What happens when entrepreneurs go on a 'speed date' with VCs?
Manu Shrivastava
Sunday April 13, 2014 , 2 min Read
They were sitting at the table, engrossed in each other’s stories. The air had a hint of romance in it, with Bangalore’s weather creating the perfect ambiance for this long-awaited meeting. They had probably seen photos of each other on the Internet, they had heard the gentleman speak at conference or seen his interviews, but to actually sit and have a conversation about shared loves? Now that’s something else!
No, we are not talking about a ‘romantic date’ in the conventional sense. We are talking about the Speed Date with VCs that we organized with our partner HatkeShaadi a few weeks ago. We endeavored to turn the traditional ‘entrepreneur pitches to VC’ concept on its head and have a radically different ‘speed date’ format where each entrepreneur could get uninterrupted one-on-one time with the VCs.
Nearly 60 startups (including from Delhi & Orissa!) applied for the session and 22 were short listed and also coached by us in honing their pitches. The entrepreneurs got to meet 7 leading VCs over beer and hors d’oeuvres in the most chilled out environment possible, not to mention get to share stories with each other.
So what exactly were the outcomes? Read on!
Getting the next ‘date’!
- About 69% people have got a meeting fixed with atleast 1 VC post this dating session
- Close to 13% people got meetings fixed with more than 3 VCs post this dating session
What was great about the ‘date’?
- ~70% people felt that the session gave them insights on how VCs think. This is crucial because this gives an idea on what gets funded and what does not
- 62.5% people agreed that this session helped them in clarifying their thought process on their business idea
‘Date’ confessions!
- 75% people felt the session got them to meet the VCs in a never-before-seen informal avatar
- 37.5% people believed that meeting multiple VCs in a single session helped them save their resources
Have ideas for interesting events for entrepreneurs? Do tell us in the comments below - we constantly want to bring innovative initiatives to the entrepreneurs in India!