Having been an entrepreneur all my life, understanding the struggles and sleepless nights pondering over team, growth, finances (running the show basically) - it’s my way of giving back to the community with not just money, but also imparting experiences and an outsider view on getting simple things done. Often as a founder tackling problems can lessen the view of the bigger picture. As an investor/friend it's my fiduciary duty to talk and walk the path with founders who I've invested in. 

Apart from the above, the core reason that motivates and excites me is the hunger to learn from founders their unique perspective about solving a particular problem they've set their path onto. It's fun to unlearn and slide in diverse knowledge.

2. Describe your workday and leisure day, how does it look like

This is a tricky one. While most may say I'm a workaholic slamming in 16 hours a day minimum; I try and multitask between 2 parts of my work. Of course running the company and alongside I dedicate 3 hours a day to assist founders and aspiring founders. Saturdays I try to be with family and my core team binge watching movies and playing games. Leisure days tend to become workdays especially having a large enough portfolio to assist and be there for. Off and on I try and jet set away to a destination where I can unwind and journal ideas that I want to bring to life.

3. What is your view on the future of India as a market

Absolutely a no brainer. India is paving the way for innovation in both technology and products that use technology to reach the market. With path-breaking ideas coming to life, my team and I are convinced India is where we're investing heavily into for years to come. For those who've not spent time in India, I encourage you to do so and you'll see why I'm personally so bullish!

4. Help describe your investment thesis and ideas you would like to back

I like to get in early! Whether I know the team or am about to get to know them, I back them equally. I'm pretty much sector agnostic and will back them especially if I can add value. I'd like to say it's smart money with a value added service by me or my team ;)

Some of the ideas I'd love to back are hovering around these 5 spaces:

• Web3/Decentralisation

• SaaS (Fintech, TelcoTech, MedTech)

• AR & VR Gaming

• Consumer Products (DTC)

• Data (AI, ML)

• Conversational Interfaces

5. What are your 5 key learnings from your experience as a venture investor

• Trust the entrepreneur you're investing in

• Not every opportunity is a good one

• You can't be successful every time 

• Don't invest heavy at the beginning, stagger at regular intervals and double down with growth.

• If you can't decide, the answer is NO.

6. Top 5 advice you would give to startup founder

• Don't be afraid to fail. Holding on doesn't do no good.

• Make mistakes, don't repeat them. If you do, something's wrong ;)

• Pivoting isn't necessarily a bad thing; it shows you're poised to grow!

• Rejections are a part of the journey, take them with a smile

• And last but not the least, when you feel no one believes in you, believe in YOURSELF!

7. How do you support your portfolio companies

• Usually I check in once in a while on WhatsApp Groups I have with most. Predominantly I ask 2 questions (Remember I said, I'd like to be a friend first, investor second)

1. How's it going?

2. How can I help?

• Opening up the network, customer connects and validations etc: these are the usual that come alongside anyway.

8. Which of your portfolio company you are very excited about and why

• Haha.. this is fun. Short answer is that I'm excited about all my investments - though if I were to cherry pick a few

1. Sanfe.in - for the sheer vision in empowering women to break out of the closet and freely make the right choices for themselves in terms of hygiene, skin care and hair removal products.

2. Shyft.to - As a programmer, learning every possible blockchain is a nightmare, Shyft does the heavy lifting by bringing all into a single API. 

3. Anything.World - They're on a mission to make anyone a 3D content creator. Machine learning at its very best and executed to pixel perfection!

4. Vodex.ai - Vodex is disrupting the generative voice AI world with their outbound phone automation which is personal, human and intelligent.

5. PoweredbyIbex.io - They're creating a hyper efficient payment network to empower the world into a new era of global commerce. You're already seeing their magic unfold in El Salvador

About Yash Kotak:

Yash is the Founder and CEO of Jumper.ai, the first automated social and messaging commerce platform that allows brands to sell direct-to-consumers on social media platforms and messaging apps. Under Yash’s leadership, Jumper.ai has successfully worked with over 11,000 businesses worldwide including brands like Marvel, Disney, Ben & Jerry's, and Unilever. 

With more than 20 years of experience building ecommerce solutions for brands and companies worldwide, Yash thrives on the web, flirts with artificial intelligence, and builds machine learning for a network of flawless, unified platforms. Yash has built and designed more than 22,000 websites. Among his first projects was designing India's first film magazine for Yahoo! He has built automated bots since 1995, paving the way for his career-defining passion for AI and IRC (Internet Relay Chat) Networks. An experienced speaker on topics involving AI, automation and commerce without boundaries, Yash has spoken at events across Asia and worldwide, including F8, 500 Startups, WPP Stream, Unilever Patent Conference, and more.