Serial entrepreneur Jason Kothari has worked with several troubled Indian technology startups at critical junctures and helped them turn their fortunes around.
Kothari’s first turnaround initiative came when, as a Wharton student, he raised money from family and friends to save comic book company Valiant Entertainment from bankruptcy and transformed it within a few years.
His stints in India include leading Housing.com, where he scaled back businesses, pruned workforce and shut operations in many cities to keep the company afloat.
Subsequently, he worked with FreeCharge and Snapdeal, streamlining the business and bringing down cash burn, and advised technology investor SoftBank and real estate developer Emaar.
VCCircle caught up with him to get insights into his personal experience of turning around companies in India at a time when many startups have laid off thousands of employees as they struggle to stay afloat in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Kothari, who recently authored the book Irrationally Passionate: My Turnaround from Rebel to Entrepreneur, offers suggestions on the main priorities for entrepreneurs during a black swan event such as this pandemic.
