How Kunal Shah ‘came in as an angel’ for Intervue founder Rahul Arora in 2021 — A look at the power of ‘cold email’
Intervue founder Rahul Arora shared how he secured seed funding from Cred founder Kunal Shah. He reflected on the early days of the startup, which were pivotal moments for the company. During this time, he approached FreeCharge’s founder about investing in his startup and said Kunal Shah ‘came in like an angel’.
The post on Instagram reads, “During the first 3 months of being a founder, people around me said why should they reach out to KunalShah, why should he answer you?” It opens with the text:
Specifically, Intervue is a SaaS solution providing platform designed to streamline technical hiring through collaborative, live coding and video-based interviewing environments. In an email to Kunal Shah, he requested his thoughts on his ideas and presentation. The response he received was a game changer.
Rahul Arora said, “I emailed him anyway, because why not? What’s there to lose?” He described the events extensively in a LinkedIn post. In those days he was “short on angels, short on hot leads, short on options” but decided to give it a shot. He was at his cousin’s wedding the day he sent the mail explaining what they were going to build and where they were going.
“I would love to. Send me the details,” Kunal Shah wrote in his reply dated January 29, 2021. The Bengaluru-based entrepreneur, who was a contestant on Shark Tank India Season 3, shared an article titled “Intervue Secures Seed Funding From Titan Capital, Kunal Shah And 2AM VC” published in India Entrepreneur magazine. That article suggested that Intervue has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding led by Titan Capital, Kunal Shah, Brendan Rogers, and Hershel Mehta, which will be used to “scale the product and strengthen the core team.”
Featured in Forbes a few months ago, Rahul Arora said, “He answered! The round is closed. He is one of our investors.” he wrote on LinkedIn, describing the success of his cold email. “That’s it. He (Kunal Shah) felt like an angel. I think about that every time someone tells me to wait for the right entrance, the right room, the right timing. Cold emailing works more often than you think. You just have to send it.”
This post comes at a time when Kunal Shah is in the limelight after Meta appointed him as WhatsApp global CEO. This development comes on the heels of Meta’s massive $900 million investment in Indian fintech platform CRED.
Social media reaction
One user wrote: “People said, ‘He’s not responding.’ You already sent the email. This is what happens when you give the shot. The rest is history.”
Another user said, “Maybe I made a mistake in proposing to her directly instead of asking her thoughts on it like you did.”
The third comment read: “I would like to know the content of the email.” it said.
“Less ego goes a long way,” a fourth user said.
A fifth user noted: “Someone needs to do for real estate what Zerodha did for equity; bring in the data, cut out the noise.”
A sixth user replied: “This is how I approach @ananyabirla’s Birla AI Collaboration Design team.”
