Failed founder turns VC, reveals secrets of hooking investors in new book

Photo credit: Wikimedia.

Shubhankar Bhattacharya became a partner at Kae Capital, a leading Indian VC firm investing in early stage startups, at the start of 2015. It turned into a year of irrational exuberance with VC funds, hedge funds, and even corporations all chasing the next “hot” startup in India.

Shubhankar soon found himself wading through thousands of pitches, ranging from full-fledged presentations to social media chats. Over time, he had many whirlwind romances that did not last. He noticed a pattern in the strains that develop between investors and entrepreneurs. Finally, he concluded: VCs are from Venus, entrepreneurs are from Mars.

That’s the title of his book that released today. His purpose is to reduce the misunderstandings that arise between VCs and entrepreneurs. He hopes it would lead to better investments and outcomes.

Both sides of the coin

Ki an Ka. Photo credit: Santabanta.

Shubhankar has seen both sides of the coin and experienced the pain of misconceptions. Before turning VC, he was a failed entrepreneur.

His startup Yaqsh wanted to carve out a niche for itself in the US$60 billion Indian jewellery market in 2013, taking on early movers BlueStone and CaratLane. With an engineering degree from NIT Trichy and an MBA from ISB Hyderabad under his belt, Shubhankar felt confident of providing value to online buyers of jewelry and attracting the interest of investors.

But Yaqsh lost its way without the required funding support.

“We failed at staying focused on the vision out of which Yaqsh was born,” writes Shubhankar. “Our failure was in not allowing our idea to ‘become its best version.’ Everything else was just an excuse!”

A newfound freedom and an enlightenment

If you give a VC any reason to say no, he will gleefully agree with you and reject your proposal.

It was hard at first to stomach the failure because it “leads you to question whether you really are as intelligent, hardworking, determined, and as much of a world-beater as you thought you were.”

But he also found a newfound freedom in waking up each day answerable to no one but himself, and “choosing his priorities and their relative importance.” It allowed him to assimilate what had gone wrong. And later, as a VC he found himself turning down entrepreneurs in the same manner as VCs had once turned him down.

Now, at last, he could see the VC’s point of view, with pitches coming at him from all sides all the time. “I have been hit upon by entrepreneurs everywhere: at work, when I am out for coffee, lunch or dinner, during networking events, on social media, while waiting for a car, cab or bus, at airports, and even while I am in the midst of another pitch. Asking for help
in the gym has often been a convenient way to squeeze in a pitch too.”

Wired to say ‘no’

Think long-term

An exit need not be the end

What goes around comes around