Reimagining Venture Capital

INK 2013, Kochi

Karthik Reddy, INK Fellow

“Whatever is given / Can always be reimagined”

- Seamus Heaney, Nobel Prize winner, 1939-2013

“Maybe some percentage that’s substantially larger than 95 percent of VCs add zero value. I would bet that

70-80 percent add negative value to a startup in their advising.”

- Vinod Khosla, Techcrunch interview, Sept 2013

“There are not enough strong VC investors with above-market returns to absorb even our limited investment capital”

- from Kauffman Foundation Report titled “We Have Met The Enemy….and He Is Us”, dated 2012

“For an industry that claims to be financing innovation everyday, its been remarkably unimaginative

around its own business model over a 50 year period”

- The folks reimagining venture capital in Silicon Valley today

“Most men die at 27, we just bury them at 72 ”

- Mark Twain

True of business models too?

The Venture Capitalist is Dead!

Long Live the Venture Capitalist!

Venture Capital ≠ Money

Venture Capital = Money + many other things

VC = “Superhero-Concierge”

FPGFriend, Philosopher,

Guide

Managing

Uncertainty

+ +

+ +Hiring

© youguysaremyfriends.com

VC 3.0: US markets foretell the story

Change, nay, disruption, is coming…..

The New Age of Venture Capital

“Platforms”

“Accelerators”

“Crowdfundin

g”

“MicroVenture Funds”

“Superangels”

The New Age of Venture Capital

Startup Founder “New” VC avatar

Both ‘Jack of All Trades’

….Hustlers, Hackers, Hipsters.…of a good kind

Finding / Funding small is key,funding large is the commodity

✔

Entrepreneur = customer,Fund investor not equal to

customer

Venture capitalist = entrepreneur, not fund

manager

New Equations

Network effects are the winners, not cheque sizes

✔

Capital = Fuel Pipe

Design

Teamwork

Speed

Managing Risk

✔

Founder as Superhero

Founder hires Superhero team

✔

Building a new culture around Entrepreneurship

– Its not just Business, its personal!

VC not just about returning Capital;

also about impact!and about Problem Solving!

Emerging venture markets will leapfrog and converge with US

practices

So, what should the key METRIC for a Venture

Capitalist be?Metric: Oh Venture Capitalist! When you’re gone, how many

entrepreneurs will come to pay their last respects?

The only thing that matters is

PROBLEM SOLVING