99% of startups will not make it? Venture capitalist shares why | Thriving As EP 7

thrive is the young audience initiative of The Business Times. In this new series by thrive, we’ll be uncovering the day-to-day realities of various jobs in Singapore.

In today’s episode we sit down with Vishal Harnal, managing partner of 500 Global, to find out what it’s like being a venture capitalist, why he still invests in companies with only 1% chance of making it big, and the importance of enjoying what you do.
Timestamps:

0:00 – Intro
0:53 – Introduction of Vishal: What is a venture capitalist?
3:38 – How does venture capital firms / venture capitalists make money?
6:28 – Qualities Vishal look for in potential businesses before investing
7:51 – Where do VC firms get their funds from?
10:33 – The story behind investing in Grain
14:48 – Before Vishal became a venture capitalist
16:53 – Importance of enjoying what you do
18:23 – Networking with people from LinkedIn
21:03 – What is Vishal’s day like?
21:55 – Hunting for deals Vishal wants
24:38 – Vishal’s favorite part of the job
26:58 – What will the world look like in 10 years to Vishal?
28:43 – Artificial General Intelligence
29:18 – Vishal’s thoughts about the future
31:58 – Does Vishal dream of becoming a Shark?
33:14 – Do you need a finance/business degree to join VC?
35:00 – What Vishal looks out for when hiring
37:03 – An unspoken rule in the VC industry?
38:36 – 99% of startups cannot make it
39:43 – Looking for companies that give asymmetrical returns
40:43 – Personal investing vs venture capital firms
43:08 – The weirdest pitch Vishal heard
46:20 – What to say during coffee chats?
50:33 – People have a superficial understanding of themselves
51:13 – Never too late to restart
54:08 – Outro 

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