Care for some Value Added Pao (VAP)…?!

 

My guest column in Business Goa’s 6th Anniversary Issue (released on July 18th). 

It was the summer of ’79. My friend and I decided to do something that would help us earn extra pocket money in the holidays. So we set up a Kool-Aid stall, priced at 5 cents a glass, in my dad’s driveway.

We had two jugs with two flavours, a handwritten sign board on the table and little jingle, which we would sing as soon as we saw some folks pass by. “Kool-Aid for Sale, 5 cents a glaaaass…” was how we made our pitch. Crisp and direct with a bit of melody.

We sold a few glasses, but got lucky when the football star’s son (who lived a few houses away), stopped for a glass. He liked our Kool-Aid, but he loved our spirit. He gave us a dollar and said, “Keep the change for your next business.”

When I now look back, I realize he was our customer-turned angel investor!

 

Entrepreneurship starts early.

Though the word ‘entrepreneur’ was alien to me then and pretty much for the next 13 years, it was only when I was in college that I learnt this new word ŏn′trə-prə-nûr′ (unlike my daughter, who has been saying E for Entrepreneur since she was 4).

I recently met a guy called Veer, who started really young. He made his first sale in school at the age of 8. His friend wanted his paratha from his lunch box, so Veer sold it to him for Rs 2! In my day, we merely bartered food: a paratha for a dosa; but never thought of making a business out of it.

Times have clearly changed. Starting up is the new sexy and entrepreneurship the new career choice. Ask me. I run one of India’s most vibrant communities of entrepreneurs, TheRodinhoods. We’re nearly 10,000 members now. The average age is 23. Every single day I come across the most interesting ideas, ventures and apps that address genuine pain points.

Wanna pee? Find the nearest restroom with an app called GottaGo!

Looking for a WiFi Café? Download the app and head to it.

Waitlisted on a train? ConfirmTkt will predict your PNR confirmation chances.

 

A food blog that became a business.

My favorite case study on TheRodinhoods is the story of Bawi Bride. After Perzen Darukhanawalla Patel got married, she wanted to impress her in-laws by cooking some Parsi bhonu. Problem: she didn’t know how to cook Parsi food. So she got her mom (who lives in New Zealand) to share recipes with her and would try them out. She would then blog about each recipe after perfecting it.

And then one day, Perzen asked the community the golden question: ‘Can your blog become a business?’

Ideas poured in, insights were shared; Rodinhooders across cities and verticals encouraged her to start up! Today, our Bawi Bride, Perzen is a well-known name as the home-chef who provides authentic Parsi Bhonu in Mumbai. She caters for events, does daily tiffins, organizes pop-ups and conducts cooking classes. From a blogger she has become a successful foodpreneur.

This is a great example of how a good idea can become a great venture when you identify a gap and execute it properly. And along the way, don’t feel shy to seek help from others.

 

More food for thought…

It’s exciting times for “food-tech” ventures. Yeah, Zomato designed a whole new vertical. Now being a foodpreneur is just not enough. Sprinkle a little tech and boom! You’ve become disruptive! Being a foodie myself, these kinds of innovations give me a rush. It tempts me to become a parathapreneur!

I mean think of it, Goa is the perfect place to have ventures like TinyOwl, BiteClub, HungryBuddies, GetLunchin and the likes that tie up with restaurants, local chefs, home-chefs to bring you a variety of cuisines at your doorstep. I believe, we do have a couple of such ventures already in Goa like ‘Grub in a tub’. But there’s room for more.

Where are the Idlipreneurs? Imagine dropping your kid to school in the morning and walking across to an idli van parked at Miramar beach.  Kaapi with idli-chutney by the beach. What a way to start your day! Why stop at just idli? A breakfast van with a different menu throughout the week would do serious business. Be it sabudana chi khichadi. Or Gujarati-style bataka poha. I could go on… 🙂

 

Breaking Pao!

I say, it’s high time for the Paopreneur to consider pivoting. Especially during monsoons when you feel like having something hot with your cuppa. Wouldn’t it be delightful to have some garma garam Vada Pao delivered to your doorstep in the evening?

So for a minute, humour me. Think about this pao pivot. Let’s call it VAP – Value Added Pao!

The Paopreneur need not struggle for new ideas for the menu – he could simply stick to age-old combos that work well with his daily pao! Vada Pao, Mirchi-Bhajji Pao, Samosa Pao, Sausage Pao, Cafreal Chicken Pao, Anda Pao, Maska Pao… 7 yin-yangs for 7 days a week to begin with.

All the Paopreneur would have to do is tie up with one or two vendors who would provide him the inside stuffing. It wouldn’t involve a major re-vamp or investment in his existing delivery infrastructure, apart from a hot pot perhaps.

The best part, he wouldn’t have to spend a single rupee on Customer Acquisition!

As you know, startups today burn a large chunk of their funds in the name of ‘customer acquisition’. I wonder what’s holding him back?

 

Everybody loves startup jargon!

A few months ago, I met a young guy. He had this idea to rent out expensive text books to college students (especially engineering). The idea wasn’t new, but we all know, it’s the execution that matters. He had big plans that even included an ‘exit strategy’.

I quietly asked him, “How many engineering colleges do we have in Goa?” Clearly he didn’t have volumes here unlike Pune. He quickly said he would operate pan India.

“What will you do the rest of the 11 months?” was my next question [since folks rent text books only at the beginning of the academic year]. He hadn’t quite figured that out.

I urged him to first have an ‘entry strategy’ in place before talking about an ‘exit strategy’, to which he said, “Nowadays everyone first talks about THE EXIT. So I thought it’s better to have an exit strategy…”

 

Learn from the Flowerpreneur.

To me, a great example of entrepreneurship is how flowerpreneurs operate. There is a clear demand that they cater to. They know people want to offer flowers (roses & marigolds), incense, coconuts and bananas. So they simply “set up shop” right outside a temple and stock all the pooja offerings – even milk packets (talk about being innovative!) They have figured out a great business model. Instead of sitting at one particular temple every single day and doing mediocre business, they set shop only special days at different temples.

For example, I visit a Ganesh temple in Dona Paula every day. But since Tuesdays are special days there, every Tuesday morning the flowerpreneurs are there before anyone else, ready with their Rs 10 offerings.

I’m sure on a Monday you will find them outside a Shiva Temple doing robust business with their milk packets. And on super special days like Sankashti Chaturthi, you can’t miss them setting up colourful stalls with renewed vigour. They have clearly mastered the business of selling pooja goodies all throughout the year.  And sell, they do well.

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Asha Chaudhry is the Co-founder & Editor of TheRodinhoods.com. Share your ideas/pao pivots with her at asha@rodinhood.com or @ashaonthebeach on twitter. 

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image credits: vada pao sausage pao