Assam Startup – The Nest organised an evening Fireside Chat on “Demystifying Startup Investments – Understanding Investor’s Perspectives” on 15 October 2019. Seasoned investors from across the country sat for an interactive session with the local startups to give them significant insights into the investors’ perspective while assessing the fund-readiness of the startups. Nandini Mansinghka from Mumbai Angels Network, Varun Bhatt from Unicorn India Ventures, Srikanth Prabhu from Social Alpha, Ribhu Ranjan Baruah from Northeast Venture Fund, and Sandro Stephen from Indian Angel Network attended the session as resource persons. They were all ears to the questions put by the startups and patiently tried to address them all.

The guests admitted of being taken by surprise by the quality and passion of the startups in the state. However, the one common advise that they shared was to think big. While starting with solving the local problems, they suggested the startups to eventually start exploring large-scale market opportunities.

“A lot of you are solving problems peculiar to the state. But unless and until you think of carrying it beyond and addressing a larger market, investors won’t be very much interested. So, start exploring opportunities in a larger market,” said Sandro Stephen.

Nandini Mansinghka especially stressed on the need to find mentors with expertise in that particular industry, who can guide them with adequate suggestions and also help attract investors.

Srikant Prabhu was upbeat about the huge scope for micro-entrepreneurship in the region and made a particular mention about handloom and handicraft being a popular choice among a lot of entrepreneurs here.