Inside the networks driving India’s next startup wave
Some investment themes are deliberate bets. Others emerge organically as a pattern, then a conviction, and eventually a portfolio pillar.
The theme that chose us
In our case, we began noticing something recurring in our most thoughtful conversations: seasoned founders who had been through the grind and who had strong POVs about team-building, go-to-market, and even problem discovery.
Take Amit, whose previous company, SimSim (exited to Google), was part of our Fund I. His second venture, Xneeti, had nothing to do with social commerce but everything to do with disciplined execution, clear storytelling, and deep insight into consumer behavior.
We witnessed this across the board. Second-time founders are:
Taking less time to validate ideas
Hiring their A-team within weeks, not months
Being surgical with capital and resource allocation
Focusing on business models with stronger fundamentals from day zero
They’re being smarter with risk than just being risk-averse. It’s what experience does - it sharpens instincts and compresses decision cycles.
The mafia behind India’s startups
For years, ecosystems like Silicon Valley and China have shown that when successful startups exit or scale, their alumni often create the next generation of iconic companies. These startup mafias represent more than ex-employees founding startups. They are networks of trust, operational muscle, and learned resilience.
The term gained prominence with the "PayPal Mafia," a group of ex-PayPal employees who founded or invested in iconic companies like Tesla, SpaceX, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Palantir. India's startup ecosystem has also witnessed the rise of its mafias, with talent from growth-stage companies often behind the next wave of startups:
Credits: Inc42
The rise of these startup mafias signals the maturity of India's entrepreneurial ecosystem. These networks create a virtuous cycle where successful startups spawn new ventures that further enrich the ecosystem.
We’re now seeing this phenomenon scale meaningfully in India, only this time, the defining trait isn’t just where these founders came from. It’s what they’ve learned and how they choose to build differently the second time.
An apprenticeship in planning the next startup
Recognising the value of experienced builders led us to create Bharat Founders Fund (BFF) 4 years ago. We observed two critical insights: (1) that senior operators from established tech companies increasingly found the best emerging startups; and (2), that these entrepreneurs often raise their initial capital from peers rather than traditional venture funds.
To tap this dealflow at its source, we brought together 60 leaders from India's top tech companies to launch BFF, creating a powerful community of operators-turned-investors who spot and support nascent talent. We often invited them for our internal investment reviews. This gave them unique insights into what problems founders were solving, how VCs analyse opportunities, and what gaps existed in the market.
Gazal's journey exemplifies the flywheel we've built. Before founding Nuuk, she built Rivigo, a unicorn in the trucking space. She took a break before starting her next venture and invested in several companies with us through BFF. This 'investor apprenticeship' provided her with a panoramic view of the ecosystem that proved invaluable when crafting her current venture, Nuuk, which became one of our cornerstone investments in Fund 2. Her progression from successful founder to investor and back to founder perfectly illustrates the value of long-term relationships in our ecosystem.
This pattern isn't unique to Gazal. BFF creates this specialised advantage for operators considering entrepreneurship. Many know they want to build but haven't yet landed on their breakthrough concept. Through BFF, they run experiments over years, evaluate countless pitches, and identify patterns of success and failure - all before committing to their own venture.
When they finally do, they naturally choose us as their first partners, having already built trust in us through the program.
Access is a compounding edge
The opportunity to back second-time founders is no longer a well-kept secret. It has become a widely acknowledged priority for many investors. However, the reality is that these founders rarely pursue conventional fundraisers. They don’t circulate cold decks or participate in broad investor outreach. Instead, they reach out to the select few who were part of their earliest journeys.
This is where our role becomes distinct.
Our involvement in their first chapters, often through the highs and the lows, has positioned us as trusted partners. That credibility has earned us more than just goodwill. It has granted us early access, meaningful ownership, and deep alignment with founders who are poised to build their most ambitious companies yet.
Each successful second-time founder becomes a beacon for others considering their next venture, strengthening our access to this exceptional talent pool. This represents a compounding edge for both the founders and Good Capital.
In a market where genuine differentiation is increasingly rare, our deep relationships with India's proven builders offer something truly valuable: the trust dividend. It's not just about knowing who's starting what; it's about being the first call when India's best operators decide to build again.
In the end, the best founders drive legacies, ecosystems, and, if we're fortunate enough to partner with them, exceptional returns.
Quotable
"Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose." — Bill Gates