This Entrepreneur Duo Is Keeping Age Biases At Bay The brothers continuously learn and understand what it takes to build companies that have long-lasting value in India.
By Sneha Banerjee •
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They are the 35 boldest entrepreneurs of India who are changing the game in various industries and together they represent the optimism, inventiveness and boldness of India's millennial entrepreneurs. They have not just questioned the conventional wisdom but answered it with their fiery and risky business undertakings. They have inspired every young Indian to not shy away from breaking the status quo, rewriting the rules and transforming the world.
Entrepreneur Magazine is glad to present Pranav Pai & Siddarth Pai, Founders of 3One4 Capital who made it to our 35 under 35 special.
Pranav (27) and Siddarth (24), sons of T.V.Mohandas Pai, prominent thought leader and investor and Chairman of Aarin Capital, have joined him to take the legacy of venture building forward with their fund 3one4 Capital. Having honed their skills under Pai, better known as MDP, the duo strongly believes that they are here to add their personal touch to their fundamental learnings. 3one4 Capital is a venture capital fund that invests in technology, product, and platform companies that drives the expansion of markets and the creation of new verticals.
Young VCs are more of friends. Pranav, a Stanford graduate, said that both of them are the youngest in the industry and that gives them two advantages – apart from having the zeal to work really hard, their companies function very differently from other VCs. "If you talk to any of the founders, we work with, and ask them, you have six funds, who have invested in you, and 3one4 is one of them, how are they different? They would list down at least 23 ways we are different...," Pranav said.
"On a more fundamental level, we are closer to the age of most of these entrepreneurs. The things they tell us, the way they talk to us, the way we engage with them is very different. We almost consider them as our friends now and they do as well," Pranav adds. Siddarth further went on to add that two of them painstakingly explain the entire thought process that went behind a decision to entrepreneurs, unlike senior VC or any executives who would give their decision without explaining the reason behind it.
"The entire trust deficit in the system comes down because of our age and approach to situations," he adds. Legacy is to be embraced, not mocked at! When a generation steps into a business aced by its predecessor, there constantly exists the fear of being compared and getting over shadowed. However, the brothers deny a glorious legacy of being any sort of a burden to them. Pranav pointed out the baseless agebased biases people have in the country, wherein old companies and people are termed stupid and archaic!
"There is a very dual nature of legacy, which I don't think people think deeply enough," he adds. Pranav said that they continuously learn and understand what it takes to build companies that have long-lasting
value in India. "All we do is learn from him (MDP) everyday. We take every opportunity we can to argue with him, at times he is shocked by the debates and arguments we have with him."
(This article was first published in the February issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. To subscribe, click here)
