#PushKnowledge
Fund Raising
VC
This is how you raise funding from VCs?
Neeraj Joshi .

4 Core Seed-stage Fundraising lessons from my conversations with multiple VC-funded Startup Founders:

1. Oversell your Dream, Undersell the actuals i.e. Numbers and Projections: Helps set the expectations right from day one reducing the chances of Founder-VC issues at the later stage

2. Sudh Hindi mai bat karo: Don’t try to act smart or cool, talk in language you are comfortable in and jo kuch hai clearly batayo. VCs should accept you for who you are, not what you project 😁😁

3. You should like the partner/investor personally: Investments are not just about money, you are sharing your ownership with the investor. Choose investors who respects you, discusses ideas with you like a buddy and asks the right questions rather than preaches his/her GYAN 🤝🤝

4. Establish a direct connect with the Partner, engaging with Investment analysts is just time-consuming: Investment analysts would just keep you engaged in to-fros and will share with the team what they understood from your call and not what your startup is actually about

Originally Posted Here
21 Comments

Vivekananda Rongali

Could you refer us to any VC's? Or if you dont mind, can we connect? I have been pitching to some VC's recently. Did our Angel round last year.

May be if you could help us to pitch. Thanks

Neeraj Joshi

sure Mail me your deck @ neeraj.joshi@pushstart.in with the name of VCs you want an introduction with🙂

Raghavendra Bsrpg

I think #2 is not about language, but about communication and interpersonal skills..:)I feel what you really mean in ,#2 is that - Polite, crisp and an open minded attitude while being casual and friendly.. Kyu ki sab VC's Hindi thodi bolte hai..;)

Neeraj Joshi

yeah obviously!

It’s not abt the language, it’s abt how truthfully you are sharing abt your numbers and business rather than talking shit

Harshal N Shroff

Do you mean this ?

https://youtu.be/oEnFhdFHfcc

Neeraj Joshi

yeah! This covers the what not to do perfectly😂

Sooraj Kumar R

#1 is so fcuked up. If you think a VC is dumb enough to get oversold on anything, well they deserve it. But please don't preach overselling of anything. That's often the reason why not every project VCs invest in turns into gold. Improper Expectations.

Neeraj Joshi

Who is preaching overselling?

Sooraj Kumar R

Point #1 started with "Oversell your dream"

Neeraj Joshi

nothing wrong in overselling your dream, what’s wrong?

Rohit Nair

Sooraj Kumar R I think Overselling your dreams refers to showing them your long term vision as descriptive as possible. Correct me if I’m wrong Neeraj Joshi

Dilip Patel

Agree with you Neeraj Joshi And with in 45 days, we get 10 cr investment to takeover
One bankrupt medical device unit against
10% equity. All happened due to clear discussion with investors😉

Neeraj Joshi

oh nice! It was your medical unit?

Dilip Patel

No it’s some one dream project, but due to continuous development and over costing of projection and investment, monopoly unit bankrupt , total investment by founder was 290 Cr,since our 3 year effort and data study finally we planted to buy from banks , and with in 45 days we got investors for that , we clear all points in front of investors, risk factors, returns against investment, and over planing finally on last Thursday we got confirmation from investors, that they give you 10 cr against 10 % equity to take over one unit of that manufacturing setup,

Abhi Jeet

#4 is debatable. Analysts can be your best bet in closing the deal since most investors rely on their research and information to make the decision.

Harish Ibrahim

I have seen many ugly investor founder relationship. If a founder think like sales guy, and try to close deal, it can be difficult in long term. Best bet is, approach an investor as you approach a date. If you seduce them, you might get a dinner, if you talk real, you might get long term partner/ investor.

Neeraj Joshi

haha true bro

Harish Ibrahim

investors are not saints, sometimes the founder get gang raped too. To thrive/ survive in this ecosystem, one need stronger peers. Some IIT circle thrive for a reason.

Suraj Sathyanarayana

Honestly think #2, with all due respect - is absolutely bonkers.

Why is anyone expected to speak Hindi? How is speaking in English “acting smart”? I would think the data set for any of these points here aren’t honestly valid or true to be making such blatant untoward statements.

There’s a whole bunch of us who would never ever want to pitch in Hindi. The idea of doing it in a language outside of it - should not be looked upon in this light.

Harman Singh

This was my first reaction too, but I think the point has just been naively worded. The sentiment seems to be simply "be yourself" and don't try to put on a different persona just for your investors. The language bit is probably an example that's very specific to Neeraj's own experiences, but it'll mean something else for the rest of us. I think.

Suraj Sathyanarayana

Well, I completely agree with you. Being yourself is the best thing you can do in these conversations.

But it has been worded extremely disappointingly. And tasteless for me personally.

But yeah, I get what you mean. But not one bit of the post at all.

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