Therodinhoods Mumbai Open House on Friday, March 15th, was special…very special! And in more ways than one..let me tell you a few of my reasons:
- We had over 90% first time attendees!
- We dared to tell our “failure” stories
- Industry experts stood up and shared their serial failures
- We tore apart seemingly “big” ideas to help build even better ideas
- We questioned everything- intent, purpose, business plans, and journeys!!
- We bonded over easy, honest conversations as if we were long lost friends
For those who missed the event, here is the magic that happened on Friday evening:
Celebrating failure!!
Pawan Deokule- Saturn
One of the most polite presenters we have met, Pawan spoke about the failure of his company Saturn which planned to sell packaged coconut water. In a country seemingly dotted with coconut water stalls at very corner, there was actually a short supply of coconuts for the project!! A slight lack of research cost him the waste of most expensive resource- Time!!
Pawan is onto his next big idea- i2cook.com, an organic food portal. All the best Pawan!!
Lesson learned: Never underestimate the importance of a thorough research.
Kanchan Kumar- Fluous Solutions
Kanchan courageously shared his “serial failure” story starting with the collapse of his payroll software services as he depended on a single channel. Having tasted early success, they became slightly over confident. Without back up or another client in pipeline, they were unceremoniously dropped almost overnight from the client’s vendor list. With a 2 crore debt and recovery agents doing rounds of his home, it was a test of nerves. Sheer determination, belief in oneself and support of an understanding co founder helped overcome the disaster.
Lesson learned: You can go to hell and come back, just keep faith. Keep your chin up and do what you need to do to save the situation. In his own words, “I left home with a smile on my face. Went from one bank to another, from one lawyer/ court to another. Came back home with a smile. That gave confidence to my family that I will be ok.”
Superb story and especially inspiring coming from someone who now runs TIE in Mumbai, a not for profit organization for entrepreneurs!!
Rahil Bhansali- Tickertape
Charming and confident, Rahil spoke about his venture Tickertape and why it failed. From a high flying job in USA with a top consulting firm to landing up with an e commerce based site, life looked all aces until it proved to be otherwise for him. Everything looked perfect- there was a market demand, the study was scientific, resources were ideal but it still didn’t work! Primary reason was that the market wasn’t ready. Trying to serve a brilliant product to a market that isn’t ready will be always be a certain disaster!
Lesson learned– superbly put across by Rahil in his own words: “never lose hope. Never lose confidence. Even if it takes time, you will be the one who will have a story to tell few years down the lane!”
Heres wishing a very bright future to Rahil and his new venture which is again ecommerce based. He surely knows how to be persistent…:)))
Alok Kejriwal- My big Failure!
In his typical honest, witty and spit fire presentation, Alok spoke about the failure of a MMOG (Massive Multiplayer Online Game) from SEGA (Japan) and Hyundai (Korea). Having spent over 2 crores on the license fee, team and infrastructure, the game failed to attract even a few thousand players though it was recording over a million downloads elsewhere in the world!
Lesson learned: you can not import successful games (or a lot of other things) from elsewhere and just serve in to the Indian market. They will NOT accept it.
From a failed game to the number one app of the world, games2win is redefining the gaming benchmarks for India and the world today!!
Puneet Sharma- Spectacular 2013!
Puneet made a rockstar presenation about Bug Clipper. A plug in for existing web based bug tracking system. Companies recorded over 70% saving in their bug reporting time with its use. Browser agnostic and secure, this product is bound to redefine this category. Its interesting that Puneet launched this product while still working on his successful other venture which is in a growth stage- bearshop.in
Heres to a super year ahead to Puneet!
Nikhil Vij- Whats my Big Idea!
All of 23 years old, first thing we noticed about him is his sweet demeanor. Nikhil shared his Big Idea- Clipr, a Social Discovery Platform for Impulse Buy Products. Its about the intelligence behind browsing logic. Beyond remarketing, its a strategic placement of products according to your preferences without limiting or flooding the information.
As of now, they have worked out an integration model with facebook but anticipate some challenges from the market as it may be a premature time for the product.
Calling out to all the rodinhooders to help with feedback and suggestions from your experience to this young entrepreneur! Good luck to Clipr!
Alok Kejriwal’s presentation on – Social Media – The Ugly, The Good, The Great, The Awesome!!
Alok shared a special presentation on the various aspects of using social media. Clearly, this medium could be a boon or a demon, depending on the usage. We heard about the banning of a harmless game due to bad social pr (though, not before having made some money from it), to developing the world’s number one app, creating a “hangout” for a spiritual leader and building a community like therodinhoods!! A spell bound audience asked questions ranging from how his family reacts to his business moves and how tough is to convince a team to do something they drastically different from the initially proposed plans.
So, what really stood out in this open house????
If there was one thing which stood out above anything else that evening, it was HONESTY!!! Everyone bared their weaknesses, egos, debts they owed, struggles they went through, dreams that crashed, courage which almost gave up, hope that never left, belief that they will make a difference and smiles that melted our heart..:)))
As we wound up the evening after giving away the magical book, we left with a warm, grateful feeling of knowing such fantastic people and being able to play a small part in connecting them together, helping the eco system in whatever way we can.
To a million entrepreneurs!!