How To Raise and Manage Venture Capital for Student Founders ($4M+ Invested) - w/ Prateek

In this episode my guest is Prateek Behera. Prateek is a co-founder at gradCapital, which provides funding for college students in india whose projects can change the world. If you’re a student and have an idea you’re building towards, gradCapital will invest $40k for 4% in you.We discuss:-How Prateek and his co-founder started gradCapital.-The journey so far across multiple rounds of raising investment funds.-How they shortlist projects to invest in.-Their contribution to Zepto’s meteoric rise.-Managing 4-week in-person cohorts with state-of-the-art resources and mentors.-The creation of the perfect ecosystem to enable success for student founders.-Incredible discoveries about the value-system of students.-Qualities Prateek looks for before shortlisting an idea.-Inspiring narratives of wild projects by gradCapital founders, including a bl00d-bank delivery drone.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Support the Ready Set Do podcast:-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Resources:gradcapital.inhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/prateekbehera96/Timestamps:(00:00) Background and Introduction(02:07) Why gradCapital - the beginning of gC(03:52) Why fund student founders?(06:10) Helping student founders apply to YCombinator(08:03) First stint with raising capital - brush with ZEPTO!(10:47) What gC looks for in students - belief systems?(14:28) The importance of moving fast and DOING(16:13) Raising the first million dollars(20:22) How to network to raise funds(24:13) Mentoring student founders(28:04) Notable companies/projects gradCapital has funded - drone bl00d bank(32:16) Dance India Dance to SAAS Founders(34:42) Advice for student founders(36:14) Focusing on strengths for success(39:19) Outro + Gratitude