Entrepreneur's Corner

SZE, the company founded by Sheena and Zeena, was 2 years old.  SZE provided special technical inputs and services to colleges. The founders now wanted to expand and bring more colleges into their client base. For this they would need to invest more money into the company. They were unclear about a) the quantum of funding that they should raise and b) about the process for fund raising.They met Gyan, who was known to be somewhat of an expert in the funding scenario.Gyan asked them what the money would be required for. This could broadly be split into two buckets,…

Sigma started a new company, he and his father were the initial Directors. He had saved some money in his career and invested some of his savings in the startup. Equity for advisorsSigma knew a couple of experts, Pie and Rho, who had a good reputation in the industry. He decided to get them on board as advisors. He spoke to them and they also agreed in principle to associate with Sigma. Sigma then started thinking about the compensation that he could pay to Pi and Rho and other professionals that he wanted to employ. He realized that their normal…

Bengaluru is seeing churn and activity in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Recently, I have come across a couple of mid-size and small companies seriously looking at options to merge. The world is changing rapidly and entrepreneurs want to seize the moment. M&A is seen as one option for the smaller companies to consolidate and address the challenges ahead. Some deals work and some do not succeed. Here is a quick first-cut of the framework that I have put together when looking at any investment/M&A planned; the PBRT framework. It is so named, because of the memory tag... PBT (profit before tax)…

This year has seen some great moments for India and Indians.. and some really low times. Through much of the year, predictions were being made about how we have some of the best years of growth ahead. However ... the last few months have left us with a sour taste, we have seen one scam after another being reported and discussed. These have touched almost all of us in some way or another. Many names that we held in high esteem have been dragged into this. Media persons, politicians, corporate czars, bureaucrats... trusts, NGOs, the list of individuals and groups…

Getset and Go decided that they did want to sell a stake to Zing.  They went back to Gyan and asked him for his advice on how they should proceed.Gyan, "While you have Zing Group interested in your company, you need to make sure that this interest is not lost by carelessness on your side or due to lack of proper preparation. Many entrepreneurs lose out on deals or on valuation, due to issues, which could be easily addressed. In fact, at a recent workshop in Bangalore, a couple of entrepreneurs mentioned that they should have planned their sale of…

Getset and Go decided that they did, after all, want to sell a stake in their company to the Zing Group. They went back to Gyan, their advisor.Gyan, "Looking at this in a lighter vein, you have now moved to Level 2, in this game of selling your business. Level 1 has been completed; the result - you have decided to go ahead with the possible sale. As you move on to Level 2... you need to answer the next set of questions and get into this game in much more depth." Getset, "Oh Gyan, not again... more questions?"Gyan, "…

Getset and Go were getting tired of running their business. Theirs was a 5 year old company, started with enthusiasm and a high level of energy. But ... 2009 had been a bad year. Orders had come in... at a very slow pace; money had come in... at an even slower pace. Things, however, now seemed to be looking up. The market was slowly improving. In fact they even had an offer from the Zing Group, who wanted to invest in their company, perhaps even buy them out over a period of time. It was now decision making time for Getset…

This is the time for New Year resolutions. Often made...So maybe we can do this with a difference as we enter the new decade. The one thing that this decade gone by has stood for is change! Change in the way we look at the world, change in what we took for granted. There has been a shift in equations, from the West towards Asia. We have had a President in the US who is different, a woman winning the Nobel Prize in economics for the first time, an Indian Olympic Gold... and much more. Social networking, twitter.. and mobile…

As an entrepreneur/founder you have many choices when you set up your company. One of the first few things you may like to think about is the employee policy and salaries. Gyan, the business advisor, recently met a few company founders and they informally discussed this aspect. One of the points raised by John, the founder of a high-growth, four-year old company, was that there have been enough and more debates about the top of the pyramid salaries in recent times. He wanted to take a different line of discussion in the meeting ... and look at the salaries down…

Today (October 27, 2009) at the first day of the NASSCOM Product Conclave and Expo 2009, it was good to see the level of interest in startups and the product ecosystem in Namma Bengaluru.  Participants were a mix of start ups, large corporates, evangelists, VCs, academicians and of course The Press. I also met entrepreneurs who had come from outside the city to attend this programme. Guy Kawasaki, MD, Garage Technology Ventures delivered the keynote address. I missed some of it, but  caught the tail bit where he said that "experts" could also go wrong. He gave examples of how the…