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Indian Entrepreneurs Can't Pitch Vani Kola
si Team
Thursday, July 2, 2009
“Indian entrepreneurs aren’t good at pitching their ideas,” says Vani Kola, Managing Director, IndoUS Ventures. There is no dearth of innovative ideas among Indian entrepreneurs, but when it comes to presenting these ideas they lack the required skills.

Kola, who has funded over 13 companies in the last three years, says, “People in India are confused between research and innovation. Many of them come and pitch their research ideas; I think the Indian culture is to blame for this.” According to the venture capitalists, many entrepreneurs lose out because of the way they present their ideas. Atul Khekade, Chairman, Netz Capital agrees with this to some extent. “There is certainly a lack of skilled entrepreneurs in terms of devising a business model, adding scalability to it, and then presenting it.”

Most entrepreneurs however, don’t agree and feel that even if there is a lack of skill in presenting the ideas; this is the way Indian culture has always been. “Venture capitalists just can’t say that. It is true that we don’t get trained the way they get in the U.S., but it is the VCs who should adapt to the Indian market and not the other way round,” says Vishwas Mudagal, CEO of JobeeHive.com.

Sujai Karampuri, Founder and CEO of Sloka Telecom, says that VCs need to come down in their expectations. “You cannot change the cultural upbringing with the dismissal of a pitch. One can’t just write off Indian entrepreneurs,” he adds. A little more effort is needed to see through the lack of presentation skills.

Today, there are various organizations in India, including The Indus Entrepreneurs, which call themselves ‘Entrepreneur University’. These organizations help entrepreneurs by educating and mentoring them. Yet, there is a gap somewhere, which most people attribute to the Indian social milieu and education system.
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