Agara Lake: Bengaluru’s newest address for entrepreneurs to network and brainstorm

It is 7 am on a chilly Saturday morning in January. A motley group of around 50 people are gathered, in a circle, at the entrance to the beautiful Agara Lake—one of the many natural lakes in Bengaluru. They are taking turns introducing themselves. 

Among them is the co-founder of ride-hailing platform Rapido, an HR person from foodtech company Swiggy, a product manager at an edtech startup, the growth head of an AI company, and a CA-turned-angel investor. There is also a youngster from Sikkim exploring opportunities in Bengaluru and a filmmaker-turned-founder of a production house, besides venture capitalists from WaterBridge Ventures and 3one4 Capital. 

So, what brings them together so early in the morning, when they could have been still tucked in bed enjoying the last vestiges of sleep? 

They are all part of Agara Walks & Filter Kaapi—a community-building initiative that helps people from all walks of life connect with each other over morning walks, meaningful conversations, and piping hot kaapi.

Srikanth Prabhu, former Growth Consultant at Qapita, and Co-founder of VentureLex, wanted to take networking out of seminar halls and ballrooms and started Agara Walks & Filter Kaapi in September last year. 

“I wanted to create something more open, recurring, and also exclusively dedicated to networking and meeting new people,” Prabhu tells YS Life. 

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Prabhu uses LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), and WhatsApp to invite people for an early morning walk at Agara Lake. Prabhu has also leveraged partnerships with startups including Qapita, and communities like HSR Founders’ Club and BLR 101 to get people to participate in the walks. 

The ‘Filter Kaapi’ part of the initiative stands for the hot filter coffee that participants bond over post the walk. 

“It’s like a binding factor and gives placeholders for folks to join in. Some of them just come for the walk and then step out early, while a few, who are unable to wake up early, might join directly for the kaapi session, which easily extends for an hour,” explains Prabhu, an IIM graduate.

So far, participants have frequented Arogya Aahara, an eatery in HSR, for coffee and breakfast. In the upcoming walks, they plan to explore thindi (food) joints such as Mylapore Cafe, Irani Chai, and Davangere Benne Dosa. 

Brewing an idea

The idea for this community-building initiative had been brewing in Prabhu’s mind for almost a year. 

“By nature, I like meeting new people, brainstorming ideas, and helping out in any way. I definitely see the ‘pay-it-forward’ culture in Bengaluru. I have benefitted from it heavily and wanted to create avenues to make such opportunities possible by design,” says Prabhu. 

Having earlier participated in group walks and community efforts at the city’s most famous meet-and-greet spot, Cubbon Park, Prabhu realised how these events were one-off, invite-only, or tied to a particular interest group—reading, fitness, and so on. He wanted to create a community that was open to everyone. 

So he formed Agara Walks & Filter Kaapi with a few guiding principles—it is open to all, without any curation or filtration; while the agenda, participants and partners may change, networking over walk and coffee remains a constant; and the location and timings are fixed. 

The first walk of Agara Walks & Filter Kaapi was hosted on September 28 last year. 

What does change every week is the theme of these walks. Prabhu has hosted walks around growth and marketing, all things product, GenAI, US go-to-market, New Year resolutions, and, more recently, Building for Bharat, on the occasion of Republic Day. 

Networking and more

With the upmarket neighbourhood of Koramangala getting saturated, post the influx of startups, HSR Layout became the next ‘startup hub’ of Bengaluru in early 2020. 

The layout’s Sector 3, termed the ‘Unicorn Street’, houses a host of startups such as Udaan, Cure.fit, Whatfix, Khatabook, and MyGate. 

So, conducting networking walks at HSR was a no-brainer for Prabhu.   

“I was sure that folks from the startup ecosystem would turn up, which aligned with the kind of folks I wanted to meet—people who have high energy, are creative and open to meeting new people,” Prabhu explains. 

“There are very few things that have this kind of social connection early in the morning. There is also a purpose involved (beyond networking). It involves walking and training yourself,” says Rishikesh SR, Co-founder of Rapido,  an avid participant at Agara Walks. 

Rishikesh is an early riser and prefers the open setup of Agara Walks & Filter Kaapi over closed-door networking events. “Given it’s early in the morning, people are clearer about their thoughts; even the networking that happens here would be better,” he says. 

Over the weeks, Agara Walks & Filter Kaapi has hosted a mix of founders (50%), operators (30%), investors (10%) and students (5%). 

“While I attend these walks to explore opportunities, the core reason is to connect with people and get ideas out of them. No matter how much we watch videos and read books, core learning comes from connecting and meeting with new people,” says Jeet Chokshi, an experienced sales professional. 

To ensure participation, Prabhu goes out of his way to encourage people to wake up and make the effort to show up for the morning walks. 

“Two rounds around Agara Lake should ideally net off one plate idli, along with coffee,” he entices people who register for the walks. 

“I also offer a wake-up alarm service if they agree to sponsor my coffee,” Prabhu jokes. 

He also shares a Google sheet with information on all the registered folks to help participants optimise their networking and ensure a higher turnout. 

Besides networking, Agara Walks and Filter Kaapi have also been instrumental in providing early-stage startup founders a platform to pitch their ideas to potential investors, co-founders, and team members. Some people also find internships while others find their next date. 

For instance, Prabhu mentions that Hari Balasubramanian, an angel investor, discovered new startups to evaluate for investments; a few startup founders also found potential hires and interns. 

“I come here to connect and be relatable to the people who have just started building (a business)... If I like somebody I meet here, I try asking them (about mentorship) but, in general, I am here to meet people and see what’s happening around us,” says Rishikesh. 

Notable people from the Indian startup ecosystem who have participated in the walks include Ganesh Balakrishnan of Shark Tank India fame, and VCs from Peak XV Partners, Indian Angel Network, 3One4 Capital, Arali Ventures, and FortyTwo.VC. 

“We had 95 RSVPs for the previous walk, and more than 60 folks turned up… Generally, it is less than 50% for Bengaluru (networking) events,” Prabhu says. 

Going forward, Prabhu plans to focus on themes such as edtech and climate and sustainability for the walks. 

While he has no revenue model in place right now, he is open to exploring partnerships to cover operational costs in the future. 

“There could be events, communities and engagements that can fork out of this larger community. That could be exclusive and commercially focussed. But, at a core level, this community will always be free, open and welcoming,” he signs off.