It was the 30th of December, 2015 and I was designing the next level architecture for tech backend of FINNIE (a Mobile platform which enables you to save money) and a Facebook notification popped up. It was an event reminder, of the Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF) 2016, scheduled for 5TH January 2016 in Mumbai. Excitedly, I checked the tickets. They were priced $35 upwards for students. I didn’t have the money to purchase ticket. What to do? I was very eager to attend the event to listen and learn from distinguished speakers which included Mr. Ronnie Screwvala, Mr. Harsh Mariwala, other prominent VCs and entrepreneurs. I quickly checked the sponsors list for WIEF 2016 and found The Rodinhoods listed as the Outreach partners 🙂 . I wrote to Ms. Asha (Co-Founder & Editor @Therodinhoods) and requested to grant access to event. Voila! Next day I received a ticket from one of the co-chairs of the event Mr. Vikram Arumilli. Thanks a lot Ms. Asha and Mr. Vikram.
Lesson – If you want something, ask for it. Knock the doors.
WIEF 2016 consisted of Panel discussions on Entrepreneurship in India, Entrepreneur and VC relationships, Successful M&A exits, Social impact and a start up competition which threw light on what VCs / investors look for while investing in projects.
This post is divided in two parts,
1. Success Mantras / View about entrepreneurship and learning from speakers
2. Pointers to take care when you are pitching (in start up competition or in-person)
# Notes from Panel Discussion between Mr. Sasha Mirchandani, MD and Founder Kae Capital and Mr. Ronnie Screwvala, Founder UTV, Unilazer Ventures
Ronnie –
- Be opportunistic in the first stage of life. Be strategic in the later stages.
Sharing an example from his own life, Ronnie spoke of an instance where two year old tooth brush manufacturing machines were up for sale in UK. Consequently, he bought those machines and started business in India. - It’s very important to understand one’s risk taking capability
- Be Frugal. Best learnings come from being frugal. PS – Frugal doesn’t mean cheap.
- Stay curious. Be a sharp listener. (This takes arrogance out of you)
- Entrepreneurship is not an outing. You have to stay in the course. There will be ups and downs, there will be setbacks, but ultimately you have to rise to the occasion.
- Don’t believe in a PLAN B. Having only a single plan, you will make sure that you don’t have any choice; this will lead to resilience and persistence. You need to have total conviction in what you are doing.
- Logic, Curiosity and Conviction are key drivers to success.
- Find incredible co-founders. Why co-founder, colleagues, investors are important? They bring in different point of views from their own perspectives, which are very important.
On Failures, Ronnie responded, we don’t talk about failures, but we need to talk about it, we need to evangelize it. Ultimately, how you handle failures is what matters. (What you learn from it?). Fear of failure has kept and still keeps thousands of Indians sitting on fence.. to start up? or not?
On being asked to give a single piece of advice to entrepreneurs, Ronnie shared, Be Focused. To create outrageous value and massive scales, focus is critical.
I asked a question on Hiring.. How to hire and build an incredible team?
Ronnie – People join you for different purposes. When you don’t have money, inspire people with purpose to join and work with you. People like to work for learning. Setting up culture from the start is very important, as culture will attract similar extra-ordinary talent in long run.
To wrap up the discussion, Sasha stressed on having super determination while Ronnie emphasized on having a pragmatic, solution oriented approach.
# Notes from discussion between Mr. Neeraj Kakkar(co-founder at Hector Beverages makers of Paperboat) and Mr. VT Bharadwaj ( VT is Sequoia India MD, Sequoia has invested in Hector Beverages)
VT –
- Though it’s not spoken about much, We strongly believe in frugality
- Be authentic. Team background matters
- Focus is important
- Be open with your investor about your ideas
- Market is going to tell you whether you are right or not. Listen closely to feedback. Customer is always right.
- Taking care of people after layoffs matters (extending help to find a new employer).
- Company must have enough capital to run operations. Financial capability impacts risk taking capability.
Neeraj –
- (On layoffs) Layoffs are tough, because you hire them, build teams. One day saying goodbye to your own team members is emotionally testing.
- Raise money at the right time
- Ask for more money than you require
VT advised to prefer working in start-ups, primarily because of two reasons. First, you will be valuable to company, and second, you will have the time of your life. It is interesting to note as after passing out from IIM A, VT had worked with McKinsey.
# Notes from discussion between Mr. Aprameya Radhakrishna (Founder, TaxiForSure) and Mr. Siddharth Shah (Partner, Khaitan and Co.)
Aprameya –
- Solve the big problems
- Listen to the market
- Time & efforts are required to build culture
- Build technology for the future
In most of cases, Indian companies build/design technology for past/current problem. On the other hand foreign companies build/design technology keeping in mind at least the next two years. This gives them edge over Indian counterparts.
Siddharth shared that Culture and ethics will lead to sustainability.
Aprameya mentioned that there were three options Taxi For Sure (TFS) had, prior to their merger with Ola:
1. Raise half of the money than required (This meant TFS would need another follow-on funding round very soon)
2. Uber was asking for merger (This would have led to laying offs – nearly 1800-1900 employees. TFS had around 2000 employees at that time)
3. Ola was asking for merger (Layoffs would be lesser than that in case of Uber).
TFS went ahead with Ola, focusing on two key points: lesser layoffs + helping an Indian company.
# Keynote talk by Mr. Harsh Mariwala (Founder and driving force behind Marico)
Mr. Mariwala stressed on Innovation. What led Marico to be leader in hair oil segment is product innovation at every stage of company. Marico was first company to sell coconut hair oil in plastic containers. (Remember Re. 1 bottle shaped packaging?)
It’s very important to manage stakeholders. He stressed on the importance of stakeholders and not only of shareholders. Stakeholders are all the people, parties involved in total value chain of a company, while shareholders are people who are promoters, who own shares of the company.
Success Framework shared by Mr. Harsh Mariwala –
- Right to Win – Find a right segment to enter into market.
Marico has always found out niche in the market and conquered that. Consider shampoo as a segment, while other players are strong in segment, Marico entered into segment with Anti-lice shampoo. - Talent & Culture – To support entry into right segment and sustainable play ahead
- Growth Mindset – Must have growth mindset
Growth has to precede profitability. Profitability is a result of growth. - Governance (Accountability) – Have to have high accountability towards actions, towards company
Talking about start-ups, he emphasized on having long term outlook about your start up, with deep pockets, growth and right business model.
The evening concluded with announcement of WIEF Start Up competition 2016 results. Crowdfunding platform Ketto (Acronym of Key To Tomorrow) won the grand prize while Pratilipi and Trebene, bagged the Powerhouse Awards. Public choice award went to Kheyti, an agritech start up.
Quick points to focus on while pitching in competitions –
- Have neat slides (less data on slide), don’t make them verbose
- Have big fonts
- Be ready to get interrupted during your pitch by the Jury (Mostly happens when slide deck is not well structured)
- Occupy the stage. When you are on stage, own it
- Manage time well. End your pitch well before your time is up
- If you can weave a story around your pitch, amazing! (Story makes the pitch engaging and appealing)
Be prepared for following questions from jury / investors –
- What are the barriers to entry? How high is the entry barrier? (Higher the better)
- Market size? (Is it large enough?)
- Who is your customer?
- Who is going to pay you to use your services / product?
- Target segment for your service / product
- Cost benefits analysis
- Sustainability
- Value chain analysis
- Milestones ahead? How much money required to achieve milestone?
- Customer acquisition cost
I interacted with few VC partners and founders of companies who were Competition Finalists. The best lesson, I put together from all those interactions is that, customer is king. Build your product / service for customers. If customers validate it, you are off the ground. Don’t start a business for the sake of starting up or with only motive of making money. Focus on serving a large number of customers in the most effective and efficient way. Rest everything will follow. (Including VCs)
Here’s one more, to end. It was pleasant surprise to meet Rodinhood in person 🙂
With Rodinhood, Mr. Alok Kejriwal
What’s more? Add your view points in replies below.
About me – I am Megharaj Birje, @MeghBirje, co-founder at FINNIE, second year MBA student at Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS), Mumbai. Earlier worked with e-commerce startup Firstcry.com (2012-14) in the domain of Digital marketing and Analytics.
Disclaimer: All views are comprehended and reproduced to the best of my capability.