Dr. Manu Kumar, the visionary behind K9 Ventures and Co-Founder of HiHello, recently joined Monica Enand, Sejal Piertzak, and guest host Ned Renzi on MasterStroke podcast. As one of the highest performing startup investors that you may never have heard of, Manu’s story in the MasterStroke podcast is a masterclass in innovation and strategic investing.
“What makes what Manu does impressive, from my perspective, is an unbelievable hit rate.”
As Georgianna puts it, “he flies under the radar,” and yet he’s “brilliant, unassuming, and humble, but creating a massive impact.” With that in mind, I (Lily from the HiHello team) am here to share the exciting insights everyone can learn from this podcast episode.
First, let’s look at the numbers that make Manu the “visionary behind unicorn ventures.” In the podcast, Monica compares SingalRank’s recently published list of top investors with the most unicorns. She found that Manu’s rate of the number of unicorns divided by the number of seeds invested was two times higher than the average top 100 seed investors, with a 14% rate of unicorns to investments.
So how does he do it? Here’s a glimpse at what you can learn from the podcast:
Invest at the right time
Known for his "frighteningly early" investments, Kumar has a knack for identifying potential. As Ned noticed, “In every case, all of the companies he invested in was him solving his own problem.” This philosophy has led to investments in unicorns like Lyft and Twilio, cementing his reputation as a powerhouse in the venture capital world.
Power in micro-decisions
He believes in the power of micro-decisions and the cumulative impact they have over time. "It's not just one decision that makes a company successful," he reflected, "but a series of micro-decisions that compound over time" . This perspective has guided his investments and mentoring of startup founders, fostering a culture of continuous learning and growth.
The most important skill in a startup
Arriving at Carnegie Mellon University at just 17, Manu quickly realized the importance of adaptability and learning. "Learning to learn is the most crucial skill for any founder," he emphasized. This mindset has been pivotal in his entrepreneurial ventures, including the founding of HiHello.
"if you develop that reputation of, yeah, I don't know, but I'm going to go figure it out, I'm going to get it done, the amount of things that people rely on you for and come to you with, then just kind of you know compounds, and then your career really blossoms'"
Role of AI in startups
As AI becomes a major player in the startup ecosystem, Manu Kumar highlighted how it’s one of the things that he’s very excitedly cautious about in the years to come. AI is reshaping the landscape for startups, saying, "The technology for AI and the state of the art is controlled essentially by the big boys, but what the technology can do is mind-blowing." Kumar’s mindset is that “AI is just one piece of it; it’s also about all the scaffolding that goes along with it. How do you actually connect this into something to make it useful?”
On his newest venture
Manu wears a lot of hats, and one of those hats right now is that of a co-founder and CEO at HiHello. What started as Manu solving a problem for himself and individuals like him (contact exchange), turned into expanding to solve that same problem for businesses and enterprises. Manu found, “companies came to us and essentially told us, can you solve this problem for us at scale? So we are now working with thousands of companies all around the world.”
HiHello is “a software platform for creating, managing and distributing digital business cards, email signatures, virtual backgrounds, right, and so the idea here is that companies can essentially come to us by a SaaS platform for creating their cards and managing them all throughout the process.” Manu has seen that “[companies] have all of these people out in the field who are meeting new people, potential new clients. If one of those connections turns into another business deal, HiHello has paid for itself many times over by that happening.”
Listen now
Whether you’re a VC, founder, small business owner, or digital business card enthusiast, I encourage you to listen to the full MasterStroke podcast episode. Manu is an investor and founder unlike any other, and this episode offers a deeper inside look into how and why he makes the decisions he makes.
At HiHello, as Manu and the rest of the team continue to innovate and redefine the way people connect, we stand at the forefront of this exciting digital transformation. Create your free digital business card with HiHello today and join us in revolutionizing the future of networking.
