Amit Somani, Managing Partner at Prime Venture Partners, explains why B2B startups struggle with unit economics and price discovery.
Opinion
Somani: Recent graduates should not enter venture capital without operating experience
“I don't think young people should get into VC, especially of the, you know, just coming out of IIT, can I come join, you know, Neon or Prime or whatever. Because I think, and certainly the way we practice the boutique art, right, form here at different, you kn…”
Insight
Somani: Marginal product improvements favor incumbents; startups must be 10x better
“A lot of companies and products which are 20, 30, 50% better. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. That's bettering the state of the art, but that's better for an incumbent. That's better for somebody who already has distribution, already has cash flow, already …”
Insight
Somani: Founder pedigree like IIT/IIM is strictly second and third order
“So we actually don't have any preconceived notions on whether you're a first time founder, you're an older founder, you're an IIT, non-IIM, it doesn't matter. If you have a deep understanding of the market, If you have deep customer empathy, if you have, you k…”
Insight
Somani: 90% to 95% of 100x startups address express demand, not new widgets
“All that said, 90, 95% of New startups, even the ones that are successful and go scale up a hundred X are often even an express demand, which is not identified early enough, right? So you don't need a proxy. I mean, you have that thing that people are trying t…”
Opinion
Somani: Founders do not need sustainable 100-hour workweeks to succeed
“I'm actually not a believer in the, you know, Jack Ma, nine, nine, six philosophy. Yes, you should work hard. You have to work hard as an entrepreneur, right? But I don't think you need to you know, put in a hundred hours a week sustainably for, you know, two,…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Somani: Mid-career professionals in their forties are increasingly launching startups in India
“A lot more people are even at mid-career wanting to start up now because we have so many successful role models. So many, you know, folks even in their forties are beginning to start up, which was very rare, ah, earlier, right.”