Why I won’t fund the TVF Pitchers start up.
So why did you quit to start up?
While TVF has recently garnered a lot of negative publicity, I want to kick off my blog with talking about TVF’s series ‘Pitchers.’ In my opinion, it is one of the best shows created by TVF and it already has a 9.4 rating on IMDB.
Jeetu: “Job chhod ke entrepreneur banenge. Spelling bhi aati hai entrepreneurship ki?” (We’re going to quit our jobs to become entrepreneurs. Do you even know how to spell entrepreneurship?)
Yogi: “E… N… T… Entrepreneur banne ke liye spelling nahin, spirit chahiye yaar.” (You don’t need to know how to spell to become an entrepreneur, you need spirit.)
The show starts off with the protagonist, Naveen, quitting his job on a drunken whim. He didn’t get the Beijing project that he had been coveting and drunk calls his boss to quit. In a poignant scene, Naveen’s boss (the show’s Debbie Downer) tells Naveen that when most people are frustrated with their routine corporate jobs, they quit for one of the three reasons: joining the IAS, pursuing an MBA or “starting up”. Peel away the dramatic effect this statement was meant to produce, and you begin to wonder why so many people are quitting their jobs to start up. Is it because they believe in their idea or because they’re exasperated with how mundane their lives are or seeking the glamour of starting up?
Starting up has never been cooler — Tu Beer Hai.
Over beers one of Naveen’s seniors, Bhaati, discloses he raised a $100 million funding for his startup, which is valued at $500 million. Bhaati encourages Naveen to explore his entrepreneurial itch, which had catalyzed him to drunk call his boss.
Time for Naveen (IIT grad, CEO) to form the team. Enter the best friends:
a) Jeetu (CTO, IIT grad): The coder and only married guy of the bunch. He has a cute and supporting wife for whom he does bhaaji shopping (yes! he even tracks the movement of the babycorn price index). He has a strained relationship with his father who doesn’t understand how he can give up a steady revenue stream for a risky venture.
b) Yogi (COO, IIT grad): The bully whose every second sentence begins with a profanity. The hustler and operations guy. He’s always picking on Mandal.
c) Saurabh Mandal (CMO, IIM grad): If Supandi from the Tinkle comics were a real-life character, he would be Mandal. Naveen’s sweet, stupid (and sometimes borderline creepy) roommate who is drawn to the glamour of starting up. The only reason the IITans take him on is because he is using his savings to fund Jeetu’s salary.
And so, begins the stereotypical entrepreneurial journey. Naveen and his team bootstrap their startup, schmooze evil investors, make recruitment mistakes, beat up competition, deliver heartwarming speeches at pitch sessions and disagree with their loved ones for the greater good of the company.
A year ago when I used to work at a startup, I used to love this show. To a large extent, I understood… I could relate exactly to what the team was going through. Now that I work on the other side of the startup ecosystem (picture an angel investor with devil’s horns, oxymoron intended), my opinion of the show has changed.
In real life, Naveen and his team are destined for failure
- The team already face stiff competition from an IITan coder who stole their business plan and submitted it as his own idea to an investor.
2. The team is unstable:
a. The team has four co-founders. The ideal for any startup is two or maximum three cofounders. Too many cooks can spoil the founding broth (it’s lame, but I’m okay with it).
b. They’re working together because they’re college friends (or in Mandal’s case, roommates) and have been developing the idea for 4 years. But their professional strengths and weaknesses are unclear.
c. Yogi is always picking on Mandal, causing a massive rift (and a hasty patch up). Given Yogi’s bully and profane behavior, I’m sure he will end up attracting negative press and getting flak from investors. (The irony abounds, Arunabh Kumar.)
d. Mandal is funding Jeetu’s salary from his savings, what happens when it runs out? Additionally, Naveen’s ex-girlfriend has provided her credit card on loan. From the investor’s perspective, the team needs funding to take care of their personal expenses as opposed to building the product. How long before they break even, or (dare I ask) profitable?
3. In Season 1, the team has built a great product and focused on raising funding. There is a huge problem here — where are the customers, what about traction, churn rate and feedback?
4. The odds are stacked against this team, as 90% of all startups fail. Even if the team managed to overcome all these hurdles in reel life, this sounds like a disaster waiting to implode in real life. Since this is a series about the underdog, I’m sure Series 2 is going to show how life turns our hunky dory.
One of my biggest issues with the series is that the team doesn’t know what they’re getting themselves into. Do these guys even understand what it takes to run a business? One might be an excellent marketer but this does not necessarily mean he/she can successfully run a marketing company.
Running a business involves a plethora of other activities outside one’s area of expertise (e.g., managing budgets, building company culture). They may be good at certain tasks and raising funds but kya inko dhandha karna aata hai?