Deepak Shahdadpuri, who has worked with companies like Reuters Venture Capital and Bain & Company, heads the $200 million Beacon India Private Equity Fund. “I think working with early-stage entrepreneurs is always exciting and engaging to find what the emerging opportunities are. It helps me identify and understand the future trends, emerging business models and also technology, which helps me with my day job,” he says.
And here is one sagacious saying by Shahdadpuri: Things never pan out as expected; so entrepreneurs should be prepared for that.
Investment DNA
Preferred Sectors: Shahdadpuri is sector agnostic and for him, entrepreneurs come before sectors. He likes to invest either with people he knows or in sectors that he understands. He tends to invest fairly early in the lifecycle of a start-up.
Preferred Location: No location preferences. He has already invested in India, Singapore and the UK.
Involvement: Shahdadpuri says he has become more of a passive investor over time, spending time with start-ups as required to bounce ideas and strategy off them. He prefers to invest with other angels, so there is always someone to mentor the start-ups (besides himself) as his day job is running a PE firm.
Key Investments: Shahdadpuri has been investing for the past 10 years and typically invests in one company every year.
Hits & Misses: Without revealing any name, Shahdadpuri says that he has misses in the education sector and hits in the Internet and food & beverage space.
