Born and raised in a rural area of India, Vikram Sarbaja always had the passion to support the local farmers in his community. After graduating from TU Delft in the Netherlands, he worked in the credit scoring department of Rabobank known for its activities in the agricultural sector. His banking experience and his personal ties to agriculture in India inspired Vikram to found Credible, a startup that provided an AI based scoring tool to help small Indian farmers access financing. Vikram quickly found customers in the insurance industry, but as Credible began to grow, more and more challenges emerged. The entrepreneur realized that he had to search for new use cases outside of the credit scoring business and try to expand to new markets if his company were to solve the problem of stagnating growth. To do so, however, he would have to consider getting VC investment. Vikram was well aware of the benefits and downsides of such an endeavor: a VC would want shares in his company as well as exercise their decision power. Should Vikram try to acquire VC funding? How would the power dynamics change within Credible? And for how long would he be able to hold on to the CEO position? Would he be able to expand Credible successfully, overcoming the problem of stagnating growth?
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1. To elaborate on the wealth-versus-control dilemmas founder face when attracting outside resources. 2. To identify the up- and downsides of investors entering a startup. 3. To understand when and how a founder should leave the company.
