Shobhana Parruck – Interview Q: What is the inspiration behind the FoundersClick’s vision? Shobhana: FoundersClick was launched live Nov 2014. My FC Cofounder Randhir Judge and I have investment backgrounds. Over the years, we have each been tapped on, opportunities for referrals and connections from our networks, by various entrepreneurs, service providers looking for clients and professionals looking for career-progressive opportunities. Investors have reached out to us for opinions and funding for venture prospects. People today have the option to leverage different channels for their connection requirements. But the results and outcomes they need for their requirements are not a given, for a medley of reasons. What we decided to do through FoundersClick ecosystem, is to formalize and scale what we have already been doing informally and tangibly assist those who do need timely connections and promotions. What FC does is to provide flexible ways to connect as needed based on requirement. FC targets only those who need connections and wherewithal to pursue their ideas and initiatives at various stages of their business growth. Those who already have all the connections and are established in their business ventures, can still leverage FoundersClick for visibility and promotions to spur further business growth. Besides connections, another key requirement, in general, for all businesses are cost-effective ways to promote . This is true for start-up mode businesses as well as those further along and want to expand their client base We have positioned the FC platform to meet this popular requirement. Eyeballs and brand-build market visibility are exponentially critical for early stage venture when funding is sparse. So all in all, FC serves four key stakeholders - Entrepreneurs & Business owners, Professional looking for career progression including startup opportunities, Service Providers and Investors. College Students looking for internships in early stage ventures and even established businesses are in the professional mix. As with Nature, any ecosystem is innately intricate and every stakeholder category will have a different biz perspective, motivation and requirements. We adopt a large tent approach but a drill down focus as we reach out and invite these stakeholders to join FoundersClick and a similar approach to industry outreach and focus. Q: How did the Founders click in your team? Shobhana: Teams come together and “click” in a variety of ways. Business partnerships form mostly through prior professional or social familiarity and interactions. There is some comfort and confidence in having previously known someone either through personal interactions and or even better if one has professionally worked with other person in some capacity. In some other instances, you identify team members through referrals and introductions and avail professional services who can help you in identifying key resources with core expertise. On occasions, team partnerships are indeed formed organically through serendipitous happenstance. No matter the source, coming together is one thing but clicking is entirely a different set of dynamics. Once thing is certain - compatibility between team members particularly in an early stage venture can make or break the momentum to push ahead and survive. Ideas indeed tick when a team clicks – not just a cliché or a FC mantra but an everyday live-wire dynamic for FoundersClick. We are building a team of strong entrepreneurs. Randhir and I share investor interests and have co-invested in select companies. FC’s third co-founder Naveen is a business owner of Santhila DataBot and service provider, in this own right. Matt who heads TeamMaker joined a bit later with a specialized focus on resources. Venture teams thus can build strong synergies in different ways - both through proven and non-traditional with a collective vision. I have been often asked this and want to highlight the fact that - Any venture team needs resources along the way, beyond those who come together at its inception as cofounders, in order to succeed. So FoundersClick has a more expansive reach than the name may indicate. The foundation of a company has many requirements and challenges at different points in its journey and every key member who contributes productively, especially during start-up mode of operations, becomes inevitably part of this ongoing collective foundational (co-founder or not ) effort. Q: How are Basic Services different from Premium Services? Shobhana: FoundersClick platform has a several free useful services for a basic member to connect and promote. Sign up is free as are all Basic Services including posting Events Gallery and FC Biz Directory listing. As a Basic Service member, you post your profile search, invite and directly connect. You post your listings and connect yourself. The primary difference between Basic and Premium is that the latter is personalized and customized to Client requirements. This is geared towards those who want to optimize time and effort especially when you are going through the start-up grind. If you are established and further along under pressure to spur growth and positively impact your bottom-line and in need of personalized attention, a proxy extended team to assist with cost-effective results-driven solutions, then Premium services are an option for you. TeamMaker, as a Premium service, helps you identify resources and caters to Job Seekers and businesses. Funding Services (Funding & Investor introductions) and Pilot Headstart (biz dev connections ) – each addressing core business requirements, are being rolled out only on a select basis. If you have these requirements, please reach out to us. No matter the stakeholder category requirements, there is a common thread that run through all FC Services - (a) introductions, connections, referrals and (b) promotions and outreach. Q: How is FoundersClick different from Incubators? Shobhana: FoundersClick may appear Incubator-lite but for all intents and purposes FC ecosystem is in fact a service provider to investors, incubators and accelerators.In fact they are key stakeholders of FoundersClick ecosystem as specialized Service provider themselves. Incubators and investors can leverage FoundersClick for their portfolio companies and/or for their own requirements. FC can in turn tap on Incubators to avail their specialized services as needed and introduce FC members. FoundersClick Inc. partners with The Founders Click Fund LLC for its Funding Services and our model is to fund ventures along with other synergistic investors. Q: What is your message to FC ecosystem stakeholders? Shobhana: We are very much aware, that every FC stakeholder has different requirements from their unique vantage point. All stakeholders are integral to FoundersClick ecosystem and hence our strong team-up principle of finding results-driven solutions based on their requirements. FoundersClick plans to continually add-value through its Basic Services that facilitate different ways to Connect and Promote to fulfill their active biz requirements. In parallel, FoundersClick can facilitate and build success stories on a win-win framework, through each of its Premium services endeavors. In every such accomplishment is embedded our own success and hence the strong incentive to deliver. Shobhana Parruck – Interview Q: What is the inspiration behind the FoundersClick’s vision? Shobhana: FoundersClick was launched live Nov 2014. My FC Cofounder Randhir Judge and I have investment backgrounds. Over the years, we have each been tapped on, opportunities for referrals and connections from our networks, by various entrepreneurs, service providers looking for clients and professionals looking for career-progressive opportunities. Investors have reached out to us for opinions and funding for venture prospects. People today have the option to leverage different channels for their connection requirements. But the results and outcomes they need for their requirements are not a given, for a medley of reasons. What we decided to do through FoundersClick ecosystem, is to formalize and scale what we have already been doing informally and tangibly assist those who do need timely connections and promotions. What FC does is to provide flexible ways to connect as needed based on requirement. FC targets only those who need connections and wherewithal to pursue their ideas and initiatives at various stages of their business growth. Those who already have all the connections and are established in their business ventures, can still leverage FoundersClick for visibility and promotions to spur further business growth. Besides connections, another key requirement, in general, for all businesses are cost-effective ways to promote . This is true for start-up mode businesses as well as those further along and want to expand their client base We have positioned the FC platform to meet this popular requirement. Eyeballs and brand-build market visibility are exponentially critical for early stage venture when funding is sparse. So all in all, FC serves four key stakeholders - Entrepreneurs & Business owners, Professional looking for career progression including startup opportunities, Service Providers and Investors. College Students looking for internships in early stage ventures and even established businesses are in the professional mix. As with Nature, any ecosystem is innately intricate and every stakeholder category will have a different biz perspective, motivation and requirements. We adopt a large tent approach but a drill down focus as we reach out and invite these stakeholders to join FoundersClick and a similar approach to industry outreach and focus. Q: How did the Founders click in your team? Shobhana: Teams come together and “click” in a variety of ways. Business partnerships form mostly through prior professional or social familiarity and interactions. There is some comfort and confidence in having previously known someone either through personal interactions and or even better if one has professionally worked with other person in some capacity. In some other instances, you identify team members through referrals and introductions and avail professional services who can help you in identifying key resources with core expertise. On occasions, team partnerships are indeed formed organically through serendipitous happenstance. No matter the source, coming together is one thing but clicking is entirely a different set of dynamics. Once thing is certain - compatibility between team members particularly in an early stage venture can make or break the momentum to push ahead and survive. Ideas indeed tick when a team clicks – not just a cliché or a FC mantra but an everyday live-wire dynamic for FoundersClick. We are building a team of strong entrepreneurs. Randhir and I share investor interests and have co-invested in select companies. FC’s third co-founder Naveen is a business owner of Santhilag Technosoft and service provider, in this own right. Matt who heads TeamMaker joined a bit later with a specialized focus on resources. Venture teams thus can build strong synergies in different ways - both through proven and non-traditional with a collective vision. I have been often asked this and want to highlight the fact that - Any venture team needs resources along the way, beyond those who come together at its inception as cofounders, in order to succeed. So FoundersClick has a more expansive reach than the name may indicate. The foundation of a company has many requirements and challenges at different points in its journey and every key member who contributes productively, especially during start-up mode of operations, becomes inevitably part of this ongoing collective foundational (co-founder or not ) effort. Q: How are Basic Services different from Premium Services? Shobhana: FoundersClick platform has a several free useful services for a basic member to connect and promote. Sign up is free as are all Basic Services including posting Events Gallery and FC Biz Directory listing. As a Basic Service member, you post your profile search, invite and directly connect. You post your listings and connect yourself. The primary difference between Basic and Premium is that the latter is personalized and customized to Client requirements. This is geared towards those who want to optimize time and effort especially when you are going through the start-up grind. If you are established and further along under pressure to spur growth and positively impact your bottom-line and in need of personalized attention, a proxy extended team to assist with cost-effective results-driven solutions, then Premium services are an option for you. TeamMaker, as a Premium service, helps you identify resources and caters to Job Seekers and businesses. Funding Services (Funding & Investor introductions) and Pilot Headstart (biz dev connections ) – each addressing core business requirements, are being rolled out only on a select basis. If you have these requirements, please reach out to us. No matter the stakeholder category requirements, there is a common thread that run through all FC Services - (a) introductions, connections, referrals and (b) promotions and outreach. Q: How is FoundersClick different from Incubators? Shobhana: FoundersClick may appear Incubator-lite but for all intents and purposes FC ecosystem is in fact a service provider to investors, incubators and accelerators.In fact they are key stakeholders of FoundersClick ecosystem as specialized Service provider themselves. Incubators and investors can leverage FoundersClick for their portfolio companies and/or for their own requirements. FC can in turn tap on Incubators to avail their specialized services as needed and introduce FC members. FoundersClick Inc. partners with The Founders Click Fund LLC for its Funding Services and our model is to fund ventures along with other synergistic investors. Q: What is your message to FC ecosystem stakeholders? Shobhana: We are very much aware, that every FC stakeholder has different requirements from their unique vantage point. All stakeholders are integral to FoundersClick ecosystem and hence our strong team-up principle of finding results-driven solutions based on their requirements. FoundersClick plans to continually add-value through its Basic Services that facilitate different ways to Connect and Promote to fulfill their active biz requirements. In parallel, FoundersClick can facilitate and build success stories on a win-win framework, through each of its Premium services endeavors. In every such accomplishment is embedded our own success and hence the strong incentive to deliver.