What is Aadhar up to?
Should have stuck to his job!
Hello,
I hope this message finds you well. I'm excited and nervous to introduce you to the first issue of my newsletter. This newsletter has a dual purpose.
Firstly, it introduces you to potentially lucrative investment opportunities in promising startups, providing a fresh avenue for your investments.
Secondly, it is an open forum to share your invaluable insights on my startup journey. Your advice is not just welcome but eagerly sought.
What do I do?
I invest in startups. In addition to that, I help startups:
Raise more money via debt/equity.
Find Product-Market Fit
Past two months
Over the past two months, I've started working with various startups. Today, I share some learnings from this period and discuss our future direction.
Risk is wrong: In my work with Indian startups, I've noticed that many hesitate to take risks once they earn a decent income. This cautious approach could hold us back, especially when we're up against risk-ready entrepreneurs from places like the U.S. To challenge this mindset, I aim to work more with younger entrepreneurs who are generally more open to taking calculated risks.
Technology is complex: Most entrepreneurs I've interacted with are wary of investing in technology. They understand its importance for scaling their business but often hesitate to spend time and money on it. This reluctance stems from mistrust towards tech implementers and a fear of being misled.
So let me now conclude this first edition of our newsletter. Acknowledging that the startup landscape isn't always filled with sunshine and rainbows is essential. There are risks and uncertainties, as highlighted in our discussion today. But the purpose of this newsletter isn't to paint a fantastical image. Instead, it aims to document my journey in real-time as I work towards increasing the share of startups in India's (and hopefully, the global) GDP.
This newsletter will continue offering you an unfiltered view of the startup landscape, regardless of whether the scenario is grim or promising.
If you have any insights or ideas on how we can enhance the contribution of startups to India's GDP, I would love to hear from you at aadhar@hey.com.
Thank you for being a part of this journey. Stay tuned for more!
Aadhar
p.s.
Some other learnings were:
I needed a sounding board of my own. I hope the readers of this newsletter do that job.
I am still figuring out how to reach out to more startups. For now, I am sticking to doing that through my network. I will only start a sales and marketing effort when I reach my own Product Market Fit.
Company founders prefer to avoid writing emails. They continue to insist on face-to-face meetings and phone calls.
I started out with a broad scope of services which meant that I soon realised that need to stick to things I could productise and hence scale up. For example, I can't do weekly 1-hour strategy meetings with each startup.
I met a few startups who agreed with me on my whole proposition but have yet to reply. I am figuring out how to get feedback on what stopped them from signing up with me.