Or more accurately – how does it feel to be “A VC for a Day”?
I spent a good part of Friday and Saturday last weekend at LBS’ annual Venture Capital Invetsment Competition.
The VCIC is one of the most innovative opportunities for MBA students to get aquainted with Venture Capital that I know of…
It began in 1998 and has survived the tech bubble and the dot-com burst. This year, it is expected to include 40 events across the world.
So what makes it unique?
“At the core of the event is a creative turn of the tables. Unlike business plan competitions in which students pitch their own ideas to investors, at VCIC the students are the investors, and real entrepreneurs pitch to them. It is a very powerful learning experience for both parties. Add to the mix a dozen VC judges, and you have what the VCIC website describes as a “win-win-win.” Students learn (and win cash), entrepreneurs connect with investors and VCs get an early peek at some viable deals.”
Sounds too good to be true? well, last year, a third of the entrepreneurs participating in the programme went on to raise $30M in venture capital! The average hit rate is now close to 20% and on the way up.
Upside? Some interesting deals for participating VCs, networking – of course, and a few hours of interaction with some very smart people (on both sides of the table – entrepreneurs as well as students).
Not surprisingly, quite a few competitors (students) end up at VC firms…Six VCIC alumni have gone on to participate in the prestigious Kauffman Fellows Program and there are many others in various VC firms (including Bill Earner who joined us last year).
As before, I thoroughly enjoyed the sessions and heard some really interesting ideas…including one for aero sports and another for mobile ticketing…I would definitely encourage MBA students (both, current and prospective) to find out more here.
March 4th, 2007
Posted by
Shantanu |
Venture Capital, What VCs really do |
3 comments
Guy Kawasaki has a great post on his blog about the CommunityNext conference where according to him, “speakers defied many conventions of tech entrepreneurship—in particular the ones that venture capitalists believe are “proven.”.
Guy goes on to say, “If you’d like to learn how these companies became successful without “proven teams, proven technology, and proven business models,” you’ll love this video.”
P.S. From Guy’s post: “Here’s a little factoid that blew my mind: both Fark and PlentyofFish have only one employee!” – amazing! (and fark is funnY).
March 1st, 2007
Posted by
Shantanu |
Miscellaneous, Venture Capital |
3 comments
Ben Holmes of Index Ventures recently gave a presentation at the FOWA Conference in London which builds a neat story around “Everything you need to know about Venture Capital“…
The slides are up on slideshare - worth viewing.
Saul Klein and Fred Destin have also blogged about this.
February 26th, 2007
Posted by
Shantanu |
Entrepreneurship, FAQs for Entrepreneurs, Venture Capital, What VCs really do |
no comments
John Scholes of the Catalyst group sent me their latest newsletter (Jan ’07) which had this nugget of a chart…
The chart shows how there seems to be no correlation between per capital income and/or GDP and investment in technology ventures…Interesting…
The report says that “…neither Income per capita nor GDP are useful for determining the level of investment in technology in European countries. Notably absent are Italy and Spain, who rank fourth and fifth in Europe in terms of GDP…”
Has anyone come across a similar comparison for N America or Asia?
February 7th, 2007
Posted by
Shantanu |
Venture Capital |
no comments
Came across this thought-provoking post by Basab Pradhan in which he talks about “flat world ventures” and how the traditional approach to VC “is leaving big underserved gaps in the market”…Although the article is largely about Indian start-ups and their approach to global markets, a lot of it is probably relevant to Chinese start-ups as well…
Basab defines “flat world ventures” as startups whose product or service is largely put together or provisioned in India for global markets. He cites his own company as an example which does research in India for the US market (there are of course others including Aranca and RocSearch - both run by friends and fellow LBS alumni, Hemendra Aran and Neeraj Bhardwaj)
Basab argues that the reason why flat world startups are underserved by traditional VCs is because of the fact that they straddle two worlds and “it is very rare that you will find a VC who is as familiar with the Indian market as he is with the US market.”
While finding such a person may well be impossible, the situation is not really as bleak as it looks…In most cases the entrepreneur (and his/her team) will have connections and network in at least one (if not both geographies)…so what they can look for is an investor who can complement their relationships and networks…reminded me of a report on the Indian VC marketby Alok Aggarwal, head of Evalueserve in which he talks about some of these issues… (see 4.3 and 4.7 of Alok’s recommendations) (also see “Another hot day…in an over-heating market“)
Another way of achieving that balance is to actively try and cultivate a network in more than one geography…this is even more critical as startups and markets increasingly becomeglobal and move beyond traditional VC boundaries…(see my earlier post on “Globalization – What’s it got to do with me?“ )
And I slightly disagree with Basab’s 4th point (re. what should VCs do?) where he says ”The reassuring handshake will get rarer, unfortunately.”…I think the opposite will be true…as global travel becomes increasingly feasible and economic, the value of personal touch in a relationship is likely to become even more salient…
February 6th, 2007
Posted by
Shantanu |
Entrepreneurship, India, Venture Capital |
2 comments
…aka “putting the value-add back in VC”
I dont have these words in my designation but I would like to think that I am part of the “value add” in Amadeus – something that every VC firms claims to do…some are true to their word…others use it to look good in front of entrepreneurs.
So how does one add value?
Keep Reading…
January 25th, 2007
Posted by
Shantanu |
Venture Capital, What VCs really do |
3 comments
