The Startup Journey

You can point to the articles by Prof. Sreekumar Rao in his Economic Times columns here If your life is mechanical, it is because you have made it so. Human beings have a great capacity for making anything and everything routine and eventually, 'boring'. ... Why do you go to your 'mindless' job? It is likely because it gives you a paycheque. With this paycheque - inadequate as you may feel it to be - you support your family, pay your rent, save for retirement and entertain yourself. At some level, you know this. At some time, you were aware of this. But this knowledge has become buried in layers of the 'routine' that you now complain about. Dust off this knowledge and bring it to the forefront. Keep it there. and here Your knowledge of your current industry gives you an edge that you can use. In every industry, even the shrinking ones, there are some companies that are growing and gaining market share. What can you do to make your company one of the...

Great post by the founder of Twitter and Blogger. Couple of interesting takes: Sometimes the threat is internal—an inability to execute on one’s opportunity. Friendster might be an example. When they turned down $30 million in pre-IPO Google stock, it was not a dumb move from a “capturing the upside” perspective if you consider they were the first big social network, and they had no real competition. It’s not clear how obvious the internal threat was, though. ...Sometimes the founders or other key people may just be done. This is actually quite common and drives a lot of small acquisitions. It doesn’t apply as much as companies get larger, because everyone is (eventually) replaceable—especially if the company is doing well. Arun Natarajan is the Founder & CEO of Venture Intelligence, the leading provider of data and analysis on private company transactions, valuations and financials in India. Click Here to learn about Venture Intelligence products that help entrepreneurs Rea...

Useful Quora answer by Seedfund's Mahesh Murthy At the friends and family round, you give out 5% to 10%. So your post valuations are typically around Rs. 1.5 cr At the individual angels round, you give out 10% to 15% so post valuations are Rs. 3 cr to Rs. 5 cr. At the established angels round, you give out 15% to 20% and post valuations are typically Rs. 10 cr or thereabouts. At the seed stage, you probably give out 25% to 33% and the typical post valuations are Rs. 25 cr or so. At the growth stage you give out 25% to 40% or so and your post valuation will be at Rs. 80 cr or so. At the late-stage you might give out 25% to 40% or more and your post valuation will be Rs. 150 cr or so. Arun Natarajan is the Founder & CEO of Venture Intelligence, the leading provider of data and analysis on private company transactions, valuations and financials in India. Click Here to learn about Venture Intelligence products that help entrepreneurs Reach Out to Investors, Research Comp...

Useful PPT (by Tim Dick of US-based Startup Capital Ventures) for entrepreneurs in fund raising mode. If it makes your head swim, you know you need to hire a good lawyer (ideally one does not do work for investors as well). Hat tip: Sidd Das Arun Natarajan is the Founder & CEO of Venture Intelligence, the leading provider of data and analysis on private company transactions, valuations and financials in India. Click Here to learn about Venture Intelligence products that help entrepreneurs Reach Out to Investors, Research Competition, Learn from Experienced Entrepreneurs and Interact with Peers. Includes the Free Deal Digest Weekly Newsletter: India's First & Most Exhaustive Transactions Newsletter.