E20: Piyush Puri (Vice President, Brand Capital International – The Times Group)

Piyush Puri leads the Brand Capital International team in Silicon Valley as Vice President of BWI, the strategic investment arm of The Times Group – India’s largest multimedia conglomerate. Before leading Brand Capital’s US office, Piyush was an investment banker in Mumbai, India focusing on investments in the energy, ancillaries, and the environment spaces. Piyush received his degree in Civil Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), has an MBA from XLRI Jamshedpur, and a Master’s Degree in Psychology of Leadership from Penn State University.

Follow Piyush (@Piyushpuri13), host Akash Bhat (@bhatvakash) and our podcast (@thedesi_vc) on Twitter.

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In this episode we will cover:

1. Piyush’s background (2:59)

2. How does Brand Capital International help startups tap into the Indian market? (5:56)

3. What do startups get wrong when they think about the India opportunity? (9:36)

4. How does BCI approach investments? (12:17)

5. What do non-Indian startups offer than incumbents don’t? (14:28)

6. What’s the best outcome for non-Indian startups entering India? (18:42)

7. How does BCI measure success of their portfolio companies? (19:45)

8. How do portfolio startups measure the impact of BCI? (21:06)

9. When’s the right time to think about global expansion (23:36)

10. Is having ‘feet on street’ important when startups go global? (26:00)

11. Internal reporting and accountability with respect to investments (27:59)

12. How has the pandemic affected BCI and their co-investors during the lockdown? (30:35)

13. BCI Portfolio: Does higher valuation (by non-Indian VCs) deter future investments from Indian VCs? (33:47)

14. Rapid fire (38:20)