How Venture Capitalists Pick Startups | Rajeev Mantri, Navam Capital

Most people assume venture capital is a numbers game won by spraying cheques at fifty startups and bragging about the two that worked. Rajeev Mantri runs Navam Capital on the opposite principle, and in this conversation with host Akshay Datt he breaks down how venture capital actually works, from pricing a startup that is still just an idea to the fund maths that decides who gets paid.

Rajeev Mantri started in venture capital about 19 years ago at Lux Capital, the New York deep tech fund that now manages an AUM north of $7 billion, then returned to India and spent more than a decade backing IP-driven, engineering-led startups while almost every other investor funded clones of American internet companies. Navam Capital, which grew out of his family's stock broking business, closed its first outside fund at ₹315 crore, raised almost entirely in rupee capital from tech founders, large family offices and corporate treasuries. He teaches venture capital at ISB as a branch of value investing: buy something for less than it is worth, stay inside your circle of competence, never overpay. Akshay Datt pushes him on the uncomfortable parts, including why he thinks most people should stay out of venture funds altogether, where value actually pools in AI and space right now, and how fund partners really get paid.

👉Why Rajeev says most people should not be investing in venture funds, and what separates the funds that compound capital from the ones that quietly destroy it

👉How the three principles of value investing apply to startups: buying below worth, circle of competence, and why overpaying makes an investment dead on arrival

👉What "betting before the flop" means in poker terms, and how an investor justifies a ₹50 crore valuation for two people sitting in a room with no product

👉Why launch providers capture the value in space and chips capture it in AI, and the test Rajeev uses to find that layer in any new industry

👉How a venture fund actually makes money, from the 1.5% management fee to the hurdle rate, and why a 10-year fund has to at least triple its money before partners see meaningful carry

👉Why the easiest way into venture capital is through fund operations and finance, not the investing seat everyone chases

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