I am sure there are literally thousands of people dreaming to become a venture capitalist (VC). Most of the VCs mint money. They have money machine in their offices that print money at their wish, right? Mohanjit Jolly says “yeah, right!”.

Mohanjit is the executive director of DFJ (Draper Fisher Jurvetson) India. He got educated in MIT and UCLA. He was the managing director of Garage Tech Ventures. Now, he is managing DFJ’s portfolio companies in India. He explains the challenges and difficulties one has to face in the VC world in his article in VCcircle.com. If you are even thinking about becoming a VC, this is a must read. Sometimes, it’s better to get a reality check before you enter the dream box, especially from the guy that has already gone thru the similar path. Most VCs seem to be very secretive. They try to guard their working methods. Mohanjit is refreshingly different.

It’s a difficult time for everyone especially for the companies that seek funding. If you run a startup and can survive with self-funding for six more months, it’s better not to seek funding from Venture Capitalists (VC) now.

For the first time since 1978, no VC-backed companies conducted an initial public offering this past quarter, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, and the time it takes to exit an investment has doubled from 10 years ago. As a result, VCs are more cautious about where their money is going and companies looking for some seed or expansion funding might have to work a bit harder to get it.

It’s not only going to be harder, you need to give up more equity stake to VCs to get the required funding. There are some areas like iPhone app development still attract the VCs Silicon Valley. For everyone else, it’s a tough world out there.

Venture capitalist firm Kleiner Perkins’ John Doerr listed top things that start-up companies should be doing. It would be helpful not only for start-up companies, but for any business. It may be useful for individuals also to some extent. Check out John Doerr’s to-do list here.

Related Link: Cash panic sweeping VC industry