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There are 3 new posts in "WATBlog.com - Web, Advertising and Technology Blog in India" At TIE-ISB Connect - How Can Startups Differentiate Themselves - Sandeep Singhal - Nexus India CapitalSandeep Singhal spoke on differentiation as a marketing strategy for startups at the TIE-ISB Connect happening in Hyderabad. Here are the points he mentioned. Sources of DifferentiationThe main sources of differentiation for startups which cause a competitive edge: 1) Tech - Patents or New technology that your competition doesn’t have. 2) Process - Process patents or way of doing things is cheaper, better faster. 3) Business Model - A model that changes the game at markets. For example Saas (Software as a service) business 4) Marketing & Marketing communication - Your positioning of your product is key. How to differentiate?1) Team - Build the right team! That is if you have figured out that technology is where you want to differentiate your offering then hire the best technology people in your company and surround yourself with the best talent. 2) Market - Develop a deep understanding of the target market. Your perception of your business doesn’t matter as much as the market perception and needs. 3) Execute - In the end execution is the biggest differentiator. Execute flawlessly which ever differentator you choose be it tech, process business model or marketing. Related PostsAlso Check Out: At TIE-ISB Connect - ‘Reverse the Fund Raising Process’ - DD Ganguly - Founder Dimdim.comWe are at the TIE-ISB Connect happening at ISB, Hyderabad and yesterday was day 1 of the conference where in workshops were conduction on raising funding and marketing strategy for startups. One of the sessions was on fund raising by startups and DD ganguly of dimdim.com was the speaker. DD Ganguly of Dimdim.com on How to raise funding? DD made the following points.. 1) Angels should like you - An angel investor will fund you not only because he know’s you will make money but primarily because he likes you. You are more likely to raise money at the angel stage due to the connection or rapport you strike with the investor rather than your huge revenue opportunity. 2) Reverse the fund raising process - We got funded at dimdim.com when we were not actively looking for funding. We by accident went to a seminar and got blogged about and that in turn got investors talking to us. We learnt that reversing the funding process by attracting those people (journalist and bloggers) who can attract the VC to ask you whether you need funding is the right way to raise money. Dont try to get the foot in the VC’s door instead get the VC’s to come to you. Its a VC’s to fund companies so they are also looking out for you. Make them find you you first! 3) Spreadsheets or Spreadshits? - At the angel stage look in the eye of the investor and tell him that you think that financial spreadsheets with 5 year projections are more like spreashits! Incase he still insists on details financials then walk out of the deal. This is because everyone knows that such financials are at based vague projections what the investor needs to be sold on is the large opportunity and you ability to execute and grab that opportunity. DD also gave some insights on how to choose a brand name for a dot com company giving example on how they chose theirs at Dimdim.com Choosing a brand name:
Finally he concluded saying that the end goal of business is making money and an entrepreneur shouldn’t forget that. Fund raising just just a step toward making that money in a big way. His last quote was ‘I love my money & the only thing I love more than my money is other people’s money!’ Related PostsAlso Check Out: Carwale.com recieves 7 Million $ in Funding From Sierra VenturesCarwale.com the standalone auto classifieds portal that raised seed funding from SeedFund in 2006. Now Carwale has raised their A series funding from Sierra Ventures (which also are one of the limited partners in seed fund) of about 7 million dollars. With is funding Tim Guleri and Vispi Daver of Sierra Ventures will join the company’s Board of Directors. Carwale operates in a market with fewer strong players as its competing with the likes of Autoindia.com, Carazoo.com, Gaadi.com, and Indiaautomobile.com which is by consim info (bharatmatrimony.com) This funding will surely give Carwale a shot in the arm with respect to expansions and will also enable it to get ahead of its competition. What this funding also points towards is the fact that transaction based companies are in vogue as far as the VC’s are concerned. As just recently myntra.com another transaction based online company which raised 5 million $. I guess investors have still not built enough confidence in advertising based models. What do you think? Related PostsAlso Check Out: More Recent Articles
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