The start-up mentor

Madhouse to Morpheus

Some dismiss the duo as being too raw in experience to mentor other start-ups, but they hope to prove critics wrong. Sameer’s nine years of experience with various start-ups and the duo’s first entrepreneurial stint with Madhouse have taught them enough.

Talking about the Madhouse experience, they say though they were confident about the business idea and execution skills, the whole concept of building a business – registering the company, raising funds, etc. – was a learning experience.

“Reading related books, blogs and interviews helped us to some extent. Also, we spoke to people heading businesses in India, but largely we learnt as we executed and did things,” say the couple whose passion for filmmaking brought them together.

Nandini also recalls the time when they were new to the market with no forums to guide start-ups. “The Madhouse model was complex, in that, besides the main product we had to manage an in-house courier company taking care of logistics as well as an outsource partner,” says Nandini. “All this gave us immense exposure to various departments that involve making of a start-up business.”

Mentoring their way

The seed for Morpheus was sown even while they were with SeventyMM. The duo would get informal requests to interact with companies or advice start-ups. “Both of us were active in mentoring start-ups.

Personally, we enjoyed interacting with young founders or bootstrapping start-up, which gave us a high,” says 31-year-old Sameer. They also realised that there was no dearth of funding or venture partners with funds. All this and to develop India’s start-up scenario paved way for the venture.

Journey so far

In the last six months Morpheus has worked with one batch of three portfolio companies – www.instablogs.com, www.commonfloor.com and www.foodathome.in. Morpheus will be working with eight start-ups this year and approximately 20 in 2009. There is no specific focus to start with and Morpheus will be focusing on a multi-sector approach.

What’s the Morpheus model

Morpheus engages with companies during the most crucial phase, the first 12 months, which is also known as ‘Valley of Death’. It offers the required non-monetary investment in terms of mentorship, access to right network, product, launch and fund-raising strategy.

“In all, we will walk with entrepreneurs and help them fine-tune their ideas, roll out the venture and prepare them to raise funds,” they say. The short-listed companies are charged a fixed amount of equity.

Though it is similar to Y Combinator, it is not a replica. A Morpheus batch will have four to six months of interaction, while YC is a three-month programme. Also, while YC has its focus on software and web services, Morpheus is open to business from any verticals.

Log on to www.morpheusventure.com or write to them at sameer@morpheusventure.com/ nandini@morpheusventure.com