In late 2014, through a close connect, I came to know that a very interesting fintech company, Razorpay, was working out of Startup Oasis, at Sitapura in Jaipur.
Out of habit, I quickly looked at the company’s and founder’s profile, and made a mental note to meet them when I visit Startup Oasis. However, despite being barely half an hour away in Jaipur, I missed meeting them as I got caught up with mundane work-related stuff.
It was not until a couple of months later that I happened to visit Sitapura for an event where I met Shashank Kumar, co-founder and chief technology officer of Razorpay. When I broached the topic of fundraise, I realized that they have already got commitments from angel investors such as Ram Shriram and Inmobi Founders, and Shashank seemed very clear that they would not seek more money.
I decided not to push further on the possibility of investing. The learning from this experience was that great opportunities would not come easily and one needs to act fast. Founders may not be really out in the market looking for money and investors. There was also a need to work hard to research about the founders, product and space even before the founders formally reach out. This learning later on helped me spot Lifcare, when my colleague Vidhant met the founder at an event.
As a rule, I tell my colleagues in Dexter to narrate entire notes of events without missing anything. Vidhant did not mention anything about Lifcare in his notes, but mentioned that he met a guy who has recently started out and wanted to hire him. As soon as I looked at the founder’s profiles and what the company was trying to do (subscription-based medicine delivery for chronic patients), I knew it may be another opportunity. I met them, invested, and put together their seed round, too.
A section where investors talk about missed opportunities in start-up investments.
