Dickens said, it was the best of the times, it was the worst of the times. The words have never been truer. Best because there’s never been a better time to be an entrepreneur. Worst because the clutter is mind-numbing. Founder Thesis breaks through the noise to bring you stories of success & failure, grit & struggle, bouquets & brickbats from some of the most brilliant entrepreneurs in India.
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Dickens said, it was the best of the times, it was the worst of the times. The words have never been truer. Best because there’s never been a better time to be an entrepreneur. Worst because the clutter is mind-numbing. Founder Thesis breaks through the noise to bring you stories of success & failure, grit & struggle, bouquets & brickbats from some of the most brilliant entrepreneurs in India.
How to Bootstrap a Deep Tech VC fund in India | Ashish Taneja (growX Ventures)
Founder Thesis
2 hours 7 minutes
2 months ago
How to Bootstrap a Deep Tech VC fund in India | Ashish Taneja (growX Ventures)
"Cash is just a commodity. What truly attracts top entrepreneurs is the connection you build."
Ashish Taneja completely flips the traditional investor-founder power dynamic in this eye-opening conversation with host Akshay Datt, revealing why the best founders actually choose their investors, not the other way around.
Ashish Taneja is the Founding Partner & CEO of GrowX Ventures, one of India's pioneering deep tech venture capital firms. A Chartered Accountant who transitioned from being the India CEO of Vertex (a major UK BPO firm) to venture investing, Ashish has bootstrapped GrowX from angel investments in 2008 to managing ₹400+ crores across institutional funds. His portfolio includes a spectacular 17x return from spacetech company Pixxel, and notable exits to companies like Reliance and NASDAQ. With 49 investments and 9 successful exits over 15+ years, Ashish has become a leading voice in India's hardware and deep tech ecosystem.
Key Insights from the Conversation:
👉Deep Tech Focus: India's future lies in hardware-first companies solving complex problems in space, defense, semiconductors, and advanced manufacturing
👉Patient Capital Thesis: Deep tech requires 4-6 year investment horizons versus software's 18-month cycles
👉Dual Valley Strategy: Successful deep tech investing means navigating both technology risk and commercialization risk simultaneously
👉Founder-First Philosophy: The best entrepreneurs choose their investors based on value-add, not just capital
👉Barbell Portfolio Strategy: Combining high-risk seed deep tech bets with lower-risk Series B growth investments
👉Bootstrap Mentality: Building a VC fund through personal savings, consulting revenue, and reinvested returns rather than institutional money
#VentureCapital #DeepTech #SpaceTech #HardwareStartups #IndiaVC #StartupFunding #TechInvesting #DefenseTech #Semiconductors #PatientCapital #FounderThesis #AkshayDatt #GrowXVentures #AshishTaneja #StartupEcosystem #AngelInvesting #SeriesB #SeedFunding #TechEntrepreneur #IndianStartups #VCStrategy #InvestmentStrategy #TechFounders #StartupJourney #ModernIndustrials
Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the speaker, not necessarily the channel
Founder Thesis
Dickens said, it was the best of the times, it was the worst of the times. The words have never been truer. Best because there’s never been a better time to be an entrepreneur. Worst because the clutter is mind-numbing. Founder Thesis breaks through the noise to bring you stories of success & failure, grit & struggle, bouquets & brickbats from some of the most brilliant entrepreneurs in India.
