From my experience of the last 12 years with start-ups, the issue is with the entrepreneurs understanding and acknowledgement of the importance of a Mentor. In most cases, a mentor is supposed to be a like a quick-fix. A first time entrepreneur needs to understand that a mentor is like a partner, hand-holding you to […]
Internet in Tier II/III towns
My article in Strategist regarding the challenges and opportunities for Internet services in Tier II/III towns. Read on… http://www.business-standard.com/article/management/overcoming-the-digital-divide-113060200429_1.html 0
HBR – How to negotiate with VCs
Update: 18th Oct 2013 – The slideshare link seems to be disabled. Please read here. Excellent article on how to negotiate with VCs – valuation is just the tip of the iceberg. Other terms, as well as ensuring alignment through the negotiation process are far more important. Read on… HBR – How to negotiate with […]
Muscle Capital : Delivered
I am not a car guy. I had my last car for 15 years and put over a quarter of a million kilometers on it, but a couple of months ago I bought a Tesla. It felt like a piece of history so I had to have it. It is thrilling to be able to […]
TLabs is organising startup mixer in various cities, applications open...
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. […]
Accelerator->Angel->VC flow is still struggling to find its equilibriu...
I had fun moderating the panel on early stage financing at India Internet Day. Vccircle has an interesting article. 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 […]
The role of venture capital in growing Indian ecosystem
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 […]
Customer Retention Strategy
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. […]
The Risk-Averse Indian Entrepreneur
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 […]
Will Delhi startups outsource tech to Bangalore?
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 […]
Captain your Ship
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 […]
India’s Angels episode last weekend
Enjoyed being on India’s Angels last week – take a look 0