I stand before you as Herald of the Change
– Herald of the Change
My fundraising journey has been all about building my product. The more I built, the more I realized that the end could most probably be achieved through gumption. Furthermore, every outside engagement was skewed towards industry experts and not just institutions with money to invest.
You cannot build a transformative business on lies, on assumptions and on projections about the future. And the future is promised to no one. It is as much uncertain for me, as much it is for a well-funded post IPO corporation out there. Of course, a lot of people do get rich on smouldering ashes of retail investors but that is not how you build a monopoly.
And a monopoly is what we are aiming for.
Money is one factor, it is needed, but you need engineering expertise, well that we got it, and you need industry expertise – that we seek on daily basis from print veterans. That is a hard long cobbled path, which is never smooth but almost always pleasurable.
The pursuit of knowledge is a noble pursuit and if that is part of building a transformational business, it will not only be joyful, but it would also be more profitable.
Money is part of the end, and part of the means, and just part of the story.
What I want to say here is that seasoned enough to not fall into that trap, and they are seasoned enough to see that as well. And the next pitch deck I will prepare would be non-conformist and aimed at investors who bring more to the table other than greed and money.
No one makes money betting on sure thing; you do that by buying low and selling high. As far as fundraising is concerned, I have had lesser rejections than the rejections I have made. I could think of myself as that hot chick who everyone dates in the high school, but I do not get delusional like that.
We seek funds to create a transformational organization. That motivates the team. And that is win-win situation for everyone involved.
The Purpose of Software is to conceal the Software.
– Guru Cingh
When it comes to engineering complex products – and a complex product Machine Dalal is – you need an organization with experience and the right institutional memory. I will not delve deeper into that as Machine Dalal is just one of the products from the stable of Hashbrown, but we have a team that is able to deliver highly engineered products for business.
A highly engineered product that works is simple. It is simple in its approach, it is simple in its function, and most importantly it is simple in its input and its output.
The user comes to use the product, the user does not care the complexities that you are grappling with – will spare you the details.
A successful trade is culmination of multiple successful events. A successful international trade more so, will spare you the details once more.
Machine Dalal sits at the cross section of each of these events, or at least that is the plan.
It does not matter if you win or lose, until you lose.
I am a numbers guy. Not many people know it and I prefer it that way, but I always remember that. A lot of things do not matter. Even when they do, they do not.
Revenue Matters.
Users Matter.
Usage Matters.
What you see above is the graph of Revenue per User per month for Machine Dalal. This is a good metric to focus upon. In this day and age, there are myriad ways. of increasing number of users but revenue per user should take care of any and all embellishment.
Set things up, to succeed. Have good accounting standards.
There is no guarantee of success, and there is no insurance against failure. If you were to take bets more often than not you would come out winning if you were betting on start-ups and business to fail.
Who you communicate with, matters a lot. Your friends and family and even those who have invested in you, if they are not from the industry, there is not a reason you should discuss your product with them.
Talk to the people in the industry. Talk to your users. Talk to your subscribers. Talk to people who have paid for you and most importantly talk to those who haven’t.
It is not the design, the programming or the product features that are key; it is the knowledge of the industry. Recruit people who are from the industry. An Ounce of knowledge is worth more than a Pound of Dollars.
We have sound accounting and accounting practices. Every penny is recorded and accounted for, and we do not spend on advertising.
It’s a long way to Tipperary
This has been quite revelatory. We have been working with manpower and resource constraints, but we have been working and I think that is important.
What is equally important is doing the right thing for the client, being long-term greedy by keeping the user’s interest in mind and unlock value each step of the way.
I was about to say something profound to end this post of mine but this English song from a German move is more befitting, it’s a long, long way indeed.
And to the reader, may your days ahead be blessed!