Mahavir Pratap Sharma an entrepreneur & angel investor in 17+ early stage startups shares how he got started and the lessons learnt

• Meet Mahavir Pratap Sharma, a serial entrepreneur, mentor, angel investor, and co-founder at Rajasthan Angel Innovators Network (RAIN).
• After graduating in the mid-80s, he went to the US to further his family carpet business started by his mother.
• Unfortunately, his mother passed away suddenly and since she was the pillar of the business, Mahavir’s brother wanted him back. So he returned home for good in the mid-’90s.
• While expanding his family business, he joined TiE in the early 2000s. Here he learned about start-ups and angel investing, thereby gaining a deeper understanding of the ecosystem and growing his passion for start-ups.
• As part of the Startup and Angel Investor Series, we spoke to Mahavir to understand how he developed from a carpet-selling business to angel investing in 17+ start-ups.

How did you discover your passion for entrepreneurship?

My mother was a first-generation entrepreneur who ran her own carpets business. For obvious reasons, I joined her business while I was still in college.

My father was in a government job. He retired while I was in college and was trying to dabble in my mother’s business while so was I. We both did not get along with each other and there was no way that I could be in India and still be part of the business.

Hence I grabbed an opportunity to go to the US with the intention to learn and grow there. I continued to import & wholesale carpets from India and other countries.