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One would think selling the company you co-founded for a neat $200 million (Rs 1,200 crore) would entitle you to a life of leisure. Not if you are Raghunandan G, who seems to be raring to get the adrenaline rush back by launching a start-up in the business-to-consumer (B2C) segment. This is less than a fortnight after his last day at TaxiForSure, the cab aggregator he and Aprameya Radhakrishna sold to bigger rival Ola.
The easier role of a mentor is not for him. Though he has made a few angel investments, the 33-year-old believes "getting your hands dirty is more fun than sitting and giving advice".
In a coffee shop in Koramangala, a favourite Bengaluru neighbourhood for start-ups, a relaxed Raghunandan, former chief executive of TaxiForSure, reveals he is considering several options, though yet to zero in on that one billion-dollar idea. "I can probably build and scale a business in the B2C segment, and I will probably restrict myself to something that I understand," he says. What he is sure of is that it should be bigger than TaxiForSure.
The idea, he says, could be around products or services and, ideally, should solve a problem many people face. Funding, he says, would not be a problem.
"We have access to capital, and all who had invested in us, as well as those we had spoken to but who could not be part of TaxiForSure, are willing to invest." He is also unfazed by the increasing competition in the consumer-facing space. "There are too many people, but who is executing it right," he asks. The conviction comes from experience - when TaxiForSure was launched in 2011, it was not the first or second taxi aggregator app. It was the eighth. Ola, incidentally, was the 10th.
Even as he considers various ideas, Raghunandan has a busy schedule: Meeting entrepreneurs and investors at coffee shops in different parts of the city, mentoring start-up teams, and advising Chinese, Japanese and American venture capital funds looking to enter India and eager to hear his views. He has invested in a few start-ups, too, but he declines to reveal the details. That should be the companies' prerogative, he says. And, he is spending more time with his wife and son, "who is finally realising he has a father (laughs)".
Radhakrishna, his friend of 15 years and co-founder, is on a world tour with his wife, in lieu of the honeymoon that he was not able to take when he got married a year ago, Raghunandan G said.
Ola's acquisition of TaxiForSure in March was the first sign of consolidation in India's growing taxi aggregation business, part of the Rs 11,000-crore taxi market. Originally, Raghunandan and Radhakrishnan were to stay with TaxiForSure for three months after the acquisition in early March and "contribute in advisory roles". However, the transition was wrapped up in half the time, making April 16, 2015, their last day at the company. The two co-founders now own 0.8 per cent in Ola, worth over $19 million (around Rs 120 crore), according to a VCCircle report.
Are there mistakes he will not repeat with his next venture? "Oh, a whole lot," he says immediately. Top of the list is avoiding an excessive inward focus. "TaxiForSure started growing so fast… we did not look at anything outside," he recalls. "When you are driving a car, you need to also look at signals, not just the road." Linked to this is the founders' ability to assess the market accurately. While investors help, they end up saying several things, and it is difficult to always "pick up the signals from the noise", he adds.
He would also be much more careful about the terms of the agreements signed with investors while raising funds. When they set out to raise Rs 50 lakh for TaxiForSure, they wound up with funding of Rs 5 crore - no doubt a heady feeling. "But we got so carried away with the valuation and the money we raised that we did not look much at the term sheet," he recalls. What they did not realise was "the valuation keeps changing every quarter but the terms get carried forward". And with a new investor, they would be offered the same terms.
What Raghunandan will take with him to his next venture, whenever it is launched, is his core team, given his relationship with them and the trust they share. "When we were announcing the Ola deal to our (1850) employees, we had prepared a list of questions we expected they would ask, such as the future of their jobs. Instead, all they wanted to know was what his and Radhakrishna's next venture would be. "We had a brilliant team," Rahgunandan says, with a smile.
LOGGING INTO A NEW IDEA
- After exiting TaxiForSure, Raghunandan G is likely to start his new venture in online B2C space
- His priority is avoiding an excessive inward focus
- Intricacies of term sheet, while raising funds, will be given greater attention, says the 33-year-old entrepreneur
- The next venture could be in physical products or services in the B2C space
- While investors are keen on his venture, Raghunandan is sure his core team will be on board
- On scale, he is looking at an idea bigger than TaxiForSure
