VCCircle

as i understand, i do not think the objections are about the professional competence of the angel investor in question. sure enough, one would have done something to get this far and achieve so much.
the issue is essentially about the role of the investor and the modus operandi employed. nobody likes to be constantly denigraded and ridiculed about perceived inability or lack of talent. likewise, i take objection to the mixing of professional and personal ojectives. Making statements about professional incompetence of people because of personal issues, and causing damage to anybody is not a very healthy trait.
every role comes with a larger responsibility to society and to human kind, and the investor fraternity is as much part of the larger setup as any other institution. capital can create improvements to society, to culture and to civilisation; but if any mechanism of capital creation destroys the most basic fabric of human relationships, then the entire process is a futile exercise. While all of us are here to create wealth and enjoy the fruits of wealth, somewhere we all owe it ourselves and to others to give back in greater measure than what we get.
with the countless interactions that i have had with the VC community, a few guidelines that all of us could well abide by in all our dealings both ways:
1) give every idea its due. not all successful ideas are the most brilliant ones, vice versa, not all brilliant ideas are "materially successful"
2) respect people for what they try to do rather than what they actually end up doing. after all, taking the plunge is in itself a huge endeavour for most
3) sounds like a cliche but "give the underdog a chance".
4) let money get the place it deserves, nothing more nothing less. money is important, but not more important than individuals and what they can do
and lastly,
5) Believe.

rock on dude...keep the suckfest going. btw, how much money are you angling for from seedfund? ROFL

Wow! I happened to chance upon this & I'm blown away with all the display of emotion. Without adding too much to it, I thought it prudent to add my bit as well.
I'm the Founder, CEO of the erstwhile "EasyBuyMusic", now known as "EBS Worldwide".
Some facts:
1) At a time when people were still figuring out what the word "Angel Investor" meant, Mahesh was around, so lets give him credit for that.
2) The performance of a fund honestly is the business of the principals of the fund & therefore, as entrepreuners one should be happy that funds like SeedFund exist - would you rather go to a bank for a loan?
3) Entrepeuners have to go forth & seize every contact, connection or network that he/she can get, be it through an investor or anyone else. Mahesh brings a wealth of knowledge & relationships, either you leverage them or you wait for something to be thrown in your lap. Personally, I prefer the former.
4) Lastly, some info about what happened to us:
a) Within two years of me founding EasyBuyMusic, we were one of the most significant music/entertainment distributor/retailer in the country, also powering e-commerce for some 33 dot-coms in the country.
b) While we called it "alliances" at the time, essentially what we did was "outsourcing", the problem was that most of these guys started going out of business & we realized that the 'juice was not worth the squeeze'.
c) In 2002, we morphed/transformed/evolved into our current avatar - www.ebsworldwide.com, a "Marketing Services KPO".
d) We're are currently a 220+ team, based out of two offices in India & two in the US.
e) As Mahesh mentioned, we also recently acquired a US based similar services firm, arguably becoming the largest such BPO/KPO out of India India, in this partciular space (Marketing Services).
f) Our revenues are currently at Rs.50 Crore, 2006 (not Rs.20 Crore anymore) & growing rapidly.
g) Finally, someone asked why we haven't kept up the EBS url, well all I like to say is that we use thatmoney to keep our current website up (www.ebsworldwide.com)
Cheers
Chris

Hello Everyone,
In my first note on this portal, I would like to write about what
I see as opportunities and threats for the period 2007 - 2010.
For starters, Infrastructure is going to be the big Indian story
over the next few years. We are at a very critical point in our
history as India has now become a self driven market. I am
saying self driven because globally I am seeing a major
recession driven by weakness in the US housing market. This
$ 16 Trillion market is the trigger of a megatrend that is going
to hit demand for commodities ... mainly oil. I am therefore
bearish WTI and see it going to $ 52 / Bbl and maybe even
$ 45 / Bbl.
The only factor supporting the oil market today is Iran and the
worry relating to effects of US intervention in the region. We
might see the creation of a greater Persia as the Iraq story gets
worse. The megatrend clearly in the direction of large scale
weakening of the US position in the region. The effects will be
felt mainly in Pakistan and Afganistan ... where the governments
may fall in tandem with a US retreat from Iraq.
Given India's strategic position as the only friend of any substantial
economic and Military potential that the US has left from Israel in the
west to Australia in the east, we are going to see massive Military
and Economic cooperation between the US and India as the US
seeks to stabilize South Asia and the Middle East.
My personal view, arising from the above hypothesis is that the India
story is going to get even more bullish with huge fund inflows. We might
have to use barter trade to stearilize these flows most of which will be
targeted towards investments in Infrastructure. By Infrastructure, I mean
Ports, Roads, Airports, City beautification schemes, SEZ's , Hospitals etc.
Total domestic Investments in Infrastructure will have to reach close to
45 % of GDP from the 30 % currently if we are to maintain a growth
rate of 8 % in GDP terms. ( readers are requested to refer to page 81
of the Economist of the 25th of Nov for more details).
It will be a good idea if Private Equity / Institutional Investors look towards
India to provide the long term stable returns to their principals who have
lost close to $ 9.5 Billion in just rolling their positions in indexes such as the
GSCI. This $ 9.5 Bn loss is independent of the losses suffered by the massive
drop in flat price of crude oil . Macro investors had $ 200 Billion invested in
the commodity forward curve when the fall in flat price began from a $ 76 / Bbl
high.
Investing in Indian Infrastructure is quite clearly the next big growth area and
I see the Basic structure of the private equity business and the VC business
changing to participate in the Indian Growth Story.
Sincerely,
Ashish
Creative Director
www.busybric.com

http://www.adoimagazine.com/home/index.cfm?ar=632&sc=236
Publish this Sahad

Mahesh,
You have proven your point.
The fact remains that you have been one of the early starters in the Indian (not backed by very big names) VC space. And with seedfund/praveen you are only attempting to do better.
Just like any other early starter, you will have your fans and detractors. You have done a fair jog in this thread of attempting to set the record straight. Guess it is time to move on from the argument to better things.
Happy Funding :)
mahadevan
www.xerago.com

Best of luck to all the companies that go to Seed for funding..

No I don't think here Shahad meant that anyways. He never said speak nice about Mr. Murthy and then only I will publish.
If I scroll back I can see lot of things right up there which are questionable, demeaning at times (language) and got a cut throat approach.
What I guess you people have missed out that Sahad only meant the discussion to remain at a healthy level and not take a different route where it is completely personal. I am sure both of you have missed the way people had attacked Mr. Murthy's personal life (Sahad has deleted them but I have seen before he did that) and that is not acceptable. I am sure both of you/or one would also not like your personal lives (whatever it may be) to be talked in a public forum like this.
Dear friends world is full of people who would surpise you with various things everyday, however if they have not directly impacted your lives and all you have is some sketchy ideas then it is advisable to keep that discussion to remain in graced manner.
I don't understand why we need to disgrace some one and attack his/her personal life!!! And Sahad is right to comment that this is a serious forum so we should speak about things that make sense. Lot of posts I have seen, which were far from what the discussion started with!!! Some where we should not forget we must respect the people who have given us the opportunity to speak out.
I think Sahad has been subjected to harsh words with no faults of his. Come on buck him up, he is doing something which is really good. He needs encouragement not volley of words, which may let his moral down.
Let's move on from this post there are other interesting topics here. This is my last post on this subject.
Rana

Hi Sahad,
I completely agree with you. Everything would have been ok if people had said nice things about respected Mr. Murthy. This thread would have probably run into a thousand pages without any problem.
Unfortunately, the readers of your blog have not evolved to a level where they keep their views to themselves. They still like to express their views. You have done absolutely the right thing by deleting their messages. They should only say nice things and keep quiet if the truth is even slightly nasty.
Kudos to you for reminding everyone that you are the boss. Our politicians remind us that they are the boss everyday. But we still do not learn. Hopefully, we will all soon fall in line. A forward looking journalist like you will show us the way.
Congratulations again.

Sahad:
Truth must come out. However it is your blog so you can decide what you want. But this moderating will not help you to make this blog a success story.
Well Wisher