Tag: startup

What do Startups need to do for fundraising?

I am moderating a Panel discussion at Pune Startup Fest 2021 around the topic of fund raising.

Are you a startup founder with queries around #fundraising ?

Join me tomorrow (28th Feb, 2021) at #Pune Startup Fest’21.

I am moderating a panel discussion around the topic “What do Startups need to do for fundraising?”

Pune Startup Fest 2021 is in its third edition, continuing on the success of its second edition last year. In case you don’t know, its a fest organised by students of College of Engineering, Pune (COEP). This year ofcourse, it is happening as a largely virtual fest this year like all other events. In a way it has helped bring together even more and better people together as there are no travel constraints now.

Here are the panelists:
⏯️ Vatsal Kanakiya – CTO 100X.VC

⏯️Piyush Surana – Investment Principal, Tomorrow Capital

⏯️Honey Kithani – Co-founder, StartupsXchange and 10000StartupsIndia

⏯️ Karan Teckchandani – Representative from Equanimity Investments

If you have any questions which you want me to address in the panel discussion, please feel free to add in the comments.

Register here to attend the panel discussion?
https://lnkd.in/dVuumMM

Register here to visit Pune Startup Fest’21?
https://lnkd.in/drEgenU

#fundraisingtips#startups#startupfunding#entrepreneurship#festival#fundingthefuture

Who do smart people work for ?

“Smart people do not work for people who do not have their interests in mind and in heart.”
Truly great leaders create an environment where the employee feels that the CEO cares more about the employees. Amazing things happen only in this kind of environment.

What is the prerequisite for becoming a leader or a CEO ?

Many a times people answer from their imagination that the person needs to be selfish, ruthless, callous, conniving and manipulative. 

Nothing can be farther from truth if you really look around at the great leaders / CEOs around you. Leaders who have built amazing businesses and delivered successfully are also the ones who have been able to build great teams. They were able to build great teams because smart people wanted to work with them. 

Truly great leaders create an environment where the employee feels that the CEO cares more about the employees. Amazing things happen only in this kind of environment. 

I am quoting another gem from Ben Horowitz‘s book “The Hard Thing About Hard Things” where he talks about who do smart people work for. 

“Smart people do not work for people who do not have their interests in mind and in heart.” 

Ben calls this “The Bill Campbell Attribute” after the legendary Bill who he considers the best at doing this. 

And this is what differentiates leaders from wannabes. 

#leader #ceos #culture #linkedin #amazing #employees #people #book #inspirationoftheday #leadership

Story is the output of strategic work

Most often entrepreneurs talk about story and strategy as being separate – story is focussed outwards (for investors) and strategy is focussed inwards (for team).

Ben Horowitz says that is not how one should look at it.In his book “The hard thing about hard things” his point about strategy is very clear and goes like this

“In good companies the story and the strategy are the same thing. As a result, the proper output of all the strategic work is the story.”

The Hard Thing About Hard Things

If you try to build a “story” without having really worked towards it in a strategic manner, it will result in disconnect and eventually failure.

#leadership #successmantra #startups #inspirationoftheday #thehardthing

People, products and profits – order matters

“Take care of the people, the products and the profits – in that order”

Starting up is hard, building a business out of your startup is harder and being able to scale it is the hardest. 

This is what the legend Ben Horowitz talks about in his book “The hard thing about hard things: Building a business when there are no easy answers”. He has openly written about his traumatising days of scaling Loudcloud / Opsware, how the company almost went bankrupt multiple times and how he dealt with three major lay offs in its journey. 

The core of it is simple

“Take care of the people, the products and the profits – in that order” 

Ben Horowitz

Things will always be harder than you expect but never let that impact the way you treat people who joined you in the journey.  He shared an advice given to him by another legend Bill Campbell when he had to fire an executive –  

“You can not let him keep his job but you absolutely can let him keep his respect.” 

Bill Campbell

#leadership  #startups #inspirationoftheday#failures #respect #people #startupgrowth 

Did you steal my idea ?

In this article Wil Schroter destroys the myth around secrecy of ideas when it comes to startups. Often this has been the first thing I have heard ‘startup enthusiasts’ talking about – how can we disclose the idea to others – including VCs !

Will they not steal it and ‘execute’ it themselves. I try hard not to laugh at them and tell them that VCs have better things in life to do than going on a ‘idea stealing’ spree and ‘executing’ everything under the sun. To my amazement I have come across even senior folks who are paranoid about ‘protecting ideas’ and insisting upon signing NDAs etc. I hope people realise that almost all successful businesses are built on simple ideas and amazing execution. 

Startup is NOT just about an idea! It is almost entirely about execution.

Here is the link to the article – https://www.startups.com/library/expert-advice/getting-your-idea-going-share-your-idea-with-everyone