Talking To Angels

What angel investors look at before deciding to fund a start-up.

- Devika Singh

AURABH SRIVASTAVA, an IT industry veteran and co-founder of Indian Angel Network (IAN), once took out a start-up founder to dinner. “After we sat down, I asked him what he would like to drink. He answered single malt, so I looked down the menu and found a 12-year-old Glenfiddich, which was the most reasonable, ordered it and passed the menu to the founder,” Srivastava recounts.

The start-up founder looked at the menu and told Srivastava, “You know, Saurabh, I never drink single malt which is less than 18 years old.” Srivastava was left flabbergasted. “I was quite surprised. Is this guy for real? He just saw me order!” Suffice to say, the founder’s pitch did not work.

Raman Roy, another IAN co-founder and also known as the father of the Indian BPO industry, has a standard question whenever he meets anyone to listen to his or her pitches. “How did you arrive for the meeting?” The question may seem insignificant but the answer is instrumental to Roy’s and Srivastava’s funding decision.

“Here, in this room (in Delhi), we met this founder once who had come from a place in Uttar Pradesh. We asked him how he came, and he told us by bus,” shares Roy. “Were you travelling the entire night by bus? Did you not sleep?” Roy recalls asking the founder. “No, sir, I slept a bit,” came the reply, in Hindi. Unlike the founder with a fondness for single malts, this one not only left with a cheque but was given an amount higher than what he had asked for.

So, what do angel investors look for when listening to a pitch? Is it simply frugality? After talking to some angel investors, we realised it is more complex than that. The decision could depend on something as innocuous as exchanging pleasantries or even ordering from the menu.