1. What do you focus on at B Capital?

I’m the VP for Strategy & Operations at B Capital, covering India and Southeast Asia. I partner with founders and leadership of our portfolio companies to help them evolve and scale. We focus on some very exciting verticals – enterprise, fintech, consumer enablement, and healthcare.

I see my role as having a simple mission – “making our founders succeed”, by being equal parts thought partner, advisor, coach, and facilitator. The Asia tech ecosystem is transforming and maturing, and the startups in the region now have global ambitions. I partner with the founders on a few key areas:

a) Strategy: Myriad of engagements across new market entry, GTM strategy, revenue models

b) Functional expertise: Specific domain capabilities, such as thinking through new B2B pricing models and leveraging marketing channels effectively

c) Operational excellence: Helping set up systems and processes in the right way, as the company scales, e.g., onboarding or account planning

d) Connections: Be a conduit to set up the right conditions for the magic of people helping people to happen! Warm introductions and partnerships play a key part here

The other key part of my role is to work closely with our investment team, to me it’s important for us to be tied at the hip to make sure we can get a virtuous cycle of support for our founders and investments and ultimately, better returns for our funds.

2. What attracted you to working at B Capital?

I had been keen on operating roles in VC industry to be able to make impact at scale in the ecosystem for some time. The B Capital opportunity stood out to me for a couple of reasons. First and foremost was the unique partnership with BCG where I had worked before, and the deep emphasis on adding value to our founders and companies. That combined with their focus on being global to help companies scale was a unique differentiator.

Ultimately however, I rooted the decision to join in my value system and the mindset of partnership, collaboration and humility that B Capital and their team represented resonated with my approach to leadership, career, and building relationships.

3. If you weren’t in this career, what would you be doing?

My passion remains to build and scale companies in Asia. If not for my current role, I would continue my career as an operator, helping global and regional companies enter / scale up in Asia, helping navigate the challenges presented by its sheer diversity and various complexities.

4. What is most interesting or unique about working in venture capital?

VC is fundamentally a people’s business backed by metrics. The opportunity to be surrounded by a team and founders doing some incredibly inspiring work can be humbling to say the least.

VC is also a lot about breadth – It’s about learning new things every day — new business models, new technologies, new sectors, first-hand from those disrupting the status quo.

Last but not the least, VC is (most times) more of a long-term game. As VCs, our mind is set in the future. We invest in growth, thinking of where the world will be 5 to 10 years from now, and stay in our companies for that long. And that’s exciting. However, that also means that for years, we don’t know fully realize the impact we are making. Feedback loops are very long in Venture Capital. So, one learns to be patient!

5. What is something someone might not know about non-investing roles at a VC firm?

Non-investing roles in the venture capital world are becoming a critical differentiator, as funds can’t solely rely on their investment thesis to win them deals anymore. With a lot of money chasing a few deals, the “smart money” strategy would be to have a strong platform team with the right skills and vision, as a powerful way to give the fund an edge.  What has been fascinating for me has been to see the diversity of background and talent in the platform team – ex-consultants, startup founders, PR pros, recruiters, heads of operations, community organizers, investment bankers, and more. In my view, the power of bringing unique and diverse perspectives to a fund through platform roles is incredible and cannot be overstated. More perspectives mean more networks to tap for support, new sources of deal flow, more holistic culture, and being able to cast a wider net to bring in more diverse founders. All in all, a great win for the ecosystem.

6. What’s something many people may not know about you?

Something you may not know about me is that I am a mom of two young boys – my 4-year-old and 7-month-old and they are the center of my universe! Beyond work and mamahood, I do love design, art, décor, and good food and hope that I can at some point in my life open a boutique café and studio where I can bring all these myriad interests to life.

Connect with Chandan on LinkedIn!