About Me

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Mumbai, India
I run an IT Security consulting firm based out of India. We started off from scratch in 2001 when I was 21, and have offices in Mumbai, Bahrain, and UAE. The idea behind the blog is to share the stories of how we run the business, the deals we make, the deals that break, the heartburn, and the sheer joy.

The Ultimate Startup Guide

The Ultimate Startup Guide is an e-book that provides answers to all your questions related to starting and growing a business in India. Everything you wanted to know about entrepreneurship in India from ideation to registration to marketing to hiring. The book contains a large number of practical examples, anecdotes, interviews, and motivational material to help you get started, and to grow rapidly in a booming Indian economy. If you've got the idea, this book will help you through with the execution and realize your dreams. Here are some of the key questions you will find answered in this book:
  • When starting a business, what are the legal issues involved?
  • What form of incorporation is better suited to which type of business?
  • What tax issues are involved?
  • How do I start a business and what are the pitfalls?
  • How do I market my business in the absence of significant funding?
  • How do I get funded?
  • What are the basic accounting concepts I should be aware of?
  • What is a business plan and how should I build one?
The brief table of contents of the book is as follows:
  1. Getting started
  2. Ideation
  3. Forms of Enterprises
  4. Funding
  5. Basic Accounting and Taxation
  6. Import and Export Licensing
  7. Trademark and Patenting
  8. Rules for NRIs and Foreigners
  9. Building a Business Plan
  10. Marketing on a Shoestring
  11. Website and Branding
  12. Women Entrepreneurs
  13. Templates
To order the Ultimate Startup Guide - email me at kkmookhey@gmail.com.

Details of the book are:
Title: The Ultimate Startup Guide
Author: Kanwal Mookhey
Pages: 150
Additional: Companion CD contains numerous templates for building your business plan, calculating cashflow, preparing profit and loss, and balance sheets, preparing invoices, your resume and profile, marketing material, websites, contracts, and many other useful and motivational material.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Pitching to venture capitalists at TIE-ISB

The latest update is that our business plan for "Venture Pitch" at TIE-ISB Connect has been selected (from among 225 submissions). The plan isn't built around any unique remarkable idea. We're simply asking for venture capital to expand geographically into the US and Europe, and also to focus on a couple of niche areas within the overall information security services domain. If any of you are going to be there, drop me a line, and we'll catch up over some Paradise Biriyani! Oh, and if we do manage to swing a deal, watch out for more posts on venture capital, and such like.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

WoW ! congrats :)
There are tonnes of new eateries in town man .. They got Better biryani then paradise any day :)

Kanwal K Mookhey said...

Rajat, thanks! But maybe I jumped the gun on this one. They now informed us that there is going to be another round of selections around the 5th of Sept. But either ways I'll still be there. And are you saying that there are better biryani joints than Paradise?!?! Then this isn't the Hyderabad I've known, yes? :-|

Anonymous said...

Good Luck on ur 2ns round !!!! I have been selected too in the 1st round...already submitted by 2nd D-Bplan....hoping to hear from them soon since me and my bro have to travel all the way from US

Anonymous said...

Made some correction....I am too tired...just got back from New York...driving all night and then show up at work...

Good Luck on ur 2nd round man!!!! I have been selected too in the 1st round...already submitted my D-Bplan for 2nd round....hoping to hear from them soon since me and my bro have to travel all the way from US...and also spend all the money on travel..hope it is useful!!! man...by the way what is the name of ur company?

Kanwal K Mookhey said...

anonymous: That's cool, man! Good luck to you too. I think it would be really worth it if the plan did get selected for the final round. Cause otherwise I don't think I'll travel all the way either. One of my partners is also coming in from the US, but only if we are indeed presenting. They said they'd got 225 submissions, but not sure how many of those went through onto the 2nd round. Email me for details, because this is an anonymous blog :)

Anonymous said...

Do you know when they are supposed to announce or send out the email? I will get in touch with ya for some details...so that we can keep in touch...and also what is the biggest advantage of coming to India for funding...do u think it is because nearly 40+ VC'c are coming down?

Kanwal K Mookhey said...

Anon: They'll announce on the 10th I think. I didn't know 40+ VC's are coming down. That's pretty cool. The VC scene in India is indeed getting pretty good, but we don't yet have great product ideas. So, hopefully once acaedemia takes the lead, new ideas should start producing money.

Anonymous said...

Have you got any response from TiE-ISB Connect? Does your partner in business already have a ticket to fly down or is he yet to book? It is getting too close..

Anonymous said...

I just want to let you know that close 90 have made thru to the second round

Kanwal K Mookhey said...

Hmm...well, we didn't actually make it. Just got an email saying our plan's not going through. So probably not making the Hyderabad trip.

Anonymous said...

We didn't make it either. That is not going to stop me from anything..I just want to know what do they mean by "We regret to inform you that the business plan submitted by you has NOT been selected for participation in the presentation round. However, we will be handing over a copy of the one page summary that you had sent to all VCs attending the event.We are sure you will use this opportunity offered by TiE-ISB Connect to network with other entrepreneurs and investors available at the venue."

Does it mean we are not selected to present in front of the entrire crowd? or is it that VC is never going to look at it unless he decides to after reading the one page summary.

Anonymous said...

I have one more question...if your one page summary is going to be handed over to VC'c then don't you think it is still worth going for the event?

Kanwal K Mookhey said...

anonymous: Thing is my partner might be in India anyways. So I will try and convince him to attend it. I won't be flying in for this though. I think attending the event would have its benefits in terms of networking and at least listening to the other pitches.

Anonymous said...

I was checking tie-isb website for news articles and came across one which said 20 B-Plan was seleted and 40 are in Idea Stage. Do you fall into the second category because our plan is essentially in the idea stage unlike you. I am going to call them up to find out. I have one person from our team who is currently based in Chennai go for it because according to ISB you can still take the opportunity to talk any VC. It is hard to meet 45 VC's under one roof....Moreover you think the VC's are going to be interested only in 20...it doesn't make any sense at all...together they are bringing 5 billion dollars..Let me ur thoughts man!!

Anonymous said...

On a side note: I attended TiE Boston last week...we had the Forbes # 1 VC "Pramod Haque"....this is the first time I had a chance to listen to a VC...I found it very useful...will discuss abt this later

Kanwal K Mookhey said...

Anon: We would not fall into the Idea Stage, since we've been in the business for about 5 years now. I think it does make a lot of sense if your Chennai team member can attend. They've agreed to let my partner attend in my place for the same registration, so that's cool. I think the entire experience would be a great learning experience. If I were in Mumbai, it is highly likely I would've gone as well. Do let me know your thoughts on what Pramod Haque had to say.

Kanwal K Mookhey said...

Varun: We didn't make it past the 2nd round actually. So unfortunately, I am not going, but one of my partners will be there. I will forward your contact information to him. I would have loved to be there, and lose the anonymity cloak for a brief period, but looks like that will have to wait :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Guys - Did anyone actually get funded ????? or was it one of those gettogether....I just don't understand man...all I can say is that we spend our hard earned money to events (tie-isb) for old timers together is not acceptable at all.....some people even travelled from otherside of the globe....

Kanwal K Mookhey said...

Anonymous: I am not sure if a anyone got funded. Having said that, I don't think getting funded would be as simple as presenting a plan at the conference. There would be many more rounds of due diligence, and other stuff, before a VC actually puts money into any of these ventures. But it would be very worthwhile if they did keep a track of the participants and then did follow up stories of those who did indeed get funded. That would tremendously increase the credibility of events such as these.

Anonymous said...

You nailed on the wall !!! Well, I hope someone gets funded. I am currently pursuing other avenues to launch my Company. Will correspond with you via email.

Kanwal K Mookhey said...

Well do let me know what avenues you are pursuing. I have currently put the plan on the backburner. Apparently, my partner who did attend the event, says that VC's aren't too interested in IT services companies, cause if the market has potential, the big players will stride in and squeeze us out. Anyways, we gotta do what we gotta do. :)

Thesalebazar said...

Hi Intrepid, I wanted to start my own business for the last 5 years. But couldn't, I wanted to start as a authorised distributor for diagnostic products. I had shared the details with one of my friend, but now he used the same details and got the authorisation from the foreign company. At present I would like to talk to someone who can let me know how to start a business of import of products (diagnostic) and sell , can you please let me know if I can mail you the details.

navaneedh said...

Thanks for sharing, I will bookmark and be back again





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