YS Exclusive : Linda Brownstein from Footprint Ventures on Entrepreneurship and Investments

The relationship between an investment firm and a company they choose to fund is like a marriage where in you have to trust each other and there is a lot of give and take ,according to the savvy investor Linda Brownstein .Linda is one of the Founders of FootPrint Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm based in Bangalore. They have been active in India for about 5 years now and she says she has seen a dramatic change in the Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem in that time.

Talking to YourStory in an exclusive chat she shares her opinions and insight on the Indian investment scenario.The VC firm evaluates almost 100 firms a year but goes ahead to provide funding to not more than 2 companies. So what makes them zero in on such companies? Its the people who run the business she says. If the company has a good idea and has the right team in place then there is nothing that can stop the company from being successful. She also emphasizes on the importance of having a team which has got good financial skills. Although Indian entrepreneurial ventures have good technical/marketing/managerial people on board often they lack the financial discipline that start ups need.

Footprint Ventures is sector agnostic but does not invest in real estate and defense. The criteria they use for choosing a company are scalability, opportunity for timely,profitable exit and the people running the Startup.

To get a complete update on the story and hear the expert investor, check out the video.