Anurag Srivastava
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"Digitization should not be done for the sake of it - there are clear value unlocks which differ for different businesses."
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Anurag Srivastava
VC has always interested me because there are very few roles that allow you to interact daily with some of the brightest minds while having an inside track to value creation.
My journey from management consulting to supply chain transformation at FMCG, to product management at a large tech company, to VC has been a natural progression. Each role built upon the previous one, and when the opportunity at Z47 arose, it represented a natural confluence of my experience across strategy, business building, domain knowledge in supply chains and manufacturing, and the tech perspective from my product management days.
At Z47, I focus on what we call the "Digitizing Make in India" sector - including B2B commerce, AgriTech, Logistics, and Advanced Manufacturing in Electronics, Aerospace, Space & Defence, and Energy.
My investment thesis is shaped by ground-level observations from each of my previous roles.
My time at BCG working with large manufacturing industries gave me insight into how B2B operations scale and what breaks. At Unilever, I learned the transformative role technology can play across the supply chain. Amazon helped me understand product development, digitization, and the unique challenges MSMEs face, especially around credit access.
For idea-stage companies:
- Market potential (focusing on SAM rather than TAM)
- Industry characteristics and competitive intensity
- Potential moats
- Founders and founding team - evaluating both ambition and readiness to win
For more mature companies, we also examine:
- CM2 margins
- Sustainable revenue growth and customer cohorts
- Working capital and ROCE
- Path to profitability
- Complementary skillsets within the core team
- Team composition - the right people in the right roles
- Focus on bottom-line/margins rather than just topline growth
- Capital efficiency and strong balance sheets - crucial for managing B2B working capital needs
- Building defensible moats to ensure customer stickiness
- Avoid digitization without clear value creation. Understand the specific gaps and apply appropriate digital solutions that create defensible moats.
- Don't ignore customer behavior patterns. Each B2B customer cohort has established ways of engaging - disrupting these, even with good intentions, can backfire.
- Consider organizational digital readiness and maturity when implementing changes.
- Cross-border trade inefficiencies - Despite India's manufacturing advantages, issues around transparency, logistics, payments, and delivery reliability create opportunities for innovation.
- True disruptive innovation in emerging sectors - The next step is taking end-to-end responsibility for designing and manufacturing products for global markets, from simple items to complex machinery.
- Data as a Service - B2B sectors haven't fully leveraged the power of data, presenting significant opportunities.
The Tim Ferriss Show - It offers raw, wide-ranging, and unfiltered conversations that provide fascinating insights across various domains.