I am Sid Talwar, co-founder & partner of Lightbox Ventures. Ask me anything!

In Tech in Asia, Sid Talwar answers queries on India's hottest emerging start-ups, entrepreneurship and more

At Lightbox, we work with entrepreneurs to build teams and products in India. Prior to Lightbox, I founded Evolv, a training company and started a restaurant called The Hungry Monkey in Delhi.
 

Q. You told us last year that food is going to be one of most active spaces for Indian start-ups this year. And you were absolutely right. Now we’re also seeing several food start-ups stumbling on their way to scale. What do you think is happening in this space and where is it going?
 

Sid Talwar: Food is a really difficult space to break into in India. The biggest mistake many people make is that they try to duplicate what’s been successful abroad in India. The ones that will succeed are the ones that understand the ground level realities in the space and then solve for them. 
 

Q. India has shown returns in the past and will continue to. It led tech exits in Asia in 2014. Here’s a CBInsights report that places India #5 in tech exits globally in 2014. 

Sid Talwar: I don’t think it’s a bubble. It’s become really easy to start a company. Thousands are starting companies in India every month. All aren’t going to work. Some will die. But the ones with the right teams, and more importantly, the right mentoring, will succeed and will return money. 
 

Q. As a founder and VC, what’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced and why? 

Sid Talwar: Five years ago I decided to leave the education industry after 10 years. It’s all I had ever done. I had known my now partner Sandeep for 25 years. He asked me to join him on a new adventure in a space I knew little about – technology investing. I was 35, and I had to literally start my professional career from scratch. 

This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here.