Where do you think the VCs get their money from? From the Sr. Management
of
established companies who want to be the customers for these
products/services/offerings from the startups as well as send their best
minds out to work in a startup & have fun - else, they lose them anyway.
Step 1: Poach on the VPs & Directors of your potential future
customers
Step 2: Get an excellent Advisory board unless you want to be
the 97%
statistic that will undergo M&A in 6 months
Step 3: Have an excellent viral marketing strategy... read up on
chaos
theory & Center for Disease Control's Epidemic reports for inspiration!
Remember, that there is a pattern for Indian startup companies... almost
all
create operational efficiency. Large majority do not create the
amazon.com
but they create the operational software that make the amazon.com
happen.
So, make sure you have the right idea. The engineering is more important
-- the components of the software production assembly line [engineers] should be very strong. And the connections to the industry, customers & institutional capitalists must be water-tight if you plan on IPO. If youdon't know cash-on-the-table, then forget being a CEO.
And please do decide whether you want to go IPO or get into an M&A. The strategy & tactics are completely different.
The latest trend is to tap the 2nd generation Indians... so, think about
that for strength.
If the venture has to be outside the US, then the trend is to create software factories that will create components or outsource the ASP model to cost efficient places.
Sendil ~zen~ Nathan Digital Strategy & Information Architecture http://iarchitect.org/