The Operator-VC Lens on India

What happens when an IIT Delhi grad who started building software in 1998 — back when getting a phone line in India took six to eight months — co-founds Pine Labs, then GlobalLogic, and 25+ years later walks across the table to build a global venture firm investing across India, the US, and Europe? Rajul Garg, founder and Managing Partner of Leo Capital, sits down with Rohit Yadav in this special India Series episode to break down nearly three decades of building, scaling, and now investing — from a single seat that has lived both sides of the cap table. From explaining why Pine Labs only became what it is today after a 2013–14 pivot that moved the business out from behind the banks and directly to the merchants, to why an AI startup in Bangalore raises at $15–20M while the same maturity in the Bay Area raises at $30–50M post-YC, to why India should be read as a combination of China and Israel rather than a single domestic market, this conversation is a structural look at how the Indian startup ecosystem has matured over two decades and where the next chapter is heading. Whether you're a founder, an LP, a venture investor, or someone trying to understand why India is now firmly in the top three venture markets globally alongside the US and China, this one will reshape how you think about cross-border building, capital efficiency, and the levels of knowing required to invest in India. 🔑 Key Insights You'll Walk Away With:➡️ Why a global-first VC model is structurally different from India-only funds and from US firms that opened an India office — and what that unlocks for founders trying to scale across continents➡️ The four contributions Rajul credits for Pine Labs becoming what it is over 27 years — and the pivot from sitting behind the banks to commanding the merchant relationship that changed everything➡️ Why a Bangalore SaaS founder had nearly closed the gap to the Bay Area pre-COVID — and how the AI wave reopened a 2x valuation differential almost overnight➡️ The single biggest differentiator between founders who scale and founders who stagnate — illustrated through Pine Labs, Meesho's move from social commerce to horizontal e-commerce, and Lambda Test's pivot into AI testing➡️ Why "energy match" matters more than "skills match" when building early-stage teams in India — and the reminder Rajul gives young founders about who they should actually be hiring➡️ The two facts about Indian talent that global LPs consistently underestimate — and the "levels of knowing" framework for understanding India as an asset class➡️ Why going global from India requires buying a one-way ticket rather than maximizing a two-week calendar — and why a global co-founder beats a global trip every time➡️ Why the Indian B2B buyer is so value-conscious that the same product sells for $100K in the US and $25K in India — and what that means for which companies must go global➡️ Why the IPO market has become the most important silver lining of the last five years — and why the M&A market is still a long way behind➡️ The one-word answer Rajul gives when asked what building a unicorn in India is really about — and why 2030 will be bigger, better, faster, and more liquid Links:Rajul Garg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajulgarg/Leo Capital: https://leo.capital/Rohit Yadav: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohityadav23Newsletter: https://yadavrohit.substack.com/