Three sides of the Triangle: Varying perspectives of working on a startup from an employee, investor, and founder. Opening session at Techmeet Mumbai, 22nd March 2014. Audience was a mix of students, tech enthusiasts, and young entrepreneurs. Goal of this discussion was to give a better understanding of the dynamics of a startup, based on personal experiences in the different roles.

1. Working on a Start Up
Three Sides of the Triangle: Employee, Investor, Founder
Aakrit Vaish
Co-Founder & CEO, Haptik
aakrit@haptik.co
Techmeet, 22nd March, 2014

2. Who am I?
• Born, raised in Mumbai
• Moved to USA in 2004 for undergrad engineering @ UIUC
• First job out of college with Deloitte Consulting in San Francisco
• Hated it, loved the idea of starting up
• Joined a startup Flurry in 2010 to lead biz ops, #20 overall hire
• Moved back to Mumbai in 2011 to start and run Flurry India
• Started investing in Indian startups, have made 6 total investments
• Quit Flurry in 2013 to start Haptik, and co-founded Flat.to

3. Today
3 distinct roles at a start up and story of each side
Founder

4. Why?
Founder
To help better understand the dynamics of a start up

5. Why me?
Founder
Fortunate to have experienced all 3 sides

6. Some Definitions for Today*
• Start Up
Any tech company in business for <3 years, with <Rs. 10 Cr funding or <Rs. 5 Cr annual
revenue
• Employee
Amongst the first 25 people to work for the company
• Investor
An individual who has given any amount of money in exchange for equity
• Founder
Originator of the idea, there since inception of the business
Only for companies started in India
*only for referencing this discussion, these terms could mean different in other situations

7. Employee
Least risk, least reward

8. Employee
But a lot of work

9. Employee
You work at least 50% more than a regular job

10. Employee
But get paid at least 20% lesser

11. Employee
What about stock ownership?
Unless it’s a Google or Facebook, does not mean much

12. Employee
So then why do it?
•Want to make a bigger impact
•Believe in the business idea
•Most important: to learn

13. Employee
So then why do it?
“My 3 years at a startup going from 20 people/$0
revenue to 150 people/$70m was an MBA+Phd+MS”

14. Employee
Do NOT do it because
•Want to make money
•Don’t like working for a “big” company
•Think you may have room for error

15. Investor
High Risk, High Reward

16. Investor
Primary Prerequisite: Have the Money

17. Investor
Secondary: Can add some Value

18. Investor
Seems like not much work
But can be stressful, especially if company is not doing well

19. Investor
Hardest part is to stay out of the way of
the Founders

20. Investor
Why do it?
•See the potential for a successful return
•Believe in the founders
•Want to make a bigger impact

21. Investor
Why NOT do it?
•Because its “cool”
•To become popular and command respect
•Want to give back to society or as a “hobby”

22. Founder
Highest Risk, Highest Reward

23. Founder
Most amount of work

24. Founder
Most fun type of work
But highest amount of uncertainty

25. Founder
You start out not at 0, but negative

26. Founder
You are always selling yourself

27. Founder
You don’t work for yourself, but for
everybody else
Customers, Employees, Investors

28. Founder
Hardest part is to stay motivated
At some point you will ask yourself, “Why am I
doing this?”

29. Founder
Things that have worked for me
•A great team to work with
•Limited focus, getting one thing at a time right
•Celebrating small wins

30. Founder
Mistakes I have made
• Think I am special and standard rules don’t apply
• Tried to build an overnight success
• Scaled too fast

31. Founder
Why do it?
• When you have an idea you can’t stop thinking about
• Have a validated business model
• Prepared to spend at least next 5-7 years working on it

32. Founder
Why NOT do it?
•To get rich
•To work for yourself
•Because you have a great idea

33. Thank You!
Three Sides of the Triangle: Employee, Investor, Founder
Aakrit Vaish
Co-Founder & CEO, Haptik
aakrit@haptik.co
www.haptik.co
Techmeet, 22nd March, 2014