[Interview] Mentoring start ups with Rajeev Banduni, CEO, Growth Enabler

When social media changed the way investors look at startups, Rajeev Banduni, CEO, Growth Enabler with two more people, stepped in to save the day.

Where does social media stand when it comes to Growth Enabler?

True to our mission, to make Growth Enable's advice available to every entrepreneur we're using social media platforms actively.

Do social media updates help Growth Enabler predict trends for start ups? If not, what are your views on the same? 

Yes and No, let me focus on the yes first. When we upload our webinar or post content,  there are 2 things that indicate how relevant the topic is. Firstly, the number of views and download and secondly, what discussion and return questions it's generating. This give us an idea on the relevancy of content and general topics.

No: When we want responses to specifics around confidence, competition and capabilities we run targeted survey during our online webinar to get focused trends. You need to use social and pointed surveys to arrive at an analysis.

Has Growth Enabler seen an increasing trend for social media mentoring for start-ups? 

Let me share with you some of the statistics, Ministry of corporate affair data say 100,000 companies registered in 2014. Same figure in China is 1.9 million and in UK close to 600,000.

All of them are start-ups. If you want to provide advice at such a scale you need platform and technology that can scale and create a reach for every Wantrepreneur, Entrepreneur and SMB.

Growth Enabler believes social media mentoring/advice is the only way to democratize access to world leading advice, otherwise privileged few (say 5%) with connections will get access to this advice via incubators/accelerators (due to capacity limitation) and other 95% will be deprived.

What are the expected social media etiquettes by start ups to attract investors?

There is famous saying by HH Dalai Lama, when you speak you're only repeating what you know but when you listen you learn. The same thing applies to social media.

Avoid broadcast mode, don't be loud, seek feedback. Always remember, treat your investor pitch as your sales pitch.

I would suggest you take time to learn about your investor via social media. What s/he likes, belief, investment philosophy, blogs, tweets.

This'll help you prepare your pitch. Everyone appreciates when you show you know him/her.

Can you give us an example of a start up that has used Social media optimally? 

Please look at Binjj.in, they've hired, created traction and reached out to their custodians using social media. 

Does the impact of social media vary across sectors for start ups? (food, E-commerce, technology) 

I believe social media is pervasive when it comes to start-up sectors but you got be more focused if you are a Business to Consumer ( B2C) start up as compared to a Business to Business (B2B) start-up.

Can you tell us 3 must social media dos and donts for start ups?  

Dos: 1) Relevant content 2) Original Contents (Create story or exemplify) 3) seek opinions and feedback

Don't: 1) Avoid broadcast 2) Personal comments 3) Judgmental feedback and opinions 4) Keep it simple and short

Does social media play a role in an investor's decision making?

If you're a B2C business, every investor wants to know your social media traction, community size etc. You can't avoid it.

If you're B2B investor wants to look at how you're reaching out to your prospective buyer in a targeted way via social media or how are you using SEO to ensure anyone searching for you solution gets to read about you via social media

Bottom line, if you're not social it's unlikely you'll get investment.