The Startup Journey

Accelerators, Incubators, Angel Networks, Seed Funds, Early Stage VC  Funds, Growth Stage VC Funds, Mid Market PE Funds, Buyout Funds, Large/Global PE Funds…. the Indian PE/VC Investor Ecosystem is getting more and more stratified and specialized each year. As a founder/promoter/senior representatives of a growth oriented company, its is crucial to remain updated on the developments in the investor ecosystem – at least once a year. Which is what the annual APEX PE/VC Summit & Awards ( February 13, 2013 at Mumbai’s ITC Grand Central - Parel) provides you in one power packed day long event. The Star Studded Speaker Line-up at APEX’13 includes: For The Big Picture: How about someone who was Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank Of India until last month? And Chief Economist-Asia-Pacific at a top global rating agency before that. For The Public Markets: How about the CEO of the Asia's Oldest and best known stock exchange , the BSE? About Private Equity: How ab...

Deepak Srinath of Viedea has an interesting post on the subject: ...the trend that has left me partly amused and partly concerned is the rapidly growing breed of entrepreneurs who are in the “business of mentoring and incubation”. I have interacted with many such “mentors” over the last few months and barring a few exceptions most have left me with the feeling that they do not have adequate experience or skills to mentor a startup. Some of them are barely out of college themselves and many of them claim to be serial entrepreneur s (on closer inspection, it’s more like ‘serial company starters’, none of which have managed to last beyond a year). It’s extremely worrisome that young entrepreneurs with smart ideas could be signing up such mentors, giving them equity and wasting a lot of time in the bargain. A good mentor is a critical part of an entrepreneur’s journey. A few tips for entrepreneurs from my own experience – ... 2. You may need multiple mentors on your entrepreneurial j...