TLabs is organising startup mixer in various cities, applications open for Batch 4

Published by Abhishek Gupta on May 9, 2013 in News/ Events.
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It’s that time of the year again when TLabs goes to a lot of Indian cities and meet early stage startups and budding entrepreneurs. TLabs has now opened applications for 4th Batch (Fall 2013) and is calling all start-ups/entrepreneurs/founders/co-founders who have awesome ideas and are looking for support in nurturing their products into sound businesses.

TLabs plan to travel across the country over the course of next few weeks to meet future game changers, so please come and meet TLabs family for a casual mixer in your town!

What is TLabs mixer?

Mixer is an open forum that provides an opportunity to the budding start-ups to share their ideas, stories, concerns, challenges etc. from left, right and center with TLabs team, founders of portfolio companies and its mentors. There will be a few TLabs portfolio founders at each mixer to offer you some candid insights into how their acceleration experience helped them get to where they are today and what it takes to create successful ventures, manage challenges and raise money. Team would love to answer any particular questions about TLabs and Batch 4 application process.

Who can attend? 

Tech, mobile and Web based entrepreneurs who are interested in joining TLabs Batch 4 program and are looking to discuss their ideas, share their stories or ask specific questions about the program. Any founders/co-founders who wish to bounce off their ideas and are seeking some constructive feedback on the same from the audience are also welcome.

How do you register?

Here is a schedule of our May mixers, kindly fill this form to let us know when you would like to attend. In June we will cover Hyderabad, Kochi, Pune and Mumbai and will confirm the logistics for the same by the end of this month.

Date City Venue TLabs team
18-May Delhi TLabs office All
22-May Chennai Influx Interactive office Abhishek
24-May Bangalore Dataweave office Abhishek/Abhimanyu

Each mixer will be about 2-3 hours and the confirmation will be sent about participation. The mixers will be small and only up to 30 people so please grab your slot ASAP.

TLabs is kicking off its 4th batch in Aug 2013 and is currently accepting applications for the same. Your deadline to apply is 30 Jun 2013. Here’s the schedule in more details. If you haven’t yet applied to TLabs, please do so here: Batch 4 Application

Accelerator->Angel->VC flow is still struggling to find its equilibrium in India

Published by Alok Mittal on May 7, 2013 in Ecosystem.
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I had fun moderating the panel on early stage financing at India Internet Day. Vccircle has an interesting article.

Deal progression

The key issues are as under:

1. Too few deals are progressing from accelerators to angel, and from angel to Series A. Only 5% of deals going from accelerators to Series A might not be very different from success rate without accelerators.
2. Angel stage valuations are stretched relative to Series A valuations. At 20% success in getting to Series A, a Series A valuation of 35 cr would be a breakeven point for angels (7 cr angel valuation is typical). At 20 cr, the stage is not paying back for itself.
3. Its taking too long for deals to progress. While accelerators (admittedly apart from Mukund’s Microsoft accelerator :-) ) aim to get to next round of financing as the startup graduates from the accelerator, it is taking an additional year to get to angel financing. Angel to VC is another 2 years on average. This slow progression may also be responsible for higher failure rate. Accelerators might do well to extend the runway.
4. Lot of “recycling” – the same company going from one accelerator to another, from one angel round to another. Again points to the time it takes to build companies, and the need for early stage investors to keep supporting the good ones.
5. Too little mortality – “fail fast” seems to be good advice, but little practice.

Of course, the above applies only to startups which are in the funding play. Note that the data was gathered from about a dozen “premier” accelerators/incubators and angel funds – so while I believe this is directionally right, its not the most comprehensive survey.

The role of venture capital in growing Indian ecosystem

Published by Alok Mittal on May 2, 2013 in Ecosystem.
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Iamwire published this article by me around the broader impact of venture capital. I believe venture capital has had a defining role in getting first generation entrepreneurs out in increasing numbers, at the same time benefiting from that trend. In addition to entrepreneurs, the capital-exit model of venture backed companies also creates the right incentives for top quality talent to join startups. Other benefits abound – read on…

Customer Retention Strategy

Published by Srikanth Vasuraj on April 17, 2013 in General.
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As a start-up CEO, it is important that you build this strategy right at the outset, because this is a smart way of growing your business instead of just adding new customers. Ofcourse, getting new customers is critical to your business growth because it ensures a bigger market share and more endorsements for your product. But customer retention ensures additional business at negligible costs. So how do you do this effectively?

Three things that are critical to your customer retention strategy are:

Deliver Top Quality Service:

You may have built the ‘best’ service delivery process to ensure top quality service. Constantly question that process and find ways and means to better it all the time. Use every customer learning to change your process for the better. Anticipate what the customer would want and deliver it without being asked. Make your service delivery process more customer-centric. All this may come at a cost. But rich dividends are ensured in the long run.

Deliver on your Promise:

For a young enterprise, building credibility is not only the biggest challenge but also a constant process. If you can get your customer to speak for you, you will have people listening. But for this, the customer should have got what he expected. What you promised. So, promise only what you can deliver and deliver what you promise. Irrespective of great service delivery, if the customer does not get what you promised, you will still have an unhappy customer.

Build Competitive Barriers:

Use your customer learning to better your product all the time. Come up with new functionalities and features. Know what your competition is doing and ensure your product delivers one better. Building complimentary products and features around your product will ensure recurring business from your customer as well as keeping out competition.

All these will help in increasing the Life Time Value (LTV) of your customer leading to rapid and predictable scaling of your business.

The author, Srikanth Vasuraj, is a Business Consultant focused on helping start-ups to grow. He can be reached at +91-98454 78585 or srikanth@nodiva.co.in . For more information please visit www.nodiva.co.in .

The Risk-Averse Indian Entrepreneur

Published by Vijay Anand on April 12, 2013 in General.
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Indian Entrepreneurs are one of the most risk-averse in the world. Well not all, there are truly some fantastic exceptions, but most of the demographic is risk averse. Let me explain:

In the business plan of an entrepreneur they do the math, calculate “their” salaries in, the prototyping costs, marketing costs and will assume that “no revenue” is made, and ask for the entire amount from an investor, who has nothing more than an idea and a team (which still demands a salary) that she supposedly has to back. The best pitch for an investor remains the same, Get on the boat, start rowing, and tell them to come onboard or miss the chance.

A lot of the new breed of Indian entrepreneurs have no clue about cash flow management. Its another symptom of the “Bangalore Flu” (that we have caught from the valley). Here’s an example of cash flow management. Air Deccan was started with 5 Crores (1Mn) in the bank. The cost of a Plane is about 60Mn$. The company went on to build the biggest fleet of low cost carriers in the country.

The Present day entrepreneur wants to plan for a fleet of 500, and the cash for it, upfront, at the best valuation, in the bank, funded by VCs. NOT. GOING. TO. HAPPEN.

Want to see who is driving the risk averseness in the market that Indians dont make bold bets? Look at the mirror. It starts with (most of) you.

Will Delhi startups outsource tech to Bangalore?

Published by Alok Mittal on April 12, 2013 in Ecosystem.
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Delhi NCR seems to have emerged as one of the strongest startup ecosystems in the country. From internet to mobility and ITES/BPO/KPO, the quality of startups is compelling. However, of late, there has been a view that the tech ecosystem is not keeping pace. I was having a chat with a friend, who pointed out the following “facts”:

  • HasGeek is been doing some amazing work in tech events…they are probably the leaders in the tech. events space. They tried NCR couple of times and now have written off. I’m trying to work with them to bring some of their events in NCR.
  • In50Hrs has written of Delhi. They did 2 events and now have moved to Trivandrum.
  • MobileHackday – a hackathon done recently at one of the companies in gurgaon did not attract many people…they had to close the event and did not even have the jury members to come and look at the prototypes.
  • At Startup Weekend Delhi, there are around 12-14 ideas presented…atleast 8 teams present a powerpoint presentation and probably 4 present a prototype…Bangalore is just the opposite.
  • Some startups have started moving the tech. base to Bangalore :)

I have not checked with respective organizations mentioned above, but will take this at face value given the credibility of the person who mentioned the above. Also, given the spread of events, I am making an assumption that this is not a reflection on quality of individual events. I also do not view this as a notion of delhi versus bangalore, but more an issue around the depth of tech ecosystem in delhi area, and whether it is growing stronger or weaker. I say “tech ecosystem” not in the semiconductor research sense, but typical depth that startups are relying on (application/ systems level).

In fact, the other thread it sparked in my mind was cultural and cutting across the country – are we propagating a culture of startup formation that relies on learning from the community and widespread exchange of ideas? That could be the other reason where founders and their teams might be putting their heads down and building their business, rather than throng events.

Would love to get comments on this. And if this is a real issue, what can we do about it.

Captain your Ship

Published by Srikanth Vasuraj on April 12, 2013 in General, Ideas & Companies and Musings.
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As an entrepreneur or the CEO of a start-up, you need to clearly take the lead position, as it is your vision and mission that the team has to take forward. Not all CEOs of start-ups have the experience of leading an organization. But you don’t need to let that inexperience reflect in the way you deal with your people.

Build your ‘A’ Team

This is the most important task that the CEO has to put in place first. Choose your team for the special capabilities that they bring specific to your business. People with domain expertise, with experience setting-up new enterprises, experienced advisers etc. Use them to implement your ideas. You may not have all the attributes to run a business entity, but your team will. Have faith in your team. Allow them to make mistakes. Give them time. No business is an overnight success.

Set up a system for review and accountability

The CEOs job of managing his team becomes easier if a clear set of KRAs and milestones are set for each member and a well-defined periodic review process is followed. This will ensure accountability and adherence to timelines.

Communicate your ideas clearly

This is one area where a lot of business heads fail. Sharing of thoughts and ideas about the business with your team is important as it will serve two purposes – (a) they will know that you are on the job all the time; and (b) it will give them an opportunity to share their opinions and experiences with you and the rest of the team. Such exchanges will only help to better the business plan.

Establish lines of communication

Have an open-door policy. Encourage everyone in your organization to walk in to meet and talk with you. You never know where that winning idea could come from. Keeping your channels open would also help to keep a tab on the mood in the company, especially when things are not going as per plan. Have an open mind and treat each bit of information without any bias or prejudice and give its due credit. In fact, this could help you stay ahead of the curve.

Do not be afraid to make mid-term changes to your plans

As I have mentioned in one of my previous posts, most new ventures have had to change the entire plan atleast once in their life-cycle. By this I do not mean that you need to look at new business ideas and solutions. What normally happens is that the go-to-market or product/service/solution strategies go through major revamp, with acquired knowledge of market realities regarding your business. Most business leaders shy away from doing anything to their product/service/solution, as that is very close to their heart. This takes courage and an astute business mind. Afterall, the business was started to take it to success. It is important to keep your focus on this end-objective.

The author, Srikanth Vasuraj, is a Business Consultant focused on helping start-ups to grow. He can be reached at +91-98454 78585 or srikanth@nodiva.co.in . Please visit my website www.nodiva.co.in .

India’s Angels episode last weekend

Published by Alok Mittal on April 10, 2013 in General.
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Enjoyed being on India’s Angels last week – take a look

Collating Problems Worth Solving

Published by Vijay Anand on April 7, 2013 in General.
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In my experience working with Entrepreneurs for the past 9 odd years and possibly have seen a few thousand startups, there is one key attribute that instantly sets apart the startups that just might make it, to the ones that would struggle – the clarity on the problem they are trying to solve.

While we have made it a mandate in events like In50hrs that explaining the problem is crucial, we have realized that as a culture we havent yet learnt the art of observing the issues that around us – especially the ones that present opportunities along with it.

In an effort to help out, we have started collating interesting Problem Statements from entrepreneurs all around. Quite a few have contributed and we are starting to list them at the In50hrs site, as Problems Worth Solving (with due credits).

As a recent article said, Focus on Talking about the Problems, and not the solutions, its evident that the key to building a thriving ecosystem is by building the capability to spot the problems, but for now, we are giving entrepreneurs a headstart and hopefully a sense of what to look for.

PS: If you want to prototype a solution to any of these problems, do sign up for an In50hrs Near you.

PPS: Want to Contribute a Problem Statement? You can too.

Building a Scalable Sales Process

Published by Srikanth Vasuraj on April 5, 2013 in General, Ideas & Companies and Musings.
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To ensure a predictable business plan it is important to have a repeatable and scalable sales process in place. Thereafter, increasing revenues as per the business plan would only mean increasing the sales team and the geographies that you intend to address. Once the sales process is in place, the sales team would only need to follow the process that has been set in place to start generating business. A scalable sales process should include:

-   An effective marketing strategy for lead generation

-   A good understanding of the prospective client’s decision-making process

-   A Go-to-Market (GTM) strategy that is built around the client’s process, to ensure progress of the sales efforts to predictable and desired outcomes

-   A sales process that will help to control the cost of customer acquisition

An Effective Lead Generation Program

To establish a regular business beat-rate, it is important to ensure that the sales force is regularly fed with qualified leads that they can then take forward to a possible closure. This can only be achieved if there are several lead generation strategies in operation. These should include, but not limited to:

-   A good and effective in-bound marketing strategy using the website and social networks

-   Some amount of out-bound marketing to create some overt awareness, like interviews with opinion leaders, planting business-specific articles, organizing/participating in events etc.

-   Cold-calling through an internal or external team, using any qualified databases

-   A referral program for employees, customers and other external sources

Using these and any other lead generation program would help to ensure that the sales force is kept busy and they have a healthy funnel to work with.

Understanding the client’s process for a scalable sales model

This is extremely critical for ensuring a predictable process, without which the sales team will never be able to correctly forecast business closures. Understanding this process will give a clear view of the way the sales effort is progressing and the actions required to be taken to move the sales process forward. This knowledge will also help you to plan and put in place the necessary actions that need to be taken at every stage of the sales process to ensure that the client has the necessary information to push it to the next level internally.

For example, if the decision maker is looking to garner internal support from other departments, this should be clearly tracked and the relevant material should be ready for circulation within the decision-making team, even before they ask for it. This would help to bring down the sales cycle-time and also establish some level of credibility. Similarly, if you know that the CFO/CEO may be the final decision-makers, then you should be ready with the business case and ROI calculator, to be able to quickly present the business case when the need arises, instead of reacting. Such proactive initiatives will go a long way in building credibility for yourself and give the impression that you have done this many times before. This is very important for a new venture.

Once this process has been streamlined from the experience of selling your solution or product to atleast 10-15 different clients, you then know you have a process that is now predictable and ready to be scaled. You now have a process that is customer-centric and is able to predict the client’s requirements at every stage, enabling you to take pre-emptive actions.

Controlling Cost of Customer Acquisition

With a predictable and repeatable sales model, you are now able to track the sales progress and the time it should take at each stage. Any time over-runs will mean an increase in the cost of sale. Monitoring and managing this at every stage will ensure customer acquisition within reasonable timelines and cost.

Also, this model will now empower you to take decisive calls on how far to engage the client before business closure. The usual sales problem is continuing to service a client for unreasonably elongated timelines and still having no closures, leading to an unpredictable sales forecast and inflated cost of sales. With this customer-centric model, you can predict where the bottleneck is and come to a reasonable conclusion on the probability of the business closing in your favour or closing at all, helping you to take that difficult call of pulling out of the opportunity. In most cases, this is usually the difficult part and that is entirely because of a lack understanding of the client’s decision-making process and therefore a high reliability on ‘HOPE’. Knowing when to say ‘NO’ is very critical to ensure sales costs are kept within permissible limits.

Controlling cost of sales, increasing sales productivity and bringing in some semblance of predictability to the sales forecast are issues that even established organizations are grappling with, and I do hope that my experience in trying to address these issues, as enumerated above, would be of help.

The author, Srikanth Vasuraj, is a Business Consultant focused on helping start-ups to grow. He can be reached at +91-98454 78585 or srikanth@nodiva.co.in . Please visit www.nodiva.co.in .