A lot has been said and written about the power of ideas and how no one in this world can stop an idea whose time has come. Every one of us have these ideas that we are afraid to voice out or act upon but subconsciously these ideas are always there in our mind. Sometimes all we need to take our idea from drawing board to execution is just a little push from someone and yes an expert suggestions or two.
TheRodinhoods as a community has been a great source of tacit knowledge that no MBA school can teach and to top on that – we have some amazingly talented people who are always there to help others to realize their dreams.
Few days back a fellow Rodinhooder Atul Pawar wrote to me after reading my post about our brand Puzzles and wanted to share his concept of introducing exotic cookies to Mumbaikars. We soon got on a long call and discussed his idea which I will share briefly here.
Idea: To develop proprietary recipes of exotic cookies, manufacture them in-house and sell it through stand-alone retail shops and kiosks in malls/high-traffic areas.
Team: Atul and his friend who had done a culinary course from a renowned institute.
Challenges:
- How to market these cookies?
- Ways to build sustainable business model?
- Whether to focus on Brand or Sales?
- Lack of funds! This was a major problem – Atul only has Rs. 50,000/-
Somewhere in middle of our discussions I realized that if we really put our heads down – we actually can come up with a list of ideas that can be executed in Rs. 50,000/- and if are backed with disciplined efforts, these ideas can be turned into a solid business over a period of time.
How cool it would be if we Rodinhooders compile a list of such ideas and make a 10 liner plan to make it work and post here?! Event planner, Catering business for small parties, Boutique travel agency/agent and the list can go on and on… Sure, one might need to learn a skill or two but then again – a business in Rs. 50,000/-!!!
So coming back to the problem of Atul – since lack of funds was a major impediment and I had to help him to realize his idea within Rs. 50,000 – my suggestions to him was:
– Forget about the kiosks or shops – just the fabrication cost of a kiosk will be more than the amount he has.
– Forget about the brand thing but focus on building the product right and the consumer experience – If the taste is good, people will find him and repeat sales would come. Also, if that small cookie is hand-packed in a creative way it will not only be cheaper but will also attract eye-balls. Twitter and FB can be used as a way to brand and market the product and concept. Till the time the business reaches certain level – this can be handled by founders.
– Forget about in-house manufacturing plant since it will entail high CAPEX in initial days but focus on getting a SINGLE oven which will cost around 15K and start with it.
– Produce in smaller lots so that the cookies are always fresh and there is no unsold inventory.
– Now, since everything else looked OK we had to think of a business model in absence of kiosk or a shop!
We already have so many VC funded FOODTECH companies, and imagine how cool it would be to use their money instead of ours! This might mean working on a thinner margin but this will help in testing the product at a lower risk.
So, the idea is to
i) tie-up with these Foodtech companies and sell these cookies to them at a subsidized price. This will help him spread the name and also gather feedback from the market about the product.
ii) He can also put small stalls in corporate offices on a weekly rolling day basis so that he gets some traction.
iii) Apart from it – school and college fests is an excellent way to start promoting the business.
iv) Atul and his friends can also tie-up with various clubs and restaurant and sell their cookies in Birthday and Kitty parties that keep happening at such places.
I am sure that there will be so many more ways in which Atul can handle each of these issues and if anyone from the community can help him in this – it will be great.
Not to forget – let’s try and work on ideas for businesses that can be started with just Rs. 50,000 and see how many creative ideas we get?!?!
Looking forward to GREAT ideas!
Thanks!
My twitter handle: imabhinavgupta