I am happy to announce the first set of startup workshops from August 20th till the 29th in Bangalore. The agenda is here. The objective is to find startups the HeadStart Ventures team can work with from now on. These will also form the pool of companies the fund that we are setting up can potentially invest in. We will also actively promote qualified startups to our industry partners – eight of them will present opportunities, ideas and interest areas on the 20th and 21st.
All startups are welcome to apply but we will select 15-20 startups to attend the camp. Domains our team is strong in are – telecoms/mobility, semiconductors, consumer media, financial services, and healthcare. HeadStart Ventures is not a pure play mentoring organisation and neither it is a venture capital fund. It is a small group of people who will work hands on with startups and will seed invest in selected qualified startups. So, whoever submits proposals to work with us should be open to working with a bigger team of experienced people, be willing to start out small in terms of money and expectations but should not be limited by vision and ambition.
If you have any questions, do send an email to interest@headstart.org.in
- Demystifying consumer hardware product development - February 14, 2014
- the First Startup Camp @HeadStart Ventures - July 24, 2010
- My experience of raising an Angel fund. - July 18, 2010
Kallol Borah has no fund, yet he is claiming to have one and offer ‘mentoring’ to startups. And charge 10,000 Rs. per startup for telling founders what they already know.
Has been following this discussion for a while .
There has been hundreds of non-profit foundations started by entrepreneurs with atleast zero or least experience claiming to help startups connect with VCs or partners which they claim to be building an ecosystem.
But have any one thought of the real motive behind these intiatives ?
Is it purely about building a successful startup ecosystem ( like silicon valley) or is it all about creating a PR which will benefit the founders later .
How many startups have really benefited from this so called startup platforms and so-called startup breakfasts or dinner 🙂 ?
Now I understand a platform for connecting startups is great idea for networking , the sheer motive behind the people running the same had diverted the focus and attention of the same to be a platform which is for money ( Yes pay us 10k and we will showcase your startup on the next edition) .
Anyways i feel there is an opportunity in this space – Startup cheating .
1) Start a foundation ( non profit ) for startups . Initially bring in some boot strapped startups to the scene, invite few VCs and then let the medianama and pluggd.in blog about the same , which will be taken up by the economic times and other news outlets who need some content to fill their columns.
2)After getting some branding create some thing called “Startup Breakfast ( bcoz rest are all taken)” or Startup Thursday and continue for next 6 months.
3) Now comes the real opportunity ( break even for all your nonprofit initiatives) – the first edition of your foundation – name it Starto or Headpro . Get sponsors ( Microsoft startup accelerator , Sun Startup essential – easy to get , bring on some one from yahoo to speak ( yes yahoo is now a sponsor) charge 15 lakhs to 50 lakhs based on the category of sponsors.
– Invite those poor startups to demo in the event ( you can charge 10k for each and then later put an exibition outside your venue of all startups charge them 25 k. so 10 demo startups ( 1 lakh + 25k x another 20 = 6 lakhs) . Invite VCs , successful entreprenuers ( They will defnitely come becuase they love the passion thought they dont know the real intentions of the founders.
4. Now you can ideally do 2 editions an year ( to be more innovative you can even think of an edition every quarter ) more money . All this while you can use the sponsorhip money for your expenses , enjoyment and refreshments .
5. The Big moment : Now you know startups, you know VCs, you know media and you know angels – and they know you too. Start your VC firm
– identify startups on one end , Tell HNIs i have startups with products you wanna invest
– Identifty HNIs on one end, Tell startups i Have investors do want to get on board .
when you start your VC firm , make sure you also put some of your or even your friends existing startup names as portfolio companies ( this will really helpful for catching up the bootstrappies who may not do much back ground reseach .
Any one game for it ? .
To startups :
– if you have great product and great idea, you dont need any one ( ofcourse fail, start again -experience will give you the strength) .Investors will come to you, clients will come to you.
– But how do you connect with a VC ( Linkedin , twitter , mail a VC )
– But i need mentors ( For what if you think a 20+ experienced IIM-IIT-ISB-HARWARD Ex-google,ex-yahoo can turn around your idea- its bullshit please for godsake dont fall for all these fake mentors and consultants who help you raise your first 10 million$ within a fortnight ——-But please feel free to take advice from your peers, entrperniers or people you connect on linkedin and dont give them stakes ( ofcourse you can gratify them when you succeed , yes no one is here for a free lunch) .
To all Ass holes who wanna ride on milking the startups and entreprenuers please do understand “Entreprenuership is all about money, it’s about solving simple painpoints through innovation or an idea and an entreprenuer is here to enjoy the satisfaction when 100 people use their your product ,ofcourse money will follow.
Final Advice :
1.Bootstrap ( work prallely, get the proto and first client)
2) Be choosy about the founders, mentors and most importantly investors
3) Dont fear about failures – each failure will add up to your success .
Read more about startup ecosystem , the market, the consumer ( your milkman or driver) rather than getting over exicited about the idea.
Wish you all the best .
Here, I see a fine example of real scum bags trying to discredit a group of well to do entrepreneurs and an organisation they are trying to build.
@Rakesh, Satish, Varunesh : shame on you, guys. What achievements do you have to show ? Are you entrepreneurs or just wannabes ? Pls name startups you work at if you have the courage.
@Satish, atleast, we are all entrepreneurs here at HeadStart Ventures who are involved with startups in some capacity, mostly as investors and founders. Most people who are so active now a days are not even entrepreneurs.
Wrt whether HeadStart Ventures has a fund or not, you will soon know. It is an angel fund so all partners put in money into it, but all of us have also personally invested in other ventures. There are 10+ ventures between all of us. We are looking for companies to invest in quite actively.
Kallol
Where is the fund, sir? Why are you misrepresenting investments made by some individual investors as a headstart ventures investment?
Isnt Lukup your own venture? (If so, how is that a headstart portfolio company?)
The fact is that there is no fund. There is no investment and all companies who have attended your so called camps can testify. In this digital age, its difficult to hide these things….
Cheers Satish/