MVP in 15 days and why strangers became angels

Curiosity > Strategy

We didn't know words MVP, pitchdeck nor about fundraise, co-founder. Startups, VC, angels world was alien to me....

So here's how we started. We would ping strangers on LinkedIn & events that I joined. I even spent Indian Rupees 1L ($4900 in PPP terms) on paid events/niche trainings.

I’ve never hesitated to spend on my Curiosity. It pays back in long run.

We helped strangers without expectations. Still ppl won't respond... I wondered why? These people posted they needed help.

But this pain paid back in long run. You learn this is how the world works. You reach 20 — if 2-5 respond, you're lucky.

Deal that crashed

I helped 1 wanna-be US VC raising $100M fund, 2 wanna-be startups & 2 folks with overlap to our idea. Since we weren't sure about any idea — VC thing looked exciting.

We helped with what we know best — tech, connects — without even knowing what we wanted in return. Introduced 7–10 connects, drafted tech, designed tech teams — for free.

It was genuine collab evolving on both sides. Wanna-be-VC wanted us in plum VC role — but that felt like employment. So the deal crashed.

Got first Angel without pitch deck

One person we helped on LinkedIn gave us offer to be our first angel — when we weren’t even raising. We didn’t know the word “Pitch Deck”. He’s investing in our new round too.

He did it because his idea overlapped with ours & he liked how we navigated the problem while helping him.

MVP In 15 days

At an event, I pinged folks who might want help or become co-founders. Shared idea with a L'Oréal exec. He said — let’s build & take it to L'Oréal.

Achal & I knew backend/building like water. But we hadn’t worked in frontends. Still, we built it in 15 days.

Another hope crashed

L'Oréal guy said — colors/aesthetics aren’t up to mark. Can’t take this to L'Oréal. We said — that’s why this is MVP. By then, we had our first angel on board.

Finding way out — there’s no straight road

We decided to take MVP to market, aesthetics or not. Put some money to validate market (<$12k). Discounted 7 invoices semi-automated. GST number borrowed from 1st investor.

But we had no way forward. Angel tells us — put pitch deck. Achal & I had detailed tech & biz plan already (shabby, but whatever).

We were validating, attending events, helping, talking, learning, wrapping from Germany & US to India — all at once.

Luck meets those who dare to go out

An ex-colleague who had seen my paper vision introduced us to his Razorpay classmate. He linked us to Razorpay’s investment team — they helped refine our deck.

They said — what you’re building is called “Buy Now, Pay Later” with AI. We didn’t know that. We reached this word by seeking, reaching...

It came from someone who had access to latest ideas. Now our pitch deck aligned to a hot market. We didn’t know — others told us.

Same product, new story. The world framed it for us.

2 months later

We had:

Pitch deck

Validated MVP

Team

Hottest product

Raised ₹80L ($105k) in first round. Raised $68k more later. Raising another round now with more commitments — all without strategy.

Without events, active reachout — it might’ve taken 2 years & 3x more capital to reach here. We had a working MVP, deck, team & early investors.

What we did:

Shared ideas openly

Put it on a webpage

Didn’t try to be perfect

Validated, moved forward

Reached out, helped freely, expected nothing

Build. Fund. Collaborate. Go to market.