Rama Iyer

It's not a fair/straight question on which entrepreneur to pick, when multiple offers on table (meaning entity)...but let me weight in... In Horse & Jockey paradigm, i and may suave VC pick the jockey. A good jockey can always ride another horse & tame different animal if needed. A entrepreneur is the most critical in the entire value-prop equation, it may not be said out loud enough, talk is often of biz & numbers, but attention is always on the entrepreneur, will be a.. - ~ Good leader with humility ~ Ability to take in lot of criticism ~ Ability to understand and maneuver complex scenarios ~ Ability to take his founding team along ~ Ability to own up everything ~ Ability to absorb pressure I guess that's that, cant cram more here :)

It's both effective and challenging at the same time - to be emphatic and respecting the individual. ~ One typically would tend to undermine one of the 2 factors, if it's an important or critical feedback. ~ You can't not be respectful, that's a table-stake and given. ~ Now emphatics - this doesn't mean being loud or shout or repeat same thing hundred times. ~ In fact it's best to go slow, pace your feedback, but not mince words or go around the bush. ~ Be direct, reason out why the feedback, it's criticality and how it only helps grow the other person. ~ It's also imp, to highlight that feedback even though stems from current context/issue, but it's learning is more beyond and be looked at as a learning for the long haul. ~

Growth hacking, giving petty incentives to make download happen is passe... ~ Understand who your real users are & target few dozens to begin with. ~ Think about why these folks (Target Audience) will want to use this said App, what's the utility/need. ~ Think, at frequency the audience is expected to use the app - daily, wkly, monthly ? ~ Think if there are utilities beyond the core, for which users may consider this.. Minutely follow the users - ~ what their usage pattern are, do they see value of using it without any nudge or trigger. ~ are they liking the flow ~ are they likely to tell others, push them to try/use it If above flow works, then you have the right audiencce and you app is headed in the right direction.

Most people migrate into the VC world from the below channels - - Finance world - bankers, mutual funds, - Corporate world - CA/CFO, New Biz Initiatives, Corp Innovation. - Startup world - founders, entrepreneurs, startup ecosystem - Investment Community - angels investors For folks above- they know 1 or 2 things, rest of it has to be learned. So exposure to deals, deal carving, deal structuring etc. are key to eventually becoming a VC. Few to-do's: - Participate in lot of startup events. - Participate in demo day/pitch sessions - Listen in on startup diligence, term sheet reviews. - Learn investment stages/quantum/valuation/exits etc.. The above will pave the path for you to become a potential VC.

Sourcing opportunity & Investing is different for classic VC vs a CVC (corporate) I'll list things that we do as a CVC - ~ Partner with slew of incubator, accelerators, tech and biz schools - this is for the broad spread of net to get interesting ideas and some overlap. ~ Put out regular linkedin updates on what we work on - tech, domains; what's new; what areas we are trying to solve etc. This brings in very specific interest -or- pull factor of startups that think they solve this best Or are interested. This brings in the gold nuggets to cherry pick from. ~ Speaking at events and putting out news related to our innovation and investment, gets us some more specific startups that seem to match or of interest. Above works for us...

~~ Be Open ~~ Being open...is a very key aspect for a VC team to hone and build a culture of being uber open. It's important to do the below... ~ Be open - to different ideas. Funds have a very tight approach on - this stage, that industry & that much traction (which is ok), but it's easy to get trapped in a narrow zone. ~ Be open - to listening the entrepreneur fully. Give him his time and due. He is put a lot of effort and sweat, so be patient, let him finish, before you start your volley of questions. ~ Be open - to stories that may not necessarily be of your interest or investment theme (which is ok..), but keep some gun powder for good stories outside of your zone. In short.. Be Open.. Be Open and some more.... :)