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Alok Kejriwal On The Different Shades Of Money.

August 1, 2012 2 Comments

wealthymatters.com

Some interesting observations from Alok Kejriwal :

“After my first round of VC funding, I ran into my uncle at a dinner. He had read about the financing in media and cornered me. ‘So you’re rich! Why are you looking so gloomy?’ he said. ‘Huh’ I asked? ‘My Company’s the one that got funded, not me! No one got rich. The VCs got poorer and a long arduous road lies ahead of me to return the money to the VCs many times over’. He chuckled and said’ ‘What nonsense! The first rule of the funding game is to siphon out 25% of the funds and make yourself-rich. Investors can be dealt with later’. Shucks… hadn’t I heard that story before? Many of my relatives have floated public issues that were nothing short of scams and they still boast about it!

This ‘get rich, siphon out’ philosophy left so many old industrial houses bankrupt. They were never capitalized to take advantage of acquisition opportunities and punished their shareholders so harshly that they could never raise capital again. Think Mafatlal, Dalmia and many more. Even today I meet embarrassed professional managers working in ‘family’ firms who get paid salaries in ‘half white and half black’ to avoid taxes! Read more of this post

Filed under Entrepreneurship, Paper Assets Tagged with Alok Kejriwal, Bajaj, balance sheet, black money, cash war chest, Corus, Dalmia, empire, family firms, Fiat India, Hindustan Motors, Income Tax rate, Indira Gandhi emergency tax regime, investors, IPO scams, Jaguar and Land Rover, Mafatlal, massive cash reserves, Mittals, Nano, postaday, professional managers, punishing shareholders, raising money, Ruias, siphoning off money, Tata, TCS, Telco, TISCO, VC, VC funding, venture capitalist, white money

MBA in Entrepreneurship

March 10, 2011 2 Comments

Here is an article I came across yesterday while surfing.The original is available here:http://entrepreneur-website.biz/entrepreneur/can-entrepreneurship-really-be-taught-at-b-%e2%80%93-schools-transition/ .The author has a poor opinion of the value of an MBA for entrepreneurs.Do read through the following article and tell me whether you think entrepreneurship can be taught?Can it be taught in an MBA class?Is it learnt by doing?Will the entrepreneurship cells the author calls for in colleges do the trick?If entrepreneurship can be taught what in your opinion is the best way to do so?Do write to me, tell me about your experiencesI would love to hear about them.

Entrepreneurship has been the most abused word around according to me. Each and everyone seemingly want to start their own venture. Each and everyone thinks making business plans is as easy as writing a mail. Each and everyone thinks that getting the funds for the same will be pretty easy. Each and everyone wants to be his / her own boss.

But is it really so easy? Is entrepreneurship just about starting new businesses day in or day out? What kind of people become entrepreneurs? How does one make the right business plans? Which kinds of industries and sectors one can enter? How does one get the right ideas and opportunities? There are some of the hundreds or thousands of questions which one has to consider before getting a business plan ready for a VC. Read more of this post

Filed under Entrepreneurship Tagged with B- Schools, business plan, Family Business Program, funds, IIMS, ISB, MBA, MBA in Entrepreneurship, SP Jain, teach entrepreneurship, VC

Life of a Solopreneur

March 10, 2011 Leave a comment

This post was originally posted here :http://www.pluggd.in/ekla-chalo-re-story-of-a-single-founder-solopreneur-297/.It gives a good idea of what it is like to be a solopreneur and do an Ekla Chalo Re.I like the idea of starting off immediately by onself without waiting for a perfect launch.After all, a lot of ventures fail but if you never start you can never fail much less succeed.Just contain the downside risk and maximize the upside potential and begin!But do read the story of Sumeet of Kreeo before you begin.

As an entrepreneur one must be focused on being successful whether as a team or single! What is most important is starting up and getting into execution mode rather than waiting for a perfect situation (team, funds, prototype, and customers). None of your dreams will come true if you just keep dreaming and planning. You can’t learn swimming without getting into water.

Coming to the dilemma of starting up as a team (one of the most important factor for getting funding also) or a single entrepreneur. I think it has no impact on the success of your venture. You will need a leadership team for sure but it’s not important to have it in place right from the start (VCs will tell you otherwise), a team can be formed as you move on (only if you don’t need VC money). Read more of this post