It is amazing to note how many times we are hearing about ‘Social Enterprises’, ‘Impact Investments’ …nowadays. There is, or at least seems to be, a lot of buzz around money chasing Impact Startups. In fact, an article at VCCircle here talks of how the money has gone from $4bn to $12bn in just recent times.…More
Tag Archives: India
Opinion: The fundraising dilemma
Optimism levels are currently extremely high in India surrounding the elections. There’s a very clear undercurrent of expectation of a stable and decisive government which makes me wonder about the scenario of a hung parliament with no clear direction. While that is one of the possible outcomes, in most recent conversations, the positive expectations are…More
Opinion: Why a VC in a hurry is bad news
Mayank Khanduja from SAIF Partners has an excellent post up at NextBigWhat on an unusual but important situation — where a VC moves quicker than is sensible to offering a termsheet. “We all know of instances where funds move quickly to extend a term sheet, only to see it fall through at later stage, as some…More
5 trends that defined venture capital in India in 2013
We get into 2014 coming off a year that has been eventful to say the least for the venture capital market in India. In 2013, investors hunted for bargains, squeezed out exits and right-sized portfolios, even as the overall environment for dealmaking slowed down on account of internal and external factors. New funds raised for…More
Opinion: Venture capital’s summit push
It is now my eighth year in succession of claiming a great year for venture capital. I have been in the business for all of eight years. But then, I am also an amateur marathoner and a climber. And in all of these three trades, it takes years of perseverance to scale the summit. As…More
Opinion: Entrepreneurship lessons from AAP
The entire nation today is in a state of shock, of one kind or another, over the performance of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Delhi elections. Having become used to misgovernance and the prior failure of newbies in making an impact in the political arena, AAP’s success has come as a welcome reinstatement of…More
Opinion: How to be a successful intrapreneur
If you are a decision maker or an influencer in an established corporate organization that faces the challenge of adapting to market changes, you will want to learn about intrapreneurship. It is the process of adopting an entrepreneurial point of view in the context of an existing or established business that intends to reinvent itself.…More
Opinion: Shoot me if I ever say these things to a startup
I have been involved directly or indirectly with startups all my working life (except Celera which was a big company but with a startup spirit). And it’s amazing what kind of free and useless advice you can get along the way, particularly in the first three or four years. I am surprised at how startup…More
StartupCentral-Medianama Round Table: Before & After (Starting Up) – Part 2
Continuing with our round table series, read what our five panelists — Saurabh Khullar, Ideacts; Jiby Thomas, Quikr; Hrush Bhatt, Cleartrip; Saurabh Gupta, Phonethics; Naveen Tewari, mKhoj — had to say about their experiences in drawing up their business plans. Drawing Board – The Business Plan Nikhil Pahwa: Hrush (Bhatt), how did you go about…More
StartupCentral-Medianama Round Table: Before & After (Starting Up) – Part 1
The world has changed quite a bit since last November when Nikhil Pahwa, Medianama, and I pulled together an eclectic bunch of entrepreneurs for a round table discussion, the venue for which was Sequoia Capital India’s office at Worli. Our theme was ‘Before & After (Starting Up)’ and the attempt was to discover how five…More