Angel Investing diving in entrepreneurial sea

If there is anything after entrepreneurship that is a test of instinct, risk taking ability and patience. It is perhaps Angel Investing. Putting money on businesses that are just ideas or at best eight slide PowerPoint presentations is about your gut and faith.

So, how does an Angel Investor spot a diamond in the rough, what gives him the courage to plunge into the deep end of the sea virtually without a lifejacket? What makes an investor take the dive over and over again? Giving the answers are Google India's top man and angel Rajan Anandan and former Genpact CEO and angel investor – Pramod Bhasin Rajan Anandan, VP & MD, Google India said "every company that I invest in is a company that I believe will be very successful. However, at the end of the day one third of the companies that I invest in will not be successful. The way I look at my role as an angel investor is first whether I am leading an investment or I am part of a group. If I am leading an investment then I am completely on call from day one. I would talk to the founding team may be every week for half hour but that’s really it. I try to make sure that I leverage other co-investors and also networks that I have built over the years to help the team". Pramod Bhasin, Former CEO, Genpact said, "What I always look for is an idea that one has some differentiation today in terms of how it will stand out in the market place. However, over time we have to be clear as to what is it that will drive success and allow that competitive differentiation to be sustained". Bhasin feels that in fact most people think once you have made the product you are done, you are not. 20 other people can then figure out how to make that product. So then what are you going to rest on? It can't just be the idea, it has to be on execution and within execution what is it going to be on. Two is passion. You need an entrepreneur who really has staying power.