Alok Kejriwal, Meena Ganesh, Binny Bansal with Nandan Nilekani at the India Today Conclave 2013

“As a Marwari, you marry young, have children young and stay in the family business. A rebellious streak, helped me break out of my background.”

– Alok Kejriwal

Alok was invited as a panelist at the recent India Today Conclave 2013. The topic was ‘Start Up Nation: Are serial entrepreneurs the politicians of economic democracy?’ His co-panelists included Meena Ganesh (Promoter & Board Member Tutor Vista) and  Binny Bansal (CEO & Co-founder Flipkart. The session was moderated by none other than Nandan Nilekani (UIDAI Chairman). 

It was an interesting interaction as all three entrepreneurs had distinct personalities, with totally different stories to share. Most of you have already commented on Alok’s “costume” so I shall not elaborate on it! 

For me, the most memorable part of Alok’s story came when he told his dad he wanted to do something different, and his dad said, “Sure, we’ll make some different colour socks today…” 

This is the video of the entire session (including the Q&A):

[Special thanks to team India Today for making this video available on youtube.]

Some takeaways of the session as quoted on the Conclave website:

• The session discussed how in the 1990s, the two prerequisites of a start up were a strong lineage and land.
• In the 2000s, customer support became the buzzword which led to a mushrooming of IT off-shoring companies.
• Meena Ganesh, an entrepreneur who believes in technology-based change, was at the forefront of the BPO revolution.
• In order to flourish, the BPO sector demanded an enormous infrastructure, telecom and transportation framework.
• She said if the government took charge of, or even cooperated to build this framework, entrepreneurs like her could have worked with a more focused approach.
• Binny Bansal, who started Flipkart as a 20 something guy hungry for success, feels that capital can help but the vision is what really gets you up there.
• With a mere Rs 4 lakh investment, Binny and his partner Sachin Bansal envisioned, and stimulated, the trend of online shopping.
• Using new forms of marketing, word-of-mouth publicity, a user-friendly and transparent customer experience, Flipkart struck a chord with young India.
• To validate this, Binny pointed at how Amish Tripathi’s latest book reached the homes of 50,000 readers on the day of its release.
• Alok Kejriwal of Games2Win spoke of first generation entrepreneurs as a new and bold sector.
• Kejriwal said that unlike those who inherit a family business, entrepreneurs learn to enjoy their problems and make their problems their business.
• Kejriwal said that in established businesses, one is told never to give the equity away.
• Giving his example, Kejriwal said, “I gave 40 per cent of my company away as long as I was making money”.
• For Kejriwal, entrepreneurship is not a sprint or a marathon, it is a relay race. The baton is passed on to a bigger company sooner or later.
• On dealing with the government regulations, Kejriwal said, “stay away from our lives.”
• He lamented on having to sign 17 times to clear his employee’s cheque.
• Meena feels that government and private sectors need to work hand-in-hand to root out problems at the ground level.
• Binny on the other hand feels that while regulations are important, the processes should be faster.

******

Business Today, in their coverage of the session, picked up something Alok mentioned for the first time in public: the need for an IIE – India Institute of Entrepreneurship! Read on – 

“Economic Democracy was the central theme of the India Today Conclave session ‘Start Up Nation; Are serial entrepreneurs the politicians of economic democracy?’ Session Chairperson and UIDAI Chairman Nandan Nilekani spoke about India’s potential to become one of the world’s largest open market economies, with entrepreneurs creating more jobs and products.

TutorVista promoter Meena Ganesh spoke about the ecosystem for entrepreneurs and said it was constantly changing and evolving. Citing the example of Bangalore, she said it is buzzing with start-up energy with a host of incubators and mentors nurturing new businesses. “Indian entrepreneurs are working on finding solutions to ground level problems and many social impact solutions will soon be imported from India.”

The session focused on the roles of venture capitalists (VC) and the government in giving a thrust to this ecosystem. Ganesh spoke about the inconsistency in tax structures for VCs and angel investors and said that they impact and squeeze out the energy from entrepreneurs and investors. Also, the imperative need of FDI in e-commerce remains to be addressed by the government. She cited the example of Singapore, pointing out that the government is providing an enabling environment to investors by allowing Angel investors to get tax concessions instead of being taxed, as in India. “The government needs to understand that there is no choice but to work with entrepreneurs.”

Binny Bansal, co-founder of Flipkart, spoke about the need for consistent regulation and how it should keep pace with the fast evolving business ecosystem.

The panelists felt that government facilitation and easier access to capital are key to enabling entrepreneurship. Alok Kejriwal, co-founder of Games2Win, pointed out that an institute such as the Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship could go a long way in guiding budding entrepreneurs.”

 *******

The cherry on the top! This personalised letter from none other than Mr. Aroon Purie (Chairman & Editor in Chief, India Today Group):

p.s: Alok is following this post, so feel free to pose your questions in the comments!