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minutes, new rules for startups.

mahesh@seedfund.in
@maheshmurthy
15 15
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Learnings from brands managed
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Learnings from brands created
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Geography is history
1
You can design your business to start from anywhere.
Even Yeshwantpur.
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The trend means the end.
2
Prepare to be a trend-setter, not a trend-follower.
Toil a few years in anonymity till then.
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The winner takes it all.
3
No room for complacence.
Be no.1 or no.2. Or dont bother.
Big rewards for success.
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Hard to enter a pre-existing sector.
Easier to create a new one.
4
Forget billion-dollar market size. Discover how
big it is as you go along.
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Biggest determinant of success is insane
customer delight and resulting word-of-mouth.
5
Will your friend rave about your product or service
to a stranger in a bar, unbidden?
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Your marketing IQ needs to be inversely
proportional to your marketing budget
6
Are you remark-worthy to your TG?
If not, start again.
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Digital is not just cheaper than TV as a
marketing medium. Its bigger.
7
Can you get digital word-of-mouth working?
Facebook = 2.5 X IPL match, Google = 15 x ToI
+ >
> +
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Dont think just 360. Think 360 by 365
8
Its not just about talking.
But listening, responding, analysing, then talking.
Do so 24 by 7. Restructure.
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Most important technical skill you need:
recruitment & retention.
9
Have charisma & vision to recruit for less or free?
Can you stave off market salaries?
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Worlds most successful VCs: customers
10
Vast majority of Indian and global Fortune 500 never
got VC money to start.
Were the second-best option.
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Before getting a VC in, think about
getting them out.
11
Can you IPO? Really?
Can you be acquired? Do you want to?
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Forget about team. Here it starts with
one person.
12
VCs may parrot the Silicon Valley line. But its
different here. Ones a good start.
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Hereditary brilliance isnt bankable.
Institutionalised brilliance is.
13
Can your firm survive without you?
Do you get richer over the weekend?
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Be eco-friendly with money. Break
even by burning as little as possible.
14
Downturns can happen at any time. Survival is
80% of winning.

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The pot of gold is the rainbow.
The payout is an awesome life.
15
Nobody dies of entrepreneurship.
Its the best kind of life there is.
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Thanks, Im mahesh@seedfund.in
@
@maheshmurthy

+91 98922 49969