As organizations scale, people systems—roles, managers, culture, and governance—quietly begin to shape cost, speed, risk, and results.
That inflection point is where my work sits.

I’m a senior HR leader with 20+ years of experience partnering with CEOs and leadership teams across UAE/GCC, India, and Africa, supporting organizations in regulated, multi‑country environments across Pharma, FMCG, Manufacturing, Energy, EPC, and Healthcare.

My work focuses on fixing what typically breaks as businesses grow:

a)Roles and decision ownership that become unclear

b)Managers struggling to translate intent into day‑to‑day execution

c)Performance and talent systems that don’t scale with complexity

HR operations and governance that add friction instead of control

In this region especially, culture plays a decisive role. Strategy often fails not because it’s wrong, but because many a times it doesn't integrate with cultural and purpose nuances while

a) Expectations are not explicit

b) Accountability is not defined

c)Managers are not equipped to lead performance conversations

d) Systems don’t reinforce the behaviors leadership wants

I bring end‑to‑end HR leadership, spanning organization and workforce design, talent and performance systems, HR operations and governance, and HR technology, automation, and analytics.

A core strength I bring is HR transformation enabled by sustainable systems and data—using HRMS, digital talent platforms, and workforce analytics to move HR from transactional support to decision‑ready, execution‑driven leadership enablement.

I focus on how work actually flows, how decisions are made, and how managers are enabled to execute—rather than adding layers of HR process that look good on paper but don’t move outcomes.

The impact I typically deliver includes:

a) Improved productivity and revenue per employee

b)Controlled manpower costs through role and workforce redesign

c)Stronger execution discipline through clear accountability and decision ownership

d)Regulator‑ready HR operations aligned with UAE/GCC and Africa operating realities

I work best in environments where growth, change, compliance, and cultural complexity intersect, and where leaders need people systems that accelerate execution rather than slow it down.

Open to senior HR leadership roles in the UAE/GCC, and selective short‑term transformation mandates where organizations need a rapid people‑system reset.

Gargi Bannerjee

Most organisations don’t struggle with Emiratisation intent.
They struggle when execution meets real‑world complexity in fast paced environments.

As businesses scale in the UAE/GCC, Emiratisation quickly stops being a hiring exercise and becomes a people‑system challenge—shaping cost, productivity, risk, and long‑term retention.

This carousel highlights where Emiratization typically breaks on the ground, and what actually makes it work beyond policies and targets.

Senior HR & Organisation Effectiveness Leader | Scaling enterprises across GCC, India & Africa | Open to leadership & selective advisory roles | GPHR, SPHRi

Emiratization isn't a hiring problem

If you're a founder ready to raise funds, I am the partner investors want you to call. 

I’m Devansh Lakhani, Founder & Director at Lakhani Financial Serrvice (LFS) and a trusted partner to 450+ startups that have collectively raised over ₹ 300M in funding over the last 5 years. We help high-potential startups raise Rs. 2 - 20 Cr through structured investment banking, backed by sharp advisory and sector expertise through our proprietary 120 days Fundraising Program 

--> Review, analysis & advisory on the business plan, pitch deck, financial modelling, Valuation,
--> Investor positioning & Curated outreach to angel investors, angel networks, VCs or Family offices
--> Deal structuring, negotiation support, and term sheet advisory.
--> Coordinating calls, investor follow-ups, and data room assistance.
--> Support until final fund closure.

Key Criteria
--> Post Revenue startups only, Min - Rs. 2 Crore ARR
--> Preferred if they have already been incubated at an IC or an accelerator, 
--> Preferred if they have raised funds from F&F or angels,
--> Sector agnostic with focus on D2C Brands, Consumer tech, Sports, Deep tech/AI. 

My team and I have evaluated over 2500 startups and worked closely with founders across diverse industries like SaaS, D2C, Fintech, Impact, and more.

Beyond strategy, we actively connect startups with verified investors from a pool of 500+ , ensuring you're not just pitch-ready, but fund-ready. 

We also host the Levell Up Podcast, where I talk to India’s top entrepreneurs and investors to uncover real, raw startup journeys. 

We are the host of India's first and only sports based startup pitching reality league - Indian Startup Premier Leaguee. 

If you’re a serious founder looking to raise serious funds with clarity and confidence, let’s connect.

🔗 www.lakhanifinancialservices.com
➤ Follow me for weekly fundraising insights
➤ DM for 1-on-1 startup advisory
➤ Let’s connect : 9137212139

Devansh Lakhani - Angel Investor

A Bengaluru company just walked into the public markets with a ₹1,789 crore IPO.
The surprising part isn’t the number, it’s how they got there.

Amagi didn’t grow by chasing valuation peaks or jumping on funding waves.
They grew by doing something far less glamorous and far more rare: staying consistently disciplined for 15 years.

While everyone else was optimising for speed, Amagi optimised for stability.
Recurring revenue that didn’t fluctuate wildly.
Margins that held their shape.
A product that scaled globally without breaking its own engine.

This is why Accel and Norwest were comfortable backing them through multiple cycles and why they can unlock liquidity today without signalling fear.

Nothing about this IPO is an accident.
It’s the outcome of a company that behaved predictably long before public investors demanded it.

And that’s what founders often underestimate.
You don’t reach the public markets because your story sounds good.
You get there because your numbers stop surprising people.

The market is rewarding businesses that run clean, run steady, and run with control.
Momentum helps you raise.
Discipline helps you last.

If you're scaling with real traction and want to prepare your company for this level of capital seriousness, my inbox is open.

Devansh Lakhani

Angel Investor | Seed Stage Investment Banker I Tie Mumbai Charter MemberI Startup Fundraising | Ticket - Rs. 2 Crore+ I Raised Rs.300 Mn+ I Levell Up Podcast I Indian Startup Premier Leaguee I Speaker | Venture capital

Most people watch Shark Tank for entertainment.
Serious founders watch it to understand power dynamics.

One founder who understood this deeply was Saurabh Agarwal of Growit India and his episode is one of the clearest reminders that valuation isn’t the real negotiation on that platform.

Visibility is.

On camera, his ₹100 crore ask was immediately challenged and cut to ₹50 crores.
Off camera, something more interesting happened.

Just before he walked out, the prep team shared a quiet insight:
The show doesn’t just evaluate your business. It amplifies it.

Saurabh realised the real leverage wasn’t the number the Sharks debated.
It was the national awareness his category would gain the moment the episode aired.

For a product built for scale and distribution, that kind of visibility is a tailwind money normally can’t buy.

And that’s where many founders misunderstand the platform.

Shark Tank India isn’t a boardroom.
It’s a distribution accelerator wrapped in a pitch.

What Saurabh walked away with was more valuable than an extra percentage point in negotiation:

a demand engine that kicked in faster than any paid strategy could have delivered.

Sometimes the smartest founders don’t optimise for valuation in the moment.
They optimise for what the moment makes possible.

And when you’re building for scale, screen time often compounds faster than equity.

If you're scaling with real traction and preparing for a meaningful raise, my inbox is open.

If you're a serious founder looking for serious capital, DM me!!

The hardest phase isn’t zero-to-one.

It’s after traction before scale.

That’s when:

-  The market has validated you

-  Capital is suddenly available

-  Every path looks viable

And clarity quietly disappears.

Early on, constraints create focus.

Later, optionality creates paralysis.

Founders don’t talk enough about:

-  Decision fatigue when every choice has real consequences

-  The pressure of living up to investor expectations after belief is granted

-  The fear of making the “wrong” scaling move when the stakes are finally high

Ironically, burnout often shows up after success not before it.

Because once you “make it,” failure isn’t abstract anymore.

It’s reputational.
It’s public.
It’s expensive.

The founders who scale well aren’t the ones who work harder here.

They’re the ones who rebuild clarity, structure, advisors, and decision filters for this new phase.

Post-traction is not a victory lap.
 It’s a different game.

If you're a serious founder looking for serious capital, DM me!!

When India acts, the U.S. urges restraint.
When the U.S. acts, the world is told it’s “law enforcement.”

That contrast is hard to ignore.

When India conducts cross-border operations citing national security, the response is familiar:

 • Calls for de-escalation
 • Appeals to international law
 • The U.S. positioning itself as peacemaker

But now, after a U.S. military operation capturing a sitting foreign head of state without UN authorization or host-nation consent, the framing has shifted.

It’s no longer:  “Respect sovereignty.”

It’s:

-  “Extraordinary circumstances.”
-  “Law enforcement.”
-  “Transition management.”

This isn’t about defending Nicolás Maduro.
 It’s about consistency in principles.

If international law is conditional on who acts and not what is done, then it stops being law and becomes leverage.

For countries outside the Western power core, this matters deeply:

• It reshapes expectations of sovereignty
• It alters geopolitical risk calculations
• It reinforces the idea that rules are selectively enforced

Global stability and capital allocation depend on predictable frameworks, not situational morality.

The question isn’t whether the U.S. had grievances.

The question is simple:

Do rules apply equally or only when convenient?

Because the answer to that will define the next phase of global order far more than this single event.

Two seasons.
 27 startup pitches.
 ₹6+ crore in committed investments.
 150+ founders and investors on the field.
 And a community reach of over 60 million.

Those numbers mattered but they weren’t the real outcome.
What stayed with me?

Founders competing hard, then sitting together post-match discussing businesses.
Investors backing teams, not just decks.

Conversations that felt more honest because they didn’t begin in boardrooms.

That’s when it became clear:
The platform had outgrown its original format.

ISPL didn’t need to become bigger.
It needed to become deeper.

Season 3 is that shift.
From a single-stage experience to a city-wise ecosystem, where founders don’t just participate, they represent their startup cities.

Where competition exists, but community leads.
Where ambition is shared, not isolated.

What excites me most about this evolution isn’t the format change.
It’s what it signals.

That the Indian startup ecosystem is ready for platforms that are participative, cultural, and outcome-driven not transactional.

Season 3 is about founders who are eager to step in, investors who want to engage meaningfully, and an ecosystem that’s ready to evolve together.

More soon.

For now, enjoy the season 3 teaser - https://lnkd.in/dxp2RXcA

and know this-
The belief is proven.
The outcomes are real.

And the next chapter is being built with the community at its core.

 Indian Startup Premier Leaguee Ishita Shah
 #Startupleagueofindia #ISPLSeason3

Founders often prepare for fundraising by polishing their pitch.

Investors prepare by studying something far more revealing:

How your business behaves when no pitch is being made.

They pay attention to the rhythm of your numbers.
 Whether costs rise faster than conviction.
 Whether cash returns as expected or drifts unpredictably.
 Whether operations stay steady when volume increases.
 Whether reporting feels like a system or a scramble.

You can’t hide these patterns.
And you can’t “present” your way around them.

The cleanest fundraises don’t happen because the story is strong.
They happen because the business is stable enough that investors feel no need to price in uncertainty.

In the end, the quieter fundamentals decide your leverage.

If you're scaling with real traction and preparing for a meaningful raise, my inbox is open.

If you're a serious founder looking for serious capital, DM me!!

Fundraising breaks when the structure is missing.

That belief is what got us featured by https://lnkd.in/d9i8Yr5i 
while sharing our thinking on the 2026 fundraising strategy.

A lot of founders still treat fundraising as a milestone.
Something you enter once traction shows up.

In reality, that mindset is what causes most rounds to drag.

What the market is asking for today isn’t just access to capital.
It’s discipline in how capital is pursued.

That’s why we built a 120-day fundraising model, a time-bound approach for companies raising between ₹2 crore and ₹20 crore.

Over the last few quarters, we’ve seen the same pattern repeat:
strong businesses, decent traction, but no structure around the raise.
Rounds drift.
Conversations stay warm but undecided.
Momentum slowly disappears.

A structured 120-day mandate changes that.

It brings clarity on why capital is needed.
It aligns the raise with real business milestones.
It sharpens valuation conversations.
And it forces decisions instead of open loops.

This isn’t about a checklist.
It’s about reducing uncertainty for founders and investors.

Appreciate the team at Finance Outlook India for capturing this shift thoughtfully.

If you’re planning a raise in the next 6-12 months and want to approach it with discipline, my inbox is open.

A ₹30 - ₹50 lakh MIS tells you more than a ₹5 crore pitch deck.

And that’s why the simplest reports often reveal the strongest companies.

The founders who quietly run predictable businesses rarely feel the need to decorate their numbers. Their MIS looks straightforward, clean tables, stable patterns, nothing dramatic. 

And that simplicity almost always signals control.

When a company understands its own behaviour, the numbers line up naturally.
Revenue stays within a sensible range.
Margins shift for reasons the team already knows.
Cash cycles follow a rhythm that doesn’t need long explanations.

You can read the report quickly and immediately understand the month.

But when an MIS feels messy, unpredictable jumps, sharp drops, and inconsistent patterns, it’s rarely about formatting.
It’s usually a business that hasn’t stabilised yet.

Investors know this instantly.
A steady, unexciting MIS tells them the business runs on systems, not improvisation.
It makes them feel safer about deploying capital.

And in ₹2 - ₹20 crore raises, that sense of reliability becomes leverage.
Because clarity reduces the risk they need to price in, and less risk leads to better momentum, smoother diligence, and stronger terms.

A simple MIS isn’t a lack of sophistication.
It’s a sign the business is built on discipline, not drama.

If you’re scaling with real traction and preparing for a meaningful raise, my inbox is open.

In January 2016, Startup India was launched.

That moment quietly changed Indian entrepreneurship.

A decade later, we’ve come a long way from struggling for early capital to building one of the world’s largest startup ecosystems.

Today, building a company in India isn’t an exception.
It’s a serious career path.

But the next phase matters more.

Because the real goal isn’t more startups.
It’s globally competitive Indian companies.

There is still work to be done:

• ESOP taxation
• Capital gains clarity
• More seed and government-backed funds
• Easier access to global capital
• Simpler compliance

These aren’t “nice-to-haves”.
They shape how confidently founders build.

With the right support, the next decade can be even more defining than the last in quality, scale, and global relevance.

Jai Hind

The biggest shift in fundraising right now isn’t valuations.

It’s verification.

Investors want to know how your business behaves when things aren’t perfect, when growth puts pressure on cash, when customers delay payments, and when operations get stretched.

And that one shift is quietly redefining how ₹2–₹20 crore rounds actually get decided.

When serious capital evaluates a company, it starts with the patterns behind the pitch:

1) Revenue rhythm
A predictable ₹12–15 lakh monthly cycle builds more confidence than a one-off ₹50 lakh jump. For investors, rhythm signals reliability, and reliability lowers risk.

2) Cash-flow intelligence
Growth only helps if it doesn’t break liquidity.
 If scaling creates cash stress, the diligence pace slows.
 Investors now prioritise how growth impacts the engine, not just the top line.

3) Decision maturity
Post-traction, investors study behaviour, not slides.
They look for moments where you protected margins, resisted premature scaling, or chose discipline over noise. These patterns reveal how responsibly you’ll deploy larger capital.

4) Governance that holds up
Not perfect governance, just consistent, clean, and honest.
Clear books, structured reporting, and transparent unit economics now carry as much weight as the story itself.

Fundraising today is less about what you can pitch and more about what your business can consistently prove.

Founders who understand this raise faster, negotiate harder, and retain more equity because disciplined companies reduce the uncertainty that investors quietly price in.

If you’re scaling with real traction and preparing for a meaningful raise, my inbox is open.

If you're a serious founder looking for serious capital, DM me!!

You can jam GPS for $100.

That line from Vibhor Jain (Founder, VyomIC) stayed with me.

We just dropped a new Levell Up podcast episode, and it’s one of the most important deep-tech conversations we’ve had.

VyomIC is building a next-gen navigation system (PNT: position, navigation, timing). Not map the infrastructure layer under maps.

Two moments from the episode that stayed with me:
• During a drone show in front of ~5 lakh people (Gujarat), security jammers disrupted their primary comms layer. Backups saved it, but the vulnerability was real
.
• GPS jamming isn’t theoretical. Vibhor explained how easily it can be done with a cheap software-defined radio + open source code.

Their mission is ambitious and very “infrastructure-first”:
more precision, stronger signals, and better security for systems that can’t afford failure: drones, defense, telecom timing, financial infra, maritime, autonomous mobility.

If you like deep-tech explained in simple language, you’ll enjoy this one.

Watch the episode:
👉 https://lnkd.in/dxRaq4Vs

What’s one sector you think will feel this shift first?

For a decade, private markets set the rules.

High growth masked weak fundamentals.
Valuations were narratives.
Governance was optional.

That era is ending.

Public markets are now quietly dictating what private capital is willing to fund.

You can see it already:

-  IPO readiness is influencing Series A and B diligence

-  Investors are asking about cash conversion, not just CAC

-  Growth without governance is becoming politely unfundable

What’s changing isn’t risk appetite,  it’s standards.

The next generation of winners won’t be built on:

1) Blitzscaling without controls

2) Story-led multiples

3) “We’ll fix margins later” thinking

They’ll be built on:

1) Execution depth

2) Capital discipline

3) Metrics like ROCE, operating leverage, and predictability

There may be fewer unicorns.

But the companies that do make it to public markets will be far better businesses.

And founders who understand this shift early will raise capital on their terms not the market’s.

If you're a serious founder looking for serious capital, DM me!!

VCs Don’t Bet on Ideas. They Bet on Who Will Still Be Standing.

At the pitch stage, it looks like VCs are betting on ideas.

In reality, they’re betting on who survives the parts no one models.

The missed quarter.
The key hire who doesn’t work out.
The market that grows slower than the spreadsheet promised.

Ideas don’t face those moments. Founders do.

Over time, capital flows toward people who:

-  Learn faster than they explain

-  Adjust without panicking

-  Keep making clear decisions when outcomes turn uncertain

This is why two companies with similar ideas raise very different follow-on rounds.

One is still standing.

And that’s usually the entire thesis.

If you're a serious founder looking for serious capital, DM me!!

Is Crypto Better Than Gold for Long-Term Investment?

Darayus Mehta , True Diamond.

Your Vegetable is Harming you ?

Saurabh Agarwal ( Founder of Growit India )

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