Bhavik Vashi is the Managing Director for Asia Pacific at Carta, a software company that aims to create more ownership in the world by creating a central registry of private assets, providing infrastructure for innovators, and enabling more liquidity.

Prior to Carta, Bhavik spent nearly a decade at Anaplan, across a variety of different roles and regions, where he helped build and scale the company from Series C through an IPO in 2018 and an eventual sale to Private Equity for 10.4B USD in 2022.

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👋🏼 How would you explain your job to someone outside tech?

As the Managing Director for a particular geography within a global software company, in many ways, you are basically a mini-CEO. I am responsible for ensuring we operate a healthy and sustainable business - financially, operationally, and culturally - with delighted customers and inspired employees.

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🧐 What's something about you or your job that would surprise us?

I think something people don’t expect about me is that I am actually a huge data and analytics nerd. A big part of my role in leadership is to champion and execute big visions and ideas – which is definitely something that I enjoy doing.

But fewer people probably realize that I often get just as much of an adrenaline kick from building an awesome multi-dimensional model as I do from closing a deal or speaking at a marketing event.

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🏆 What has been the biggest highlight of your career so far?

I think this has to be attending the Anaplan IPO live in 2018. I had joined the company when we only had ~100 people globally and <10m in revenue, so to have been a part of building that business from the very early days - which involved multiple years of insane work hours and all kinds of crazy stories - and then to find myself on the floor of the NYSE, surrounded by colleagues who had very much become friends and family, and collectively waiting for our first public trade to process… that was just such a surreal moment.

And, of course, we scaled the business much more beyond our IPO date, but there was just something so symbolic and memorable about that milestone. It was pretty special.

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🔍 What's a startup trend or space you're watching this year?‍

Well, this should come as no surprise to anyone, but I am definitely watching private market valuations very closely. We saw record VC funding and staggeringly high revenue multiples in the 2021 post-COVID frenzy, as the private markets followed the public market bull rally in H2 2020.

In 2022, we saw a huge correction (or regression, depending on how you look at it) which started in the public markets and quickly cascaded into private markets, especially in H2 2022. I suspect 2023 will be the pivotal point to see where investor sentiment truly lies in terms of the "new normal" for valuations, particularly in especially hard-hit segments like B2B SaaS.

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💼 What advice would you give someone starting out in your industry?

Listen actively, work hard, always be curious, and don’t be afraid to ask seemingly simple questions! It’s easy to be overwhelmed when you are new (especially with all the jargon), but if you listen carefully and ask the right questions, you’ll be able to cut through all the noise and get to the crux of any topic, which is usually creative problem-solving of some sort. In these cases, it’s always the same framework - identify the variables, the constraints, and what you are optimizing for. The rest is just dealing with people, which is not necessarily easy as we are all inherently imperfect, but at least that part is consistent across all industries ;)

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🗣 What's one thing you can keep talking about for hours?

Again, hopefully not surprising to anyone, but that would be startups —specifically, startup ideas. I love the process of coming up with (or receiving) an idea and then just trying to flush it out as much as possible — identifying the pain point, refining the value proposition, defining the ideal customer profile, estimating the TAM, debating various pricing models, assessing the competitive landscape, thinking about how to structure the most effective go-to-market… you get the idea ;)

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🎥 What's your favorite movie/TV show?

Tough one! I think if we're talking "all-time," it still has to be Friends. It's a timeless classic that always makes the day better!

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🍨 What's your go-to ice cream flavor?‍

Well, I'm actually a huge fan of variety, so it's hard for me to pin down a single flavor. Ben & Jerry's is probably my favorite brand — I love trying some of their more funky creations.

But, if forced to choose, I'd probably go with either chocolate peanut butter or mint chocolate chip.

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