“Isn’t this a wrapper?”

A year of data, workflows and integrations, and the first question is still whether the next model release does what you do.

Kae Capital, April 2026: the model “is a commodity accessible to everyone at a certain price per token.”

“How many of these logos pay?”

Investors want each customer by contract value, renewal and usage, and they discount every pilot with no budget behind it.

Bharat Innovation Fund, May 2026: logos and pilots “no longer guarantee credibility”.

“PoCs after PoCs.”

Indian enterprises ask for one free proof of concept, then another. Many founders sell to the US first, then get asked why they are still an Indian company.

Better Capital’s Vaibhav Domkundwar, 2025.

“What is your margin after inference?”

Compute is billed in dollars and your customers pay in rupees. Investors want software margins above 60% and a cost curve that falls as you grow.

“Are you growing 10x this year?”

A few breakout companies have reset the bar, and anything slower gets a polite pass.

A VC partner to Inc42, April 2026: below 10x to 20x a year is “effectively out of the funding conversation”.

“Should you be a US company?”

Flipping to Delaware takes months of FEMA and tax work, and moving back costs more. The answer changes which investors you meet.

“Come back when you have revenue.”

Eight years of R&D measured against a ten-year fund, and the conversation drifts to when, never to what you have proved.

Lightspeed’s Hemant Mohapatra, February 2026: “Deeptech does take a deep J curve.”

“The pilots never became orders.”

Three free pilots and three happy champions, and none of them holds the budget.

Kae Capital, April 2026: “Pilots, especially in deep tech and AI, can become a trap.”

“What is your month-on-month growth?”

Hardware judged on software metrics, when the question should be which risk the company removed this year.

Hyderabad Angels, September 2026: “What risk has the company removed?”

“A purchase order is not cash.”

In defence, three to four years from requirement to contract, bank guarantees as large as the order, and no certain follow-on.

Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh, August 2025.

“Grants are not traction.”

Government money proves the science. A Series B investor weighs one paying customer more than any grant.

“Who on your side can diligence this?”

A generalist partner cannot judge your milestone, so the deal stalls inside the firm.

3one4 Capital: “It’s the middle ground that creates the most friction.”

“Is this a brand, or a Meta account?”

Growth runs through one ad platform, creatives tire faster each quarter and CAC keeps rising.

A survey of 100+ D2C founders, December 2025: over 70% rely on Meta as their main channel.

“What is left after quick commerce?”

For many early brands quick commerce is 70 to 80% of revenue, and the margin after commissions and ads is what the investor wants.

Source: Inc42, December 2025.

“Show me repeat.”

Most D2C brands see 10 to 30% of customers buy again. Investors ask for cohorts before revenue.

“How do you cross ₹100 crore?”

Most Indian D2C brands sit between ₹1 crore and ₹50 crore of revenue. The channel that carries you past ₹100 crore sets the valuation.

“We saw this in 2021.”

Every consumer investor holds a brand that raised at a 2021 price, opened stores too fast and came back at a fraction of it.

“Our fund has a five-year clock.”

A brand takes seven or eight years to build, and founders end up defending growth and margin at once.

“Isn’t this just a factory?”

Investors trained on software see capex. The years of qualification and the parts only you can make never reach their template.

“Come back with the orders.”

Customers want capacity before they order, and investors want orders before they fund capacity.

“Why is revenue so slow?”

Onboarding a precision supplier takes 6 to 12 months of audits and validation runs. Investors read the wait as weak demand.

BIS Infotech, July 2026: OEMs keep “a narrow band of suppliers”.

“Your top customers are most of revenue.”

When an OEM qualifies you, it buys a lot. Aequs listed in December 2025 with its top ten customers at 82.5% of revenue.

“Equity, debt or both?”

Pilot line to full production costs more than early venture money covers, and banks want a credit history you don’t have yet.

“Can you beat China’s landed price?”

Import substitution is why the customer is talking to you, and the Chinese part sets the price.

Capital-A’s Ankit Kedia, 2026: compete “with China and their landed prices first”.

“Come back with a customer.”

Customers want working silicon before they commit, and most seed money runs out before the silicon works.

IndieSemiC’s Nikul Shah, 2026: “Investors demand secured customers before a chip is built.”

“Seven years to product, two or three to return.”

A chip company needs seven to ten years of patient money. Most investors across the table want a story in two or three.

“What does the next tape-out cost?”

A test chip can take 18 months of design, and a production chip costs many times more. The round has to fund the second silicon and the third.

“Nobody here has taped out a chip.”

Few Indian investment teams can judge your architecture, so the deal waits for an outside expert.

“A design win is not revenue yet.”

In automotive a design win today can mean volume sales in two or three years. Investors want the dates.

Mindgrove’s CEO, 2025: “the standards in automotive are very high.”

“What does the government money come with?”

Design Linked Incentive support helps companies tape out, with caps, reimbursement cycles and conditions investors want explained.