The Patient Capital Contrarian: Abhishek Sharman's Methodical Bet on India's Middle
How a Pretty Woman-inspired IIT graduate built India's most methodical private equity approach by betting against unicorns and backing sustainable growth
The epiphany arrived in a dimly lit computer lab at IIT Delhi in 1999. Surrounded by pirated Hollywood movies that had become the weekend ritual for engineering students, Abhishek Sharman watched Richard Gere's character manipulate corporate takeovers in Pretty Woman. While his dormmates focused on Julia Roberts, Sharman fixated on something else entirely.
"I watched a movie called Pretty Woman... what got my attention was what does this guy really do... I went to many seniors and most of them were not able to articulate till I bumped into somebody who could and he said there's something called private equity."
That moment would define the next two decades of Indian private equity investing. Today, as the Founder and Managing Director of Carpediem Capital Partners, Sharman manages one of India's most methodical PE approaches, a contrarian philosophy that prioritizes sustainable growth over unicorn hunting in a market obsessed with billion-dollar valuations.
This deep dive into Abhishek Sharman's investment philosophy comes from his candid conversation on the Founder Thesis Podcast with Akshay Datt. For the full story behind Carpediem Capital's contrarian approach and his insights on India's consumption opportunity.
Check out the video of the conversation here or read on for insights.
The Fundamentalist's Playbook
In an industry where investors chase 10x returns and 200% annual growth rates, Sharman's approach feels almost antiquated. He targets companies generating ₹30-200 crores in revenue, takes meaningful 26%+ stakes, and aims for steady 25-30% year-on-year growth. It's a philosophy born from hard-learned lessons and an intimate understanding of what actually works in India's complex business environment.
"We are looking for Rahul Dravids, we are not looking for sloggers... we don't like losing money."
The cricket analogy is deliberate. While venture capitalists swing for sixes, Sharman prefers the steady accumulation of runs, a methodical approach that has delivered consistent returns across market cycles. Since launching Carpediem in 2015, his Fund I has achieved markups in five out of seven portfolio companies, including a 4.76x return from Rebel Foods (Biryani Blues) and strategic exits that weathered India's most turbulent economic periods.
This performance stands in stark contrast to the broader Indian PE-VC market, which saw investments decline by 35% from $62 billion in 2022 to $39 billion in 2023, before recovering to $43 billion in 2024. Carpediem's consistent approach has proven resilient precisely because it doesn't depend on market euphoria or timing cycles.
Decoding the India Consumption Thesis
Sharman's investment philosophy rests on a demographic insight that most investors overlook: the nuclear family revolution. While others focus on India's rising per capita income, projected to move from $2,000 to $2,500 GDP per capita, Sharman identified a more powerful driver of consumption.
"When one household becomes two households... spending goes up by factor 1.6 to 1.8 times because you need two of everything."
This thesis isn't theoretical. It's playing out across Carpediem's portfolio companies. Biryani Blues, which received an initial investment, now operates across North India and Bengaluru. Similarly, 1-India Family Mart has expanded its value retail chain into Tier 3 and Tier 4 towns, precisely where Sharman's nuclear family thesis creates the strongest consumption demand. Inc.5 Shoes, another portfolio company, has built 75+ exclusive brand outlets and 200+ shop-in-shops across 28 cities, capitalizing on India's organized retail penetration.
The numbers validate this approach. India's private equity market recovered 9% year-over-year in 2024, driven primarily by consumer/retail sector investments. Financial services, healthcare, and consumer sectors led the exit landscape, exactly where Carpediem has concentrated its investments.
The Art of Patient Building
What sets Sharman apart isn't just investment selection, it's operational philosophy. Carpediem's approach challenges the prevailing "spray and pray" model that dominates Indian venture capital.
"We want to not only get investor money but also get customer money... 20% of the sales of companies come because of us."
This hands-on methodology begins with deal sourcing. From over 2,000 opportunities evaluated for Fund I, only 300 passed objective filters. After management meetings and due diligence, this narrowed to approximately 50 serious considerations before selecting just 8 investments. It's a funnel that prioritizes quality over quantity, a stark contrast to funds managing hundreds of portfolio companies.
The operational involvement runs deep. Carpediem partners serve on portfolio company boards, drive transformation agendas, and leverage their network for customer acquisitions. When Sharman's co-founder Arvind Nair joined as Managing Director of Domino's Pizza India, he revolutionized the business model and introduced the 30-minute delivery guarantee that transformed the brand's Indian operations.
This approach requires patient capital and longer investment horizons. While the broader market celebrates quick exits and rapid scaling, Carpediem builds businesses methodically. The result is a portfolio of companies with sustainable unit economics and clear paths to profitability, increasingly rare in today's venture landscape.
Navigating Market Cycles and Corrections
Sharman's philosophy has been tested across multiple economic disruptions: demonetization, GST implementation, and COVID-19. His contrarian approach proved prescient as market conditions shifted toward profitability and sustainable growth.
"The fact that cash is king, the fact that profitability is good is not new... it's just that suddenly people believe that at some point the sentence is different and this time it's a new world."
The validation came in 2024 when India's startup ecosystem finally embraced unit economics over growth-at-all-costs. Exit activity surged to $33 billion, growing 16% year-over-year as investors capitalized on richly valued public markets. Public market exits gained prominence, increasing from 51% of total exit value in 2023 to 59% in 2024, exactly the environment where Carpediem's methodically built companies thrive.
The Valuation Framework
Sharman's approach to company valuation reflects his fundamentalist philosophy. Rather than chasing revenue multiples, Carpediem focuses on EBITDA-based valuations that reflect actual business performance.
"What we do is we look at EBITDA multiples... we like to see companies that are EBITDA breakeven or positive... because by the time you are no longer backing just an idea, you're backing an idea, but there's also a certain amount of product market fitment."
This methodology proved critical during the valuation corrections of 2023-2024. While high-multiple companies faced significant markdowns, Carpediem's portfolio companies maintained their valuations because they were already built on sustainable business models.
The Road Ahead: Fund II and Beyond
As Carpediem raises its second fund, Sharman's thesis faces new market realities. The Indian PE market reached a record $56 billion in investments in 2024, with SME-focused investments gaining traction. Rising interest rates have made "cash today versus cash tomorrow" calculations more relevant, validating Carpediem's focus on profitable, cash-generating businesses.
The demographic trends that underpin Sharman's investment thesis continue strengthening. India's nuclear family formation is accelerating urbanization, creating the exact consumption patterns Carpediem has positioned to capture. With private equity funds increasingly focused on larger deals, the $2-5 million ticket size that Carpediem targets remains underserved.
"We are at the confluence of those two points and therefore there's certain sectors which will grow much more than others... maybe a guy who's making rice will make more rice but his growth from a base level is going to be lesser than somebody who's a pet services player."
The Contrarian's Vindication
Today, as the Indian startup ecosystem grapples with valuation corrections and profitability pressures, Sharman's decade-long focus on sustainable growth appears remarkably prescient. His methodical approach, prioritizing institutional building over rapid scaling, emphasizing cash generation over growth metrics, and building deep operational partnerships with entrepreneurs, represents a maturation of Indian private equity investing.
The nuclear family revolution continues accelerating, household formation drives consumption growth, and India's middle class expansion creates exactly the market dynamics Carpediem was built to capture. In a market that often celebrates disruption over execution, Sharman's patient capital approach offers a different path to building enduring value.
As India's private equity market evolves toward greater discipline and sustainable returns, the principles that seemed contrarian a decade ago increasingly define the new mainstream. For investors seeking alpha in India's consumption story, Carpediem's methodology offers both a proven framework and a roadmap for the decade ahead.
What's your take on patient capital versus high-velocity investing in today's market? Share your thoughts on whether Abhishek Sharman's methodical approach offers lessons for building sustainable businesses in emerging markets. Comment below with your perspective on the nuclear family consumption thesis and its implications for Indian private equity.
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