An entrepreneur from the time he was in college, Rehan Yar Khan, 44, is Founder and Managing Partner, Orios Venture Partners. Orios manages a ₹300-crore fund and is in the process of raising its second fund of ₹900 crore. The venture capital firm invests ₹3-12 crore at the seed stage and ₹30-45 crore in early-stage ventures. Orios has invested in 16 companies in the consumer, SaaS, enterprise and online brand sectors.
Education: BA in Economics and Political Science, St Xavier’s College, Mumbai.
Investments: Yumist (meals) and ZoRooms (hotels).
Typical working day: In venture capital, we travel regularly as we have portfolio companies spread across India, especially Bengaluru and Delhi, and we also travel overseas to hubs such as Shanghai and San Francisco to keep in touch with global innovation. It is super fun and exciting to keep abreast of the innovation taking place globally. While in town, because Mumbai is also a hub for entrepreneurship, I spend a good amount of time meeting my investee companies or meeting founders where we have interest.
Hobbies: Playing with my dog and keeping him happy is my biggest hobby. Other than that I like running and riding the motor bike. Surprisingly, Mumbai is a good city to ride the motorbike at night.
Gadgets: I am not a big gadgets guy, but our entire office technology system is built around Google Apps and Android. So, I keep within that framework. Even the Mac I use is via Chrome browser.
Advice to entrepreneurs: Make a powerpoint presentation by researching online guidelines for creating a great one. Mail that across to us. Try and meet us in person if we are interested. Avoid contact via Twitter, SMS and WhatsApp. Be prepared to provide a lot of details. If it is seed funding, don’t bother with a lawyer because your team is limited, you need to focus on the business.