At the recently concluded India Internet Day hosted by TiE Delhi-NCR, there was an interesting session Co-founder /CXO Quest which was an outcome of members feedback on what they need.

The session was hopefully one of many more in the near future to help our members find the best connect and the right fit for their organizations or themselves.

Here is your opportunity to reach out to startups who are looking for their core team members and advisors Click Here

So if you have certain skills,experience and expertise and have always wanted to work in Start ups this may just be your chance.

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Although the World Resources Institute reports that low-income segments represent a US$ 5 trillion global market, entrepreneurs catering to low-income markets find that developing scalable business models is often complex and risky. There is often little or no existing infrastructure, and since India is a vast country, the culture changes every 100 kilometers. As a result, innovative business models that take into account challenges related to distribution and educating communities, for example, are important.

Early-stage enterprises that have high-potential ideas often lack the support required to develop and refine such innovative business models. These entrepreneurs face seemingly insurmountable resource constraints such as information asymmetry, sporadic support of varied quality, and limited budgets.

Read More on the Ennovent Blog –

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Over the last several years of being actively engaged in the entrepreneurial ecosystem I’ve had the fortunate experience of meeting some of the most high potential entrepreneurs in India. My own experience of working predominately at start ups right from graduating from college has allowed me to see a very unique perspective. Today as an social impact investor I’m often asked what do you look for in an entrepreneur or what makes an entrepreneur successful?

Is it that very unique idea? Access to funds? the innovative model? or a rocking team?? While these are definitely the essential ingredients that are very much needed for running a successful enterprise – eventually it simply boils down to one thing – Your Passion and how committed you are to go against all odds to see your dreams materialize.

The above thoughts are nothing scientific or path breaking but the purpose of this post is to remind ourselves that whatever idea or business opportunity we pursue first ask yourself – Are you really passionate about this? Are you willing to bet everything you have today and perhaps in the near future on making this work? Are you prepared to sacrifice, forgo a lot of your current comforts including perks, high salaries, opportunities to pursue your idea?

So before you start even building a business plan or approaching investors or quit your job. Ask yourself are you 300% passionate about your idea and willing to pursue it against all odds!!

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SmashUP! is inspired by the thought of giving startup entrepreneurs the centre stage in a platform that will converge different stakeholders of the startup ecosystem in India. It will be a giant mashup of creative energy, product showcases, networking opportunities and insightful agenda which will cover startup issues.

The SmashUP! atmosphere and format will encourage startups to bond in an informal, open and interactive culture that will enable them to share, collaborate, help them learn from experience and create new ideas.

Agenda Key Themes
•Startup Success – Stories of some of the biggest Startups in recent times!
•Startup Bootstrapping – Learn the art of bootstrapping
•Startup Failures- Big Lessons from failures!
•Startup Marketing – Marketing without breaking the Bank!
•Startup Nimble – Adapting to dynamic business environment!

Why Should You Attend?

•Mentoring Clinic – Opportunity to get one on one mentoring session with seasoned entrepreneurs and investors on your business challenges ranging from business plans, marketing, sales, operations, finance or fund raising.

25 Mentoring Slots Available
One on One Session for 45 minutes
Pre- Registration Required

•Investor Speed Dating – Opportunity to pitch to renowned angel investors and venture capitalists like Indian Angel Network, Mumbai Angels, SAIF Partners, Canaan Partners, Kae Capital, Spice New Investment Fund, Sherpalo Ventures, Helion Ventures & Many More.

5 minute Pitch Session
Opportunity to Pitch to Min of 10 Investors
Pre- Registration Required

•Power Breakfast – Opportunity to meet renowned charter members of TiE Delhi over an exclusive power breakfast session pre- matched for specific challenges you are facing in your business.
45 minute Breakfast Session
Anchored by one charter member and in a group with 5 other members
Pre- Registration Required

•Startup Job Fair – Doing rocking work as a startup and looking to hire key talent. Opportunity to pitch your startup to potential employees, partners or even co-founders!
20 Stalls
Pre-Registration Required

•Startup Showcase – Exclusive 5 showcase slots as part of the main agenda to showcase your startup and get the desired visibility & traction!
Nominations Open till 15th Jan
Top 5 will be selected by renowned Jury.

•Shout Fest – 1 hour session for any startup to pitch their company.
45 Slots
Pre- Registration Required

For more information and registration click here

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A couple of weeks ago I did a presentation at a Vilgro event in Jaipur covering the funding landscape for early stage enterprises. As entrepreneurs financing is a major challenge for most entrepreneurs especially in the early stages getting monies into the company and at what terms is extremely critical.

Hope you enjoy this long presentation on the different instruments and also tips on how to pitch to venture investors

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As entrepreneurs and professionals we are happy running our business, getting in customers, building teams, expanding operations etc. However for most of us, when we talk of numbers or finance, we feel its best left to the financial experts. While number crunching may not be our key strength as business owners and senior professionals we need to be on top of our finances.

Our upcoming TiE Institute session, we will cover this crucial challenge faced by all entrepreneurs: managing finances. If running your venture is like driving a car, financial statements are your dashboard and GPS. Do you how to read them, and where to pay attention? This session will cover financial statements and key financial ratios for entrepreneurs.

This session will help answer the common finance related challenges faced by entrepreneurs

• Reading & Interpreting Financial Statements
• Deciphering Key Financial Ratios
• How much time to spend on managing finances (vs. sales, product development, marketing…)?

The session will be conducted by a very experienced panel comprising of a finance expert and successful entrepreneur s who have successfully managed their finances and grown their business. They will share practical tips and insights for entrepreneurs on the critical aspects of managing finances and key financial ratios.

Key Speakers:

Ajay Trehan, Founder & CEO – AuthBridge
Ajay Trehan is a pioneer in modern background screening process outsourcing. He founded AuthBridge in 2005 and has built the company into a leading authority on background check management in India. Today, AuthBridge is a quality-driven, best practice company, delivering proven business impact risk advisory solutions to top draw clients, including Fortune 500 organizations.

Ajay’s perspective on the importance of risk assessment and mitigation drives AuthBridge’s culture of innovation and commitment to excellence. His passion for best standards in service and customer engagement has seen the company measure up to global quality benchmark, including ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certifications.

Before turning an entrepreneur, Ajay had a distinguished career with ICI India where he held leadership positions in operations and sales. His ability to recognize new business opportunities when markets and technologies are in transition also prompted him to co author CORE BPO, a business process outsourcing company that specialized in providing Business Process Outsourcing to the UK Real Estate Industry.

Darshan Bhatt, Founder & Director – CIAM
Darshan brings a unique blend of entrepreneurship, experiences, and conscious leadership. His experience spans education, international trade, fashion, design and IT industries. Darshan has been keenly involved in adult learning for over 16 years, has designed and led highly successful programs and contributed to institution building.He believes and works towards a transformation of education that is integrated, inter-disciplinary, and learner driven. He also teaches strategy , entrepreneurship, occasionally coaches CEO friends and provides strategy advice to their companies.

A management graduate from the first batch of NIFT (National Institute of fashion technology, India), he also holds an executive masters in international trade from the Indian Institute of Foreign trade (IIFT).

Program:

Registration: 3:30 pm to 4:00 pm
Session: 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Venue: India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road

Fees: (inclusive of taxes)
TiE Members: Rs 400/-
Non TiE Members: Rs 800/-

Given there is a limited capacity for this event, we recommend advanced registration. Click here to register and block you seat!

For further information contact Amit Kumar at amit@tienewdelhi.org or +91-9968452688

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Note: A version of this post was originally published on the Ennovent blog.

It is no secret that governments and large corporations often fail to adequately address the product and service needs of those living on less than $5/day at the ‘base of the economic pyramid’ (the BoP). Recognizing this clear market opportunity, many enterprises have taken on the challenge of bringing innovative and affordable products and services to BoP communities. While these enterprises are often branded as ‘social’, the reality is that despite their clear social contributions, they are just businesses responding to a high potential, yet fragmented, market.

Not unaware of the BoP market potential, this emerging network of triple bottom line-focused enterprises have attracted attention from angel investors and venture capitalists (VCs). Yet, despite the social and economic potential of these business, investors are following a fairly risk averse approach. Entrepreneurs often hear variations of the same line: “A solid idea, but it’s too soon for investment.” Fact is, despite their unquestionable social value proposition and strong financial potential, many early-stage enterprises responding to BoP markets have yet to demonstrate ironclad proof of concept – which leaves many investors uneasy.

This is the classic chicken-and-egg situation. Entrepreneurs need capital to build prototypes, acquire customers and reach a critical mass in the market; yet, investors will rarely support these businesses before the product and the business model is proven. Despite the global estimated BoP market demand of $5 trillion, many enterprises with truly innovative ‘game changing’ products and services fail to prosper – often because of lack of financial backing at the critical first phases. In addition to quickly flattening economic opportunity, this reality leaves low-income communities without the products and services they need to improve their lives.

Early-stage enterprises call for early-stage investors

In response to the clear demand for investment dollars tailored to the realities of enterprises working at the BoP, a recent surge of investors has emerged – willing to take higher, albeit calculated, risks. These ‘early-stage investors’ are more likely to take the market, technology and business model risks which are often necessary when supporting an enterprise in it’s infancy.

Recognizing the importance of these early-stage investors, in Spring 2012 Ennovent launched the Impact Circle

Read the full post here -

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Mini-MBA for Entrepreneurs – TiE Institute@TiEcon Delhi 2012

Do you have a great idea, know your product will be a hit, but are struggling with basics of building and running a venture? Believe your MBA friends have an edge over you? Worry no more, we have designed a mini-MBA just for you.

TiE Institute we will be hosting a series of sessions/workshops @TiEcon Delhi, covering critical aspects in areas such as fund raising, sales management, marketing, and so on. The sessions will cover the basics and deliver practical and tangible insights for entrepreneurs.

The TiE Institute sessions will seek to address questions such as:

How do I sell to large companies?
What key financial ratios do I need to watch to know where my business is going?
Can I generate a buzz with pennies to spend on marketing?
What are the meaning and implications of the clauses in a term sheet?
How do I recruit a partner or a co-founder and on what terms?

This year we bring to some of the most sought after topics:

FUND RAISING:

“It is not just about the Valuation – Demystifying Term Sheets”

Confused by the jargon in the term sheet? Did it Drag you Along, Preferred Participating pari-passu into Full-Ratchet bewilderment? Or never seen a term sheet? After this session, you will know the standard
clauses: what they mean, what to expect, and what to negotiate on.

Speakers: Bejul Somai, MD Lightspeed India, Vivek Agarwal, CEO, Liqvid, & Mukul Singhal, VP, SAIF Partners

SALES:

“Dancing with Elephants – Enterprise Sales for Startups”

How do you sell to enterprises? This session will cover how an enterprise sees your offering (and therefore how you should position it); how to structure your sales team; and how to map, penetrate and grow accounts.

Speakers: Navyug Mohnot, CEO, QAI Global, Mahavir Sharma, Director & Co-Founder, RAIN & TiE Global Trustee & Subinder Khurana, Chair, TiE Institute

ANALYTICS:

“You get what you measure – Building a Web Analytics Framework”

Even a simple tool like Google Analytics can be daunting if you have never used it. Even if you use it, are you using its full power, and leveraging it effectively for your business? Do you differentiate between vanity metrics and metrics that matter? Find out here!

Speakers: Pradeep Chopra, Co-Founder, Digital Vidya & Aloke Bajpai, CEO & CO Founder, iXiGo

HUMAN RESOURCES:

“Ek-aur-ek-11- Recruiting a Co-Founder”

Venture building is a team sport, and the right co-founders can help you off-the-ground and cover more distance faster. The wrong founding team or structure can however doom a venture. This session will give you tips on checking compatibility, defining roles, shareholding & compensation within co-founders.

Speakers: Visham Sikand, Founder, Plat5 Consultancy & Prashant Bhaskar, CEO, PlugHR

MARKETING:

“Creating a Buzz without breaking the bank”

You have a cool product and a neat story, just waiting to be discovered? Do not have a huge marketing budget? Learn how to get the story out for under $500.

Speakers: Amit Ranjan, Co Founder & COO, SlideShare & Varun Shoor, CEO, Kayako

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In the ecosystem one often hear entrepreneurs saying where is the money or from whom can I raise money from? And you ask the investors pat comes the reply where are the quality entrepreneurs or in our conventional investor language (investor ready deals). This change can only be brought about if both investors and entrepreneurs work together. While there is no quick fix to this, what it needs is a deeper understanding of where the other person is coming from and what are they constraints.

I mentor a lot of entrepreneurs seeking funding – my advice just put yourself in the investors shoes. Imagine if your friend approached you with your idea, business plan etc for funding how would you react? What are the questions you would ask, what would be your concerns etc? As entrepreneurs we also need to realize that while investors would love to fund every great idea, the reality is they are bound by fiduciary responsibilities and like entrepreneurs they also raise money from their investors (Limited Partners). So investors also go through similar fund raising cycles and raise funds with the expectation of delivering maximum returns to their limited partners.

Its definitely not rocket science but as entrepreneurs we get so consumed by our idea and business plans sometimes we forget to ask ourselves some hard questions! So what are those hard questions, that we should definitely ask ourselves before approaching investors, here a few to get the ball rolling :-

- Do I have the right team with the required skill set to implement this business opportunity?
- Have a clearly identified who my customer really is and what is the pain I’m solving for him or her?
- Size of the addressable market opportunity – Is that really mapped out or number from some report?
- Have I figured out who is going to buy your product/service and how much they would pay for it.
- Do I know why would customers choose my product or offering over others?
- Can I clearly articulate the key differentiators in customer benefits, not just an internal perspective on technology superiority?
- Do I clearly know how my service or offering will make money(example who will pay me, who will charge the customer, how, when etc)
- Do I know how I”m going to market and sell my products/services (Go to Market Model)?
- Do I know who I’m currently or in future likely to compete against and what is my plan to win this battle? (Remember that competition is not just those providing a similar solution to yours, but all those addressing the same customer need through variety of approaches)
- Have I planned for all the market risks, financial risks, business model risks, execution risks, etc?
- Can I clearly articulate what I intend doing with these funds?

This by no means is an exhaustive list only an indicative checklist of questions to which you should have clear answers too. In my next post I will dig through each of the questions in more detail and highlight some quick tips as well

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TiE Delhi-NCR is hosting the Deal Flow Session at TiEcon Delhi 2012 which aims to provide a one stop platform for high potential entrepreneurs to present their business plans to some of the leading national & International investors to meet their funding objectives.

The investors present at the deal flow session are an ideal mix of prominent Angel Investors & leading Venture capital firms who are keenly looking at investing in high potential businesses. Over the years, the deal flow sessions at TiEcon have attracted a whole host of prominent Venture Capital Firms, Private Equity Players, Angel Investor Groups and HNI’s.

The plans received would then go through a short listing & mentoring process led by a screening committee with representation from renowned Angel Networks and venture capitalists. Feedback and suggestions given by the screening committee will be shared with the short listed companies.

In addition, our Angel Partner – Indian Angel Network would also be keen to look at the shortlisted entrepreneurs for the IAN incubation services. We believe this exercise would give the Investor Community a platform to look at the interesting investment opportunities to bridge the last mile.

Some of the investors who have interacted or closed investments on the TiE Platform are:
Indian Angel Network, Canaan Partners, Baring Pvt. Equity Partners, Omidyar Network, DFJ, Matrix Partners, Seed Fund, Blue Run Ventures,Mumbai Angels Network, Erasmic Ventures, Ojas Ventures, Evolvence, Gaja Capital, Gujarat Venture Finance, SIDBI Ventures, Punjab Venture Capital, Google, Intel Capital, India Value Fund, New Path Ventures, IndoUS Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, Silicon Valley Bank, Sun Group, Motorola Venture Capital, Lumis Partners, One97 Mobility Fund, RVCF, Sierra Ventures, Helion Ventures, SAIF Partners & many more….

Companies that would like to present their business plans at the above forum would be required to submit the same by clicking the relevant link given below.

For Angel Funding

For VC Funding

For any other further information please feel free to connect with Upasana Sharma – Upasana@tienewdelhi.org Mobile-+91-9810078395

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