Venture Capital Insights

Overview

Silicon Valley mythology would have you believe entrepreneurs live in a world where every day is an exciting and intellectually stimulating experience. 

However, well before enjoying any of those positive outcomes, entrepreneurs go through several rites of passage,  

The first entrepreneur rite of passage is finding that seed funding round, engaging with the angel and venture capital community where you have no track record and where traction is a matter of survival.

No one really wants to talk about this experience. Many entrepreneurs have lived through that sense of dejection, depression, and the embarrassment accompanying the failure to raise that seed round.

But we found an early seed venture capital fund that was willing to be completely transparent about the qualification, key factors to engage, and the process to close a seed round. 

My guest is Amit Garg, Co-founder of Tau Ventures, who has a defined focus on seed funding for startup companies that provide AI solutions for the healthcare and enterprise sectors.

Amit has been in the venture capital industry for over twenty including experience at two venture capital firms. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience, investing in seed rounds. His insights are invaluable for entrepreneurs looking to navigate this challenging stage.

The topics addressed in this interview are:

• 00:00 Intro to Amit Garg and Tau Ventures
• 02:31 Focus on Seed Stage Funding at Tau Ventures
• 03:33 Amit’s entrepreneurial experience
• 05:37 How a venture capital fund operates
• 08:05 Characteristics we look for in entrepreneurs
• 10:55 Seed funding case study
• 15:31 How the funding decision is made.
• 16:30 The timing formula for raising funding
• 17:50 Early seed vs. late seed vs. Series A
• 18:46 Framework for a seed funding round
• 24:44 Navigating setbacks, the startup resource toolkit
• 27:35 Addressing the winds of an economic slowdown
• 31:05 The metrics of starting a venture capital fund
• 33:53 Startup valuation logic
• 37:48 Amit’s background, international investor partner base
• 40:11 Follow-up contact information