So, last weekend I got a chance to attend the Headstart Centennial Startup Saturday Event as a rodinhooder reporter! The event was held at the Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai and had star-studded entrepreneurs as panel speakers. Some of them were Kunal Shah (Freecharge,) Vikram Vora (MyDentist), Aditya Mishra (SwitchMe) and many more.
The event unfolded with a panel discussion of male entrepreneurs, followed by female entrepreneurs and then ended with a panel discussion between investors.
My main objective to write this post is to share the Key Takeaways from this event.
1. As said by Kunal Shah (Founder at Freecharge), if you consider yourself a student entrepreneur with some amazing ideas, do not just go and jump to start up. Do a basic research of at least 12 months into the market, talk to people, and validate your idea. Do all this while working for someone else, maybe in a start up or any internship in any company which gives you an opportunity to learn.
2. Do not consider yourself superior or more knowledgeable than people who are working in corporates or small scale startups.
A quote from ‘The Man Who Knew Infinity’ would be perfect here:
“Sometimes exceptional knowledge comes from the humblest origins”.
Implement this in your life and respect every other person and see how the world works in favor of you.
3. When PV Sindhu qualified for the FINALS In the Olympics, Some of the Indians were like “Chalo, Silver to Pakka Hai”. WAIT, STOP. LOOK WHAT YOU JUST SAID. We need to stop thinking like this, we need not limit our potential. Instead, we need to go for Gold. We need to work hard for it.
The point here for entrepreneurs is, do not stop putting your efforts after achieving Bronze or Silver in terms of customer satisfaction, sales figures, GMVs or whatever, you need to go for GOLD.
(Immense Respect for PV Sindhu who at the age of 21 tried her best to get India the Gold Medal)
4. Read Opposing Views on every topic. Do not limit yourself to a single opinion.
5. Many people asked about questions related to funding like:
a. When is the right time to get funding for your startup?
b. When do you know whether you should take that funding or not?
c. How to get your startup funded?
The best answer to this question was given by Kunal Shah who said:
“Funding is a fuel that can make something go faster that is already flying.”
READ THIS TWICE-THRICE AND MAYBE TEN TIMES. This is the thumb rule. You cannot build a product, wait for funding and try to make your startup fly. It has to be the other way around.
I believe if you follow these five key-points, you will be better than other entrepreneurs in the country. Just Believe in Yourself and the rest will follow.
Yash Roongta
Twitter: yash_roongta