[00:00:00 – 00:00:09] Nitin Bajaj

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the industry show. I’m your host, Nitin Bajaj. And joining me today is another Bajaj, Devneet. Devneet, welcome to the show.

[00:00:09 – 00:00:12] Devneet Bajaj

Thank you. Thank you for having me here. 

[00:00:12 – 00:00:17] Nitin Bajaj

Thanks for being here and making time to join us. So let’s start with who is Dev?

[00:00:18 – 00:01:22] Devneet Bajaj

Dev is my name as well, It has been morphed into what it is because of my time in the US. I grew up as a Dev, but, and I think represents a little bit about who I am. I have lived in a lot of cities in my life. It’s just a function of growing up somewhere in college, work, etcetera, etcetera, and it’s tough to call one place home. I would like to say I’m a global citizen. I want my kids and my wife, I think, to be a global citizen. I’d say I am an ambitious but yet practical person. If you’re asking in terms of I think Quan, which is what you’re gonna ask about. The name and the brand have been set up to represent what my philosophy is in life. Right? People can see Quan and say, okay, you know, this came from the movie Jerry Maguire which we all love. But there’s meaning behind that. Right? That the guy is asking for not just the coin, but he’s asking for the Quan, which basically is respect for the community, the entire package as he tells his agent. And that’s what I believe in. I’m like, listen. It’s important to be successful in your career. It’s important to either strive, but don’t it shouldn’t you shouldn’t do it by stepping on people or over people. And that’s the philosophy I wanna keep, and that’s hopefully what the culture will be at Quan. So I know I’m switching topics here, but yeah.

[00:01:39 – 00:01:58] Nitin Bajaj

That’s a perfect segue. So always curious to know why someone does something, especially when you have so many choices and options which you’ve had. Yeah. So tell us about what Quan is, but maybe angle that in with why do this and why do this now?

[00:01:58 – 00:02:06] Devneet Bajaj

Yeah. Like you said, I’m glad you’re curious about why people do things. Sometimes I feel like life is just some people have a straight road

[00:02:07 – 00:02:22] Devneet Bajaj

And some people have a very curvy road. I am of the latter. Right? You see my career to go from a very straight road of finance and banking and private equity to build an agriculture business in India, to sell it to a strategic, then to go back to VC and then go into sports.

[00:02:23 – 00:02:58] Devneet Bajaj

I’m always following my passions. Yes. And I think Quan is now a combination of what I’ve learned over the last 21 years, which is that I wanna be able to Quon if it’s difficult or it’s not a common thing to do where you want to set up an advisory firm Combined with an investment firm. Because most times it’s one or the other. Right. But I feel if you don’t get on the side of the entrepreneur, and that’s what Quan, enables you to do is advice entrepreneurs and any stage of company in basically three areas, consumer, entertainment, which includes sports and lifestyle. Right? Because that’s the space that I connect with and that’s my experience. And the goal for Quan is to advise startups in helping them achieve whatever their goals are. It doesn’t have to be that I wanna make a unicorn. Right. It doesn’t have to be, I wanna build a cash flow business. It can be somewhere in the middle as well. So to what I feel like my experiences over time have allowed me to adjust to what the entrepreneur wants and really act like the chief sort of outsourced chief strategy officer, which is the role that I was playing at DreamSports for a particular company and mandate. But it allowed me to work with 10 other companies. It allowed me to meet a lot of entrepreneurs, and I feel like I wanna be able to share that with a lot of people. So Quan is an advisory firm first. Advice is underrated. Yes. Unappreciated. Taken for granted. Very thankless. Very thankless. Yeah. But I want to be able to prove that people will actually pay as they are for advice, either cash or equity or whatever it is. And then once people start taking advice well and feedback and start building something, and the companies start reflecting some of that ethos, then I won’t want to be the right investment for. Because I would rather invest in let’s say, let’s say, but I would rather invest in someone like you if I’m advising you because I know you so well. Yeah. And it makes the chances of my investments being more successful. Now I know I recognize that VCs also advise. It’s not like they don’t. I’ve been a VC before. It’s a very thankless job as well because they have to put the promoter and the entrepreneur in front, but then it’s a thankless job. But this is advice first, capital later. VC is capital first, advice follows. Right. And that’s the only thing that I’m changing here. Come talk to me. Don’t see me as the money guy who’s gonna invest or help you raise a lot of capital. I will do that anyway because if I believe in your business, it’s gonna happen. Right. So that’s what Quan is attempting to do.

[00:04:54 – 00:05:42] Nitin Bajaj

I love the fact that you’re driving from the success criteria first Yeah. Meeting the entrepreneur and the team where they need you. Yeah. Calibrating to their needs, to their environment. Yeah. And saying, given my background and experience, this is where you can go. Here are the steps we take collectively and as you get to know them and they are ready for scale, you are able to then bring in the capital and the strategic check. It’s not just any check. So I love that. Give us a sense of, I know these are early days. Give us a sense for the size, scale, but more importantly the impact. Right? Like, one, what is the geography you’re working on? And 2, the companies that you’re looking to work with, what’s an ideal customer for you?

[00:05:42 – 00:05:50] Devneet Bajaj

I’ve kept it very flexible because I can’t be focused on a certain industry. And then also be specialized on a certain stage that limits you a lot.

[00:05:50 – 00:05:50] Nitin Bajaj

True.

[00:05:50 – 00:06:25] Devneet Bajaj

I don’t even wanna say I’m an Indian VC or a US VC. I wanna be global. Yeah. Because good companies are few and far between. So you wanna cast a very wide net. The ideal customer is someone who wants to build something in sports media, entertainment, lifestyle as I talked about. And something that I get excited by. So my first company is in the business of building a top golf kinda behavior for cricket. Very cool. So for me, that’s that it’s an amazing space to be, and entertainment is gonna eat the world, literally.

[00:06:25 – 00:06:25] Nitin Bajaj

Yes.

[00:06:25 – 00:06:48] Devneet Bajaj

And people are not gonna go to restaurants to eat. They’re gonna go to entertain themselves and then eat around that. So we’re working very closely with this company. I can speak publicly. It’s called Batfast. Really like Runish, Jiggs, and Navdeep who basically run the company. And we’ve been working very closely together the last 6 months. And that journey, I would say, is very interesting because they are a B to B business. But we’ve been striking B to B to C partnerships around the world because they don’t they’re also like me. Don’t wanna be just a UK centric US business. They wanna be everywhere. This behavior, cricket can go everywhere or batting and multi sports and physical sports can be everywhere. They were bootstrapped for a long period of time, and they’ve gotten to respectable scale now, and they’re actually profitable this year. And it’s not one of those things that VCs look at, and they’re like, because it’s linear growth. And I’m trying to work with them to see how we get nonlinear growth, but still stick to our thoughts of not burning capital and strike partnerships globally. So I’m doing something like that. So to compare that, Badfast, which is an early stage company, I’ve been advising a pickleball business. It is just in the business of scaling pickleball around the world, also in India. I have been working with a gaming business. I don’t do any real money gaming. That’s the company that I came from, Gamesports, which I helped build. And I feel my equity is there, and I feel like that company should do well. I don’t wanna create competitors for it. And on the non real money gaming, interactive gaming side, I helped build a cricket gaming studio. So I’m working with a lot of companies that are trying to get into India, trying to scale gaming studios around the world. So that’s the space because it’s a space you’re hearing a lot of sports gaming media from me right now because that’s the space that I’ve been in. But interestingly, I’m taking on a content business now because I feel like that’s gonna hit the world as well after entertainment. Right? We’re already so consumed with content. Producing short form, bite sized, interactive, sometimes high fidelity content like you’re doing. Right? It is the future. Right? IT for young kids, all of that. I’m trying to keep it flexible. And then as I meet more and more interesting entrepreneurs, and I just like interacting with them, I’ll take that on. I know LPs limited partners may not wanna hear that, but let’s feel like I can build this at my own pace. And once there’s a success story, then maybe people will believe in it. Right. But yeah. That’s what I’m trying to do.

[00:08:51 – 00:09:04] Nitin Bajaj

I love the long term view and perspective around that. And you answered my question that I didn’t even ask. So thank you for doing that. I was gonna ask you about the opportunities and you laid them out really well. What’s the one big challenge you’re facing?

[00:09:06 – 00:10:00] Devneet Bajaj

What we talked about earlier. Unappreciated, thankless Yes. Advice. Right? But that’s fine by me. If 1 out of 5 people take advice, that’s okay. It’s like I have an 84 year old boy. Yeah. Boys, they’re never gonna listen to everything I say. I don’t wanna say start ups on my kids, but I do wanna say that it’s one of those things that you have to build patience. You have to figure out what works for you. And it’s a very interesting journey. Right? I don’t wanna be a consultant who builds a lot of slides. I’m interacting with you. I’m like, okay. What’s your problem for this quarter? Right. What’s your 18 month plan? Because 18 months is usually what you have funding for. Right. And in your 18 month plan, how are we gonna get them? First question I ask, is that the right plan? Is that the right highway to be on? Because VCs are mostly invested in a plan, and they’re, like, go fly. Yeah. I’m saying, take a step back. These are all of your options if you’re an early stage entrepreneur. I’m working with a business that’s building college sports in India.

[00:10:00 – 00:10:01] Nitin Bajaj

Mhmm.

[00:10:01 – 00:10:03] Devneet Bajaj

Think about how many directions

[00:10:03 – 00:10:04] Nitin Bajaj

Oh, yeah.

[00:10:04 – 00:10:10] Devneet Bajaj

That can go in. Right? The format, how you wanna scale it, etc, etc. I I hope that answers

[00:10:11 – 00:10:43] Nitin Bajaj

It does. Your question. Yeah. Yeah. It does. Now as we look into the future and all of this exciting stuff that’s happening around you and you’re making it happen and come to life Yeah. I wanna take a step back and look in the rear view mirror. Yeah. In your personal and your professional career, two moments. 1, that did not work out as you had planned and expected and there was failure, lessons, and another one that exceeded your own expectations and became a success beyond what you had imagined.

[00:10:43 – 00:11:50] Devneet Bajaj

So I’ll take the success first. Sure. Because that’s what I believe in, failure is not an option Sure. In many ways. You have to be humble in defeat, but we don’t accept failure. MITRA, for example, is my biggest achievement. Right? To leave a fancy private equity job in a conference room in San Francisco or working out of conference rooms around in the US to Dev having spent time in agriculture in India to move back to Nasik, set up a factory there, an r and d shop, move my wife from New York to to to that And to do that is not just for a passion, to do that for 6 years to commute and travel to villages. The odds just stacked up against me. And every time someone saw me, they used to be like, hey. I don’t know if I can use Hindi, but You just do. Yeah. So put your tail between your legs and leave. Right? And I wanted to prove people wrong, and I also wanted to have an impact because people of our kind of talent need to be working with things that are of deep impact in our country. Otherwise, we’re just always gonna be India’s next decade. Right. Right? We unless we solve hard problems. Yes. So the problem that we picked up was how do we automate farms?

[00:11:50 – 00:11:50] Nitin Bajaj

Mhmm.

[00:11:50 – 00:13:30] Devneet Bajaj

How do you build and give them smart machinery? Because these are very progressive growers. I don’t even call them farmers. They’re growers who want maximum output out of each acre. So we gave them technology that almost followed a Japanese model of creating light, beautiful, functioning machines versus bulky machines and created distribution, which is the 2nd biggest challenge. If you make a machine, how are you gonna sell it? Encourage engineers to move back to their villages and say, please sell this machine. No dealers initially. And if you sell that machine, you get a cut of that machine that particular month. That radically changed how we distribute products in rural India. And I think that’s what Mahindra appreciated when they acquired the business, and they’ve kept the brand. It’s Mahindra. The m is the Mahindra, but they’ve kept MITRA as a brand, which is what’s scaling and horticulture. I I see that’s my biggest success when all those stacked up against me. I would say things that haven’t really worked out in a way. I feel like when I have worked in certain cases for people on their visions, I have been very keen to execute their particular visions. Right? But I am an entrepreneur at heart. And I think like an entrepreneur because when I work in a company, I like to think like an owner, which is what I think owners would also want. But sometimes you feel like maybe there’s room for maybe owners who want room for just themselves. That’s not a philosophy that I subscribe to because I think the more owners you create, the better it is. I think I’ll leave it at that that people need to know who they are Within themselves and chase their dreams accordingly. Yeah. And which is why it’s okay. It’s all learning and ongoing.

[00:13:30 – 00:13:34] Nitin Bajaj

One thing I love about entrepreneurship is it teaches you what you’re made of.

[00:13:34 – 00:13:34] Devneet Bajaj

Yeah.

[00:13:34 – 00:13:51] Nitin Bajaj

And it forces you to dig deeper Yeah. And find a new version of you every time you hit a roadblock. So thanks for sharing that. Now I wanna jump into my favorite part of the show which we call the one line life lessons. I would love for you to share a few of your life lessons with us.

[00:13:51 – 00:13:54] Devneet Bajaj

You wanna share one life lesson first before I share it? Yeah.

[00:13:54 – 00:13:56] Nitin Bajaj

We won’t make this an invitation. Yeah. No. It won’t be

[00:13:56 – 00:14:01] Devneet Bajaj

at all. It’s not a tennis match. Even though it could have been. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:14:01 – 00:14:18] Nitin Bajaj

So the one I live by is do or do not. There is no try. These are Yoda’s famous words and I’ve taken them to heart. So I don’t try anything. I just do it. Yeah. Or I say, yeah. This is not for me. I’m not gonna mess around with it. Yeah. So that’s my Yeah. One life life lesson.

[00:14:18 – 00:15:35] Devneet Bajaj

So I almost don’t laugh. I almost named my second son Amir Yoda because I just love some of those philosophies. Obviously, I’m so glad my wife had something to say about that and Amir is a much better name. But, we can debate that later on. But, the life lesson, for me, is tenacity. Like, how are you ever gonna achieve anything when you have a short term philosophy of just coming in, doing something quickly? If you go you may go in and you may get lucky in a year. You may find an exit as you’re building a startup, But you’ve gotta think, like you said, you’ve gotta think about a 10 year plan, not even a 5 year plan. You’re planning your life that way, and you’ve gotta be ready as an entrepreneur or anyone even in a corporate career to say, okay. In 10 years, I wanna achieve here, but there will be journeys along the way. How do I not lose patience? Right? But go back to your thinking. Sometimes you have to be also sharp in your decision making and not stick on a highway that’s wrong. So think macro, big picture, do strategic alignment. If it’s not working for you, jump on a different highway. But when you think it’s the right highway, be teenagers.

[00:15:36 – 00:15:36] Nitin Bajaj

Okay.

[00:15:37 – 00:16:57] Devneet Bajaj

I think the second would be to have a passion outside of work. I think everybody says that creatively. My passion, you just talked about it. I like to play competitive tennis now. I’m bringing it back, and I’m trying to prove that 40 year olds can also play good tennis equal to 21 year olds. If Roger Federer can, then why can’t we at our age? Right? It’s different with different levels. Right? But within our humble levels, we can do that. So, yeah, have passions and whatever it’s music, etcetera, etcetera, because you need that outlet. Otherwise, it’ll again, that road where I’m asking you to be tenacious will get very boring. I’ll start I’ll saying this here. Listen to your wife because she’s always usually right. And do not try to parent your kids too much because they will be their own human beings, and you don’t dictate your will on them. Otherwise, we’ll be that dad. They don’t like it. I’m still working. I’m learning that. My kids are young. Be global. And I can go back to the same life lesson which is, like, think of the big picture. We’re all gonna leave this world with nothing. Please. Like, this world is becoming very transactional, and it’s becoming very short term in their thinking. And why is that, you know, that hike that you will do will be amazing, that’s priceless. You can’t put a price on time and experiences. So, you know, I think that’s also very important for people to realize.

[00:16:57 – 00:17:00] Nitin Bajaj

Yeah. It’s the journey. It’s the journey. Yeah. It’s

[00:17:00 – 00:17:02] Devneet Bajaj

the journey. It’s not the goal where you wanna get.

[00:17:03 – 00:17:23] Nitin Bajaj

We have such a pleasure. Thank you for making time to share your journey and your story. Obviously, your life lessons. Yeah. Really appreciate it. Congratulations on Quan. It has many places to be and many startups and companies to help. Yeah. So, hopefully, we’ll bring you back in some time and talk about more of these journeys and stories. No.

[00:17:23 – 00:17:35] Devneet Bajaj

And thank you both for doing this, and it’s really lovely to meet you. And I’m so glad you’re doing something like this. And I feel like I’ve also met someone who I can learn a few things from. Oh. Another job. Yeah. 

[00:17:35 – 00:17:36] Nitin Bajaj

Such a pleasure.

[00:17:36 – 00:17:37] Devneet Bajaj

Thank you. Take care.