Inside MSV 1.0: what one evening at Poona Golf Club produced

Startup events in India usually go one way. A hall fills up, decks get pitched to whoever is in the room, cards are swapped, and by Monday nobody remembers who fit whom. MSV 1.0 was built to test the opposite idea.

The bet

Evaluate the founders before the evening. Tell each investor in advance who fits their thesis. Then the evening is not for discovery; it is for the conversation that discovery should have led to.

How it ran

MSV 1.0 ran over two days. On 20 March, a virtual alignment day prepared both sides. On 21 March, the room came together at Poona Golf Club in Pune: 60 selected founders, 40 investors and 20 enablers, 150 people in all.

The evening had a panel on stage, recognitions for the partners who made it possible, and long conversations at the tables, which was the point.

5 to 6 investment conversations were actively progressing before guests left the venue.

What it produced

Conversations that were already moving before the evening ended, and an audience well beyond the room: from 10 to 23 March, the campaign around it reached 231,154 accounts on Instagram and LinkedIn. More than the numbers, it proved the method. When the preparation happens before the room, the room works.

What we took from it

The method does not need a golf club. It needs evaluation before the meeting, fit decided by thesis, and follow-through after. That is what MSV runs every month in MSV Deals, and what MSV 2.0 takes to 20 cities. Read the full story on the About page.

Questions

When and where was MSV 1.0?

On 20 and 21 March 2026: a virtual alignment day, then the evening at Poona Golf Club, Pune.

What comes next?

MSV 2.0: India's biggest pitch and funding day, with 5,000 founders pitching live at 50 centres in 20 cities.

Sources: MyStartupValley post-event stakeholder report, Pune Edition, 20 and 21 March 2026