Welcome to my PhD land.
I am an industry based professional with extensive experience with startup ecosystems, who decided to pursue a PhD as a way to try and answer a question that has been keeping me up at night.
You see; Startups need capital to bring their vision to life, to navigate the valley of death, to experiment, to test and to grow.
There are many sources for capital or investments; FFF ( often referred to as friends, family and fools), government grants, customers, and of course investors to name a few.
Each source of capital comes with its own expectations and requirements, that in some way or another shape the way the startup develops.
Investors invest for a return- the definition and spectrum of how the investors define a return, can be as diverse as the colors of the rainbow. It ranges from pure financial return all the way to pure social/environmental returns.
There is also a wide range of ways in which the investment is structured. Some prefer equity, others debt and some are experimenting with emerging forms of investment, such as crypto, Decentralised finance and NFT’s.
So the question that has been keeping me up at night is;
If capital is essential to the growth of an entrepreneurial ecosystem- the stories, cultural norms, and narrative within different environments shape the focus, expectations and outcomes of innovation and business.
How can that capital be best used to contribute in solving the massive challenges we are currently facing in the world. How does the external environment, ( the narrative ) influence this in India and in Australia.
I am looking at who invests, how they invest ( the way they structure the capital) and if and what their link to impact is.
My research is based out of the Business School at the University of Queensland in Australia, under the supervision of Martie-Louise Verreynne and Dr. Julian Waters- Lynch
Currently, I am based in Bangalore, India.
I am looking to connect, learn and interview in Bangalore and Mumbai
- early stage investors (VC, Angel, seed private)
- entrepreneurs who are raising capital, or have raised capital, and
- people in government, and corporate who are involved with the innovation ecosystem.
Please reach out and connect on Linkedin or email if you are interested in being involved in the research, know of somthing I should speak with, or if you are keen to share your experience and perspective.
THANK YOU
