27th May 2015 - the internet was welcomed with the trailer of an online series that portrayed the Indian youth slightly differently from how Bollywood/Roadies/Splitsvilla has over the past few years. It talked of the youth that is the entrepreneur, the youth that wants to solve problems that affect you and me, and not just party and get drunk on "Chaar bottle vodka". Little did anyone know this series by the end would take the internet by storm, and be so relatable and inspiring to the entrepreneurs, and the aspiring ones.
Similar to everyone's unanimous view on TVF Pitchers, I too totally loved the series! It has easily been one of the best things that has happened to the Indian entertainment industry, and I'm sure has also encouraged a lot of people to startup! But if you're too inspired by the series and wish to startup, and get funded and live happily ever after, think again. Because life of an entrepreneur isn't as rosy, glamorous as it looks like. Here are a few points that the you should keep in mind, if you're too moved by the series and immediately wish to startup like Naveen Bansal and team.
1) Most of the episodes revolved around their startup getting funded. In fact, the season ended on a happy note with their startup getting funded.
However, that's not how it is in real startups. The startup's success is determined by the quality of the product, or the kind of response the company gets from its customers.
Funding is a mere external factor that helps accelerate the growth of the startup, and it shall come if your product is good!
2) The product of work was not talked about at all in the entire season. This is not how startups work really. People do give a fuck about the "What", which is the product/service that you're building. Focus on the product and the funding, revenue shall follow.
3) Reality check - You will never get funded, or be able to impress the investors by giving a senti conversation about you, your friends and/or the hardships you've faced in the due course of building your company. The only thing investors give a shit about is growth, and how much will they be able to earn on their investment. If it had been an investor for real, he would've funded the other startup since it would reap him more profit, and as the investor put it, he could literally own the company.
4) It's not always going to be a happy ending to your startup. It is very probable that your startup might fail, in fact the chances of failure are way more than chances of its success. You should only go ahead with the idea if you genuinely believe in it, and are willing to put your heart and soul in it, and more importantly be willing to fail. The learning through the entire journey, shall be insane however. :)
Again, I reiterate that TVF Pitchers was a beautifully put forth series, and I would love to see more of such content, top notch acting and direction like this on YouTube and on my TV Screen. Keep the great working going TVF. Cheers!
Lot of points still missed. But I will not go into that. But one thing I want to pint is that the investor wouldn't have funded the other start up as the team was very weak, inexperienced, irresponsible and most of all unethical. When an investor make an investment the most important thing they look in to is the team. So, how ever the great idea or B-plan it is or how much ROI it can generate, if the team can't pull it off then it will be a failure. Team stays and idea or b-plan can change.
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