How could I resist Snigdha’s hint to opine on startup lessons from AAP’s historic Delhi performance! So here it goes on startupcentral. Key lessons: – Great businesses are created by playing into market shifts – Startups need sharp focus and positioning – Run a well-designed proof of concept – The founder is the best salesperson […]
Venture Capital in India – The Summit Push
As the season for year roundups begins, here are my thoughts, originally published in Economic Times… It is now my eight year in succession of claiming a great year for venture capital. I have been in the business for all of eight years. But then, I am also an amateur marathoner and a climber. And […]
The 5 P’s of great presentations
A quick cheat sheet for you to start making great presentations now. Plan: For both the audience size as well as their expectations. Pitching your idea to a set of 5 investors is completely different from getting 500 people to vote for your start-up in a large competition. Do your homework to make sure that […]
When should a start-up go to an investor?
The unfortunate fact is that though being in the business of risk investments, most VC’s and Angel investors in India are highly risk-averse. This is why start-ups in India struggle to get off the ground. Past experience has made investors extremely careful with their investment decisions and despite such extreme caution still end up with […]
VC Firm Branding – What matters?
NVCA facilitated a recent research around what matters in a VC firm brand – both what entrepreneurs value, versus what VCs think is important. Branding and Venture Capital: Key Findings from BIG:VC from desantisbreindel Note that this is a US based study. Overall the study reinforced the importance of VC firm brand, but highlighted the […]
Should start-ups pay for Mentoring or Advisory services?
This has been a much debated point in various forums and is a question that plagues start-ups all over the world. Having taken part in numerous such discussions and understood different points of view, I felt that this would be a topic that would interest first-time entrepreneurs in India. So, should a start-up pay for […]
Pricing Strategy for Start-ups – Value Based Pricing
Apart from dealing with the unknown factor and building credibility, pricing is one other hurdle that most start-ups find hard to overcome. How much to charge? Am I overcharging or am I leaving money on the table? Questions that plague every entrepreneur. When it comes to pricing, a simple cost-plus strategy may not work because […]
Finding ‘Product-to-Market Fit’ starts at ideation
In the course of interacting with so many start-ups I have found one common factor. Problem with articulating the problem statement. If you have understood the problem completely then defining it in two sentences should not be a problem at all. But therein lies the problem! A problem is a problem only if it is […]
Ideas Pitched / Prototyped at In50hrs Pune 5
1. InstaMe Digital Business cards that are easy to share via Mobile – aimed at freelance professionals who want to build a following, the less tech-savvy way. They prototyped a way to build and share a passbook file that you can keep on your phone and share. The app even lets you track how many […]
Integrated Sales Process — Pictorial View
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For Start-ups Processes are critical for growth
You have got your first set of paying customers and have validated all your assumptions and now feel you would like to initiate actions for serious go-to-market. Every young enterprise looks forward to this day when they would be able to scale and grow their revenues. The entire focus is on revenues. But do you […]
Online classifieds – calling again
Hindu BusinessLine carried this interview of mine on online classifieds market. Online classifieds remains perhaps that most rewarding space thus far in the internet domain from an investment standpoint, on M&A (carwale, jobsahead), IPO (naukri, justdial) as well as continued companies getting to scale (matrimony, property, food). Surprisingly, it has not generated equivalent entrepreneurial interest, […]