Sharad Sharma was till recently the CEO of Yahoo! India R&D and has more than 22 years of experience in the Internet, enterprise software and wireless infrastructure sectors. He is currently Executive Council Member at NASSCOM. Sharma has made 11 investments so far and has been an active member of the Indian Angel Network (IAN). He started angel investments because he thinks that there is a very big market both in the USA and India, and firmly believes that ‘Indian money for Indian entrepreneurs at early stage’ is the only way to fill the early-stage funding gap that exists in the country.
His advice to the young companies is simple enough. They should learn everything they can about this new philosophy of company building called lean start-ups. It can actually help them be more effective in finding a fit between their offerings and the marketplace. It can also be very effective in improving their chances of success during the early stage.
Investment DNA
Preferred Sectors: Technology-centric, ranging from Cloud, semi-conductors and Internet businesses.
Preferred Location: Invested in the USA but prefers India.
Involvement: Hands-off investor but tries to be available on call.
Key Investments: Sharma has invested in Dhruva and Vayavya Labs, among others.
Hits & Misses: Dhruva exceeded all expectations. Didn’t take a name but agreed that a Mumbai-based company has disappointed him.
