E-Bazaar a VC's perspective- Part 2

Lara Druyan, a top notch VC in silicon valley is a General Partner at Allegis Capital. Lara believes that when a company approaches VCs for funding, it should put itself in VC's shoes and think about what it wants as an investor. VCs get convinced more when they are told about what they get as an investor and not only the product that the company is working on. A VC according to Lara, as an investor wants
1) to focus on BIG markets
2) a good quality team
3) a defensible technology


Concentrating solely on technology in the pitch is not a good idea, she says. In other words, the technology should reach a point where it will be marketable and usable among the end users sooner - it's better to fail early so that you can make adjustments while you still have money. VCs also expect the team to have a highly qualified techie person on the team if the company is about hitech product. It makes more sense if the company is honest upfront about the resources and people they are lacking so that VCs can help fill in holes on the executive team. Knowing what you know or even don't know is of utmost importance, she says. Watch the video -- Neha Dadhbhawala from TiECon Live team interviews Lara Druyan to understand the functional skills VCs looks mostly in entrepreneurs in the E-Bazaar event of TiECon 2008.

TiECon 2008, the world's largest convention for entrepreneurs is being held on 16th and 17th May 2008 at Santa Clara Convention Center in silicon valley. More information on www.tiecon.org