Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Larry Chaityn, Keiretsu Forum, New York Tri-State Chapters President (Part 1)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

This is the twentieth interview in our series on financing for entrepreneurs. I am talking to Larry Chaityn, president of New York Tri-State Chapters, the Keiretsu Forum.

Irina: Hi, Larry. Let’s start with your background and then go to the point where you got involved with the Keiretsu Forum.

Larry: My background is in technology consulting, and I have worked for companies like Capgemini and Oracle, dealing with CEOs and CFOs on mapping business strategy and leveraging technology.

I was in the consulting group for both those companies, and I would go out and understand what the business challenges were for Fortune companies then come back and put together solutions using technology to help companies either solve their business problems or initiate new strategies. That was in early 2000s. >>>

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Amit Grover, Member, Mumbai Angels (Part 6)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: What can investors do to be more successful?

Amit: We need to devote more time to the companies we invest in. We need to give them more customer references. Early-stage companies lack a lot of things that angel investors or successful entrepreneurs can bring them.

On average, all investors in Mumbai Angels have more than fifteen years’ experience in running their own businesses as Indian CEOs or in large companies. There is a lot that we can bring to the table. There are, obviously, time constraints, but slowly things are changing. >>>

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Amit Grover, Member, Mumbai Angels (Part 5)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: Nurture Talent workshops are live, right? They’re not online?

Amit: They are not online. We are going to start our online training programs in the near future, but these workshops are completely offline as of now.

Every Saturday we take a conference room and anywhere from ten to thirty people come for these workshops. We spend a full day on going through exercises, question and answer periods, and personal discussion. We guide them on early-stage business concerns and how to proceed. >>>

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Amit Grover, Member, Mumbai Angels (Part 4)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Amit: Let’s take Apalya Technologies. The first time they came to Mumbai Angels, we didn’t shortlist them at all. We told them to take three or four months and come back with a prototype in place with customers, a few service providers signed up, and television channel providers. >>>

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Amit Grover, Member, Mumbai Angels (Part 3)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: Do you require that the entrepreneurs you invest in have previous business experience?

Amit: In terms of running a venture of their own, no. In terms of having some experience of at least being in that sector, understanding the nitty-gritty details of what they are getting into, there we always look at what kind of experience they have.

They do not have to be serial entrepreneurs before they come to Mumbai Angels. There are people who have left their jobs at McKinsey or Microsoft to start their companies. >>>

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Amit Grover, Member, Mumbai Angels (Part 2)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: How many deals do you get each month, approximately?

Amit: On average, I would say we get maybe sixty to seventy-five, but it can be up to one hundred.

Irina: How many of those deals deserve a closer look?

Amit: Once the one hundred companies apply to Mumbai Angels, we have a screening committee that looks at each one and shortlists fifteen of them as meeting our criteria, which include the team, which is the most important, the scalability, and the business plan. >>>

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Amit Grover, Member, Mumbai Angels (Part 1)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

This is the nineteenth interview in our series on financing for entrepreneurs. I am talking to Amit Grover, member of the Mumbai Angels and the founder of Nurture Talent Academy, a training institute for entrepreneurs in India.

Irina: Hi, Amit. Let’s start with your telling us a little bit about your background.

Amit: I am a mechanical engineer, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. I got my MBA from the India Institute of Management (IIM) Indore. I have worked with leading companies in the past few years, in different roles. I was a software engineer at Infosys Technology Limited, then I did my MBA. >>>

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Eric Paley, Managing Partner, Founder Collective (Part 7)

By guest author Irina Patterson

Eric: It is amazing how much investors can damage a company. And I think the first thing an investor needs to do is not damage a company. Investors to be really careful to help the management team stay focused, be responsive and helpful, but not be demanding in ways that are really not productive for the company. I think that is number one. >>>