Entrepreneur Manu Kumar: From $100M Acquisition at 25 to 55+ Investments & Founding K9 Ventures

Meet Manu Kumar, founder and chief fire starter at K9 Ventures, with a track record of investing in over 55 companies, including Lyft, Lucidchart, and Everlaw.

1. Manu Kumar is the founder and chief fire starter at K9 Ventures.
2. He has invested in around 55 companies, some of which are Lyft, Lucidchart, and Everlaw.
3. He has been a founder since he was 20 years old.
4. His first company was acquired in 2000 for over 100 million dollars.
5. He started K9 Ventures in 2010.
6. Kumar grew up in New Delhi, India and was interested in electronics and building things from a young age.
7. He became interested in computers when he was around 14 or 15 years old.
8. He convinced his grandmother to buy him a second-hand computer, which he then taught himself how to use.
9. Kumar decided he wanted to leave India and attend college in the United States when he was around 14 or 15 years old.
10. He attended Carnegie Mellon University and found the experience of being around so many smart people to be eye-opening.
11. While at Carnegie Mellon, Kumar wanted to take a class in entrepreneurship, but it was only available to business school students.
12. He showed up for the class on the first day anyway and convinced the professor to let him enroll by demonstrating his perseverance.
13. Kumar defines entrepreneurship as "insane perseverance in the face of complete resistance."
14. While earning his Master's degree, Kumar taught himself how to use Java and created an interactive chat room application.
15. He had 20,000 people using his chat room at one point and received encouragement from a user to start a company.
16. Kumar started Sneaker Labs when he was 20 years old and created an online customer service product for websites.
17. He learned the importance of networking and building relationships while starting the Pittsburgh Java Users Group.
18. Sneaker Labs grew to have 20 employees and a real product, but Kumar decided to try to raise capital or partner with another company to take it to the next level.
19. Sneaker Labs was acquired by Octane Software for over 100 million dollars in a stock transaction.
20. Kumar attended Stanford University for his PhD and remained active in startups during this time.
21. He started K9 Ventures after finishing his PhD and focuses on investing in companies and aligning his interests with the founders.
22. Kumar has learned that not every company can be successful, but he tries to make sure that K9's successful investments outnumber its unsuccessful ones.
23. He looks for founders who are passionate about their ideas and able to adapt to feedback.
24. Kumar enjoys building things and wants to create companies that have a positive impact on the world.

Source: EO via YouTube

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