EP#53 Shiv Sharma – Building Stocktwits in India, pioneering social finance & cracking a new market with an established product

The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | Fundraising

In this episode, Shiv Sharma (VP International, Stocktwits), joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path leading up to Stocktwits, the reducing gap between startups from India & The Silicon Valley, making the switch from venture capital to the operating side, how Stocktwits is building the world’s largest social finance app, leveraging community to drive financial literacy, why now is the right time for the company to enter India, launching a product in a new market & importance of collaborating with local partners when doing so.

Founded in 2008, Stocktwits is the world's leading social network and community of 6mm+ investors and traders. The company is now entering India on the back of its $30mm Series B funding led by Alameda Research Ventures along with participation from Times Bridge.

Prior to Stocktwits, Shiv was a VC at Cisco Investments, backing Enterprise SaaS companies. An INSEAD Business School alum, Shiv is passionate about all things public market investing & investing education. You can connect with him here on Linkedin or Twitter.

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Show notes –

1. (01:32) Shiv’s background & path leading up to Stocktwits
2. (03:34) The reducing gap between startups from India & Silicon Valley
3. (07:02) The switch from venture capital to the operating side
4. (10:02) Common mental models that can be applied to both private & public market investing
5. (12:28) About Stocktwits; Why now is the right time for the company to enter India?
6. (18:53) Leveraging community to drive financial literacy
7. (23:02) Launching a product in a new market; Importance of collaborating with local partners
8. (29:15) Vision for Stocktwits - Build the largest social finance platform in the world
9. (32:11) Rapid fire and closing remarks

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