getting listed on both foreign and local exchanges, helping validate the venture model for India. With Internet access growing, consumers becoming more web savvy and businesses leveraging technology for scale, the next decade looks to be even more exciting than the last for venture capital in India. 

What’s even more exciting is that some of these startups are building global customer bases to become mini multinationals and are able to compete with the best in class. I believe Canaan, with its strong global practice, is perfectly placed to help Indian entrepreneurs challenge the world. Interacting with entrepreneurs and small businesses and having conversations about entrepreneurship even outside the office has always made me curious about the minds of great entrepreneurs.

Brilliant improvisers that they are, the best entrepreneurs often don’t start out with an exit mindset. Instead, they constantly assess the market and make the most of the limited resources they have at hand to build their businesses, one day at a time.  That’s not to say that entrepreneurs don’t think long term, but by being creative and staying close to the customer, they can pivot their business model to where value will be captured in a rapidly changing market. Often times, founders understand this intuitively and possibly better than a “professional CEO”, giving support to the notion that the tech industry is best served founder CEO’s. Tech stars like Facebook, Zynga, Groupon and Netflix are all still run by their founders and even a giant like Google has recently revamped its management to put Larry Page back in charge.

For those of us in the VC industry, it has always been important to think like entrepreneurs rather than purely as investors. It isn’t always easy, but I believe it requires a conscious effort — not only to meet and spend time with entrepreneurs, but also to understand what motivates them and then truly be a partner that they can count on, through ups and downs to help them achieve their vision.

Portfolio News

BharatMatrimony the world’s first and largest matrimonial website, announced the result of their online survey on Changing Trends in Marriages which was conducted on the fall of Matrimony Day 14th April. The survey reflects the perception of the people and their changing outlook towards marriages. More than 55 per cent of the nearly 5200 people who took part in the survey voted companionship as the most important ingredient for a successful marriage.

iYogi, a global on-demand services company that provides personalized computer support for consumers and small businesses, announced the addition of Harpreet Bhinder as its Senior Vice President, Channel Services. Harpreet will be responsible for managing integration and delivery with iYogi’s channel partners including software publishers, hardware manufacturers and retailers.

MotorExchange, an automotive start-up in India that provides consumers solutions to sell their car in a fast and optimal fashion has been shortlisted as a finalist for the 2011 TiE50 awards, a prestigious award for the most promising start ups across the world. With the Indian used car market set to touch the five-million mark in vehicle sales over the next four years, online vehicle auction company MotorExchange.in is eyeing a fourfold increase in transactions at over $1 billion by 2015.

>UnitedLex, a global full service provider of technology powered legal and business solutions, today announced a strategic partnership with UNIFIED, a leading provider of legal technology and outsourced support services. The partnership will provide UnitedLex with an onshore delivery platform in the UK for eDiscovery, Document Review and other LPO services for its UK, European and global clients. Additionally, UNIFIED will add to its portfolio UnitedLex’s offshore Indian and US fulfilled services.

>UnitedLex, India’s most comprehensive website on Bollywood, recently announced Salman Khan and newcomer Sonakshi Sinha as the most searched Indian celebrities on the web, in a survey conducted by them

Canaan In News

Canaan Partners, captures Canaan India’s investment in Naaptol and looks to the future sources for raising capital for Naaptol

Canaan Partners, explores the new trend in the VC industry of VC firms incubating their ow business ideas

Canaan Partners, explores the evolution and growth in the VC industry in India.

Canaan Partners, talks about the partnership with Lufthansa in bringing the next edition of “Pioneering Spirit” - a unique television series around entrepreneurship.

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