Team-building, defined roles crucial to startup success: Panellists at TechCircle event

A focus on building strong teams and defining each member's role clearly is critical to the success of startups, said panellists at a TechCircle event.
 
The panel discussion was held at TechCircle Live at ITC Gardenia Bengaluru. The subject of the discussion was 'Let's Talk About Exits'.

Alok Goel, MD at SAIF Partners; Arpit Maheshwari, Vice-President at Stellaris Venture Partners; and Harish Narasappa, Partner at Samvad Partners formed part of the panel. Jaideep Mehta, CEO, Mosaic Media Ventures Pvt Ltd, moderated the discussion.

Goel said: "Founders are solving deep-seated problems. I'm quite excited about the ecosystem for the next four to five years."

Narasappa said that, "Exits are far more frequent than they were five to six years ago." He added that investors want complete freedom when executing the exit from their investment.

Maheshwari expressed agreement with Goel's view of the Indian startup ecosystem being a bullish one. "We now have specialised investment for each stage. Payments and logistics entail lesser worry in India and marketing is becoming easier as more people come online," said Maheshwari.

Speaking on what differentiates startups that scale from those that do not, Goel said, "Founders that improve on themselves is what sets them apart." However, he went on to add that a founder can only be as productive as his/her team as they scale up.

Narasappa emphasised on the importance of founders acquiring a better understanding of the laws of the land. Later, enumerating the precautionary measures startups must take, he added that agreements should be put in writing and partnerships should be sustained so that they do not dissolve even before they are exposed to extraneous challenges. 

Bringing the half-hour discussion to a close, Mehta concluded proceedings by saying, "Investors cannot win if startups do not win. Investors can get a great exit only when enterprises have been great."