What we did in 20-25 years can now be done in three: Nazara founder Nitish Mittersain on India's startup boom

CaratLane founder Mithun Sacheti, who too was part of the fireside chat, said India as an ecosystem is evolving for more entrepreneurs to get started. Many startup founders are starting early and are far more confident, which gives them an opportunity to make mistakes and still recover, he added.

"Earlier, we would have died waiting behind twenty people with 500 meetings trying to figure out how are we doing. Today, even before we get started, there is an incubator in every single university," said Sacheti, who is also now a promoter at Nazara Technologies.

"So, passion and hard work meet capital very early today and we are seeing that many more successful businesses coming out," he added.

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Patience is key for startup founders

Nazara and CaratLane were founded in the early years of India’s internet era, in 1999 and 2008 respectively.

"The biggest thing you learn is patience. You stay with the problem long enough because you know you're solving the right problem. That was my life's biggest learning experience," Sacheti said.

"Sometimes you're early, sometimes you're late. As long as you believe the problem is real, let time solve that part. You don't need to solve everything at once. Never make time your enemy, make time your friend," he added.

Mittersain also said being early has its advantages and disadvantages. "You need a lot of perseverance if you are early, and a lot of passion to carry you through those early years. That is very critical," he said.

Why Nazara went public?

Mittersain, who took Nazara public in 2021 after an unsuccessful attempt in 2018, said the company pursued the IPO because it felt it was time for at least one gaming company to be publicly listed. This, he said, helped create greater investor excitement and seriousness around the industry, as well as put India on the global gaming map, which he says has happened over the past few years.

The Nazara founder had anticipated more IPOs of real-money gaming companies, however, with the new law prohibiting these games, that is now off the table, he added.

"..again, whether it's next year or two or three years later, I have no doubt that there will be an array of interesting Indian gaming companies," Mittersain said.

Mithun Sacheti's growing investment portfolio

Sacheti, who scored one of the biggest exits for an internet entrepreneur in India when he sold his remaining stake in jewellery firm CaratLane to Titan for Rs 4,621 crore in August 2023, has been actively investing in both private and public companies, particularly in consumer-focused businesses. This includes companies such as VIP Industries, Ippopay, Bombay Shirt Company and Oro Safe, apart from Nazara.

Sacheti is also a general partner and co-sponsor at Singularity Growth, a venture capital firm largely backing consumer tech startups. He is also a limited partner (LP) in Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal’s 021 Capital and Singularity Ventures.

Sacheti said he was more actively investing in companies before his exit from CaratLane, and had made around 140 bets before the exit, and only about 20 afterwards.

"The only difference is that the cheque size has changed. Those 140 investments taught me a lot. I understand a certain kind of business, and I have seen money being made in a certain kind of business," he said.

"I feel businesses can't be built unless the consumer you're going after is really desirous of that category, or there is some aspiration to be in that space. You don't need to be the number one or number two player and worry about that. You just need to find the sunrise sector," Sacheti concluded.