True Partners

Over the last few months, we met with a lot of potential investors - friends and family, mentors and ex-bosses, institutional angels and, yes, VCs of all hue. A strong team, a robust idea, and an actual business model meant we got a good hearing - and a good shake too. Then came the time to make a decision - who should we partner with to turn our vision into reality?

Today, I'm happy to announce we've closed our first round of funding with True Ventures. We're honored to join their portfolio companies like Automattic (think Wordpress), gdgt, GigaOM, Brightroll and Bloomspot (full list here).

So, how did we make this momentous decision? Here's what we looked for, and found with True. We thought we'd post the list in case it helps other entrepreneurs, too!

• Respect: Are the VCs 'pitching' themselves, as much as listening to your own 'pitch'? If not, there's a power relationship here that doesn't augur well.


• Speed: How quickly do the VCs move? True got back to us in less than 1 working day - now that's quick (and probably an outlier) - but you get the idea.


• Trust: Does the VC inspire trust? Do you feel they will back you as a founder through thick and thin?


• Openness: Dealmaking is tricky, and things will be touch-and-go at times - do your potential partners listen well? Are they upfront?


• Pragmatism: Early-stage startups are hard work indeed. Will your VCs be pragmatic about when to intervene, when to help, and when to merely observe?


• Experience: Different firms have different strengths - we appreciate True's deep bench of Entrepreneur-turned-partners - but you might have a different perspective.


• Reputation: Early stage VC firms don't have a long historical record, but there are clear trends and experiences you can extrapolate from.


• Personal Rapport: Yes, it's intangible, but it's critical nevertheless! And, it's the key to any successful long-term relationship. As they say, choose your partner wisely! ;-)

This is, of course, just the start of the Vurve journey. We're glad to have great partners, and a solid team to execute on our vision - stay tuned for more! (no, Joseph, it's not time for us to share yet!)

- Amit

Comments

[Om Malik]

Dear Amit

Congratulations, Mubarak, Mazeltov and all the good things on this amazing journey you are about to undertake. I wish you all the success and good cheer as you take the next step towards your destiny.

As a fellow first time entrepreneur I can tell you, it is a thrill like no other.

[Ashish Silodia]

Congrats AmK !!!

[Pras Sarkar]

Congrats Amit! You're blitzing forward, all the way from Yahoo! to who knows where! Good luck and congrats again!

[» True Partners]

[...] Over the last few months, we met with a lot of potential investors – friends and family, mentors and ex-bosses, institutional angels and, yes, VCs of all hue. A strong team, a robust idea, and an actual business model meant we got a good hearing – and a good shake too. Then came the time to make a decision – who should we partner with to turn our vision into reality? [...]

[Rohit Koshy]

AmK,

Congrats on starting off. All the best for the venture. Will look forward to hear all about it once you're ready.

BTW - second FAQ - What does palaran mean / stand for?

Koshy

[Shrinivas Kudekar]

Dear Amit,

Congrats! Great to see your start-up, up and running. Wish you all the success. I have just joined Los Alamos for the post-doc. Hope to meet you sometime in near future.

shrini

[Niklesh]

Just bookmarked this blog. Hoping to see some creative stuff from you. Congratulations!

[Quora]

Who are the best investors in Silicon Valley?...

True Ventures should be on any shortlist of great investors in Silicon Valley. When Vurve was raising a round last year, we had ample interest and commitments from angels, who were willing to fund us well, with convertible notes and a decent cap. Then ...