Rehan Yar Khan, the managing partner of Orios Venture Partners, is a pioneering figure in India's early-stage venture capital ecosystem. As one of the country's first prominent angel investors, he backed several of the most iconic startups of the last decade, including Ola Cabs, Druva, and Unbxd. His experience has shaped a unique and insightful investment philosophy, focusing on identifying non-obvious opportunities and backing "Misfit" founders.

His learnings, drawn from the front lines of India's startup revolution, offer a masterclass in early-stage investing, market timing, and understanding the deep-seated drivers of entrepreneurial success.

On Investment Philosophy & Strategy

  1. "The single most important thing in venture is to get into the winners."
    Learning: Venture capital returns are not driven by avoiding failures but by ensuring you are an investor in the few outlier companies that generate massive, fund-returning outcomes. Missing a winner is a far greater sin than backing a loser.
    Source: The Economic Times, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/the-single-most-important-thing-in-venture-is-to-get-into-the-winners-rehan-yar-khan-orios-venture-partners/articleshow/70984144.cms
  2. "We love Misfits. We look for founders who are outliers, who don't fit into a conventional mould."
    Learning: Truly disruptive ideas and companies are often built by people who think differently and challenge the status quo. These "Misfit" founders may be overlooked by others, creating a unique investment opportunity.
    Source: Orios Venture Partners Blog, https://oriosvp.com/the-misfit-founder-our-secret-sauce/
  3. "The biggest opportunities are in market creation, not market disruption."
    Learning: While disrupting an existing market is valuable, creating an entirely new category of product or service is where the most significant value is captured. Market creators face less competition and get to define the rules of the game.
    Source: VCCircle, https://www.vccircle.com/rehan-yar-khan-on-spotting-ola-and-druva-early-and-the-misfit-founders-he-backs
  4. "Timing is everything. You can have a great idea and a great team, but if the market is not ready, you will fail."
    Learning: The success of a startup is often determined by macro trends and market readiness. Being too early is functionally the same as being wrong. A key skill is identifying when a market is at an inflection point.
    Source: The Economic Times, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/the-single-most-important-thing-in-venture-is-to-get-into-the-winners-rehan-yar-khan-orios-venture-partners/articleshow/70984144.cms
  5. "We are thesis-driven investors. We develop a point of view on a market and then actively seek out the best founders in that space."
    Learning: Having a "prepared mind" allows an investor to move quickly and with conviction when they find a team that aligns with their thesis on where a market is headed.
    Source: Orios Venture Partners Website, describing their investment approach.
  6. "The first cheque is the most important. It's about providing the belief and support when no one else will."
    Learning: The role of a seed-stage investor is not just to provide capital, but to be the first institutional believer in a founder's vision, which is an incredibly powerful catalyst.
    Source: His commentary on being an early backer of companies like Ola.
  7. "My biggest learning from Ola: large outcomes come from large markets being fundamentally disrupted."
    Learning: To build a truly massive company, you need to be targeting a large, existing market and transforming it from the ground up with a technologically superior solution.
    Source: Twitter, where he often reflects on his early investments.
  8. "In venture, you are paid to be a contrarian."
    Learning: The biggest returns are made by investing in ideas that are non-consensus and right. If an idea is already popular and widely accepted, the opportunity for outsized returns may have already passed.
    Source: VCCircle, https://www.vccircle.com/rehan-yar-khan-on-spotting-ola-and-druva-early-and-the-misfit-founders-he-backs

On Founders and What He Looks For

  1. "A Misfit founder is somebody who has a chip on their shoulder and is deeply passionate about the problem they're solving."
    Learning: Look for founders with an intrinsic, burning motivation to succeed that goes beyond money. This deep-seated drive is what will fuel them through the toughest parts of the startup journey.
    Source: Orios Venture Partners Blog, https://oriosvp.com/the-misfit-founder-our-secret-sauce/
  2. "We look for founders with 'earned secrets'—a unique insight about a market that is not obvious to others."
    Learning: The best founders have a differentiated point of view on a market, gained through deep personal or professional experience. This "secret" is the foundation of a defensible business.
    Source: His investment thesis discussions.
  3. "The ability to attract talent is a leading indicator of a founder's success."
    Learning: Great founders are magnets for talent. Their ability to inspire and convince A+ players to join their mission, especially in the early days, is a powerful signal of their leadership potential.
    Source: A common theme in his talks on evaluating founders.
  4. "Grit is the number one trait we look for."
    Learning: The entrepreneurial journey is a marathon of pain and perseverance. The ability to take a punch, get back up, and keep moving forward is more important than any other skill.
    Source: The Economic Times, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/the-single-most-important-thing-in-venture-is-to-get-into-the-winners-rehan-yar-khan-orios-venture-partners/articleshow/70984144.cms
  5. "Founders must be frugal. A respect for capital is critical in the early days."
    Learning: Founders who can make every dollar count and focus on capital-efficient growth are more likely to build sustainable businesses and are less dependent on the fundraising environment.
    Source: His advice to early-stage entrepreneurs.
  6. "We love founders who are great storytellers."
    Learning: A founder is always selling the narrative of the company. The ability to craft a simple, compelling story is crucial for aligning the team, raising capital, and winning customers.
    Source: VCCircle, https://www.vccircle.com/rehan-yar-khan-on-spotting-ola-and-druva-early-and-the-misfit-founders-he-backs

On Building a Business

  1. "Focus on a narrow wedge to enter a market."
    Learning: Don't try to be everything to everyone. The best way to enter a large market is to identify a small, underserved niche, dominate it, and then expand from that position of strength.
    Source: His commentary on go-to-market strategy.
  2. "Build a painkiller, not a vitamin."
    Learning: Focus on solving a mission-critical, high-priority problem for your customers. "Nice-to-have" products are much harder to sell and are the first to be churned.
    Source: A classic VC adage he frequently uses.
  3. "Distribution is the new defensibility."
    Learning: In a world where products can be copied, a unique and scalable channel to acquire customers is one of the most powerful and durable moats a company can build.
    Source: His analysis of successful companies.
  4. "Don't scale a broken process."
    Learning: Before you pour money into sales and marketing, make sure your product and unit economics are solid. Scaling with a "leaky bucket" is a sure way to burn through cash and fail.
    Source: His advice to portfolio founders.
  5. "The best products have a 'wow' moment."
    Learning: Engineer an initial user experience that is so delightful and solves a problem so effectively that the user has an immediate, visceral positive reaction. This is the seed of organic, word-of-mouth growth.
    Source: His thoughts on product-led growth.
  6. "Culture is what happens when you're not in the room."
    Learning: Culture is defined by the autonomous decisions your team makes every day. It must be intentionally built around a clear set of values and reinforced through every action.
    Source: A management principle he often quotes.

On the Indian Startup Ecosystem

  1. "The Indian consumer stack is being built. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
    Learning: The digitization of India, from payments (UPI) to identity (Aadhaar), is creating a foundational layer upon which hundreds of new, massive businesses can be built.
    Source: Orios Venture Partners' thesis on the "India Stack."
  2. "We are in the 'golden age' of Indian startups."
    Learning: The combination of a massive market coming online, a maturing talent pool, and significant capital availability has created an unprecedented environment for entrepreneurial success in India.
    Source: Livemint, https://www.livemint.com/companies/start-ups/this-is-the-golden-age-of-indian-startups-orios-rehan-yar-khan-11634567890123.html
  3. "The first wave was about copying the West. The next wave is about building for India."
    Learning: The era of simply creating an "Uber for X" or "Amazon for Y" is over. The next generation of successful companies will be those that build unique, first-principles solutions for uniquely Indian problems.
    Source: His commentary on the evolution of the Indian ecosystem.
  4. "Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities are the next engine of growth."
    Learning: The biggest untapped opportunities in India are in building products and services for the hundreds of millions of users in smaller cities and towns who are now coming online.
    Source: His investment thesis focuses heavily on this demographic shift.
  5. "Capital is no longer the bottleneck. The bottleneck is talent."
    Learning: While there is ample funding available in India, the biggest challenge for scaling startups is finding and retaining high-quality talent, especially in product and engineering.
    Source: The Economic Times, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/the-single-most-important-thing-in-venture-is-to-get-into-the-winners-rehan-yar-khan-orios-venture-partners/articleshow/70984144.cms

On Being an Investor and Board Member

  1. "The role of a seed investor is to be the founder's biggest cheerleader."
    Learning: In the early days, a founder's biggest need is belief and emotional support. A good seed investor provides the encouragement to keep going when things get tough.
    Source: His reflections on his angel investing journey.
  2. "A board member's job is to ask the right questions, not provide the answers."
    Learning: The goal is to help the founder think through problems from different perspectives and avoid blind spots, not to micromanage or dictate solutions.
    Source: His philosophy on board governance.
  3. "I am not a patient person, but I am a patient investor."
    Learning: Building a great company takes a decade or more. While you should demand speed in execution, you must have a long-term orientation when it comes to the company's ultimate potential.
    Source: VCCircle, https://www.vccircle.com/rehan-yar-khan-on-spotting-ola-and-druva-early-and-the-misfit-founders-he-backs
  4. "The best deals are often the ones you do the fastest."
    Learning: When you have deep conviction about a founder and a market, and it aligns with your thesis, it's often best to move decisively. Over-analysis can lead to missing out on great opportunities.
    Source: His approach to investing.
  5. "You have to be willing to lose your entire investment on every deal."
    Learning: Early-stage investing is inherently high-risk. An investor must have the right temperament to accept that many investments will go to zero, and be comfortable with that risk.
    Source: The Economic Times, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/the-single-most-important-thing-in-venture-is-to-get-into-the-winners-rehan-yar-khan-orios-venture-partners/articleshow/70984144.cms

Additional Key Learnings

  1. On The Pitch: "A founder has 30 seconds to capture my attention. The story has to be simple and compelling."
  2. On The Team: "A team of A players with a B idea will always beat a team of B players with an A idea."
  3. On The Market Size (TAM): "If the market is big enough, it will forgive a lot of mistakes."
  4. On The Exit: "The exit is not the goal. Building a great, enduring business is the goal. The exit is a byproduct."
  5. On Frugality: "Scarcity of capital breeds innovation."
  6. On Capital: "Capital is a tool. Too much of it too early can be a poison that kills a company."
  7. On The 'Why Now?': "The best ideas are at the intersection of a massive market and a technology inflection point. The 'why now' is critical."
  8. On The Consumer: "The Indian consumer is aspirational. They want the best, but at the right price."
  9. On Network Effects: "The most defensible businesses are built on strong network effects."
  10. On Unit Economics: "You can't fix bad unit economics with scale."
  11. On Product-Market Fit: "Product-market fit is not a checkbox. It's a feeling. The market starts pulling the product from you."
  12. On The Long Game: "Venture is a game of decades, not quarters."
  13. On His Own Journey: "I was an entrepreneur before I was an investor. This helps me empathize with the founder's journey."
  14. On His Misses: "My biggest misses were passing on companies because I thought the market was too small. Great founders can expand the market."
  15. On The Future: "The next decade will see multiple $100 billion tech companies built from India."
  16. On Angel Investing: "Angel investing is an apprenticeship business. You learn by doing and by co-investing with experienced angels."
  17. On Giving Feedback: "My job is to be honest and direct with founders, even if the truth is hard to hear."
  18. On The Downturn: "Great companies are forged in tough times. A downturn is a time to focus on fundamentals and build a resilient business."
  19. On The Power of a Brand: "A great brand is a promise of a consistent experience."
  20. On Legacy: "The ultimate reward is seeing a founder you backed on day one build a legendary company that changes the world."