The Startup Ecosystem Shift Enabling Women Innovators' Growth

By: Neha Singh, Co-Founder, Tracxn (NSE: TRACXN)

Neha Singh is an Indian pioneer in the private investment arena and has over 10 years of experience working in venture finance, with some of her most notable investments including Practo and Freecharge. In 2012 she co-founded Tracxn (NSE: TRACXN), a global market intelligence provider for private company data along with Abhishek Goyal.

In a conversation with Women Entrepreneurs Review magazine, Neha shares insights on entrepreneurship and leadership in the data-driven market. She talks about the emerging Indian startup ecosystem; women entrepreneurs’ rise in non-traditional spaces; and challenges she had to overcome while scaling Tracxn into a global entity.

Talking about leadership in the data-driven world, she makes a strong case for keeping the human context intact. Neha also makes bats for building inclusive teams and fostering a culture of curiosity. She advices aspiring women entrepreneurs to make the most of India’s rising entrepreneurial might.

Read more of Neha Singh’s thoughts and insights in the following interview.

How is the startup ecosystem shifting, and what exciting trends are shaping for women in adventure and innovation?

It has been really exciting to see the whole startup ecosystem evolve. When we started, the word 'unicorn' did not exist. And from there to now, when startups have become sort of ubiquitous, it has been amazing to see this whole evolution in the last decade and a half. Today, startups have touched all industries; there is no industry wherein you don't have that innovation.

A decade ago, startups were mostly in e-commerce or enterprise tech. Today, we see women-led ventures in everything from defense tech to space tech and even cement and construction to cutting-edge sectors like space tech, where startups are launching rockets and satellites. Startups are touching every industry, and women are taking bold steps into areas that were once considered unconventional.

What challenges did you face when building Tracxn globally, and how did your leadership style adapt to overcome them successfully?

Building a global company out of India wasn’t easy and we did not see that as challenges, but probably something that had to be dealt with, like more balls coming and how do you keep hitting them. 

Selling data to Fortune 500 companies from Bangalore meant we had to win trust one conversation at a time. What helped was staying grounded in first principles, building a great product, focusing on customer experience, and letting the numbers speak. My leadership evolved from doing everything myself to empowering a team that could scale our vision worldwide.

Initially, we started Tracxn in the US while I was a student at Stanford, and all our initial customers were in the 10-mile vicinity of the Stanford campus. Our endeavor is to actually build a global platform from India for the world.

Can you share a moment when your perspective as a woman helped uncover opportunities someone else might have missed when evaluating a startup?

I think women often bring an intuitive understanding of markets that are underrepresented. The motivation for Tracxn was simply observing gaps others didn’t always see and as a venture capital investor in Sequoia Capital, you realize that you have to do so much research to find out information about companies in the private market.

There was no one place where you could find all the companies in a landscape, so you would literally have to spend a few days googling and finding information. I realized everyone was recreating this whole wheel in finding out information. We really wished that a platform like this existed when we were investors

As a woman leader in a data-driven space, how do you strike a balance between analytical insights and human intuition when identifying high-potential startups?

Our platform's design at the back end tracks more than 700 million entities. Technology has been one key building block that sets us apart, especially because the private market data is much more complex compared to public equities, where there are millions of startups globally, and thousands are created every day.

But for us, customer interaction is key. Whenever you're speaking to your customers or clients, people are looking at different things; they want more data.

At Tracxn, we combine structured analytics with an analyst’s qualitative understanding, because behind every data point is a founder’s story, a market’s pulse, and a team’s conviction. That human context often tells you what the spreadsheet doesn’t.

While leading diverse analyst teams, how have you encouraged inclusion and encouraged young women to confidently sound and challenge assumptions?

The problem really motivates us; the endeavor is to actually make the information about private markets much more accessible for everyone. We have also built a system where most of the management is now homegrown. We hire a lot of young folks, and over time, they get promoted and grow internally. This whole culture of growing internally has really helped.

At Tracxn, we’ve built a culture where curiosity is rewarded, not hierarchy. I tell every young analyst, especially women, that their voice has equal weight in the room. When people feel safe to question assumptions, innovation thrives. We make sure women don’t just have a seat at the table but also the confidence to speak from it.

LAST WORD: Advice for Women Entrepreneurs

One advice that I would give to all aspiring entrepreneurs is that now is a great time to start. The talent pool is much deeper, and there is good risk capital that is available. The second thing I would say is start your venture in India today.

The single most important skill set is to pick a problem that you would really love to solve for the next decade. I have realized over time that you can actually dream big. Aim for the moon when you land amongst the stars. If I were to advise myself, it would be to continue to dream big, and you'll be surprised at what you end up achieving.

Also, investing in fitness has become a ritual for me. If you have to continue to be successful for one, two, or three decades—in your 20s, 30s, 40s—you have to be physically fit to be mentally fit.