Had a couple of very hectic weeks with TiECon and couple of our partners visiting India. The opportunity to go around, see 10 “shortlisted” companies with some of my partners last week gave a good sense of contrast between what is expected in a mature venture system like the valley, and what is available here. One of the things that stood out was the lack of detail on pitches. What is interesting is that most of the missing detail did not seem to be a function of articulation, but of ignorance – people who had missed the details had not thought about those aspects. Also, most of the people who had missed details had not operated in those markets before. Nine out of ten presentations had no competitive analysis whatsoever — some more mentioned competition but with a dismissive tone.
I have noticed some of the same contrast in my visits to valley pitches. And if I may draw a parallel, I have seen similar lack of detail in corporate environment here in India — VP level plans and presentations get approved often without sufficient level of detail and analysis.
In terms of our education process for entrepreneurs on venturewoods and elsewhere, we have long focussed on “what all to cover” which again leads to a shallow view of the plan — entrepreneurs look at a question, and answer it at a high level, and they are done. We need to start putting more emphasis on the level of detailing. Maybe if someone can share their pitches, we could do a critique. I have a lot of, what in our view are, good and bad pitches, but I dont have the right to share any of them… Any volunteers?
- Promoters or Entrepreneurs – A choice for Private Equity players - August 3, 2019
- Startup Marathon Mindset - March 25, 2019
- What’s your Customer Culture? - March 4, 2019
Animesh and Narain have been kind enough to post their pitches on venturewoods to get feedback and critique from the community.
Lets use this as an opportunity to discuss in more detail what should and should not be present in the pitch. Thanks Animesh and Narain!
Alok,
You can critique on the pitch i sent to you on the visual collaboration app. It will not only be a good learning aspect for us, but it also helps others who are pitching for angels & VCs. I as the owner of the document gives full rights to you do your critical analysis on it.
Hope this helps.
Hi! Can anyone plz send me an invitation to yaari.com at samaybhavsar@yahoo.com
Alok,
I am not sure that I agree with the assessment that attention to details is missing both among corporate managers as well as entrepreneurs in India. I am sure that, in India, we have bad managers and good managers as we have pretty much elsewhere in the globe.
However, in my opinion, Indian entrepreneurs do need to think far more seriously of a few areas: exit options, partnerships, risk analysis.
First exit options. M&As are today the most common exit option for early stage ventures given both the economic environment as well as the listing requirements. To exit thru a M&A, often a company needs to be positioned as such right upfront. Else when opportunities do present itself, they may tend to get missed.
Second partnerships. To bring a technology product to the market, typically a maze of value added partnerships is required both in the online and offline world. Often, businesses are drawn up on the basis of directly taking a product to the consumer which limits the market possibilities.
Risk analysis and scenario building. Successful start-up businesses often morph their business plans during the cycle. A good question to always ask “What if this scenario does not work…?” “what are the core competencies that I can leverage?”
What do others think about these? Are these typical areas of weaknesses?
Your offer of critiquing business plans is a great idea. So is your suggestion (in an earlier post) of developing entrepreneurial management courses. In India, we have very few indigenous entrepreneurial resources. When I was an entrepreneur, myself, I remember that I used to find the newletter from http://www.entreworld.org from the Kauffman foundation almost very comforting on a tumultous day.
But then we are making a start right now!
Alok,
The 10x part is exaggerated of course. But 3x-5x liq. pref was quite common during the bubble period. Liquidation Preference is a downside protection only so long as the exit opportunity is far in the horizon. But when it’s a near term certainty with a buyer ( or another VC ) lurking around, it’s an upside guarantee as well.