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DOs & DON'Ts Every Entrepreneur Must Follow

Srikanth Sundararajan, Venture Partner, Helion Venture Partners
Friday, March 4, 2016
Srikanth Sundararajan, Venture Partner, Helion Venture Partners
Helion Venture Partners is an India-focused venture fund that invests in high growth technology powered businesses and consumer services, irrespective of the company's stage.

What are some of the major startup challenges currently prevailing globally?

* We are increasingly seeing startups caught up in the scaling/funding vs building a real business debate, and more often, the founders need to ignore noise caused by fund raises and obsession with sky rocketing valuations
* Startups certainly need to channelize their energy on real product management, i.e. building an MVP fast, optimising features, product performance measures and others, essentially building on their beta version; clearly for a B2B play, the gestation period may be much longer and startups should prepare themselves for the long haul.
* Startups need to be thinking of a partnered eco system to help leverage momentum, very critical in the B2B space and increasingly the case in a B2C play. This collaborated approach both at the product and Go to Market areas often decides the winners from losers.
* It is incumbent upon founder/founding teams to ensure their teams are focused and motivated, and are on the same page in terms of execution
* It cannot be said enough that understanding the pulse of the customer is pivotal, and the ability to assimilate and adapt to changes to ensure momentum. Here, we would like to re-emphasise that if founders treat their product as being in permanent beta, it allows them to forge ahead that much more effectively.


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