Kashmir was shut to the world for 30 years. From 1991-2021. When it reopened, I was fortunate to have gone there 3 times. All 3 different reasons.

Over the three trips across two years — I got to see three different faces of Kashmir:

• In 2022, as a tourist in a city just beginning to reopen after decades of isolation.

• In August 2024, as a trekker walking through its breathtaking, unspoiled Great Lakes.

• In November 2024, as a believer — meeting young founders building against all odds.

Each journey showed me something different. But one thread ran through all three:

Kashmir is a land that gives more than it takes.
Through its people, its mountains, its music, and its quiet courage.

This is that story. Of a place too often misunderstood.
And of why the greatest way to support Kashmir today is not pity and more social media posts, but participation.

A Tourist in a Reawakening City (2022)

When I first visited Srinagar in 2022, Kashmir was cautiously stepping out of three decades of isolation. The Shikharas floated again on Dal Lake. Tourists were back into its gardens and cafes. There was life. There was hope. But you could still sense the caution.

The military presence was visible, but the hospitality of the people was stronger — simple, kind, rooted in the land’s ancient traditions. There were eager shop owners trying to make a deal. One could see the beauty of handicrafts - From wooden artefacts, to beautiful handcrafted Pashminas. Their livelihoods depended on tourism, and you could sense the fragile new beginning everyone was trying to nurture.

A Trek Across Untamed Beauty (August 2024)

Two years later, I returned — not to the city, but to the mountains.
The Kashmir Great Lakes trek covers close to 87 kilometers across seven days, winding through high-altitude lakes, meadows, and passes close to the India-Pakistan border.

The week we trekked, the weather turned harsh — heavy rains, slippery trails, and the physical grind of long days. We were not alone. Over 1,000 trekkers were on the route that week, reminding me how fragile these landscapes are under the weight of tourism. (Yes, the number was 1000!)

At times, CRPF soldiers would quietly walk up to our group, checking on us, reminding us of the unseen tensions that still lace these mountains.
Tourism brings life — but it also brings responsibility, a fact we often forget.

Unlike other parts of the Himalayas, the Kashmir trail offers pure, untamed beauty.
There are no villages, no makeshift shops — only pastures, lakes, and valleys where sheep graze freely and the mountains guard their silence.

Through it all, the local mule men, porters, and guides worked tirelessly.
Hardworking, resilient, and quick to share a ‘shayari’ by the trail, they moved our supplies from camp to camp, their lives once again tied to the rhythms of tourism.

One thing struck me sharply: India has become fitter but Responsible tourism has yet to see adoption.

More people now undertake such treks. But alongside pride, there is thoughtlessness — trash left behind in a land that asks only for respect.

I also believe that as much as you can tour Kashmir, the real Kashmir beauty can be witnessed when you walk into the mountains.

We closed our trek with a soulful Sufi night, and I am grateful I had the opportunity to witness such pure art from Mohammad Noor Saheb and his group. Such experiences leave you wondering about how such pure love can be nourished in a terror torn state.

A Witness to Dreams (November 2024)

Later that year, I returned again — this time, as a believer in Kashmir’s future. As a startup founder, with my contribution to building Kashmir’s ecosystem.

I attended the launch of a new startup incubator in Srinagar, LaunchPad. We had about 50 founders, and many of the ecosystem enablers. The founders were young, ambitious, carrying invisible burdens that entrepreneurs elsewhere will never fully understand.

Building a startup is hard anywhere. In Kashmir, it demands something more: grit against uncertainty, isolation, and skepticism.

Investors are encouraging, but cautious.
Founders know that scaling in Kashmir isn’t easy.
And yet, when they startup and speak of ideas, of products, of dreams — there is hope.
Hope that refuses to die, even when circumstances are stacked against it.

But startups like Kashmir Box are changing that. They are building platforms that connect artisans to global buyers, using technology like geo-tagging to ensure fair trade and dignity.

Kashmir Box’s vision is to take Kashmir to the world!

I am also an investor in Kashmir Box, believing in their vision.

In the face of unrest, many wonder: What can we do for Kashmir?

The answer is simple:
Support its economy. Buy its crafts. Believe in its builders. Carry its stories forward.

Trade - dignified, fair trade — will build what terror so often breaks. We are now in 2025. We cannot respond to terror the same way we did in 1991. As a startup ecosystem that has created so much disruption, I am sure we will find ways to make this inclusive.

The next time you think of Kashmir, think beyond beauty.
Think about participation. If each of one can buy one product from Kashmir, we would have responded to the act of terror in a much better way. If you are a corporate, consider sourcing your gifting products from Kashmir.

Each of us can find small ways to support the economy — quietly, meaningfully, and consistently. The greatest rebellion against terror is not outrage. It is building bridges so strong that no act of violence can tear them down.

Kashmir has survived being broken, isolated, and forgotten.
Now, it deserves to be believed in — quietly, consistently, powerfully. By all of us.

What Raghunandan Taught Me About Mental Prep in Angel Investing

In our last episode, we talked about what it means to move from public markets to private bets — from buying history (stocks) to betting on the future (startups), as Nithin Kamath put it.

This week, we go one step deeper.

Because after the cheque is written… then what?

That’s where this episode starts.

A conversation with Raghunandan G.

For those who don’t know Raghu — he’s been around from the early years of the startup ecosystem. He co-founded TaxiForSure and exited successfully to Ola.

I’ve known him as an angel investor and a backer to founders— he’s backed some exceptional early-stage companies. And now, of course, he’s building again — Zolve just raised $250M in funding.

But none of that changed the core idea he shared with me on The Private Market Show in 2021. It has been close to 4 years but the advice feels like it could have been the conversation from this month in 2025.

“Be mentally prepared for losses before investing.”

It’s not the most glamorous advice.
But it might be the one thing every angel investor needs to hear before they start.

Angel investing isn’t about managing upside.

It’s about managing your mind.

Raghu said it without hesitation:

“If you’re going to obsess over outcomes, this is not the asset class for you.”

You write the cheque.
Then you write it off — mentally.
That doesn’t mean you don’t care. It means you’re not emotionally tied to the outcome.

This is where angel investing becomes more psychology than finance.

Zolve just raised $250M…

And that brings me to a fun contrast.

Imagine investing in a startup.
Then nothing happens for 2 years.
Maybe you think, “It’s okay, small bet.”
You move on.

And then — the founder announces a $250M round, with global headlines, top-tier VCs. That’s Zolve. And that’s why Raghu’s advice holds up.

What we learnt from the conversation with Raghu:

1. Emotional Liquidity > Financial Liquidity
   Most angels worry about how long they’ll be locked in.
   But the real skill? Staying detached while staying involved.

2. No Outcome = No Regret
   You should be okay even if the startup shuts down tomorrow.
   The value of the investment is in the process, not just the return.

3. Conviction isn’t control
   Once you write the cheque, let the founder drive.

   
   Angel investing is not portfolio management. It’s early belief.

Why this matters

We live in a culture of exits, unicorns, and LinkedIn wins.
But most of the real angel journey is invisible.
It’s patience, ambiguity, silence.

And sometimes, a surprise email two years later that reminds you -

belief has a weird way of paying off. This still does not negate the fact that Angel Investing is risky, and does follow the portfolio construct, like in public markets. There can be no single winners - always a winner among others who did not meet your expectation on growth and return.

Key Takeaways

• Write the cheque. Write it off.

• Help if asked. Don’t hover.

• Stay in the game long enough to see the outliers.

• Celebrate the ones that win. But don’t measure yourself by the ones that don’t.

This episode reminded me that angel investing, like life, is easier when we’re not overly attached to the outcome — but deeply connected to the intent. We have a lot to learn about ourselves from watching how we work with founders, and other investors.

The Bhagavad Gita puts it like this:

“Karmanye vadhikaraste, Ma phaleshou kadachana.”
You have a right to your actions, but not to the results.

Thanks for reading. Keep learning.

Team LetsUnbox.

Over the last few months, as I have delved deeper into investing with the launch of my own fund, SamVed, I’ve found myself revisiting an old question with fresh eyes:

How do we really build conviction as investors?

Not in a spreadsheet. Not after the outcome.
But early — before there’s traction, certainty, or proof.

We often associate investing with the public markets — stock tickers, quarterly earnings, share price graphs. That’s where most of us start. And lately, the public markets have been a masterclass in volatility.

Tech rallies. Then corrects.
Retail participation surges. Then retreats.
In a matter of weeks, sentiment flips — from greed to fear, from momentum to caution. I am not an active public market investor, but every time I review my portfolio, I see huge mark-ups and mark-downs.

Early-stage startup investing doesn’t work that way.
It’s not about reacting. It’s about believing before there’s anything to react to.

When we started LetsVenture in 2013, we believed that early-stage investing shouldn't be reserved for insiders. At that time, India had capital. What it didn’t have was a mental model for investing in startups.

There were just a few hundred angel investors.
No playbooks. No standardised processes.
And definitely no clear understanding of startups as a structured asset class.

What we’ve seen since is not just the growth of the ecosystem — it’s the evolution of investor thinking.

From hesitation to conviction.
From lone decisions to community-driven discovery.
From the fear of risk to the confidence that comes from understanding it.

From Stocks to Startups - Learning from the Czar of Public Markets, Nithin Kamath

To begin this series, I went back to a conversation I had with Nithin Kamath — someone who’s shaped how India thinks about public markets.

As the founder of Zerodha, Nithin has brought millions of first-time investors into stock trading. But when we spoke on The Private Market Show, it was his clarity about private markets that really stood out.

He told me:

“In public markets, you're buying history. In private markets, you're betting on the future.”

That single line captured everything I’d been trying to explain for years.

I am going to summarise the learning from each podcast into simple english. For all my friends, this series should help you understand this asset class more easily. I believe, everyone needs to understand startup investing, Everyone needs to learn how wealth and value creation can go hand-in-hand. I am starting simple, and keeping it easy for you. I promise there will be no jargon.

Public vs Private: Three Things That Change

Liquidity

• Public markets let you exit instantly. In angel investing, you stay the course — for years.

  Angel investing is not about flipping gains. It’s about compounding belief.

Information

• You get analyst reports and balance sheets in public markets. In early-stage startups, all you have is a pitch deck and a founder call.

You learn to listen, think and evaluate differently while angel investing.

Role of the investor

• When you buy a stock, the company doesn’t know who you are. In startups, your presence changes the outcome.

  The earliest investor is often the first real signal to the founder — “Someone believes in this.”

“That belief can be the reason a startup gets built.” — Nithin

Why start this series now?

Because I know many of you may not yet be investing in startups.
You may have exposure to public markets. You may be curious, cautious, or just looking to understand how startup investing actually works.

This isn’t a transition.
It’s not about choosing one over the other.

It’s about understanding the difference in mindset.

What this series is (and isn’t)

One episode at a time. One idea per post.
Not summaries — but reflections.

It’s not advice. It’s not a playbook. It’s a way to unpack early-stage investing — through stories and principles, not jargon.

What to expect when you listen in:

🧠 What angel investors see that others miss
🔍 How early-stage investing actually works
💡 What conviction looks like before the metrics show up
🎯 What founders teach us about risk, timing, and decision-making

If you're a first-time investor, a curious founder, or just someone who wants to think about money differently — I hope this series gives you something useful.

Lets continue to UnBox - Learning, Investing, Entrepreneurship!

Team LetsUnbox