Contemplating Failure AI by Nightcafe The demise of their start-up was triggered by a phone call. Rajesh called Manoj to ask whether he could fund an overdue payment to a vendor, because “I only have 15,000 bucks in my bank account.” “I only have 5,000.”
Beautifully written sir. But I have a question that is troubling me for quite a while now. From the start of 2020 till now we have seen startups that have born and died in the short span. What I don't understand is how do the VC firms invest money in such ideas where a common person like me doesn't see any product market fit. To a layperson like me , it looks like most VC firms( not all) are only after one and only thing that is "VALUATION". The more the valuation the better it is , be it justifiable or not. To achieve this they put immense pressure on founders, and we have seen multiple accounting malpractices to achieve this. So my question to you,if I may ask, is this that What are your thoughts on this and is this hyper valuation culture sustainable? Thanks you very much.
And loved your recent podcast with Amit Varma Sir.
While the VCs do play a key role in this eco-system, earlier investors - angels like me - also invest in start-ups which fail. Part of this is definitely FOMO (the Fear Of Missing Out), when so many companies are becoming unicorns. For us angels, who invest really early, product-market fit is still several quarters down the road, and one is only investing in an idea, and the quality of the founder.
The pressure to achieve higher valuation comes from many quarters, and I dont think VCs are the primary driver; if I were to point fingers, it would be at:
- cheap money, which drove the hunt for yield, and money flooding into start-ups, and
- business ethics.
The horror stories that make it to the media, of founders fudging books to drive up value, are the exception - as is most news. For every founder who does this, there are scores who plug away at trying to build businesses, acquire customers, and report their financial status accurately and transparently.
Would it be possible to connect with Samrudhi. I am working on a startup in tbe same domain as get but the context is differebt. I could learn a lot more from her experiences and may be it would help me fine tune my services
Beautifully written sir. But I have a question that is troubling me for quite a while now. From the start of 2020 till now we have seen startups that have born and died in the short span. What I don't understand is how do the VC firms invest money in such ideas where a common person like me doesn't see any product market fit. To a layperson like me , it looks like most VC firms( not all) are only after one and only thing that is "VALUATION". The more the valuation the better it is , be it justifiable or not. To achieve this they put immense pressure on founders, and we have seen multiple accounting malpractices to achieve this. So my question to you,if I may ask, is this that What are your thoughts on this and is this hyper valuation culture sustainable? Thanks you very much.
And loved your recent podcast with Amit Varma Sir.
Thanks, Ritik.
While the VCs do play a key role in this eco-system, earlier investors - angels like me - also invest in start-ups which fail. Part of this is definitely FOMO (the Fear Of Missing Out), when so many companies are becoming unicorns. For us angels, who invest really early, product-market fit is still several quarters down the road, and one is only investing in an idea, and the quality of the founder.
The pressure to achieve higher valuation comes from many quarters, and I dont think VCs are the primary driver; if I were to point fingers, it would be at:
- cheap money, which drove the hunt for yield, and money flooding into start-ups, and
- business ethics.
The horror stories that make it to the media, of founders fudging books to drive up value, are the exception - as is most news. For every founder who does this, there are scores who plug away at trying to build businesses, acquire customers, and report their financial status accurately and transparently.
Sir
Would it be possible to connect with Samrudhi. I am working on a startup in tbe same domain as get but the context is differebt. I could learn a lot more from her experiences and may be it would help me fine tune my services