From Polo to Venture Capital

I transitioned to venture capital in 2019. It was a drastic change from a fulfilling career in Polo. The startups developing revolutionary technology and the impact that they would create surprised me. I got hooked from the very first day I realized that there was a lot more exploring for me to do.

Since then, I have met several founders. To understand their business model, I have developed a methodology that would make it easy for me in a matter of minutes, and I could dig deeper. This method helped me get into the finer details by the end of the interaction. What amazed me is the role polo had to play in this.

Polo is referred to as the “sport of kings” given its long history and heritage originating from the northeastern state of Manipur, India. A player’s performance gets measured on four main criteria viz horsemanship, strategy, team play, and knowledge of the game. That I can implement what I learned during my stint of playing full-time Polo is serendipity.

I believe that Polo and venture capital are similar in many ways. I can translate the four criteria to measure a polo player’s performance in evaluating a startup:

I. Horsemanship

a. In Polo, horsemanship is the technique a rider uses to ride a horse.

b. In terms of evaluating a startup, I would equate horsemanship to the founder’s ability to grow and scale the company in the future.

II. Strategy

a. In Polo, strategy relates to the players’ ability to think ahead of the game and be able to arrive at the ball at the correct time and to be alert enough to block the opponent even if he/she does not have the ball.

b. In terms of a startup, the tactics of product placement and go to market strategy would be of equal importance.

III. Team play

a. In Polo, the team coordination and the need to work as a unit is of the utmost importance to win a match

b. In simple terms, this relates to the importance of having a coordinated and well-functioning team to keep them motivated to improve (do better) daily.

IV. Knowledge of the game

a. In Polo, the players’ understanding of the rules and regulations of the game and their ability to bait an opponent to make a foul makes a huge difference.

b. For a founder, it is of utmost importance that they understand the industry they are operating in, along with an in-depth knowledge of their competitive landscape, so that they work where the ball is going to be and not where it is right now

To summarize, the learnings and skills acquired from playing Polo have broadened my perspective. It has helped me in evaluating startups from different vantage points, allowing me to relate the inner functioning (nitty-gritty) of a company as if it were an ongoing match.