India's startup industry is flourishing, especially the growing entrepreneurial drive among India's younger generation. With numerous success stories, the Indian startup ecosystem has witnessed a notable rise in venture capital investments, attracting both local and global investors.
The series 'Crafting Bharat - A Startup Podcast' powered by AWS and an initiative of NewsReach, in association with VCCircle, reveals the secrets behind the journeys of these successful entrepreneurs with an aim to equip aspiring entrepreneurs and business enthusiasts. with invaluable knowledge. The podcast series is hosted by Gautam Srinivasan, famous for hosting a wide range of television and digital shows, currently Consulting Editor for CNBC (India), CNN-News18, Mint, HT Media, Forbes India and The Economic Times.
Given the importance of artificial intelligence (AI) in today's technological context, seasoned entrepreneur Sanket Shah, CEO of InVideo, is changing the way people create video content. In the Crafting Bharat podcast series, Shah talks about his journey as a founder, creating AI-enabled video editing software, and upcoming trends in the industry. Explore the stories of founders' transformation from dreams to reality of Indian startups, facing challenges to seize opportunities through the Crafting Bharat podcast series.
Segment 1: The Incubator
Between the 2012 to 2017 phase, how did the seed of an idea for Invideo germinate, considering that you had founded Visify Books and MassBlurb (with Pankit) in the meantime, and how did it evolve further in the period from 2017 to 2019? Give us the highlights as far as the ups and downs are concerned?I was thinking of starting a business in India while I was in the US but I think that's not how it works because to do a business in India you need much deeper Indian knowledge. You have to be in India and work here, you can't sit somewhere else and think that I will start a recurring business in India. In 2014, there was NACH where you needed to fill out a form and submit it in order for them to initiate recurring payments allowing you to start a recurring business. That was my biggest mistake in thinking that way. I never got a close from Visify Books. I thought videos shouldn't be made like that and sometime in 2017 I started InVideo.
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wGPR0cphGI
Their seed round in May 2018 and second in October 2019 were lukewarm. But the third round in February 2020 raised $2.5 million, which helped it launch its automated assistant, then in October 2020, it raised another $15 million as Series A, and then most importantly, 35 million dollars in July 2021 for Series B. What changed? 2020 that attracted investors to you? First, we operate in a bottomless market; the market is extremely large. I think over a billion people in the world are going to create videos and I don't think there's any debate about that. Secondly, it all comes down to trust in the founder. The track record and the conversation with the founder give that confidence to investors to invest.
I read somewhere that you are now the largest prosumer SaaS company in Asia. What are the lessons you have learned from scaling Invideo from a technological standpoint?
If creators can create videos in a very natural environment, I think that's what reaches a billion users. It's a series of stability, how it's distributed and how it can all come together. The future of all software is in the browser and also on all devices. Our entire system runs on AWS and scaling was very seamless. AWS supported us from a very early stage.Segment 2: The accelerator
You met Sam Altman from OpenAI recently. What did you two talk about?
I met him for over 2 hours and it was a fun conversation. We briefly talked about what to expect in the future. More electricity will be needed to advance the world of AI, which will hopefully be solved by nuclear fusion. Second, computing has become extremely important. What should startup founders focus on when thinking about risk?
It's very risky. I don't think you can do this trip for money. You take this journey for fun. The gratification point of this trip is not the money you will make later, because you will most likely not make any money.
Is it a better approach to launch a good product and improve it to perfection with the feedback received? In my opinion, there needs to be a trial and timing to launch it, but as soon as possible is best for the business.
The startup ecosystem in India has grown tremendously in the last decade. The increasing adoption of digitalization, along with government initiatives, has opened new avenues for budding entrepreneurs.
Stay tuned to the Crafting Bharat podcast series as we bring you these inspiring entrepreneurs for an in-depth and candid discussion with Gautam Srinivasan.Follow Crafting Bharat
https://www.instagram.com/craftingbharat/
https://www.facebook.com/craftingbharatofficial/https://x.com/CraftingBharat
https://www.linkedin.com/company/craftingbharat/
(Disclaimer: The above press release is provided by HT Syndication and will not take any editorial responsibility for this content.)
The series 'Crafting Bharat - A Startup Podcast' powered by AWS and an initiative of NewsReach, in association with VCCircle, reveals the secrets behind the journeys of these successful entrepreneurs with an aim to equip aspiring entrepreneurs and business enthusiasts. with invaluable knowledge. The podcast series is hosted by Gautam Srinivasan, famous for hosting a wide range of television and digital shows, currently Consulting Editor for CNBC (India), CNN-News18, Mint, HT Media, Forbes India and The Economic Times.
Given the importance of artificial intelligence (AI) in today's technological context, seasoned entrepreneur Sanket Shah, CEO of InVideo, is changing the way people create video content. In the Crafting Bharat podcast series, Shah talks about his journey as a founder, creating AI-enabled video editing software, and upcoming trends in the industry. Explore the stories of founders' transformation from dreams to reality of Indian startups, facing challenges to seize opportunities through the Crafting Bharat podcast series.
Segment 1: The Incubator
Between the 2012 to 2017 phase, how did the seed of an idea for Invideo germinate, considering that you had founded Visify Books and MassBlurb (with Pankit) in the meantime, and how did it evolve further in the period from 2017 to 2019? Give us the highlights as far as the ups and downs are concerned?I was thinking of starting a business in India while I was in the US but I think that's not how it works because to do a business in India you need much deeper Indian knowledge. You have to be in India and work here, you can't sit somewhere else and think that I will start a recurring business in India. In 2014, there was NACH where you needed to fill out a form and submit it in order for them to initiate recurring payments allowing you to start a recurring business. That was my biggest mistake in thinking that way. I never got a close from Visify Books. I thought videos shouldn't be made like that and sometime in 2017 I started InVideo.
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wGPR0cphGI
Their seed round in May 2018 and second in October 2019 were lukewarm. But the third round in February 2020 raised $2.5 million, which helped it launch its automated assistant, then in October 2020, it raised another $15 million as Series A, and then most importantly, 35 million dollars in July 2021 for Series B. What changed? 2020 that attracted investors to you? First, we operate in a bottomless market; the market is extremely large. I think over a billion people in the world are going to create videos and I don't think there's any debate about that. Secondly, it all comes down to trust in the founder. The track record and the conversation with the founder give that confidence to investors to invest.
I read somewhere that you are now the largest prosumer SaaS company in Asia. What are the lessons you have learned from scaling Invideo from a technological standpoint?
If creators can create videos in a very natural environment, I think that's what reaches a billion users. It's a series of stability, how it's distributed and how it can all come together. The future of all software is in the browser and also on all devices. Our entire system runs on AWS and scaling was very seamless. AWS supported us from a very early stage.Segment 2: The accelerator
You met Sam Altman from OpenAI recently. What did you two talk about?
I met him for over 2 hours and it was a fun conversation. We briefly talked about what to expect in the future. More electricity will be needed to advance the world of AI, which will hopefully be solved by nuclear fusion. Second, computing has become extremely important. What should startup founders focus on when thinking about risk?
It's very risky. I don't think you can do this trip for money. You take this journey for fun. The gratification point of this trip is not the money you will make later, because you will most likely not make any money.
Is it a better approach to launch a good product and improve it to perfection with the feedback received? In my opinion, there needs to be a trial and timing to launch it, but as soon as possible is best for the business.
The startup ecosystem in India has grown tremendously in the last decade. The increasing adoption of digitalization, along with government initiatives, has opened new avenues for budding entrepreneurs.
Stay tuned to the Crafting Bharat podcast series as we bring you these inspiring entrepreneurs for an in-depth and candid discussion with Gautam Srinivasan.Follow Crafting Bharat
https://www.instagram.com/craftingbharat/
https://www.facebook.com/craftingbharatofficial/https://x.com/CraftingBharat
https://www.linkedin.com/company/craftingbharat/
(Disclaimer: The above press release is provided by HT Syndication and will not take any editorial responsibility for this content.)
