Creating any video content is expensive, and it takes time to build expertise. Regional OTT app stage is trying to develop this expertise.

The easiest way to raise capital for your D2C startup is to bring new products from other countries and create a powerful story around it.

Investors are your partners. If you can't investors with whom you are not comfortable working, don't take their money.

When you are starting your startup, raising venture capital from your acquaintances (called an F&F round) is the best and easiest approach.

AI might derail the Indian SaaS story because founders don't know how to leverage AI to enhance their SaaS offerings.

Founders should try to raise money for 18 months. The goal of pre-seed/seed capital is to launch an MVP and acquire a few paying customers.

Liquidation preferences help investors get their investment back when the startup is acquired or liquidated at a lower valuation.

Carta is a treasure trove of useful information. Since it manages the shareholders' list (known as the cap table) of thousands of...

The power law dictates that a lion's share of VC returns comes from a small number of deals while most investments fail to return capital.

When a startup becomes big, its early investors sell their shares to bigger VCs at a profit. This is called a liquidity event.

Carry, short for Carried Interest, is the share in profit that a fund manager (GP) gets when they investment does well.

ESOPs are a proven way of creating employee wealth. In any venture-funded startup, your salary will have both cash and ESOPs.

Startups give ESOPs to employees to compensate for the risk. ESOPs can yield a fortune if the startup you joined becomes successful.

A syndicate is a collection of angel investors who invest together in early-stage startups.

Raising seed investment is difficult. Luck plays a big part and you need patience and persistence to achieve it.

Raising capital is much more difficult than selling to D2C rollups. If can grow 10–20x with more capital, VC investment is the way forward.

The competition to acquire great companies is immense. Many D2C rollups have raised big capital to acquire the best brands.

Startup investing has become mainstream in India. More Indians will invest in early-stage startups once the ecosystem further matures.

VC investments are illiquid with 5 to 8 years lock-in depending upon the fund. Thus, it requires a higher return than most investments.

Nine big startups came up with IPOs in Q2 2021. All are technology companies except Oatley (Oat milk maker) and Didi (Ride hailing company).