GTMX Ventures; Community @ GTMDialogues
India
Joined May 2008
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It’s interesting that Palki talked about land. Scaling AI data centres vertically is harder because of weight of servers and heat. So the way CPUs can be stacked up vertically which is not the case for GPUs.
Saurabh Lahoti retweeted
#PalkiSharmaShow: Is This AI’s Biggest Challenge Yet?
@palkisu tells you.
Facts served on the table for us as Indians.
🇮🇳 India lifted 496 million people out of poverty between 2011 and 2023, according to the World Bank’s October 2026 Poverty and Equity Brief.
• Extreme poverty (people living on less than $3 a day) fell from 27.1% to 2.6%
• People living below $4.20 a day fell from 57.7% to 16.1%
• India added 134 million jobs between 2017 and 2023
Saurabh Lahoti retweeted
Rough week for software. 81% of names down. ServiceNow off 34%. Multiple compression happens much more swiftly & brutally than multiple expansion.
A contravening force is VISA situation is forcing lots of high quality talent to return to India. Its matter of time that we will starting seeing such startups orginating from India. Its matter of right ecosystem. Capital follows that ecosystem.
The smartest Indians continue to come to build in the US for the simple reason that the economic incentives are far far better.
Perplexity ($20B), Skild ($14B+), Baseten ($13B), Together ($8B), Glean ($8B), Modal ($5B), Rubrik ($25B), Harness ($5B), Blacksmith, Parallel, Greptile, CodeRabbit, Composio, Distyl ($2B), Resolve, Luma, Cartesia, Wispr, dMatrix, Arize and many more - all started by at least one Indian-born founder.
The US is a far easier to raise capital in with far less dilution. Most Indian companies are switching where they're domiciled to get access to the US capital markets. Every single Indian venture firm is trying very hard to invest in the US or risk not participating in the AI race (ironically, the management fees of venture firms are so high in India relatively that this is the one group that net of carry actually has incentive to be in India because they take home well north of a living wage whether or not funds perform do)
While Zomato ($35B now, $8B at IPO) might be the biggest outcome in Indian venture, Cursor ($60B), Reflection (potentially $20B+), World Labs ($8B), OpenRouter ($8B), HuggingFace ($12B) and of course the $1T+ big labs quickly make those outcomes seem small and happen on a much smaller time scale, with much higher IRR.
Engineers at these startups regularly get paid $1M/yr, and make $10M+ on exit. Even in BigTech, it is trivial to pull up levels fyi and see that if you're L6/L7+ with ~10 years of experience, you're making $1M/yr there too. And of course, we all know the slew of Indian CEOs of companies here, not to mention a huge bench of lesser known executives across the board in public and private companies.
I say all this because every time there is a slight immigration hiccup in the US, I hear the online pleas to "build in India", I struggle to understand why most engineers, academics or founders would do that net of desire to be close to family, failure to obtain visa and devout patriotism.
This is not a superiority thing or a US v India thing. The economic incentives at least for technologists to being in the US outweigh India by at least an order of magnitude.
Saurabh Lahoti retweeted
Mr. Musk, yes, no billionaire should dictate a nation’s policy - Indian or American.
India must welcome competition in satellite internet, from Indian and global providers, whoever offers the most practical and affordable last-mile solution for those in remote regions. In countries with lower per-capita incomes, satellite internet must be affordable too. High subscription fees and equipment costs risk putting it beyond the reach of ordinary households. Connectivity must bridge the digital divide, not create a new one.
India knows our networks and spectrum are strategic infrastructure, not merely commercial assets. India’s national security safeguards are non-negotiable.
Every country makes choices based on its own interests. Those in the West cannot preach free markets while practicing protectionism at home. USA imposed 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs to protect its domestic industry, just as India takes measures to protect its own domestic manufacturers. Both India and the US have restricted Huawei over security concerns. One cannot demand a level playing field from others only when it suits its own agenda.
Indians will internally debate, question and address our strengths and shortcomings as a democratic country.
Take BharatNet, India’s programme to bring broadband to village-level local bodies. We will question why, as the CAG’s 2026 audit report found, the programme is struggling to meet its original objectives. Why were only 33.2% of service-ready Gram Panchayats operational, despite ₹39,888 crore being spent? At the same time, we know to appreciate our telecom sector and regulations, which has made internet data among the world’s most affordable, bringing millions online.
India is a democracy, not a colony. We welcome the world, but we, the Indian people, will decide our own future - not Western vested interests, their double standards or any billionaire - Indian or American.
Saurabh Lahoti retweeted
One of the suggestions I have for our Honourable Chief Minister Joseph Vijay is to consider Singapore like laws on drug dealing and high level corruption.
Singapore awards the death penalty for drug dealing and for high level corruption. They do enforce these laws.
In the Indian context, at the Ministerial level and at the all India services level (IAS, IPS etc) we must:
1. Drastically raise the pay.
2. Any future corruption should attract the death penalty.
Raising the pay is equally important and we should declare an amnesty for past sins so we do not endlessly debate the past.
The courts should enfoce it, after proper review and due process but due process can not mean 30 year delay. Sigapore courts are very efficient and we can learn from them.
I have been an ardent fan of Lee Kuan Yew my entire adult life and I have read every one of his speeches! We must study his approach.
Saurabh Lahoti retweeted
Salvage Capital
Right now, in India, there are a number of companies who've spent 3-6 years and $1m - $10m to finally discover what their core business is. 90% of the time and money was spent trying and understanding what does not work...yes, 90%.
The last 10% of time and money led them to the holy grail they've been trying to get to...yes 10%, that's it.
Of course, the 90% defined all the insights that led the 10% to find the holy grail, but there are a lot of could've would've and whatifs around a faster/better/cheaper way of getting there.
But it doesn't matter for the path forward.
What matters is finding new capital that sees what these burnt out and scarred founders see - light, no ...a shining star at the end of the tunnel. These founders are super sure of the path forward. They have insane depth about the market and the problem and the solution. They have MoM data (though at small scale within the constraints) to prove it. And there is 10x clarity and guarantee they can provide for the business plan, as compared to a new founder raising the first round for the new company.
However, there is no capital available for these founders. No one believes their shining star story. No one believes they have the energy to go on.
These companies who've finally figured out the path to the holy grail are on the verge of success BUT they will most likely die for the lack of capital and conviction because a lot was given to them already.
Hard situation.
The only structurally scalable way is for someone to deep dive into these (there are 10s of great opportunities, if not more), build fresh conviction, restructure the cap table, and invest new capital to pump the much needed fuel to re-start the march. And to do it as a business.
Salvage Capital could be apt.
Saurabh Lahoti retweeted
Valuable insights and learnings shared by @Venkatnott2 this evening! Glad I was part of it.
Thank you, @lahoti & @GireendraK, for organising and inviting!
#b2b #saas #gtm #partnership #ecommerce #enablers lnkd.in/ds_SfzwM
Saurabh Lahoti retweeted
Collaboration at its finest! Our portfolio companies came together for our #PentathlonDay to exchange insights and experiences. Proud of our entrepreneurs' accomplishments and their willingness to learn from each other. Stay tuned for more insights!
#DNAofScale #StartupCommunity
Saurabh Lahoti retweeted
Thank you to everyone who made @GTMDialogues, Pune, a success!
Special mention to Vardhan Phadnis of Graas who delivered an inspiring keynote speech, also to Pritesh Baviskar, Abhishek Agrawal, & Tanmay Ratnaparkhe.
@HeadstartPune | @ScaleItRight_In | @HSBC| @IndieFolio
Midjourney’s output to the same prompt—“Barack Obama and Donald Trump playing basketball”—from 12 months ago vs. today.
Rapid pace of AI development is an heavy understatement !
Pune SaaS folks, pls join us :)
gtmdialogues.substack.com/p/…
@GTMDialogues @IndieFolio @Scaleitright_ @pentathlon_vc @Headstarters
Saurabh Lahoti retweeted
Ready for an exciting career in venture capital? We're expanding our investment team in Bengaluru, and we're looking for a talented and passionate individual to join us.
Send in your resumes to [email protected] with the subject line #InvestmentAnalyst.
#NowHiring #DNAofScale
GTMDialogues™ -- Gurugram Meetup: Navigating global markets gtmdialogues.substack.com/p/…