How To Raise and Manage Venture Capital for Student Founders ($4M+ Invested) - w/ Prateek
In this episode my guest is Prateek Behera. Prateek is a co-founder at gradCapital, which provides funding for college students in india whose projects can change the world. If you’re a student and have an idea you’re building towards, gradCapital will invest $40k for 4% in you.
We discuss:
-How Prateek and his co-founder started gradCapital.
-The journey so far across multiple rounds of raising investment funds.
-How they shortlist projects to invest in.
-Their contribution to Zepto’s meteoric rise.
-Managing 4-week in-person cohorts with state-of-the-art resources and mentors.
-The creation of the perfect ecosystem to enable success for student founders.
-Incredible discoveries about the value-system of students.
-Qualities Prateek looks for before shortlisting an idea.
-Inspiring narratives of wild projects by gradCapital founders, including a bl00d-bank delivery drone.
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Resources:
gradcapital.in
https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateekbehera96/
Timestamps:
(00:00) Background and Introduction
(02:07) Why gradCapital - the beginning of gC
(03:52) Why fund student founders?
(06:10) Helping student founders apply to YCombinator
(08:03) First stint with raising capital - brush with ZEPTO!
(10:47) What gC looks for in students - belief systems?
(14:28) The importance of moving fast and DOING
(16:13) Raising the first million dollars
(20:22) How to network to raise funds
(24:13) Mentoring student founders
(28:04) Notable companies/projects gradCapital has funded - drone bl00d bank
(32:16) Dance India Dance to SAAS Founders
(34:42) Advice for student founders
(36:14) Focusing on strengths for success
(39:19) Outro + Gratitude
