CheQ’s Post

I met Ram Shriram (https://lnkd.in/gBrEAGhD) last month in his office and what stuck immediately with me was his humility, clarity and exceptional sharpness. Anyone who has been part of the tech world for long enough knows that Ram is an absolute legend of the industry. He was the founding board member of Google and worked with Larry Page and Sergey Brin. He also worked closely with Jeff Bezos during his stint in Amazon. My idea of meeting him, which was an absolute pleasure, was more about me lapping on the opportunity to meet him and tell him what I was building at CheQ and the possibility of him giving us some inputs which I could cherish and help us with Networking. During the last few minutes, he asked me if I would be open for an investment from his side (not committing but checking), given our round was already closed. While I acted stoic, I was jumping inside. I ofcourse said Yes! We then met a few days later again. This time around, I saw a completely different side of Ram. He was absolutely thorough with what we were building, our current metrics, future plan etc (all that is in the deck) but more importantly he had 5 hard questions which he needed answers to. I was amazed at the depth we could go in the conversation given he doesn't live in India for many years. I had one of my most favorite 60 minutes after that. He gave me his decision then, and I was elated to welcome him at CheQ. Yesterday I asked him if he would want to add anything on this post and this was his reply : "I am excited to partner with CheQ. When I first met Aditya, his passion for making credit more accessible and rewarding for everyday people in India was inspiring and compelling. In our conversations, Aditya and I delved deep into what sets CheQ apart from fintech giants. The company's focus on user experience and engagement by leveraging data creates a strong competitive edge.   Aditya is building CheQ with a powerful vision, emphasizing strong unit economics even in a tough market. What really stood out to me was the team's ability to scale and innovate quickly. Investing in CheQ feels right because it’s about more than just numbers; it’s about backing a vision that can truly transform consumer credit in India. CheQ is part of a new breed of Cos built on top of the India digital stack that leapfrogs access, availability and distribution of all things credit to consumers." Thank you Ram for trusting us. #fanboymoment In other news, we closed our extended seed round of 6.7Mn USD :) #fintech #fintechnews #funding #legend #creditmanagement