What you can't see matters. Always keep an open mind!

We had just pitched to Maninder Gulati, who I knew from his previous avatar as an entrepreneur. He told us about this really interesting startup that he believed in completely, set us up with a meeting in Spaze, Gurugram.

We meet this founder, who was young, smart and ambitious. In comparison, I sounded jaded back then! He really needed help with his technology and processes. I thought about it, and it looked too messy back then to me.

We headed back to the boss and said maybe not the right opportunity for us. He was adamant that this would work (and well, he made it work).

The founder was Ritesh Agarwal and the company OYO which will probably do a mega IPO soon. What it has taken to pull this off I am assuming very few folks can do.

In hindsight, the lack of appreciation of business and venture capital did me in. They are an essential part of the eco-system and must be treated with respect.

The tech myopia ultimately does not help one succeed in being a part of large stories. One can only hope, other don’t take these opportunities as lightly as we did.

Keep an open mind, and always look at what can transform that moment into something significant.

#startup #venturecapital #business #respect #opportunity