Mukund Mohan has worked with Cisco, Hewlett Packard, Invois and Semantic Defense. He has also founded BuzzGain, a do-it-yourself PR company, which was sold to Meltwater Group for $4 million in 2010. Mohan currently owns Jivity that offers brand merchandising, brand engagement and positioning solutions to corporate and other niche market sectors. “I invest in young entrepreneurs as earlier in my career, people helped me with investments and advice. I learn about new markets, thanks to my investments, and enjoy the entrepreneurial journey,” says Mohan.
Here is his candid advice for start-ups. “Have fun working on your start-up. Even if things don’t work out, it would be a fun ride,” he remarks.
Investment DNA
Preferred Sectors: Internet and Software as a Service (SaaS) markets. Mohan and his wife have invested in a restaurant but that is supposed to be an exception.
Preferred Location: Bangalore.
Involvement: Depends on entrepreneurs, as some of them ask for help in sales while others seek support for marketing. “Again, others have been happy to get infrequent connections to relevant industry folks,” says Mohan.
Key Investments: Bluberry Retail (restaurant), Plivo, Social Hues and three others (one is an e-commerce venture, yet to be launched; another is a SaaS developer recruitment platform and finally, Kinetic Brains).
Hits & Misses: Too early to say as most investments have been done in India during the past three years.
