E92: Gautam Patel (Founder & Managing Partner, Z3Partners)

Gautam Patel is the Founder and Managing Partner of Z3Partners, a growth-stage fund based in Mumbai. Prior to founding Z3Partners, Gautam has been the co-founder of Zodius Technology Fund and Zodius Technology Opportunities Fund, successful early-growth stage Private Equity funds with a track record of investing in industry leaders such as BigBasket, Pepperfry, OfBusiness, Zivame, Medgenome and Antuit.

Prior to Zodius, Gautam was the Managing Director and Head of India for Battery Ventures, a Bay-Area based venture capital and PE-fund. Prior to that he was part of the leadership team at iGATE.

Gautam started his career in Investment Banking in the US with Lazard Freres. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin.

In this episode, we discuss Gautam’s journey as an investor and everything he’s learned from investing in India and India-focused businesses.

Episode notes:

Lessons learned from investing in India over the last two years (3:30)
How are investors currently viewing the market? (7:55)
Conviction building when a fund only invests in 8 startups per year (10:18)
Why did Guatam transition from operating to venture capital? (15:10)
Reflecting on Gautam's first investment and its significance in the context of India's growth story (17:40)
Fundamentals of business management (21:10)
The privileges and perils of being a venture investor (28:50)
Key lessons Gautam has learned about company building from his experience operating and investing in the growth stage (41:00)
How do you turn a business around? (48:01)
When should investors assist founders in running their businesses? (56:00)
Collaborating with co-investors (1:06:06)
To what extent does Gautam's operational experience play to his strengths as an investor? (1:12:11)
Things about Indian VC that still surprises Gautam (1:16:56)