Mahesh Murthy

Mahesh Murthy is the founder and Managing Director of Pinstorm. He started the firm in 2004 with a conviction that the traditional agency retainer model was fundamentally broken — and that the only honest alternative was to tie the agency's compensation directly to the client's growth.

Before founding Pinstorm, Mahesh ran India's leading Youth TV channel, Channel V - and he got that role after launching MTV to fame and success in the region. Mahesh then went on to co-found Seedfund, one of India's earliest venture capital firms, investing in companies like Redbus, CarWale, Chumbak, SportsKeeda and Vaatsalya Hospitals. His background in performance-driven marketing informs his work in investing and venture capital — where returns are entirely outcome-driven. Mahesh continues to actively invest, and has direct or indirect investments in over 80 startups across India, UAE and the USA.

Mahesh is widely known for his appearances as a judge and investor on the shows that preceded Shark Tank India — Buziness Baazigar on Zee TV, The Entrepreneur on ET Now, and The Pitch on Bloomberg TV — where he evaluated businesses through the same lens he applies at Pinstorm: measurable unit economics, clear path to revenue, and a founder willing to put skin in the game.

Mahesh writes and speaks extensively on marketing accountability, the death of the retainer model, and why most agency relationships fail. His commentary on LinkedIn regularly reaches hundreds of thousands of marketing and business leaders across Asia, Europe and the US.

Mahesh has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal, Campaign Middle East, The Economic Times, and Mint, among over 25 other publications. The common thread in every profile is the same conviction he started with in 2004: that marketing firms should earn only when their clients earn as well.

His approach to marketing is rooted in venture capital logic. Every engagement is evaluated by its expected return on invested capital — both the client's and Pinstorm's own. If the expected return does not justify the risk, Pinstorm does not take on the client. This selectivity is what makes the model sustainable: Pinstorm only grows when it backs businesses that grow.

Before Pinstorm

Mahesh's career began in mainstream advertising, at Grey and Ogilvy, working on global brands including HP, Nike, Coca-Cola, and The Economist — a track record covered in the Khaleej Times profile "Mahesh Murthy: Maverick Marketeer", which also noted that an MTV spot of his was voted Asia's best commercial of the decade. He then launched MTV in the region, ran India's leading youth TV channel, Channel V, and founded Passionfund before starting Pinstorm in 2004.

That mix of brand craft and business accountability is what shaped Pinstorm's founding conviction: an agency should be paid the way an investor is — on outcomes, not effort.

Television

Before Shark Tank India brought startup investing to Indian prime time, Mahesh was a judge and investor on the shows that preceded it:

• Buziness Baazigar (Zee TV) — Judge & investor
• The Entrepreneur (ET Now) — Judge & investor
• The Pitch (Bloomberg TV) — Judge & investor

On each, he evaluated businesses through the same lens he applies at Pinstorm: measurable unit economics, a clear path to revenue, and a founder willing to put skin in the game.

Investments

As co-founder of Seedfund — voted India's best VC fund by Venture Intelligence in 2009 and 2013, and whose $54M second fund was 3.5x the size of its first — Mahesh backed some of India's best-known early-stage companies, including:

• RedBus
• CarWale
• Vaatsalya Hospitals
• AFAQs
• SabKaDentist (MyDentist)
• Heckyl
• Chumbak
• Sportskeeda

He continues to invest actively, with direct or indirect investments in over 80 startups across India, UAE and the USA. His current investments and angel activity are listed on his personal site, maheshmurthy.com.

Selected press

He has also written columns for The Wall Street Journal, Business Today and BusinessWorld, served as entrepreneur-in-residence at INSEAD, and was named a Quora Top Writer in 2014. Full coverage of Pinstorm itself is on our news & media page.

More from Mahesh

His personal site at maheshmurthy.com collects his longer essays, talks and investments. You can also connect on LinkedIn.