How Kishore Ravichandran from Plug and Play Backs Deep Tech and the Next $100M Startups
Lifeselfmastery's podcast I Startups I Venture Capital
Release Date: 04/17/2025
Ankur Patel from Multimodal on Building Agentic AI for the Enterprise
Lifeselfmastery's podcast I Startups I Venture Capital
I am excited to have who is the founder and CEO of , where he's automating the most complex workflows in finance and insurance. He has 15+ years of work experience across companies like J.P. Morgan and Bridgewater In this conversation, Ankur Patel, founder and CEO of Multimodal, traces his path from JP Morgan and Bridgewater to building AI agents that automate complex workflows in finance and insurance. He explains how early exposure to data science and macro trading convinced him that AI would reshape enterprise work. He discusses why agentic AI is fundamentally different from...
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How Vivek Krishnamurthy from Commerce Ventures Thinks About Venture, AI, and Markets
Lifeselfmastery's podcast I Startups I Venture Capital
I am thrilled to have , who is a Partner at , where he's spent over 8 years investing in commerce infrastructure and fintech. Before Venture, he was an Investment Banking Analyst at Financial Technology Partners. He's particularly bullish on AI's transformation of insurance, backing companies like Kin Insurance, Liberate, and Authentic. In this conversation, Vivek Krishnamurthy, a partner at Commerce Ventures, discusses his journey into venture capital, the evolution of investment strategies, and the intersection of commerce and fintech. Vivek shares insights on the impact of AI on business,...
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Lifeselfmastery's podcast I Startups I Venture Capital
I am excited to have , a Venture Builder at , where he helps launch and scale six B2B SaaS startups every year through their AI Studio. His work centres on turning early-stage concepts into real companies, guiding founders across product, go-to-market, and fundraising In this conversation, Dallas Price, a venture builder at Forum Ventures, discusses his journey into the startup world, the workings of a venture studio, and the current landscape of AI startups. Dallas shares insights on navigating chaos in startups, the importance of defensibility, new distribution channels, and evolving pricing...
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Capital Evolution: A New Era of Capitalism with Seth Levine and Elizabeth McBride
Lifeselfmastery's podcast I Startups I Venture Capital
I am excited to have , venture capitalist and co-founder of Foundry, and , international business journalist and founder of Times of Entrepreneurship. Together, they co-authored The New Builders and now their latest book, , explores how American capitalism is shifting—and why businesses, not government, may hold the keys to building a more inclusive and prosperous future. In this conversation, Seth Levine and Elizabeth McBride discuss their new book, 'Capital Evolution,' which explores the shifting landscape of American capitalism. They delve into the challenges posed by neoliberal...
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Art and Science of Pricing Strategies with Marcos Rivera of Pricing I/O
Lifeselfmastery's podcast I Startups I Venture Capital
I am thrilled to have , the founder and CEO of , where he helps B2B SaaS companies capture the value they've built. Former Head of Pricing at Vista Equity Partners, he's priced over 400 SaaS products and has authored Street Pricing. In this conversation, Marcos Rivera, founder and CEO of Pricing.io, discusses the intricacies of pricing strategies in B2B SaaS. Marcos shares his journey from product management to pricing, highlighting common mistakes companies make, especially in underpricing their products. He emphasizes the importance of understanding customer needs, the blend of art and...
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Navigating the AI Investment Landscape with Aabhas Khanna of MyAsia VC
Lifeselfmastery's podcast I Startups I Venture Capital
, is General Partner at MyAsiaVC, a venture syndicate and fund with $125M AUM backing 250+ companies, including 5 unicorns. Previously at HSBC and Deloitte, he now invests in pre-seed and seed AI-native startups across enterprise growth, healthcare, fintech, and advanced manufacturing, focusing on obsessive founders tackling overlooked challenges. In this conversation, Aabhas Khanna, a general partner at MyAsia VC, discusses his journey from working in large corporations to venture capital. Aabhas shares insights on evaluating AI startups, the importance of founder quality, and the unique...
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Lifeselfmastery's podcast I Startups I Venture Capital
I am thrilled to have Doreen Pernel, Chief Sales Officer at Scaleway, Europe's leading sovereign cloud provider. She's built and scaled sales teams across Meta, Dataiku, Box, and Bloomberg, navigating Sydney, New York, London, and Paris. In this conversation, Doreen Pernel, Chief Sales Officer at Scaleway, shares her insights on sales leadership, cultural adaptability, and innovative strategies in the cloud computing industry. She discusses the importance of resilience in hiring, the evolving role of cold calling, and how to motivate teams against larger competitors. She also reflects on the...
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Lifeselfmastery's podcast I Startups I Venture Capital
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Lifeselfmastery's podcast I Startups I Venture Capital
I am excited to have , who is the Chief Product Officer at CallRail, an AI-powered lead intelligence platform serving 200,000+ businesses with over $100M ARR. In this conversation, Ryan Johnson, Chief Product Officer at CallRail, shares his journey from finance to product management, discussing the evolution of CallRail from a call tracking service to a lead intelligence platform. He emphasises the importance of scaling product organisations, balancing sales and product-led growth, and navigating the challenges posed by AI disruption. Ryan also delves into pricing strategies, monetisation...
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Evolution of Pricing Strategies in Business with Gary Bailey
Lifeselfmastery's podcast I Startups I Venture Capital
I am thrilled to have , founder of Strategim, a monetisation & pricing expert with a deep background in financial services, accounting, pricing, and AI. In this conversation, Gary Bailey, a monetisation and pricing expert, shares his journey from accounting to product management and pricing. He discusses the importance of pricing as a core discipline in business education, the evolving role of finance in pricing strategies, and the impact of AI on SaaS pricing models. Gary emphasizes the need for training the next generation in pricing and the role of a monetization architect in modern...
info_outlineKishore Ravichandran is the investor at Plug and Play, the ultimate innovation platform. Over the past 15 years, PnP has brought together 35,000+ startups, 500+ world-leading corporations, and hundreds of venture capital firms, universities, and government agencies across 20+ industries
In this episode, Kishore Ravichandran, Investor at Plug and Play Tech Center shares how a university program in Singapore sparked his passion for startups and led to a career in venture capital. Kishore explains Plug and Play’s global model—investing in over 2,000 startups, supporting them with a 550+ strong corporate partner network, and operating across verticals from mobility to sustainability. Kishore also discusses the future of space tech, nuclear innovation, and why lean AI-first teams are poised to build $100M businesses—and much more!
Timestamps
[01:00] – Kishore shares how he stumbled into the world of startups and venture capital via NUS and internships.
[02:30] – The impact of COVID on his original plans and how it rerouted his journey into consulting and startups.
[04:00] – Differences between the APAC startup ecosystem vs. Europe and US.
[05:40] – Plug and Play’s investment strategy and their emphasis on B2B startups.
[07:00] – How Plug and Play leverages its corporate network for startup validation and strategic value.
[08:30] – Kishore explains Plug and Play’s corporate innovation model and global network.
[10:00] – Reserve investing strategy: how they double down on winners using specific funds.
[11:20] – How Plug and Play aligns with startups to avoid conflict and support existing portfolio founders.
[12:30] – Mindset shift VCs need to make when investing in deep tech.
[14:00] – The difference between incremental B2B SaaS and revolutionary deep tech.
[15:30] – Kishore’s belief that the next VC wave will focus more on deep tech and frontier tech.
[16:30] – The “Three T’s” framework for evaluating early-stage startups: Team, Technology, Traction.
[18:00] – Why team/founder quality often outweighs the market in early-stage investing.
[19:30] – Role of traction vs. revenue in pre-seed and seed evaluations.
[21:00] – The role of private companies in space exploration and Kishore's views on Elon Musk's SpaceX.
[23:00] – Kishore on the cultural risk aversion in APAC and how it limits deep tech startup formation.
[25:00] – Advice to scientists and researchers in APAC: “Get out of the lab and build something.”
[26:30] – How founders should approach market sizing using both top-down and bottom-up methods.
[28:00] – The myth of early-stage TAM/SAM/SOM and the example of Uber and Grab evolving beyond initial markets.
[29:30] – Kishore on VC overexuberance in 2021 and why many VCs had to reassess their strategies.
[31:00] – Rise of AI-native companies and the shift to agentic AI solutions.
[32:30] – Key qualities of successful founders: conviction and “cockroach mentality.”
[34:00] – Kishore’s bullish sectors: space tech, small modular nuclear reactors, sustainability.
Kishore’s Links
LDN– https://sg.linkedin.com/in/kishore1997
Website – https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/
My Links
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