In today's competitive landscape, it is crucial to bring your A game when developing a pitch deck for investors, particularly in the realm of startup funding in India.
To aid you on this journey, we have Dilnawaz Khan, the founder of Codesign Labs and Power Deck, who is also a Subject Matter Expert on Pitch Decks, Startup Fundraising, and Lean Startups. Our conversation with Dilnawaz touches upon vital aspects such as when to create a pitch deck for investors, balancing narrative vs data, understanding the investor's perspective, identifying common traits among the best pitch decks globally, approaching an angel investor for startup funding, and much more!
This insightful discussion is not to be missed by aspiring or first-time founders looking to navigate the world of lean startups and startup funding in India – ignore at your own peril!
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Speaker 1: Hi. I'm Sekar marketer, creative and media nerd. Welcome to
00:00:10
Speaker 1: the you incorporated podcast On this show, I catch up
00:00:15
Speaker 1: with some of the most bad ass founders, business leaders
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Speaker 1: and content creators in the whole wide world. Whether you're
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Speaker 1: a marketer, creative or a budding founder, if you want
00:00:27
Speaker 1: to build your brand your voice your way, you are
00:00:31
Speaker 1: in the right place.
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Speaker 1: Join me on the you incorporated podcast and start building
00:00:36
Speaker 1: your empire. Here we go.
00:00:49
Speaker 1: Please join me in welcoming the Nawaz Khan, the founder
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Speaker 1: of Co-sign Labs and Power Deck. The lava is also
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Speaker 1: a subject matter expert on pitch decks, startup fundraising and
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Speaker 1: lean startups. Besides running cosign labs and power deck divas
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Speaker 1: acts as an advisor at various academic institutions where he
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Speaker 1: supports them with the creation of an entrepreneurial ecosystem focusing
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Speaker 1: on student entrepreneurship and innovation.
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Speaker 1: He's also a fellow creator from the LinkedIn Creator Accelerator
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Speaker 1: Programme in India. Welcome to the show, Dimas. Thank you
00:01:25
Speaker 1: so much. Akar. Pleasure to be here. It's always a
00:01:28
Speaker 1: pleasure to talk to fellow founders and creators, so Yeah,
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Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure this conversation is going to be very interesting. Dilemmas.
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Speaker 1: We are going to speak about pitch techs. And what
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Speaker 1: is the true fundamental role of a pitch to an
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Speaker 1: entrepreneur
00:01:42
Speaker 1: and the role of a pitch deck in ensuring that
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Speaker 1: a backup gets funded and the role of the pitch
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Speaker 1: deck in terms of encapsulating an entrepreneur's vision. But before
00:01:52
Speaker 1: we get into the nitty gritty of it quite simply,
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Speaker 1: in two lines, what is a pitch deck?
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Speaker 1: OK, so a pitch deck to a startup founder is
00:02:05
Speaker 1: what a bat is to a cricketer very well put,
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Speaker 1: so your pitch deck will not get you funded. But
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Speaker 1: without a pitch check, you will not be able to
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Speaker 1: even begin the journey or talk to an investor. It
00:02:17
Speaker 1: is exactly the same. A bat will not guarantee that
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Speaker 1: you will score a century, but without a bat, you
00:02:22
Speaker 1: can't even go into the field and hit a ball.
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Speaker 1: So you need a pitch deck to begin your fundraising journey,
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Speaker 1: and it is a basic tool and a basic necessity
00:02:30
Speaker 1: that you need. If you want to go on a
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Speaker 1: fundraising journey, it's as simple as that. You can call
00:02:34
Speaker 1: it a bat to a cricketer, a bow and arrow
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Speaker 1: to a hunter or whatever. It's a tool. Basically, if
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Speaker 1: I had to put in the one, what's the tool
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Speaker 1: that every founder needs to begin and get on a
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Speaker 1: fundraising journey? Very well put. And when you say it's
00:02:47
Speaker 1: like back to a cricketer, there's also the implied importance
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Speaker 1: of the tool, right the moment you think of any
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Speaker 1: cricketer you think of them holding a bat. So I'm
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Speaker 1: sure that imagery of the entrepreneur
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Speaker 1: with the pitch deck and the association of the pitch
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Speaker 1: deck is very strong as well. But when is the
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Speaker 1: right time to create a pitch deck? I'll just add
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Speaker 1: one more point to this question. A lot of founders
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Speaker 1: come to me and ask me when is the right
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Speaker 1: time to create a pitch check or when is the
00:03:13
Speaker 1: right time to get started at a fundraising journey? Right?
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Speaker 1: And I have multiple takes on this one right one.
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Speaker 1: You should go out there and create a pitch deck
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Speaker 1: and go on a fundraising journey when you know that
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Speaker 1: you are ready number one. But by the time you
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Speaker 1: know you're ready, you're too late. That's number two
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Speaker 1: and number three. Is that what you said? I'll just
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Speaker 1: add on to that as well that let us say
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Speaker 1: a pitch deck is not going to be like one
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Speaker 1: single document that you will keep forever through your journey.
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Speaker 1: Just like an idea gets pivoted. You will be rediscovering
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Speaker 1: or discovering multiple business models when you build your company.
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Speaker 1: A pitch check is also a quote unquote living document.
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Speaker 1: So I find it very funny when founders create just
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Speaker 1: one pitch deck for sales and marketing and for team
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Speaker 1: and for investors. And they want to create one masterpiece
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Speaker 1: that they'll use everywhere and they never change it. And
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Speaker 1: that's so stupid. I can give you so many examples.
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Speaker 1: We have seen founders coming in a competition where the
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Speaker 1: prize money in one lacks and giving a pitch to
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Speaker 1: raise $1 million in capital,
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Speaker 1: right? This means they haven't revamped or updated their pitch deck.
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Speaker 1: I am a practitioner myself. I do tonnes and tonnes
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Speaker 1: of pitching sessions and I can I can tell you
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Speaker 1: with guarantee before every session that I take. I run
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Speaker 1: through that one presentation multiple times that I'm sure what
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Speaker 1: I'm gonna deliver and talk to my audience about. So
00:04:35
Speaker 1: just like when I take care of all of these things.
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Speaker 1: And there's something I also coach my founders on, with
00:04:40
Speaker 1: whom I work, that before every pitch we look at
00:04:42
Speaker 1: your deck,
00:04:43
Speaker 1: make sure your message gets incorporated, even if it's the
00:04:46
Speaker 1: same kind of a pitch. And if you're changing your
00:04:49
Speaker 1: target audience, you're changing your your messaging. You're changing or
00:04:53
Speaker 1: you're talking to somebody else. You're asking for somebody something else.
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Speaker 1: Make those 11 changes to your pitch deck. If I
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Speaker 1: have to give you one liner. Answer to this. I
00:05:02
Speaker 1: think the moment you start your startup journey,
00:05:05
Speaker 1: irrespective of the fact that you are going on a
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Speaker 1: fundraising or not, you just start working on a pitch check.
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Speaker 1: It's a fantastic tool to incorporate all your ideas into
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Speaker 1: one place and then keep on improving updating, editing. Reediting
00:05:17
Speaker 1: it through your entire journey because the earlier you start,
00:05:20
Speaker 1: the better you will become at it. And, of course,
00:05:23
Speaker 1: just like anything else. Making a pitch check and pitching
00:05:25
Speaker 1: is also an
00:05:26
Speaker 1: and a skill, so it become better and better over time.
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Speaker 1: So if you think once I build everything and then
00:05:31
Speaker 1: I'll one day wake up pitch check and I'll be
00:05:33
Speaker 1: able to build some sort of a magical tool that
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Speaker 1: I'll then go to investors or be able to investors
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Speaker 1: and then they'll fund my company. Not happening, boss. Not
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Speaker 1: at all happening. I've not seen happening in my last
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Speaker 1: 15 years of my career and this is fundamentally wrong.
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Speaker 1: I think it was an Anne Frank quote. The paper
00:05:49
Speaker 1: has more patience than people, so I'm sure when you're
00:05:52
Speaker 1: creating your pitch as well, in some ways you're also
00:05:55
Speaker 1: packaging your product vision and learning to conceptualise it in
00:05:59
Speaker 1: a couple of slides. Because otherwise, I'm sure founders are
00:06:02
Speaker 1: very passionate people, and passionate people can go on and
00:06:05
Speaker 1: on about the idea. So to be able to compress
00:06:10
Speaker 1: that idea into a statement and a fundamental commercial proposition
00:06:16
Speaker 1: is also very important. I just give you a very
00:06:18
Speaker 1: interesting example on something that you said
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Speaker 1: when I do my pitching sessions and I when I
00:06:24
Speaker 1: will do this founder coaching thing on pitching and making
00:06:27
Speaker 1: them investment ready.
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Speaker 1: I asked them how many of you have pitched before
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Speaker 1: and have spoken about your idea or your business with somebody,
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Speaker 1: and how many of you have seen that after speaking
00:06:37
Speaker 1: for even five minutes, people are not able to get
00:06:39
Speaker 1: their idea. You understand your idea and I can tell
00:06:43
Speaker 1: you more than 70% people agree to the fact that OK,
00:06:46
Speaker 1: this is a problem I'm facing. I talk about my
00:06:49
Speaker 1: business or my idea and people still don't get it.
00:06:52
Speaker 1: And I'm like because you're talking too much. You're talking garbage.
00:06:54
Speaker 1: You're trying to believe they are on the same page
00:06:56
Speaker 1: with you.
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Speaker 1: So I have a fantastic example about it, right? I
00:07:00
Speaker 1: do 10 things in the startup ecosystem, right? But when
00:07:03
Speaker 1: I talk to anybody, I only tell them 11 line
00:07:06
Speaker 1: of five words about myself. I help startups create pitch
00:07:10
Speaker 1: text five words. And if I can break into two
00:07:13
Speaker 1: as well to Hindi audience, I say pitch and to
00:07:16
Speaker 1: English audience. I say pitch guy and I've booked all
00:07:18
Speaker 1: the domains and book my branding online so that people
00:07:21
Speaker 1: at least come to me and it acts as a
00:07:22
Speaker 1: recall factor.
00:07:23
Speaker 1: So the founder, you are the fundamental salesman of the business.
00:07:26
Speaker 1: If you can't sell, nobody else can sell. So you
00:07:28
Speaker 1: should not be caring. What they will think. Ultimately, you
00:07:31
Speaker 1: should be able to create a mental, require a mental hook,
00:07:34
Speaker 1: and therefore your pitch will help will help you to
00:07:37
Speaker 1: create that mental hook. If people don't remember you post
00:07:40
Speaker 1: the conversation you had with them, I think it it's useless, right?
00:07:44
Speaker 1: You was an opportunity. I just wanted to add that,
00:07:46
Speaker 1: I think
00:07:47
Speaker 1: said something earlier, he said that you have to ensure
00:07:50
Speaker 1: that your message is incorporated. I think a lot of
00:07:54
Speaker 1: founders who might come with a technical background. They are
00:07:57
Speaker 1: struggling to distil that product vision into words because of
00:08:01
Speaker 1: their lack of articulation. How does a person who is
00:08:07
Speaker 1: not an expert in brand messaging
00:08:10
Speaker 1: thought that they get their message right when they are
00:08:13
Speaker 1: creating the first? It is a very interesting point. Let
00:08:15
Speaker 1: me comment on to that one thing. Before I jump
00:08:19
Speaker 1: onto the messaging part, I'll tell you the fundamental problem.
00:08:21
Speaker 1: But it's not with Indian founders. It's with everybody who
00:08:24
Speaker 1: is a first time founder who starts a business for
00:08:27
Speaker 1: the first time. If you have not been a founder,
00:08:30
Speaker 1: you don't understand to talk about business and done the
00:08:32
Speaker 1: quote and quote right So therefore you always think that
00:08:36
Speaker 1: my innovation or my product or my service will sell
00:08:40
Speaker 1: when I when? When? When you go to talk to
00:08:43
Speaker 1: an investor, he's not looking for the product you are
00:08:47
Speaker 1: building or the gun that you have built. Sorry, not
00:08:49
Speaker 1: the product you're building or the innovation you have done.
00:08:50
Speaker 1: Tell to founders when again I talk to them. I
00:08:52
Speaker 1: always tell them You're not going to pitch in a
00:08:55
Speaker 1: science competition. You're not going to get evaluated or innovation here.
00:08:58
Speaker 1: You're basically going out for seeking investment opportunity. Where in
00:09:02
Speaker 1: the where it means that the business has to generate subs.
00:09:05
Speaker 1: SUBS subs substantial returns for the investors to be excited
00:09:09
Speaker 1: enough
00:09:10
Speaker 1: now, Yeah, a lot of first time founders don't understand
00:09:13
Speaker 1: this concept. That why are they pitching and what are
00:09:15
Speaker 1: they pitching all of them? Go and pitch a pitch.
00:09:17
Speaker 1: A very fancy, high end technical product, which investors don't
00:09:20
Speaker 1: understand all they need to understand the state. They are
00:09:24
Speaker 1: the boss. Is the business going to give me 10 return?
00:09:27
Speaker 1: 28 35 8 30 0 Return. Take a car. That
00:09:31
Speaker 1: is all that they're looking for and rest all other
00:09:34
Speaker 1: integrity will happen in a boardroom. In a two hour
00:09:37
Speaker 1: meeting post, your first pitch is done.
00:09:39
Speaker 1: And if you do not craft, craft that first three
00:09:42
Speaker 1: minute pitch or a five minute pitch properly. From a
00:09:45
Speaker 1: business opportunity business investment point of view, you are not
00:09:49
Speaker 1: going to get funded. It's as simple as that, right?
00:09:51
Speaker 1: So this is the mistake that people commit. And especially
00:09:54
Speaker 1: this happens when most of the people again quote unquote,
00:09:57
Speaker 1: are creators themselves. Artists, designers, fashion labels, fashion tech companies,
00:10:03
Speaker 1: food tech companies, IC,
00:10:05
Speaker 1: so many people who have built beauty products. I meet
00:10:07
Speaker 1: so many coders who have built amazing Softwares, but they'll
00:10:10
Speaker 1: talk about the text stack all over. I'm like nobody
00:10:12
Speaker 1: cares about the text talk about that and they don't
00:10:14
Speaker 1: understand it. This matrix. So unfortunately, you will have to
00:10:17
Speaker 1: learn numbers, and you have to be good at it.
00:10:19
Speaker 1: You have to found out, and as a joke, I
00:10:21
Speaker 1: tell it to people that your business mathematics is not
00:10:23
Speaker 1: algebra or differential and integration a business. Mathematics is as
00:10:27
Speaker 1: basic as plus minus divide, multiply. If you can't do that,
00:10:30
Speaker 1: you know you will. You are not meant to do
00:10:33
Speaker 1: business as simple as that. So I think if they're
00:10:34
Speaker 1: able to convey and put in the right messaging in
00:10:37
Speaker 1: the pitch deck, which is the business opportunity that they're
00:10:39
Speaker 1: going to create for investor, I think they're in a
00:10:41
Speaker 1: great space. If they can't Sorry, there's no funding happening.
00:10:44
Speaker 1: Sure tell me if I'm getting it right. The investor
00:10:47
Speaker 1: is investing in the business opportunity. I'm sure the investor
00:10:50
Speaker 1: realises the product might develop
00:10:52
Speaker 1: over time. So in some ways the investor is investing
00:10:54
Speaker 1: in the team. And the other thing is, the investor
00:10:56
Speaker 1: is investing in the market opportunity. The investor is investing
00:10:59
Speaker 1: on X percent returns that he's potentially likely to see.
00:11:04
Speaker 1: And if you're not able to show him that he's
00:11:05
Speaker 1: not going to listen to you, I think you have
00:11:07
Speaker 1: articulated in the best way possible. This is exactly what
00:11:10
Speaker 1: investors are going to look for. They go to look
00:11:12
Speaker 1: for team,
00:11:14
Speaker 1: they're going to look for traction. They're gonna look for
00:11:16
Speaker 1: growth potential and eventually the market potential and eventually the
00:11:20
Speaker 1: return they're going to generate. You have article Well, I
00:11:22
Speaker 1: think that is the fundamental If you can't tell this
00:11:25
Speaker 1: entire story when invest in a pitch deck, I think again, Sorry,
00:11:28
Speaker 1: you are not getting any deal interest. So not happening. Sure,
00:11:32
Speaker 1: if I am a first time founder and I'm creating
00:11:34
Speaker 1: my first pitch deck and I don't even have an
00:11:38
Speaker 1: M V P in place. It's just an idea in
00:11:39
Speaker 1: my head. And let's say I'm applying for a three
00:11:41
Speaker 1: seed programme or not.
00:11:42
Speaker 1: Residency programme. How do I create a pitch deck that
00:11:47
Speaker 1: is going to land an impression because I don't have
00:11:50
Speaker 1: a product or a real tangible business outcome to show
00:11:53
Speaker 1: for it? What is my best bet in that situation?
00:11:55
Speaker 1: So I think the kind of programmes that you have
00:11:58
Speaker 1: taken a name of most of them would. I'm sure.
00:12:01
Speaker 1: If not, they're looking for an M v P. They
00:12:03
Speaker 1: would definitely want at least some validation to be done
00:12:05
Speaker 1: on the ground because it is very difficult to get
00:12:08
Speaker 1: enrolled into any programme or with any sort of check
00:12:11
Speaker 1: from
00:12:11
Speaker 1: any or a V C or even a V C
00:12:13
Speaker 1: run programme. If you're just in an idea stage because
00:12:16
Speaker 1: ideas are literally peanuts, go to go to a market.
00:12:20
Speaker 1: You'll find 10 ideas and ₹2 right? Have zero shit value.
00:12:24
Speaker 1: So the point I'm trying to make here is that
00:12:26
Speaker 1: until it your idea doesn't doesn't have any validation done.
00:12:30
Speaker 1: Which means you have gone to the market and some
00:12:33
Speaker 1: sort of validation spoken with 10 2030 40 50 people
00:12:36
Speaker 1: taken some data, some analytics insights You have done your
00:12:39
Speaker 1: 1st 10
00:12:40
Speaker 1: first level primary and secondary research. I think it does
00:12:42
Speaker 1: not make sense. Right. And this technically answers your question
00:12:45
Speaker 1: as well. Once you've done all of the hard work. When? When?
00:12:47
Speaker 1: Once you've done all of that research. I think on
00:12:49
Speaker 1: the basis of that, it will be very easy for
00:12:51
Speaker 1: you to now put in projections, if not financial projections,
00:12:56
Speaker 1: but at least the growth projections of the company in
00:12:58
Speaker 1: a broader sense. So you can compile all of this
00:13:00
Speaker 1: data and say that, OK, what is the problem? Is
00:13:02
Speaker 1: the have the problem being validated by the potential customer?
00:13:06
Speaker 1: Do they like the solution? This is the proposed solution,
00:13:09
Speaker 1: uh, on the base of the solution, the type of
00:13:11
Speaker 1: customers you will be on boarding. This is the growth opportunity.
00:13:13
Speaker 1: This is the business potential. This is how big the
00:13:16
Speaker 1: company can become as the product is ready so and
00:13:18
Speaker 1: so forth. So all of these things that can be
00:13:19
Speaker 1: put together in a simple pitch deck, maybe a seven
00:13:22
Speaker 1: slider or 10 slider and will act as a
00:13:24
Speaker 1: base to for you to pitch and apply to all
00:13:26
Speaker 1: these programmes. But yes, absolutely. At an idea stage, very
00:13:28
Speaker 1: difficult to go to any level. Even if you don't
00:13:30
Speaker 1: have an M. V. P, you should at least have
00:13:32
Speaker 1: some sort of a basic validation done. And when we're
00:13:34
Speaker 1: speaking about this validation here at the pre seed or
00:13:37
Speaker 1: maybe even the seed stage, what is the role of
00:13:41
Speaker 1: the word versus the data in a pitch deck? Where
00:13:44
Speaker 1: would you lean closer towards in terms of building a
00:13:47
Speaker 1: narrative for what the product
00:13:49
Speaker 1: can be versus what the reality is on the ground
00:13:53
Speaker 1: in terms of data? How do you strike a balance
00:13:55
Speaker 1: between these two
00:13:57
Speaker 1: so your story will build a brand, but your data
00:14:00
Speaker 1: will sell the business.
00:14:02
Speaker 1: It's as simple as that. So if you don't have
00:14:05
Speaker 1: a fantastic story to
00:14:07
Speaker 1: showcase, which is memorable, has a hook is exciting and
00:14:11
Speaker 1: and maybe shows some sort of a passion that you
00:14:13
Speaker 1: have some sort of empathy you have, Which means you
00:14:16
Speaker 1: understand your customer very well. The problem? Very well. All
00:14:19
Speaker 1: of those things. You you're not going to maybe build
00:14:21
Speaker 1: a brand in general, right? Because you you need a
00:14:23
Speaker 1: very solid story behind a brand. But only a story
00:14:27
Speaker 1: will not do the justice. At the end of the day,
00:14:29
Speaker 1: it's the number. Game right equation boils down to profit
00:14:32
Speaker 1: is equal to selling price minus cost price,
00:14:35
Speaker 1: and you have to be profitable at some point in time, right?
00:14:37
Speaker 1: Or get hired and acquired right At the end of
00:14:39
Speaker 1: the day, the business will only happen if the data
00:14:42
Speaker 1: communicates profitability to the investors, quote unquote, and that profitability
00:14:47
Speaker 1: can definitely happen over time. That's absolutely fine. But you should,
00:14:51
Speaker 1: as a founder know what are the numbers like. I
00:14:53
Speaker 1: I know founders and in fact, let me rather give
00:14:55
Speaker 1: you an example of both of these cases. I have
00:14:58
Speaker 1: seen investors rejecting deals because
00:15:02
Speaker 1: they did not found the PA. They did not find
00:15:04
Speaker 1: the founder passionate enough, right? I've seen it happening. I
00:15:07
Speaker 1: sit on so many jewellery boards. I sit on so
00:15:09
Speaker 1: many advisory boards. I sit on so many pitch rooms
00:15:11
Speaker 1: and I've seen investors saying, Boss, I'm not going to
00:15:14
Speaker 1: put the fund. You're the CEO, but you don't look
00:15:15
Speaker 1: passionate enough. I don't know how long will you will
00:15:17
Speaker 1: you be able to continue? So that passion, empathy matters
00:15:19
Speaker 1: a lot? I've also seen investors rejecting deals because the
00:15:22
Speaker 1: founders do not have or did not have as basic
00:15:26
Speaker 1: idea as
00:15:28
Speaker 1: as that. What is the gross margin? What is the
00:15:30
Speaker 1: Net margin and forget that? What is the customer acquisition cost?
00:15:32
Speaker 1: If the founder don't understand these basic numbers, what's your
00:15:35
Speaker 1: customer acquisition cost? What's your lifetime value? What at what
00:15:37
Speaker 1: point in time will you be breaking even? What's your what?
00:15:40
Speaker 1: Your margins. I think you're making just a fool out
00:15:42
Speaker 1: of yourself, right? Because, as I said, it's the basic
00:15:44
Speaker 1: mathematical equation that will show you the truth at the
00:15:47
Speaker 1: end of the day about the business so you can't
00:15:49
Speaker 1: cheat in business, right? You know that that equation holds
00:15:51
Speaker 1: true forever. Yeah, absolutely. Now, if
00:15:54
Speaker 1: I am about to build a brand, how do I
00:15:57
Speaker 1: go about creating a story for my brand because I
00:16:00
Speaker 1: think in some ways I'll have to reiterate that story
00:16:03
Speaker 1: consistently in my marketing, in my community, building efforts in
00:16:07
Speaker 1: my pitch, meetings with investors, right? So how do I
00:16:10
Speaker 1: come up with a story if there is a story,
00:16:12
Speaker 1: but I'm not able to piece it together? So, honestly,
00:16:16
Speaker 1: I think you can't fabricate a story. You can, of course,
00:16:19
Speaker 1: in a few cases. But you should
00:16:20
Speaker 1: not. The reason why most of the founders or most
00:16:24
Speaker 1: of the investors, ask founders this one fundamental question that
00:16:27
Speaker 1: what is the problem you're trying to solve is because
00:16:30
Speaker 1: problem identification is not rocket science, right? There are 34
00:16:34
Speaker 1: ways you can identify a problem. Maybe you don't know
00:16:38
Speaker 1: what is the problem. So you go to the market,
00:16:40
Speaker 1: you do your research and maybe tumble upon a problem.
00:16:42
Speaker 1: But in most of the cases of the founders that
00:16:45
Speaker 1: I work with are in general as well.
00:16:47
Speaker 1: Most of the founders have either seen something happening around them,
00:16:51
Speaker 1: which has affected them deeply, and they went out and
00:16:53
Speaker 1: start solving it or they were in some sort of
00:16:56
Speaker 1: an organisation where they found a bigger problem or a gap,
00:16:58
Speaker 1: and they went on to solving it. Ideally, these are
00:17:00
Speaker 1: 23 ways that you can that you could be that
00:17:02
Speaker 1: that will tumble upon a problem. I rarely as an
00:17:05
Speaker 1: exceptional case. Maybe I can give you an example. For example,
00:17:08
Speaker 1: when was doing. He had a basic idea in mind
00:17:11
Speaker 1: in one of his podcast to speak about it, that
00:17:13
Speaker 1: I had a basic idea in mind. I want to
00:17:14
Speaker 1: solve
00:17:15
Speaker 1: the problem of that 1% of Indians, but I didn't
00:17:19
Speaker 1: know the problems I did like a 15 18 20
00:17:21
Speaker 1: month of like month research. And then I created credit,
00:17:25
Speaker 1: right where in for most of founders, if you talk
00:17:26
Speaker 1: about this gentleman. He was working with the previous company,
00:17:30
Speaker 1: which was again into C R M Solutions. And there's
00:17:32
Speaker 1: a story that his television broke one day and he
00:17:35
Speaker 1: tried reaching out to a customer care. And then it
00:17:38
Speaker 1: was all up and he said, OK, you need a
00:17:40
Speaker 1: better customer care solution. So we ended up making fresh
00:17:42
Speaker 1: desk, which eventually vol into becoming a fresh works, and
00:17:44
Speaker 1: our IP company. There are all these ways, right? I
00:17:47
Speaker 1: can give you my own personal example. I worked with
00:17:49
Speaker 1: CIA for almost 4, 4.5 years, and I still continue
00:17:52
Speaker 1: to work with them all of multiple projects. The reason
00:17:54
Speaker 1: I started Powertech was very simple. Of course, the market
00:17:56
Speaker 1: opportunity was huge, but then, second of all, when I
00:17:59
Speaker 1: was working with them incubators 100% Focus is on making
00:18:03
Speaker 1: the startup business ready, and they do a fantastic job there.
00:18:06
Speaker 1: They'll run Accel programmes and then they'll do workshops and
00:18:10
Speaker 1: they'll get them
00:18:10
Speaker 1: rents and experts and so forth. But at the end
00:18:13
Speaker 1: of the day, all the starters are going to go
00:18:14
Speaker 1: to a demo to pitch your investor. And, yeah, there's
00:18:17
Speaker 1: no pitching expert on the panel to teach startup how
00:18:20
Speaker 1: to pitch. And without knowing how to pitch and how
00:18:23
Speaker 1: to make a pitch check, you will never be able
00:18:25
Speaker 1: to raise capital. I'm like, Oh, gosh, this is such
00:18:27
Speaker 1: a big problem That is the market because every founder
00:18:29
Speaker 1: wants to get the pitch check done. Every founder wants
00:18:31
Speaker 1: to have a proper story created, and there's no expert
00:18:34
Speaker 1: in the market who can handle them. Tell them OK,
00:18:37
Speaker 1: this is how you craft a story
00:18:38
Speaker 1: is how you make a pitch tech how you make
00:18:39
Speaker 1: a world class pitch and now you already go and
00:18:42
Speaker 1: pitch to investors. And then this is how powertech started
00:18:45
Speaker 1: and the only reason I could find that problem because
00:18:47
Speaker 1: I was in that ecosystem. I was immersed into that
00:18:49
Speaker 1: for almost for half. 4.5 5 years. I did multiple
00:18:52
Speaker 1: programme myself and I was there a very, very big
00:18:54
Speaker 1: problem like sort of invest anywhere from a couple of
00:18:58
Speaker 1: last three onto conducting these programmes pay for flight tickets
00:19:02
Speaker 1: for investors play book them fancy hotels. They will bring
00:19:06
Speaker 1: them
00:19:06
Speaker 1: on board and then ask founders to pitch. But the
00:19:08
Speaker 1: core fundamental tool which is a story of a startup.
00:19:11
Speaker 1: If it's not strong enough, it will become very difficult.
00:19:13
Speaker 1: I think that is how you create a story and
00:19:15
Speaker 1: most of those cases I can assure you a founder
00:19:17
Speaker 1: will have a story and you can't even cheat on
00:19:19
Speaker 1: that because that's your life story. That is how you
00:19:20
Speaker 1: tumble upon the problem, how you can fabricate it in
00:19:23
Speaker 1: a few cases. Of course you can. That's a different
00:19:25
Speaker 1: discussion altogether. But in most cases, I know founders have
00:19:28
Speaker 1: their own story, and they they if they just even
00:19:30
Speaker 1: don't know how to convey. I think people like me
00:19:32
Speaker 1: definitely can help them
00:19:34
Speaker 1: to craft it in a better way. Let me on
00:19:35
Speaker 1: to my next question, which is seeing pitch decks from
00:19:39
Speaker 1: an investor's lens. So investors looking outside and where potentially
00:19:43
Speaker 1: This might be a very small lock in the bigger
00:19:46
Speaker 1: machinery of the industry and how the world is shaping up.
00:19:49
Speaker 1: What are some of the guiding principles you would recommend
00:19:52
Speaker 1: for a first time founder to go about creating his
00:19:56
Speaker 1: or her first pitch deck and create it while having
00:20:01
Speaker 1: the investor
00:20:01
Speaker 1: I in mind, I might not be able to give
00:20:05
Speaker 1: you tonnes of data points on to that because I
00:20:07
Speaker 1: run a paid course on this, just plugging in that shamelessly.
00:20:11
Speaker 1: But I can tell you top three things right from
00:20:14
Speaker 1: a macro lens. If you have to evaluate your pitch
00:20:16
Speaker 1: deck that these are the three points I'm gonna I'm
00:20:18
Speaker 1: gonna talk about now are the ones that every investor
00:20:21
Speaker 1: is going to look from that lens and this is
00:20:24
Speaker 1: the fundamental number one is. Will this opportunity make me
00:20:29
Speaker 1: money
00:20:30
Speaker 1: as simple as that? Right. So if I give them
00:20:33
Speaker 1: ₹1 will they give me back ₹10? If I give
00:20:35
Speaker 1: them ₹10 they give me Give me back ₹100. So
00:20:37
Speaker 1: is there an investment opportunity? Right. Number two is Will
00:20:40
Speaker 1: this team be able to make me money? So five
00:20:42
Speaker 1: teams might have a similar idea. But is the founder
00:20:46
Speaker 1: the person or is the team?
00:20:48
Speaker 1: It's so solid. And in my coaching sessions, I call
00:20:51
Speaker 1: them a Rockstar team. Right? Which is which means you
00:20:54
Speaker 1: have right amalgamation of somebody who can build the product,
00:20:57
Speaker 1: somebody who can sell the product, somebody who can market
00:20:59
Speaker 1: the product and so forth. So 2 to 3 founders
00:21:01
Speaker 1: are an ideal mix where you have all the right
00:21:03
Speaker 1: things in place accounts, knowledge, finance, knowledge, technical knowledge. So
00:21:07
Speaker 1: just to again give you one more example. I always
00:21:09
Speaker 1: people like a three m b a team or a
00:21:11
Speaker 1: three engineer team or a three C A team with
00:21:12
Speaker 1: a bad team, right? Right. Then you're missing on major
00:21:15
Speaker 1: capabilities for success, right? So a great mix is you
00:21:17
Speaker 1: know something about finance, and you don't know something about product.
00:21:20
Speaker 1: You know something about selling or something about marketing, and
00:21:22
Speaker 1: then you shouldn't be able to understand, like, 60 70%
00:21:25
Speaker 1: of the broader thing. And 30 you can always outsource
00:21:27
Speaker 1: and work with experts. Right? And the
00:21:30
Speaker 1: third is that if they can make me money, like
00:21:34
Speaker 1: if the business can make me money, if this team
00:21:36
Speaker 1: can make me money, how much money can they make me?
00:21:38
Speaker 1: What is that X is that 10 X is that
00:21:40
Speaker 1: 100 X is that 500 x and I can give
00:21:43
Speaker 1: you again give you again? Example Where? Where people have
00:21:45
Speaker 1: made around 200 xes also in their deals in angel rounds, right?
00:21:49
Speaker 1: And of course, we on the angel side. We can
00:21:51
Speaker 1: definitely talk about more about how they get us to
00:21:54
Speaker 1: do angel investing,
00:21:55
Speaker 1: but from the founders lens, I think if they keep
00:21:57
Speaker 1: these three things in mind, if they are able to
00:21:59
Speaker 1: somehow put all of this in perspective, showcase these 10
00:22:03
Speaker 1: points and convince the investor I think they should definitely
00:22:06
Speaker 1: be able to close their their round sooner or later.
00:22:08
Speaker 1: I really like how universal these perspectives are because I
00:22:12
Speaker 1: think whether you are precede or you are Series E
00:22:15
Speaker 1: or series D. I think this is
00:22:18
Speaker 1: same for every investor. I have a slightly different opinion here.
00:22:22
Speaker 1: My expertise lies anywhere between C two series A right,
00:22:26
Speaker 1: or I call it C two series, right?
00:22:28
Speaker 1: So I don't generally go beyond series A because the
00:22:32
Speaker 1: moment you have that series A the game changes completely right.
00:22:37
Speaker 1: Be in your seed round in your even angel, round
00:22:40
Speaker 1: in a field round in your Preser round or a
00:22:42
Speaker 1: series round. A lot of fundamental like story and team
00:22:46
Speaker 1: and all of things. These things matter really a lot, right?
00:22:49
Speaker 1: But by the time you have reach three a level
00:22:51
Speaker 1: and now when you start dealing with very serious V
00:22:53
Speaker 1: CS or not even micro V. C. But like big
00:22:55
Speaker 1: V C and later on, you go to talk to
00:22:57
Speaker 1: PE so and so forth,
00:22:59
Speaker 1: you know everything, then boils down to numbers. Nobody is
00:23:02
Speaker 1: talking and listening to a story anymore, because no matter
00:23:05
Speaker 1: how much passionate you have been at that stage, once
00:23:09
Speaker 1: you reach there, the number starts speaking and then it
00:23:12
Speaker 1: really becomes like an excellent a number game because an
00:23:15
Speaker 1: investment bank will get looped in and then be a
00:23:17
Speaker 1: big firm who going to invest in the business? There's
00:23:19
Speaker 1: a big V C sitting out there and he's accountable
00:23:21
Speaker 1: to the LP s. So I think these things that
00:23:24
Speaker 1: any less because by that time, when you when you
00:23:25
Speaker 1: reach about to reach, like a Series B,
00:23:28
Speaker 1: you should have proved all of these these things by then.
00:23:31
Speaker 1: That is the point I'm trying to make. And if
00:23:33
Speaker 1: you can't prove it by then, and which way you're
00:23:34
Speaker 1: not going to raise another round, then sure. What are
00:23:36
Speaker 1: the key differences index between pre seed, seed and Series A.
00:23:42
Speaker 1: In terms of the value proposition they are pitching. So
00:23:44
Speaker 1: if you talk about anything which is pre there, right,
00:23:49
Speaker 1: the earlier rounds, any anywhere between raising a couple of
00:23:52
Speaker 1: lags to maybe under a million dollars, right, depending upon
00:23:56
Speaker 1: what stage you are in. As I said, all of
00:23:57
Speaker 1: these things will matter a lot. Your story, your convincing power,
00:24:01
Speaker 1: your passion, your empathy team call with some sort of traction.
00:24:05
Speaker 1: Of course, right. But when you start going into pre
00:24:08
Speaker 1: three or three round,
00:24:10
Speaker 1: your traction will have to speak, and your growth numbers
00:24:14
Speaker 1: will have to be super, super strong, right? That should
00:24:17
Speaker 1: be there. And that has to be there, right? So
00:24:19
Speaker 1: you can't raise a series round on the basis of
00:24:23
Speaker 1: projected just projected revenue and just projected traction with no
00:24:27
Speaker 1: solid data point or a proof of growth or sustainable
00:24:30
Speaker 1: growth over a period of time. So that's a fundamental difference.
00:24:33
Speaker 1: So I if I have to put it in very
00:24:35
Speaker 1: simple words, your emphasis on data from the OK, so
00:24:41
Speaker 1: let's put it this way. The bigger the round, the
00:24:44
Speaker 1: difficulty will be as directly proportional as to the data point.
00:24:49
Speaker 1: So higher the series or higher the round you're raising
00:24:52
Speaker 1: your data. Grilling on data
00:24:56
Speaker 1: will be directly proportional to the round. You're raving. So
00:24:58
Speaker 1: more money. You want more data, you need more proof
00:25:01
Speaker 1: you need and more understanding of data you need. So
00:25:04
Speaker 1: everything ultimately will boil down to how and how clearly
00:25:07
Speaker 1: you understand the numbers, how clearly you understand the market,
00:25:10
Speaker 1: how how clearly you understand the data
00:25:11
Speaker 1: at that point and how much of data do you have,
00:25:14
Speaker 1: like a simple margin? Percentage will work out in a
00:25:17
Speaker 1: in a pre feeder field round. But if you fail
00:25:20
Speaker 1: to answer what is your Facebook click rate in the
00:25:23
Speaker 1: month of March? A month of April. It's going to
00:25:26
Speaker 1: be very difficult, very, very crude example. But,
00:25:30
Speaker 1: yeah, that is how it it functions. So data complexity,
00:25:32
Speaker 1: data availability, data numbers will be much higher. The pickups
00:25:35
Speaker 1: around us? Yeah, sure, if you have had the opportunity
00:25:38
Speaker 1: to see some of the best pitch decks in the world.
00:25:40
Speaker 1: So what's the common trait between all of these? The
00:25:43
Speaker 1: best of the best pitch decks in the world? What's
00:25:45
Speaker 1: the simplest common denominator in all of them? A lot
00:25:48
Speaker 1: of people say that how your pitch deck look does
00:25:52
Speaker 1: not matter and have an absolute different opinion or absolutely
00:25:56
Speaker 1: contrary opinion to that right.
00:25:58
Speaker 1: We, unfortunately, live in a world where people judge a
00:26:01
Speaker 1: book by its cover, and that is how the world is.
00:26:03
Speaker 1: The world is now driven through marketing, right? You can't
00:26:05
Speaker 1: go to a fancy meeting in a tiered, short and
00:26:10
Speaker 1: a tiered. And unless you are not a or a
00:26:13
Speaker 1: B or gate, right? If you're not one of those
00:26:16
Speaker 1: or Elon Musk, for that matter, nobody is going to
00:26:18
Speaker 1: give a damn about who you are. People will definitely
00:26:21
Speaker 1: give a damn about how you look and how you
00:26:23
Speaker 1: talk and how you speak. And again you will have
00:26:25
Speaker 1: to work on those skills, right?
00:26:27
Speaker 1: So just like that, your pitch deck, how it looks
00:26:31
Speaker 1: should definitely be considered right. A lot of founders don't
00:26:34
Speaker 1: care about how the how the deck looks. I've seen
00:26:36
Speaker 1: Founders having businesses worth in revenue, and the debt looks shit.
00:26:43
Speaker 1: And when your debt looks shit, this means there's no
00:26:45
Speaker 1: matter what. How many, how much money have you raised?
00:26:48
Speaker 1: If you can't invest in making a quality pitch deck
00:26:51
Speaker 1: and at least make it presentable for investors, I think
00:26:54
Speaker 1: I'll not take you as a serious founder. I'll not
00:26:56
Speaker 1: take you as a founder who is envisioning his company
00:26:59
Speaker 1: to be like a million dollar worth or a billion
00:27:01
Speaker 1: dollar worth. So it has to look, uh, look really nice.
00:27:04
Speaker 1: I have a I don't agree with at all when
00:27:06
Speaker 1: people say it doesn't matter how your debt looks, it
00:27:08
Speaker 1: definitely matters. And a data point for that is as
00:27:10
Speaker 1: simple as that that an average analyst of a V
00:27:12
Speaker 1: C firm is going to
00:27:13
Speaker 1: receive almost 34 or 5000 debts in a year as
00:27:15
Speaker 1: a full time job. And I worked in a V
00:27:17
Speaker 1: C firm, and I know how the hierarchy functions. If
00:27:20
Speaker 1: I don't understand and I don't like the debt, I
00:27:22
Speaker 1: don't like the product. I will not pitch it to
00:27:24
Speaker 1: my lead, and my lead is not going to pitch
00:27:27
Speaker 1: it to the investment manager. They're not going to pitch
00:27:28
Speaker 1: it to the next investment fund manager or they're not
00:27:30
Speaker 1: going to pitch it to the general partner. And there
00:27:33
Speaker 1: are almost four or five levels of people in the
00:27:35
Speaker 1: hierarchy everybody has to approve. Before you release the money.
00:27:39
Speaker 1: This will take 3 to 3 to 3 to 4 months,
00:27:41
Speaker 1: so the decks look like shit to me. I'm like
00:27:43
Speaker 1: he's not a serious founder, and I'll not even have
00:27:45
Speaker 1: a look at the deck. So that's number one right.
00:27:47
Speaker 1: Your deck has to be really nice looking. It should
00:27:49
Speaker 1: be a pleasure or a pleasurable experience to read somebody's
00:27:52
Speaker 1: deck right Number one,
00:27:53
Speaker 1: number two then don't overdo your deck. In science, in sense,
00:27:57
Speaker 1: don't put everything right. As I said, your job is
00:28:00
Speaker 1: to convey your message in under. If you are pitching
00:28:03
Speaker 1: verbally two minutes if you are chewing a deck under
00:28:06
Speaker 1: five minutes and that messaging has to be very strong
00:28:09
Speaker 1: and should be able to convince people about or rather
00:28:11
Speaker 1: should excite them that they should come to you. Hey,
00:28:14
Speaker 1: this looks interesting. Let's talk more. That is the job
00:28:17
Speaker 1: of the deck, right? So
00:28:19
Speaker 1: Deck has to have the right content in the least
00:28:22
Speaker 1: words possible, but in a very direct manner, right? It
00:28:25
Speaker 1: should clearly talk about the business. And what you What
00:28:27
Speaker 1: are you looking for, right? A lot of times, in fact,
00:28:29
Speaker 1: I'll give you an example. A lot of times people
00:28:30
Speaker 1: reach out to me and send their deck. I'm like,
00:28:32
Speaker 1: Why are you sending this deck to me? I'm looking
00:28:33
Speaker 1: for money. I looking for review. Do you want me
00:28:35
Speaker 1: to get your Do you want Founder coaching? What is that?
00:28:38
Speaker 1: What the hell are you looking for? So deck should
00:28:39
Speaker 1: be able to clearly communicate What is the outcome, right?
00:28:42
Speaker 1: As I said in fact, the people don't know how
00:28:44
Speaker 1: to put in the right of action.
00:28:45
Speaker 1: So that is number two. And then, of course, it
00:28:48
Speaker 1: should have some sort of a sort of proof of
00:28:50
Speaker 1: the pudding of what you're trying to do, right or
00:28:52
Speaker 1: what is the what is a third would be data?
00:28:54
Speaker 1: Now I just want to reiterate a little more or
00:28:56
Speaker 1: emphasise a little more on on the phone number two
00:28:58
Speaker 1: and three again. When you are writing your content in
00:29:01
Speaker 1: a pitch deck, I I suggest you always make two
00:29:03
Speaker 1: pitch decks.
00:29:05
Speaker 1: Your one pitch should be the one that you're going
00:29:08
Speaker 1: to send to people on an email. That means you're
00:29:10
Speaker 1: not going to pitch it, which means it should have
00:29:12
Speaker 1: some supporting texts and data points so that people can
00:29:15
Speaker 1: read and understand, right. But when you are using it
00:29:19
Speaker 1: to present yourself in that case, don't overdo the content
00:29:23
Speaker 1: because then your audience will start reading it and they'll
00:29:25
Speaker 1: not be listening to you. So your your presenting deck
00:29:28
Speaker 1: should be like a card style deck.
00:29:30
Speaker 1: Where in your sending me the deck of mailing should
00:29:34
Speaker 1: have some sort of data points in the supporting way,
00:29:36
Speaker 1: but not too much again. So people don't even do that.
00:29:38
Speaker 1: They will create just one dump and dump on to
00:29:40
Speaker 1: everybody I have. I've got a very recent message on
00:29:43
Speaker 1: my instagram from somebody. And then I have sent my
00:29:45
Speaker 1: deck 200 people. I haven't even received a single reply.
00:29:48
Speaker 1: And I'm like, I know because and I'm just going
00:29:50
Speaker 1: off the track. But I am. And I was the founder.
00:29:52
Speaker 1: That tells them if you're sending more than five emails
00:29:54
Speaker 1: to investors in a day,
00:29:56
Speaker 1: trust me, I'm gonna go to hear from anybody because
00:29:58
Speaker 1: that means you haven't customised. You haven't gone to that
00:30:00
Speaker 1: investor profile? Did the portfolio research haven't gone through all
00:30:03
Speaker 1: the material? You don't know what companies have have they
00:30:05
Speaker 1: have invested in. So you can't even grab that email.
00:30:07
Speaker 1: It takes time right to the level that I know
00:30:10
Speaker 1: the smartest. The founders who send one email and to
00:30:13
Speaker 1: the level the person they are going to send an
00:30:15
Speaker 1: email to. They would read everything about him. Possible investment.
00:30:19
Speaker 1: When was the latest investment done? What is he looking for?
00:30:22
Speaker 1: What is the exit? He takes what it takes he
00:30:24
Speaker 1: would do his entire Jana three.
00:30:26
Speaker 1: And the moment the founder says, OK, let's talk he like, OK,
00:30:29
Speaker 1: I know you Let's talk, boss And you know when
00:30:32
Speaker 1: somebody knows you and they then they're talking to you.
00:30:34
Speaker 1: The confidence level is much, much higher. And then they're like, Yeah,
00:30:37
Speaker 1: this guy is a serious guy because he has done
00:30:39
Speaker 1: his research. That is what is required because you're asking
00:30:41
Speaker 1: for for some serious cash from somebody, right? And it's
00:30:46
Speaker 1: somebody's hard on money, right? And you are asking it
00:30:48
Speaker 1: for just like peanuts. OK, $8 million million dollars.
00:30:53
Speaker 1: So you need that level of hardware. That is the
00:30:55
Speaker 1: point of I want to emphasise a little on and
00:30:58
Speaker 1: I want to read it. And third again, coming back
00:31:00
Speaker 1: to data people again dump data like shit, right? They
00:31:02
Speaker 1: would put an Excel sheet, or I've seen, I'm sure
00:31:06
Speaker 1: you laugh on this. People put in five year, month
00:31:10
Speaker 1: on month sales projection in an Excel sheet as a
00:31:13
Speaker 1: copy paste image and a pitch. Can you believe that?
00:31:16
Speaker 1: I've seen that happening
00:31:18
Speaker 1: right? And I'm like, put a put it in the graph,
00:31:21
Speaker 1: at least put in A. So that is the problem
00:31:25
Speaker 1: that people do not replying because it look in a
00:31:38
Speaker 1: common mistake that people do. And I think then they
00:31:40
Speaker 1: need a lot of hand in coach coaching on that, Yeah,
00:31:43
Speaker 1: absolutely. You're speaking about how a deck should be different
00:31:47
Speaker 1: when you're mailing it versus when you're presenting it. So
00:31:51
Speaker 1: what are the couple of things to keep in mind
00:31:54
Speaker 1: when there is, You know, imagery on the screen in
00:31:57
Speaker 1: a boardroom, and you're speaking and you're trying to sell
00:31:59
Speaker 1: that idea without coming off as a what you would
00:32:03
Speaker 1: call in Bengali. Be
00:32:04
Speaker 1: like you're trying to like. You have to also come
00:32:11
Speaker 1: up as an authentic guy who has come on and
00:32:13
Speaker 1: and and has a legitimate business proposition. So how do
00:32:16
Speaker 1: you nail that in terms of when you're presenting your?
00:32:18
Speaker 1: I think the more research you have done, the better
00:32:21
Speaker 1: clarity you have on your product and about the market.
00:32:25
Speaker 1: The more you have make your hand and feel dirty,
00:32:28
Speaker 1: the better you will be at pitching and answering and
00:32:30
Speaker 1: combating all the questions. There's no fundamental checklist of how
00:32:33
Speaker 1: you can be better at this, but I can talk
00:32:36
Speaker 1: about this in a time period. Since a lot of
00:32:38
Speaker 1: founders ask me, how much time will it take for
00:32:40
Speaker 1: me to raise capital? And I always tell them it
00:32:42
Speaker 1: will take you at least anywhere between six months to
00:32:44
Speaker 1: one year if you are reading for the first time.
00:32:47
Speaker 1: And the logic and the number of pitches you're going
00:32:49
Speaker 1: to do is roughly 100 at, like, minimum so right, companies.
00:32:54
Speaker 1: I personally know Unicorn founders today
00:32:59
Speaker 1: who have done this
00:33:05
Speaker 1: and then they did 50 or 60 or 70 pitch
00:33:07
Speaker 1: and and now they have in fact, become a unicorn company.
00:33:10
Speaker 1: My 1st 20 to third pitches will help you to
00:33:14
Speaker 1: understand what works for you. What story works for you? What?
00:33:17
Speaker 1: How much would you be talking on what slide? You understand?
00:33:21
Speaker 1: You get the grip of that, that 20 to 30 pitches,
00:33:24
Speaker 1: you understand? What are the what are tough? What are
00:33:26
Speaker 1: the tough question? I would come across your way. I'll
00:33:28
Speaker 1: maybe give you an example. So I was working with
00:33:30
Speaker 1: one of the companies and that we are building a
00:33:32
Speaker 1: product like it's a social audio app, right?
00:33:35
Speaker 1: And one question they were always thrown at is Facebook
00:33:40
Speaker 1: Twitter and I'm like And they were very scared every
00:33:45
Speaker 1: time they used to go to an investor room and
00:33:48
Speaker 1: they were being asked this question, and they're like they
00:33:50
Speaker 1: were clueless and he used to come back crying. I'm like,
00:33:55
Speaker 1: You need two answers to that. This number one.
00:33:59
Speaker 1: If Facebook
00:34:01
Speaker 1: wants to do it, or if Twitter wants to do it,
00:34:04
Speaker 1: they would have done it by now. One. This is
00:34:06
Speaker 1: too small of a pie for them,
00:34:08
Speaker 1: right? Facebook? Being a trillion dollar company will not run
00:34:10
Speaker 1: after the pie. You are running after number one, number two.
00:34:13
Speaker 1: Even if they come after it, the overall market size
00:34:16
Speaker 1: is too large. You need 10 more companies to do it.
00:34:18
Speaker 1: So therefore, the market size $100 billion. There's a possibility
00:34:22
Speaker 1: of creating not just 10 unicorns but 10 deacons.
00:34:27
Speaker 1: There's enough on in the market for everybody to eat
00:34:29
Speaker 1: in one company. You can't serve more than a $10
00:34:31
Speaker 1: billion market, or maybe like a more than a $1
00:34:33
Speaker 1: billion market. Something like that. So you also need to
00:34:35
Speaker 1: coach and train the founders in answering the right answer.
00:34:37
Speaker 1: The question the right way, I think a lot of
00:34:39
Speaker 1: hand holding a lot of understanding. A lot of I
00:34:42
Speaker 1: would say coaching on how to convey those stuff
00:34:44
Speaker 1: questions is required. So 1st 30 pitches you'll know about yourself.
00:34:47
Speaker 1: The next 30 pitches. You'll understand more about investor. The
00:34:49
Speaker 1: next 30 pitch is when you are actually pitching for
00:34:52
Speaker 1: raising capital, and therefore this entire process will take anywhere
00:34:54
Speaker 1: between six months to a year. Sometimes you will be
00:34:57
Speaker 1: keep on pitching for around 2 to 3 months, six months.
00:34:59
Speaker 1: Then you will go under AD D. And then
00:35:01
Speaker 1: by the time you are able to close the round,
00:35:03
Speaker 1: it will take almost an year for you. That is
00:35:06
Speaker 1: how long the successful round takes. If you are a
00:35:08
Speaker 1: founder who does not come from the ecosystem or if
00:35:10
Speaker 1: you don't have deep connect. So if it's your first round,
00:35:12
Speaker 1: then it's definitely going to take anywhere between six months
00:35:14
Speaker 1: to a year, at least.
00:35:16
Speaker 1: Wow! And the last question I had was around. What
00:35:22
Speaker 1: happens when you have the pitch deck locked and loaded?
00:35:25
Speaker 1: How do you approach an angel for the first time ever?
00:35:29
Speaker 1: So there's a joke that we make internally that if
00:35:32
Speaker 1: you go and ask for money, you'll get mentoring. If
00:35:33
Speaker 1: you go and ask for MENTING, you'll get money. But
00:35:36
Speaker 1: that's not the case. Every time I think the best
00:35:39
Speaker 1: way to reach out to investors Number one is try
00:35:42
Speaker 1: and get warm connects. I think that's the best way possible.
00:35:44
Speaker 1: So let's say you want to. You are running a business.
00:35:47
Speaker 1: You want to raise capital fee? What investors are your
00:35:50
Speaker 1: potential investors and if you can get a founder to
00:35:52
Speaker 1: connect you with them,
00:35:54
Speaker 1: maybe through a warm email, I think the chances of
00:35:56
Speaker 1: getting a positive reply from the investor goes really high.
00:35:59
Speaker 1: That's number one. Number two, I think. Go and try
00:36:01
Speaker 1: and be a part of as many programmes like Els.
00:36:04
Speaker 1: Incubators programme as many government grants as possible. In fact,
00:36:08
Speaker 1: like a programme like a shark tank, right, it gives
00:36:10
Speaker 1: you huge visibility, right? So all of these platforms, you
00:36:13
Speaker 1: should definitely lever it like a shark tank like an
00:36:16
Speaker 1: like a incubation programme. This government of India has a
00:36:19
Speaker 1: programme called Scheme. This ID has a programme called and
00:36:23
Speaker 1: then you have,
00:36:23
Speaker 1: uh, triple F and there's so many programmes. So these
00:36:27
Speaker 1: are great platforms to get quick capital and get easy capital.
00:36:30
Speaker 1: And although the competition is there, I don't want to
00:36:32
Speaker 1: sound wrong to people that when the competition and the
00:36:35
Speaker 1: line is still there, the competition still exists. But it's
00:36:38
Speaker 1: a much easier way. I think these are two ways.
00:36:40
Speaker 1: Third would of course, be going through going for demo
00:36:43
Speaker 1: days and maybe reaching out to investors and the fourth
00:36:45
Speaker 1: would be cold emails and cold social media. But there's
00:36:48
Speaker 1: a There's a very less chance of conversion there. But
00:36:50
Speaker 1: if you are really good, the numbers are really great.
00:36:52
Speaker 1: And
00:36:53
Speaker 1: if you come out of the company about whom somebody
00:36:55
Speaker 1: has seen or heard about before, I think that your
00:36:57
Speaker 1: chance of conversion go really, really high. So I think
00:37:00
Speaker 1: these are a few ways you can definitely reach out
00:37:02
Speaker 1: to investors, and I think at least start talking to
00:37:04
Speaker 1: them again. Investors are very busy people, and again, if
00:37:06
Speaker 1: you're an engine, if you imagine, if you just put
00:37:09
Speaker 1: out an investor on your LinkedIn bio and see your
00:37:12
Speaker 1: inbox getting spammed by people top left and from the
00:37:15
Speaker 1: place it's it's a tough job. And in fact, most
00:37:17
Speaker 1: investors won't even check their own inbox. So I think
00:37:20
Speaker 1: if they are able to go to, um,
00:37:22
Speaker 1: an analyst, right. So the analyst, you like a deck?
00:37:25
Speaker 1: From what I understand from you, you've got to be
00:37:27
Speaker 1: somebody who somebody knows, and somebody is potentially recommending That's
00:37:32
Speaker 1: the best way. There's a very high chance if that
00:37:34
Speaker 1: happens again. Being from I t being from, I am
00:37:37
Speaker 1: not being from I not being from. I am knowing
00:37:40
Speaker 1: an investor already knowing a founder already, all of these
00:37:43
Speaker 1: are just the ways that will help you to that.
00:37:45
Speaker 1: That will help you in going one step ahead, but
00:37:48
Speaker 1: none of them are a commitment of getting funded. It
00:37:50
Speaker 1: is as simple as that,
00:37:51
Speaker 1: right? Non I t startups and non I start ups
00:37:54
Speaker 1: and startups who never had a a warm intro have
00:37:58
Speaker 1: also cracked V C and investor funding, and that's absolutely fine, right?
00:38:01
Speaker 1: And as I said at the end of the day, uh,
00:38:03
Speaker 1: nobody gives a damn about who you are and where
00:38:05
Speaker 1: you come from. If you have an amazing business, which is,
00:38:08
Speaker 1: uh, humongous returns and there's a possibility of a greater
00:38:11
Speaker 1: for investor. Nobody wants to miss an opportunity to invest
00:38:14
Speaker 1: and make the money double or triple or or whatever
00:38:16
Speaker 1: you want to do, right? I did. It's the number game. So, uh,
00:38:19
Speaker 1: communication story and numbers. I think that is what would matter.
00:38:23
Speaker 1: At the end of the day, nothing else.
00:38:25
Speaker 1: Lovely. And on that optimistic note, guys, it's a wrap.
00:38:29
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for being on the show. It
00:38:31
Speaker 1: was a pleasure to be here. I hope the audience
00:38:33
Speaker 1: found it insightful. And thank you for inviting me. I
00:38:35
Speaker 1: had a lovely time as well. Guys, please do tune
00:38:38
Speaker 1: in next week for the next episode of the U
00:38:41
Speaker 1: Incorporated podcast. See ya.
00:38:47
Speaker 1: Thank you for tuning into the U Incorporated podcast with me.
00:38:53
Speaker 1: Please follow trade and review us on Spotify and apple
00:38:57
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00:39:02
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00:39:18
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