14 days, 14 cities, 4 states

30 years of venture capital

India’s decade is here.

Every year, I make it a point to write to myself on the 15th of August. I have been doing it for 40 years. What did I learn in the year gone by ? What have I learned for the coming year.

As I took a window seat in a small single engine jet to begin my journey, I opened a pdf of my 1995 diary. I had penned it in a Rajdhani train from Mumbai to Delhi. I had used the journey to pen down what eventually became the Venture Capital Regulations 1996 of India. Train is still my favourite commute between Delhi and Mumbai.

I can no longer afford a train journey.

This statement says it all.

Of the New India.

My journey this year took me from tourism capital Goa to the Garden City of Bangalore to the Diamond city of Surat to the Lion’s land at Gir to the hamlet of Daman to the Ship breaking yard at Alang to the Royal city of Jaipur.

As convenor of the largest Social Impact Fund in India and someone with 30 years in venture capital – I would like to think I bring unique insights, an unmatched Rolodex and bruises of decades of hands-on work in innovation, taxation and regulation.

But none of these now seem relevant.

I am just not fast enough.

I am too stuck in detail.

I am missing the big picture.

Like me, so are most of my generation. We have lost relevance other than as guides and auditors to the younger generation.

Information is a great equaliser. Education makes it a weapon of competitive advantage. Access to grey haired expertise makes it world beating. Incorporating climate resilience in all we do, will make us Vishwaguru.

This is what we all need to understand. Especially myself, as I grapple with the new realities of geopolitics – something which was not in my dictionary till recently.

I get invited to Board meetings and corporate offsites of some of the largest corporates. Corporate jets and tele meetings makes people very time efficient. I don’t like private jets but I prefer them to tele meetings.

I am a slow travel kind of person. I don’t have a diary for future meetings. For me the duration of a meeting is till it comes to a logical end. I just don’t understand these 45 minute slots. Sometimes I start at lunch and it goes on till dinner the next day – to be continued. Sometimes it comes to an end in a few minutes – never to be repeated. For me, it’s intuitive and zoom doesn’t help my intuition.

There are fourteen key takeaways from my 14 days on the road. It is the fastest trip I have ever done. And I want to compare them with the 14 takeaways of 1995.

1. Climate resilience is all that matters and ai is not going to solve it. Nor can the government.

2. Young premium grads are the future of India. India’s leap rate is going to be limited by our innovation index. Not by our success in bilateral trade.

3. Cultural diversity is key. As is gender diversity. Or age diversity. Or education diversity.