Vineet Buch co-founded two Silicon Valley start-ups, Riya Inc. and Karient Inc. before signing up with Menlo Park-based VC BlueRun Ventures two years ago. The $1 billion (Rs4,100 crore) BlueRun started operations here in late 2004 and its portfolio includes Pune-based Nevis Networks and Bangalore-based Ugenie. It invests $500,000-$2 million per company. Buch spoke to Mint about Indian start-ups and BlueRun’s plans here. Edited excerpts:
Why did you jump the fence after ten years of being entrepreneur?
It just sort of happened that my firm BlueRun invested in Riya, a company that I had co-founded. We liked each other and they offered me a chance to work with them. That was a little over two years ago and I think I’ve enjoyed being a venture capitalist so far.
What is different about being a venture capitalist?
There is a fundamental difference. Entrepreneurs are in charge, they steer the ship. The VC is a kind of navigator. In the end, we can only give advice and suggestions. So, while we have a big-picture view and can offer connections, good VCs have to realize that they have to give control to the entrepreneur. Very often VCs who have been high-powered executives in a company don’t realize that they are not the people in control now. You can’t micro-manage the entrepreneur.
Does a background in entrepreneurship help in the investor role?
I think it is very important for a VC to have worked in at least one very young startup. The pace of change in a company that young and the very small problems typical to it are things you can’t understand if you’ve only worked in a big company.
Is the start-up environment in India very different now from what it was two years ago?
Yes. And the difference is dramatic. I’ve been following this for almost three years. Earlier people weren’t ambitious and didn’t appreciate markets. People were basically trying small cottage industries. Something has happened in the past year or so. The quality and drive you see in people today – I look at plans from India, Shanghai, Israel – represents a quantum shift in mindset. Partly perhaps because people have become more accepting of the notion of entrepreneurship. It’s okay to take a risk.
What is hot in the US Internet market right now? Do you see successful parallels emerging here?