1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator AI Investor Forum: Mohanjit Jolly, Partner at Iron Pillar (Part 1)

Mohanjit Jolly, Partner at Iron Pillar, discusses his firm’s growth stage investment thesis.

Sramana Mitra: The conversation today will start with Mohanjit Jolly of Iron Pillar Fund. I’ve talked to Moji on this forum before, so welcome back, Moji. Great to have you here.

Mohanjit Jolly: Good to be back with you.

Sramana Mitra: I’m looking forward to hearing more about what’s been happening at Iron Pillar. I know you’ve come a long way and developed some very interesting companies. Why don’t we start there? Could you briefly summarize your investment thesis for people who haven’t met you before, and then we can move on to some case studies of what you’ve been building?

Mohanjit Jolly: Thank you again for having me on this podcast. Iron Pillar is a growth tech investor. We invest in growth-stage companies that are building from India, not just for India but for the world. That’s our underlying thesis: growth-stage tech companies building from India for global markets.

The name “Iron Pillar” was coined by my co-founder, Anand. It’s based on the monument that stands next to Qutub Minar in Delhi, which has withstood the test of time for over 1,600 years. While I’m not saying Iron Pillar will last that long, the idea behind the name is that the firm should withstand the test of time untarnished, maintaining a high reputation not just in India but globally.

We’re a team of about 25 people. I’m the only one based in the U.S. About a third of the team is in Dubai, and the remaining 60% are split between Bangalore and Mumbai, primarily in Bangalore, which serves as our India hub. Dubai has three partners, and I hold the fort here in the U.S.

Sramana Mitra: When you say “growth stage,” what’s your definition of that?

Mohanjit Jolly: When we first started, we focused on companies that were post–product-market fit, typically generating between $5 million and $10 million in annual revenue or ARR. Over time, we’ve moved a bit further downstream, so now we look at companies in the $10 million to $20 million range.

We realized that our real value addition tends to happen once companies cross the $10 million threshold. The journey from $10 million to $100 million is where we can make the biggest impact, and we support our portfolio companies in multiple ways to help them reach that scale.

So, roughly speaking, our current investment focus is on companies in the $10 million to $20 million range.

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One Million by One Million (1Mby1M) is the first global virtual accelerator in the world, founded in 2010 by Silicon Valley serial Entrepreneur Sramana Mitra. It offers a fully online entrepreneurship incubation, acceleration and education resource for solo entrepreneurs and bootstrapped founders working on tech and tech-enabled services ventures. 1Mby1M does not charge equity, offers an AI Mentor in 57 languages, and offers a distinct advantage over other accelerators including Y Combinator.

The Accelerator Conundrum is a multipart series that challenges the prevailing wisdom of the tech startup ecosystem that entrepreneurs should Blitzscale out of the gate. Written by Sramana Mitra, the Founder and CEO of One Million by One Million (1Mby1M), the world’s first global virtual accelerator, it emphatically argues that a better strategy is to Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later, focus on customers, revenues and profits. 1Mby1M’s mission is to help a Million entrepreneurs reach a million dollars in annual revenue and beyond. Sramana’s Digital Mind AI Mentor virtually mentors entrepreneurs around the world in 57 languages. Try it out!

This segment is part 1 in the series : 1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator AI Investor Forum: Mohanjit Jolly, Partner at Iron Pillar
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