Betting on Startups by College Founders. | Ft. Aentor.com
From Facebook to HP, history is proof that some of the greatest companies has came from the rooms of a college hostel-room. Still, the majority of investors aren’t serious about startup ideas pitching by young founders.
Through this article, we will try find out what ingredient is necessary for ideas about startup pitched by college students. Additionally, we will also find out how acceleration platforms like Aentor.com are betting only on startups by young college founders and how can you raise capital from them easily.
But before we proceed, you need to know who am I and why am I eligible you advice you about investment and all. So, I am Udit Akhouri, one of the youngest Indian to raise FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) which I did at 16. Before turning 18, I had already made a $200K from selling one SaaS, raised 2 rounds of funding for one more venture and turned it to over $4M+. So, anybody else who can teach you the exact insights for free?
I’ll break this article into 3 parts —
- Introduction — Which we have already covered.
- The Flaws and Scope of Improvements — What students need to do!
- Betting on teens? How? —Fund-raising via Aentor.com. But How?
The Flaws and Scope of Improvements
Not just a teen but any person who is just starting out to work on an idea easily goes into the Einstein-mode where he tries to sketch the next BIG thing out there. But the reality is something different. You need to understand a simple fact that no one is gonna fund a fucking idea. So, you need to build something first. At least a prototype.
Also, you have to make it clear that you don’t have to solve world energy crisis or some water crisis for this time. In future, when you’ll have enough funds and expertise, then the doors are open. But as teen or starter, if you want to build a business, build something feasible so the investors can trust you.
Once in my past, I literally came up with a cosmic microwave background theory which could solve world energy problem but was I able to do it? No. Am I right now, able to do it? No. Will I be working on it in future? Yes, once I get enough expertise and few more millions to burn it in crazy experiments.
You see, everyone got their potential at a certain time which they can improve as they gain experience. So, you need to work on what you can make or do even if every investor pull their hand out of you.
Secondly, the pitch sucks.
You know, as an investor and mentor, I receive a ton of emails for investment and mentoring. And leave pitch decks, what you think, which of these email will I reply to?
You see, forget about me. which of them will you reply to? See, the example is enough to tell you that you need to add context to your email or pitch. Then only, investors will be able to know that what you exactly want.
Try to make it convenient by adding a summary, telling your objectives, etc. Believe me, this will increase your response rate by a huge chunk.
Now, moving towards the Aentor part..
Aentor is one of the few unique acceleration platforms which actually does a work. Well, it would be even wrong to call it just an acceleration platform because it’s a lot more.
As what details are easily available on the website, Aentor helps you in your baby steps — from registering your startup to finding mentors and gaining investments, everything.
The core focus of it’s investment (as per the portfolio) are startups by college students. So, their portfolio includes Delhi-based First Dollar, Upmint, SAR, etc. But I find the importance of this platform due to some more obvious reasons.
Firstly, this is not just an investing or learning platform but much more than that. Like, I can literally login on the platform and start with finding my idea (if I don’t have one) to scheduling calls with experts and mentors on the platform. I can learn about different topics, participate in funding events, and even get my venture registered. Like, this is insane.
Keep aside the fact that even I am associated with the company, but still when you’ll go to the website, you’ll get that urge to start now or never.
When I started, I found it really difficult to raise capital. I talked to Tim Draper about it, even let him believe in the teenpreneur psychology and I am here, urging you to try Aentor.
But still, I’ll be back with few more stories to share in upcoming days, till then, just subscribe to this publication to not miss any of my writings and I’ll see you right here.
