RADIO TONI with Toni Lontis

Talking Points Radio Toni – Every Day Business with Vandana Tolani

Vandana has over 15 years of experience in international and domestic business advisory & fund-raise. Her core area of work is fundraising for early-stage start-ups across sectors and industry sub-verticals. 

A diversified set of experiences has enabled Vandana to develop an eagle's eye for spotting opportunities in industries that are set for long term growth in the Indian economic context. She is also passionate about helping businesses reach the right people and fulfill their business requirements. 

A highly organized and detail- oriented professional with a large network of VC Funds, angel investors and family offices. Her vision of driving a two-way value innovation exercise has helped her create trust with most of India's marquee investors.

Convanto started 7 years ago, in Gurgaon, Haryana. Convanto is a portmanteau of the words “Consultant Vandana Tolani”. It is a boutique investment bank with a range of services aimed at enabling young start-ups - it provides them with services such as Fund Raising, Marketing &Growth Advisory, GTM strategic Advisory, and value-added services such as building Investor Presentations and Financial Models. 

We at Convanto advise small, medium, and large enterprises on raising capital, funding their product-market to, and implementing a successful go-to-market strategy, branding strategy and brand positioning. Unlike traditional consulting firms, we have proven our operational expertise in bringing money, creating value, and driving growth to help you maximize your results. 

Our Services 

• Funding 
• Investment Management 
• Debt &Equity 
• Mergers Acquisition 
• Business Plan Preparations 
• Business Plan Project Plans Preparations 
• Pitch Deck Preparations 
• Financial Strategic Planning &Analysis 
• Consulting 
• Strategic Planning &Execution Advisory 
• Business Valuations Advisory 
• Start-up Growth Strategies & Planning

Good afternoon Vandana and welcome to Radio Toni, so glad to have you here with us today.

1. Lets start with you and your story, if its ok can you share a little of your life with our listeners. How you started out, what led the path into Convanto and some of the struggles you have overcome to get here?

2. Convanto’s core business is fund raising – for those like myself can you tell us a little about how venture capital works and fund raising works?

3. Why does a funding round fail? 

4. How can you increase your chance of being funded? 

5. What other options do you have in case your funding round fails? 

6. How much to aim for in your funding rounds? 

7. What happens after your funding round succeeds? 

8. What investors should be looking for in Great CEOs for long term investment 

9. Tips to be a successful entrepreneur and the pitfalls to avoid 

10. What kind of troubles do startups in developing countries face

I have been fortunate enough to face certain challenges and overcome certain obstacles. This journey has left me with countless life lessons that I feel privileged to have learned first hand. The number one lesson I’ve learned in my lifetime is that nothing beats hard work. Hard work outweighs talent and intelligence and is necessary if you want to succeed. This not only means working hard when things are going well, but working harder when things are not. It means taking calculated risks and sticking to them, no matter how challenging they are. This is very important to keep in mind as an entrepreneur. No business is perfect, and just like people, they too have their faults, no matter how successful or unsuccessful they may be. Recognizing and accepting these faults as an entrepreneur, facing reality and doing your best to work around these faults is the best way to move forward. With time, I’ve learnt of the importance of adaptability too. How adaptable a business is defines its ability to stay afloat in the future. Being progressive in terms of keeping up with the ever changing market is of great importance in an industry such as this, and we ensure that Convanto does its best to keep up with these changes.