From Humble Roots to Venture Capital Powerhouse - Saloni Jain

In this episode of The Quest for Success Podcast, we sit down with Saloni, founding partner of Sun Icon Ventures, to uncover her inspiring journey from a humble upbringing in Karnataka and Mumbai to becoming a trailblazer in India’s venture capital ecosystem. She shares how her childhood, strong family values, and early exposure to her father’s investment banking business laid the foundation for a career driven by purpose and integrity.

Saloni offers a candid look into the evolving Indian startup landscape-highlighting the rise of women entrepreneurs, the impact of AI, and how successful investing today requires more than financial acumen. Her approach blends deep relationships with founders, a focus on personal growth, and a belief in balancing ambition with inner peace.
Whether you're an investor, founder, or simply navigating your own success path - this episode is full of powerful insights, wisdom, and heart.

Key Takeaways
 - Success is personal growth, not competition
 - Family values influence long-term business vision
 - Financial returns and social impact can coexist
 - Female entrepreneurs are shaping India's startup future
 - Venture capital is about relationships, not just money
 - Understanding tech trends like AI is key for investors
 - Integrity and truth build lasting businesses
 - Education and global perspective fuel innovation
 - Don’t get carried away by trends - stick to your values
 - Mentorship and legacy define lasting success

Follow Saloni and Sun Icon Ventures:
Saloni: https://in.linkedin.com/in/saloni-sunicon
Sun Icon: https://sunicon.vc/

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Transcript

Dylan Pathirana (00:00.652)
Welcome back to the quest for success podcast. And thanks so much for tuning in once again today. We're really looking forward to our conversation because we have on the show today, we have Sallani who is a venture capitalist from India. And I'm really excited, you know, being in the startups, seeing myself really excited to kind of unpack your journey and

Saloni (00:07.638)
Absolutely, absolutely excited.

Dylan Pathirana (00:29.636)
and get some advice from you as well. Yeah, so I know Saloni for the last three years and again, she's one of my classmates. We interviewed many of them and she's one of my classmates from our OPM course. And Saloni, very much looking forward to having this conversation with you.

Saloni (00:46.912)
Absolutely, the pleasure is mine.

Dylan Pathirana (00:49.326)
So Saloni, we need to start with something pretty fundamental and that is what does success actually mean to you?

Saloni (00:57.452)
So for me, think success is not about achieving a milestone, having some targets, or just competing with your competition or the world. It's actually, I think, far more simpler and more personal. So there are a few things which I truly enjoy and truly it matters to me, like doing some meaningful work and spending time with people whom I really care about, learning something new every day.

and just showing up with integrity in life in general and I think if I am able to do that and if I am able to do it better than what I did yesterday then it's great so rather than competing with the world I think I am competing with myself as to how Saloni was one week before, one month before, one year before and if she is growing, if she is more grounded, she is more effective, more humble then she successful otherwise

Dylan Pathirana (01:56.014)
Continuous improvement. I like that. Yeah, I like it too. Yeah. And I suppose for us to understand the woman who's sitting in front of us today, we need to kind of go back to the early days and understand how you were shaped as, from the younger years. Can you take us back to your, your childhood and how you think that kind of shaped who you are today?

Saloni (01:57.478)
Hahaha

Saloni (02:15.33)
So I was born in Karnataka, which is in a very small tier 3 town in India because that's where my nani is what we call in Hindi. She is my mother's mother, so my granny in that sense. She was from there, so I was born there. But I've been raised up in Mumbai throughout. Born in a very, very humble family. Not that we don't come from a family of generational wealth. we've all, my father has started from scratch.

My grandfather started from scratch. So that way we come from a very humble family, but definitely very rich in values. So we've been also driven a lot because of the principles of Jainism which my grandparents and great-grandparents followed. And it is a lot about honesty, truth. So I think that's how we've been brought up. My early childhood, I think I've spent a lot of time honestly with my parents. I was more of a family person than a friend's person.

I've gone every weekend with them on dinner, shopping, vacation. So a lot of my personality is them in many ways is how I like to believe. And from the child, you know, I was this person who was a big dreamer. Like I used to and my therapy or my meditation honestly would be just lock a room, the room, play music and just imagine a situation and just walk through that entire scenario. And it could be any, it could be a romantic

it situation, could be a situation where I am really successful, it could be any random thing you know and it just used to bring me joy and I think off late I have reduced doing that but as a child, as a teenager I was that kind of person and I think that came a lot from my father even he talks like things which are not easy to achieve and now when we look back and see he said this and now after 20 years it has happened in our life you know so that personality completely is what I

I comes from him but on the same hand I am extremely structured in my thought process like I think step by step always so if you tell me to watch a show from between I'll be very annoyed I need to watch it from the beginning and that methodology and structure comes from my mom you know she's extremely logical extremely planned like she's a homemaker but you see our house and the things the way they are organized lunch dinner the way she thinks about life in general is extremely realistic and

Saloni (04:44.88)
practical. So I am like a, I feel I am a blessed and a very good blend of both my parents in that sense. And then I think I have a younger brother who is like 6 years younger than me. So early childhood you know I have been taking a lot of care from him. I have been taking care of him because he was like 6 months younger, 6 years younger sorry. And now we work together. So now it's a different dynamics you know.

comes from a different background but then again a very important factor in shaping my early childhood where I where you learn to kind of be responsible early when you have a sibling who is like six months six years sorry younger than you I don't know why I'm saying six months again maybe I want to believe that way yeah

Dylan Pathirana (05:29.636)
Yeah. Yeah. And I suppose when, you were a kid, what did you want to do?

Saloni (05:39.182)
So I, when I was a kid, so my first, my first thing is I wanted to be an actor or a dancer to be very honest. wanted Hollywood actor or a dancer. That was my dream situation. Even today if you tell me there is a role in acting, you do it voluntarily? I would do it, you know. We have cause. Anything is possible. I have hope into that. But that was my first childhood thing that I wanted to do some theatre or some,

Dylan Pathirana (05:47.102)
Bollywood actor you're in the right place

Dylan Pathirana (05:56.772)
Anything is possible, Saloni.

Saloni (06:09.186)
some movies but I think as I grew up obviously I took a different career path altogether and that was also driven by again a lot to do with my family values right so we come from a very conservative family at least we were when I was extremely teenager now obviously things have progressed and people have people have like family have become more progressive when it comes to a girl child but my mother did not want me to leave the house early

or stay in a hostel she wanted. So till I was 25-26 I was with my parents and the career choices were a lot to do with a woman's dignity, a woman's safety and all those factors right. If it were left to me I don't know what I would be doing. So yeah, so my life shaped in a way that my family was to be honest.

Dylan Pathirana (07:01.444)
So what was your dad, was he in business?

Saloni (07:05.23)
So my dad basically by qualification was a chartered accountant. He practiced for a couple of years. Then he moved into stockbroking. So he built one of the first stockbroking companies in India, which happened to get listed on NSC BSE. He grew it to 200 branches, exited in 2004, ventured into investment banking. And 2013 is when I joined investment banking.

Dylan Pathirana (07:28.726)
So, initially join your father's business.

Saloni (07:33.006)
Yes, so my career wise, journey is that I joined in 2013. I joined my father's business, which was into investment banking. So I was primarily working for microfinance companies to raise debt. microfinance companies basically give smaller ticket size loans to women led businesses and even like in rural India. So these are loans as small as $20 per person. So they need a lot of funding. So that's where I was

I was working for a good one, one and a half year. Then I moved to LNT Finance where I was heading the credit for the northern part of India. Then I moved to e-value serve where I was doing equity research and in 2017 I came back to my dad's business and that's where I am now.

Dylan Pathirana (08:20.964)
important do you think that time away from your family business was in shaping like when you came back?

Saloni (08:26.222)
So it was extremely interesting because I had also left the city at that point. So I was alone, I was by myself in a different city in Delhi and I was working in an organization and Delhi, Bombay, the cultural difference is huge. mean, even though it's the same country, people are very, very different, especially in an organization when you're in your 25 sort of an age, right? You have friends who are, everybody's young, everybody is like, not

very very focused and practical does not have family relaxed so I think it shaped me in a way that it made me more cooler to put it like I became more freer as a person more experimentative and also started to think a lot you know in terms of how other people live how they behave it's like I came out of my bubble in some sense and I also started to

kind of grow as a person you know. If you ask my friends on pre Delhi Saloni and some of my closest friends maybe my parents won't see that because they know one side of me but they will tell me that Saloni you have become less judgmental, more open to newer things and grown as a person.

Dylan Pathirana (09:45.378)
And do you think that was really important into kind of breaking free of that kind conservative upbringing that you had and kind of forging your own path?

Saloni (09:51.63)
Absolutely.

Absolutely. was a huge... I've experimented so many things, I've met new people, done random planning and a lot of freedom in some sense. Although it was not like I was in a cage or something but it's just mental freedom where nobody is calling you, nobody is asking you where you are, your whereabouts, you know. And that's when that's what you decide what kind of a person you are, what choices you make because then it's you who is making those choices. And that actually defined right and wrong for me.

in different way, which was different from maybe how my parents brought me up. So now I have my own right and wrong and I have my own lines in life which I want to decide rather cross or not cross in general, you know.

Dylan Pathirana (10:36.812)
Awesome. Saloni, tell us a little bit about Sunicon Ventures. What exactly you guys do?

Saloni (10:44.174)
So Jam, Sun I can ventures. Initially, we started this, started this form in 2018. We started with a vision to kind of a primarily get entry into the startup ecosystem in India. just before I talk about Sun, I can, I'll spend a minute maybe. So start the system in India started in late 2013. It picked up in 2015 and 2018 is when we said that, we've always

Dylan Pathirana (11:01.55)
Sure, please.

Saloni (11:14.128)
been investors, right? As a family, we've invested in SME companies, larger companies, listed companies. So as an asset class, we wanted to explore our startup investment. And we thought that the best way to do it would be to make it a part of our advisory practice, where we start advising startups. So we start to understand their problems, their journey, their ups and downs. We invest a small amount in them. And we also had a huge network of people because we have been investing since 99 now.

So and maybe get the right people to invest in those startups, know, not just anybody so that they can really add value. So our genesis of starting San Iken was to mix the old economy with the new upcoming economy, which we saw is going to come in the next 10-15 years. We did that from 2018 to almost mid 2022. We worked with more than 15 companies, not just from an as an investor, but also getting them the right investors.

and

personally didn't want to continue with investment banking. I wanted to see the other side. So that's how in 2022 we kind of took a registration from SEBI, which is a body in India, where we decided to launch our first fund. Thankfully, we had the corpus to sponsor it. So we sponsored our fund. We raised from LPs who were in our network whom we knew and we just kick started the fund. So San Iken Ventures is now an early stage startup fund. We invested.

technology driven early stage companies. We typically come in early so it could be seed pre-revenue most of our companies are seed and pre-revenue when we enter. Some cases we also do revenue led companies where we feel that you know there's lot more to be yet done or we really like the founder and all of that so we are pretty flexible that way but primarily by Genesis we are an early stage tech fund.

Dylan Pathirana (13:32.516)
Mm-hmm.

Dylan Pathirana (13:38.818)
And is there a particular industry or niche that you focus on or are you guys agnostic?

Saloni (13:42.87)
So our thesis again we are agnostic but we have in this current fund we have close to 12 portfolio companies now. We have across agri-tech, climate tech and we have done one company which is into credential storage and verification because we saw that to be a big problem in India. People faking identities and so on and so forth. So a tech company in that space. Then we have done three bio.

So we have done edutech. So as a broader thesis, are, from an India perspective, since we only invest in India today, we are extremely bullish on agritech, biotech, edutech, and this entire gig economy and credential space, you know, because it's booming like nothing and it has to have a structure is what we feel.

Dylan Pathirana (14:36.068)
Soloni, as an investor, what are you actually looking when you're investing in something?

Saloni (14:41.762)
Great question. was just working on my next fun stack yesterday. I'm giving this a thought.

Dylan Pathirana (14:44.932)
You

Saloni (14:48.684)
Primarily first thing for us, come in very early, Jam. So we come in when, so first and foremost is do we believe in the idea or not? It's a, we are an idea driven fund as such. numbers and all those things do not play a big role when we invest. We do a lot of study as to, know, why this idea? How will you execute it? What will be the impact of the idea? Is there a demand? How is the competition? So a lot of work goes around the idea.

and our conviction. Second, of course, is this is are we backing the right team to build it? There has been many a times where we have liked an idea but not like the team. And then after one year, we've like we've invested in the same idea, but with some other team. So because it's at least a seven to 10 years journey for us with that person, we go on their board, we talk to them on a weekly basis. So as a human, you really need to connect with that person. Otherwise, you cannot. It's like being a small

It's like handling multiple businesses, right? And you have to like all your CEOs to kind of work with them. So these two are the main drivers. The third driver for us is how much value we can add in the business beyond capital. So there could be now that we've had a lot of exposure to agri-tech, biotech, we know the entire ecosystem in India. We know the right people. We know the problems. We know what wrong can happen after.

Dylan Pathirana (16:04.686)
Mm-hmm.

Saloni (16:18.384)
So then wherever we can add value, those become more interesting to us. We know a lot of people in India who are in manufacturing, who are in trading, import, export, and when we see any good tech company which can marry very well with any of the industries whom we are closely connected to, it just becomes an easy investment for us in that sense.

Dylan Pathirana (16:40.644)
Are you doing this with your father?

Saloni (16:43.304)
I am doing this with my father and with my brother. my brother, yes, my father is more like a leader. He's doing multiple other things also, but me and my brother do this full time. We manage the fund.

Dylan Pathirana (16:46.904)
Amazing.

Dylan Pathirana (16:57.508)
Oh, that's amazing. So how do you like, I mean, this is really interesting because Dylan and I talked about similar kind of a thing that what we wanted to do one day, you I mean, are way behind. Maybe we need to get some advice on you. Because this is a very interesting thing, right? Because you can see a lot of great ideas coming in and you are so passionate about these ideas and then you want to help them to grow, right? So you mentioned when you start

Saloni (17:05.378)
Hehehehe

Saloni (17:09.665)
Thank

Saloni (17:21.953)
Absolutely.

Dylan Pathirana (17:24.932)
When you identify a great idea, you investing in them and then your life cycle, it's about 10 years. You walk with them, you work together and then what's the plan? You're going to exit or I mean, still early days, I guess, you know, most of your investments.

Saloni (17:40.622)
you

See, we are at the end of the day an LP driven fund, So it's not a pure family office where it's our money and we can decide which company we want to exit. Our vision is to grow the fund. Our vision is to raise multiple funds. And this is just the beginning. It's like a drop in the ocean for us, the amount of corpus we are managing and the kind of impact we are able to create in the Indian ecosystem. So we have to have an exit plan. Investors want their money back and then they might reinvest in our fund again.

Also, it's the life cycle, Like if only if I exit will the next fund be able to come. So after a point of time, if a series B or series C investor has to come, I have to exit and I stick to my core. My core is working with early stage companies, right? So if I'm still working with them after 10 years when they are a matured company, my skill sets are not needed. My corpus is insignificant. My stake is insignificant. So maybe it's just best to exit and find more.

companies who actually need your ecosystem and your help.

Dylan Pathirana (18:47.086)
And I want to go to like the Indian startup ecosystem. What is, what is the state of play in India at the moment? Like I know it's, it's becoming a hub of innovation, but from the inside, can you give us a bit more?

Saloni (18:59.022)
So from the inside, since we are talking to the global audience, startup ecosystem in India, I said, like any other thing happening in a developing country, is highly influenced by the West, right? So our first set of funds were the Matrix, the Sequoias of the world, who came and who opened their funds in India. And I think what I strongly believe is that they tried to copy paste the US Silicon Valley model, and they picked up ideas also.

which resonated like an Uber for India like a Doe Dash for India you know all of that and

and some of them did really well but unfortunately most of them did not because India is not a even though people say India is a consumer led economy and all of that it's still not a it's still most 90 % of the India is still on its basics right like they don't have the luxury to actually spend beyond basics and hence it is it's not a very consumer led economy and consumer is very easy to

So most of the funds that sort of come in, actually it's easy to invest in consumer, it's quick revenues, quick, you need a lot of money so your fund valuation grows, your companies. on the other hand is difficult. Our ecosystem has to be ready to do tech innovation. So I think now we are at a beautiful stage in my opinion as a country because a lot of fund managers who took the cut copy paste approach have exited the country.

And now if you see the new age fund managers like ours, they understand the Indian landscape They understand how to deal with Indian founders They understand what can happen and what cannot happen in India and now in the last two years We've seen a lot of government initiatives to build that entire ecosystem to do tech development So, you know, we have n number of incubators if you are doing something in in biotech if you were doing it five years back You didn't have facilities you did not

Saloni (21:05.878)
have labs, did not have access to human trials, animal trials, all of that. Today you have the entire ecosystem, you just have to do your core which is innovation. So that is where India is today right and that is in space tech, that is in biotech. So all these are deep tech companies or this is not like a consumer where you make a product and sell it right. That ecosystem is just started to shape up. So if I see 10 years ahead from here, a lot more deep tech or deep tech maybe is too deep a word

and lacks definition sometimes, but good impact building technologies will come from India because I see founders and meet them there in their 30s and 40s and who are quitting and starting something and that ecosystem is supporting them and that's leading to that change. So I still feel we are just at that inflection point, you know, and we will take up from here now and it's also, I believe a great timing for Saniken because

Dylan Pathirana (21:50.617)
Mm.

Saloni (22:05.584)
Early bad is done and we are at a time where we get good companies, good valuations, all of that.

Dylan Pathirana (22:12.078)
Yeah. And what is the access to capital like in India at the moment? Is there a lot of capital floating around for founders to access, or is it still kind of, they have to go out searching?

Saloni (22:21.89)
See, India today, if you see there are lot of funds and most people will tell you there is enough capital, okay, which is the truth. But the problem is the people who understand technology and can bet the right technology and right formulas are very less. So most of the people who have started non-consumer tech funds also are...

not from that super solid tech connection or background, would say. You know, they are also investing on the founder conviction. They're investing on the macro trend, whether this technology is needed or not. We still lack the resources to understand if a founder has built a POC or if he has built a white paper, how much depth is there in that white paper and does it make sense or not? That skillset

that will come only when people who have studied technology at depth become fund managers or become a part of the analyst team or the associate team which is also happening but it is still at a very early stage. So still I feel a lot of superficial investments happen in India where you know there is a whole there is a macro trend which is supporting but soon there will be micro trends also which will or micro facts which will support the macro trend and that is something which will be interesting to see.

Dylan Pathirana (23:44.332)
I suppose on that point, know, if founders, you know, have a choice between capital partners now, because there's a lot of capital in India, what, what, what, why should they come to you?

Saloni (23:55.596)
That's a great question. So see, I will, I will, there are three kinds of founders. One who are chasing fundraising. One who won the second one is who is really wants to create an impactful business and is looking for patient capital and not pushing him or her to fundraise when not required. So, and then there is also a third kind of founder who is, who is somewhat a balance, but, we are, we are, we are still a new fund in India. There are many funds who are bigger and better.

Dylan Pathirana (23:56.844)
Yeah

Dylan Pathirana (24:23.545)
Mm-hmm.

Saloni (24:25.54)
more name, more success stories. So obviously they they become the first choice. But I think a lot of comfort comes from our team is what I feel because it's like we are a young team at the end of the day. Like, like I said, my brother is six years younger than me. He is from hardcore tech background. I am from, I'm also relatively young and I'm a hardcore from a business and finance background. And you see most of the fund managers in India, they are 50 plus in age, right? They, we understand

Dylan Pathirana (24:37.314)
Mm-hmm.

Saloni (24:55.52)
and they are problems better, they feel more comfortable talking to us. They just pick up the phone and call us. They don't feel the need to book the calendar, take an appointment. They are more open into discussing their problems. So even if, so they feel that, I want to have Sunhiken not because they have a great network and they can add a lot of value because of their history, but these fund managers can go a long way with advising me right. And also we come across as a very family run fund, right? In some sense.

we are not like it just come across that they are not just chasing valuation they really want us to grow and create an impact because money is not the only driver for them and it just comes across that way when we meet founders I feel so that also attracts a lot of interest in investing in us and all said and done there are many startups in India and there are very few teams who can recognize these startups at early stages so you know sometimes we can take

six months to recognize a startup and still we will get a chance to invest in them. It's not like a rat race in every case.

Dylan Pathirana (26:02.156)
Yeah. So Saloni, you know, used to be in India, Sri Lanka, all that region, the invest, all the entrepreneurship actually used to come from men. Have you seen that it's actually changing right now in India?

Saloni (26:21.826)
We have seen that changing a lot to be honest in the last couple of years. We have had great women-led entrepreneurs in the consumer space and if you see there are many stories. Naika which is one of our marketplaces for cosmetics is built by a women-led entrepreneur and many more. We have women fund managers. But what I am seeing interestingly is in the last one, one and a half year a lot

of tech led women entrepreneurs are coming which are still very very handful you will see more in lifestyle and consumer but in but like I was like I see in biotech lot of women coming for some reason you know that is a space tech I still don't see agri tech also I don't see on on so whenever there's a lot of on ground work I still don't see many women entrepreneurs coming but in spaces like biotech, medicine tech you know nutraceuticals

I see a lot of women coming. Education, I think women understand education better is one of my beliefs. are able to, especially when it's the K-12 education, they are able to understand the problems, the needs, the curriculum better, at least in India, because they are the ones who spend so much time with kids and nurturing them. That's how just India is. So we see a lot of good education led women entrepreneurs also coming in India.

Dylan Pathirana (27:28.715)
yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (27:51.042)
And speaking about kind of like industries, a lot of the industries that you spoke about that your fund invests in is kind of impact driven industries, know, ag tech and climate tech. Where's, where's your stance on kind of the, the importance of impact versus kind of financial returns?

Saloni (27:59.32)
Yes.

Saloni (28:11.308)
See, definitely financial return is important. There are a lot of impact companies which are building impact stories but are not financially viable. Right? And we see that every day. Like for example, there are a lot of companies building sustainable construction material. So they build bricks, they build like a, like like, like all those things. But pricing wise, it doesn't make sense. There is no motivation for a, for a builder to actually buy those. So however impactful it is, I as a fund will not invest in

because I have a separate social arm and have a separate business arm and this is my business arm. But our conscious effort is to invest in companies which make complete commercial and financial sense but still come with a positive impact. So I am not going ahead and investing in a pesticide company which might increase my yield but I know is bad for the farmers. I am not investing in an upcoming beverage brand because I don't see any impact. are enough and more beverage brands out there.

alcohol-led beverage brands out there. So it's just, it's a conscious effort to see that our companies create some positive impact but that is not the primary thesis driving the fund.

Dylan Pathirana (29:23.042)
And do have any success stories from any of your portfolio companies?

Saloni (29:27.246)
Multiple in terms of growth and even in terms of exits multiple so there's a there's a I think there's an hospitality company which we exited and we've made more than In X terms more than 50 exit turn. There's a pharma company which we exited or which is into API led drugs There we've and all these companies are partially exited by us. So there we have made like More than 100 X returns and again, these are

Dylan Pathirana (29:56.804)
Wow. Yeah.

Saloni (29:57.152)
are all partially exited, right? Then there are some companies where we've made like four or five X return, but they've turned out to be great stories. We've invested in hardcore innovation at a complete idea stage. The product came out well. It was an AR VR headset, but they couldn't face the competition with Google and Magic Leap and all these companies in the US. But still now they're getting acquired by one of the startups in India.

to see is that I know for the fact that they're going to grow even though I didn't make that 40x return I made a simple 24-25 % IRR I backed a good founder I made a good return 24 % IRR is not a bad return and the company is going to grow they've reached a scale where they're going to be acquired by a large giant and and and the story doesn't die down you know so these investments are also extremely successful for me honestly

Dylan Pathirana (30:53.56)
And you mentioned that partial exit. How do you determine when it's right for you to fully exit or keep a stake in the business and partially.

Saloni (31:00.536)
See honestly with our family wealth, we always partially exit and be a part of the story. these are all companies we invested like 10 years back. Okay, so we have this amazing rapport with the founders, know, all of that. They're constantly, it's a very family sort of a relationship. I'm not saying we will be able to do this with every company in our funds portfolio, but at least with family investments, that's how it is. fully exit company.

Dylan Pathirana (31:05.197)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (31:12.217)
Yep.

Dylan Pathirana (31:20.121)
Mm-hmm.

Dylan Pathirana (31:26.372)
Mm.

Saloni (31:30.442)
But it comes at a stage for more for us when we are not updated on what is happening with the company. When we do not, when we lose that touch point, when the company becomes so big that they do not have the bandwidth to keep us in loop, we are not adding any value and we are not sure whether internally the company is doing good or not.

Right? We just never go on numbers. There are lot of inner narrations and talks which we have on a daily basis. So when we lose our grip on the company, then it's time that we should exit and then spend our times and money somewhere else because there's limited money also, right? In that sense.

Dylan Pathirana (32:04.836)
And we've spoken, you know, a lot about kind of the industries that you're in, but one of the biggest trends that I've observed in, kind of the startup world is a lot of funds are pushing towards AI. Like I remember speaking with the VC and who, who's basically told me if my idea didn't have AI in it, then it wasn't worth like the conversation. So I want to get your, your take and understand kind of your viewpoint on, on the impact that AI is going to have.

Saloni (32:18.7)
Yes? Yes, so are we.

Saloni (32:30.306)
So there is a lot of AI, okay? Like tomorrow I'm going to Bangalore and I'm meeting five companies. I won't take their name, but it is.

Dash.ai. So all the companies, you know, it's like jam.ai, Saloni.ai, Dillon.ai, everybody's just adding .ai and that is, that is, but then I think the most important thing in AI is as how we look at it. There are these two, three foundational models, right? Which are available to everyone today. It could be Chatty, PGPT, Perfect Slitty, Google, whatever. And then it is actually very easy to build something on it.

Dylan Pathirana (32:41.886)
Everything's there.

Dylan Pathirana (32:46.572)
You

Saloni (33:10.0)
And building 80 % of your app or use case is a 10 % timing and effort. But getting that perfection to last 20 % is the balance 90 % of your work.

So we are extremely careful on the companies we are investing because we get like 100 companies on a quarterly basis with .ai but we know that anyone can build this in the next two months. So then there is no entry barrier, there is no competitive edge, you're not from the industry. We have invested in one Gen.ai company where we really felt that effort has been taken to build on a foundation model to solve one particular

So there's something called as vertical AI and horizontal AI. there are a lot of big companies building chatbots and HR tech and these are all horizontal AI's. We are trying and looking for companies in the vertical AI space where they are picking up extremely niche one sector one problem and genuinely building an AI product which thinks like a human, which acts like a human and is not just a machine learning model out there.

Dylan Pathirana (34:23.372)
Yeah. So, Soloni, as a female business leader, do you, do you face any unique challenges?

Saloni (34:35.064)
See, am actually I personally don't because I think A I have my own venture. I'm not working for someone else. B I am also in a very secured environment. I work with my father, my brother and the rest of the people also in Sun Capital in my office have been there from the time I have people who have been there from the time I was born, know, so such old people. So I personally don't face so much problem. All the founders are barring

I think three of my portfolio companies are male founders, right? And even in my other portfolio companies where there are female founders, there's a co-founder which is a male. So it's a very heavily male-led economy in that sense. But again, I personally have never faced any discomfort or any issue. I think it's been very comfortable, very supportive, no barriers as such that I cannot work with them or I cannot deal with them.

all my investors, LPs are males but again super comfortable. So it's very difficult for me to relate with those problems which a female might have to go through in building the fund journey because I think I just think that you know I am very supported that way from all directions. And now to add I have a husband who is extremely supportive.

Dylan Pathirana (35:57.006)
Yeah. I mean, you're blessed to have your father, your, yeah. But

Saloni (36:04.784)
very chilled so it's just you know there is no financial stress also right there's no fear of doing wrong to be very honest if you do wrong you have this three four men and your mother and everybody like supporting you and there for you so no stress

Dylan Pathirana (36:18.464)
Yeah, but that's you're the lucky one, but I'm sure there are other female founders going through some struggles, right? Do you see any any struggles or it's actually improving?

Saloni (36:29.422)
I want

We talk to these female founders and I see when you're a founder A you need to do your business B you need to raise funds and Every fund manager there are so many like every fund manager. I don't see any problem. Actually. I'm not able to think What is what can be that problem where you know people are looking and I've gone other days where a woman? Entrepreneur will not get funding because she might get married. She might be have children She might not be able to all those are gone days people now there have been

Dylan Pathirana (36:43.843)
Okay.

Saloni (36:59.864)
enough and more examples where women have proved what a fund manager or anybody in fact who is planning to associate with the startup is judging is your passion and capability to do it. Not that there are other barriers for you as a women which might stop you. I don't think that way honestly.

Dylan Pathirana (37:16.75)
That's great to see like India is moving forward, right?

Saloni (37:21.518)
Absolutely, think I see more respect for women in India than many other countries today and I don't want to name any of the countries on any instances but I have travelled the world and met people from the world and you know we've interacted jam and I feel that our males are actually today more supportive and more respecting to the kind of work we are doing. At least this is the trend in upper middle class and middle class and I mean I have not seen how

Dylan Pathirana (37:44.772)
Hmm.

Saloni (37:51.524)
how the lower middle class in India treats but everybody is working you know like all are house help, they are all women all of them have been working for generations honestly so there must be few handful instances where there would be problems but at least we don't see it on a daily basis.

Dylan Pathirana (38:10.436)
That's great to know. what, what sort of role do you think startups have on bringing a country like India, like to the forefront of innovation and, and like bringing it out of, you know, it used to be a developing country and now it's, it's booming. So what role do you think kind of startups and business plays in that?

Saloni (38:31.208)
See, it's just that Indians have always been very hardworking. That's kind of in our DNA, you know. We are extremely disciplined people in general. We are extremely hardworking as a country. And it's just that we didn't have that support and that security. If a founder is starting something, he needs a lot of financial support, family support, all of that. And we did not have that. If you see business houses in India, generation by generation,

they are growing. We have the Tata's, the Ambani's, the Adani's and these are just top three we have many more right. So where there is wealth comfort then it is easier to build something and now that comfort has come with funds like us and with government support and all of that all of that was not there five seven years back and hence it is very difficult to innovate when there is no support and nothing it's easier there are so many startup founders who have gone and innovated in US right why because of the support so that is what

what is changing and we already see that happening. We already see a lot of founders coming and choosing to build in India and that is because of even though the ease of doing business from a statutory and tax point of view today is not that great if you compare it with other countries but at least from a resource and funding point of view it is good. One of the biggest element to doing a good business is having the right kind of resource and that is available in India today.

Dylan Pathirana (40:01.86)
Saloni, you mentioned about the values, right? You mentioned you had a lot of values coming from your family background. Can you share some of these things with us?

Saloni (40:15.662)
So when I started Sunicon, one thing my dad had told me that just stick to your integrity and truth. You are doing this to create something meaningful. We are doing this rather to create an empire which is built on the right thesis. We support good companies, clean, neat business and all of that.

Only thing he told me when we started SunIcon. He didn't tell me like how do we find a company or no SOP The only thing is we do the right thing and rest will follow right and and I've seen that even even like Like I've never seen any of my parents or grandfathers or anyone jam to be honest to fight with anyone to kind of cheat anyone to be It's it's it's just a very family led thing for us, you know, like

Both my grandparents were very religious going to the temple doing a lot of charity in whichever way they can taking care of animals like we are vegetarian by birth, right? So there is a lot of and the way we behave with people if we don't like something we will let that person go but we will not get in that revenge mode that is just like I don't want to take revenge from you We are not getting along you please leave and I will continue with my work and I had to bear a bare minimum loss because of you

which is fine but I will still save my time and energy. So that is the whole guiding principle you know that all you have is your energy and your time and make the best of it like don't be dependent on other people's time, other people's wealth, other people's energy all of that. So it is a lot to do with just...

Dylan Pathirana (42:02.66)
Mm.

Saloni (42:08.758)
upbringing overall I think you know just just just like live for yourself like they say in Hindi it is a very famous line it's called Jio or Jine Do like live and let live you know so that's yeah

Dylan Pathirana (42:20.192)
Okay, nice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I want to understand what what push you to go to do OPM at HBS.

Saloni (42:28.962)
So this OPM happened on the moment where we decided to launch a fund, but we had not, we had just did a soft launch, we were still raising. So OPM happened at a time and I don't have any, so my background is I'm a chartered accountant by qualification, right? So I don't have any management background as such. what I primarily wanted was two things. I wanted some management education

I also wanted a global network, to be honest. I just knew people. And before OPM, I just knew people in India, people whom I had worked with or people who were associated with my father and stuff like that. But this was again, trying something new, trying something out of the box, know, meeting people from so many nationalities, seeing the way they think, seeing the way they eat, seeing the way they talk, the way they do business.

It's a learning in itself. mean, once you experience it, will know it's a, it just opens your mind. It opens the way you think. it also like, like HBS, OPM, honestly, I realized that everybody who is far more successful, far more accomplished than me also is chasing for inner peace, And family and that bond and that human. it's just, it's just an amazing.

experience to see how humans from different countries are all at the end of the day craving for the same thing that's in that way but I primarily did it for the education for the whole Harvard experience there is a whole awe about it you know when you're in the campus and and it's it's just a great experience altogether and the child in me just wanted to do it for that you know that to go stay in the campus see how it feels and whatever comes with it is learning at the end of the day.

Dylan Pathirana (44:28.228)
So you mentioned inner peace, right? And I also know you're very ambitious as well. How do you balance the inner peace with ambition?

Saloni (44:41.198)
Disclaimer, have just started practicing Pranayama Yoga from last one, one and a half month. But that is just because I read a book on breath work and I realized how important it is. And it's just been one month. I started in March and it's brought a lot of peace to me. Not that I was very restless or anxious or anything like that. But it's just a kind of... If you do it first thing in the morning, I think it just...

brings you together, you know. In a way, and I've seen my father do pranayama, I've seen my mother, but I just never got it. I was like, you know, might as well run and sweat it out. What is this breathing out? What is it achieving? was like, but when I started doing it, and since I've been doing it for the last two months, and I just feel different, and it's very difficult to explain, honestly. And there's just something I would really urge everybody who's listening to me to just try. is extremely simple, but it is extremely effective.

Dylan Pathirana (45:20.836)
You

Saloni (45:41.228)
and

Honestly from a peace perspective, I think there are days where there is a little bit of work stress But apart from that, I don't have any any other stress So it's it's my life in general is extremely peaceful Sometimes, you know a founder doesn't perform well or there is there's an investor who is not talking properly These are minor stresses I have in life like which is a part and parcel of the business. It's even wrong to call it stress I feel but but

Dylan Pathirana (46:10.596)
It's part of the, Yeah.

Saloni (46:13.76)
It's part and parcel of work, right? But then I'm very that way. think I have people to go and went out to people to go and talk to and one of my biggest just a a rewinding and you know, getting office talking to my mother. So I talk to my mother every day, especially when I'm going from work to office and other way around. And she is the only person who does who talks the most relaxed things to me, you know, like very general, no, targets, no goals, no agendas. What will happen if this

will happen nothing like she's like it's it's it just de stresses me I feel you know she's like no politics no macro economics no ambition nothing just relax one girl to girl talk like or go shopping with her or just talk about new trends and clothes you know she's like I saw this Instagram this is the it's just awesome it brings me a lot of happiness honestly

Dylan Pathirana (46:58.308)
Amazing, go shopping with her.

Dylan Pathirana (47:03.63)
That's it. Yeah.

It's important to have someone like that. And I suppose speaking about impact, do you ever kind of look back and think the impact that you're having, you know, you're, you're, changing people's lives at the end of the day by providing them with the capital to go on, achieve their dream and change the, change the world.

Saloni (47:32.64)
Yeah, I mean, see, we are still very early, to be honest. This is just the first fund, you know, if I think there is a lot more. It's just the beginning of our venture journey. So we have we have added impact to 20 founders. We want to do it with 200, 2000 founders and go it to go right. And now up till now, I've not got the time to think about the impact. Now I'm just thinking about finding the right companies, you know, making sure my systems processes everything.

Dylan Pathirana (47:56.771)
Yeah.

Saloni (48:02.544)
is in place and just learning new things every day. The world is changing so fast. Like today I'm reading on gene therapy. Tomorrow I'm reading on some other AI thing. So there is no time to think about the larger impact and not even your founders realize it because founders are also struggling. I think that time will come after 20 years when they will become successful and then they will reflect on what all happened and so will I and maybe then it will hit that we have created so much impact.

Dylan Pathirana (48:32.1)
And I suppose if you could pinpoint one lesson that you've had from starting a fund, what would it be?

Saloni (48:41.696)
I think don't get carried away by trends because I have had one unsuccessful investment and that was purely because I chased a trend which was going and trends don't last always, right? So you do your other than the trend, you do your deep work, you build your conviction and just now AI is a trend, two years, three years back blockchain was a trend, before that Web3 was a trend and so on and so forth, right?

Dylan Pathirana (48:56.17)
Mm-hmm.

Saloni (49:11.6)
But you have to just don't chase trend. think back good businesses who you think can build good businesses is one key learning from a very small failure I have had in the last two and a half years.

Dylan Pathirana (49:25.316)
So Saloni, along the journey, do you have any mentors or someone that you look up to?

Saloni (49:35.16)
So as we speak today, I think my father is a big mentor. I look up to how he has shaped his life, how he has built his life, both on the personal and professional side. He has given us a lot of time. He has brought us up really well. He has given a lot of love and affection to my mother, to my grandparents. And I really respect him for that. And at the same side, he had a struggling career. He had to build it from scratch. He didn't have the support and the comfort which we have today.

And still he has achieved and made it big. So I think he's a great role model for me to look up to in that sense. He's a life mentor for me in all ways. He's a lot of things I cannot do, which he does, but I think whatever I can and whatever I enjoy, I choose to do.

Dylan Pathirana (50:25.358)
Yeah, so awesome. Saloni, know you very first thing you told us, you're a big dreamer, right? You dream like, know, amazing things that you may not even achieve. So what's the current dream? What's the latest dream that what's your really what you're dreaming of? mean, I would have asked that question in a different way. What's your vision for your business? But I want to ask you in a more of a dream.

Saloni (50:38.978)
Yeah, I mean I'm the tutor, but I'm sorry.

Dylan Pathirana (50:55.236)
You know, how do you see yourself?

Saloni (50:58.094)
You know, I am at an age in life where I have a lovely husband, I have a lovely family, I'm in a beautiful relationship. I definitely dream of taking that relationship ahead in terms of having a family. And often a lot of my dreams are about being this multi-tasker woman with like 8-10 hands who's running a successful fund, who's spending a lot of time travelling the world.

and having a family doing it all sort of a situation and so that's like maybe the next four five years to me I've also started focusing a lot on my health and so I dream about being extremely fit and you know being able to run a marathon and all of that so I think my dreams are more driven by what I'm trying to improve in me and do on a daily basis at least that's the situation today

Dylan Pathirana (51:52.238)
Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. And I suppose if you were to leave a message to young founders coming up, what would you say to them?

Saloni (52:02.392)
Well, I would,

If you are yet to start, if you have not started, think one thing I would say is having the right kind of team is extremely important. So spend a lot of time on finding that right co-founder or right people who are going to build with you and who are going to stick with you. And it's more difficult than even a marriage is what I feel because you go through so many ups and downs with each other and there are so many, you know, differences of opinions and all of

that. So please spend some time in building that right founding team. mean, obviously you will be bullish on your idea and stuff like that, but you have to execute it and it's an extremely long journey. So if you have not started like, like we were also taught in Harvard, right? If you, if you, if you've made a business without systems, processes, any of it, and then suddenly after, after 10, 15 years, it's very difficult to implement something. So build, so if you're starting

Now have the right team have the right structured approach have things in place don't let don't let loose on your numbers have a Basic sense of where you are spending. You know, I come across a lot of founders who just run out of cash I mean, how can you run out of cash? You can see your balance sheet and numbers every day, right? So and and have

have that openness to meet people. see this a lot with tech founders. They only want to meet tech people. They only want to meet people whom they see immediate gain with. Just be open to meeting new people and learning from them and not just directly thinking, what can I get from this person? You know, if you have to be an entrepreneur, you have to be open to meeting new people and being open to the idea of not liking a few things and liking your feelings. And that's not waste of time. That is investment of your time. Realizing that is

Dylan Pathirana (53:32.9)
Mm.

Dylan Pathirana (53:55.758)
salute

Saloni (53:56.516)
also very important.

Dylan Pathirana (53:58.82)
So Saloni, what's your legacy? How do you want to be remembered?

Saloni (54:08.138)
I want to be remembered as this extremely successful venture capitalist from India who has supported great businesses, all the businesses have done well, who has lived healthy, travelled the world. All the good things.

Dylan Pathirana (54:24.526)
Keep going! Come on, that's only just the start, right?

Saloni (54:30.51)
It's just a start and it's just like for me at least I mean I've just started this one two and a half years back and before that I was still figuring out what I want to do and now finally I have something which I want to build on up till before that I was just trying not continuing trying and I've done multiple things I've done investment banking, credit analysis, this that but I didn't have this this one thing which I wanted to build on you know in terms of creating an empire now I have that so I have to make the best of

Dylan Pathirana (54:32.086)
That's it.

Dylan Pathirana (54:37.945)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (54:43.757)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (54:55.331)
Yeah, yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (54:59.598)
Yep, absolutely.

Saloni (55:00.304)
First is having that idea, once you have that then it's all in your hands.

Dylan Pathirana (55:05.4)
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And I suppose looking back on your journey, do you feel successful so far?

Saloni (55:11.778)
So far, yes, I think I'm a very strong person. I have gone through all the ups and downs in my life with a very positive attitude. I try to give my best to people around me also. So even though it's just the beginning, but I think as we speak today on this and this time and this chair, I think I'm successful.

Dylan Pathirana (55:33.12)
I would definitely agree with you. And, you know, it's been such a wonderful conversation and we definitely could sit here for hours chatting with you. And I do look forward to eventually one day coming over to India and visiting you in person. and all your dreams are very, very achievable. And I can see that, you know, you're achieving it in very near future. And, yeah. And I suppose throughout conversation, I've been jotting down a few ingredients, which I think have been important to your, successful journey so far.

Saloni (55:39.884)
Yeah.

Yes, please, you're most welcome.

Saloni (55:53.197)
Yes?

Dylan Pathirana (56:01.252)
and I'd like to share them with you. The first one is growth mindset. And I think throughout this entire conversation, really what was underpinned to me was you're trying to be the best version of yourself, not worrying about what other people are trying to do, not worrying about what society wants you to do. You're trying to be the best version of what you want for yourself. And I think that's so important because you're not kind of, you're not clouded by all of these other judgements and.

Saloni (56:01.271)
Yes.

Dylan Pathirana (56:27.78)
society's pressure, you can just focus on what you actually want to achieve and go all in on that. And I think that's really critical. The next one is you're very family oriented. And I think that's, you know, family got mentioned so many times there. And I think it's, it's a common trait that we're seeing because I think it gives you a good base. You always know that there's people around you who are going to support you no matter what. And I think you even explicitly mentioned that even if this fund doesn't go well.

You know, you know that your mom, your husband and your, your dad are always going to be there to pick you back up and get you back on the horse. The next one is impact driven. And I think not only in the way that you're investing in kind of impact, focused investments, but I think just in your life in general, you're always trying to do things to progress and, kind of leave this world a better place than, than how you found it. And the last one is values driven.

I think you always, you talk about, you focus on the things that you can control and that's, know, that's a very, it's just kind of stoic philosophy of, of internalizing things and just focusing on what you can actually control control, because ultimately the rest of the stuff is out of your control and there's no point wasting your time on it. It's better off investing the time into what, what you can actually control. And I think that's, that's my kind of key takeaways from today's. And I got a few to add, you know, knowing Ceyloni as well.

I mean, her personality, your personality, Saloni, and you're a very bubbly person, very positive mindset. I think you take any challenge in a very positive way. especially like, you you're stopped hardly, like you're always smiling, right? And then that's really infectious. you know, we're all smiling together, right? So that you create that environment, very, very positive environment that really lets you, whether you're going through a challenging moment or a...

Saloni (58:11.394)
I'm

Dylan Pathirana (58:24.772)
any other moment, you know, create a really positive environment, you know, so that lets you to your success as well. And thank you so much for joining us and it's an awesome conversation. I didn't even realize that we spent almost hour. And thank you so much for your time. Yeah, and it was a pleasure having you.

Saloni (58:32.383)
Thank you so much.

Saloni (58:40.408)
Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much. Lovely talking to you. And start something together. I'm sure you can do it.

Dylan Pathirana (58:50.756)
Absolutely. And for those listening, if you found today's episode insightful, it would be wonderful if you could go over and like and follow us on whichever platform you're listening to this on right now. And you can see all of our inspirational content over on our website, the quest for success podcast.com. And with that, we'll catch you guys in the next episode. Thanks for listening. Thank you, Saloni. It was awesome. I can't believe you know, we spend an hour. just

Saloni (58:54.115)
Yes.