In the words of Bhaskar Majumdar, managing partner of
Unicorn India Ventures:
11. Unicorn prefers a single founder or a cofounder team? We believe teams with 2 to 3 cofounders works best.
We like entrepreneurs with skin in the game. Thus we shy away from investing in very early stage startups.
And unlike a lot of funds, while we have a few founders in their 20s, we look to back senior and experienced management teams in their late 30s and 40s.
12. How many startups would you typically like to have in the Unicorn portfolio? We are looking to have around 15 companies in this present fund.
Currently, our portfolio consists of 6 companies. We are in talks with a few more and announcements will be made when we sign on the dotted line.
13. Looking for more startups to invest in at the moment or absolutely no more room for more startups? We are actively scouting companies as we speak.
On a monthly basis, we see around 300 to 400 business plans, which the team narrows down to about 6.
14. What’s the one big thing an entrepreneur can do to convince you to invest in their startup?
Show us the path to money.
Jokes apart, if an entrepreneur with a business idea whose minimum viable product (MVP) has shown impressive results, high scalability, low cash burn, then that’s the one we would like to be invested in.
15. Best way to contact Unicorn? Tweet to us @Unicornindia
16. Is it a waste of time and money for novice entrepreneurs to pay to attend networking events and startup conferences? Yes.
If in the same cost you can hire two people to work on your tech, it is a waste of money.
Budding entrepreneurs should pick and choose events where industry leaders relevant to them are attending. And double check with event organizers if there is at all a chance to interact with industry leaders one on one.
Otherwise to merely exchange cards and hope for follow up meetings does not work and is an absolute waste of time and money.
17. Unicorn prefers to invest in products with proven demand or innovative, but risky ideas? We believe we have covered our bases well so far. We have invested in consumer services like GrabonRent and VanityCube to industry specific businesses like Pharmarack and Neuroequilibrium.
A completely wild idea startup hasn’t come our way yet. Who knows we might just surprise everyone.
18. How do you deal with write offs and losing money? This is a reality and one has to be prepared for it. So far, we haven’t been in the situation.
However, funds who have seen their investment gone bad have no option but to either exit at a much lower price or if the startup shut down then they have to make peace with the fact that they are not going to see their money ever.
19. One piece of advice to novice investors:Don’t invest in a sector or a company because everyone else.
Don’t follow the principle of FOMO. [Fear Of Missing Out.]
Part 1 of this interview is
here.
BW Reporters
Regina is a reporter for BW Businessworld. In her previous assignments, she has worked with Independent television Network as a news anchor and reporter in Sri Lanka
