Episode 8: When Angels and VCs Tango

[embed]https://youtu.be/2v5eO1E2WyM[/embed]In this Episode of #LVSoundbites, an entrepreneur turned VC and partner at Accel Partners, Subrata Mitra sat down with us for a quick chat. Here are some of the key insights he shared with us:

• 2016 was relatively quiet in terms of new capital, and how that’s going to change in 2017
• How the lull in 2016 helped companies grow, without having to think about raising the next round of funds
• Since VCs and Angels are working closely now, the expectations that the former has from the latter
• The kind of Angel investor and the stage of the company matter, when VCs work with Angels
• How referrals for new startups from the close network makes a huge difference
• How working with new Angels is like a courtship, where understanding the Angel is paramount
• How Accel Partners invest in 5-6 key sectors, which is not going to change in the near future, while also experimenting with a few new sectors

A computer science graduate from IIT Kanpur, Subrata Mitra went on to complete MS from University of Delaware and a Ph.D from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Currently, he is a Partner at Accel Partners, which was previously called Erasmic Venture Fund, of which Subrata was the co-founder. He is an entrepreneur-turned-VC, who was the first investor in Flipkart, and has also invested in such known names as Mu-Sigma, Virident, Perfint, and Myntra. Prior to Erasmic, Subrata held the position of Managing Director of Tavant Technologies for its India operations.Accel Partners, with the belief that ‘greatness doesn’t have a stereotype,’ has been in the startup-investment ecosystem since 2008. Whether it’s an early stage investment or any other subsequent phase, Accel offers help to startups in growing enduring companies. Some of the prominent investments that Accel has made include 99Designs, Admob, Agile Networks, Alfresco, Aorato, Avici Systems, BabyOye, BlaBlaCar, Bluestone, BookMyShow, Centrify, Checkr, Cloudera, CommonFloor, ComScore, CoverFox, CureJoy, Deliveroo, DropBox, DropCam, Etsy, Facebook, Fiverr, Flipkart, GoFundMe, Groupon, HolidayIQ, Iron Planet, JusPay, LetsVenture, Maven Networks, Myntra, Ola Cabs, Portea, PropTiger, QikPod, RentoMojo, Spotify, Swiggy, Tracxn, UrbanClap,Veritas, Wallmart.com, Yakit, and Zenoti to name a few.