GUEST LECTURE BY VANI KOLA
Vani Kola, a renowned entrepreneur in the silicon-valley, and venture capitalist, and MD of NEA IndoUS, spoke on “The Spirit of Entrepreneurship“.
About Entrepreneurship:-
“Entrepreneurship is a journey of discovery,” Mrs. Kola said, “and there are a lot of possibilities awaiting you.” Who is an entrepreneur? According to Mrs. Kola, there are four attributes which makes an entrepreneur.
a) Desire: - A deep desire to do or change something. Convention is almost always right. But there may be a few loop holes that entrepreneurs exploit. You must have confidence in your beliefs when they are strong exceptions to conventional wisdom. You may have to fight, as mostly the case, alone!
b) Experience: - You have to know how to apply your idea so that it makes money. For this you need experience. Many entrepreneurs have good ideas but they don’t know how to typecast these into money making plans. So, some executive experience is useful for entrepreneurs.
c) Ability to take risks: - You have to take risks and follow, stubbornly, the path laid by you. You may or may not get capital, but that shouldn’t hinder you from reaching your goal. You have to have the ability to face the many challenges that lie ahead of you.
d) Courage and belief: - For a 1000 ideas, only a 100 actually see the light of day. Out of these 100 only 10 actually make money, or become viable. And out of these 10 only 1 becomes a big success. Hence, courage to walk on the tightrope of entrepreneurship, and the belief and clear vision of the end of the rope is essential to an entrepreneur’s success
Questions asked to her:-
Q) What problems did she face after post graduation on her trip to entrepreneurship?
In the first company where she worked for 4-5 years, she was involved in creating a new product. Her second job involved managing a team in a start-up. Both her jobs taught her how to create a new product/brand, working with a team, and overcoming challenges.
Q) As a VC, what are the returns she expects? How much time does she give for them?
It depends on the stage of growth the company is in. 6/10 startups may not give you any money back. 3/10 may give a reasonable amount back (3-4x). Only 1/10 gives you great returns! On the other hand, larger companies, which are looking for capital to expand consistently, give 2-3x returns. Otherwise, it’s worthless investing in them, and you may as well go for mutual funds which give more returns.
