So query (-ies) from BITS, Pilani

I got an email from BITS Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership in the weekend asking several questions. Its now my job to answer them all. I'm blogging this because these answers might be useful for other students as well.

* Why is DreamZhunt suited for students?
Many reasons but the primary reason being the low barriers for entry. A student passing out "might" find it tougher to write a well-versed business plan and pitch to a VC. They can always leverage the business expertise from our end as required by this just "passed-out" student. Ofcourse, his level of contribution might have an impact on the ownership of the business. But he'll atleast be able to start his business and work on something he is passionate about.

* Are you making any special concessions/allowances for them?
I dont really understand what you mean by "concessions" here. There aren't any specially concessions made for students anyway. But I would be able to answer better if you eloborate on this.

* Do you require any vesting? Please understand that a lot of students are already placed and have employment contracts.
That depends really. However it would primarily a performance-based vesting depending upon the business. For instance, if its a ground-breaking service (which creates a market), then we would certainly push him/her to lead the business for a long time. Anyway, we would give preference to applicants who would be willing to serve a minimum of 1.5yrs to 2 yrs to work on his/her idea. But don't take my word for it, this is something you got to discuss on table.

* What size of founder team can you allow?
Minimum: 1 (obvious), Maximum: may be 4 or 5 (thats the maximum we're seeing until now). But we would be thrilled to see if you can introduce a team which is much larger than a 5-membered team :)

* Do you require any financial commitment from the founders? What minimum percentage?
We really do NOT want them to invest even a single rupee. All that we ask from the applicants is to have some cool idea to boast about and a passion to execute it. Finance is our hassle. After all, that's what we're promising. As we had put up in many parts of our website & promos, the founders would get a "minimum" of 15% stock options (and maximum being 90% or even more) depending upon skill sets of the founders and the strength of their idea.

* What exit options do you want to allow? This is significant because you say you are "NOT a VC". Are sales/IPOs ok with you?
Absolutely. We're open for IPOs/mergers/acquisitions. Although we're NOT a VC, we're still a business and we would want to work with the founders to choose the best exit option.

* What is your relation with NEN?
NEN works to connect entrepreneurs with investors and other eminent people. dreamZhunt is on the "investor" side in our relationship with NEN. I'll throw more light on our working relationship with NEN in the next few weeks (we're working on that)

* Payback horizon? (3-4 years? More?)
Yeah, 3-4 years seems reasonable for most IT businesses. But I would not really comment on that unless it is about any "particular" business.

Please fell free to buzz me anytime at manoj@dreamzhunt.com and I'll try to answer to the best of my knowledge.