Ilya Kravtsov is Co-Founder of Ringkas and PouchNATION
Founders building their second or third venture are always highly respected in the ecosystem. Investors usually are more willing to invest in them as they believe that serial entrepreneurs come with “loads” of experience starting and growing startups. Besides, VCs perceive they tend to make fewer mistakes than they made while building their first businesses.
True, a second or third-time founder knows how to build a stronger business with less cash, what to do when his or her company is in crisis, how to manage cash flow, how to navigate an unfavourable economic climate, how to address employee churn, and how to motivate the colleagues, and most importantly, how not to repeat past mistakes. They also successfully raise multi-million dollars in their first round of investment.
In general, serial entrepreneurs try to do things differently.
Also Read: How Ringkas replaces paper-based mortgage application process in Indonesia with digital tools
In this article, the first from the e27‘s AskMeAnything series, Ilya Kravtsov takes questions from users about the experience of being a serial entrepreneur. Based in Indonesia, Kravtsov has built two businesses in two different verticals. PouchNATION is an NFC-based guest management startup, while Ringkas aims to simplify Indonesia’s complicated mortgage application process by providing easy-to-use tools for agents, property developers, customers and banks.
While investing in a company, shouldn’t the VCs go by the merit of the idea and their conviction rather than the founder’s experience? What do you think?
You are 100 per cent right; a second or third-time founder alone doesn’t mean much if the experiences you went through are not meaningful.
This can be applied to anything one goes through; one can graduate from a university but still have limited knowledge. So it is crucial to differentiate between founders who truly lived and breathed through their previous experiences and those who just ticked the box in their CVs.
What mistakes do second or third-time founders tend to make while building their new ventures?
Second or third-time founders raise too much too early as they have access to more capital and investors. They tend to over-raise before achieving the product-market fit, which is unhealthy.
Could you share some insights and strategies on how to build investor networks and maintain strong relationships with them effectively? What are the key lessons you’ve learned along the way that contributed to your success in attracting and retaining supportive investors?
Investor relations are critical and not always an easy task. Sometimes expectations are not aligned, and you lose trust. This was one of the most important growth areas in my career.
Also Read: Ringkas raises US$3.5M to digitalise mortgage process in Indonesia
When you start your business, you might be a good operator but miss the investor perspective entirely. The best advice here is always to see things from an investor angle and not purely from a founder’s perspective. Imagine what you would do if you were in their shoes (founders often forget that). The rest comes purely with experience.”
How do you manage investor expectations and demonstrate your ability to deliver a successful outcome with your current venture?
I believe communication is key. If you feel things are not going exactly in your desired direction, you must over-communicate with your investors and ask them for feedback and advice. This builds trust.
What advice would you give an entrepreneur starting his or her second company?
Spend a lot of time researching the business before jumping into it. Get validation, talk to potential customers, and understand the size of the opportunity. The earlier you clear these points, the fewer issues you will face later.
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Image Credit: Ringkas.
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