While there is a great deal of excitement generated by new consumer products – smart glasses, activity trackers, smart watches, arm bands and companies that make them – jawbone, google, square, leap motion, etc, entrepreneurs and investors still are shy of venturing into the space. There are some common misconceptions but I won’t get into […]
Content Marketing for SME’s
A Smart Marketer knows that Traditional Marketing no longer holds sway – Today is the Era of Digital and Content Marketing – Developing Relevant and Engaging Content for your Target Audience to drive a Profitable Customer Action(On Web and Mobil). If Content is King , Digital Marketing is Crown. Digital Marketing Strategies are closely connected […]
Tall Tales told by Grandmas and Venture Capitalists
“VCs look for Startups going after a Big Market with a Passionate Team and have an ‘unfair advantage’.” vs “A startup is an organization built to search for a repeatable and scalable business model.” If the organization does not yet have a viable business model, how can it have an “unfair advantage”? “VCs take pure […]
If only Abhimanyu knew ‘The Art of The Exit’ as well…
IIMB EPGP Students want to meet startups
IIMB’s EPGP is an intensive one year full-time residential program designed for mid-career professionals with 7 to 15 years of experience. During their placement process, some people are interested in pursuing their career with startup companies. With the intention of connecting these people with startup companies, they are planning to organize a event on 29th […]
Pitchbook – Quick review of Global VC 2013
Pitchbook has a review of global VC activity in 2013. Key message – activity continues to shift out from silicon valley to other parts of the world, overall a slightly down year, but rising valuations. India still remains small. http://blog.pitchbook.com/2013-sees-vc-valuations-rise/
What is the role of a Product Manager?
When hiring, I have quite often seen people confusing the Product Manager’s role with that of a Product Development Manager. These are two distinctly different roles and it is important to clearly understand these roles to avoid confusion and heartburn. The product manager is the owner of the product and plays a pivotal role in […]
Entrepreneurship lessons from the Aam Aadmi Party
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 […]