I've been in early stage investing and an entrepreneur for a good while now. There are two sides to a coin. For every success that one sees in startups, there is a graveyard of 10.
Aspiring entrepreneurs must be aware of this as these would give pointers to what succeeds. It also points to the fact that must not be blinded by the idea if traction does not occur and carry on creating frustration within. It is a fine line one has to tread. On funding, it is true that seed funding is not as easy in India as in the US but it has got a lot better in the last 4 years. Angel investing is not as evolved either. There is a large gap between $100K and $1M where players are very scarce. If anyone wants under $1M, it is a tough ask. Entrepreneurs in India must strive to funds themselves far longer than their US counterparts. -- Mohan Sundaram On Fri, Mar 4, 2011 at 12:01 AM, Arun Venkataswamy <[email protected]> wrote: > Point well taken... > But- The fact is that they will evaluate your abilities to show revenues. > Showing revenues is not only about a great idea. A business has to be built > with it. And generally, the experience will come from the VC's side if you > dont have it (read share). > > On the same topic, nothing related to the original post. > Just a note - I attended a seminar conducted by Hindustan Chamber of > Commerce 2 months back on Venture funding. > > Quick fact : VC funding in India - > No. 1 sector : Financial services > No. 2 sector : Core industry > No. 3.sector : IT and IT enabled services (less than 20%) > > Investment phase : > More than 70% of investment by VCs were made in the secondary grown phase. > Extremely small percentage was made into startups. > > VC funding in India is very very different from the VC funding in mature > economies. I was pretty surprised by the facts and figures shown during the > seminar. > > Arun _______________________________________________ ILUGC Mailing List: http://www.ae.iitm.ac.in/mailman/listinfo/ilugc
