Startup Fridays Season 2 Ep. 5: VC or entrepreneur, seek to be relevant, enjoy the journey, deliver results: Sateesh Andra of Endiya Partners

Forbes India - The Startup Fridays Podcast

Our guest today is Sateesh Andra, managing director at Endiya Partners, a VC firm that backs early-stage IP-led startups. Before Endiya, he was a partner at Ventureast and DFJ. Before turning to VC, Sateesh was a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, as founder and CEO of Euclid, in the IT management software space. Sateesh was also a top-ranked table tennis player representing Andhra Pradesh.

(00:46) Introduction to Startup Fridays

(01:06) Our guest today — Sateesh Andra, Managing Director, Endiya Partners

(02:28) A snapshot of Sateesh’s career and journey to Endiya

(05:24) A few thoughts on what Endiya is about today

(07:56) India’s startup scene — more often, today, companies are being started by multiple founders on day one

(09:21) A quick recap of Endiya’s eventful last 12 months

(16:02) Noteworthy global changes from a tech VC investor’s perspective and thoughts on how to back emerging startups in that context

(20:53) Promising deep tech startups coming up in India — even a few in the hardware and related areas

(24:02) Are the ingredients there in the Indian startup ecosystem today to support hard engineering based ventures

(26:49) Endiya’s philosophy of being great sherpas to founders, and what it entails in practice

(28:39) What does Sateesh look for in an entrepreneur and a startup

(31:02) Money versus great investors — how should an entrepreneur choose

(34:44) Do VCs need to work harder today to get the best entrepreneurs on their portfolio

(37:18) For a VC fund that has given itself the mandate of backing deep intellectual property led companies, does that intensify the tension between a founder's vision to build his or her company in a certain way, and the constraints of returning money to LPs

(39:34) Biggest takeaways from Sateesh’s entrepreneurial stint

(42:52) The top challenges for entrepreneurs and VCs today

(47:15) Advice to anyone aspiring to a career in VC

(49:49) Rapid fire questions

About Sateesh Andra and Endiya

https://endiya.com/team/sateesh-andra/

Theme music courtesy Twisterium

https://shrtm.nu/Pxh9