keloth Dilipsingh

Predicting innovations and technology

I often read articles and reports on the “demise of a particular technology”, “future of the mankind”, and other similar topics. Industry “experts” and “think tanks” love crystal–gazing, but they use complicated terminology to conceal it under the veil of science. This tendency of predicting the future has existed for centuries, if not more. Aldous Huxley, one of the pioneers of science fiction,…

Startups, Technology, and Venture Capital

Startups are here to stay. At least for now. Everyone we know is either talking about startups or working with startups or investing in startups. Some people like me are even writing about Startups. But what are startups, and how are they different from traditional businesses? Why do most startups need venture capital while traditional businesses are usually bootstrapped? Does running a startup…

Do startups and investors need Intermediaries?

Brokers, investment bankers, intermediaries, transaction advisors – these guys go by different names. Some are “lone wolf” while others are part of boutique firms. The successful ones wear bespoke suits and Swiss watches. They are wondrous salesmen and master storytellers. Sometimes they act as if they control the capital even though they just find avenues for capital which is not theirs. It is…

What I learnt about product/market fit after hundreds of investor conversations?

Achieving Product/Market Fit is the first sign that you are onto something big. It’s the cornerstone of all successful startups. It comes through testing the value hypothesis of your product. Many startups try to gain traction by burning marketing dollars before testing whether their products serve consumers needs or not. Avoid that because that is a guaranteed recipe of misery and eventual…

How to raise seed capital?

Ideas are cheap. To be honest, they have zero value. Why? There is no market for them. Try selling an idea to someone. If you succeed, tell me because then we can build a startup that sells ideas :). But all startups start with an idea. Victor Hugo said, “No force on earth can stop an idea whose time has come”. Our civilisation is obsessed with world-shattering ideas. But ideas by themself don’t…

Direct to consumer Valuation

Founders are concerned with valuations while raising capital. VCs use ARR multiples to value any startup. ARR = Last Month’s Revenue x 12 This ARR multiple varies between 3x and 6x for D2C startups in #India. D2C founders can also sell their startups to Roll-ups (Aggregators like Global Bees, Mensa, 10 Club, etc.). The main difference between VC investment and Roll-up acquisition is VCs invest…

Indian vs. American Venture captialist

We know VCs (Venture Capitalists) invest money in startups. How do VCs get this money? They raise it from investors known as LPs (Limited Partners). Every VC firm has GPs (General Partners) also known as fund sponsors in #India. GPs are usually people with extensive startup experience and investment track record. Some GPs are former founders. GPs are fund managers who make investment decisions –…

The right time for ESOP

SOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) is one of the best ways to attract and retain talented employees. All startups have an ESOP policy, and VCs insist on an ESOP policy as a prerequisite for investment. ESOPs are stock options that startups give to their best employees. A stock option is different from stock or equity. An option is a contract that gives the holder (employee in our case) a right…

skills of an successful entrepreneur

An entrepreneurial mindset is an attitude that relegates different values to assets and openings than the rest of the crowd. It is basically the ability to turn problems into opportunities. A particular arrangement of convictions, information and perspectives that drives pioneering conduct, an outlook that encourages innovativeness and advancement, changing the game and being…

What exactly is an entrepreneur ?

An entrepreneur, by common definition is someone who manages and organizes an enterprise usually at great risk. Consider this: what do have in your home? Fridge, freezer, microwave, television, the lights etc. These all came about because someone invented it. Imagine the thought process: a light bulb moment and trying to sell the idea to others. By nature, people are generally skeptical when…

Life into living room

Plants are essential for life as we know it. They provide food, fiber, building material, fuel, and pharmaceuticals. Plants also decorate our homes, both inside and out, and mark special occasions, such as weddings and funerals. For thousands of years, people around the world have grown plants in containers and brought them into their living spaces. For thousands of years, plants and gardening…

How i dedicated to continually improving myself

It was September of 2019 and two Parisian boys were playing in the courtyard of the Louvre, the famous museum in punjab. On the other side of the courtyard, a physician named René Laennec began to quicken his pace as he walked along in the morning sun. There was a woman with heart disease waiting for him at the hospital and Laennec was late. As Laennec crossed the courtyard, he looked toward the…

experts focus and concentration

Peak performance experts say things like, “You should focus. You need to eliminate the distractions. Commit to one thing and become great at that thing.” This is good advice. The more I study successful people from all walks of life—artists, athletes, entrepreneurs, scientists—the more I believe focus is a core factor of success. But there is a problem with this advice too. Of the many options in…

If we can attain a speed of 300000 Kilometeres per second, we’d be direct witnesses to a contracting space and and a frozen time. If we can go deep enough to subatomic levels, we can perceive the physics behind the cheerful play of subatomic particles. If our lives can span over eons and epochs, we would marvel at the theory of evolution in action. We would have been spared of the grinding effort…

How can we understand the COVID-19 pandemic? Ever since the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic, scientists have dreamed of preventing such catastrophic outbreaks of infectious disease. Yet despite a century of medical progress, viral and bacterial disasters continue to take us by surprise, inciting panic and dominating news cycles. In The Pandemic Century, a lively account of scares both infamous…

Capital punishment in India

The death penalty or capital punishment is the highest degree of punishment that can be awarded to an individual under any penal law in force in any part of the world. Capital punishment is the legal procedure of the state in which it exercises its power to take an individual’s life. It has been in existence since the inception of the State itself. In the British era, there have been countless…

My 10 Favorite Books of 2020

My 10 Favorite Books of 2020 year has been filled with covid-19 pandemic cycle and many of you learn new stuff in this days and predominantly the two vaccines have been given emergency approval for India’s immunization programme; the Oxford and AstraZeneca vaccine, know in India as covishield and a domestic product developed by the pharmaceutical company Bharat biotech. Most probably reading…