Empathy Is the New Term Sheet & How?
In India, one often encounters the tale of a benevolent investor backing a startup founded by an entrepreneur from rural or semi-urban India.
An increasing number of Venture Capital firms, based in different corners of India, drive the Indian growth story with empathy and impressive groundwork. The Indian startup ecosystem, which is filled with cap-beat Venture Capital funding, reached a phenomenal number of 13.7 billion in 2024.
Like one big cohesive unit, the Indian startup system thrives thanks to the decentralisation of Venture Capital funding to multiple nationwide centres.
TL;DR for the Hustle-Addicted:
- 72% of founders face mental health challenges. 90% stay silent around investors.
- Empathy isnโt a nice-to-have. Itโs a due diligence moat, a retention engine, and a superpower for exits.
- Weโre calling it now: Empathy is the cheat code of next-gen Venture Capital.
The Great Flip: From Capital to Character
Legacy Venture Capital was built like spreadsheetsโlinear, structured, transactional.
But guess what? Founders arenโt Excel formulas. Theyโre humans juggling product-market chaos, hiring hurdles, and โWhat am I even doing with my life?โ at 2 a.m.
The new era of venture demands something spreadsheets canโt show: emotional intelligence.
We call it Human Alpha.
“If you donโt get the founderโs headspace, you wonโt get their cap table either.”
Stat Check: Why Empathy Pays Serious Returns
Letโs be consistent with our support.
| Benefit | What Soft Looks Like | What It Actually Delivers |
| Deal Flow | Warm vibes & good PR | Top founders refer to empathetic VCs. Your next big bet comes inbound. |
| Sharper Bets | โHe seems passionateโ | You decode founder resilience under pressure. Pivot power > pitch deck polish. |
| Hidden Fault Lines | โSeems fine on Zoomโ | You detect team churn, co-founder splits, burnout before they kill growth. |
| Fixable Before Fatal | Late-stage chaos | Early interventions = fewer down rounds & panic bridges. |
| ๐ธ Valuation Premium | โCulture stuffโ | Clean governance earns buyer trust. Transparency gets priced in. |
Why Empathy Hits Different in India
Letโs not sugarcoat it: Indian startup energy is world-class. But it also comes with edge cases.
1. Quick Fixes Arenโt Sustainable
Founders know how to make the most of limited resources.
But to go from 0 โ IPO?
You need emotional fuel.
Long-term performance needs more than effortโit needs direction.
2. Culture & Shame
Indian founders donโt talk about stress. Empathetic VCs do the unthinkable: make vulnerability a business asset.
3. Engineer Retention
Empathy is a cultural OS.
Founders who feel seen โ build teams that stay.
That’s the equity value.
Forget the usual โvalue-addโ hype. This is how we show up for the founders we backโwith emotional intelligence, radical candour, and zero performative nonsense.
1. Connect
We go beyond pitch decks and take time to understand your background story, including factors like financial headroom, stress signals, and your default settings under pressure. We believe backing a business means understanding the team behind it.
2. Communicate
Weโre not here to drown you in KPIs and buzzwords. Our board meetings are built for real conversations. Numbers matter, but so do your headspace and gut. If you canโt be honest with us on your worst day, weโve failed as investors.
Founders cry. Founders vent. Founders laugh. We make space for all of it.
3. Collaborate
When a launch flops, a co-founder walks out, or Twitter eats your Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), our instinct isnโt to interrogate. Itโs time to roll up our sleeves. We ask one thing: โWhat do you need from us right now?โ
No blame games. No posturing. Just human-first capital in action.
Founders: Hereโs How to Vet If Your VC Gets It
| Signal | Red Flag | Green Flag |
| Term-sheet tone | Clause soup. | Clean caps, straight talk. |
| Email energy | โDeck ASAP. Thanks.โ | โCanโt wait to learn your story.โ |
| References | โTalk to our unicorns.โ | โTalk to founders we lost money on.โ |
| Failure stories | Defensive. | Vulnerable + honest. |
Caveats: Where Empathy Can Go Off the Rails
Letโs keep it real.
- Empathy โ Excuse Factory
Weโll back you to the limit. But if the KPIs are dying and the culture is unhealthy, โweโll say it, straight up. - Donโt Confuse Love for Leverage
Emotional closeness โ control. We set boundaries. We expect founders to do the same. - Empathy Needs Time
A single General Partner with 50 checks canโt give you the headspace you need. Founders measure real bandwidth, not follower count.
The Empathy Stack of Modern Venture Capital
| Practice | Whoโs Doing It | Why It Works |
| Founder’s mental health stipends | Lightspeed, Blume, private portfolios. | Reduces burnout, builds founder stamina. |
| Therapy-positive board culture | Select GPs in Mumbai & Delhi circles. | Normalizes help-seeking. |
| Founder-first term-sheets | Antler, Rocketship. | Speeds closure, builds trust. |
| Morning-after crisis calls | Rukam Capital. ๐ | Emotional antifragility = business resilience. |
Final Word: Empathy Is Compound Interest
You know whatโs easy? Wiring a few crores.
You know whatโs hard? Texting your founder after a brutal quarter to say:
โTake a beat. Weโre still here.โ
At Rukam Capital, we believe that empathy isnโt charity. It’s a strategy. The next great B2C brand wonโt just be built with money; itโll be built with meaning. And weโll be building alongside you, with cap tables in one hand and care in the other.
โ Rukam Capital
Founder-first. Always.
