In the early stage, the founder can't sell(convince) a VC about the market size.
Each investor has an opinion (via fund thesis or liking or understanding) about a particular market, you cant change it.
So better look for someone who believes in your rationale of market size.
Humble request to Tier 1 funds / Global funds 🙏
Do not continue to engage (+ data request) with a founder once you have closer to invest in their competitor.
Either show courage to say that you are evaluating others or have some moral once you decide.
The thing which annoys me most about the startup & VC culture.
- Fundraising ability is respected more than the temperament of building a strong business.
- Early up rounds are celebrated more than strong PMF signals
- Growth is sexier than +ive unit economics
I do not understand why 🦄 startups without solving their core business model (+ gaining enough growth) launches a 2nd business/product.
I feel this more in India 🇮🇳 🤔
IMO, cleartrip is one of the best travel site till date. No one could beat their UI and smooth booking experience.
14 years, Raised ~60 mil$, Getting sold for ~40mil$
Lesson: Business has to make money, having a great product is not enough.
When I see "BITS Pilani" in a CV or Founding Team slide, I get a +ive feeling 🤩
Kudos to all the BITSian who brought this change to the Indian startup ecosystem in a short time 🙌
@bitspilaniindia
@BITSPilaniGoa
@BITSPilaniDubai
I am sure many non BITSian echo this thought
Let's start tweeting about 100cr or $100Mn Annualised Revenue Runrate (not the GMV) milestone rather unicorn valuation or mega round announcement.
Be a part of this cult!
Bansal sir played the most pivotal role in my life. Some students are bright, but many are like me, who are not, and for them a great teacher can make a massive difference.
I am the product of
@BansalClasses
and thousands more like me
Genesis of
#KotaFactory
Om Shanti 🙏
The first few hires in a startup are very crucial - they join because they like/know the founders or they believe in the idea.
They set the company's culture, so the right mix of young high energy generalists and domain experts makes a strong initial team.
Few folks from IIT & IIM have found a source in NY having OC in stock
90 of such units are about to airlift in 24 hours
I personally spoke to them an hour ago.Already a large part of capital is raised, please help for rest -
Twitter show the magic🙏🇮🇳
At the airport I met a salesman who works with south 🇮🇳 based 'pickle & masala' brand
Me: what's the yearly sales?
He says: only 600 cr (😟face)
Me: Boss...this is great...why u said like this?
He says: 2000cr. toh hona acha
Me:😲🙈
(humare founders ka khoon kab kholega😤)
For 90% of venture-funded businesses in India, $15-25 mil is enough to prove - pmf, unit economics, scale, and cash-generating business model. Those building with this mindset will survive all winters and thrive when the tide turns.
Founder sent me a flower and note
Wish it could undo a lot. Relationship building takes time but damaging doesn't
I can admit that when I was an entrepreneur, I too did mistakes but never took a step like this. Respect for him in being upfront.
Hats off to
@avlesh
&
@WebEngage
team 🙌
Total capital ever raised so - $6Mn and reached $1.5Mn MRR (Yes, MRR not ARR) and still money in the bank 🏆
#SaaS
from India, for India first and rest of the world 👊
🇮🇳 Need builders like them
We keep hearing, "hey I told you this company will fail, and see it happened finally!"
Probability of a startup failing is more than 90% so everyone mostly gonna be right.
"Being able to judge this will be successful rather failure, is the ability a VC need to have".
First two rounds are false indications!!!
Initial rounds of Venture funding (atleast Seed and Series A round ) does not mean anything.
Raising money is an important milestone in a startup journey but the First two rounds are false indications of any achievement or success.
Yesterday in a Blr founder/VC party someone asked what you are excited at the moment.
My reply (and I meant it) - I am not sure of Valley but In India 1st time seeing that founders are talking about growth and profit both can be done simultaneously. Many are marching in that
Series A void rising ‼️
Series A rounds of 5mil+ are getting tougher
VCs are comfortable doing large seed rounds on the story
But when the time comes to objectively evaluate a PMF or build a thesis on the market post-seed round traction, it is not the same.
For all my friends who do not believe in
#SaaS
for Indian businesses, kindly note FY 23
@Zoho
🇮🇳 rev. is ~$200Mn.
US is a big market, but India is not a smaller one anymore
Hat's off to
@svembu
& his team 🫡 for spectacular performance + without venture capital. 🙌
From the question on monetisation to 2cr. monthly ie 24cr annual runrate in just 12 months, and all this with limited capital and survival question
Hats off to perseverance and risk taking ability of
@lcbisu
and
@KukuFMOfficial
team
As
@anuragwho
said 10x in next 12 mos 🚀👍
VCs putting fees at risk and that too from a small fund (~17 mil fund) is rare (I never heard!)
The below thread by
@kaushikmkj
talks about the traits of people who started
@IndiaQuotient
As founders, we are crazy and entrepreneurs ourself
Lucky to be part of the team 😃
7/ Not IQ but
@sinhamadhukar
and
@anandlunia
loaned an amount of 1 CR from their own earnings to our company in 2016 as we furiously struggled to course correct a business that was racing against time.
And fortunately, we lived to tell this tale.
With last week's
#unicorn
🦄 rush, it is clear that India's homegrown seed / early-stage fund managers can spot and win.
@IndiaQuotient
- Sharechat
@BlumeVentures
- Unacademy
(I am sure this list will expand soon)
Let's make India proud together!
A typical path for 100x value is 6 rounds
Seed >> Series A >> Series B >> Series C >> Series D >> Series E
Multiplication in each round - 3 x 4 x 2 x 2 x 2 ~ 100 times
Need only two rounds with good multiple. If not early then later round can give this bump
My father and mother were detected
#COVID19
+ive 4 weeks back, both have recovered now.
They leave in Jodhpur alone, the initial few days were very stressful.
Learnings - happen when you lower your guard, don't ignore the symptoms, highly infectious, and good recovery rate
After raising a seed round ($1-5Mn) from an institutional VC, raising the next $10-20Mn should be the priority or discovering the PMF.
I am repeatedly coming across this particular question from founders.
My answer - 1st solve for PMF
This 🧵 explain my PoV.
Today my friend shared news about a new fund which has been launched, he told it is quite easy to set up a 100-200Cr fund these days.
My reply - Yes, the market is 🔥 so raising capital is easy, but generating good returns for LPs matters.
The same applies to startups too
I like it!
VCs reference check, it is important. More in today's time when a lot of capital is available.
One of the key question to ask, when going got tough how did your investor behave.
@IndiaQuotient
It's been 5 years into VC, and sometimes I get anxious. My takeaway is that this investing business requires a high degree of "discipline" and "patience". It's tempting to drift away
IMO, the same holds true for founders who want to build lasting companies.
Higher valuation at seed/series A is driven by VCs. They are solving for their fund size
In 🇮🇳, most tech & product ideas do not require so much 💰 in beginning
In reality more 💰💰 💰do not give extra runway
Limited 💰 keep U focused & set the right culture from the start.
Interesting comment (backed by data) by
@chamath
on E114 of
@theallinpod
(listen at ~40min)
Super successful VCs are analysts (folks from banking etc.) rather than operators (folks from startups-founders/product managers). The key reason is they have a commercial mindset.
Spoke to a team(2 co-founders) today. They have a 40% of equal split for the time commitment, and the remaining 20% is open as of now and linked proportionately to the money they invest till their 1st round is closed.
Amazed to see the maturity in today's entrepreneurs 🙌
In the world of entrepreneurship, borrowed convictions don't work for investors or founders.
The reason is, it's a very long journey.
You might be inspired by someone's idea or it's hot sector , but you can't sustain it for long if you don't personally believe in it. This is
I lost my dear friend today
@ravishkt
One of the most inspirational person I know, from Navidaya to IIT to Rhodes scholar. His passion for politics lead him to join the Indian express. India's most prominent leaders used to respect his work. Still very humble.
Om Shanti!
Destiny has taken away Ravish Tiwari too soon. A bright career in the media world comes to an end. I would enjoy reading his reports and would also periodically interact with him. He was insightful and humble. Condolences to his family and many friends. Om Shanti.
An important reminder for founders and VCs(myself)
Most of the time, initial 2-3 rounds can take a company from 0 to 100mil$ valuation but it is not an indicator of anything.
It's a signal of someone liking your story and another person's cheque writing capability.
100% on SaaS for India
- Indian smb & enterprises are buying from homegrown SaaS companies
- Within our portfolio, few are at ~100cr runrate
- One vertical saas has a median ACV of 50L (few giving 3-5cr)
- 500cr seems doable in India; it can bring meaningful outcomes for
It's time for India SaaS.
And by that I mean Indian software companies building for Indian businesses.
Growth in consumption, new age enterprises, local support and compliance are all pointing to the onset of a massive industry. AI of course is a major accelerant.
India SaaS
last week one founder shared a page from
#trilliondollarcoach
👇stuck my mind, Helpful in personal life too.
"Build a great relationship around trust, whether we agreed or disagreed. Trust doesn't mean you always agree; in fact, it makes it easier to disagree with someone."
I do not agree with
@kunalb11
point. Now a days we see many scaled ones too.
Entrepreneurs isn't new to most of India, building a sizeable profitable business is
Yes, 100cr+ profit !!!! (not adjusted ebita sabita nos. , real business)
@IndiaQuotient
1st company to achieve this feat. Many more to come 😀
Hats off to each team member of
@Lendingkart
🫡🏆
🎯 Bullseye!
@Lendingkart
has hit the target with an extraordinary feat of 6 consecutive profitable quarters! The result? A smashing 120 crores profit after tax in FY-23, solidifying their position as a fintech powerhouse.
#FinancialTriumph
Read more ✍🏻:
If we start talking about each nos. (revenue, expenses, funding, valuation) in Cr. (INR) rather than million dollars ($) half of the 🇮🇳 Indian startup ecosystem problem will disappear.
Beneficial for the company, founder, and VCs.
I have been running the India Chapter of
@F1RSTglobal
(Olympics style Robotics🤖Games) as a volunteer for the past 3 years - to find & prepare🇮🇳's best participants.
Super Proud to share the first ever "ALL GIRLS" contingent at the event! 😀
Please RT to support
#WomenInSTEM
Holy Grail of
#pmf
A real PMF sign is when your defined metric either improves or remains constant with time rather than degrading
The "early adopters" phase may give you a false indication. The way to test is scale a bit and track (keep repeating). In the early majority zone
Attended a family event and my cousin introduced me to his 6 yr old daughter as -
"Beta....yeah uncle
#shark
hai"
and she greeted me with excitement😊
It is clear that
@SharkTankIndia_
is well received among the Indian homes. Kudos to
#shark
for bringing respect to my job🥰
Few startup entrepreneurs build real business and lasting institution
In 2012
@anandlunia
&
@sinhamadhukar
set an audacious goal to build a real venture fund in 🇮🇳
Proud to be part of
@IndiaQuotient
team. Today we achieved 1st 🎯
Thank you to all the founders & investors🙏
Pleased to announce a significant milestone during our journey. We have returned 7.1x on our debut fund.
Thanks to all the founders and investors and colleagues who backed some nobodies when India used to be about who knows whom.
Many times, I receive a cold pitch email in a spamming way :
- Marked to everyone in the team (addressed as Hi all)
- Some crazy ones mark to other fund VCs and in Cc 🤣
- Marked in Bcc
I know you have to write to 100 VCs to get 1 yes, but this does not mean you do not try to
India's Samsara is
@fleetx_io
🇮🇳
- $5mil+ ARR
- 135%+ NRR
- 160+ customers with $14,000 ACV
- 30+ customers with $70,000$ ACV
- 6 mos CAC payback
Note: Getting built on Indian customers with a total of 6mil raised so far
@IndiaQuotient
another contrarian India
#SaaS
bet 😍
🌟B2C digital goods or online services !!!!
This category is emerging rapidly in India. Growing fast 🚀, great margin 💰 & large TAM (Bharat users)
B2C commerce (products) or services (delivered offline) has scaled. Flipkart, Zomato, and Urban Company created this trend.
Most
More closely I see the
#SaaS
journeys, 1-10Mn ARR seems more difficult than 0 to 1Mn ARR.
Also, 1-10Mn journey define the character of the company so it's more crucial phase.
Founder can't sell a VC about a market or its size
If you strongly believe and get +ive signals via your customer/business metrics then keep going. Be patient!
You just need ONE yes.
Many of
@IndiaQuotient
portfolios heard 100s of No before 1 Yes. It's repeating again 😇
In the early stage, the founder can't sell(convince) a VC about the market size.
Each investor has an opinion (via fund thesis or liking or understanding) about a particular market, you cant change it.
So better look for someone who believes in your rationale of market size.
Having a quality time at home with the parents 😀
Corona is not just the flu!
It's spreading more because now we are relaxed more, it's much stressful when near and dear ones get effected so better avoid being in that situation by taking adequate precautions.
FY22 nos. of 🇮🇳 Indian consumer internet startups is worrying me. It is alarming ‼️‼️
Most are top players in the category, running for 6+ yrs, have a strong brand, operating at the scale and still -ive GM 😮 or such a poor economics that no sign of future +ive FCF😰
.
@KukuFMOfficial
has faced questions from day one -market/pmf/..
However, they just focused on building & learning. Not only did they discover a market which no one imagined in 2018, but they are growing too🚀
Wish u prove everyone wrong. All the best👍
Seeing the confidence and chillness in the founders when they are reaching the +ive EBIDTA / FCF. They have the wings now 💸.
Interestingly, all of them reached here by hearing 100s of NO for the initial years.
@bhash
@OlaElectric
Awesome !!!!
I would love to visit, it will be great if you keep an options for kids and enthusiasts too visit like Nasa / Boeing offer. Truely inspirational !!!!
Sometimes your market surprises you. When we started monetization in Jan we thought we will touch 200 daily paid users by Sept. We crossed it yesterday 🚀
India is not poor anymore If you provide the right value to your users millions are ready to pay you today.
🇮🇳 top Edtech's raised tons of money on online story, now they are coaching classes.
Coaching is an old industry with known risks and rewards. A profitable model but venture scale is a challenge. Built with limited capital (PE).
What's the point of Venture investment 🤷♂️
Looking at the current market wrote a short note. This is my learning as a founder for 10 yrs. Key point:
Build to last!
Big or small & Fast or Slow should be your choice, not someone else.
Lasting happiness is in building, not the end destination.
Happy to share that we have concluded our ~$650mn Series F round raising additional capital from Temasek, Moore Strategic Ventures & Mirae at ~$3bn valuation.
We are thankful and excited to have them in our journey of building India's largest AI-powered content ecosystem.
Heard that in the US sales rep incentives are 40-50% of fixed salary. Not in 🇮🇳, the best that I came across is 30%.
Finally met a fantastic company today. Small though ~ 2mil ARR, they are following 50% incentives on the fixed. All the AE are hitting their 🎯
@gauravbhatnagar
@skirani
I disagree with you. I can't give examples on SM but in my life of 10 yrs of entrepreneurial journey, 5 yrs of angel investing, 2.5 yrs of full time VC - I have never come across 10x engineers who are the best team managers/mentors. Their hacking is their speed and individually.
Having a desire and plan to grow is not good enough.
You need to have a w-o-w / m-o-m growth number. Measurement, review, and course correction of this number helps in achieving the target.
One hack to get inbound VC interest at the seed stage is to write building in "Sealth" on a LinkedIn profile. All the analysts/associates will reach out to you 😜
Kuch bhi bolo
@sharktankindia
Season 2 companies are much better than the previous season.
Credit to
@SonyLIV
+ director & judges of the show for making a remarkable dent in the 🇮🇳 Indian startup ecosystem in the short span.
💯 with
@anandlunia
This sounds logical but when it comes to raising money (for founders) or writing cheques (for VCs), most do not practice it.
Strongly urge the founders to consider it, you have only one dart 🎯, VCs have multiple.
When I see a mad rush in the name of India
#SaaS
in likes of 'Khata', now 'Dukan/Shop' and soon will be 'bills'
I am reminded again and again that an alternative to them is not the superior competitor's product
Its 'No product' or 2nd close is WhatsApp or excel or phone storage
I am tweeting at the cost of annoying many VCs
IMO, most VCs look more like a stocker picker (love which can appreciate fast) rather than betting on disruptive & real businesses.
Surprisingly current investors behave similarly for up round of their portfolio co. rather merit
Most VCs think it's impossible to build a $100Mn ARR
#SaaS
business in India.
@fleetx_io
was at $100K ARR in 2018, which will cross $10Mn this year 🤩. Hopefully they will bust this myth by 2025 🏆.
"customers ki suno, investors ki nahi."
For me, fundraising by portfolio is a mix feeling. Most of the time, it does bad than good. Rarely came across the founders who have used it wisely.
@WebEngage
reached $20Mn ARR in 6 years by just burning $6Mn.
@avlesh
and Ankit are those rare founders. All the best!
WebEngage has raised $20m in Series B.
The round was led by Singularity Growth Opportunities Fund and SWC Global with participation from existing investors India Quotient, Blume and IAN Fund.
This milestone marks the beginning of a new chapter in our journey..
First Cheque II is bigger - 100k cheque at the idea stage with application to money in the bank in 30 days.
We love 1st time founders
Your skill impresses us more than your degree
For us your hunger matters more than ppt/pitch
@firstcheque
is your 1st 'YES'
Building a monetizable digital content business is difficult, scaling that is even tougher and creating a category + leadership is rare.
Kudos 🙌 to
@KukuFMOfficial
team for pulling this in market like India 🇮🇳
@IndiaQuotient
is lucky to be part of this rocketship from day1😇
Excited to announce that Kuku FM has raised $22Mn in Series B1. Today we are the largest audio subscription platform in India with 1.7Mn+ active paid subscriptions - aiming to grow it to 10Mn by 2023.
Thank you to everyone who believed in Kuku FM's vision.
50%+ of funded startups are not able to raise after 1st VC round
Then hit by series of challenges, most lose hope or burns out (like me) but
@hsgrover
& Vibhore cont., built a profitable buss., made money for everyone (inc. team, angels & VC)
Don't Quit. Real success story👇
The journey of the founder is tough.
For successful ones it is even tougher, they go through a phase (most likely multiple times) which puts a founder in such a spot that it gives a feeling of humiliation but in reality it makes you stronger.
So embrace it 😀
Unpopular opinion: I love my commute in Bangalore !!!
And I drive 🙃
My reason: hands are busy, so there is no distraction from the smartphone, and I enjoy listening to podcasts/talks
My commute to the office or meeting is between 20-30mins. IMO, this is an apt time to
Below graph makes me feel worried.
After 2.5 months of resuming the business, demand is just 20-40% in the country like China.
Founders of VC funded companies are too optimistic.
Happy to be part of a journey where Indian home grown VCs making real returns for their investors.
Hopefully some day I will be part of such journeys from last seat passenger to first seat.... 🤞😊
Amazed to see the Progress
@getsquareoff
is making, starting as a college project to
@CES
2019 winner. Prototype to selling ~10,000 units (350$ each) in just 2 years. Designed in India, made in china, sold in USA. Rare
@IndiaQuotient
portfolio 😎
I was wrong!
Had a couple of interactions with
@realkaranbajaj
in the month of July'18, I believed in the coding for kids (ran a venture on the same from 2006-16)
@whitehatjunior
had offers from Tier 1 VCs, even then he insisted to put a small check and be a part of 1st round
Returning capital to LPs (fund investors) is a real yardstick of fund performance rather raising large fund or up rounds of portfolios.
Congratulations to Inventus team for returning 1x through partial exits !!! 🏆👏
Superb and Respect 🙌 -
@samir_kmr
@paragdhol
@rutvik
Uber India Nos.
For generating revenue of 397 Cr, material consumed (direct cost) is 424Cr ie -ive GM
Sad to see that even after 9 years into the business, they lose money per transaction.
Consumer internet is tough in India 🇮🇳
One of good part of my job as a VC, when I say NO to an entrepreneur in the 1st meeting and share my critical feedback, founder says that it was one the best meeting with an investor and would love to be in touch for the inputs.