India Startup Talk

This one is for tips on entering the US markets. Get answers to why do it and how to do it. I have included some examples and as usual, practical actionable advice. FYI...I am also starting a training and mentoring class so feel free to reach out to me at ssen@zenesysconsulting.com for details on how to enroll. You will learn how to make your startup more attractive to investors, get practical guidance on GTM, developing competitive strategies and a above all, finding solutions for taking your startup challenges head on.

It's not just about spectrum wars that will chase subscribers for more revenues. To better understand what new streams of revenues are possible, let's analyze some of India's 5G startups. Their products will give you an idea of how the wireless landscape is about to change dramatically with new possibilities. I grouped the companies into three broad categories. Radio, Core and Applications. Hope you will enjoy it. Leave your thoughts here or email me at ssen@zenesysconsulting.com

Listen to this insightful conversation with Mohamed Kazim, founder of Venus and Mercury Telecom. V&M is creating one of the first "Virtual Private 5G Service" for the Enterprise. This is a great opportunity for Startups to create applications on the Edge Cloud and for Enterprises to create cutting edge mobility applications without having to wait for the large telcos to offer "custom" services in their Public 5G offering. 

A refreshing perspective on GTM from Naganand Doraswamy, founder of Ideaspring Capital, one of the rare VC firms in India who are backing Early Stage Tech Startups. Listen to his thoughts on what it takes to develop a sales strategy in the initial phases of a technology startup. A highly successful past entrepreneur from the US, he feels that rather than creating another startup, why not help start several more as an "hands on" investor. If you are a tech startup, learn more about Ideaspring Capital at https://www.ideaspringcap.com/. You can also reach out to him at naganand@ideaspringcap.com 

Fourth and final part of the Investability Framework. A simple four area test for any startup's potential for investment attractiveness. The four areas being Product Market Fit test, Scalability Test, Moat Test and the subject of this podcast, the Team Test. Hope you like it. Listeners, do check out my online web calculator that puts this framework into action for you. Go to https://app.calconic.com/calculator/editor/62399af732accc0021eea9f1 and test your early stage startup for investment attractiveness. 

The Investability Framework is a quick, easy and quantifiable method for determining a startup's attractiveness for investment. 

This is a four part podcast series. Earlier, in Part 1, I showed how to test a startups product market fit. Part 2, tested a startups Scalability and this podcast, which is Part 3 shows how to test a startup's competitiveness. 

To make things a bit more fun, I am creating an online calculator based on this framework. You can test your startup's investability using this calculator. Here is the link https://www.calconic.com/calculator-widgets/investability-score-calculator/62399af732accc0021eea9f1?layouts=true

A four part series on an "Investability Framework". Using this framework you can assess how attractive is your startup to investors? The framework will assesses your startup along four dimensions "Product Market Fit", "Scalability", "Competitiveness" and "Team Quality". Listen on to the first part for the how to test your "Product Market Fit". 

Founders think of competitive advantage in just one dimension which is"How are they different from their competitor's product". In reality, competitive forces are multi-dimensional. In this episode, I have used startup examples to illustrate the other dimensions using Michel E. Porter, the management guru's "Porters Five Forces". A must listen for founders building their pitch decks to convince an investor that they are truly  "Competition Proof"

I noticed that GTM (go to market strategy) which is a one time oomph marketing effort in an early stage startup is conspicuously missing or misunderstood by early stage startups. This is my sincere attempt to put it right. I will tell you what it is NOT, what it IS, why it is important and some examples to illustrate a good GTM. Thanks to Justin Novello for the cover art image. 

Fourteen practical tips packed here for you based on my recent analysis of more than a 100 pitch documents, 60 pitching sessions and mentoring 10 early stage startups. This was from a couple of GOI Startup India initiatives I was involved with last month. 

Last month, six Indian startups, CRED, Meesho, Pharmeasy, Groww, Sharechat, and Gupshup reached a valuation of more than a billion US Dollars. I did some research and analysed the founder backgrounds and their journeys to see what might be the top traits of a solid founder.

If you think mobile apps are exciting, wait till you hear what awaits once 5G is here. In this episode I explain in simple terms what all the 5G hoopla is all about. If you are capable of creating good deep tech code, then this episode is a must listen. I have plenty of examples here to illustrate how 5G features such as gigabit speeds, lower latency and edge computing will blow the socks off current mobile apps. 

This is continuation of Part 1. In this episode I demystify some more jargon in startup land and talk about 15 things you need to work on to get sure shot funding. 

New to startups or need a refresher? In this episode explain terms such as Cap Table, GTM, MVP, POC, IPR, Sacalability etc. etc. Also, I will explain all the jargon as we go through a startup journey from start to its end. This way, you get to understand what startups are all about and how to get funding. Send me feedback on ssen@zenesysconsulting.com or enter a discussion on Linkedin ZENeSYS India Startup Page or click on this link https://www.linkedin.com/company/zenesys

Welcome to our first episode on Startup Trends in India. Pranav and I discuss trends in India that is shaping the startup activity. Pranav is a serial entrepreneur from Bangaluru India. He started Datasissar, a SaaS service for small businesses way back in 2008! Considering, his early vision, who better than Pranav to talk about trends now and what the future hot sectors will look like.