161 Should You Raise Money or Bootstrap Your Startup

When you read tech articles and social posts – it appears raising a round is the only way to grow a business.

What would happen if you repurposed all the time and effort spent on raising capital and focused it on bootstrapping your startup?

Our guest, Naveen Prasad, understands the value of bootstrapping a startup before you begin raising capital.

He’s the Founder & Managing Partner of Group Agilis (Agilis Advisors and Agilis Capital), where he manages a mandated portfolio in excess of $4 billion. The firm is operational in 10+ markets, and Naveen spearheads the leadership team for deal sourcing, fund placements, M&A and fundraising transactions.

Originally from India, and now settled in Berlin, Germany, Naveen has built ventures from scratch, and is also an active early-stage investor, mentoring startups in venture programs such as EIT, Cocoon & Startupbootcamp

Prior to Agilis, Naveen had co-founded Fintech & eCommerce ventures Blackbill and MinRP and held leadership positions in Lendico (Rocket Internet), Kreditech and Amazon.

To learn more about Agilis Capital, please visit: https://agilisadvisors.com/

Please connect with Naveen and Agilis Capital via the following social media platforms:
Naveen:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/naveenkprasad/
Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/naveenkp
Twitter : https://twitter.com/NaveenKPrasad

Agilis Capital:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/agilis-advisors
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/agilis_advisors/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Agilis_Advisors

Here's a link to learn more about Nykka and its fab female founder Falguni Nayar:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/12/business/nykaa-falguni-nayar-india-billionaire-hnk-intl/index.html

00:00 - Meet Naveen!
08:00 - Naveen's origin story
12:00 - what Naveen learned from his first ventures into entrepreneurship
17:00 - meet Agilis Capital Advisors
22:00 - first understand why you need funding for your startup
25:00 - bootstrapping, VC funding or angel investor funding
27:30 - what do angel investors look for in a startup and its founding team
31:40 - before investing, what does Naveen seek in a founding team
37:19 - Naveen's favorite example of a bootstrapped business: India-based and female founded Nykka ! https://www.nykaa.com/
42:00 - should you bootstrap in a competitive landscape?
48:00 - how to shift the lack of diversity in the Venture Capital landscape
51:15 - what Naveen wish he'd known before he began raising capital
57:00 - the Berlin startup ecosystem - an insider's view
1:03:40 - the most important trait of a founder is empathy

Thank you for carving out time to improve your Founder Game - when you do better, your business will do better - cheers!
Ande ♥

Ande Lyons
http://andelyons.com

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