A structured model

For any firm, how to get seed funding from institutional and venture capitalist investors can be a major challenge. Every founder eventually has to get ready for the frequently lengthy and difficult process of fundraising and go through different venture capital stages, regardless of whether their firm is looking for cash for product development, testing market hypotheses, or scaling up operations. A financial model recreates the company virtually and reflects the founder's evaluation of the key relationships and dynamics of the business case. Closing the deal is frequently determined by your ability to explain and defend the dynamics incorporated into the plan.

An investor can easily and intuitively follow the chain of reasoning that makes the wager represented by your business case an appealing one by using a well-designed model. In this regard, choosing the appropriate structure for your model is a crucial but frequently ignored aspect. It is helpful to think of the planning process in terms of logical building blocks that represent the business case. Each block has its own set of presumptions that are applied to calculations that result in desired outputs after being fed data from a designated input sheet. Startup investors are typically most interested in your P&L calculations, which start with revenue creation and continue down through EBITDA and net income, as well as your cash flow estimates when it comes to results. For early-stage firms, a fully operational financial sheet forecast will rarely be required. As a result, it makes sense to divide your model into blocks that represent the process by which sales are generated (i.e., the engine for revenue generation), the expenses required to achieve your growth projections (i.e., COGS- Cost of Goods Sold and OpEx- Operation Expenses), and other components that are important for cash flow.

Finally, it is crucial to let the model's goal determine its functionality and construction strategy. The model will be viewed by investors as an expression of your thought process. A model that is error-free, simple to comprehend, and auditable displays a methodical approach to planning the future of your business, which ultimately supports your reputation as a founder that investors can entrust with their money.

Does Money Matter?

Venture capital (VC) firms often invest in companies that have a proven revenue model or, in the absence of that, at least have a significant and rapidly expanding client base and a revenue strategy in place. Depending on the sector, the business, and a number of other variables, these companies can invest in a wide range of values. You can generally expect that venture capital deals range in size from $1 million to $20 million. They make investments in businesses through common equity, preferred shares, and convertible debt securities. Their primary concern is equity upside, so even if they purchase a convertible debt product, their ultimate objective is to acquire equity. Preferred shares may be granted a variety of unique rights and privileges to reduce the potential downside for investors.

Features of Venture Capital Funding

Compared to market-traded economic factors, venture capital funds are often long-term and rather illiquid. Contrary to publicly traded investment products, venture capital investments do not have the opportunity of a quick payoff. The success of an IPO has a significant impact on the long-term returns from venture capital investments. Between the original investment and the final payout, venture capital investments have a structural time lag. The liquidity risk is heightened by the structural time lag. To offset this larger-than-usual liquidity risk, VC investments typically provide very high returns.

VC investments are kept by private funds, as opposed to normal investment products that are traded on a regulated exchange. As a result, it is impossible for any one investor in the market to estimate the investment's value. Additionally, the venture capitalist is unaware of his investment's market value. Due to this, both the buy-side and the sell-side engage in extensive IPO speculation. The majority of venture capital investments are made in cutting-edge projects with the goal of upending the market. Such endeavors carry very great dangers as well as very great potential benefits. Because no one else has attempted what they are, entrepreneurs and VC investors frequently work in the dark.

The Indian Startups and VC Investment

With several positive developments ranging from policy push to talent pool and the rising entrepreneurship spirit, the Indian startup ecosystem also leverages the interests of both domestic and foreign investors, including venture capital investment. Indian startups now excel in Information technology, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, agriculture, food processing, telecom, and services. Highly skilled and competitive manpower, technological expertise, research & development, and entrepreneurship spirit drive the growth of the startup ecosystem. The Indian startups are focusing on innovations, and this is where the interests of venture capitalists lie. In the evolving business model, it would not be an exaggeration to say that over 80% of the capital provided by venture capitalists in India is used to invest in the production, marketing, and sales expenses, as well as the balance sheet, to create the infrastructure needed to expand the firm (providing fixed assets and working capital). Investment capital is not long-term capital. In order to sell a firm to a corporation or to enable the institutional public equity markets to intervene and offer liquidity, the goal is to invest in a company's balance sheet and infrastructure while it is still small and unproven. Global Venture Capital for India firms have set their eyes on innovative Indian startups, and all stakeholders are expected to be hugely benefited.