This edition of Startup Saturday was about fundraising for Startups from an Investor’s perspective. Mr Bhadresh Khamar, Investor and CEO of Megan executive search and Kegan advisory firm gave his insights after hearing the demo pitches given by 5 startups.

Mr Bhadresh Khamar, Investor and CEO of Megan executive search and Kegan advisory firm gave insights on the session topic ‘Fundraising for startups – Investors perspective’. Here are his tips:

Here are his tips:

• The idea of the startup should be presented on a single page. It should be precise and innovative. When an investor glances/hears your startup pitch he should gain accurate insights on what your startup is all about.
• Calculate the revenue and show the Investors how much profit will they make after investing X amount. You need to show figures to investors and those figures don’t have to be precise.

Show the Investors quantitative benefit they’ll derive out of investing in your startup.

– Try presenting your idea in a single page. Make it precise and innovative. When an investor glances/hears your startup pitch he should gain accurate insights on what your startup is all about.

– Calculate your revenue and show the Investors how much they will get/profit after investing X amount. You need to show figures to investors and those figures don’t have to be precise.

– Show the Investors quantitative benefit they’ll derive out of investing in your startup.

– Study your target market and target persona thoroughly.

– Jot down the Idea benefit and calculation (OPEX – CPEX) in one page for your brief understanding of the scope. Later this page will help you deal with banks, legal advisors, etc.

– Startups can find investors via:

1. VC circle in Mumbai

2. Venture Capitalist

3. Career Venture Capitalist

4. Headstart Kickstart

– One must have a BMC – business model canvas ready accompanied by Revenue Year on Year generation document.

– Justify your revenue increments with your business plan – BMC. Later Align your plan with revenue.

– consider Labor cost, Raw material price, Product price increase and decrement, etc. Whilst preparing the pitch and BMC.

– Don’t bluff in the business plan. Try to justify as much as you can, but don’t bluff.

– Investors look for below-mentioned areas whilst investing in your startup:

1. Mainly Idea

2 Your Team ( Domain Experts)

3. The integrity of promoters. Track records of their families and relatives.

– Get experts of the domain to validate your business plan.

– There is the much higher risk in a service-based startup. Whereas product based startups have much more potential and growth possibility. A service-based startup can scale faster. Whereas product based startup can grow exponentially.

–  Investors can see the vision in a product based startup where it can scale up 100X 200X.

 

Contributed by: Jainam Mehta
Volunteer, Ahmedabad