1/5 [Business Lessons 101]
Act now, blame later.

In 2018, an investor-team flew from Mum to Blr for a final meeting before deciding to invest in our startup, GrabOnRent. It was the closest chance at hand, considering shrinking runway & cold responses by many other investors.

2/5 I prepared hard for that meeting. It went well and the final words exchanged were - 'We'll be back with investment terms'. I rejoiced.

But everything shattered after a week when the investor conveyed a no via the banker. No call, no email, no meeting. Just a proxy.

3/5 Quickly after this, another prominent VC walked away. We were left high and dry with less than 2 months' runway.

How was I feeling? I wanted to blame them, and then my luck and my life. But that wouldn't help, would it?

4/5 Instead, we worked hard to draw a new strategy, and in a few months, we managed to stitch a bridge round and lived to see another day.

As a CEO, I learned not to waste time blaming a VC who did not write me a check after promising the world. That's business.

5/5 And it's just one of the many incidents that would sweep the ground under my feet in future. The sooner I realised it, the more prepared I was to make comebacks.

#startups #Entrepreneurship #VCfunding #Leadership