The Royals on Netflix: Money lessons hidden behind diamond tantrums and supercars

A dead Milind Soman still makes his presence felt… He’s left his money to Maurice. Who is Maurice? The family needs to tighten its royal belt and learn to accept responsibilities. Ishaan Khattar plays the young maharaja who has been living the high life

One prince likes to cook, the daughter has no direction in life, the maharani will need time to cut down on buying diamonds, the grandma smokes weed, and the young maharaja needs to give up on his many cars and an entitled life. The startup that is going to try and make a Royal B&B happen has its own troubles and complications. The show is interesting but you must resist your itchy finger and not push the fast forward button.

What money lessons can this royal romance teach us? Can we get over the cringe jokes and the Prince’s pathetic attempts to sabotage the process?

The risks and rewards of investing in startups

Sophie has a great idea of making faltering princely estates financially viable. The royal family is amenable, but the young prince is unhappy to commit his time to the palace. ‘The more I give to the palace, the more it wants from me,’ is his constant complaint.

But Sophie has a lot to prove. To her board of directors and well as herself.

Investing in startups is a risky business. Sophie is labelled ‘impulsive’ by her boss as well as her competitor. That’s why it will be good to understand how startups work.

Initially friends and family invest in the idea you believe in. But it’s a well known fact that only three or four out of ten startups succeed. And perhaps out of the ten, only one will succeed. It is smarter to diversify your risk by investing in venture capital funds.

If there’s no working product, the startup idea remains just that, an idea. This is called the ‘death valley’ phase of a startup. But founders’ savings get used up and bank loans are taken, equity shares are also issued.

Getting equity shares in return for seed money is how everyone thinks when it comes to investing in startups.

This is when the company works on their prototypes and pitches the idea to potential customers or later investors. Market research will prove if the idea works or not. It’s when the initial revenues come in that the company is truly a startup. Angel investors then swoop in after the friends and family funds seem to have passed this phase and enter its riskiest phase.

By now, the prototype is ready and so is a solid business plan which help going forward. Even if profits are not pouring in, the company seems to gain momentum and it is smarter to reinvest revenues back into the company so that it grows.

A venture capital, a private partnership or an investment fund can now step in. But the company now needs to get ready to allow taking advice from VCs who now sit on the board of directors.

Unless you are super wealthy, an accredited investor you will not be allowed to invest here. Individuals can participate in the VC phase by investing in private equity funds.Private equity funds are great if you want to diversify your risk exposure.

Startup investment pays off when the company goes public with an Initial Public Offering (IPO).

If you wish to invest in a startup, then you must do your due diligence. Critically evaluate their business plan and find out how they plan to make their business grow. Also, do the founders have the necessary skill and the grit to steer their company through every stage, and not just an idea.

Sometimes, the idea is way before its time, or the market is not ready for the product. Just like this show. The country is preoccupied with a war. Perhaps a story of a young prince with a penchant to take off his clothes is not exactly well-timed. Our hearts are with our soldiers right now, and yet the story of an event startup manages to drag us away for a little. A pause to the incessant high decibel reportage of war. 

Manisha Lakhe is a poet, film critic, traveller, founder of Caferati — an online writer’s forum, hosts Mumbai’s oldest open mic, and teaches advertising, films and communication. She can be reached on Twitter at @manishalakhe.