 "These articles were originally published in VentureKatalyst, India’s first e-zine aimed at entrepreneurs, started by Sanjay Anandaram in 1999. He brings two decades of experience as an entrepreneur, corporate executive, venture investor, faculty member, advisor and mentor. As a passionate advocate of entrepreneurship in India, he’s associated with Nasscom, TiE, IIM-Bangalore, and INSEAD business school in driving entrepreneurship. He can be reached at " |
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| Issue 1: So What Exactly Is a Startup? |
| Entrepreneur. Venture capital. Pre and post-money valuations. Stock options. IPO. Acquisitions. And of course the ubiquitous "Startup". All of these terms have captured the imagination of the current generation. But what exactly is a startup? Read more >> |
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| Issue 2: What’s Right For Me? |
| In the last Gurukul, we defined what a startup is to put the rest of our discussions on startups in perspective. So, is a startup for everyone? Read more >> |
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| Issue 3: Creating Your Startup - Part 1 |
| Now that you’ve decided that a startup is indeed for you and that you have the attitude, temperament and ability to deal with the ambiguities and tensions, you need to figure out how to go about the whole process of creating your startup. Read more >> |
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| Issue 4: Creating Your Startup - Part 2 |
| In the last Gurukul, we talked of the need to have the right kind of people in your startup, what positions to focus on and what to look for in the key people and hires. Having done that, the startup now needs to focus externally. Read more >> |
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| Issue 5: Creating Your Startup - Part 3 |
| In the last Gurukul, we took a broad look at how markets and customers are to be evaluated; in this. let's take a look at how products and services can be defined. Read more >> |
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| Issue 6: Creating your Startup: Part 4 |
| In the earlier Gurukuls, we saw how critical it was to select the right team members, understand how to evaluate markets and technologies and to define products and services for specific markets. But all this understanding and knowledge will come to naught, if a key catalyst, namely finance, is absent. Read more >> |
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| Issue 7: Writing a Business Plan: Part 1 |
| This and the next few gurukuls will talk about probably the most important document an entrepreneur will deal with, outside of a last will! Namely, the business plan. Read more >> |
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| Issue 8: Writing a Business Plan: Part 2 |
| Writing a business plan is easy. Writing a clear, concise and fundable plan is not. Investors are not likely to be impressed by gimmicks or by flashy and flaky presentations. If they are, you probably don’t want such investors. Read more >> |
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| Issue 9: Writing a Business Plan: Part 3 |
| In the last 2 gurukuls, we looked at business plans and what they should contain. In this gurukul, we’ll focus on the key aspects of a business plan. These are the aspects that VCs will focus on in great depth and will decide if your venture is going to receive funding. Read more >> |
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| Issue 10: Incorporating a company |
| Let’s take a detour and talk about some dry and boring but important things like that are involved in incorporating companies. Read more >> |
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| Issue 11: Creating your startup – Part 9 |
| In the last Gurukul, we took a detour to talk about the process of incorporating a company. With this Gurukul, we’ll get back on track. We’ll look at the Financials of a business plan and the key issues that you should keep in mind. Read more >> |
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| Issue 12: Approaching a VC |
| We now know what to keep in mind while contemplating a startup, while hiring, and while writing a plan. And you've kept all these and more in mind while structuring your startup plan. Its now time to raise money to fuel your entrepreneurial aspirations. Let’s go meet the Venture Capitalist! Read more >> |
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| Issue 13: How VCs work- Part 1 |
| In this and the next few Gurukuls, we’ll take a look at how the people on the other side of the table, namely the venture capitalists work. Read more >> |
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| Issue 14: How VCs work- Part 2 |
| In this Gurukul, let’s look at how a VC Fund works and how VCs make money. Read more >> |
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| Issue 15: How much am I worth? |
| "How much am I worth?" is the question that all entrepreneurs need answered at some point. In this Gurukul, let’s look at what you should look at when you value your startup. Read more >> |
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