STFU #38 - Vikram Betaal and Handsome Vampires - Role of VCs in your startup!

King Vikram?met a beggar and wanted to thank him for his blessings. However, the beggar had one condition for the king - he had to go to an ancient tree where there was a corpse hanging from one of the branches. He had to remove the corpse of 'Betaal' from the branch and take it to another location in silence.

The King did as committed and carried Betaal from the tree on his shoulders.?

En route, the spirit of Betaal used to narrate a story to the king and after completing the story, Betaal would ask a question to the king.?

If the king knew the answer, he had to speak up, or else Betaal would break his head into a thousand pieces. But if he did speak out, he would break the vow of silence and Betaal would fly back to the treetop, leaving the king back to square one.?The king would have to go after Betaal and start all over again!

These stories, in total 25, became a part of “Betaal Pachisi” and were telecasted on TV as well in 1985-86 as well.

Eventually, Betaal, after troubling the king 25 times saved him.

‘Betaal’ or ‘vetala’ is an evil spirit who haunts?cemeteries and takes demonic possession of corpses. They are hostile spirits of the dead trapped in the 'twilight zone' between life and the afterlife. They like to trouble humans but have immense knowledge in them.?These creatures can be repelled by the chanting of mantras. (they are also called ‘pishaach’ - and are mentioned in Hanuman Chalisa for the theists, as “Bhoot pishaach nikat nahi aavey, mahavir jab naam sunaawey”)?

Betaal, Vetala, Asura, Rakshasa, Churail, Pishaach - evil spirits, looking for blood, hovering around corpses - they are all characters we get scared of but despise as well. So much so that we tend to use these with free will while fighting with our siblings or spouse, hoping to hit them hard!

But they are not so scary if you go by their western doppelgangers, the Vampires.?

Searching for the most Handsome and Strongest Vampire

As a teenager, if you have watched Twilight or The Vampire Diaries, you might disagree with the similarity between Vampires and “Churails” or “Raakshas”

If you have secretly wanted to marry a Vampire, encouraged by the good looks of Edward Cullen of Twilight (2008) or Damon Salvatore of The Vampire Diaries (2009), rest assured, their currency has been diluted in the Indian ecosystem. The Hindi version of Vampires - Betaal, is nowhere close to being an idealistic spouse (at least not for most of the humans I know around me)

Without going into what these series stand for, if you had to select the vampire (not for nuptial purposes but more on strength), how would you find the strongest Vampire??

Some fans of vampires have put a checklist together. You can use this to select which vampire is for you -?

1. Age-?The older the vampire is, the more powerful he usually becomes.?
2. Willingness to kill -?how far vampires are willing to kill something that doesn’t work with them and not keep it lingering!
3. Drinking Human Blood - Just like age, the willingness to drink human blood makes a vampire stronger.?
4. Aversion to the Sun - how open they are to the sun or show openness to ‘light’
5. Friends and Family - how well connected a vampire is

VCs vs Founders

In the startup ecosystem, fundraising and VCs are given. These days, starting up is akin to raising funds, and sometimes becomes the north star metric for new-age founders!

Just like Vampires, they are mostly good-looking and well-dressed, look normal and human.

But?Vampire Capitalists, or VCs,?will keep you on your toes and ask you questions - give you insights based on their knowledge,?and probably save your lives at the right moment.?But if you don’t bother and ignore them, they will be the first ones to suck your blood!?

And how do you know which VC is better or stronger??

What if I told you that the answer was hidden in the above list - all you had to do was to replace 'vampire' with “VCs” and re-read the checklist above?

See if you can find the correlation (yes, drinking blood is more metaphorical, at least for now!)

On the other hand, if you have been following the news, the ‘Board vs Founder’ saga has always been challenging - and makes for a readable story as well.??

It is almost like the story of Vikram and Betaal - the investors are usually in the twilight zone in Maslow’s hierarchy (life and afterlife), like to trouble humans, but have a lot of knowledge in them. They would also keep you asking questions, but if you answer the questions improperly, they might fly back to the tree! and if you know the answer but keep silent, they will break your head into a thousand pieces! We all learn from them, but have to respect them and carry them till the end on our shoulders!

At True Elements , we have had our share of Betaals and Vampires - some good-looking as well. But in most of the cases, the Vikram in us ended up giving wrong answers, leading the Betaal to go back to the tree and give up on us sometimes. Eventually, we are glad we got some Betaals to their destination.

Looking back, we now realize that all of them had good insights, even if they asked us difficult questions and were after our ‘blood’!?

Whether you are the Ashneer Grover kind of ‘King’ or Sam Altman kind of ‘Vikram’, or a new founder seeking to partner with funds, there will always be vampires and Betaals around you. The intent is not to get scared but to face them with the right answers, trust them as they have the right ‘intent’ even if they ask you difficult questions, and eventually, be strong enough to take them on your shoulders to the destination to ‘exit’!

So next time, while meeting VCs to raise funds, try to chant and pray as well. But if you, like me, are an anxious entrepreneur, you would be doing it as it is!?

For those who are looking for the strongest vampire, don’t just go by the looks,

For those who are still scared of the Pishaach or Betaal,?

STFU!

References:?Vikram Betal all episodes,?Vetala,?Vampire Strongest,?Indian Vampires | Image:?Vikram-Betal,?Vampires