Avenues for getting ~$1M funding in India

I am curious about opportunities to get funding in the $1M range for start-ups in India.

1. Most of the VCs in India seem to be interested only in deals over $2M. The average size seems to be $4M-5M. I believe this is a direct consequence of VCs raising funds over $100M. Even if you write $5M checks you still need to manage 20 companies! So cannot afford to make and then manage small investments. Also, with the valuations of many established companies falling to ground levels, with a $5-10M investment, VCs can now get a good stake at low risk. So more VCs seem to be doing PE type deals.
2. $1M is still a big amount in India. It cannot be raised from Friends, family and fools. Angel investors also balk at that number. Are there any professional investors who fund in this range? What are the options available for companies planning to raise in this range? (Of course, if there are no options available, we can always wait till we have greater investment needs)

Navigating through the Economic Blues

Like many other small to medium companies we are also being tested in the economic conditions – delayed payments, delayed sales decisions, delayed cash inflow. I would like to share some thoughts on how we can counter this situation. We are implementing many of the following to gear up for the rough weather. I hope others find this useful and hopefully some others can provide better suggestions:

1. Dont put complete faith in investors for cash flow
Its good to be a funded company in this environment. However, I would like to caution my fellow entrepreneurs that unless you have the money in the bank dont count on it. Many investors release payments in tranches over a period of time (say 5-6 months). Assume the worst case – investors may not able to release the latest tranche when the time comes. Its not because they dont want to give, its just that may not have the cash to give. Remember, investors (such as VCs) themselves raise funds from other investors. With the current cash crunch, its better to be prepared for the worst (and given the current economic uncertainty “worst” case is quite likely to occur). Dont make the mistake of planning your execution based on cash you “definitely” expect to get next month (or even next week). Treat investor cash as an added “bonus”. This particularly applies for services based companies which usually should be able to do well without investment as well.

2. Laser Focus on BD
Sales is the life blood of business. Put all your energies on actually meeting sales targets. Have daily sales update calls. Change the incentive structure – reduce the base salary and instead add two layers of bonus structure. Maybe if they achieve 50% of their targets they will get their original salary. When they achieve 75% they get more. When they achieve 100%
their total payment is actually much more than what they would have got before. The idea is – your competitors are as desperate as you are, without concerted sales efforts there is no way you can tide this crisis. In fact increase mktg/ sales budgets. If something is working in mtkg double the investment in that – of course make those investments in the right areas and in the right people.

3. Everyone should sell
This is an offshoot of the previous point. Think of ways where everyone (including admin, technical) contributes to sales. Often it takes an yr or two for small companies to consistently predict revenue flows. During this time everyone is figuring out the right value prop that sells. You will invariably find a few sales people who are actually meeting their targets and many who are not. Follow the 80/20 rule and cut down the sales team which is generating only 20% revenues. Instead rope in admin, development to augment the star sales people. Admin can make calls, fix up meetings. Technical folks can accompany sales and provide compelling arguments to convince the customer. This will ensure that your number dogs get more time to actually focus on meeting numbers and not on how to convince customers.

There are other obvious mantras to be implemented. They have received wide coverage and everyone knows them so I wont expand on them:
1. Cash is king
2. Prepare for the worst
3. Cut your workforce to the bone. Its better to cut more than cut less. In fact cut so much that you have money left to hire the best.

Hope this helps.

Reposted from http://www.venturewoods.org/index.php/2008/11/06/navigating-through-the-economic-blues/

Online and offline classifieds – Disconnect in traditional media

I have been thinking about this for sometime: All of us know, classifieds is big business. Both online and offline. In the offline world traditional media like newspapers are the big gorillas – they basically built the classifieds industry. In the online world we of have craigslist, networks such as google adwords, vertical classifieds such as magicbricks, trulia etc. Though newspapers have gone online and online classifieds are proving to be successful businesses, I feel that there a distinct disconnect between the offline and online worlds. Why aren’t newspapers (or any other traditional media) integrating their offline classifieds with their websites? Online classifieds of all newspapers (thehindu, timesofindia, local papers like deccan chronicle, eenaadu) suck big time – they have minimal/obsolete content, search/usability features are non-existent. What could be the reason for this?

I feel newspapers have everything going for them 1. They have a captive customer set (who give them offline classifieds). So content (and revenues) is not an issue. Pricing could be different for online. 2. They have a decent online reader base. So integrating the online and offline worlds should be the most obvious thing to do. But this definitely is not happening. Even newspapers in US (NY Times etc) dont seem have integrated their online and offline worlds. Only google (who buys a lot of print ad slots) seems to be bridging this.

I would like to understand the reasons for this disconnect. Are they purely cultural – sticking to the existing cash cow and under estimating the online effect? Or is it more than that?
Are there any traditional media which have successfully embraced the online classifieds model – can anyone point some examples? It would be great if someone can throw some numbers – typical revenues made through offline classifieds. How much can online classifieds effect the overall revenues for the business etc.

I feel there is a business opportunity here – enabling traditional media to broaden their pie. If you want to collaborate on this pls comment or directly contact me.

regards,
Vamsi

Article reposted from here

Content Aggregation sites in India: Legal problems ?

There have been quite a few content aggregation sites that have cropped up in the recent past – both in India and US. ixigo.com, Yahoo Farechase, zoomtra for travel, Yahoo Jobsearch, bixee etc for jobs, spoteazy for electronics and there are many others in US in this space. My question is: What are the legality issues w.r.t content aggregation? Can the host websites sue the content aggregator for using their content for “commercial purposes”?

For example: I build a car portal aggregator from carwale.com, carzoo.com, carsalesindia.com etc. When a user searches on my website, he/she is presented results from any of these websites (with a brief summary) and when he/she clicks the link, they are taken to the host website. My revenue stream is sponsored ads. Once I get sufficient traffic, I may also open up the site to take listings directly.

Can carwale.com etc sue me on the basis “I am using their information for commercial purposes” or “I am using copyrighted content” etc – and yes, its written in the terms and conditions of all the content websites that their content cannot be used for commercial use without their explicit approval.

Atleast with travel, jobs the main revenue stream for the host web sites is not ad based (they are getting paid for subscription or when a transaction takes place). So content aggregators may not be perceived as direct competitors. But for free listing providers such as directory services, car listings, yellow pages, real estate websites where their primary revenue stream is also ad-based, content aggregators can be perceived as direct competitors (even though they drive traffic to the host site). CAN the host websites sue content aggregators? What about the “fair use” clauses – can they protect the content aggregators (in India)?

First of all, is this a big issue? How are the current content aggregators (in India) dealing with this issue? And should start-ups be worried about this? And how should they deal with this?

(this article is also published here)

Marathon Experience

I had run a Marathon almost three years back (SUN Oct 31st, 04). That was my first marathon (or any official long distance run). I had emailed my experience to my friends and many have commented that it was quite inspiring. So I guess its worth a dekko . I am re-publishing it here.

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“The Few
The Proud
The Marine-athoners”

Yes, I did it! I ran the Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday (26.2 miles). And as they say in “Chariots of Fire”, we ran with “..hopes in our hearts and wings on our heels..”. My time was 5:28:43.

It was a great marathon, with incredible spectator support. It took us through Georgetown, past all the great D.C. monuments, around a waterfront golf course,
and then back into Virginia, past the famous Arlington cemetery. Being Halloween, there were several runners and many spectators who had dressed for the occasion. I saw several Supermen, Kermit the frog, vampires, devils and what not.

What can I say about the marines? They were absolutely incredible. Every one of them was smartly dressed, courteous, very very fit and always in control. Throughout the race, they were yelling out to support the runners, manning the water stations and were
unfailingly efficient. Some marines ran the race with full gear (backpack and all). I came to the race Start at around 7.20am, checked my bag and joined the Asha (http://www.ashanet.org) team who were already there. While I was a bit nervous the
day before, on Sunday I was excited more than anything else. There were about 15000 runners with an equal number of supporters. Looking at that scene was unbelievable. All you can see was a sea of humanity for half a mile. I started my race at 8.43am. Rock
music was playing in the background. Tens of thousands of supporters were cheering – it was just incredible.

The first two miles were a breeze. All I did was just look around. At mile 2 we passed the highest point in the race. Mile 3,4,5 were smooth – the crowds were thinner, but we were running in the woods and could see the fall colors in full splendor. At mile 6 the sun came out and it really started beating down. I forgot to get my cap and that really started to hurt. At mile 10 we reached the Lincoln Memorial. There were a lot of Asha volunteers there to cheer me up. By mile 12 I was dehydrated and started hitting the wall. Usually this does not happen until 17 or 18 miles, so I was kind of worried. I lost all hopes of completing in 4:30 and just wanted to finish it. I stopped at all the water stations, drank lots of water, powerade and drenched myself all over. At this point I joined a small group led by a marine. He was running with a huge staff carrying the US flag and was singing the
Marine Corps songs. We joined him in chorus – it was so much fun. By mile 14 I was feeling much better. My bhabhi was there in the crowd waiting for me to show up. I felt so happy to see her. I was well into the groove and started picking up speed. Miles 1-6 took me
1:20, Miles 6-14 -> 1:40 and Miles 14-20 -> 1:20 and Mile 20-26 just 1hr. By this time I discovered a formula for boosting my performance. Whenever I started feeling low, all I had to do was run along the supporters and do high-fives. That was more than enough to pump me up.

At mile 22 we reached Crystal City. There was a live band playing for us. At mile 24 my brother joined me and ran till the end of the race. Having someone to run along really helps. We started an impromptu Antakshari session starting with “Hum Honge Kaamiyaab..”, .. “Pyar hame kis modepe lejaaye” and then switched to telugu songs covering Gang Leader and Gharana Mogudu . Surprisingly the crowds were
pretty thin during this last stretch. Maybe it was because we were running around the Pentagon or maybe because of the heat. After 25.5 miles I started to sprint. I started using my quads and just ran as fast I could. There was a steep hill and then the Finish
arch was in sight. However crossing the finish line was sort of anticlimactic. There were no bursting of fireworks, no horns blaring, no fans coming over to lift me up . I guess I was expecting a bigger crowd, but then they may have left already – it was so hot and I took almost 5 ½ hours. Well I barely had enough strength to get my medal, pose for the post
marathon photograph, grab my bag and head for the Asha tent.

How do I feel now ? More than my personal achievement, I’m happy that I ran for Asha and raised money for the kids. You have supported for this cause, and donated so generously, it will change the lives of several kids in India. They will get an education, and a shot at the future, things that all of us have taken for granted. For those of you who were waiting for me to finish the marathon to donate , please go to http://www.ashanet.org/nycnj/events/2004/hoh/runners/vamsi.html. Thanks for all your support – I couldn’t have done it without all of you!

Thinking back about the entire Marathon experience – starting about 5 months back in June, running over 500 miles, braving through all the shin, ankle and knee pains, forgoing many of the evenings and most of the weekends to train and the final indescribable, incredible, memorable Marathon run itself. Was it really worth it ? Well, all I can say is “Yeh Dil Maange More!”.

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iPhone – Windows Killer?

My friend Arjun recently blogged about something interesting – Can iPhone dent Windows marketshare? Here’s the gist. iPhone is based on OS X and Apple has hinted of opening iPhone for developing 3rd party apps. With iPhone quite likely to dominate the cellular market, 3rd party apps for OS X (iPhone) are likely to proliferate. When this happens, the developers will then port the apps to Mac OS X and hence increase the ecosystem for Macs – thereby denting Windows marketshare.

I think there is a distinct possibility that iPhone will dent Windows marketshare, but in a different way.

1. Apple with iPhone x.0 may actually deliver on “convergence” which has been the holy grail for everyone.

2. SaaS is taking off in a big way in the b2c and b2b spaces.

(2) is already happening and going by Apple’s track record (1) is also highly probable (iPod was not the first music player, similarly iPhone can dominate the cellular market even though its a late entrant). In such a scenario, coolness, usability, and high quality basic apps (voice, voip, email, browser, multimedia) are all that matter. Apple doesn’t need to worry too much about 3rd party apps. With most of the apps being delivered over the web, all Apple needs to make sure is to get the platforms right (great UI, email, browser etc). iPhone will likely displace the PC and hence Windows.

BarcampHyderabad4

BarcampHyderabad4 is scheduled to be held at TCS DeccanPark campus on July 14th from 1pm – 6:30pm. Please visit http://barcamp.org/BarCampHyderabad4 and register/sign-up. There is no theme for this barcamp, so if you have anything interesting to say, this is your 15min of fame.

The Blog About Nothing

Sienfeld’s “The Pitch” pretty much summarizes what this blog is going to be . Here is an excerpt of the episode where George and Sienfeld discuss about their proposal for a show to NBC.  Its nowhere near as funny, in print, as it is on video.

Source http://www.seinfeldscripts.com/ThePitch.htm.

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JERRY: “Don’t you know the difference between seltzer and salsa?? You
have the seltezer after the salsa!”

GEORGE: See, this should be a show. This is the show.

JERRY: What?

GEORGE: This. Just talking.

JERRY: (dismissing) Yeah, right.

GEORGE: I’m really serious. I think that’s a good idea.

JERRY: Just talking? Well what’s the show about?

GEORGE: It’s about nothing.

JERRY: No story?

GEORGE: No forget the story.

JERRY: You’ve got to have a story.

GEORGE: Who says you gotta have a story? Remember when we were waiting for,
for that table in that Chinese restaurant that time? That could be a TV
show.

JERRY: And who is on the show? Who are the characters?

GEORGE: I could be a character.

JERRY: You?

GEORGE: Yeah. You could base a character on me.

JERRY: So, on the show, there’s a character named George Costanza?

GEORGE: Yeah. There’s something wrong with that? I’m a character. People are always saying to me, “You know you’re a quite a character.”

JERRY: And who else is on the show?

GEORGE: Elaine could be a character. Kramer..

JERRY: Now he’s a character. (Pause) So everybody I know is a character on the show.

GEORGE: Right.

JERRY: And it’s about nothing?

GEORGE: Absolutely nothing.

JERRY: So you’re saying, I go in to NBC, and tell them I got this idea for a show about nothing.

GEORGE: We go into NBC.

JERRY: “We”? Since when are you a writer?

GEORGE: (Scoffs) Writer. We’re talking about a sit-com.

JERRY: You want to go with me to NBC?

GEORGE: Yeah. I think we really go something here.

JERRY: What do we got?

GEORGE: An idea.

JERRY: What idea?

GEORGE: An idea for the show.

JERRY: I still don’t know what the idea is.

GEORGE: It’s about nothing.

JERRY: Right.

GEORGE: Everybody’s doing something, we’ll do nothing.

JERRY: So, we go into NBC, we tell them we’ve got an idea for a show about nothing.

GEORGE: Exactly.

JERRY: They say, “What’s your show about?” I say, “Nothing.”

GEORGE: There you go.

(A moment passes)

JERRY: (Nodding) I think you may have something there.

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