Why Koo shut shop after $50M failure

This post is a great example of BS in the purest form. Read it carefully so you can recognise it later. Not taking anything away from founders of Koo and their experiences. Failure is indeed extremely valuable. I hope and pray that they succeed this time. If they have a good idea, the odds will be in their favour. So help them god. But to say that this particular incident doesn’t confirm the value of relationships and connections in the VC ecosystem and the game of fundraising is just false equivalence and intellectual dishonesty. It’s a lie. A total falsehood. A good point to ponder would be why this gentleman would write multiple posts to deny that personal relationships indeed affect fundraising trajectories. Is it not logical that VC investing has a lot to do with betting on people you can TRUST, and personal relationships make it easier on that on that front? VC investing is essentially betting on people. Would it not be obvious for a VC to trust and assess a person he personally knows, or someone who’s coming through a great referral, than someone who comes off as a complete stranger? Yes, it is obvious. And that’s how it happens in majority of the cases. Yet the author knowingly writes such BS, to posture VC investing as a meritocracy. Probably to gain some respectability amongst the larger audience as an intellect of some kind. A “thought leader”. But refuting something crystal clear and obvious to do that? Giving young founders a blatant misdirection? That’s terrible. A good message, in business and in life, is to always focus on relationships. Nothing compounds like good relationships that grow over time. This fact obviously is glaringly obvious in VC investing, but it works in all businesses and industries quite equally. Obviously, your relationships can’t be substitutes for good work. So efforts in doing “good work” should be sacrosanct. But anyone who says that relationships don’t matter, is flat out lying and peddling intellectual dishonesty. Never forget that. As I said in the beginning, this post may be the perfect example of BS. Read it carefully so you can recognise it later.

📣Lessons from Koo's Shutdown: Navigating Acquisition and Sustainability in Startups 📣 Koo, India's microblogging platform and an alternative to X (formerly Twitter), has announced its shutdown after failed acquisition talks with Dailyhunt. This closure offers several crucial lessons for startup founders: 1. Strategic Partnerships and Acquisition Talks: Koo's prolonged acquisition discussions with major internet companies and media houses did not yield the desired outcome. Founders Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka stated, "Our partnership talks fell through, and we will be discontinuing our service to the public." It's essential for startups to: - Diversify Partnership Options: Relying on a single or few potential partners can be risky. Always have a backup plan. - Understand Partner Priorities: Ensure alignment in goals and priorities early in the discussion to avoid last-minute changes. 2. Financial Sustainability: Despite raising over $50 million from prominent investors like Tiger Global, Accel, 3one4 Capital, Kalaari Capital, and Blume Ventures, Koo struggled with financial sustainability. Key points include: - Revenue Model Viability: Koo's reliance on burning cash to acquire users without establishing a viable revenue model proved unsustainable. - Cost Management: High costs of maintaining a social media platform were a significant challenge. Efficient cost management is crucial. 3. User Base and Customer Acquisition: Koo halted customer acquisition campaigns from June 2022, leading to a sharp decline in active users from 7.2 million in June 2023 to 2.7 million in nine months. This highlights: - Consistent User Growth: Continuous efforts in user acquisition and retention are vital. - Market Adaptation: Stay adaptable and responsive to market changes to maintain user engagement. 4. Employee Management and Financial Constraints: In April 2024, Koo ceased salary payments to all employees due to financial constraints. For startup founders: - Transparency and Communication: Be transparent with your team about financial health and future plans. - Financial Buffer: Maintain a financial buffer to manage unforeseen challenges. ---->Conclusion: Koo's journey underscores the importance of strategic partnerships, financial sustainability, consistent user growth, and transparent employee management. Learn from their experience to navigate your startup journey more effectively. #startupLessons #businessstrategy #financialsustainability #usergrowth #partnerships #entrepreneurship #kooapp #startupmentor ---

'Bros' running startups seem to win startups 😎 A lot of YC Twitter is filled with: “Before we pivoted,” “After we pivoted,” or “We were in an office hour session figuring out what to do next.” The reality is, so many startups pivot, markets change and new technologies emerge. The only reason a company survives all this is because the co-founders want to win - one way or the other 💪 For this, you need a bro who’s got your back no matter what the market, emerging tech, new opportunity, cash in bank etc is—a bro who’s here to make sure the company wins (no matter what it ends up building) - with you 🤝 How do you know if you’ve got your bro? After a full day of work, do you still feel like hanging out for some post work bafoonary? 🍻 If the answer is yes, you’ve found your bro. Founder Mode needs bro who's got your back.

The game of #VC #Funding has changed from #HighRisk-#HighProfit Financing to #Probabilistic above #Benchmark Returns. This trend atleast to me seems to be hurting the sentiments of the community but as all things change, we need to accept this one as well. Sharing something for the old-time sake when #metrics and #analytics were not very important but #instinct, #businesssense & #intuition played major role in VC Funding. 10 #Unicorns That #Defied All VC #Metrics—and Won! In the high-stakes world of #venturecapital, metrics like #burn rate, #MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue), #ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue), and #runway often dictate #funding decisions. But every so often, a #startup comes along that breaks all the rules—and still goes on to become a billion-dollar unicorn. Here are 10 startups that were funded despite defying conventional VC logic: 1. #Uber: Launched without a clear revenue model and burned cash heavily to scale, yet it revolutionized transportation. 2. #Airbnb: Dismissed by many due to its “unscalable” concept and lack of initial revenue, it redefined the travel industry. 3. #Pinterest: No revenue for years and questionable monetization strategies initially, yet it became a global sensation. 4. #Twitter: Early-stage doubts over its monetization plan didn’t stop it from securing funding and becoming a social media giant. 5. #Snapchat: No revenue, no clear runway, and a high burn rate—but its innovative approach to communication captured VC attention. 6. #Instagram: Funded on the strength of its user growth and idea, long before it made a single dollar in revenue. 7. #Dropbox: Backed for its vision despite concerns over its high customer acquisition costs and missing profitability. 8. #Robinhood: Funded with no revenue model and a controversial idea to eliminate trading fees, now a fintech leader. 9. #WhatsApp: Prioritized growth over revenue for years, yet its simplicity and reach attracted VC funding. 10. #Tesla: Skeptics pointed to its massive burn rate and delayed timelines, but its vision for the future of mobility won over investors. What’s the lesson here? VCs don’t just fund metrics; they fund potential! These startups showcased bold #ideas, massive #marketopportunities, and #visionary #teams, proving that the right story and belief can outweigh spreadsheet numbers. For founders, the takeaway is simple: If your startup lacks perfect metrics, don’t lose hope. Build your narrative, highlight your vision, and demonstrate your market impact. Which of these stories inspires you the most? Share your thoughts below! #Unicorns #Startups #VentureCapital #Innovation #Entrepreneurship #excessedgeexperts #excessedgeexpertsconsulting

“What’s the best way to help founders you’ve invested in?” Last fall, I posed this question to one of the top early stage investors. His answer surprised me. “Share their posts on social media,” he said. “That’s it?” I thought. “Anyone can do that!” Yes, anyone can. But hardly anyone does. Take one of my most successful startups. Twitter is their main customer acquisition channel. I try to retweet everything they put out there. And despite the long list of names on their cap table, I’m usually the only investor doing this! Whenever I see that no one else has bothered to help, I shake my head and mutter. But I also crack a little grin. “I just beat the competition,” I think to myself. The more people like, comment, and share a post, the greater its reach. If even 5 investors all take the time to share a company update, that update could go viral. A single viral post can bring in dozens or hundreds of leads for a company. So believe it or not, those little likes and shares can translate into serious cash. Most investors won’t help, even in these very low effort ways. If you will, you have a big advantage in winning the best deals. How do you help startups you invest in? #startups #venturecapital More below, including my little hack to push startups up the Google results... https://lnkd.in/ge6-VX92

CRED CEO Kunal Shah, in a recent post on X (formerly Twitter), stated that startups operate in turbulent environments and require individuals who excel in "wartime" conditions. According to Shah, those who thrive in peacetime may actually hinder a startup’s progress, as they might not be equipped to handle the intense, fast-paced challenges typical of high-growth ventures. "Startups are turbulent and need war time people. Peace time people are a liability to them," Shah wrote. As usual, Shah's post garnered over 155,000 views, with many users taking to the comments section to share their opinions. "Ironically, people who are mentally at peace are great war time people in execution at work," a user wrote. "You're absolutely right - startups thrive on resilience and adaptability. It takes a special kind of warrior to navigate those choppy waters," another wrote. "So true! War time people have the grit and resilience to make things happen. Although it might be quick dirty execution and less structured due to velocity," a third added. While many users agreed to Shah's post, some expressed differing views. "In this day and age, everyone needs peace and work-life balance," another noted. #startup #entrepreneur #hardwork #success #employees #Indianstartupnews

Why not? The entrepreneurial journey demands a broad skill set. Knowledge of diverse subjects—Math, Science, Accountancy, Economics, Business Studies, Law, and Psychology—is essential, with each adding depth depending on the business focus. This process is riddled with delays, hurdles, and those inevitable moments when giving up feels like the only option. No business idea is golden from the start; it’s reshaped and refined across every front—financing, feasibility, marketing, design & development—before it’s ready to launch. But here’s the truth: this challenge is exhilarating! Nothing matches the thrill of building something from the ground up. It teaches you to stand tall against rejection, to find confidence in the face of doubt. Fear is part of the package—fear of stolen ideas, of competition, of someone launching before you do. Yet, it’s precisely this fear that fuels the excitement. The uncertainty isn’t a barrier—it’s a driving force. It pushes you to innovate, adapt, and evolve. This is what makes the journey worth it. It’s not just about the end goal, but about the transformation along the way.

Startups are a medium of value exchange, and venture studios are the creators of this value exchange!! When a venture studio is at work, it's not just generating ideas, but is also engineering a robust ecosystem that ensures those ideas translate into scalable, impactful businesses. The process is deliberate, with each step designed to maximize value creation. Take Twitter, for example. In 2006, the idea of "twttr" emerged within the venture studio Obvious Corp. The concept was simple: a platform where people could share short updates, inspired by SMS messaging. But the journey from idea to global platform wasn’t straightforward. The venture studio iterated relentlessly, refining the product and validating it through user feedback. They didn’t just build a platform, but crafted an entire ecosystem, focusing on scalability, user engagement, and a unique narrative that positioned Twitter as a revolutionary way to communicate. Venture studios, a concept slowly but impactfully gaining traction in India, may be working behind the scenes today, but their influence is undeniable. Here’s how a venture studio works behind the scenes: ➡️ Ideation: Identifying and nurturing disruptive ideas. ➡️ Validation: Testing concepts for market fit and scalability. ➡️ Development: Building and iterating products with a focus on user experience. ➡️ Launch: Deploying strategies to take the product to market. ➡️ Scaling: Ensuring the business grows sustainably and remains impactful. As Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, famously said, “An entrepreneur is someone who jumps off a cliff and builds a plane on the way down”, Venture studios are the engineers of that plane, providing the tools, support, and environment needed to build and fly. So, if you want to stay ahead of the curve, now is the time to learn more about them. #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startups #growth

The age-old debate: growth vs. profitability in startups. 🚀 Some push for rapid growth, others emphasize profitability. The truth? Success lies in a balance. Start lean, grow strategically, then profit. It's about timing and approach, not one or the other. #StartupStrategy

I get why the startup model of building a product on one of the big LLMs is appealing. The founders of the 2010s and their predecessors would have wept if they’d seen the power of what these models can do. But building a whole startup on a tech giant’s multi-billion-dollar LLM is a risky business. Here are two reasons why it would pay for entrepreneurs to think twice about going down this path. First, building on someone else’s foundation makes your business vulnerable to their whims. Any shift in their pricing, business model or policies could have ripple effects across your entire venture. History is littered with companies who learned this lesson the hard way. Remember all those Twitter clients from the 2010s? Second, everyone else knows about the power of LLMs, and you can bet they’re coming up with business ideas based on them. So, if you follow that pack, what’s your unique edge? What can you offer that can’t be replicated by someone else who’s using the same technology? I’m not saying that building on LLMs is never a smart move, but it demands foresight. Are you a true extension of the platform, adding something no one else can? Or are you at risk of becoming a mere feature that others can copy and the platform itself can roll out if it wants to? These are the questions that separate a short-term win from a sustainable, impactful business. #technology #startups #deeptech