E38: Adith Podhar (Managing Partner, Gemba Capital)
Episode description
Adith Podhar is the Managing Partner at Gemba Capital, a fund which invests in angel rounds of tech firms focused on India consumption and cross-border SaaS.
Prior to Gemba, Adith has worked at Motilal Oswal PE fund in Mumbai, and spent time at ICICI as a Product Manager.
Follow Adith (@adithpodhar), host Akash Bhat (@bhatvakash) and our podcast (@thedesi_vc) on Twitter.
. . .
In this episode we will cover:
1. Covid impact on investing (1:47)
2. How does Adith look back on 2020? (6:43)
3. What might the next 24 months look like? (11:47)
4. Sectors within India that Adith is bullish on (14:26)
5. Adith’s background and journey into VC (18:00)
6. Learnings as a founder and how it’s helpful in VC today (21:11)
7. How have different investing experiences influenced Adith’s investor persona? (30:11)
8. How did Adith write his first check and what was the process behind it ?(34:18)
9. Gemba’s current investment thesis (38:29)
10. Raising money from domestic LPs (43:01)
11. Challenges of raising money from within India (45:41)
12. How does Gemba add value to startups? (48:37)
13. Portfolio support & time allocation (53:15)
14. What does it take to be a good investor? (55:56)
15. How does Adith evaluate companies and founders of similar profiles (58:24)
16. Time spent on due diligence (1:00:13)
17. Rapid fire (1:02:55)