100% agree. Also every VC introduction just sounds the same. No uniqueness in any of them

Software Developer

If you go to VCs, they’ll low ball you and just give you gyaan. You want them to come to you

Founder

VCs are just peling gyan all the time. Chatur Ramalingam peak

Product Manager

VCs feel everyone who walk up to them are going to ask for money. There is an air around them. The conversation feels like a favour.   I understand from their PoV they are bombarded with pitches bu...

Welcome to Indian Startups's Private Community

VCs feel everyone who walk up to them are going to ask for money. There is an air around them. The conversation feels like a favour. 

I understand from their PoV they are bombarded with pitches but seriously when do you have normal conversation?!

I have stopped interacting with VCs in public events.

I have stopped interacting with VCs in public events.- Grapevine

Hi all,

This one’s specifically for those who are in college or graduated <2 years max. If you’re building/brainstorming/raising funds or doing anything related to a startup - pls hit me up.

We’re looking to fund student founders with a very small cheque size. Thanks!

PS - Student founders/recent grads only,pls. Thx.

Student startups raising funds?

Sharing frustrations with starting up a business. In my career I have raised over $30m over multiple rounds.

Co-founders in non-business roles get pushed out by politics. Sharing control with co-founders is messy, inconvenient, time consuming. Money lets you hire people who have to answer to you.

If you are not the main ‘Business person’ in a startup high chance you are disposable, no matter what skills you have. And it sucks to spend so much effort only to get bullied out and left with nothing.

Some investors will follow you on social media, if your business is not growing QoQ don’t post anything on social media that implies you are not working every weekend. They will ask why you are not working.

 If you are CEO, be ready for every random person to tell you how to run your business. Not in a ‘friendly advice’ kind of way, if you are the CEO you have a target on your back.

 Investors don’t know about your industry or have very dated knowledge. Some will just say random tips like ‘try web3’ or ‘try SaaS’ and blame you for following their advice when it fails.

 Your progress is measured against fraud companies who fake numbers, or the 1 in thousands who succeed. Get made to feel like you are failing to live up to super high expectations constantly.

 Employees work half your hours, off sick usuall one day a week, deliver next to nothing and expect 20% hikes every year because that’s what their friends make, or they read some dumb startup hires freshers at 20LPA. 

Smooth talking people with the same idea as you, no traction, never shipped a product in life, will raise a huge seed round due to 'pedigree' and spend it all on self promotion. You will always be compared to these clowns who find ways to lecture others while building nothing of value.

Dark side of starting up.

So much truth in everything you’ve written 
 “your progress is measured against fraud companies who fake numbers”  
  
 This has become just more prevalent over time. Confidently advice learnings from startups that are faking GMV or PMF metrics :)

Investment Associate

Investor

Is this behaviour by VCs very common in Indian startup ecosystem? Have heard of more such stories from founder friends

Project Manager

If you have been through the process of raising funding from VCs, whats been your best and worst experiences?

Experience with VCs

Welcome to Business Roles's Private Community

Hey everyone. 

Thought I could do an AMA. A bit about me - have 4 years of work experience and graduated from a non engineering college. Was at a startup before (from Series B to Series D) before becoming a VC

Personally look at consumer and B2B investments here 

Happy to answer any questions around life as a junior VC, startup ecosystem, career growth etc.

AMA: I work at a large VC Fund focusing on early stage investments

This is the biggest problem with VC ecosystem 4 yoe kids taking calls on experienced, hardworking founders. Dude first learn the game then invest , judge people playing the game. VCs know nothing about how to run startups. Unless they have been entrepreneurs themselves. IMO It's a colossal waste of talent to become a VC for young PPL.

Software Engineer

Looking to find startups that may not have even started operations. Theses that you guys find interesting. People you know who are building. Would be helpful to know 🙏🏻

Interesting early stage teams/startups?

What can be improved? Not people specific, but what you feel is wrong about us consistently across most conversations you've had?

Founders/Ex Founders on Grapevine, what can VCs get better at?

Recently met a few VCs. Why are so many of them so stuck up and have entitlement issues

A masterpiece 🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻

Corporate Strategist

Kya dikat hai bhai, udane do paisa. Tumhare thodi hai. 

Good firms genuinely perform well and return money. The ecosystem is not forgiving -- you don't survive very long if you don't create any big wins. It's an extremely high stress job with very little WLB. You do make money but it comes at a cost.

Layoffs are sad but at least those jobs existed in the first place? They wouldn't without VC money. India's VC scene is extremely young and it'll take time before we produce a Google. Entrepreneurs are not always right, they are not always nice either; but they definitely are courageous.

Unpopular Opinion: VCs get a lot of crap for no reason

VCs kill many startups with unrealistic targets that the main problem. Not every business is designed to give ultra quick returns VCs want . They ruin well potential startups

Image source: https://twitter.com/f6ary/status/1712505898688528719 

I used to work with one and always thought he was like this wanted to know if anyone had any experiences like below with them here?

Anyone had any experiences like this with VCs in india?

Any Grapevine Op working as a VC currently? Need some help.

Any VC here?

Vcs whenever founder ask for help

Welcome to Product Managers's Private Community

I have been on this journey for a long time now. Lots of failure comes with loads of learning. Each step or initiative I took has helped me grow as a person, the business guy (ed-tech, media space), and also in terms of technicalities (full-stack product management, hardcore hands-on into technology and I love user experience)

Ps: currently running an edtech startup in pre-seed/seed stage

Feel free to ask anything, would be happy to help even personally

5 years of failure (Entrepreneurship) AMA

VCs then vs VCs now

Second meeting with the guy, thought his outlook might improve because we had better numbers than the first meeting (few months ago). Didn't even remember the first conversation, or our business, didn't do any research on our startup or industry before the meeting. Kept forcing opinions on me instead of listening, same as the first meeting.

Extremely rude and a waste of time. He said many things no founder should say, that too for another founder.

(Pitching is difficult as is, rejection is common and it's very easy to get demotivated)

When I said I'll share my experience with other founders and startups so they don't engage with that platform, got a reply saying they'll send me a defamation notice if I do, and will also tell other investors in the community that we are doing this startup as a "hobby" and no investor will come onboard.

It's amazing to see the kind of arrogance some people have, especially in the investor and VC network. Would have loved to name and shame him but I have better things to do than to get into petty court cases with assholes. 

Fellow founders, please be very careful and choosy with who you talk to about your startup's fundraise. Indian VC ecosystem is mostly a circlejerk and a shitshow. You're better off raising from friends and family and even individual angel investors than trying to bargain with devils in disguise.

I will most likely stop pitching for investment altogether and focus on growing my profitability than waste time convincing idiots who'd rather throw money on pitch decks without an MVP and startups without PMF, revenue or profitability.

/endrant

Defamation notice threat: Pitching in India

Fuck the defamation notice. Don’t take shit from anyone, if someone crosses their line, reply to them then and there, so that you never think about that again. 
  
 VC and angel market is big in India now. No one has full control of the full ecosystem.  
 This is not Bollywood and there is not Salman khan and Karan Johar. 
  
 Here even fraudsters are getting second chance. Keep building.

Generalist

Something I've found very frustrating while pitching to investors, platforms and funds is that so many of them actually just bait and switch.

They pose like gyani people earnestly looking for investments or helping entrepreneurs, but when you speak to them they start selling you their services.

Fundraise is apparently just a step away, need to signup here first, or create xyz report first, or do outreach to xyz number of people, or do market research and fresh pitch deck creation, or hire xyz consultant/agency to get to the "next level" - basically a bunch of barriers you need to pay to clear despite having a profitable business with paying customers. 

Fact of the matter is there are plenty of people raising money based off of pitch decks with no MVP , or even just the right conversations with the right people. But they are rare and hard to find organically. Requires lots of networking and connecting dots over months and years.

The point is, this selling in the guise of securing investment is tiresome and a waste of time for most entrepreneurs. They probably do get a few suckers occasionally which helps them stay afloat I guess.

Some of them might even take your ideas and start building something of their own or back someone to build it under them. Once you start pitching, the deck starts floating around in VC groups and networks mostly beyond the reach of the average entrepreneur.

Considering all this, just keeping one's head down and bootstrapping forever in peace seems like a better approach.

I have stopped interacting with VCs in public events.

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