Couldn’t have eaten my own dog food any better than starting the ‘Start-Up Cliff’ channel with my dear friend Utpal Isser. I guess it helped both of us to discover and learn the ropes of a startup even if this wasn’t my first venture. The fact that I have been an entrepreneur for over 15 years and yet feel the need for startup advice is testimony to how challenging startups are and why they feel like a cliff.
“Like a cliff, we go to the edge, look over and come back. And once you decide to jump in, what you see is a very sharp incline to travel.” Utpal Isser Audio Portfolio
Apart from the Start-Up Cliff channel which has had over thirty 20-Minute episodes, Nishit Mathur, Serial Entrepreneur & Startup Mentor has also been discussing start-ups in his channel ‘Exploring New Opportunities’. Check out the episodes here.
The conversations on these 20-minute episodes range from finding co-founders, first hires, company culture, monetisation, funding to meeting a whole bunch of recent start-up founders and listening to their stories. So here are some of my favourite moments from the start-up conversations.
Like founders beg for funding they need to prepare themselves to beg for the best human capital out there – Utpal Isser on Building A Great Team
I don’t believe in failing fast. I believe in failing convincingly.
Amarpreet Kalkat – Founder ‘Humantics AI’
The coachability of a founder is important especially when an investor is coming in very early. They want to assess if the founder is mouldable, is open to ideas or is the person too adamant on his own ideas and ways.
Richa Natrajan – VP Unitus Capital on Managing a start-ups funding rounds.
A Pitch deck is not a substitute for a physical meeting and interactions. It’s just a prop and a gatekeeper that allows you to get into the system.
Dinesh Tiwari – Investment Advisor on how to put your pitch deck together.
Start by hiring from within your own network, but hire those that can attract more talent. In general, in the beginning, it’s better to hire generalists rather than specialists.
Achyut Menon – Career specialist on how to go about hiring for your startup.
In India the advertising model and ad revenues don’t expand as much as one would like. So one has to look for other options for monetisation.
Nishit Mathur – Founder of ‘Online Tayyari’ on monetising your app
Angel investors are generally folks who would have loved to do some entrepreneurship but entrepreneurship is not for everyone. So by supporting the startups with their interest, contacts, knowledge they are in a way doing what they would have done if they had become an entrepreneur.
Ankur Mittal – Founder IPV on Angel Funding
The startup environment gets vibrant by the day. It’s so full of energy, new participants, new ideas, large rounds of funding and new unicorns. The conversations on startups will continue to be big on Mentza as the community develops day by day.
Download Mentza to become part of the startup community and join many such conversations that help us learn & grow together.
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