Logline - A struggling startup founder, desperate for funding, resorts to kidnapping a prominent VC to convince him to invest in his company.
Rahul Bansal, founder and CEO of once-promising AI startup Antra.ai is in a very difficult position. The company is close to bankruptcy with only a few weeks of runway left.
Two years ago, Rahul and his three college friends started the company together.
Rahul was not a big fan of taking investments or funds to run the company. He was a big believer in bootstrapping and not relying on external funds. In the initial days, they had invested some of their own money and everything was going well.
Until they realized that the money they had was not sufficient. In order to build and scale their app, they needed funding.
But there was a small problem. Rahul had made numerous negative remarks and ranted about VC’s and investors.
This had made him a villain in the VC world. So no investor or VC was willing to take a meeting with him.
Time was short and money was running out. With no other options left, Rahul had to take a leap of faith.
A prominent VC had a meeting scheduled at a cafe near their office the following day. So Rahul comes up with a plan to pose as an Uber driver, pick up (kidnap) the investor, and pitch his idea in hopes of convincing him.
The next day, while the VC is waiting for his cab Rahul picks him up, pretending to be an Uber driver.
Rahul makes small talk and tries to make him comfortable.
As soon as they get on the main road, Rahul gets a video call from his teammates at Antra. They start discussing the cool tech they are building and how their app is going to blow everyone’s mind.
This was all part of the plan.
The VC gets curious and asks him about the conversation. He also gets a bit suspicious and checks his phone, only to realize that Rahul is not his Uber driver.
Mission Failed!
Rahul tells the truth and explains their situation, revealing that due to his careless attitude and past remarks about VCs, no one was willing to schedule a meeting with them. So he had to come up with this plan to save the company from going bankrupt.
The VC gets angry and tells Rahul to stop the car immediately. But as they are on the main road, stopping immediately is not an option. So, Rahul requests for just 2 minutes of his time promising to drop him off at the upcoming food plaza.
Given the situation and the circumstances, the VC had no choice but to give Rahul his 2 minutes.
What will happen next? Will Rahul succeed in convincing him to invest in his company? Are those 2 minutes going to be enough?
(To be continued…)