Mr. Apoorv SharmaMarket Strategy – South Asia at 500 Global | Ex-CEO -AICGIM | Ex-Oracle for Startups | Ex-CIIE -IIMA| Entrepreneur

I love working with entrepreneurs, building disruptive productsthrough innovation and technology. I help startups to create ascalable business model and optimize operations. I have enjoyedworking with hundreds of founders and my core expertise is inbusiness strategy, team building, investments, and partnerships.I have been an entrepreneur myself and consider myself fortunateto have gained working experience in all the major business aspectsfrom P&L to operations.I have worked with non-profit, corporate & government organizationsone thing in common is being a part of the startup ecosystem Ihave always worked in a fast-paced environment with lean teamstructures. Having worked in a global environment, I have a goodnetwork of angel investors, VC’s, different communities and otherstakeholders of the startup ecosystem.My personal and professional experience has taught me thefollowing about myself:I love when I get to say ‘We” – I have worked with 180+ startups andglobal teams- I am a team player and like to brainstorm new ideas.- I like to work in a flat organization structure where everyone gets toput his or her views forward openly.- I like to create an environment of collaboration with “competitive”organizations.- I am good at making partnerships happen and converting them tolong-term relationsLearn-> build -> repeat – I can take products from concept to commercialization – My instincts are good but taking decisions on data give me moresatisfaction
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– I put the customer in the center of all that I do.- I educate, refine and drive myself to be a better personI love watching National Geographic and recently have developeda taste for documentaries on online streaming platforms as well. Iam not a sports fan (“yes not even cricket”) but like to play TT andswimming.I enjoy meeting new people especially those with very strongopinions and new perspectives, while I strongly believe in data, logic,however, while meeting someone, and during discussions, I keep aview of “anything is possible”.Reach out to me if you want to talk about emerging tech, markettrends, product development, startups, fundraising or FOOD.Professional SkillsProgram Management | Partnerships | Team Development |Business Strategy | Go to market | Business Development |Marketing | Innovation | Product roadmap | Investments | Businessmodeling | Strategic Planning | Growth Hacking | Strategic Alliances |Startups | EntrepreneurshipDomain Knowledge Ecommerce | Hyperlocal | Digital Marketing | Designing | Dataanalysis | Machine Learning | SaaS
Experience
500 Global
1 year 9 months
Lead Market Strategy, South Asia
January 2022 – Present (6 months)
India
Innovation and Partnerships
October 2020 – January 2022 (1 year 4 months)
India
Atal Incubation Centre Goa Institute of Management
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Chief Executive Officer
September 2018 – October 2020 (2 years 2 months)
Goa
Leading the operations and strategy for Atal Incubation Centre Goa Instituteof Management(ACGIM). AICGIM is a joint initiative of the Atal InnovationMission ( NITI Aayog ) and Goa Institute of Management setup with a vision offostering innovation and entrepreneurship in Goa. We support early-stage startups to built a sustainable and scalable businessmodel and startups at a growth stage to attract external investments, buildingan operating model and go to market strategy.Through strong industry partnerships, mentor network and a wide alumninetwork of Goa Institute of Management we provide holistic support to newinnovations to grow and commercialize.We are a sector agnostic incubation centre i.e. we support all the industriesfrom Agri tech to artificial intelligence, from Edu tech to machine learning andfrom social impact to luxury products.
Oracle
Program Manager | Oracle Startup Cloud Accelerator
July 2017 – September 2018 (1 year 3 months)
New Delhi Area, India
Part of Oracle Global Startup Ecosystem leading Delhi NCR and startupecosystem for Oracle in North India.We help startups to build enterprise-grade products and provide them aplatform to connect with Oracle’s 435000 customers worldwide.As a program lead my job starts by scouting and evaluating high potentialSaaS startups and ensuring that Oracle’s investments go to the right set ofstartups. To ensure that we reach the larger startup eco-system I involveactively in partnering with other stakeholders of the startup ecosystem likeincubation centers, startup communities, and investor communities.Business development is another key aspect of my work be it getting the beststartups or conducting joint Go to Market with the startups.
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Once the startups are enrolled we start working on three key aspects, refiningthe tech architecture of the product ( of course we provide tons of free cloudcredits), connecting the startup teams to internal Oracle product and salesteam and lastly preparing the startups to raise Venture Capital Investments.If you are a tech startup in B2B or B2C space please feel free to reach us outand be a part of this super high accelerating journey.
Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship, IIMAhmedabad
Manager – Startup Support
July 2015 – July 2017 (2 years 1 month)
Jaipur Area, India
• Working with startups in various sectors• Core job is to mentor startups in Go to market strategies, optimizingoperations, building milestones and growth hacking• Assisting startups in making financials and pitch decks• Conducted accelerator programs and well versed with various frameworksinvolved.• Also help startups in raising early stage funds ( seed level)
Locus Transit Private Limited “ChalogeKya”
Co Founder
May 2014 – June 2015 (1 year 2 months)
Jaipur, Rajasthan
.• Co-Founder – CEO• Worked from scratch to build Rajasthan’s first directory based businessmodel for booking auto rickshaw (three wheeler ) via a mobile applicationcalled “ChalogeKya”• Cracked corporate deals with Idea cellular, Airtel, iBall, Tata AIG etc. forvarious services at discounted rates and added features.• Raise seed investment from RAIN (Rajasthan Angel Investors Network)• Acquired 500 auto rickshaw drivers.• Successfully booked more than 5000 rides with organic marketing.• Got featured in various print and online media such as Times Of India, DanikBhaskar, Economic Times, Inc42, Entrepreneur India etc.
Rashanstop.com
Founder
September 2013 – April 2014 (8 months)
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•Worked from scratch to build Rajasthan’s first zero inventory based onlinegrocery store Rashanstop.com.•Aggregated wholesalers across Jaipur to provide deliver of more than 4800grocery items across the city.•Collaborated with various hyper local logistics vendors which gave us deliverycoverage of 600 sq km and reduced our operational costs drastically.
Excel Auto Tubes Pvt. Ltd.
Assistant General Manager
June 2011 – June 2013 (2 years 1 month)
Chennai Area, India
Worked as Assistant General Manager in a precision steel tube manufacturingcompany with basic responsibility like management of company resourcefor better yield, cost reduction, maintaining coordination between marketing,production, maintenance and quality team, production planning, meetingtargets, dispatch, delivery, meeting with machine vendors in case ofbreakdowns and maintaining various reports.
Education
Jaipur National University
B.Tech, Electronics and Communication Engineering · (2007 – 2011)
Birla Senior Secondary School Pilani
PCM · (2005 – 2007)
R. A. Podar Institute of Management
Master of Business Administration – MBA, Business Administration andManagement, General · (2014)