Seriesly funding..

Of late, there have been a surfeit of proposals floating around in the market it seems like the interest of the promoters is only play the "greater fools" game, viz., raise Series A at x, raise series B at 5x and Series C at 10x and hopefully divest some stake along the way and fulfil your dreams.

Companies that have a handful of revenues expecting valuations by the bucketful. Of late, I tend to believe that with so much money sloshing around and the eyes of the world on India has let to a new breed of entrepreneur - the one who flips and then sells.

The trouble is it is not very easy to distinguish these from the rest - infact, with the experience we have had, it is the fellow who goes about doing his job as a labour of love, for passion, for the conviction he has, who never surfaces to the point where he can be fished out.

The flippers, on the other hand, are loud, bite more than they can chew and most statements from them are always forward looking. Case in point being everyone and anyone who has any product that is used by a customer talks boldly of opening 1000 stores and getting to Rs. 100xxxx (as many X's as you would like) by 2010.

Needless to say, they are suave, sophisticated, talk the right language and can bowl you over during the intial meeting if you cannot get down to details. And they always talk about how it is only "now" that they have started to get past all the constraints that constricted growth and how once this money comes in, they are going to see a rocket launch (forget hockey sticks, they are passe in India).

Any thoughts on how one identifies these from the rest of the tribe ? Any cues, signs to look out for ?

~Varadha