Bharat Founders Fund’s Post

HubSpot's inaugural Startup Pulse Report for Southeast Asia and India has just landed💥 Here's a sneak peek at what's happening in the startup ecosystem in India: 🚀 65% of the startups in India found it easier to grow their business in the last 1 year as compared to previous years 📈 Almost all (98%) say that a clear path to profitability has become more important in the last year as compared to previous years 🤖 AI is on the rise but founders are facing a tough time hiring AI & ML engineers - 42% of startups in India say this is the hardest non-GTM role to hire! To me, the trends above signify that the startup ecosystem in India is showing signs of maturity and resilience in the face of strong macro headwinds. AI is reshaping the startup landscape, paving the path for startups to compete with larger incumbents. At the same time, it’s introducing fresh hurdles in talent acquisition. So, how are startups navigating this new reality? What advice do VCs have for startup founders and leaders? Get the full scoop in the report: https://hubs.la/Q02BhfvQ0

"Excited to share that my startup idea has been chosen for the Microsoft Startups Founders Hub! This achievement is not just a personal milestone but also a testament to the thriving startup community in India. Collaborating with Microsoft opens up endless possibilities for growth and innovation. Here's how this partnership benefits within India's dynamic startup ecosystem: Access to Resources: Tap into Microsoft's extensive network of mentors, investors, and industry experts, enriching our journey with invaluable guidance and support. Technology Support: Leveraging Microsoft's cutting-edge technologies empowers us to accelerate our startup's development and expansion. Visibility and Credibility: Associating with Microsoft elevates our startup's credibility and visibility, paving the way for fruitful partnerships and collaborations. Global Reach: Harness Microsoft's global reach to explore new markets and seize emerging opportunities. Community Engagement: Engage with fellow Indian founders and entrepreneurs within the Microsoft Startups community, fostering collaboration and knowledge-sharing. I thanks to the mentor Sarthak Jain for this opportunity Thrilled to embark on this exciting journey amidst India's vibrant startup landscape. Exciting times ahead! #MicrosoftStartups #FoundersHub #Entrepreneurship #IndianStartupCommunity 🇮🇳"

🎉 Huge shoutout to our friends at Headway for being one of the top 50 startups in the US! Your team's hard work and innovation deserve to be celebrated! 👏 Learn more about Headway and see the full list here: https://bit.ly/3ZHVRpY #Startup #innovation #LinkedInTopStartups

A lot of founders are wrapping up their Techstars cohort and feel lost and disappointed. I have a few clients of mine who recently finished their accelerators, here's what they had to say: -They focused way too much on topics that didn't matter (like financial modeling) and didn't focus at all on anything related to product-market fit or sales -There's a ton of advice from "mentors" that come from insanely large companies, have never worked at a 0-1 startup, with 0 skin in the game. So often the advice needed to be ignored -There really isn't much of a network for intros with potential prospects/customers (YC does this a lot better) -They bank on 1 or 2 of the startups actually succeeding. The rest are there to check off a box. So they don't really care a whole lot about early-stage success beyond "getting funded" - that's their business model -For those who don't get funded after demo day, they're left discouraged and have no idea what to do after the program. Because the accelerator goes MIA, and the little support you got disappears. If you've recently finished an accelerator, and scratching your head on what to do next - focus on understanding the problem you solve and generate sales. There are a ton of successful bootstrappers out there. I know that's not really the path you wanted, but 98% of startups aren't venture scalable. Doesn't mean you can't build a solid, profitable business. -Talk to more folks, focus on having conversations about workflows, problems, and pain -Sell your MVP. Doesn't need to be perfect, focus on a basic use case at a price people are willing to pay (you can always increase price later) -Nail down your targeting. Stop targeting "series A companies in US with 200 employees" - you will get nowhere fast. Focus on pain-based targeting. In what context does the pain exist? One on my clients recently changed their approach to looking at details in hiring profiles to identify complicated tech stacks that could pose security risks. Target on that, not the broadest possible market. -Try different messages in your outreach. Stop using templates, copy paste. There's a time and a place for that approach when you're at scale. Scale isn't your worry right now. Landing your first 10 paying customers is what you need to focus on. Make your messaging about painful workflows based on what you observed in your targeting. It will be much more relevant. -If you're a solo-founder, 80% of your time needs to be spent on GTM. This is what you signed up for by starting a business. Revenue is oxygen, and you need to find ways to generate it. If you're co-founders, one person needs to spend 100% of their time on sales, and the other needs to be interested and aware. This stuff can be learned. Get yourself a sales coach that's specific for your stage. Not someone that has 20 years experience scaling companies from $1-100M. If you want to focus on sales in 2025, reach out. I'm taking new 1:1 coaching clients in January.

“Nail down your targeting. Focus on pain-based targeting” Exactly! I used to talk about this as “look for the pain”, the kind of pain that hasn’t been solved or current solutions aren’t great. But it’s more than pain 🤕, it’s understanding 🩹the context of that pain, 🩹why it’s painful, 🩹what type of pain, 🩹what does it stop people from doing, 🩹what language do they use when they talk about this pain, 🩹how have they tried to solve this pain (in time, effort, money), 🩹did it help? How might the solutions they’d tried have been better? 📈All growth, sales and creating a tight GTM approach starts here! It’s starts with the 🤕Pain And genuinely wanting to solve this 🤕Pain. That’s a problem discovery or interviewing potential (target) customers about the problem. 💡It is not a sales conversation. 💡It’s not a “do you like my product” conversation. It’s zoning in on the problem, context, solutions tried, pain discovery. Only then can you create a rinse and repeat approach to 📈growth. The pain discovery interview process using the wheel of progress approach requires restraint, asking pivotal questions, exploring threads, more listening then talking - not talking about your product, brand or pressing for a sale. Remember, there are one off sales and then there are repeatable sales with product designed for growth. Use what you learn from these Problem Discovery Interviews to 1. Understanding the problem and context 2. Language used to mirror in your marketing 3. Who your early adopters (most in pain) are, where they are, what they need to switch 4. Shape a product around solving this problem 5. Embed growth opportunities within your customer journey 6. Monetise for repeatable growth 7. Design a sustainably and profitably growing business Don’t waste time in 2025 trying to navigate this alone. Get an experienced professional to help! 👇Read more on The Product Venn and get in touch https://lnkd.in/gT2dgJws

1,39,798+ startups are created every year in India. And according to Microsoft, this number will reach 10,00,000+ by 2030. The majority of these ideas are bound to face the difficulties of raising capital. While there is no formula, there are many skills that founders must have while talking to potential investors. After interacting with a bunch of angel investors, I found that they look at the same 4 common traits in a founder: --> Ability to build: They believe in backing the founders, who are behind the idea of the startup. Therefore, founders must have the ability to build the right product. --> Ability to sell: Building a startup is all about selling. Be it selling vision to investors, selling the product to customers, or selling the mission to talent, founders must be extremely good at this. --> Customer insight: Founders who understand what their customers want will always outperform. Before Royal Enfiled became a success, its founder went on a bike ride for months to understand the issues that its customers face while driving. --> Solo founder: According to data, 9 out of 10 startups get shut down because of a solo founder. Even 4-5 is not good, so they prefer startups with 2-3 founders or co-founders. There are other factors too, like market size, growth, etc but these are the 4 major traits that angel investors look for in a founder before investing. What else do you think can be considered? Comment below. #founder #angelinvestor

The most striking revelation at Google for Startups Accelerator's Graduation Day? The dramatic shift in India's digital adoption story - it's no longer about acquiring users, but about users actively seeking and paying for solutions. This behavior shift is fundamentally rewriting startup playbooks across sectors. We witnessed this through startups like Lissun achieving remarkably low CAC in mental health, Namma Yatri succeeding with traditional fixed-fee models for cab drivers, and SpeakX and Schooglink seeing unprecedented paid conversion rates in Tier 2/3 edtech markets. Even traditionally offline sectors like estate planning are being transformed by tech solutions, as demonstrated by Yellow. The India startup story is evolving, and it's fascinating to watch. ✨ - Radika Agarwal & Kopal Srivastava #IndianStartups #DigitalIndia #GoogleForStartups

15 Lesser-Known Startup Facts 1. Team Issues Lead to Failures Poor team dynamics often cause startups to fail, even with great ideas. 2. Timing Is Crucial Market timing can make or break a startup, often more than the idea itself. 3. Unicorn Startups Are Rare Less than 1% of startups become billion-dollar companies. 4. Startups Pivot Often Successful companies like Twitter and Instagram began with entirely different ideas. 5. Corporate Investors Matter Corporations play a big role in funding through venture capital arms. 6. The SaaS “Rule of 40” Growth rate plus profit margin above 40% indicates a healthy SaaS startup. 7. Ecosystems Fuel Success Cities like Silicon Valley and Bangalore provide talent and funding hubs. 8. Failure Builds Experience In startup culture, failure is often seen as a learning milestone. 9. Female Founders Get Less Funding Yet, they often deliver higher revenue per dollar invested. 10. Accelerators Aren’t for All Not all startups benefit from incubator programs and may lose focus. 11. Bootstrapping Works Companies like Mailchimp grew successfully without external funding. 12. Local Markets Can Succeed Startups like Zomato thrived by focusing on domestic markets. 13. Not Just Tech Startups in agriculture, clean energy, and social sectors are innovating too. 14. Growth Before Profit Many startups prioritize growth over profitability for years. 15. Mental Health Challenges Are Real Founders face higher risks of stress, anxiety, and burnout. #StartupEcosystem #Entrepreneurship #StartupLife #BusinessGrowth #UnicornStartups #Innovation

From a small idea to a global powerhouse: Netcore's journey is the stuff of startup dreams! 🚀 Born in the dot-com era, Netcore Cloud started just like any #startup of today. Now, we support 6500+ brands connect with their customers better. While we started as a messaging solution back in 1997, we didn't stop there. We've expanded into #email, #SMS, #WhatsApp, push notifications, and more, becoming a global, bootstrapped market leader in customer engagement. Our story resonates with every #founder's aspirations. That's why, for the past year, we've been building Netcore for Startups – our initiative to help #B2C startups scale, just like we did. The results? 🚀 100+ startups supported 🚀 50+ partners onboarded 🚀 Countless growth stories created We've hosted events, collaborated with partners, and engaged deeply with the startup ecosystem to understand what truly drives growth. Now, we're thrilled to officially launch Netcore for Startups on #LinkedIn! Here's how we're powering the next generation of B2C innovators: 💻 Up to $30,000 in product credits 🧠 Expert mentorship from industry leaders 🤝 A powerful network of partners and peers Whether you're gearing up for your next big leap or fine-tuning your growth engine, we've got your back every step of the way. Ready to write your own success story? Apply Now in the comments! Follow along for insights, success stories, and more as we continue to elevate the B2C startup ecosystem. #NetcoreForStartups #profigrowth #StartupSuccess #BootstrappedSuccess

❗❗ Success overnight? We all wish. But...❗ ❗ We all want our plans to happen overnight. Worst case - by the end of fiscal year. But this rarely happens in life. And even if it does - probably it is for those who sell this "overnight success" miracle pill to other people)) In the world of business, the timeline to reach the pinnacle of success can vary widely. For example, let’s take a look at the industrial giants and dynamic startups to understand the time it takes to achieve the highest results. The Industrial Giants When we examine the top 20 companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), a common theme emerges: time. These are companies that have stood the test of time, consistently delivering value and adapting to changing market conditions. On average, it took these industrial behemoths 82 years to achieve a position in the DJIA from their founding. Companies like **3M**, **Boeing**, and **Coca-Cola** have spent decades building their reputations, honing their products, and expanding their market reach. For instance: - **3M**: Founded in 1902, joined DJIA in 1976 – 74 years - **Coca-Cola**: Founded in 1892, joined DJIA in 1987 – 95 years - **Goldman Sachs**: Founded in 1869, joined DJIA in 2013 – 144 years These companies represent the enduring strength and longevity that come with sustained effort and strategic evolution. The Dynamic Startups Contrast this with the vibrant world of startups, specifically the unicorns – those private companies valued at $1 billion or more. The journey here is notably faster but still substantial. On average, the top 10 unicorns achieved their billion-dollar valuations in about 7.9 years. These companies, such as ByteDance (TikTok), Stripe, and Instacart, have leveraged innovation, technology, and market disruption to achieve rapid growth. Consider these examples: - ByteDance (TikTok): Founded in 2012, unicorn status by 2015 – 3 years - Stripe: Founded in 2010, unicorn status by 2014 – 4 years - Instacart: Founded in 2012, unicorn status by 2014 – 2 years While their timelines are shorter, the intense focus, innovation, and strategic risk-taking required to achieve such rapid growth are immense. The Route to Excellence In today’s fast-paced world, it’s easy to be seduced by the allure of overnight success. The stories of both industrial giants and dynamic startups show that building something truly great is a marathon, not a sprint. So, whether you're leading a startup or managing an established company, remember that excellence is a journey. Question the approach of those who seek quick wins and instead, commit to the long game. The path to greatness is rarely short, but it is always worth it. Contact me, if you are ready to begin or enhance your journey to excellence! As growth and transformation coach I help people and companies to get disproportionate advantage over their life and goals! #agilelifecoaching #25minutes #onestepcloser