Nitin Bajaj

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the industry show. I’m your host, Nitin Bajaj, and joining me today is Karthee Madasamy. Karthee, welcome on the show.

Karthee Madasamy

Yeah. Thanks for having me. Good to be here.

Nitin Bajaj

Great to have you here. Let’s start with the big question. Who is Karthee?

Karthee Madasamy

Well, you know, Karthee is a middle class kid from South South India. We did not so middle class. I would say, you know, transformed to maybe upper middle class, primarily because of technology, of science and technology. And, so yeah. So I owe a lot of, our family’s migration or transformation to science and technology, and then, no wonder my career is also tied to that, you know, so I, you know, all all my career has been, either working on or investing in disruptive transformational technologies, and I’m always very passionate about how technologies can fundamentally uplift the lives of people. So, yeah, that that’s essentially me. Yeah.

Nitin Bajaj

I love the way you put it, you know, middle class to not so middle class and, and giving credit to science and tech. I mean, we are all, we have benefited from it. Of course, the education helped along the way and, allowed us to thrive coming to this country that that we now call home. So tell us a little bit about MFV Partners. What do you do? What’s your mission? And, I’d love to hear a little more about the reach and the impact you’ve been able to create through it.

Karthee Madasamy

Yeah. So, so MFV is a venture capital fund early stage venture capital fund investing in what we call as deep tech startups. So deep tech companies are companies that have some fundamentally new technology that would transform a specific industry or that would transform some of the work that we would do. And this goes back to my personal story about how technology transforms fundamentally people’s lives. And so our funds focuses on backing entrepreneurs, passionate entrepreneurs that use technology to transform different industries. Impact wise, you know, the investments that we have made have caused fundamental changes in industries like manufacturing, work, robotics, automation, automotive, transportation, electrification, and all those things. So yeah.

Nitin Bajaj

Very wide, very far reaching. Yeah. I’m curious to know why do this. Right? I mean, this is when you’re working as a as a VC or have a venture firm, you’re at least 1, maybe 2 steps away from the action. So what what made you choose this instead of continuing to be hands on?

Karthee Madasamy

Yeah. It’s, it’s it’s an interesting question and, that’s one of the part that I continued with very, quite a bit early in my venture career. I was an operating guy before that, before going into becoming a venture capitalist. And, so I I tried to do as much of operating and entrepreneurs things within my VC, career. So I started the office in India. I I joined Qualcomm Ventures in San Diego. I started the office in India. I started the office in Israel, brought those things up to scale. And then now I’m actually an entrepreneur building a new firm, creating, you know, creating the firm, creating the, you know, success of the firm and, building the team up. So it gives me enough operational interest, from from my job. So but it it was a it was a hard decision. I I I don’t think I came into venture capital, you know, with, you know, with with all the enthusiasm. It was a hard decision. I probably labored about that for a long time because my other choice was either to do product management for a for a for a for a company or or or or or or join venture capital. But, yeah, you you got the essence of the thing. Yes. It was a big question, which I contended with. I think now I’m in peace with it because I I love I could never have the operational stuff in what I’m doing.

Nitin Bajaj

This way, sometimes, maybe you get to eat the cake and have it too.

Karthee Madasamy

Yeah. I guess. Right?

Nitin Bajaj

So as a as an operator, I’m curious to know what’s the biggest challenge the one big challenge you’re facing.

Karthee Madasamy

Currently?

Nitin Bajaj

Mhmm.

Karthee Madasamy

Currently, the if you are to say what the challenge I’m facing is that, like, we have we we we we we work on 2 sides. 1 is one side is entrepreneurs. Right? Like, we work with entrepreneurs. We back entrepreneurs. We invest in entrepreneurs. On the other side is limited Karthee. So who we invest in ours to deploy their capital. Right? So, I think the, the entrepreneurial side, we don’t have any issues. I think people understand you have enough companies trying to do the unique things. There’s no shortage of entrepreneurs, no shortage of people coming up with different ideas. There’s no shortage. Every day, we wake up talking to our entrepreneur just keeps makes me exciting excited because it’s like they’re working on interesting ideas. I wouldn’t say what a challenge, but I think I would I would like more people that are investing in us understand the value of new technology, understand the value of deep tech, understand the value of, these companies that fundamentally will transform and disrupt, industries and people’s lives. So yeah. So I I would say I think one of the mission would be to get more people who invest in funds like us, limited partners, understand and be excited about, Deepjack, not just for, you know, returns, but also for the huge impact that it would make in in in the world.

Nitin Bajaj

So true. I’d love for you to give us an example of, you know, some deep tech that is maybe already made a change or is about to make a change and is at that inflection point because you get into these way early before it becomes common sense or, you know, a household name. And, I’d love for you to give us one example of this.

Karthee Madasamy

Yeah. I mean, one example that I’ve talked about is quantum computing. Right? I think it’s, it is it has gotten a bunch of investor attention in the recent years, but I don’t think it’s still mainstream in terms of, somebody would would think of quantum computer as a way to, envision anything. Mhmm. But what fundamentally all of the computers in the last, I don’t know, 100 plus years since you started, are all what’s called as digital computer, which means they can either stay on a 0 or a 1. That’s the fundamentals of it. Right? Like, you get to here microprocessor, FPGAs, GPUs, VLIW architectures. Every any different types of computers we have seen, they all still fundamentally go back to that. It’s a 1 not a 0. But what a quantum computer can do is 0 and a 1. So a bit can have both states. It fundamentally changes how you think about computing. So a lot of the problems, especially exponential problems today have no solutions or will take, like, 1,000 and 1,000 of years, even a supercomputer to work on it. A quantum computer can solve it in, like, few minutes or an hour. Right? So that just fundamentally changes how you could, simulate, interactions of a drug, interactions of chemicals, any exponential problem. Right? So I think, in the next few years, I think we’ll see more and more of these good, quantum computers that can solve some of these problems. I think the change that we’re gonna see is a step function. It’s not an incremental. It’s not even, like, 5 x gen x. The change that you’ll see is a 1,000 x. Right? We’re still not there. We’re still we’re getting a lot of the steps going, but, you know, you could model lots of different interactions very, very easily. So, so that’s one example that I would say, like, what a quantum computer can do or what quantum computing can do over the next several years is actually really exciting. And and the exponential things are the ones that, as human beings, it’s very hard for us to imagine. So, anyway, so so this is a complex problem that has no solution can be solved by quantum computers, like, very, very exciting.

Nitin Bajaj

I love that you get to experience and learn about these things way before it becomes, you know, regular jargon or even, you know, a journalist can write about it. So love that part of your role. On the flip side of challenges come opportunities, and we talked about 1 in terms of quantum computing. What’s one most exciting opportunity that you’re targeting or working on?

Karthee Madasamy

For investment or for a sector?

Nitin Bajaj

Pick your pick.

Karthee Madasamy

I think the one of the biggest areas that a lot of the entrepreneurs are excited, a lot of the of exciting things are happening is around climate. You know, I I lived through CleanTech 1 point o, so I go with my eyes wide open. You know, I, you know, it was a lot of hype and then it all fell down. But I think today is very different, and, and I think the more more interesting thing is, most of the new entrepreneurs actually wanna work on climate solutions. So there’s bunch of, activity happening there. So that’s one of our focus areas as well. So I think the amount of newer type of solutions in terms of generating new power, storing, reduce energy consumption, you know, removing carbon from the air, you know, coming up with different ways to solve some of these adaptation and resilience in terms of how human beings will live, you know, with the climate change has been very exciting. I I think if there’s one exciting area that I would say would be that, you know, it’s like it has a significant impact for for this planet. Yeah.

Nitin Bajaj

Yes. Yeah. It is exciting indeed, and and I do agree with you that, you know, this generation cares a lot about climate, about, you know, the impact our decisions make on the global health. So that’s that’s really cool.

Karthee Madasamy

Yeah.

Nitin Bajaj

Now I would love for you to take a step back in time and tell us 2 experiences. 1, that blew your own expectations and became a huge success beyond your imagination, and the other one that did not work out and instead became a a lesson.

Karthee Madasamy

Yeah. We will restart with the lesson first. Okay. Because I I I started my first company when I was, like, 26.

Nitin Bajaj

Mhmm.

Karthee Madasamy

And this was the time, you know, most of my peers, most of us were still on visas, still on, you know, still immigrants and, visas. So I I I felt I had a great idea. There was actually when I we even got the first customer, but I was never able to get, more people join the company. Yeah. Because either they had they had visa issues, they they couldn’t join, or or I couldn’t get, you know, funding to go hire more people, or I didn’t have enough of the persuasion capabilities to go hire people. And so it was it was just me working on it, and, I was hoping that at some point, we can get all these get get get get the rest of the thing in order, but I never was able to. And then we had to basically shut down the company. And, you know, the the biggest learning there was the the role of team the role of team. You know, you say, at 26, you know, you knew that you you knew theoretically that, yeah, you need a team. You need all those things. But then how you should fundamentally think about it. And then we had the opportunity in hand, we had a customer in hand, but we just could not deliver because I could not put together a team or we could not Nitin have either the money or the, you know, ability to bring a team together. So that was my one of my biggest experience. A child our our failures slash the lessons, which is which has helped me in terms of figuring out my career from there onwards. It was always team first. You know, it’s like because if you wanna you wanna build something significant, it has to be a team. It has to be a team of, people. It has to be a team of team of, folks. Yeah. So that’s the the I think since then, my every job, my, journey here, it always has been, it it is it’s always been with the team, who complement each other, who have the same values, who have the same kind of a drive. And, so that there would say the reason what I say is that one of the early experience, and I’m happy that regard the experience at 25, 26 that, you know, you could have everything else in, in order, but if you didn’t have the team, you won’t be able to do it. Right? So, so that would be that would be a place where, you know, I would say a big, learning or lesson, I would say. In terms of the sexes, I think the one thing that I I pride myself is be able to live in the clouds, but still with the kind of the feet firmly on the ground Nitin the sense that I I, you know, I I have I can come up with the grand visions of things, but also not necessarily just focus on beyond the beyond the cloud, but I also take definitive steps. So I think that the experience in Qualcomm Ventures would be a good example where there was, like, start stop efforts to do things in Israel. There was start stop efforts to do things in India. I started the both of the offices, for for Qualcomm benches in in these geographies. In in Israel, for example, I didn’t speak the language, you know. In India, it was very, very early at the time. You didn’t see people actually pitching product ideas at the time. Most of them are pitching service ideas and whatnot. I think both geographies, became powerhouses for Qualcomm Ventures. We have, like, a you know, today there’s a large team, several tens of 1,000,000 of dollars have been deployed, maybe even 100 of 1,000,000 of dollars have been deployed, and it’s a 2 successful geographies for Qualcomm Ventures. And, you know, it’s it’s it’s the vision of a, we need to have a we need to have something in we’re investing in Israel, India as a vision to go convince the management. But then not just that, but actually go implement that, have people invest in companies. I would say that that was one of my, you know, I I feel good about that. It’s, you not just have a vision, but you actually go execute that vision, Take all the baby steps, take all the hard grind to put together then. And then, you know, I left Qualcomm Ventures now more than 5 years ago now, and these 2 geographies are, like, flourishing for Qualcomm Ventures. And every day I see that, every time I see that, it’s it’s something that I feel proud about. Yeah.

Nitin Bajaj

Yeah. It’s your baby. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. That is awesome. But thanks for sharing both the success and the lesson. That gives me a good opportunity to make a transition and segue into my favorite part of the show Mhmm. Which we call one line life lessons. I’d love for you to share a few of your life lessons with us.

Karthee Madasamy

Yeah. So I think the first thing for me is do what you love and love what you do. So I never have worked on things where I didn’t love it, And then because I, you know, I only do what I love, I love what I do. So I I I don’t wake up saying, oh, man. I gotta go to work. I’ve never felt that even one day in my life. So and that’s because of focusing on things that, you know, I I do what I love and I love what I do. So I think that’ll be the first one. Mhmm. Okay. So you want me to just go through the 5? Yeah. Okay.

Nitin Bajaj

Please. I’m all ears.

Karthee Madasamy

The other one that I I like, especially for an entrepreneur, is that, during your journey, motion is progress. Because the the it was and I knew this intuitively, but, one of my business school professors told this very interesting thing saying that if you’re stuck in a, you know, in a mud, if your if your if your if your bicycle is stuck in a mud, you need this motion to get out of it. It. You don’t need to say, I need to move forward. So I only only will move the pedal forward. No. You will say, I’ll wiggle it out whatever it is because first you wanna get out. Right? So over the year, a lot of the times for doing building a company, building something from scratch is like that. So early in the journey, motion is progress. Later on, it’s not because you can just do random motion, but early in the journey that it is really important. Right? So that’s second. The other thing I was third one I’ll say is that focus on good high integrity people. The cost of actually working with anybody else is extremely, extremely hot. So, I I think if there’s one thing, like, if you find anything that we need, there’s not any tech high integrity people run. Right? So, and then the third thing I would say is, when it comes to decision making, you know, I think, we all need to make bunch of decisions in our life. When it comes to decision making, always think long term. Sometimes it might not be may not sound very prudent. It might not be sound very economical, but always think long term in terms of decision making. So that’s, that that we want, I will say. The last one I would say is that, you know, do enough introspection to understand what your strengths are and what your weaknesses are, and focus on where you are strong. I think, it’s important then to work on areas where you’re strong, but address your weaknesses or your disabilities, and we and forgive yourself if you’re not making significant progress because even a small progress is good enough. So, that would that’s one of my learnings that that focus on your strengths, but address your weaknesses, and then give yourself a lot of credit for making progress there. Right? Because there’s there’s a weakness because because we’re all constitute in certain way. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. We should address our weakness, but we concentrate that we never gonna make that into a strength, but we any progress is important. So those are some of the things that is being a lesson for me in terms of figuring who I am or figuring how I work with other people, and then what I have seen, where people have succeeded, where people have fallen, and whatnot. So that would be some of the stuff I’ll say.

Nitin Bajaj

Yeah. Love them. Thank you. And I think you said this really important thing about introspecting and understanding who I am because that helps me decide what challenges do I wanna take on. Do I wanna be an entrepreneur? And if so, what domains? What are my strengths, my weaknesses, so I can bring on a team that can cater to my weaknesses? Right? And, I also love the the one lesson you talked about where in the early stages, motion is progress. Because I think the the typical lesson that has been taught in the startup world is motion is not equal to progress, but it’s very important to qualify it and say, in your early stages, just get out there and do something because that’ll take you to the right place where you can make those choices whether you want to move or not or make progress. So love that.

Karthee Madasamy

Yeah. Yeah. And yeah. And that’s one of the key things that you watch as well when you’re talking to a very, very early stage company. When when they come back in 3 months and have not really progressed anything, have not done any movement, then you will know that, okay. And most of these companies ended up not really get going anywhere. So anyway

Nitin Bajaj

Yeah. And that’s why it’s really important to have the right kind of mentor, the right kind of venture partner because it’s not just a check. It’s that strategic bond that you need to build to make sure that you’re not one of those 95% that are not gonna make it, but that 5% that will. Yeah. Kati, thank you so much for taking time to share your journey, your story with us, and your one line life lessons. We really appreciate it, and good luck with MFP and your entrepreneurial journey.

Karthee Madasamy

Thanks, Nitin. It was great, talking to you, and then thanks for having me