point
The Smart Techie was renamed Siliconindia India Edition starting Feb 2012 to continue the nearly two decade track record of excellence of our US edition.

New Entrepreneurs should Bet on a Single Horse

Parag Dhol
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Parag Dhol
Where we invest
In India, the depth in each of the different segments in the industry is too narrow while the breadth is too broad and so it is better to look at things on a deal by deal basis. We are what we define as technology investors, technology that goes into the real world, it can be a semiconductor company, an embedded software company, a consumer internet vendor, software products and services company, a KPO, a mobile value added services or any other companies like that. While we are a technology only investor, we tend not to look at the industry in a sector wise basis, and we have no sector bias or no technology bias. We look at specific company and if we find it interesting then we invest in it.

What we look for
In the first meeting with company team, we will try to figure out if this is a bunch of folks will gel together, do they have the right sets of skills, and an apt market place. Then we look at what kind of traction are they getting in that market place, how differentiate they are - the team, the dynamics of the market place they are playing in, the competitive advantage they have over other players, and substitutes or alternatives in that market.

What excites us A cloud company for the reason of being a cloud company might not excite us, how differentiated it is as an offering is what we are looking at. Cloud is not only helping companies that offer those services but also companies like Redbuzz which have moved to the cloud as it is more scalable. Another thing is mobile; apps from the mobile are going to be clearly the future. Some people are using the mobile platform for education, this intersection or vertical interaction is very interesting. This is a sector where we see a lot of potential for the future and we are very excited about the developments in this space.

Trends
When we look at trends, they are across the board. You see trends in the mobile front intersecting with education, there are very visible trends in the cleantech industry, the social media space, consumer internet, software products and services, mobile value added services, and so on, it is spread all over and we are quite excited by the kind of companies we are seeing on a regular basis.

Share on Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Share on facebook