On EIRs & Incubations @ PrimeVP

A few years ago, I shared a concept with a friend of a friend I had been introduced to.? The next day, he called me back and said, “you have conceived the solution to the biggest problem customers keep asking for”. I immediately replied, “then come over and let’s get started”. Over the course of the next few weeks, connected with a CTO and co-founder, and brought the idea to market. That company has evolved into India’s leading Neobank, Niyo!

Often people fret about, “whose idea it was in the first place”.?

The reality is that ideas are dime a dozen, it's all about execution.

The fact of the matter is that while startups begin as ideas, the company that it evolves into is very often quite different from the original idea and people apply revisionist history to make the story appear like a well-thought plan. Even when people "pivot" its often a result of a series of incremental directional changes rather than a completely new direction.

Incubations stem from what my partner Shripati calls the occasional “brain wavelet” that we or an entrepreneur may have - something that isn’t necessarily ready for Prime Time (no pun intended) but is ready for Prime's Time. We’re happy, in such cases, to roll up our sleeves and get to work and proactively go after the idea. Although to the external world these may seem like our investments, we do not incubate an idea, prototype concepts, put a team together, and seed-fund the company. Additionally, we actively continue to explore working with EIRs and incubating new businesses. We are happy to share our ideas, and perspectives and make investments in time, people, and capital if it helps be the spark to light the raging fire!

In the case of Niyo, long before I had met Vinay and Virender, I had been looking at the idea of (and had filed patents too!) early salary access with a well-thought-out business model. After doing a lot of research, I made two failed attempts at working, in one case with an EIR (now very successful as an entrepreneur himself) and later with a consultant. The conviction we got out of those prototypes made me discuss it with Vinay initially and later with Viren which led to the formation of Niyo and the “arranged marriage” of Vinay and Viren as co-founders. As it turns out, today the company has not really built itself around the original idea but it has made the most out of the opportunity to work together and the initial capital. It?has built an amazing high-growth business that has evolved, mostly based on insights that Vinay and Viren developed over the years. Today the company has raised more than $150Million since we first seeded the company.

Niyo is an example of an incubation done right and while we’ve had several others, we also have a few others in our portfolio. I will confess that not all incubations end up being successful - however, we continue to be excited about partnering with high-quality individuals and exploring business opportunities together.

Prime backs amazing entrepreneurs early in their journey and the kind of founders we meet are very articulate and clear about how their business is likely to play out and where they may need VCs like us. As it turns out nothing works according to the plan, or rarely does, but we love rolling up our sleeves and helping out in any which way we can. Amit Somani is one of India’s premier product and organization guys, Shripati Acharya is exceptional with all things operations, and I love to tinker around with sales, marketing & pricing. We also have extensive expertise in PR & communications, brand-building, finance, legal, and compliance.

Here is what we look for in EIRs be it in individuals or teams, for incubation, not necessarily in order of priority:

1. Independent thinkers with no egos or insecurities: The fact that something wasn’t your idea isn’t a reason to not do it? and at the same time, willing to push back without fear
2. Calm yet excitable: to be able to get excited about an idea and OWN the opportunity from that point on. It may have started out as our idea, but it’s YOUR startup!
3. Amazing Tech chops: we are only looking at ideas that can be implemented and tested quickly, iterated at breakneck speed
4. History of working well together: complementary skills and track record of collaboration
5. Serious about building something big but not overtly married to what you have started doing

If you’re still figuring out the big problem you want to solve and are open to a? brainstorming session, or being an EIR with us, drop us a note! To be clear this is NOT a job. It doesn’t come with a guaranteed salary or benefits or all those good things. While we may be open to a stipend, and will surely cover expenses related to the business opportunity, an EIR at Prime is a role for a self-starter. For someone who thinks and behaves like an entrepreneur.

Drop me a note if you’d like to chat. There are a handful of exciting fintech plays, a couple of Enterprise SaaS+BlockChain plays, and a couple of mobility/logistics ideas I am eagerly looking forward to working on. But to be clear we look at several areas, including #Fintech #EdTech #HealthTech #Logistics #Web3 #Gaming #ClimateTech #EV

?Not ready for Primetime? You may still be ready for Prime’s Time!        

Let’s do some disruptive stuff together! Email me.