Chasing venture capitalists? Here's what you need to know

While business owners could tell you sob stories of them running from pillar to post to raise Rs10 lakhs for their business, very young kids with no experience in business have been attracting crores as venture capital funding or angel funding or many of the myriad names used to denote such funding. Many would be desirous of knowing how to make such easy money.

First of all, venture funding is not easy money simply because those who are investing are not going to invest without assessing a business. After all, it’s their money!

First, if your enterprise is small, you need to incubate it in numerous incubators available at Technopark and infoparks. Once your company grows, you can think about the value it can create. For that, there should be a business model and a revenue model. If not, none are going to invest.

If your firm creates value, the next issue is scaling. Is your business going to be useful to just a few or is it going to be useful for many people? Will it expand from India to other parts of the world? Only if the business can scale can it attract more investment, obviously because only if the app is used by many can it generate enough value.

Once the firm has reached a minimum scale, you can start searching for venture funding. However, for that you need a mentor - someone who can advice and move the firm forward to earn more. If the mentor you hire is acceptable to VCs, your job is easier.

Usually, venture capitals invest close to Rs1000 crores in firms.