Meeting passionate entrepreneurs who have a bold vision and come up with innovative ideas to solve a problem. Every day is new learning experience in VC – learning about new markets, new products, what works, doesn't work, and brainstorming with peers. But it also requires patience as there is long learning curve.

Q2. Describe your workday and leisure day, how does it look like?

Workday varies between 8-10 hours – doing calls, meeting founders and investors, writing content, deal evaluation, and internal discussion. On weekdays, I start my day running for 20-30 mins in APR. On weekends, I play squash, do strength training, and go for treks or long runs.

Q3. Help describe your investment thesis and ideas you would like to back.

• Sector focus – SaaS, Fintech, B2B Commerce, and Deeptech. 
• Founder Market Fit. We have developed an internal framework to assess this.
• Large addressable market opportunity and right time to invest in the space.
• Invest in products – 10x differentiation. Strong defensibility. 
• Technology as leverage to scale faster and has high growth potential. 

Q4. What are your 5 key learnings from your experience as a venture investor?

•  Don't follow the wave or hottest trend.
•  Don't be afraid to take contrarian bets. 
• Perseverance is key.
•  Be curious and have an open mind to learn new things.
•  Avoid FOMO investing. Be aware of biases during decision making.

Q5. Mention top 5 consumer/industry/technology trends in India and globally.

• The ecosystem and right infrastructure exist to build world-class SaaS companies from India targeting the global market.
• B2B Commerce – More companies will build vertical full-stack tech-enabled platforms in unorganized, fragmented markets.

• Fintech – UPI stack + AA platforms will lead to new-age companies building products for the underserved market.

• AI in healthcare will become big in the next decade.
• India will emerge as a game development hub, with games made in India for the world.

Q6. How do you support your portfolio companies?

We act as a sounding board to our portfolio founders and help them with hiring, positioning, strategic inputs, and introductions to investors, founders, and customers from our network. 

Q7. When you started your career what were your ambitions ?

I started my career with Edtech and moved to IT Consulting after completing my post-grad from JBIMS. I have always wanted to work in the financial services sector. When I got the opportunity to work in VC, I lapped it up and joined Gemba Capital since inception. This is one of the best decisions that I've ever made. It still feels day zero, and I have miles to go. 

Q8. Books or Blogs you would recommend entrepreneurs.

• Books - Upstarts – Brad Stone and The Hard Things about Hard Things.

• Blogs - Stratechery by Ben Thompson, Redpoint VC - Medha Agarwal (Fintech). SaaS - Tomasz Tunguz and Jason Lemkin

Q9. If you have interacted with 100X.VC, please share a few good words about us.

Yes, I met Vatsal Kanakiya at a few mixer events in Bangalore. I have enjoyed our conversations ranging from life in Bombay vs. Bangalore to exchanging notes on different sectors. 

About Kamini

Kamini has over 5 years of experience in early stage investing and overall 9 years of experience in different sectors. She works as AVP in the investment team at Gemba Capital evaluating investments in SaaS and Consumer tech. Prior to Gemba Capital, she has worked as an Associate at Axilor Ventures, Business Analyst at Indus Valley Partners and was part of product development team at BYJU’s. She has completed her Masters in Finance from JBIMS and B. Tech Electrical and Electronics Engineering from NIT, Nagpur. She has completed 3 high altitude Himalayan treks in the last 1 year. In her leisure time, she can be found reading books, trekking and running.