Thoughts on a new reality show for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Reality showfication is happening for everything - Now startup ecosystem is the one with big investors on board

I am building something, say like a social network, for the consumer where they will use it. Now, I don't feel good raising from any VC because of their heinous nature, Can I raise pre-seed funding for my startup via equity as tokens worth 1 lakhs- 5 lakhs for my own customers to purchase and minimum hold for 3 years as investment? (Given the value proposition and vision aligns with their customers) Is this possible? Ofc. Yes. Questions: Is this legal? If not, can it be made legal via some procedure like crowd funding? Unlike, ICO.

Been long since I wrote here. A casual post to discuss anything startup/VC related. Which startups are doing good, which ones not too good. Especially if you're a founder - how is the market feeling? My pov: despite the excess capital with VCs, funding is still very much dry. For a bit during the last year, there was a flurry of investments in SaaS and AI. Even that has dried up now. Slowest I have seen. Why: I think there's no push factor to invest, there's a lack of people starting up (vs. previous years). Awaiting some inflection point, so that things kickstart again.

Share your billion dollar idea that you are sitting idle on.

Hi all, I graduated from IIT Delhi and have been working at well established startup since. So for a while I have been wondering why we don't have any deep tech startups doing innovation. Don't get me wrong, there are startups doing innovations but not the kind of innovation which we would call industry shattering or taking the level up a notch. Most of these innovations are just integrating what others are doing in an aggregated platform. I again wondered this today when I saw cognition launching Devin the AI software engineer. They have a pretty small yet highly talented team. We in India too have highly intelligent folks educating themselves in CS, why don't we have this mindset (even I don't have this mindset). Is it about the difference in culture or a sense of security that folks in the US have that helps them be free from an economic point of view and try innovative things ?

How are startups competing in the same space on almost similar products and raising a lot lot of money on almost similar products 😮. How to be better than competition if it's almost similar product that everyone is offering especially in FINTECH with plug and play APIs? Opinions?

Just completed watching 70% of the show and it is truly amazing. The show is unique and innovative compared to Shark Tank, Indian Angels etc. The challenges/competitions and especially feedback/conversation with investors after completing a challenge is truly a new kind of learning experience even for viewers. 1000% better than many Entrepreneurship courses out there. The show gave me some new learnings and perspectives as a whole. Definitely worth a watch especially for the conversations between investors and founders.

Have been an entrepreneur since college days. Went full time on same idea and worked on it for a good 4 years full time before starting something new, raising some money, later pivoting (fucked up here) and eventually shutting shop last year. Life has been tough since then since there is no clarity on what to spend next 2-5 years on - acquisition offer falling apart, tried looking for jobs but didn't finalise and later did a bit of consulting (good pay but didn't really work out). I now have a few good conversations going on right now - leading product & EIR/Founders Office. What do you suggest would be an ideal thing to do? Profile - Solid Generalist. Non tech. Money ain't really an issue right now but can't stay dependent on savings for so long - its stupid. PS - If you or someone you know is hiring, please reach out. Happy exploring ideas as well.