Under Promising & Over delivering is for Amateurs?!

Clearly, our entrepreneurial ethos and role models are going through a massive generation change. The quotes from Infosys founder N.R. Narayana Murthy that entrepreneurs in the 1990s took to heart included:

``Under promise and over deliver. Investors respect this.'' (On why Infosys gets the kind of valuations it does) 

"Revenue is vanity; profit is sanity; cash is reality"

and

"PSPD: Predictable, Sustainable, Profitable and De-risked"

Cut to 2015. Mukund Mohan, Head of Microsoft Ventures, writes:

Amateurs under promise and over deliver. They are the ones I hear always complain about valuations. They fail to realize that the “professional” entrepreneur friend they have is growing at an insane rate, but they choose to only compare “valuations” and dilution.

And what do the "Professionals" do to make "investors chase them"?

Professionals over commit and outperform. They are the ones that get the best valuations and are diluting very little. They push their entire team to crush already high expectations. They dont heed the “research” that says that it does not pay to over deliver. They crush their metrics on all accounts and deliver growth that’s off the charts.

The times are indeed changing. What do you make of this?

 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.