I see a lot of founders requesting 15min time from me for quick advice. They are clear that it is not a funding pitch, but, more to get my opinion on some of their questions – is this a right market, whether idea has legs, customer size, product feedback, etc. Based on who is requesting, I tend to allocate time for few and discuss, which usually goes for 30min+. I know that 30min is not...
My job is to meet as many founders as possible to see whether their startup matches our mandate to invest. Any meeting of startups, where, there was no pre-qualification (say at an event or a conference or at a friend’s place etc), most of these meetings go this way: Founder: I am the founder of the startup …. I started this journey… My cofounders are ….. We want to build...
As part of my job I meet a lot of startup founders. These Founders, despite numerous job options, have chosen entrepreneurship as the way forward. They are dead serious about their startups; highly passionate; and very hardworking. What bothers me the most is that many of the Founders don’t critically think through what makes teams and companies fundable. All founders must critically assess their...
The world has been witness to several movements that have changed the face of history. India is not alien to these – Mahatma Gandhi’s silent revolution that finally led to Indian Independence is a shining example. About 18 months ago, a group of software product entrepreneurs got together to charter a course that would make India a Product Nation. Today, those 30 early pioneers of iSPIRT are...
iSPIRT has over 40+ volunteers who belong to different organizations. The volunteers are working on many initiatives that are complex, need a lot of analysis/thinking, experimentation, and outcomes take time. Currently, iSPIRT internal communication and interaction has been happening via email, google docs, attachments, etc. The current set of tools have worked so far, but, we need a...
I have been interacting with various startup teams over the last several years, predominantly around ideation, product-market fit, funding, scaling, and strategy aspects of the companies. Before I was an investor, I spent a lot of time around product creation with two successful startups in the Silicon Valley and managing business in a large Internet company. In recent times, I have been spending...
