– By Sudipto Roy
(Yes, we’re a startup too.)
When we started we thought funding was all about ideas, innovation, intelligence.3 yrs later, we’ve realised it’s also about missing data-room files, founders forgetting who owns how much and Excel sheets that crash at midnight.
So instead of preaching, here are the Rules of Fundability we’ve learnt by actually living through them complete bruises and a lot of coffee.
Painkiller > Vitamin
We didn’t build to improve productivity. We built it because CAs, founders, and investors were losing hair over bad data. Turns out, when you solve real pain, customers chase you.
Market With Proof
In the early days, we too said, “Market is huge. Everyone needs this.”Now we show dashboards, paying customers, and one terrifying funnel chart and they call us back.Our Unfair Advantage? We’ve Seen the Chaos From the Inside We’ve worked with banks. We’ve built models .
Our unfair advantage is simple: We clean the mess because we were once the mess.
Traction > Poetry
We also tried the TEDx route: “We are reimagining financial workflows globally.”
But when we showed them revenue month-on-month:
Investor response: “So can we meet tomorrow?”
Clean Books = Clean Mind
Our own accounts once had:
“Final_Final_v3.xlsx”“Real Final.xlsx”“Ignore This.xlsx”
Now everything is structured, reconciled, and audit-friendly.
Founders Must Be the First Investment
We learnt that charisma is not a business model. Execution is. Consistency is.And knowing your CAC definitely is.
Compliance Is Sexy. We used to think compliance was boring. Now compliance is our language.
Scalable Unit Economics
At one time, our CAC graph looked like a roller coaster. Now it looks like a staircase.
“We Have No Competitors” The World’s Biggest Lie Yes, we said it once.
And then discovered 3 startups doing something “similar”Now we study competitors like board exam toppers study Physics.
We stopped saying, “We’ll dominate this industry.” and started saying:
“Here’s the next 12 mths. Here’s how we’ll win them.” Clarity beats confidence.
Digital Footprint: People Google You Before They Meet YouOur first website looked like a college project. Now it looks like a company that knows what it’s doing.Investor-Ready Materials Are Non-Negotiable
Today, our pitch deck, one-pager, and data room are so clean that investors don’t fund confusion.
Use of Funds: Every Rupee Needs a Job Description
Salaries, product, GTM, brand everything is mapped
No loose money. No burning capital
We don’t claim perfection. We claim learning. We claim honesty. We claim consistency. And we believe what Warren Buffett once said:
“It’s better to be approximately right than precisely wrong.”
At Finlabs, we’re building a company that’s not just fundable but inevitable. Not because we’re loud, but because we’re disciplined. Not because we’re lucky, but because we prepare.
And yes because sometimes we laugh at our own mistakes faster than the internet does.