Arunkumar Krishnakumar is a partner at Delphos International. He is a tech investor focused on emerging markets and social impact. He is an Onalytica Fintech Influencer, Refinitiv Top 100 Leader for ESG Investments and a Top 100 Asian in UK Tech.
VC Fund Investments include: Gyana, FrontM, Biblio, Paperclip, CheckanInvoice, Yielders, Swipii, Switchee, Goodbox, WeLendUs, Novastone and Verv. His Angel Investments are: Divido, Funding XChange, Cornerstone, Eppopay, Niki AI.
His first book Quantum Computing and Blockchain in Business was published in 2020. He has over a decade of corporate technology experience, followed by almost a decade long investment experience.
His new book is Restartup, a crisis management guide for technology startups and scale ups.
He says there are three key pillars of crisis management: understanding the macro environment that startups operate in, physical and mental well-being of entrepreneurs and business strategies, infrastructure and business model decisions. All technology startup founders, business owners and SMEs can benefit from the book.
What themes does the book touch on?
How the last four market crashes happened and what we can learn from them? Mental health: why it is important and what founders and investors need to do to make it a critical component in a startup. Performance coaching: what are the pros and cons of hiring a performance coach.
Tactical steps that startups should use to respond to a crisis: how to cost cut, how to let go of people, how to get lean and mean. Plan medium and long term course of action. Pivoting strategies and thought roadmaps are also discussed.
Can you give me an overview of your background ?
I am a technologist who spent the first ten years of my career within large financial services firms, creating technology and data products. For most of the second decade of my career I have been a technology investor. Through two funds I raised and deployed into 20 companies, and sat on the board of a few of them. I sit on the board of an NGO in India focused on water conservation. I am also an enthusiastic content creator. I have contributed 150 articles over three years at Daily Fintech, which is the second most read fintech blog in the world. I am also a co-host on the One Vision podcast that is one of the top 5 Fintech podcasts.
What does the book offer to a reader?
They will understand that crisis management demands more than just strategic thinking. Understanding the broader landscape – looking beyond, and understanding oneself – looking within are two important aspects. We have interviewed 49 world class CEOs and VCs, learnt and shared their anecdotal experiences in the book.
They are offered a clear roadmap/mindmap to deal with a crisis. It is a list of things and detailed analysis of what they are and how they should be approached during a crisis.
What advice do you have for business in the current climate?
Stay lean and mean, keep your ears on the ground, rely on data where you have them, stay authentic and genuine to your team and investors.
