Is lightspeed ventures a good choice for pre-revenue startups

Acquiring funding for a startup in india has become a hassle. I myself have been doing research on seed funding Vc's and angel investors. All they ask is pitch deck and LinkedIn profile. Which they don't even go through and just reply with an email saying we are not eligible for funding. On the other side US and other countries are getting funding at the ideation stage. I guess we can't even go for crowdfunding. Started building MVP, but halfway through the hurdle and unable to resume the development due to limited resources.

Do VCs also have this underdog spirit? The early-stage VC, take a lot of risk in investing at a pre-revenue startup. How do they scout such founders? What are the key attributes they look for in the early-stage team, which are pre-revenue and have an MVP?

How do you evaluate the risk and the potential of the offer from an early-stage (seed stage done) startup in India? For example (hypothetical), a seasoned leader / founder is starting a new startup in fintech industry (e.g., next zerodha, etc). They raise 10 million USD at 30 million USD post-money valuation. I took fintech as example specifically to ensure it's not only engineers that will be needed from the beginning. * Now, If I were to join as a founding team member (founding engineer for example), what kind of salary, ESOPs one should expect as minimum? * If I were to join after 2-3 engineers are already hired (so not founding engg anymore), what is realistic expectation? * What are some questions I must ask to evaluate if the offer and equity I am being given is good or not. (I know there's probably no way to generalise a "good/bad offer" as that likely depends also on very specific situation of the startup - like what problem is it trying to tackle, and what is the potential of it, etc. So feel free to share your experience as well if not advice)

Hello! As someone who works with startups (not in)and has a well paying job, I am often intrigued and keen to invest money (say a few lacs, and provide some mentorship) as a micro angel investor in early age pre series/ seed rounds, to try my hand. Not talking about becoming a LP or joining a VC/PE. (I know the pros and cos, the glamour and the ugly pieces) . While there are some fintech startups where you can invest as low as 5000/- in a startup, I believe these aren’t for me. Any guidance on how I begin. (Apart from- go out there and network with startup founders and events) ?

Hello! As someone who works with startups (not in)and has a well paying job, I am often intrigued and keen to invest money (say a few lacs, and provide some mentorship) as a micro angel investor in early age pre series/ seed rounds, to try my hand. Not talking about becoming a LP or joining a VC/PE. (I know the pros and cos, the glamour and the ugly pieces) . While there are some fintech startups where you can invest as low as 5000/- in a startup, I believe these aren’t for me. Any guidance on how I begin and any learnings? P.s have posted under finance section too. But thought might get some guidance here too!

Hey guys, I am currently struggling with my startup and it’s product launch. Having talked to most of the VCs and getting ghosted, what should I do? I have built the product and it’s ready to be launched, have a small team but I am a solo founder. Applied to YC and even got referral from 2-3 YC founders, still no interview. Looking for $500k. Let me know if anyone knows anyone ❤️

Has anyone applied to YC? If yes what was your experience, what all have you done before applying to YC? What was your market segment? Any other stories and gyaan related to applying and working with YC please!

At Nexus(our startup), we're passionate about revolutionizing the way people invest in Stocks and crypto. But as any startup founder can attest, the path to success is often filled with obstacles. Recently, we encountered a significant roadblock in our quest for funding. A potential investor turned us down, citing that hit us hard: we didn't have a fully functioning MVP. Now, you might be wondering, what exactly our MVP was showing? Well it wasn't the flashy trading platform we dream of. Instead it considered a basic interface with stock prices displayed here and there. The cold reality is that users couldn't buy or sell any assets, nor could they access other advanced features. Why, you ask ? The answer lies in the complex regulatory landscape of the financial industry. To facilitate the trading functionality, a platform must obtain a SEBI license. This license requires rigorous compliance with financial regulations, and crucially proof of "financial backing". Investors won't understand that we need a significant amount of funding to take off. Without it, we'd be swimming in the shallow waters.

Go ahead, ask if we pushed founders to commit fraud.