Last week I attended a global start-up conference held in Goa. I first got to know about it from our mentor, Nitin who said I should look it up when I met him in Mumbai.
He introduced me to the organizers and I registered as DFYNORM after. I was told that I was eligible to pitch at the event. YAY! So I took a train to Goa the day before the event, conservative as I am (both monetarily and definitely ecologically). I made friends on the train. That’s one reason I LOVE traveling by trains in India. It is an understanding from the time you step into your coach, that you will be befriended, or at least questioned.
The train arrived 2 hours late which didn’t leave me much time so I quickly freshened up and rushed to the Leela in South Goa. The venue was teeming with entrepreneurs and the men (and a few women) in suits. Following tea, we went into the ballroom where the session was inaugurated by Kaushal Choski, the president of SCAALE Group, an organization that connects investors and entrepreneurs around the world. He used this phrase ‘Collective intelligence’ and it’s been etched in my head ever since. There’s something so powerful about that with so much potential to tap into. And that room was brimming with C.I.
After this, he let Paulo Andres, the President of EBAN to open the session. Paulo is a seasoned investor who is as alert as he is animated, as sharp as he is a ‘shark’ (well I think shark serves better as a metaphor than an analogy in the case of angels)
He quickly dispelled the various misconceptions entrepreneurs had about investments & angels in particular. A few pointers that stood out :
- Most entrepreneurs DO NOT see risks in their company which is worrisome because that shows you do not take off your polka dotted rose tinted shades for even a second. This has nothing to do with big vision thinking. You can have an amazing vision but if you do not assess risks, you are not also putting your problem solving skills to use. Because the more risks you assess, the more you think about mitigating them. Its actually a win-win for your business and for your investor
- Many a times, you have a great idea and you go to the investor demanding he puts in all the capital and he thinks ‘wait a second, what have you put in so far?’. If the answer is Zilch, then its not cool. You’ve got to have some skin in the game
- Do not just go and ask for a million dollars. Give scenarios based on risk factors. This spikes your credibility.
- Do not directly approach an investor sitting in a country outside of your market influence. First tap into local investors and this will build confidence for cross border investments. Think Local and then go Global.
- Choose your Angel wisely as this is a partnership. You definitely want somebody who can mentor you, open doors to people in your relevant industry and so on.Following this, all of us went to our respective rooms where we were to give an elevator pitch. I thought this was going to be exactly that – no ppt, just aim from the heart. Also It wasn’t a room with just investors, it had everyone! I was quite nervous.It was my turn. I didn’t have a pitch deck but I did have high quality images of our fashion that was role modeled by some amazing women we had connected with. Overall I think it went well. Anna Degtereva of Happy Farm Business Incubators asked me about the team and our traction so far.Apart from pitching, I enjoyed viewing the others pitching their dream to the investors. Some of the ones that stood out to me were:
- OoWomaniya – an online platform that lets women ask health related queries. Women, particularly in India and other conservative nations, operate in stealth mode when it comes to questions about health – menstrual/ sexual/ mental and so on.
- Womenalia – a platform that helps women undergo professional training, get back to the workforce and so on (all the way from spain)
- Hope Doctors – These guys didn’t pitch but they are forming a network of on-call doctors for addressing the severe gap and stigma associated with mental health in India
- 5by7– one stop shop for corporate gifting in India. Already profitable and growing. Their business cards were so unique, a folded case that contained a screen cleaner. Nice touch!
- ARMagic School – All the way from Dalian, China this utilizes Augmented Reality to create some very exciting virtual playmates for young children.Ones from the other rooms that I got to know of :
- GymTrekker – an aggregator of all things related to fitness with unique group membership and sharing options to eat away at that nagging guilt (of never making it to the gym!) The guys behind this venture could pull off 50 push-ups with a lot of swag I hear. Too bad I didn’t get to see them work it.
- Docsapp – This platform lets users connect with specialist doctors with no need to travel. I had my bets on this as I saw the final pitch by Satish Kannan.I missed a few other great ideas because I was either prepping my notes, or calming my jittery toes.
While we pitched, we also got real-time feedback from Marta Emerson, Managing Director at SCAALE & Peter Braun, CEO of Mountain Club, Switzerland : NOT MORE THAN 5 to 7 slides please. We do not want to be reading while you are talking, so keep the slides extremely concise, with key points.
I also gathered that the best approach is to Start with the Why and then build on why you are the people who will execute this idea the best – TEAM, Advisory board followed by TRACTION, revenue projections and FINALLY the ASK.
All in All it went alright – even better when I got to know that I had made it to the final round to be held the next day. Double Yay! This meant I had solid work to do once I got back to my Airbnb room – create the final pitch deck, make sure my delivery did NOT exceed the stipulated time so that I had enough time to get questioned by the investors. I really wanted FEEDBACK.
Bodista 