1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Ashmeet Sidana, Chief Engineer at Engineering Capital (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: How do you look at teams for something like this? Is it somebody coming out of a domain with deep insights into solving the problem where they haven’t written the product, but they have enough domain knowledge to signal to you and the investors that they know what they are talking about?

Ashmeet Sidana: Since I invest so early, they almost have never written a product. They may have some samples of prototypes, but it’s rare because I am so early. In terms of the selection of the team, they need to have some form of technical insight or domain knowledge to take on a challenge like this. This is in addition to the usual characteristic of a great entrepreneur.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Ashmeet Sidana, Chief Engineer at Engineering Capital (Part 1)

Ashmeet Sidana, Chief Engineer at Engineering Capital, is the founder of a small venture firm that we have a great deal of respect for, and a personal friend. This is a wonderful conversation.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Keith Bank, Founder CEO at KB Partners (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: Do you want to do another case study?

Keith Bank: Another one is called Hammerhead Technology based in New York City. I made a small angel investment in this individual several years ago. His name is Pete Morgan. He’s an avid cyclist and had an idea that there was a way to create a better bike computer.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Keith Bank, Founder CEO at KB Partners (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: Let’s talk about some of the digital businesses in sports tech. 

Keith Bank: One that I’m particularly proud of and where we’ve got a lot of activity right now is Phenix. This came to me in a very unusual way. My son was in the commercial real estate business. One day he said, “I like what I’m doing and I’m doing well, but I think I want to go to work for an early-stage tech company.” He did and he found this company.

516th 1Mby1M Roundtable Recording on January 21, 2021: With Padmaja Ruparel, Indian Angel Network

In case you missed it, you can listen to the recording here:

Roundtable Recap: January 21, 2021: Evolution of the Indian Startup Eco-system

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Padmaja Ruparel, Co-founder, Indian Angel Network and Founding Partner, IAN Fund. The Indian startup eco-system has grown tremendously, and IAN has contributed heavily in that evolution.

WolfPack

As for entrepreneur pitches, up first we had Jonathan Chashper from Rockville, Maryland, pitching WolfPack,  a group travel app.

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Keith Bank, Founder CEO at KB Partners (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: I’m going to get to talking about specific trends and specific companies in a moment. I just want to clarify one thing which is the stage issue. Give us a sense of what is your definition of seed.

What do you like to see by way of validation before you’re willing to write a check? What sized checks do you write as your first check?

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Keith Bank, Founder CEO at KB Partners (Part 1)

Keith Bank is Founder CEO at KB Partners, a venture firm focused on sports technology.