The Journey of an Idea

FLO Hyderabad’s ‘The Journey of an Idea’ featured highly respected Indian Venture capital ecosystem personalities – Subrata Mitra, Partner, Accel and Shanti Mohan, Founder & CEO, LetsVenture. The 150 mins. session yielded many thought-provoking nuggets around Venture Capital, what investors look for in Startups, Growth-phase companies, attributes that founders and investors must bring to the table and much more.

Key Takeaways from Subrata Mitra:
Subrata, the man behind Flipkart’s globally biggest e-commerce M&A of 16 billion USD with Walmart, emphasized that every idea has the potential to become a unicorn. He highlighted the importance of integrity, humility and culture of business leaders at every level. According to him, early employees are the pillars of the company; they must be well-balanced and possess subject matter expertise. He also outlined the top three qualities investors look for: a super founder quality, an idea that is forward-looking and ventures into areas where larger companies cannot, and a great team to support the vision. Subrata elaborated the steps involved in a Venture Capital Fund’s working.

Key Takeaways from Shanti Mohan:
Shanti, the brain behind LetsVenture an online platform for Investors and Startups, emphasized that India is the largest and fastest-growing economy, with increased connectivity to international markets. She advised founders to focus solely on their business ideas and not to worry about minor pivots. Her advise “Vyavahaar pehle, vyaapaar baad mein” (Conduct first, business later) resonated well with the audience.

Shanti highlighted the scarcity of women investors and the success of her WIN (Women Investors Network) program which is not only n exclusive platform for women-led Startups and female Investors, but also educates women about investing best practices.

Both speakers agreed that investors are not gender-biased, but pay value the founders’ clarity of thought, cultural mindset, and determination to stay the course.

Over 100 FLO members attended the session. Students of Symbiosis and Anurag University were also present as part of FLO Hyderabad’s outreach program.