There is more money in this region than there are companies worth putting it into. What is scarce is someone willing to sit inside the problem with the founder.
They are short of someone who has been through the specific thing they are about to get wrong, and who will pick up the phone on a Sunday.
Jigar Sagar invests as an operator. He has built companies across licensing, technology, outsourcing, healthcare, recruitment and marketing, which means most problems arriving in a portfolio company are problems he has already had. The capital comes with that, and with access to the operating infrastructure the group already runs: recruitment, marketing, incorporation, finance.
He backs people more often than ideas, and several of the founders he has backed are people he worked alongside first. One of them took him a year to persuade. The money is the easy half. The rest is the reason to take it from him.
“Don't chase money. Chase opportunities, and the money comes chasing you.”
He works in the business, not over it. Most problems arriving at an early-stage company are ones he has already had in licensing, technology, outsourcing, healthcare, recruitment or marketing, so the conversation usually starts further along than it otherwise would. The aim is to leave the company able to handle the next one without him.
Very few of the positions in Jigar's portfolio began with a deck. They began with someone describing what they were building, usually before it was ready to be pitched.
If you are early, that is the right time.
Tell him what you're building, what you're stuck on, or what you'd like to talk about.
To schedule an interview or keynote, write to pr@jigarsagar.com or use this form.
