How much investment have you raised for your Startup ??"

 It is a matter of vexation that the word Startup these days is associated solely with raising money and not what that concern is trying to do and which problem statement it is trying to solve. It was during a recent expo where I participated, that I had an otherwise well-meaning young chap with his own budding enterprise, constantly asking me the same question in one way or another "Heh, heh, so how much investment have you been able to raise??"

Finally fed up, I made him sit down and told him," Zero"! But I have had over 20 outright rejections to my pitches( I stopped counting after 20) as my work of building safe, sustainable and affordable riverboats and nautical equipment is seen as very limited in size and scalability. I was also told that I was too old to start a Startup, was mocked for not having a formal technical education, that my designs were pinched from the internet, that I lacked a team, traction and that it is a matter of doubt whether my perennially flood-prone State of Assam in NE India which is also crisscrossed by the Brahmaputra and other large rivers has any requirements of boats at all.

That the tiny grants I clawed out from here and there, the modest amount I managed to scrounge as a soft loan along with all my savings were poured into work, prototyping technology trials and development. That I worked 7 days a week, no longer have a family or personal life, live on a hand to mouth budget, got grievously injured with power tools multiple times, suffered from nerve damage and occasional temporary partial blindness from overworking with computer screens and everything that he saw on the display table was either designed, drafted, 3-printed, cast machined and welded either by me or in my presence. That I researched designed, drafted, and drew the CAD diagrams and 3d renderings by myself, sit with propeller design and NavCad software and the same with all the patents I filled. I interact with experts worldwide and do approach professionals like Naval architects and mechanical engineers at times for verifying my work, but honestly, find them unsure, ignorant or incompetent most of the time.

And yes, I stopped participating in most of the pitch fests or interacting with the so-called incubators as I found them to be manned by people with very poor understanding of technology irrespective of their fancy degrees, pompous and often ignorant of ground realities. Moreover, the entire Startup investment scenario in India is not about creating a new product or service but only about increasing the firm's valuation and snaring the bigger fool as an investor; hence for me a colossal waste of time. I am actually trying to solve problems in a completely neglected sector both in India and elsewhere and hopefully, my products and technologies will save a few lives and provide the boat owners and private ferry operators a cleaner, safer greener and more affordable alternative.

#Startup #India #investors #pitches #valuation #sustainbility

The Startup Incubation Sector- The Dice is loaded.

For over a year, I have wasted a tremendous amount of time and effort trying to get development funds from various startup programs, incubators, NGOs, Overseas agencies with almost zero results. I got at least 15 rejections for a development grant from India and overseas in one year.  Yes, my work is niche technology, but with no local or imported analogues, quite indispensable in defence sectors and tremendous social impact potential. So why the mass rejections?? At some point, I re-read all my applications to find out what's so wrong and after thorough introspection and revision of my presentations, write-ups, strategy and my product offering, dawned the realisation that most of these programs are a charade with the dice loaded against most applicants. 

They are like Facebook, which exists and profits only due to its users who are the free content providers. For almost all Startup funds and Incubators, their raison d'etre is to collect as many applicants as possible, conduct boot camps and training sessions(elevator pitch in local language) to justify their salaries which are usually paid either by a government agency or a private fund(much like the corporatized child-welfare NGOs).  And secondly to nitpick and choose those startups whose valuation can be bloated up as quickly as possible(mostly app-based service providing ecosystems) to be palmed off to larger investors pocketing their commission. 

Most Angel Investor's despite their name prefer Startups whose valuation can be ballooned at minimal cost to be palmed off to VCs under the "Bigger Fool" scheme.

At the other end of the spectrum are a couple of government funds, tied up in red tape and academia which clearly state that it can't be used for paying even basic sustenance to the innovators or inventors as a salary or stipend. Many private investors follow suit, offering only to support the development work but not salaries, or offer such a minuscule amount that only a fresh graduate living with parents or supported by a spouse would agree to such an arrangement. Their justification being they are not investing so that someone may live off their hard-earned money, completely ignoring the fact that in order to develop a product or business one must eat too.