Two seasoned entrepreneurs unite to connect the world’s VCs and startups: Page 2 of 2

 
Changing investment landscape

 
Having founded two other companies before – one a full-service investment firm called Titan Securities, and the other a broker-dealer startup called Vantage Investments – Jenny believes that the investment landscape is changing.
 
“The longer we are in the industry, the more we see a problem that has not been solved yet: Hundreds of thousands of projects submitted to VCs, yet less than 1% of these projects have been funded in the past two years.
 
“This is a major problem for startups, and VCs,” she adds.
 
Jenny believes that the root of the problem lies in the ‘bottom-up’ approach, where many startups pitch to VCs, who then need to do deep analyses and due diligence on all these companies.
 
This results in an inefficient use of time, since some startups may not be exactly what the investors are looking for. This ultimately leads to low-funding ratios, according to her.
 
“Times are changing, and the old-fashioned way of funding only those startups that are owned by individuals within the VC’s own circle is a model that’s outdated – it is hindering innovation and true leadership in our industry,” argues Jenny.
 
“A viable match takes the right combination of founder and funder, which makes wider exposure to reputable VCs who are outside a founder’s circle an asset to both parties.”
 
VCNetwork.co reverses the approach to ‘top-down,’ which allows startups to be closely considered by a more focused group of high net worth investors, according to Jenny.
 
“It saves VCs time by tailoring their selection of startups for review to each investor’s own expressed interests,” she says.
 
Next: global mentoring
 
Jenny and Shinta also recognise that funding is not the only thing holding back startups – mentoring can be an important avenue for shaping founders into great business leaders.
 
“We see the entrepreneurial spirit as a combination of traits, including fearlessness, ingenuity, failure-tolerance, and confidence,” says Shinta.
 
So for her, supporting entrepreneurs also means helping startup CEOs (chief executive officers) and founders become confident leaders who can build and sustain excellent companies.
 
This is the reason why VCNetwork.co is also planning to have mentoring session between VCs and startups on its platform later.
 
“The next thing we want to do is to have a dashboard and a calendar that can be booked by entrepreneurs, depending on the availability of the mentors,” says Jenny.
 
“The plan is to ask mentors from VC firms to make their calendar available to entrepreneurs on certain days and certain hours of the week,” she adds, saying details would be firmed up later.
 
Related Stories:
 
The secret sauce behind Gobi's high hit rate
 
Entrepreneurship: The value of cross-sector mentorship
 
The ‘entrepreneurisms’ necessary for success
 
Hey VC, looking to make a quick buck in South-East Asia?
 
Malaysia and Indonesia in startup ecosystem partnership
 
 
For more technology news and the latest updates, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Like us on Facebook.