Roundtable Recap: July 11 – Niche Expertise Can Be Turned Into Excellent Small Businesses

During this week’s roundtable, we had one entrepreneur pitch, and a lengthy discussion around a very niche business that I found very promising as a viable small business. It’s an interesting case study of how niche expertise can be turned into great small business.

Mid-Atlantic Amateur Radio

Pete Young from Thurmont, Maryland pitched the Mid-Atlantic Amateur Radio Service, a repair service for old ham radios.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable, especially if you are working on a niche idea, here:

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Eghosa Omoigui of EchoVC Partners (Part 1)

Responding to a popular request, we are now sharing transcripts of our investor podcast interviews in this new series. The following interview with Eghosa Omoigui was recorded in May 2019.

Eghosa Omoigui is Managing Partner at EchoVC Partners, a firm focused on the African market. This is a fascinating discussion about African startups and venture capital.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s get to know each other. Tell us about EchoVC. Tell us about yourself.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Vikas Choudhury of Pivot Ventures (Part 5)

Vikas Choudhury: Another investment is a cloud kitchen. It’s a company called Inner Chef run by someone I know. That company was riding on the wave of logistics and delivery, which was designed for the e-commerce ecosystem.

As you know, food delivery is becoming very large across the world. A lot of marketplaces have come up in India. Inner Chef has also diversified into local fast food. A lot of millennials today are eating 30 meals a month outside of their homes, which is a huge shift in consumer behavior across the country.

448th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast With Nnamdi Okike, 645 Ventures

Nnamdi Okike is Co-founder and Managing Partner at 645 Ventures. We have an excellent conversation about trends and his firm’s investment thesis.

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Vikas Choudhury of Pivot Ventures (Part 4)

Vikas Choudhury: Entrepreneurs today are either second-generation or second lifecycle. They come to us after having tried something on their own, so we do believe that they will just look at the funnel that is out there.

You have tens of thousands of new companies in India. Less than 1% get angel funding. Less than 1% of that go into venture capital. We’re simply making sure that we are able to pick up companies that have their foundation risked out.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Vikas Choudhury of Pivot Ventures (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: It sounds like you are very comfortable with getting into markets that don’t have a lot of traction, which is unusual in India. What drew you into angel investing at that point?

Vikas Choudhury: It was actually something that wasn’t really orchestrated. I was running a software analytics company at that point in time. There were a bunch of us who were third or fourth generation entrepreneurs that were also looking at alternative investment opportunities in India.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Vikas Choudhury of Pivot Ventures (2)

Sramana Mitra: Let’s talk about some of the things you’ve invested in. We’ll talk about Pivot Ventures investments in a moment. You said you’re one of the first angel investors in the Indian ecosystem.

Talk a little bit about what you invested in 2005. How has that landscape changed? How has your investment evolved through that period?

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Cristobal Perdomo of Jaguar Ventures (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: What are some of the highlights of recent companies that have crossed $5 million in revenues?

Cristobal Perdomo: It’s hard to know the revenues unless you’re actually working with them. We’re starting to see more Series C investments that are over $10 million.

Sramana Mitra: How many Series C’s have happened in the last 12 months?