The agenda of the Startup Saturday programs is to allow for engaging networking events, informative presentations, enlightening panel discussions and didactic mentoring sessions by the savants of the industries.@sidagarwal04 @headstartdelhi #SSDel125

— Salesman Jatin Chaudhary (@jatin10) May 17, 2019

Over the last 11 years, Startup Saturday has given early-stage founders a platform to showcase their ideas, network w/ fellow entrepreneurs, search for team members/co-founders & learn frm founders who share their experiences on #SSDEL125 platform. @sidagarwal04 @headstartdelhi

— Salesman Jatin Chaudhary (@jatin10) May 17, 2019

This May, @headstartdelhi crossing the 125th milestone and are excited to invite you to be a part of the celebration.

You can buy your tickets @ https://t.co/upDvQn55is ( Use coupon code: HSECHAI20 for 20% discount)@sidagarwal04 @headstartdelhi #SSDel125

— Salesman Jatin Chaudhary (@jatin10) May 17, 2019

The 125th edition puts together a brilliant panel discussion with startup veterans, and keynotes from one of the biggest names in the ecosystem, Fireside chats with some legendary entrepreneurs and startup pitches.@sidagarwal04 @headstartdelhi #SSDel125

— Salesman Jatin Chaudhary (@jatin10) May 17, 2019

The #SSDel125 will bring together 25+ speakers from cadre of marquee investors and founders from diverse backgrounds to share their views and opinions. @abhirajbhal @DineshAgarwal @Sairee @UpasanaTaku @sinha_praveen @padmajaian @digbijoy @sidagarwal04 @headstartdelhi

— Salesman Jatin Chaudhary (@jatin10) May 17, 2019

More #SSDel125 Speakers:@abhishekmgupta @sajithpai @soaibgrewal @arpiit @dkagarwal @sunilkalra4 @prajaktraut @rahulnarvekar @subhadeepsanyal @synadehnugara @sudivyad @hemendramathur @joysharma79 @sandrostephen@sidagarwal04 @headstartdelhi

— Salesman Jatin Chaudhary (@jatin10) May 17, 2019

Kickstart event is also part of #SSDel125, where 15 startups will be shortlisted and given an opportunity to pitch in the front of a panel of 15+ Investors and esteemed judges from the Delhi-NCR ecosystem and battle it out to convince the jury of their fundability.@sidagarwal04

— Salesman Jatin Chaudhary (@jatin10) May 17, 2019

Just after 30 mins, we'll get started with the pre-event #SSDel125 TweetChat w/ @arpiit ( @BlumeVentures ) & @AbeOye ( @Headstarters ) about 'Investors's Perspective on Startup Investing'.

You can join the conversation and/or ask questions to them using #SSDel125 hashtag.

— Salesman Jatin Chaudhary (@jatin10) May 17, 2019

Best questions selected by panelists will win the passes for #SSDel125 to be held tomorrow in Delhi.

Join the conversation at 1 pm about the 'Investors' Perspective on Startup Investing'.

Looking forward to colearn with @arpiit @AbeOye @sidagarwal04 @HeadstartDelhi #CoRise pic.twitter.com/twy6wBwDe2

— Salesman Jatin Chaudhary (@jatin10) May 17, 2019

We are about to begin #SSDel125 TweetChat w/ @arpiit (@BlumeVentures) & @AbeOye (@Headstarters) about 'Investors' Perspective on Startup Investing'

Join the conversation and/or ask questions.https://t.co/LHJnawHpO8@headstartdelhi @sidagarwal04

— Salesman Jatin Chaudhary (@jatin10) May 17, 2019

Join us for tweet chat w/ @arpiit @AbeOye and @jatin10 at 1 PM today and ask your questions on investor's perspective on startup investing. Get an exclusive 40% discount code (applicable for first 4 users only) at 1.
Registration link: https://t.co/qyY5uPa3Se#ssdel125 pic.twitter.com/I9mt9fMSqZ

— Headstart Delhi (@headstartdelhi) May 17, 2019

Join us in the run-up to the #ssdel125 in this Tweet-Chat right now. Ask your most burning questions and earn exclusive discounts for the big event tomorrow. https://t.co/lRqPDp6ioh

— Arpit Agarwal (@arpiit) May 17, 2019

We are going live in another 5 min with @arpiit @AbeOye @jatin10
Get ready with your questions.#ssdel125

— Headstart Delhi (@headstartdelhi) May 17, 2019

Let's get started. @jatin10 what's the first question to our panelists. :)#ssdel125

— Headstart Delhi (@headstartdelhi) May 17, 2019

#ssdel125 (1/2) I am a community person at heart. I find purpose and joy in helping startups. Thankfully I discovered this when I was 22, in company of fellow @Headstarters. Honestly, I have never planned and simply kept following what came across as the logical next step https://t.co/SKHXERmtGn

— Arpit Agarwal (@arpiit) May 17, 2019

#ssdel125 (2/2) As a result, when I was shutting my startup and looking for a job, I started looking for jobs only related to startups and landed at @TLabs with @abhishekmgupta. Then @BlumeVentures tweeted they are looking for a person and I got in touch with @BKartRed https://t.co/SKHXERmtGn

— Arpit Agarwal (@arpiit) May 17, 2019

What are the Don'ts when pitching to investors?? #fundraiser #startup #ssdel125 #investors

— Priyanka Madnani (@priyankamadnani) May 17, 2019

#echai #ssdel125 While there are certain general rules of VC business, please note that:
1. Funding is a very subjective decision, taken in absence of a lot of data
2. That the investors also have a fiduciary duty to return capital, so we are forced to control our 'kind' side https://t.co/qwNuDTE4D5

— Arpit Agarwal (@arpiit) May 17, 2019

1/
Dos:
1. Be crisp and clear. If it's your first pitch, complete it within 5 minutes
2. Demonstrate a deep understanding of the problem and users (teach them something about your customers that they don't know)
3. Get them excited about you and your business. Knowledge + Enthu

— Amit Singh (@AbeOye) May 17, 2019

2/
... Knowledge and enthusiasm help
4. Pitch to a few mentors first. Plug the holes
5. Have a deep understanding about your competition and market
6. Being able to draw a parallel with a companies doing well in other markets helps #SSDel125

— Amit Singh (@AbeOye) May 17, 2019

3/ Dont's
1. Don't give long answers
2. Don't go without knowing your competition inside out and being able to counter questions around your secret sauce
3. Don't be low on energy
4. Don't go without doing a YC Interview kinda preparation https://t.co/SYnQV0BGza#SSDel125

— Amit Singh (@AbeOye) May 17, 2019

Tons of seed funds and accelerators around today when compared to a decade ago, what do you’ll think is still missing from the ecosystem? (comp to say SV)@arpiit what do you believe @abeoye and @jatin10 can do with Headstart and eChai respectively to bridge this gap? (if any)

— yourproductguy (@MotwaniSuhas) May 17, 2019

#ssdel125 I will start and @AbeOye and @jatin10 can add:
1. We are still in a demand-supply mismatch phase. Except for HOT founders like @kunalb11, hardly anyone gets two termsheets at the same time.
2. Community continues to be a highly underappreciated aspect of starting up https://t.co/9A2np2JXy2

— Arpit Agarwal (@arpiit) May 17, 2019

1. What do you think can be done to bridge this? Is it quality of startups/founders? Is it awareness of how to go about it? Just digging deeper..
2. @lightspeedee @_surgeahead we’re great enablers imo. And community events by @BlumeVentures @OriosVP @MatrixPartners are a huge ++

— yourproductguy (@MotwaniSuhas) May 17, 2019

They are absolutely wonderful.
The point I'm trying to highlight is that institutional investors are interested in only about 1-2%.
As community enablers, we care to empower and enable the remaining 98% too.

— Amit Singh (@AbeOye) May 17, 2019

Love how you put it! Going to steal that last line from you ;)

— yourproductguy (@MotwaniSuhas) May 17, 2019

1/ I see 2000+ Incubators/Accelerators being set up in the next 5 years. A majority of them being in educational institutions, run by professors who don't understand the startup world. @Headstarters, @eChaiNetwork and others can work together in educating them

— Amit Singh (@AbeOye) May 17, 2019

2/ Specific trainings could be about
- Sourcing and shortlisting quality startups
- Program design
- Raising grants for themselves

Additionally we can support their cohorts with our mentor network and investor network

— Amit Singh (@AbeOye) May 17, 2019

3/ A majority of these startups won't be attractive for institutional investors. They wouldn't be attacking a problem big enough to potentially give a 30x return

So creating an alternative low risk low reward investment model for startups solving local problems can be explored

— Amit Singh (@AbeOye) May 17, 2019

Great points Amit! I think Headstart has been phenomenal in this aspect! Need more collaboration and folks joining hands to accelerate this process :)

— yourproductguy (@MotwaniSuhas) May 17, 2019

#ssdel125 1. Startup creation is a slow process. We will get there soon - maybe 3-5 years. Not much anyone can change via policy etc

2. With due respect to all, I don't think a lot of my industry colleagues get 'community' as well as an @AbeOye does. Events is NOT community. https://t.co/I2Tfbf4sO2

— Arpit Agarwal (@arpiit) May 17, 2019

Agree. And hence called it community “events”
Would love to understand why you’d specifically call that out as one ≠ other cuz I think it’s an integral part nonetheless.

— yourproductguy (@MotwaniSuhas) May 17, 2019

Also, not discounting or comparing, specific to Bangalore, and being an observer, I’ve seen some of these meet-ups to be way more collaborative and useful (the level of access, the quality of participants and discussions, coming top down) - has really helped me personally :)

— yourproductguy (@MotwaniSuhas) May 17, 2019

We might agree to disagree, but just backing up: Events IS very much community. It’s where to meet folks with similar interests, get inspired, and probably the starting point for most stuff Amit just mentioned. Community extends beyond but I think folks would love more of these👇

— yourproductguy (@MotwaniSuhas) May 17, 2019

Very small cohort, but: https://t.co/5paRkfpGlE

Would love if it hits more eyeballs, get a broader opinion on this!

— yourproductguy (@MotwaniSuhas) May 17, 2019

+1 Events is not community. Relationships are.
While @headstarters do organise over 250 startup events every year.
The actual community happens outside events when people connect each other to:
1. Customers
2. Employees
3. Co-founders
4. Mentors
5. Investors (occasionally!)

— Amit Singh (@AbeOye) May 17, 2019

#ssdel125 A4 (1/2): I am currently dedicated to deep-tech startups - vision, robotics, automation, biotech, space, drone and so on. I love the Pre-Series A opportunity as startups stilll have a lot left to discover

Philosophy: Entrepreneurs are the queens/kings, VCs only support https://t.co/M1lSNqkgG4

— Arpit Agarwal (@arpiit) May 17, 2019

#ssdel125 A4: Philosophy contd:

Best founders are the ones who seek advise, are open to new ideas and know their limitations. Also, they are insanely ambitious.

The most telling questions is: Why are you doing this startup? Or, what is in it for you?

(2/2) https://t.co/M1lSNqkgG4

— Arpit Agarwal (@arpiit) May 17, 2019

Probably just a difference of semantics — Founders should understand their constraints but should not know any limitations —- ignoring our limitations is what makes all possible

— Vishal Chandra 👻 (@vishalchandra) May 17, 2019

#ssdel125 A5: We (@BlumeVentures) love playing friend-philosopher-guide to the founders we fund. We have created a 50-member team @urConstellation to offer help in hiring, legal and finance side + we have dedicated people like @jiteshluthra to help leverage our collective network https://t.co/yO0gGjqlgG

— Arpit Agarwal (@arpiit) May 17, 2019

#ssdel125 A6: Exits are our single-biggest focus as a fund house. The road is not easy and it feels a bit random too. We don't yet have a path charted out for each company.

Our notable exits were @taxiforsure @zipdial @MercerMettl @PromptecLED Minjar. A lot more in pipeline https://t.co/KS6tfM0Euz

— Arpit Agarwal (@arpiit) May 17, 2019

#ssdel125 A7: India is a slow growth market and I have only been investing 4 years. So:

1. Hits are not yet proven. Some cos I am proud of are on this page: https://t.co/OGeiysaYqy
2. Misses have also not proven out otherwise :) https://t.co/EF6VAdGE8V

— Arpit Agarwal (@arpiit) May 17, 2019

Follow up on Q7:@arpiit Can you give examples on what was the most stand out thing for your for BeatO, Cashify, MechMocha?#SSDel125 @Headstarters @sidagarwal04 @AbeOye https://t.co/ItZdZWH2fc

— Salesman Jatin Chaudhary (@jatin10) May 17, 2019

#ssdep125
BeatO: Excellent market, focused founders, unique product and distribution
Cashify: Excellent market, experienced founders, has scaled 164x in 50 months since we invested
MechMocha: High energy founders focused sharply focused on India mobile entertainment market. https://t.co/ZbeRvhYda8

— Arpit Agarwal (@arpiit) May 17, 2019

@jatin10 hi. We are @VoiceVerso ,based out of Indore. We are building a SaaS based book publishing software for authors & book publishing houses. It is basically a 2D curl based book publishing emulator to publish books from Kindle to paperback.(1)

— Mohak Bhambry (@mohakbhambry) May 17, 2019

@jatin10 you can call it like an Android studio for authors & book publishing houses. We have started testing the eBook emulator with our authors and got fair response. Some of our eBooks are bestsellers on Kindle. (2)

— Mohak Bhambry (@mohakbhambry) May 17, 2019

@jatin10 Your advice as to how we can reach and penetrate into proper book publishing houses, as they are our target clients. What should we do to make them understand our tech ? (3).

— Mohak Bhambry (@mohakbhambry) May 17, 2019

#ssdel125
Don't even try to make people understand your tech. Show them how will your product bring more revenue or reduce costs for them. If that works for them, they will pay you upto 25% of the value this creates for them. https://t.co/XvLO2fZuny

— Arpit Agarwal (@arpiit) May 17, 2019

#ssdel125 thank you so much. Yes, we are showing them the benefits and how it makes their book management & publication easy. It is just a bit tough to penetrate into book publication houses.

— Mohak Bhambry (@mohakbhambry) May 17, 2019

Nothing is easy, but yes selling to publishers is tough

— Arpit Agarwal (@arpiit) May 17, 2019

Thanks for the answers. Me and my team appreciate it. We will make sure, we develop the product so compelling, publishers will have serious eyes on us.

— Mohak Bhambry (@mohakbhambry) May 18, 2019

#ssdel125 This list is endless. Top of mind:
1. How to not call it quit and keep chugging along in face of extreme adversity
2. Transform yourself in the journey to scale up
3. How to inspire 1000s of people who work with you - even when you can't pay them market salary https://t.co/ol6243lANx

— Arpit Agarwal (@arpiit) May 17, 2019

Never done angel investments, so not relevant. Generally, please see: https://t.co/TlB5p6J7gz

— Arpit Agarwal (@arpiit) May 17, 2019

#ssdel125
I admire some of our top co-investors like @RajanAnandan @rajul_g @niraj001s @NaveenTewari and many more https://t.co/O4ab9ERu48

— Arpit Agarwal (@arpiit) May 17, 2019

#ssdel125 A12: 1. Try not saying no to money. Whenever it is available, find a way to take it.
2. Funding never solves any problem, only creates bigger
3. Investors are human beings too, we have biases, make mistakes and have rough days. Ignore and forgive sometimes. https://t.co/Ilgxvnlt4c

— Arpit Agarwal (@arpiit) May 17, 2019

Fundraising is a means to an end.
Most of you won't be able to raise funds from institutional investors for reasons shared by @arpiit
I'd just say build a great business. Would love to share @sama's advice - https://t.co/U3kRlzy7br (applies only to Tech Startups)#SSDel125

— Amit Singh (@AbeOye) May 17, 2019

Thank you so much @arpiit @AbeOye for sharing your insights. @sidagarwal04 Congrats & all the best for #SSDel125. U can announce the reward for best question :-)@priyankamadnani @MotwaniSuhas @mohakbhambry Thanks for joining the conversation. @Headstarters @headstartdelhi

— Salesman Jatin Chaudhary (@jatin10) May 17, 2019

Great efforts @jatin10 @arpiit @AbeOye. Thanks for your time and support for #ssdel125.
Looking forward to exciting time tomorrow. Fingers crossed! :)

— Headstart Delhi (@headstartdelhi) May 17, 2019