top of page
LIVE YOUR DREAM

Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett.avif

Founder, Berkshire Hathaway Inc

Bill Gates

Bill Gates.jpeg

Founder, Microsoft Inc

Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos

Founder, Amazon Inc

Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg

Founder, Meta Inc

Great Mentors & Great Founders

Benjamin graham.jpg

Benjamin Graham

American Economist

Warren Buffet.jpg

Warren Buffett

Founder, Berkshire Hathaway Inc

Bill Campbell.jpg

Bill Campbell

American Businessman

Steve Jobs.jpeg

Steve Jobs

Founder, Apple Inc

Office

Startup Advisory

Ideation to Execution

“Startup is just not about starting your business or creating a unicorn. It is about that relentless pursuit of an entrepreneur who is passionate about something that will solve a problem that humanity will be thankful for.”                                                                       

It is this power of an entrepreneur which keeps them focused in their mission to serve the mankind. It is the fuel that keeps them ignited and pursue a cause which seems impossible to others. But startup is not easy and it tests you to the very core once you are on to it. It challenges your idea, tests your abilities, makes you feel tentative and nervous at times, drains your finances without showing signs of encouragement, leads you to failures, undermines one’s health and mental condition, unsettles families, estranges friends and numerous other consequences that an entrepreneur experiences while working on a startup. Often it leads them loneliness with self-doubts and perplexed, whether to pursue it further or call it a day.

​

When they are at such crossroads, most of the time they do not have someone who is able enough to answer the questions which has clogged their intellect or they are unsure about the way forward. Having a mentor really helps when one is working on a startup. This has been a common recommendation of all great founders starting from Warren Buffett who was mentored by Benjamin Graham and his father Howard Buffett, Bill Gates was also mentored by Warren Buffett, Steve Jobs had several mentors like Mike Markkula (An early investor of Apple), Nolan Bushnell (Founder, Atari), Andy Grove (CEO, Intel), John Sculley, Robert Noyce, etc., Jeff Bezos was mentored by Bill Campbell, Mark Zuckerberg was mentored by Steve Jobs and numerous cases to prove that a mentor is the light house of any startup.

Startup which comes in various avatars based on their goals, business models, and scalability. Each having their own distinct characteristics and approaches to scaling. Saas, IOT, Edtech, E-commerce, Social Startups, etc. are some of the forms of startups that we commonly experienced in our day to day lives. But broadly classified under six different types: -

​

  • Scalable Startups;

  • Small Business Startups;

  • Big Business Startups;

  • Lifestyle Startups;

  • Buyable Startups; and

  • Social Startups.

​

All these startups comprise of several factors which are core critical for the survival of a startup at the same time very different from one-another when it comes to their execution on the ground. Very few founders are aware of them while developing their startups and mere oversight will be catastrophic for them going into the future. According to CB Insights and Empirics Asia research data on 101 startups that failed mentioned the following ten factors (in descending order) for the failure of startups: -

​

  1. No Market Need: 42% (No Product Market Fit)

  2. Run out of Cash: 29% (Overshot the Runway)

  3. Not the Right Team: 23% (Lack of Skills & Team Cohesion)

  4. Get Outcompeted: 19% (Failing to Differentiate)

  5. Pricing/Cost Issues: 18% (Setting prices too high or low affecting profitability)

  6. Poor Product: 17% (Products not meeting customer’s expectation)

  7. Lack Business Model: 17% (No clear plan for revenue generation)

  8. Poor Marketing:14% (Leading to low customer acquisition)

  9. Ignoring Customers: 14% (Ignoring customer feedback during product development)

  10. Product Mis-Timed: 13% (Launching product at inappropriate time)

​

Although, this is not a limiting list, there are other critical factors that are also responsible for the failure of a startup. This may relate to co-founder's conflicts, lacking in focus, living in one's comfort zone, lacking in prioritization, investor's expectations and their timelines, changes in government regulations, change in customer preferences, mis-matched cash-flow cycles, geo-political factors, etc. Our advisory services dives deeper into each and every minute details which we feel is imperative for the success of the startup and guiding the founders in their startup journey and its success.

Startup Team

Our Startup Advisory offers mentorship solutions by industry veterans at various functional aspects of the startup journey beginning with

​

  • The validation of the Startup idea;

  • Conceptualization of the Value-proposition;

  • Formulation of the Business Model;

  • Budgeting, Cash-Flows and Business Forecasting;

  • Cost and Pricing Strategies;

  • Drawing up of the Marketing Plan;

  • Testing of the MVP;

  • Bootstrapping Strategies and Tactics for Founders;

  • Resource Base for the Fund Raising: Pitch Deck, Business Plan, BMC, Company's Literature, etc.

  • Investor Pitching for Various Pitching Stages- 7 Actionable Takeaways and Time Taken;

  • Founders Mentorship on Dos & Don'ts of Investor Pitching, Whom to Pitch, How much to Ask and Dilution, Term Sheet;

  • Founders Mentorship on post Fund-Raise and Business Expansion;

  • When to Hire? How much to Hire?

  • Cost Sensitivity & Fund- Raise Obligations for the Founders- Key Pointers for the founders to be mindful of;

  • Tracking the numbers and the KPIs for staying on course; 

  • Having a Customer Pulse; and many more vital aspects of any startup journey.

​

Keeping a track of all these key deliverables require more than just an MBA degree. If you feel that we can be helpful in your startup journey then do connect with us now!

bottom of page