The event comprised of two moderated panel discussions, both moderated by noted VC's Alok Mittal and Harish Gandhi from Cannan Partners and an opening talk from Jai Saxena,Ernst & Young on his perspective of the markets and the availability of funds in the near future. Mahendra Swarup, Chief Mentor Smile Interactive Group, was also there on the podium taking in questions after Jai's presentation.
Broad themes that emerged from the event(as summed up by Mr Sanjeev Bikhchandani(Founder and CEO Info Edge)
- Assume that there is no more VC money that you can seek in this environment.
- Be frugal. Spend every penny as if it were your last(unless you have been funded recently).
- Think about making money from DAY ONE and not about building valuations( users/page views etc).
- Think about cash flows. Get your customers to pay upfront. Renegotiate contracts with vendors and pay them as late as you possibly can.
- Times to invest in sales. If required shrink other departments like engineering.
- Lead from the front. Make sales calls yourself.
- Get Lucky !
- If things still do not work out, do not hesitate from shutting your shop and start looking for the next big idea :)
Panel 1 ( Moderated by Alok )
Panel Members
Dinesh Agarwal, Founder,IndiaMart.com
Hitesh Oberoi,COO,Info Edge (think naukri.com)
Sashi Reddi, Founder and Chairman of AppLabs
Alok Khejriwal,Founder and CEO, Contests2Win.com
Presentations from the panel
Panel 2 comprising of folks from the angel/vc community ( Moderated by Harish )
Panel Members
Siddharta Das,General Partner, VentureEast
Mahesh Murthy, Angel Investor (Founder Passion Fund,SeedFund and Pinsotrm,MTV India's ex-boss and more)
Bejul Somaia,Lighspeed Venture Partners
I shall be posting some highlights from the panel discussion soon as well.
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