GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF SKILL DEVELOPMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
NATIONAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AWARDS 2016 AWARDS WINNER AWARD TRACKS CATEGORY
WINNER
1
Agri, Food & Forestry products
Wow Momo Foods Private Ltd
2
Chemical, Pharma, Bio & other processed material
Saral Design Solutions Pvt Ltd
3
E-commerce, Logistics, Transport & other services
JETSETGO Aviation Services
4
Engineering Services
Swadha Energies
5
IT & ITES, Financial
Lucideus Tech
6
SC/ST
Jeev Anksh Eco Products Pvt Ltd
7
Women
SV Engineering & consultancy services
JURY MEMBERS
RECOGNITION TRACK
Ms Naina Lal Kidwai Retired chairman of HSBC Bank
1
Entrepreneurship Education
RUDSETI, Karnataka
2
Incubation
TREC-STEP, Trichy
3
Mentor (Private & Govt)
Mr. Pradeep Gupta (Private) Mr. Harkesh Mittal (Govt)
Mr. T. V Mohandas Pai Chairman of Manipal Global Education Services
Dr. Raghunath Anant Mashelkar Former Director General, CSIR
Dr. MK Bhan Former Secretary, Dept. of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt. of India
Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak Founder of Sublah International
Implementing Partners (Lead Partner 2016-17)
IIT, Delhi
(Traval Partner)
IIM Ahmedabad
IIT Kanpur
Tata Institute of Social Science
IIT Mumbai
IIT Madras
Xavier School of Management
Air India
Feel The Freedom
N
ot so long ago, in India, entrepreneurship was met with distrust. Entrepreneurs in this country were judged as jobless, good for nothing and hopeless failures, who could do nothing better in their life. It is only within the last 10 years or so that entrepreneurship has become the aspirational journey and holy grail for the bright-eyed, inspired and fearless youth. And it is with that knowledge that we celebrate our first Indian class of 35 Under 35 (see page 33). These are the faces and the inspiration of tomorrow. They are our brightest young talents and minds. Not only are they laying the foundation for greatness in this country for generations to come, but they are also inspiring a movement so important and widespread that it has the power to change the cultural fabric of our country forever and in the process also transform our country and make it a better place to live. It’s a movement of selfreliance, equality and opportunity; an ultimate freedom. Today these 35 entrepreneurs and many others like them are the flag bearers of a life away from fear because that is the only thing that stands between you and greatness.
Our job as the edirotial desk is not complete only with your admiration of this list alone but it would be a mission accomplished only if it gives you the kick to chase that dream, take that risk and give yourself that opportunity to see what’s on the other side. This issue celebrates young people and their success -and the opportunities they create. It is about their math, thought and passion -- and the fire in the belly that lights the two. We also look at how the Ministry of Skill development and Entrepreneurship has made an effort to rewarding such entrepreneurs, who dare to stand out of the crowd. Challenging convention and creating something new, I also met one such Indo – US entrepreneur, Vinod Gupta, recently, whose life is a tale of pushing boundaries, taking the dare and then giving it back to his roots.
Ritu Marya Editor in chief E-mail me at: rmarya@entrepreneurindia.com
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CONTENTS
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EXPERT SPEAKS
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IF YOU ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT SOLVING PROBLEMS, YOU CAN BECOME AN ENTREPRENEUR Sonam Wangchuk, Social Entrepreneur, talks about his ice stupa invention.
22
WE STAYED AWAY FROM HYPER HIGH-TECH COMPANIES LIKE SNAPDEAL, OLA Kanwal Rekhi, the IndianAmerican venture capitalist, and MD, Inventus Partners, shares his experience as a VC investor.
24
WINTER IS HERE... AND WILL CONTINUE Vinod Murali, MD, InnoVen Capital India highlights opportunities for entrepreneurs.
25
VC INVESTMENTS IN INDIA AND THE US ARE DIFFERENT Kartik Hosanagar, Professor, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania draws a parallel between India and the US ecosystem and impact of demonetization on fundraising.
Startup 26
OPPORTUNITY Biotechnology, still seen among the sunrise sectors in India, is already the third largest market in the Asia-Pacific region.
30
KICKOFF Insights, information, and inspiration reverberated at the Chandigarh edition of Start-up Kickoff hosted by Entrepreneur Media in association with Franchise India.
30
Growth 53
54
58
Vinod Gupta, the famous Indo-American entrepreneur and philanthropist underlines significance of education in entrepreneurship with a piece of advice to start-ups.
How family offices, a concept popular in foreign shores, have begun to show shoots of growth in the Indian market.
Still not happy with what you have? Tim Ferriss has an answer.
CHAT ON CHAAT
WEALTH MANAGEMENT
56
LEGACY The young generation at the legacy personal care brands are gearing up for the next big game.
Eco-system 68
70
Will government be able to execute UPI-Aadhaar in the right way to make Cashless India vision a success.
Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Mnister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship highlights significance of the ministry’s National Awards for entrepreneurship and innovation.
POLICY
6
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54
POLICYMAKER
SELF IMPROVEMENT
66
STORYBOARD How Housing.com went down from being the next big thing to almost nothing in a sell out to PropTiger.
72
AWARDS Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship honours 11 companies and individuals with National Awards.
76
TAX BURDEN Are start-ups really being made a scapegoat in government’s decision to tax foregin ad networks with Google Tax?
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CONTENTS
FEBRUARY 2017
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Money
78
80
84
Some entrepreneurs open their books to public. How’s that going?
Most of the states in India have policies for start-ups but very few have dedicated start-up funds.
A quick snapshot of the top deals of the month.
MONEY
STATE FUNDS
ECON
90
Tech 86
ONLINE TREP How KredX is democratizing invoice discounting like never before.
APPS 4 apps to maintain a healthy mind.
90
ASK A GEEK After apps winning over websites, the fight is now between choosing native and hybrid apps.
92
SHINY STUFF Exploride - a unique heads up display that replaces your phone and turn your car into a smart car.
98
Lifestyle
88
94
WORK LIFE BALANCE How entrepreneurs spend their early morning everyday.
96
BOOKS Harkirat Singh, Founder, Woodland, talks about how reading has changed his perspective.
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THE OTHER SIDE Nandit Pathak, Founder, Aermed, reveals his other side. ON THE COVER: Photograph by Naveen Sharma Cover design by Manish Raghav.
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SMALL MEDIUM
EDITOR IN CHIEF Ritu Marya EDITORIAL ASSISTANT EDITOR Punita Sabharwal Kapoor SR. COPY EDITOR Sanchari Ghosh SR. SUB-EDITOR Sandeep Soni JOURNALIST Sunil Pol TRAINEE WRITER Nishi Kumari ART SR. ART DIRECTOR Manish Raghav ASSISTANT ART DIRECTORS Rajeev Kumar, Ashvin Chitroda ENTREPRENEUR.COM ASSOCIATE EDITOR Aashika Jain SR. CORRESPONDENT Sneha Banerjee FEATURE WRITERS Nidhi Singh, Komal Nathani ADVERTISING NATIONAL HEAD Malarvannan #9886789209 mvannan@entrepreneurindia.com GENERAL MANAGER-SALES Ashish Arora #9555714242 aarora@entrepreneurindia.com WEST - Kavita Desai #9821300275 kdesai@entrepreneurindia.com SOUTH - Avijit Gouda #8197193191 agouda@entrepreneurindia.com NORTH - Luv Kapoor #9818440731 lkapoor@entrepreneurindia.com FRANCHISE & BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY ADVERTISING CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Ashita Marya #9810092379 ashita@entrepreneurindia.com SUBSCRIPTION/CIRCULATION ENQUIRIES
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ENTREPRENEUR MEDIA INC. CHAIRMAN Peter J. Shea, PRESIDENT/CEO Ryan Shea EDITOR IN CHIEF Jason Feifer Published by Franchise India under license from Entrepreneur Media, Inc., 18061 Fitch Avenue, Irvine, California 92614 USA. ENTREPRENEUR® is a registered trademark of Entrepreneur Media, Inc. This publication is sold and distributed with the understanding that Publisher is not warranting the accuracy of the contents herein nor is it promoting or endorsing any third-party businesses or products/services referenced herein. While Publisher considers the sources of the information contained herein to be reliable and verifies as much of that information as reasonably possible, reporting inaccuracies can occur and readers using that information do so at their own risk. Each business opportunity and product/service herein offered contains certain inherent risks. It is therefore advised that anyone considering investing in or purchasing any such opportunities or products/services first consult with and seek the advice of appropriate experts, including financial advisors and attorneys. This publication and its contents are protected by international copyright registered to Publisher and Entrepreneur Media, Inc. Consequently, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form and by any means without the prior written permission of Publisher.
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FRANCHISE INDIA R
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DIGITAL
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eurs ntrepren 12 Indian E 017! Top 2 r o f g i n Plan B o Usher i t s n o i t u Resol Year The New
Indian PM Narendra Modi’s Top #6 Sops for Small Business Owners & Farmers for 2017 425
t ed s o M ent m m o c
Tips by These 5 ican Top -Amer Indian ospel VC is G rtups for Sta
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Most read
Non-Indian CEOs is the new fad for India-based Firms. These Company Heads Explain Why
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dict rts Pre ting e p x E 8 ke al Mar t i g i D 7 The For 201 Trends s
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ls i Cal h h k e s al R ooli Kanw art a F vt Must k o Flip , Says G panies Com t-up Star ail Out res B Sha Not 11.4k
What’s on Entrepreneur.com?
UBER’S TRAVIS KALANICK SAYS YOU NEED BIZMANCE NOT BROMANCE TO RUN A PARTNERSHIP In his latest trip to India Uber Technologies Founder and CEO Travis Kalanick said the world’s biggest taxi aggregator started with something he would like to call Bizmance. Aashika Jain, Assistant Editor
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TOP #6 QUOTES BY SUNDAR PICHAI THAT WILL CHANGE YOUR PERSPECTIVE TOWARDS WORK
10 ENTREPRENEURIAL LESSONS FROM AAMIR KHAN’S FILM BASED ON WRESTLING
Sundar Pichai was at IIT KGP recently and addressed around 3,500 students, professors and media in an hour long talk. Saying that he felt great coming back to his alma mater after 25 years, Sundar got nostalgic about his years in the institution, where he not only met his wife but closed down the hostel mess once for unwittingly saying something in Hindi, a language he was just learning then.
Dangal the wrestling biopic movie shows inspiring story of Mahavir Singh Phogat and his daughters Geeta and Babita, their journey of overcoming multiple challenges and becoming wrestling champions. Similar to the challenges of Mahavir Singh, Geeta and Babita, in the business world, entrepreneurs face many challenges.
Baishali Mukherjee, Freelancer
Harsh Pamnani, Marketer and Author
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FEEDBACK
WHAT READERS ARE SAYING
D I G I TA L M OV E M E N T
ALL A BOUT A HEA LT HY RELATION S HIP
Franchising business comes with its own challenge. Over the years, the Indian market has seen a change in terms of consumer expectations. It sometimes is quite challenging to keep pace with the rapid changes. If a store is faltering and experiencing low traffic, it is important for the company to try and support it with the help of customer engagement activities. A healthy two-way relationship is important to build a successful franchise model. Saurav Paul, Kolkata
T ECH N OLOGY D ISRUPTS T ECH N OLOGY
CHANG ING ECO-SYSTE M
As a child, I treasured my walkman. I took it everywhere; for morning walks, tuitions, sometimes even school. But, after I got used to my mobile phone, sometime in college, carrying music around became much more convenient. But, I never thought internet will see such a death and that to so soon. I was amused to know how blockchain will allows us to share and store anything of value be it money, any kind of intellectual property like a new technology, work of art, research work and even votes. The informative article was well researched and well written. Sanjay Patra, Bengaluru
India is slowly becoming an entrepreneur-friendly nation. From corporate funding to markdowns and government-backed money, it is interesting to see how multiple investors came forward for a single round in 2016, as Entrepreneur noted. Such an event brings together different power houses with a wide range of knowledge under one roof. The industry has seen an apparent shortfall of funds, which led investors to flock together. It’s also a great way to get access to validated deal flows. Arvind Dubey, Mumbai
JOIN US
Ever since Narendra Modi announced his plan to demonetize high-value currencies on November 8, the Central government has been pushing for digital payments. It is encouraging people to use electronic wallets, banking apps, credit and debit cards. However, what must be remembered is that depending too much on the internet for carrying out economic transactions is not safe. Furthermore, sluggish internet speed hinders digital payments. These problems make ‘cashless society’ an implausible idea. Women and senior citizens prefer to keep cash in the house to deal with emergencies, such as accidents and medical exigencies. Citizens cannot be forced to make payments entirely through cashless means. Mahesh Kumar, Via email M A K I N G P E T-F R I E N DS
I have a pet dog and he is more than a brother to me. But, there are times when I am unable to provide as much attention as he deserves. I always crave for community where we as a team can find more friends. It was good to know about Woofyz – the social ‘pet’work. Quite an interesting read. Tarun, Delhi
Small Business Awards
Entrepreneur Start-up Kick-off
Feb 08, J W Marriott, Aerocity, New Delhi
Mar 10-11, Hyderabad International Convention Centre , Hyderabad
Dear reader, got a thought, a question, an idea, a story or a comment? Write to us at editor@entrepreneurindia.org
IN THIS ISSUE 14
“In times of yore, Calcutta was the capital of everything commercial. But then it shifted. When it did, so did brand talent”
“I think Indians start-ups are as good as American start-ups and the only difference is that the American market is much bigger”
“People like Flipkart founders just don’t have it. They were trying to do something which was sort of undoable and they were throwing money at it”
Harish Bijoor, Brand-guru and Founder, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc
Vinod Gupta, Indo-American Entrepreneur
Kanwal Rekhi, Indian-American venture capitalist
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TRENDS & UPDATES AS THEY SAID IT
HAPPENINGS
ENTREPRENEUR REWIND
The Wolf of Wall Street
I am positive that over next 5-10 years you will have more companies from India which will be competitive on global stage.” SUNDAR PICHAI, CEO, Google
N
icknamed ‘the Wolf of Wall Street’, he made millions through his investment company, Stratton Oakmont, even before he reached his thirties. Born to accountant parents in New York, on July 9, 1962, he had a natural talent of a salesman at an early age, and started a meat and seafood business in the 1980s. After that company
went bust, he started working for a brokerage firm, learning in the ins and outs of being a stock broker in 1987. Two years later, he was operating his own trading company, Stratton Oakmont and made millions illegally, defrauding its investors. Awash with cash, he lived the high life. He spent lavishly, buying a mansion, sports cars and other expensive toys. He also
IT’S PERSONAL Demonetization, while immobilizing black money and fighting corruption, may lead to temporary slowdown of the economy.” PRANAB MUKHERJEE, President of India
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FAN-BOY MOMENT Girish Mathrubootham, CEO and Cofounder of FreshDesk, had his fanboy moment when he when he met superstar Rajinikanth last month at his house. Girish is a huge fan of Thalaivar. Step into his office today and you can feel the larger-than-life presence of the superstar, be it on the cafeteria wall or the huddle area. Before starting to the office he would watch the song ‘Vetri kodi kattu’ from the movie Padaiyappa, one of the biggest hits of Rajinikanth, to draw inspiration.
developed a serious drug habit. Further, he encouraged reckless behaviour in his employees, as well. The Securities Exchange Commission began efforts to stop the company’s errant ways in 1992. In 1999, he was pleaded guilty. In 2003, he was sentenced to four years imprisonment and personally fined $110 million. He served 22 months in jail, where he developed an interest in writing. In 2008, he published his memoir, The Wolf of Wall Street. The following year, Belfort released a second memoir, Catching the Wolf of Wall Street, which detailed his life after his arrest. He is Jordan Belfort and these days he operates his own company, which provides sales training and markets training programs aimed at building wealth. Belfort claims to have straightened up his act.
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TRENDS & UPDATES
HAPPENINGS
1ST INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL SERVICES CENTRE LAUNCHED AT VIBRANT GUJARAT Declining interest rates will prove to be a boon for the poor, neo middle class and middle class while providing a boost to our economy. Amit Shah, BJP President The small and medium business market in India should make the most out of the initiatives launched by the tech major! Punit Goenka, MD and CEO, Zee Entertainment
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rime Minister, Narendra Modi, is slowly inching towards making India a global financial destination. Aimed at making trading in India for players worldwide easier, Modi launched India’s first international exchange India INX at the Gujarat International Financial Tech City during the eight edition of investment summit, Vibrant Gujarat. The exchange will trade equity, currency, interest rate derivatives via an electronic trading platform formulated by the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Indian companies will be assisted in raising capital by the issuance of foreign currency dominated bonds by the international exchange. Upon the realization of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the BSE and the Gujarat government, the bourse will invest Rs 500 crore for trading and clearing at the international stock exchange. The exchange, which is a whollyowned subsidiary of BSE, will work for 22 hours in a day and is expected to become profitable in 2-3 years, according to BSE Chief, Ashish Kumar Chauhan. Modi, at the inauguration of the exchange, said the centre will work starting when Japan’s markets open and ending when US markets close. Gift City is India’s first International Financial Services Centre and is targeting $48 billion in banking activities that Indian companies conduct in hubs like Singapore, Dubai and Hong Kong, estimated to go up to 18
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$120 billion by 2025. With an ambition to win back market share from global financial hubs, Singapore and Hong Kong, by attracting high-frequency traders, the exchange is expected to be one of the fastest, if not the fastest, exchanges in the world. PK Singhal, the President & Wholetime Director of Multi Commodity Exchange of India told Entrepreneur that India should become a price setter and whatever is required for India to become a price setter must be inculcated in the financial system. He said the launch of the exchange is a step in the right direction.
JUST LIKE THAT
True. The best businesses are built when you shut every exit door. Simply one way to go forward and upwards Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder, One97/Paytm In nations that don’t prioritize innovation, helping non-innovative companies compete will always create wealth Kunal Shaw, Founder, FreeCharge There’s a lot to be optimistic about in 2017…life is getting better for more people on our planet Bill Gates, Founder, Microsoft
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EXPERT SPEAKS “If you are passionate about solving problems, you can become an entrepreneur” By Sonam Wangchuk outcomes are. Intelligent risks not foolhardy mess that you might make and deter other people also from taking those risks. You need to take risks very cleverly in a deeplyengaged manner. The calculated risk-taking ability and perseverance to follow who says what and no matter if it fails once or twice or thrice as long as you believe it is the answer is what will steer you towards success.
Believe in the Power of Youth
I am a believer in the power of youth. Youngsters are most of the time very interested, they may not have the wherewithal at the beginning but as you groom them and help them grow, they are sincere. Especially in Ladakh, people are fearless about extreme conditions; they work through out and take it as a challenge and adventure, not just in physical means but also in spirit. The whole story about each of my work is that I almost don’t start something unless I have some young people to work with me. Because very soon then they take over and I can move to a fresh idea again with a group of young people such that they can take it forward. Drive your venture with the desire to solve problems. My idea of building ice stupas came from my drive to combat the problem of water scarcity. The region where I reside is a desert anyway. Climate change and fast melting glaciers means there is erratic water supply. So using ideas, science and other innovative ways to solve the problem was most important for me. With an aim to change the face of higher education not only for Ladakh but the whole world, I engage students to find solutions by working for real life problems like climate change. Ice stupas are about saving the water that is not used in winter when there is no farming in the form of ice mountains or cones that look like stupas to use them when it is spring. That way you can solve the problem of spring water shortage is when real glaciers don’t melt.
Money Always Comes Second
“The whole story about each of my work is that I almost don’t start something unless I have some young people to work with me.”
Take Intelligent Risks
My advice for millennials is to minimize the risk as much as you can by rehearsing in your mind what the likely
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I feel for an entrepreneur to fight the tide and follow his dreams; they have to be driven by their desire to solve problems that people have. Money is always secondary. I feel you should not be an entrepreneur just because it is fashion. You need to have the burning fire to solve some problem, something that keeps you awake till late night. And then you are ready to take risks and not just risks, but calculated risks. I have been raising funds for building ice stupas via crowd funding initiatives.
Believe You Can Do It
My project to make Ice stupas is faced by many challenges. The main challenge is that it is a new field. There are no books we can learn from, there are no people we can learn from, it is an untrodden path so therefore, you have to make every component by yourself with hammers in crude ways. Like it was challenging for us to work in -20 to -30 degrees, at midnight or early in the morning, but I still consider them smaller challenges. But I believe, tomorrow when there is more focus and more money in my field of work, there will be people who will specialize in better things to solve the problem of water scarcity in Ladakh. Sonam Wangchuk, Social Entrepreneur.
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EXPERT SPEAKS
“We stayed away from hyper high-tech companies like Snapdeal, Ola”
I
By Kanwal Rekhi
nvestment is a serious business and I take it seriously. After spending nearly 35 years being an entrepreneur, an angel investor, and a venture capitalist (VC), I understand that all that glitters is not gold. So, I prefer to stay away from me-too Indian ventures like Ola, Flipkart, and Snapdeal that are more froth and less milk. As early-stage investors we use the same approach in the US and India. Though there are no set rules for success but few things are good to follow.
cost, so we stay away from them. We are very fundamental investors.
Learn Investment Discipline
The way these me-too e-commerce companies are working is truly bad; they have no cost margins like Flipkart. Its founders were trying to do something which was sort of undoable and were throwing money in it. They have wasted billions of dollars and have failed in the marketplace. Now they are looking for protection. That’s not the right way to think. It is very hard to imagine that these guys can have discipline, the whole organization is indisciplined. They were not start-ups that started lean and mean and now suddenly they have become that. Start-ups have to be lean and mean from the start, it is very hard to transform later. It is like a big fat and flabby person who needs to do lot of exercise to actually become fit.
Read Your Market Correctly
I never invest in sectors, I invest in entrepreneurs. I need to know whether an entrepreneur understands how to solve the given problem. India has massive and unlimited opportunities in different sectors but it is a very unproductive society compared to China and the US. India needs start-ups everywhere and need to do it in the right way. Half of the start-ups do not have technology components. However, the entrepreneurs are good here and the market is maturing. The only problem in India is exits, we do not have too many of them yet.
Create Value
Be Accountable
“The best time to start a company is when everyone else is leaving the marketplace. Recessions are absolutely required.”
When you start a company, it has no value, you only start with an idea. So you go to a VC or an angel investor and you say hey, I’ll sell you 20 per cent for X million dollars. What you have sold to him is a risk by diversifying 20 per cent of your risk. If you can’t create value of more than two million dollars then you have wasted that money. Now, when you go back and raise more money, you are going to dilute it even more. So what happens in this environment is that capital efficiency, which is the heart of a successful startup, goes down. Your valuation goes up only when you can make money and along with it chance of raising capital also goes up. We stayed away from all those hyper high-tech companies like Snapdeal, and Ola. We just did not believe that their valuations were real. They are selling stuff below
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Ownership stays with you only when you don’t waste capital and think of capital as the life blood. When you start to raise billions of dollars of venture capital, you can burn that money in a wrong way. In this case, tell me why should the ownership stay with you. We are early investors and we have small funds and there is no need to invest in later rounds.
Accept Failures and Start When Everyone Leaves
Failure of start-ups is absolutely required. Companies see why they failed as learning comes from failures. If everything works well, there is no learning. The best time to start a company is when everyone else is leaving the marketplace. Recessions are absolutely required in a start-up ecosystem.
Never Regret
I never ever have any regrets; you miss opportunities all the time and that is the nature. Kanwal Rekhi, the Indian-American venture capitalist, Managing Director at Inventus Capital Partners
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EXPERT SPEAKS
Winter is here… and will continue By Vinod Murali
I
t feels like we are awaiting the next season of Games of Thrones in the Indian start-up world as well. It is quite clear that winter is here from a funding perspective and the question in most minds is how long will it last? The last ten years have seen three mini cycles of waxing and waning of investor sentiment. This has been surrounded by a constant strengthening of the entrepreneurship ecosystem where every time a bearish run is encountered, the system resets to a new normal. The quality of businesses and the level of competency, awareness and maturity of entrepreneurs has been trending upwards and to the right (like all good projection charts!). It helps to have numerous evangelists but the surfeit of start-up networking events at some level become a distraction. However, the fact that this has become a livelihood opportunity is also evident of the underlying strength of our fledgling start-up ecosystem.
Opportunities Come From All Directions
“Education is still a reasonably under penetrated segment while healthcare technology/services continues to be interesting, given the massive opportunity and execution challenges.”
2016 was a year where large funding rounds vanished from the horizon and valuations are clearly under pressure. This was also the year when folks questioned why start-ups talk more about their funding rounds than anything else. I feel it’s important to raise good chunks of capital and ideally a little bit more than what the business demands. Opportunities come from all directions when founders execute on hyper-growth pursuits so the least desirable situation is to be constrained on capital. The challenge is to find the balance between what is necessary and giving away most part of your company to financial investors. As to publicizing funding rounds, it helps in establishing some brand credibility which could have a positive ripple effect on hiring as well as comfort for clients especially for B2B businesses.
More Capital in the Series C/D Threshold
2017 looks like it will be an investor’s market, for most part of the year. It is hard to see a scenario where funding rounds are consummated under six months, even when it is not a 24
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cold start. The expansion of fund sizes as witnessed recently with Sequoia, Nexus, Accel, Matrix and Kalaari are indicative of the reality that many of these early stage investors see the necessity to be able to fund through, all the way to a successful outcome. The best companies of their portfolio should have constant access to capital to ensure they are firing on all cylinders. Seed investors are stepping up all the way to Series B rounds and the VCs are gearing up for their growth capital avatar. Hopefully, India will see more supply of capital in the Series C/D threshold where companies are not yet profitable but have robust unit economics and growth potential. This is still not ready for PE interest but astute founders have realized that the path to long term growth is to demonstrate a short term track to profitability. As companies grow, they need to ensure there is a tangible profitable neighborhood whilst investment into growth continues in other segments.
AI/AR/VR Might Breakout in 2017
Lots of buzzwords like AI/AR/VR filter through many discussions these days but there have not been too many companies with a strong value proposition but hopefully 2017 is the breakout year for these segments. Education is still a reasonably under penetrated segment while healthcare technology/services continues to be interesting, given the massive opportunity and execution challenges. There is a lot more love for SaaS wherein the gestation period required to build good products is now being balanced with the fact that revenues are more predictable and sustainable with controllable burn. SME financing as well as aggregation or buying clubs are also segments seeing more interest as there is a large and fragmented market but the underwriting and working capital challenges need to be managed to build out a long term proposition. It feels like we are at the end of the third day in a typical test match where most of the spadework has been done. Vinod Murali, Managing Director, InnoVen Capital India
EXPERT SPEAKS
“VC investments in India and the US are different”
P
ost-demonetization, the ticket size of venture capital investment has shrinked, however, investors are still optimistic and are largely betting upon the fintech start-ups as the consumer base is shifting towards online payments.
behind US companies mainly because of the engineering teams which have the jugaad mentality when it comes to product building. Indian startups have the potential and they are getting at the international level slowly. It will then take at least five years to be there.
VCs Shift to Rupees
Indian Exit Model is Different
With VC investors the cheque sizes have got smaller so they are bit more nervous. The investors were planning to invest in start-ups in dollars but now they are doing it in rupees. The start-ups which were raising $15 million are now raising the funds in India currency. Earlier, the start-ups used to plan in dollars and paid their employees in dollars. However, since their customers transact in rupees, the VCs and the management in the board all are shifting towards that. Investors decided not to spoil the entrepreneurs with $15 million to $20 million rounds at a young stage and they are all writing smaller cheque sizes. This is more of a cost control kind of mindset.
Post Demonetization-All’s well?
“Companies grow faster in the US. If you are doing well you can launch an IPO in seven-eight years. But, in India it takes longer for startups to grow in this size.”
I personally think, post-demonetization economic growth will slow down. But the question is, whether it will slow down for one or two quarters or for a longer term. These are the overall concerns as it will directly affect VCs ability to raise funds as they raise funds depending upon the growth of the sector. On the flipside, all our portfolio companies are looking for more and more people to come online. Demonetization got more people on Paytm and on other digital wallets, which opened up the market for them. So from the perspective of the start-ups, it’s great but the fund raisers are still skeptical as they are worried about the growth rate. I think fintech will certainly be an area of growth. I don’t know if demonetization alone is the driver for the sector or whether UID or UPI is helping it grow, as well. And of course, the factor that it is hot in the US right now plays its own part.
Jugaad Mentality is Holding Them Back
The Indian start-ups are not yet there. Indian products lack
In terms of exits, eight-year deal is the worst case scenario. Sometimes VCs invest for three to seven or four to six years of period. With my fund, we almost double the amount of time available to the entrepreneurs otherwise he or she has crazy pressure to go for an IPO. And when you are forced to sell you don’t get the best deal. US VCs are still learning about how things work in India, even in terms of exits. In India, it takes way longer for a start-up to grow to the right size. They have learnt that they have to be more patient, but they can’t be because when they raise money from their funds they have this same old 8-10 year lifecycle that the US funds have, so they are now looking to sell their investments to late stage investors. According to the US standard, a VC’s exit is through an acquisition or an IPO. But things work differently in India.
Here IPO is Bigger Than Sell Out
When they go through series A, B, and C, often new investors come into play. But often new investors are not buying out from the existing investors and putting in new capital into the company. Companies grow faster in the US. If you are doing well, you can launch an IPO in seven-eight years despite thresholds. There the IPO is a bigger bragging point for an investor than selling to another secondary transaction. The second point is when the company is on the acquisition, the strategic buyer pays the premium because there are strategic benefits. A private equity player is not going to get the benefit.
Kartik Hosanagar, Professor at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania FEBRUARY 2017 l ENTREPRENEUR
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OPPORTUNITY | KICK-OFF
E
R
S
30
Bioincubators and Biotech Parks established between April 2014 to Sep 2016
L
START-UP
B
2,000
By Sandeep Soni 26
ENTREPRENEUR l FEBRUARY 2017
T
N
M R
150
Technology transfer offices
20
Bio-connect offices being set up in research institutes and universities
G
New Bioincubators
E
50
V
was turbulent. While the dust is yet to settle down from the boom and bust of weak start-up economy structures, the year had its positives too. Among them and particularly in business and healthcare was Bharat Biotech which became the first player globally to develop and file patent for vaccines for the epidemic outbreak of Zika virus. It has put the global biotechnology spotlight back on India. While the company has acquired a decent size, there are some impressive biotech champs today in India or shall we say the next Biocons and Wockhardts of India in the making.
5
New bio-clusters
O
2016
Bengaluru-Boston Biotech Gateway to India set up for exchange of ideas and mentorship by biotech institutes
N
BREAKOUT
Early stage fund launched by BIRAC
E
Biotech BEGINNING TO
`10cr.
E
N
A
Biotech startups by 2020
T
he current crop of biotech businesses started in last decade or so, is turning India into an intellectual property base for innovative biotech manufacturing. The sector, still seen among the sunrise sectors in India, is third largest market in the Asia-Pacific region and make up for two per cent of the global market share. The ‘Achievements Report’ published on biotechnology sector, in January this year, by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and Department of Biotechnology, under the Make in India program, is aiming at $100 billion market size by 2025. For now, it is scaling up 20 per cent annually and is expected to become $11.6 billion market by year-end.
Biotech for All
Biopharma has been the biggest sub sector of the biotech sector. In fact, it contributes around 64 per cent of the total revenue followed by bioservices, bioagri, bioindustry, and bioinformatics. “Biotech can heal the world, fuel the world, and feed the world. Wherever there is life, biotech can impact. Health and wellbeing is just one of them,” says Shrikumar Suryanarayan, Co-founder and Chairman, Sea6 Energy. After quitting his job as the chief scientific advisor at Biocon, Suryanarayan was working for the Department of Biotechnology, Government of Indian and a visiting faculty at IITMadras. He teamed up with its alumni to launch
biofuel company Sea6 Energy in 2010. The company has been working on the next frontier of agriculture - sea agriculture to create large quantities of biomass for multiple applications – biggest of them being biofuel. “Nobody in the world is doing what we are doing – developing a comprehensive solution for cultivation and utilization of marine biomass. India doesn’t have enough land to generate biomass, which can be converted into biofuel and meet India’s energy and other requirements. So we looked at sea for overcoming limitations of land, irrigation water, and fertilizer requirements for growing plants,” adds Suryanarayan. To generate biomass, the company developed cultivation technology for mass scale cultivation of seaweeds. Simultaneously, to facilitate the process of scaling up, the company also developed a variety of uses for the sea plant biomass which would be economically viable even at a smaller scale as biofuel needs very large quantities of biomass. The first of these products from sea plant biomass is a Biostimulant which can increase yield of land based agriculture by 20 per cent. The marketing and distribution of Biostimulant is done by Mahindra Agri Business - the agri-solution arm of the Mahindra Group under the brand name of Jingo in a profit sharing agreement with Sea6 Energy. Future products from the sea plant biomass include food and feed ingredients, renewable chemicals and plastics and eventually biofuel.
Capital Contrast
BRAVO, BIOTECH! 14%
1%
belongs to bioagri
shared by bioinformatics
18%
comes from bioservices
3%
contributed by bioindustry
64% of the sector size belongs to Biopharma
$11.6b
market size by end of 2017, $100b by 2025
3rd
largest biotech industry in Asia-Pacific
20% growth annually
2%
of the global market share held by Indian biotech sector
Source: Achievements Report – Biotechnology sector by DIPP and DBT and IBEF
The sector hasn’t been of angel and venture capital investors’ interest; hence the number of deals in biotech companies from private investors is few and far between. $27.4 million raised by personalized cancer care enabler, Mitra Biotech, in August last year has been probably the biggest biotech investment in last year or so. Indian Angel Network, Tata Capital, Accel Partners, and Aarin Capital are few others backing biotech companies. The biggest chunk of investment though has been through Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC). “The biggest challenge for biotech startups is lack of availability of timely capital. It is true that investors are looking for returns in six-seven years and hence, haven’t shown interest in biotech companies as they have high gestation period of around seven to 10 years, which can be fairly capital intensive. The aim has to be about taking the business to a venture capital investible stage,” says Sanjay Jesrani, Founder and CEO, Go North Ventures and Member, Indian Angel Network – Hyderabad chapter. Jesrani led an undisclosed round in Hyderabad-based Transcell Biologics – a stem cell banking services start-up. A typical vaccine development cycle goes through multiple stages including discovery, pre-clinical, clinical development, and regulatory approval before it goes for FEBRUARY 2017 l ENTREPRENEUR
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OPPORTUNITY | KICK-OFF
Prominent Biotech Deals Since 2013 Company
Amount
Investor
Pandorum Technologies
Undisclosed
Sachin and Binny Bansal
Tergene Biotech
Undisclosed strategic Aurobindo Pharma investment
Mitra Biotech
$27.4m
Sequoia India, Sands Capital Ventures and others
Concord Biotech
$70.27m
Quadria Capital
Sea6 Energy
$5.3m
Tata Capital
Zumutor Biologics
$4.4m, $6m
Aarin Capital, Accel Partners, IDG Ventures, KITVEN
Mapmygenome
$1.1m
Angel investors
Xcode Life Sciences
$169k
Shead Holdings
Invictus Oncology
Undisclosed
Ratan Tata
Vyome Biosciences
$14m
Perceptive Advisors, Romulus Capital and others
MedGenome Labs
$20m
Sequoia India Source: online
manufacturing and quality control. This requires around 15 years of patient capital before seeking exits. M Kuppusamy, founder of Hyderabad-based Tergene Biotech has developed a vaccine to combat ‘Invasive Pneumococcal Disease’ like pneumonia. In 2015, Tergene entered into a joint venture (JV) with pharmaceutical major, Aurobindo Pharma, to take care of product development cost of the vaccine. “For vaccine industry, particularly if you are developing a new vaccine, the challenge is lack of early stage capital as investors seek returns in around three years whereas a new vaccine takes around eight years. This duration of sustenance is tough unless you have a venture partner or a joint partner” says Kuppusamy. Globally, according to him, around one million children die of pneumonia every year and India accounts for more than one tenth of it. In 2010, when Tergene launched its vaccine project, the imported vaccines were available at around Rs 4,000 per dose and each child needed to have three-four doses. This was a limiting factor for the vaccine even as awareness about it was scanty. So it appealed perfectly as a business model to Kuppusamy to develop an indigenous vaccine which could be more affordable. According to him, the product would
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enter the clinical trial stage in the next three-four months and might hit the market in two years. The JV in case of Tergene Biotech worked as it was a strategic investment, however, that may not be the case if startups choose to partner someone early on. “At an early stage, if you enter into a JV then other corporates might not back you because of conflict of their interests. In a strategic investment, if a corporate lets you to operate independently then it is fine,” adds Jesrani. Nonetheless across biotech space, Jesrani maintains, the opportunity is vast but businesses must engage in invention harvesting as that can potentially multiply returns for investors. “Unlike online businesses and upcoming technologies like artificial or virtual technology, biotech can give very high returns that can come from invention harvesting,” states Jesrani. If biotech companies, adds Jesrani, can throw up two-three inventions and protect them via patents in five-seven years and if even one of them scales up then it can give returns anywhere between 30-200 times.
Pre Revenue Support
Since most of the companies started in less than a decade have their products at trial stages, they are still pre revenue
businesses. While Sea6 Energy will hit break even next year, Pandorum Technologies – a tissue engineering and regenerative medicine company, started in 2011, raised funding from Flipkart’s Sachin and Binny Bansal in early 2016. Bengaluru-based Pandorum Technologies, founded by former PhD scholars Dr Tuhin Bhowmick and Dr Arun Chandru, at Indian Institute of Science is working on developing ‘organoids’ - functional mini tissues of various body organs for pre-clinical trials to expedite the drug development process, which otherwise takes six to 12 years for a single drug at an average cost of $3-5 billion. Currently, Pandorum has developed 3D printed mini-liver tissues to discover and develop better drugs at lower costs and is now working on bio-engineered cornea in tieup with a leading eye hospital in India. “We are planning to do beta testing with pharma companies for the mini-liver tissues and pilot human trial for cornea within the span of 2017-2018,” says Bhowmick, adding, “Since animal testing is getting banned in Europe and other countries for FMCG/ Cosmetics products testing, this lab-grown tissues generates huge opportunity.” Coming to government support, as per the DIPP report, tax incentives were announced in last year budget including expanding the business’s turnover limit to avail the Presumptive Tax Scheme to Rs 2 crore from Rs 1 crore. Also manufacturing businesses registered on or after March 1, 2016, now have an option to be taxed at 25 per cent in addition to surcharge and cess on fulfillment of certain conditions. Further there will be deduction of 100 per cent profit for three years out of five years for start-ups incorporated between April 2016 and March 2019 and exemption of service tax on services provided by BIRAC approved incubators. But in all this, the financial support offered during clinical trials is not available. “When the product goes for commercial manufacturing or clinical trials, there is no support. The cost of that has gone several folds high for which we need money,” says Kuppusamy. Largely, the support from the government, at least in case of biotech, is relatively better than other sectors, however, India needs more private sector participation as the ecosystem lacks not just capital but also active mentoring and infrastructure support for its start-ups to break out in a decade’s time.
AUGUST 2016 ENTREPRENEUR
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START-UP
OPPORTUNITY | KICK-OFF
CHANDIGARH STAGE
PROVED SUPERB FOR 1
Providing a profound understanding of various businesses, the start-up session at the recently held Startup Summit, organized by Entrepreneur Media in association with Franchise India, at Chandigarh, proved to be an apt platform for aspiring entrepreneurs. By Beny Sachdeva
2 1: From L-R Amulya Shukla, Chairman, Board of Membership Engagement, TiE Chandigarh Hridesh Madan, Director, Bulls Eye & Mind Tree School, Munish Jauhar, Founder, Graycell Technologies & Co-founder, Chandigarh Angel Network, Paramjit Singh, Principal Director, Regional Centre of Entrepreneurship Development, Chandigarh 2: Neeraj Sharma, Founder, Mountain Fresh receives accolades at Mega Start-up session from Jitin Talwar 3: Asha Jaiswal, Mayor, Chandigarh 4: Delegates at the Mega Start-up session
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ENTREPRENEUR l FEBRUARY 2017
START-UPS 3
A
ll start-ups begin with a dream to grow but breakthrough and breakdown are a common phenomenon in every business. But, how to work on the conceived idea and get it validated further? How to cope up with these situations? To find the answers of these and to unlock new sources of business growth, The Mega Session at the ‘Hot start ups 101’ in the “Start-up Summit’ was organized by Entrepreneur team in Chandigarh. Start-up founders and entrepreneurs travelled from across the nation to learn the tricks of the trade and finer nuances of entrepreneurship at this session as a set of mentors and leading angel investors guided them. The panel of experts were Jitin Talwar, Advocate and Patent Agent (India), Founder of TT Consultants, Angel Investors, Vineet Khurana, Angel Investor, Chandigarh Angel Network, C.J. Singh, Vice President, SACC India, Sunil Shekhawat, Startup Community Manager-NCR, NASSCOM 10,000 Startups. These start-ups rocked the boat with new ideas, new products, new business models and got appreciated and strong recommendation from investors. The few start-ups which made noises are Watchout App, Kingsideas & Imaginations and Morning Fresh, with latter winning the contest.
1) Watchout App:
For Nitin Gupta, Founder, Watchout app, an engineer-turned entrepreneur, it was his passion to create a solution for black spots (accident prone areas). This start-up has introduced the app whose target audiences are the daily commuters, cab drivers, navigation companies and insurance companies. Through this app a voice prompt will come within 500m radius of the accident prone area alerting the driver of it.
2) Building At Its Best: The world of architecture services in India is unorganized and troublesome. Moreover, within its ambit, also comes the hassle of sourcing materials. Looking at these problems, an innovative platform called Kingsideas & Imaginations was launched which offers online and reasonable architectural services. Parthib Deb from Tripura launched this start-up in 2014. 3) Mountain Fresh:
4
It’s not that easy being green. You want to do everything right for yourself, your family, and the planet, but often it seems like for every green choice you make you will have to pull more greenbacks out of your wallet. With a belief that even hazardfree food and vegetables can be obtained at a very nominal price, Dr Neeraj Sharma and Navneet Dogra launched Mountain Fresh. Scientist Dr Neeraj believes it is not an innovation, but a need not yet addressed. FEBRUARY 2017 l ENTREPRENEUR
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/EntrepreneurInd /entrepreneurind
B-school Special
COMING SOON B -S CHO O L SU RVE Y 2 017
THE
BEST
BUSINESS
FIRST EVER GLOBAL ENTREPRENEUR B-SCHOOL SURVEY
SCHOOLS
Some entrepreneurs follow their gut. Others follow their education -- and colleges and universities across the nation are increasingly catering to the ambitions of future business leaders. That’s why Entrepreneur Magazine partnered with IPSOS - Global Research Firm, to present the annual ranking of B-Schools in India to determine which best serves the entrepreneurial spirit. The results will be published in the Indian edition of America’s no. 1 magazine on entrepreneurship, ENTREPRENEUR. The survey will capture how colleges/universities hone students’ game-changing ideas, give them access to world-class mentors (i.e. professors and alumni), and perhaps provide classmates turned co-founders. If your business school mentors young minds, promotes growth thinking, problem solving, and innovation, we invite you to participate.
To fill the form visit: www.entrepreneurindia.com/bschool or scan the QR code To Advertise Call 9555714242
4
ENTREPRENEUR AUGUST 2016
UNDER
35 35 SPECIAL
By Punita Sabharwal
The Game Changers of 2017 They are the 35 boldest entrepreneurs of India who are changing the game in various industries and together they represent the optimism, inventiveness and boldness of India's millennial entrepreneurs. They have not just questioned the conventional wisdom but answered it with their fiery and risky business undertakings. They have inspired every young Indian to not shy away from breaking the status quo, rewriting the rules and transforming the world. Entrepreneur Magazine is glad to present the Indian class of 35 Under 35. TECHNOLOGY
CREATIVE
SOCIAL
CONSUMER PRODUCTS
>> Kavin Mittal, Hike >> Abhiraj Bahl, Urbanclap >> Sachin Jaiswal, Niki.ai >> Jaspreet Singh, Druva >> Manan Khurma, Cuemath >> Saket Modi, Lucideus
>> Arunabh Kumar, The Viral Fever >> Anisha Singh, Letternote
>> Anirudh Sharma, Graviky Labs >> Kalyani Khona, Inclov >> Aditya Thackrey, Politician >> Srikant Bola, Bollant Industries >> Neha Juneja, Greenway
>> Kaushal Dugar, Teabox >> Amruda Nair, Aaina Hospitality >> Sidharth Gupta, Treebo Hotels >> Rahul uppal, Woohoo Doodh >> Mihir Desai, Corum hospitality >> Tarun Arora, IG International
CELEB
FINANCE
>> Virat Kohli, Sportsperson >> Rana Daggubati, Actor >> P V Sindhu, Sportsperson >> Satnam Singh Bamara, Sportsperson >> Ayan Mukherji, Director, Director >> Neha Kakkar, Singer
>> Pai Brothers >> Nikhil Kamath, Zerodha >> Archit Gupta, Cleartax >> Ananya Birla, Svatantra Microfin
INDUSTRIAL >> Jatin Ahuja, Big Boy Toyz >> Samar Singla, Jugnoo >> Ankit Mehta, Idea Forge >> Greg Moran, Zoomcar >> Aronin P, Sastra robotics >> Rajesh Yabajee, Blackbug
FEBRUARY 2017 l ENTREPRENEUR
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12/12/12
Feb 2013
Apr 2013
Hike Messenger was launched globally and was available in 100+ countries.
Servers Crashed. Stuff hit the roof. Hike went down. Got back into action pretty quick though.
Within 4 months of launch, crossed 5M hikers! $7Million Funding from BSB.
Jun 2013
Feb 2014
Mar 2014
Jun 2014
Aug 2014
Aug 2014
Nov 2014
Jan 2015
Launched Stickers.
Hike crosses 15M users.
Hike gets $14M fresh funding from BSB
Hike crosses 20 million user mark
Crosses 35 mil users
Raises 65 Launches Million led Regional by Tiger Stickers Global
Acquires Y Combinator company Zip Phone
UNDER
35 35
KAVIN BHARTI MITTAL l 29 l FOUNDER AND CEO, HIKE MESSENGER
34
ENTREPRENEUR l FEBRUARY 2017
BILL
Aug 2015
Aug 2015 Crosses
Sep 2015
Hike integrates Hoppr and Tiny Mogul under brand Hike
20 Billion messages / month. Launches biggest ever update, Hike 4.0
News on Hike crosses 100M stories a week. Now available in Hindi too.
Oct 2015 Launches Hike Direct. Allows users to chat and share files without the internet and data charges.
Dec 2015 Hike reinvents for Multilingual India
Jan 2016 April 2016
Aug 2016
Hike Messenger Crosses 100 Million Users and 40 Billion Messages Per Month
Raises a Series D Financing of Over USD 175 Million Led by Tencent and Foxconn; valued close to USD 1.4 billion
Games on Hike - Beta, Hits Record 100 Million Game Plays Within 26 Days of Launch
Nov 2016 Rolls out 3 Big Features -- Stories, Camera, Live Filters
2016 didn’t mark the best year for start-ups. Funding was down and valuations saw a nose dive. At that time four-year-old startup Hike raised funding that too with a valuation of above billion dollar. Hike made it to the unicorn list of Indian startups in shortest span of time. Entrepreneur decodes Hike! By Punita Sabharwal
THE ZEN
IONAIRE W
hen you are the son of one of the country’s richest men, would you go and work with him or would you find your own path and build something of your own from the start. Kavin Bharti Mittal, son of Sunil Bharti Mittal, founder Bharti Airtel, grew up in an environment where business was an everyday phenomenon. While senior Mittal had to wait for the country regulations to open up to reforms and face lot of challenges as a yesteryear entrepreneur, for Kavin, the resources were too many. The world was witnessing technology 2.0. The internet had changed the way the world operated. This gen-next has come with entrepreneurial ventures of a different kind. It’s not into building something as done in the manufacturing era. This world speaks of tech entrepreneurs with apps, which were a newer wave with the iphone being launched in the US in mid 2000. Kavin was fortunate to have a father who had built an empire and very naturally he started picking up things very early. “I guess a lot of stuff I have picked up naturally, which I don’t even know about,” claims Kavin. Having an access to someone like him is wonderful. In such cases, the father-son relationship becomes more of a mentor-mentee relationship. Kavin agrees to have that focus clear owing to his father. “He always said that you should be focused. There is a large difference between knowledge and focus and I finally understood what he meant by focus and discipline. At the end of the day, it always comes down to where you spend your minutes and hours. We all spend our minutes and hours in building FEBRUARY 2017 l ENTREPRENEUR
35
UNDER
35 35 a business but a lot of entrepreneurs don’t understand the value of time. I think that was the realization I had.,” remembers Kavin.
Tryst with entrepreneurship
While studying in Imperial College, London, Kavin witnessed the launch of apps like Facebook. He had witnessed a different world there, which led to his first startup called Appspark. Talking about the same, Kavin reminisces, “I had a school friend, who was doing pure science and I engineering; both of us got together and thought of building something substantial, till then we have been building small-small things only for ourselves.” That was Kavin’s first tryst with entrepreneurship. Exciting things happened when he was travelling to New York, for his summer internship in Google and there he saw a i-phone. Talking about how it changed things, Kavin says, “A lot of people I met in Google were building apps solely for i-phones. It was 2008 and Apple had just launched its app store and so I thought, why not? let’s build a bunch of stuff for this platform.” Very naïve in his thought, Kavin with his friend aimed to launch one idea every month and make it eight apps in eight months. And, he took the most complicated idea first and it took eight months for building that single app known as Movies Now. It was the first ever movie ticket reservation app on the i-phone. Remembering how the app came through in 2009, Kavin says, “It was absolutely a brilliantly designed app and even today, it would work and function really well”. Few of the applications that were launched during that time were for 3G and the Movies Now app could stream trailers in both HD and SD on the phone and then actually buy tickets. At that point in time, there were only three or four apps in that zone. And after this, Kavin realized his passion for building things. “I understood that I am really good at it and from then on my passion for building things got kindled. And, Movies Now was one of my best creation till date,” claims Kavin. Later, he went on to built a i-pad version of it, which was even better. The movie posters here were bigger and trailers could be seen on a bigger screen. When asked why he couldn’t scale it up, Kavin says, “In the movie industry, if you are not a producer or a filmmaker, it is not worthwhile. The money you get is very small. We thought it through and came up with other plans but at the end we realized it was not a great business. Then, we started working on our next plan.” 36
ENTREPRENEUR l FEBRUARY 2017
THE WAY I HIKED UP Stick to it: “When you are building a company, you will have plenty of highs. It’s funny, because when you look at the probability of success of a start-up it is 0.01 per cent. It is the default mode of start-up. So the norm of start-up is - nothing works. It’s always in a mode of fixing-fixing-fixing and then something works. So, I really believe that if you really want to build something that works, then you must have the patience and perseverance. Adapt to change: Everything was difficult, when I started off and at 24 you don’t know much. I was fortunate to have started something before. I was good at building stuff but as entrepreneurs your role changes every six months. And, if you are not adapting or getting stronger in what you love doing then the company would collapse very fast. Find founder-friendly investors: One of the key things for me was getting founder-friendly investors. They don’t think short term, they think two years from now or four years from now and that really give us space.
India Calling
In 2011, Kavin moved back to India. One day, he was with his friends in Connaught Place, Delhi relishing some chaat. And, there, he realized all the servers had one thing in common and that was Nokia 1100, which was the phone that actually brought technology revolution in the country. But, all you could do, was make calls and send SMS. Kavin, who had a i-phone in his pocket and has been living on mobile internet for so many years, realized India did not have
Internet on phone. And he questioned, how can these people come online? Talking about his idea moment, Kavin shares, “I realized that messaging could be a game changer in this market. And fast forward five years, and it is pretty incredible to see the idea I had back then worked out so well.” The internet space is very-very different. If you build one product, you can’t delay it for a very long time. “It was very clear that if you want to build something in India, in the Internet space, then you need to have that kind
THE
NEW-AGE MESSENGER Kavin is a thoughtful man, who has a keen sense of design, as it’s visible from his one-year-old Aerocity office. The thought is to have an open and creative space where the best of products can be built up. The environment is easy going but the boss keeps a check on where the company is heading. Entrepreneur got to know more from this racing car lover, and a fitness and meditation enthusiast on striking a balance between speed and serenity. Here’s the hiker himself.
Aren’t you facing the problem of too many with Hike? No, people love that part about us. The youth has a propensity of using too many things. They have a lot of free time in their hand, which we don’t realize. And, three things that we have worked for in hike are on chat and contents and the third things is byte type contents like quotes and news which the youth consumes the most. The stories feature seems to be inspired by snapchat? Yes, absolutely and we are completely shameless about that. We really believe every five to 10 year a loop happens. And when that happen people take that loop in their network and deploy that in a way that makes
of a perspective. For that, I flew down to Tokyo to build a partnership so that we could have some kind of a vehicle and I was only 23. Softbank’s understanding of internet space was the key; in the internet space you can build a product and delay revenue,” shares Kavin. The Bharti Softbank partnership was set up to incubate ideas like Hike. The BSB set up was key for Kavin to come back to India and it was the incubation cell through which Hike came. The platform was used by Kavin to do his R&D. Talking about the initial days,
he says, “We had hyperlocal coupons, messaging and the goal for us was to collaborate all of them in one good idea. But, then we spun them into different ideas as we never knew which one would be the core.” Four years down the line, the company went on to raise, $175 billion in the worst of time from investors like Tencent, taking learning from chat businesses in China. In this journey what stayed through with Kavin was not only his passion for the product but founders who believed in him, co-founders who stuck by and a
sense and hats off to Snapchat for building that loop. The loops have been incorporated by other companies that suit their network. How about making profits? If you are running a business, it is important that over a period of time you make profit and big profit. What we care about is profits. If we are making tiny profits right now and make big profits later on, it doesn’t matter. I have set up this business in a way that my burn is very low. The risk factor in terms of capital is as low as it can be. We are very clear about what our business model could be and where we can get to a certain scale and say ok. And, we believe by 2018 or 2019, we will be there.
belief in Buddhism which brings sanity in his thoughts. Three-and-a-half-years ago, Kavin was introduced to Buddhism, which he believes is a practical way of life. As per him, “Events in your life takes you through certain journey.” The effect it had on him was either you can be crumbled by the fear of the company shutting down or you can rise above it and think about what you can do next.” Hike was close to shutting down twice but Kavin’s belief in the idea, the investors patience made him bounce back. FEBRUARY 2017 l ENTREPRENEUR
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PAI BROTHERS: KEEPING AGE BIASES AT BAY PRANAV PAI & SIDDARTH PAI l 27, 24 l FOUNDERS, 3ONE4 CAPITAL
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ranav (27) and Siddarth (24), son of T.V.Mohandas Pai, prominent thought leader and investor, Chairman of Aarian Capitals, has joined him to take the legacy of venture building forward with their fund 3one4 Capital. Having honed their skills under Pai, better known as MDP, the duo strongly believes that they are here to add their personal touch to their fundamental learnings. 3one4 Capital is a venture capital fund that invests in technology, product, and platform companies that drives the expansion of markets and the creation of new verticals. Young VCs are more of friends. Pranav, a Stanford graduate, said that both of them are the youngest in the industry and that gives them two advantages – apart from having the zeal to work really hard, their companies function very differently from other VCs. “If you talk to any of the founders,
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we work with, and ask them, you have six funds, who have invested in you, and 3one4 is one of them, how are they different? They would list down at least 23 ways we are different...,” Pranav said. “On a more fundamental level, we are closer to the age of most of these entrepreneurs. The things they tell us, the way they talk to us, the way we engage with them is very different. We almost consider them as our friends now and they do as well,” Pranav adds. Siddarth further went on to add that two of them painstakingly explain the entire thought process that went behind a decision to entrepreneurs, unlike senior VC or any executives who would give their decision without explaining the reason behind it. “The entire trust deficit in the system comes down because of our age and approach to situations,” he adds. Legacy is to be embraced, not mocked
at! When a generation steps into a business aced by its predecessor, there constantly exists the fear of being compared and getting over shadowed. However, the brothers deny a glorious legacy of being any sort of a burden to them. Pranav pointed out the baseless agebased biases people have in the country, wherein old companies and people are termed stupid and archaic! “There is a very dual nature of legacy, which I don’t think people think deeply enough,” he adds. Pranav said that they continuously learn and understand what it takes to build companies that have long-lasting value in India. “All we do is learn from him (MDP) everyday. We take every opportunity we can to argue with him, at times he is shocked by the debates and arguments we have with him.”
ENTREPRENEUR TURNED ACTOR RANA DAGGUBATI l 32 l ACTOR & PRODUCER
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ot being the typical story of an actor becoming a producer, Rana started as a producer and then took to acting. Talking about the change in path, Rana says, “This was a decision which I made eight years ago, at that time I was doing a lot of things but cinema was where my most of the interest was.” In 2004, Rana set up Spirit Media and in 2010, Rana’s acting career started with ‘Leader’ a political drama in Telugu. Soon after his first film, he starred in a Hindi film called ‘Dum Maaro Dum’. It was a fair debut but the country finally took notice of him with Baahubali. The 2015 historical fiction became the highest grossing Indian film. The film took four years to be made but it was worth all the time and became the third highest grossing Indian film globally. As per Rana, each film comes across as a new learning. He says, “Every film has its own challenge. While shooting for The Ghazi Attack, a war based film, we shot it under water, in a submarine. With each film we come across new challenges and learn from them.” The actor is also the brand ambassador for the Pro Kabaddi League. Talking about his mantra for bouncing back, he adds, “If you really enjoy doing something, you should stick to your path whether it is good or bad. If your films succeed then its good but if it fails then you learn from it and move forward.” Besides his production company, he has partnered with a Bombay-based company to help actors, directors and technicians to bring their best. Apart from gaming, reading is the other passion for Rana. When asked if he still plays, Rana says, “I have stopped playing because I don’t find time anymore.” He has also invested in a company, called Gameszop, which is an offline gaming company. When asked whether he would make any further investments, he says, “Media offcourse. I always found it interesting, and so, it would be content and media, if I make any further investments.” Rana has four films lined up this year, Ghazi in February, Baahubali 2 in April and a political drama in Telugu, which will come in end of June and another in September, which is also a war based film. FEBRUARY 2017 l ENTREPRENEUR
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THE RISE OF P V SINDHU P V SINDHU l 21 l SPORTS PERSONALITY
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lost a match. But, over the years she orn to parents who were improved her game and also learnt to professional volleyball players, PV handle failure. After passion, Sindhu Sindhu went on to choose badminton as counts hard work as the ultimate recipe a career. Sindhu started playing at the for success. Sharing her aim, Sindhu age of eight-and-a-half with her interest says, “I definitely want to driven towards badminton. Talking about her WELL, WINNING see myself at the top of the inclination Sindhu says, “I AND LOSING ARE A world.” P V Sindhu went on to used to play for fun initially PART OF LIFE. UPS but slowly the number of AND DOWNS ARE win the silver medal at the hours increased. I used to ALWAYS THERE IF Olympics becoming the only love playing badminton and YOU WIN THAT’S Indian woman to achieve that’s how my parents came REALLY NICE AND this feat. One week before forward to support me.” IF YOU LOSE YOU the Olympics, she went to Speaking about Pullela WILL LEARN A LOT Rio and practiced for hours there. So, everything was Gopichand, her coach and MORE really important from the inspiration himself, Sindhu diet, practice, rest and sleep, each of says, “I would watch him (Gopichand) these things played a pivotal role in her play and later shifted to his academy success. On how she continues on days to get further training.” As a child, when she is short of energy, Sindhu Sindhu ended up crying every time she 40
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says, “Sometimes, we might be really very tired, during those hours you need focus on the game and plan accordingly. Like if you are tired today, we change the schedule, it depends on my coach so, he decides what it is.” Currently, Sindhu is the brand ambassador for APIS India honey, Moov, Bank of Baroda and Ojasvita MALT. Sharing her take on winning and losing, Sindhu says, “Well, winning and losing are a part of life. Ups and downs are always there if you win that’s really nice and if you lose you will learn a lot more, it’s not just that you will keep winning and keep losing but definitely if you keep working hard on your mistakes and rectify them then definitely in the next round you will rectify when they come up.”
THE MOBILE SERVICE MARKETPLACE ABHIRAJ BHAL l 30 l CO-FOUNDER, URBANCLAP.COM
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rbanClap was started 2.5 years back with the vision to organize the local services market in India. The idea was to create a large tech business which primarily caters to customers need. The local services industry is very fragmented and unorganized. Sharing his start-ups story, Abhiraj says, “When we started UrbanClap, hiring a plumber, beautician, yoga trainer, math tutor etc. was a painful process. There were no standards, no concept of trust, pricing inefficiencies, and the industry was shackled in the “yellow pages” era. We saw this as a large opportunity.” By leveraging technology, and a set of simple yet powerful processes, the company has been able to build a fairly disruptive platform, which is now the default way to hire these services in India. “Equally important is the massive impact we have created for 50,000+ service professionals and small businesses, for most of whom, UrbanClap is the dominant, if not the only way to grow their business,” he adds. The company generated business of more than 60 crores in last one year. Beauticians working at salons, who earn Rs.15,000 a month now earn upto Rs.45,000, through the leads Urbanclap sends them. When not busy at UrbanClap, Abhiraj enjoys immersing himself in interesting experiences, be it running a marathon, sky-diving, scuba diving or cooking his wife Urvi’s favourite dish. Talking about the hardest decision he made in his business, Abhiraj says, “One such decision was when we took a call to monetize the platform. While we were confident about our product and service delivery, the thought of going from a free to a paid platform was a slightly intimidating from the partner side perspective.” “We are hopeful to become profitable by 2018,” adds Bhal. The company has raised 36.5 million dollars so far. With series A fund of $10 milion, Delhi based, UrbanClap, is carving a niche in mobile local services and it has managed to raise $ 25 million funds from Bessemer, Saif and Accel Partners. Moreover, Ratan Tata invested in UrbanClap in December 2015. However, the value of the investment was not disclosed. One year down the line, Urbanclap sees itself serving 100,000 requests a day. Currently, Urbanclap is available in eight cities and is exploring launching one or two or more cities, with international operations starting by early 2018. FEBRUARY 2017 l ENTREPRENEUR
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35 35 LEADER BY COMPULSION AND CHOICE ADITYA THACKERAY l 26 l POLITICIAN
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hen politics is a serious business, being the grandson of an enigmatic leader is not an easy task. When grandfather, Balasaheb Thackeray, and father, Uddhav Thackeray, conquered the stage with speeches, young Aditya, now the chief of Yuva Sena, the youth wing of Shiv Sena, would enter the crowd and communicate with people. “This would make them feel that I am one of them,” Aditya says. He further adds, “I don’t prefer speaking big words from the stage. Rather I go to people, talk to them, listen to their problem and tweet about those. This is how I have developed my own identity along with being tech savvy.” When teachers in his college called a strike, Aditya looked into the concerns of the students and the issues pertaining to the teachers and solved those issues and immediately emerged as a youth leader. In 2010, when the Yuva Sena was launched, Aditya was made the head of the youth wing as his father felt that he represents the language of the youth. And, as Aditya started growing as a politician, the responsibility of Bhartiya Vidyarthi Sena and Bhartiya Vidyarthi Seva was also handed over to him under the aegis of Yuva Sena. Today, it has units across Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir. “The legacy of the family is in my blood and I don’t take it as pressure rather, I work for the party tirelessly. As politics today has become more target oriented and commercialized, I set a target and work towards that. It has become more popular due to social networking sites,” he further says. Aditya single-handedly worked on Senate elections, and went on to win 8 out of 10 seats for Yuva Sena. Speaking about his vision, Aditya says, “Making Yuva Sena the strongest branch of Shiv Sena, taking Shiv Sena to the top level, electing CM of Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, sending maximum number of elected MPs of Shiv Sena to centre, furling Bhagva flag in Maharashtra and Delhi and leaving alternate for Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.” Speaking about his other two passions, poetry and photography, he said, “I love poetry since childhood, I have launched my poetry book. Photography is the hobby, which has come to me from my father. I have pursued his passion for photography. Many a times I photograph my father during his rallies and speeches.”
MOVING FROM MICROFINANCE TO MUSIC ANANYA BIRLA l 23 l FOUNDER, SVATANTRA MICROFIN
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or Ananya, setting up things on her own has been the call. Putting behind her surname, she is the daughter of India’s leading industrialist, Kumar Mangalam Birla, she set out on her own. Entrepreneurship runs in her blood, owing to this, Ananya couldn’t resist and started out at the age of 17. Even while studying at Oxford, she dabbled in a venture to teach kids how to code. From coding, Anaya went on to start Svatantra in 2012. Svatantra is a new age microfinance, which leverages technology to make 100 per cent cashless disbursements, enabling rural women to join the financial mainstream. In the last three years, Svatantra has grown from six branches to 82 branches, from 8,000 clients to 1.60 lakh clients, from Rs 8 crore to Rs 230 crore of a loan portfolio. In human capital, it grew from 30 employees in 2012 to 700+ employees at present. Talking about the culture at Svatantra, Ananya shares, “Although, we are officially a medium sized MFI; we will always be a startup, at heart.” Svatantra leveraged the business adequately to an extent of close to Rs. 200 crore through a mix of public and private sector banks, NBFCs etc. It is currently evaluating on bringing social impact investors on board. Delving on the difficult times she faced as a start-up, Ananya says, “I would have to say that my belief and call to go cashless and provide one of the lowest interest rates in the network at a time when everyone else was charging a drastically higher one, was a hard decision to convince the naysayers and decision makers at the start.” The company has achieved break-even in its operations on monthly basis; however, on annual basis the company will achieve the PBT positive in FY18. Eventually the aim is to transform into a small financial bank. One might not confine the young girl’s achievement with just Svatantra. As the business progressed, and functioned autonomously, Ananya moved ahead from overseeing the day-to-day management and delegation to concentrate on her new ventures that now needed her complete attention like music and CuroCarte. With CuroCarte, Ananya ventured into luxury e-commerce providing rare, handmade, high quality, high end, luxury products, curated currently from nine countries. On music front, Anaya recently went on to launch her own album with Universal. FEBRUARY 2017 l ENTREPRENEUR
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DOING IT THE VIRAT WAY VIRAT KOHLI l 28 l CAPTAIN, INDIAN CRICKET TEAM
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rom being seen as a brash, aggressive, and outspoken member of the Indian cricket team to captaining India in all three formats of the game, Virat Kohli in a very less time has given the perfect direction to his never-say-die attitude to get on top of his career, the way he guides the ball to the stands. But as they say with great power comes great responsibility, Kohli has from time to time been dismissed by his sceptics but the 28-yearold Delhi boy has showed his other side of self-belief, persistence, and having long term vision till he comes back in the game. This speaks volume about his maturity over the time not just only as a player. Drawing a parallel to his business interests, one can read between the lines of how his personality and maturity is visible off the field as well. As a sportsperson and a fitness freak, Kohli has obvious interest in ventures in sports, and fitness apart from fashion that defines his attitude and loved by millions of his fans. These include Chisel (chain of gyms and fitness centres), Wrogn (youth fashion brand), Stepathlon (corporate wellness platform), SportConvo (sport social media network), FC Goa (Goa franchise for Indian Super League), IPTL- UAE Royals (UAE franchise for International Premier Tennis League), and the newest venture to the list - MuveAcoustics (audio solution company). Among the highest paid and richest cricketers in the world, Kohli’s brand endorsements were reportedly valued at around Rs 130 crore last year. Currently the brands sitting on his shoulders include MRF, Tissot, Pepsi, Herbalife, Boost, Smaaash, Colgate, Nitesh Estates, Valvoline, Manyawar, Shyam Steel, PNB, Samsonite, Gionee, USL, Vicks, and Audi. In January this year, government of India honored Kohli with Padma Shri – the fourth highest civilian award for his dedication and contribution to cricket. “It's a privilege to be awarded with Padmashree and to announce it on the 68th Republic Day made it even more special,” tweeted Kohli.
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tanding tall at 7’2”, Satnam became the first Indian to be drafted into NBA after he was picked up by the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA drafts in June 2015. Born in a village called ‘Ballo Ke’ in Barnala district of Punjab, he got the opportunity to train at the prestigious Bradenton based IMG Academy that has previously produced players like Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter, Joakim Noah and Chauncey Billups. Bhamara is currently tackling it out in the NBA Development League (D-League) for Texas Legends and has played in five out of 14 games so far, scoring six points in all. In 2010, Reliance Industries partnered with the global sports marketing company, IMG, to sign a 30-year contract with Basketball Federation of India (BFI) to improve the facilities and help organize leagues to improve the standard of the game in India. In 2010, Satnam led the Punjab team to national victory and was chosen by BFI to play in NBA ‘Basketball Without Borders’ in Singapore. BFI’s head coach, Harish Sharma, later recommended Satnam for a scholarship by IMG Reliance to train at IMG Bradenton. Satnam tells us, “After that, I came here (Florida, US) in 2010 and I just kept playing. If you have an opportunity, you need to play really hard and well.” Satnam has many admirers in Canada and Indians in America love him, but he reveals that financially, he didn’t get any support from the Indian government. Back in India, Balbir Singh is a proud father who has enthusiastically supported his son, Satnam, towards aiming to become a basketball star despite having very limited means. He says, “When I was a child, my dad told me that I need to work hard on myself. He made me do only two things - study and play basketball and said, “You don’t need more than that.” Interestingly, Satnam’s mother is 6’9” tall and his father at 7’3” is the tallest man in his village. In his own youth, he had been advised to play basketball, but Satnam’s grand-father restrained him from getting into sports and rather wanted him to be a farmer like everyone else. This led Balbir not suppress the capabilities he saw in Satnam and help him enroll in the Ludhiana Basketball Academy to hone his skills at a very young age. As Satnam awaits better opportunities in NBA matches, he is challenging himself everyday to continuously improve his game. He’s also hoping for his next chance to travel to India very soon. Apart from improving his performance, Satnam’s “next goal is to play for the Indian basketball team.” FEBRUARY 2017 l ENTREPRENEUR
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35 35 THE INDIAN SHAKIRA NEHA KAKKAR l 28 l SINGER
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rom a contestant on a reality television show to now being a judge for future singers, life has come full circle for this vivacious singer. 2016 was a year that belonged to Neha Kakkar with some chartbuster hits like Kala Chashma and Kar gayi chull. 2017 looks much more promising for this young talent. Neha Kakkar started singing at the tender age of four. Being a sibling to Sonu Kakkar and Tony Kakkar, music was an everyday phenomenon at home. She grew up with a dream to sing someday like her sister. Having such talent at home, she never felt the need to get any formal training in singing. This further led to her aim to participate in Indian Idol 2. “I started with Bhajan-Sandhyas, Mata-ki-Chowki from the age of four until 16 when I auditioned for Indian Idol 2,” shares Neha. Not making it to the finals left her devastated. “People appreciated my voice saying that you sing well but nobody ever told me that I am a great singer and I wanted to prove that. So I polished my voice a lot from that time onwards so that people actually appreciate my voice,” says Neha. Talking about life afterwards, Neha says, “I got my first blockbuster break for the movie Cocktail, where I sang ‘Second Hand Jawani’. She went on to deliver hits like ‘Dhating-Naach’, ‘SunnySunny’, ‘Aao Raja’, ‘Manali Trance’ and many more. On judging the reality show, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Little Champs, she says, “Having shot three episodes till now, every time I audition somebody, I actually feel their emotions. I go into the flashback when I was a contestant myself.” When asked if she would get into business anytime soon, she shares, “If ever, it has to be a clothing line.”
MAKING LUXURY ACCESIBLE
AMRUDA NAIR l 33 l JOINT MANAGING DIRECTOR AND CEO, AIANA
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ailing from the legacy of The Leela Group, the grand-daughter of Capt.Nair, Amruda Nair has set out to create a brand of her own and establish it in the hospitality sector as a favoured destination for Indians travelling abroad. She realized that annually only five million travelers are entering India whereas more than 18 million Indians are travelling abroad. So, “Aiana wants to be where the Indian traveler is,” tells Amruda. Aiana has a joint venture with a Qatar based investor and has already acquired eight properties across the middle-east apart from six in Kerala and Karnataka. Currently, Aiana is on an expansion spree. Talking about her entrepreneurial venture, she tells us, “One thing I have learnt from him (Capt. Nair) is - take risk. To create something from scratch, having a clear vision of where you want to be is important.” Aiana is projected to fill the gap of affordable luxury in the market, which is very different from Leela brands in all aspects of design and service delivery. Amruda is a sports enthusiast who has run the half-marathon in Mumbai seven times. She tells us that the pivot for her successful entrepreneurial venture remains her business partner Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani, who shares her passion for Indian hospitality and supports the idea of creating an India inspired brand on a global scale.
TRADE ON BOOZE AT TBSE
SUCCESS FRUCTIFIED
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MIHIR DESAI l 33 l CO-OWNER, THE BAR STOCK EXCHANGE
t was during Mihir Desai’s visit to New York in 2014 where he came across a brewery trading in beer like a stock exchange trades in stocks, and he was fascinated by the concept. It was there and then, that he planned to open one in Mumbai with more categories of spirits, beers and wines. “We’ve been in the bar business for over a decade now, and our desire to try something out of the box led to planning such a concept in India,” shares Mihir, who has now expanded in other cities and in global market by setting up first outlet in Dubai. TBSE trades in alcohol whilst making sure the customer has a great exchange. The group has heavily invested in the development of this software and in creating adequate back-end support. Hence, there is no need to do any calculations as everything is managed by software. The algorithm is fairly simple– all spirits starts at MRP and is governed by the basic laws of demand and supply.
TARUN ARORA l 31 l DIRECTOR, FINANCE AND OPERATIONS, IG INTERNATIONAL PVT. LTD. arun has been instrumental at enabling IG to emerge as the leader in fresh fruit imports to India. Having completed his diploma in private equity from the Harvard Business School, he then completed an MBA from MIT School of Business. Groomed in business fundamentals by his father, Tarun identified the need to establish an end-to-end cold supply chain for fresh produce. The immense business potential of the idea led to the incorporation of IG Supply Chain Pvt. Ltd, which currently comprises temperature-controlled warehouses holding a capacity of 20,000 pallets across nine facilities. In addition to the cold stores, IG Supply Chain operates a fleet of 70 trucks. “We are expanding our temperature controlled warehousing business to 50,000 pallets and fleet of refrigerated trucks/ trailers from 70 to 120 in the near future,” claims Arora. For fruit supply and storage it has been the fastest growing company achieving revenue of INR 100 crores to INR 400 crores in four years. FEBRUARY 2017 l ENTREPRENEUR
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IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT
GREG MORAN l 31 l CEO AND CO- FOUNDER, ZOOMCAR
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reg has dedicated his entire career to sustainable development across the globe. Zoomcar is India’s first and largest self-drive rental player. Remembering his early days, Greg says, “Getting to the start line was very challenging due to the ambiguity around government regulations. Even today, it is a challenge since it also constrains our supply growth.” Zoomcar is yet to break at the corporate level. That’s what Greg plans to achieve in 2017. He is building Zoomcar, into a large scale, by becoming a hyper local transport business in India with ZAP marketplace.
MILKING THE COW, LITERALLY!
RAHUL UPPAL l 33 l FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR, WOOHOODOODH (HAPPY BEVERAGES AND FOODS PVT. LTD.)
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hile consulting a client on the dairy business, Rahul himself started researching to understand the model. He says, “I was motivated due to the advanced stage of the White Revolution, which although generated quantity, but utterly left quality go down the drain.” Today, Uppal’s WooHooDoodh is selling almost 700 litres of unadulterated milk to about a 1,000 families in Pune. Talking about the best moment in this entrepreneurial journey, Rahul says, “When I saw somebody just bought and started drinking milk from the carton itself”.
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THE NEXT GENERATION STORY TELLER ARUNABH KUMAR l 33 l FOUNDER AND CEO, THE VIRAL FEVER
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VF caused disruption in the content business by making the Internet a mainstream medium for original content consumption. From leading the revolution of web series in the country, it has changed the branding and advertising business too. Though TVF went on to raise $10mn from Tiger Global, the company has been profitable from the start. Talking about managing money, Arunabh says, “For us everything is cash flow management. We have been profitable since our inception.”
THE MATCHMAKER KALYANI KHONA l 24 l
PARCEL FROM THE SKY
INCLOV, FOUNDER
ANKIT MEHTA l 33 l CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, IDEAFORGE
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he world’s first matchmaking app that focuses on people with disability and with health disorders is Made in India. The 24-year-old founder, Kalyani Khona, believes that no one should be alone. With an aim to serve the society, a non-techie, Khona, launched the appbased platform in January 2016 with her co-founder, Shankar Srinivisan. Amongst the seven investors and advisors on board for Inclov are Raghav Bahl, Quintillion Media’s owner, along with an advisor from global matchmaking website, Match. com. 80-90 per cent of the stake is still with the founders.
or a kid who says it was in his DNA and that he graduated from IIT Bombay, Robotics seems pretty much a natural thing for him to happen. Back in college, Ankit and his team realized that a helicopter was one of the most complex devices ever engineered and set out to independently discover the Quadroter configuration that laid the platform for their highly sought after UAVs. Ideaforge’s UAVs were deployed during Pathankot incident and Uttaranchal natural disaster that came to be of immense help for the agencies, but Ankit tells us, “Our biggest PR achievement came when our idea was used in the movie 3 idiots.”
ON AUTO MODE SAMAR SINGLA l 32 l CEO, FOUNDER, JUGNOO
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amar Singla’s third startup, Jugnoo, was tough to get off the ground again but it took him six months to reach 1,000 daily transactions and in next six months, it touched 20k daily. Talking about the hardest decision Samar made, he says,“To say no to Flipkart and Naspers for Jugnoo funding.” Jugnoo went on to raise USD 16 million in three funding rounds. Starting from being an auto-rickshaw aggregator, it has now evolved into a go-to platform for all the hyperlocal needs. Profitability is the target for Jugnoo by this year-end.
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n a fine sunny day on a dusty road in Mumbai, when a truck passed by leaving clouds of black fumes and pigments on his white shirt, rather than washing it off, Anirudh thought of extracting ink out it. That’s practically how Graviky Labs seem to have come about to life. He and his team have developed ‘Kaalink’, a retrofit to the exhaust of engines that captures around 95 per cent of particulate matter pollution to turn it into recyclable products like ink, carbon nano tubes and even future wearables.
FROM POLLUTION TO PRINTER
ANIRUDH SHARMA l 29 l FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR, GRAVIKY LABS
inancial brokerage company, Zerodha, which was launched in 2010, have been providing services at as low as Rs 20. “Since 2010, we’ve continued to disrupt this industry by bringing in new technology initiatives and still managed to keep the cost low,” says Kamath. The company which was funded by their own trading income and friends at the beginning managed to break even within an year. “The hardest decision was to move to a brokerage free environment on equity investments last year. Investing in stocks is now absolutely free at Zerodha,” he says.
DISCOUNT BROKERS NIKHIL KAMATH l 33 l FOUNDER, ZERODHA
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THE CYBER SECURITY SAVIOR
JASPREET SINGH l 34 l FOUNDER AND CEO, DRUVA
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ccording to Jaspreet, “When the whole world was still building solutions by support of hardware and software (DVDs), and no one was thinking of cloud centric solutions,” Druva found the gap in the market and emerged as a big product centric company in the space of enterprise data and cyber security of endpoint mobility devices like smart phones, laptops and tablets. After initial hiccups, Druva found NASA approaching for their security products and that led to a freefall of investors including Nexus Venture Partners, Tenaya Capital, and Sequoia, which has participated in all the five rounds of funding.
THE CHATTER BOX
SACHIN JAISWAL l 28 l FOUNDER, NIKI.AI
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achin Jaiswal founded, Niki, an AI aided chat bot, in 2015 to get rid of traditional offline method which allows customers to get suggestions and is more instinctive, but very slow and inconvenient. “It is the best of both worlds. It enables the user to converse with Niki to explore options, which is as natural as chatting with a friend. It also provides a fast and convenient experience to the customer to simplify their life” he says. The journey so far has had many ups and lows. Having investors like Ratan Tata and Unilazer Ventures on board, the company is seeing 35 per cent growth in revenues month on month. Talking on further expansion, Sachin says, “Keeping our expansion plans in mind, we aim to achieve break-even by early 2018. We also plan to integrate many more services on Niki’s platform.”
THE SUPERCAR RESELLER JATIN AHUJA l 32 l MANAGING DIRECTOR, BIG BOY TOYZ
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here are very few people who are able to pursue their passions and indeed fewer parents who let their children turn their passions into profession. Jatin Ahuja is the lucky boy who got his passion of exotic cars transformed into a venture and got his father, a CA on board to look over the finance department. Big Boys Toyz, a division of Magus Cars, sells pre-owned high end exotic beauties to other enthusiasts who may afford it, at a price they never bargain. Asked about what are his interests apart from cars, he says, “Unfortunately, I have no other interests.” Back in school, Jatin used to tell the brand of a car blindfolded by the noise it made, and in college, he successfully revamped and sold a damaged maroon S Class at a profit of 25 lakhs. That, he calls as his biggest turning point in life.
SILIGURI STARTUP BUILDING A GLOBAL TEA BRAND KAUSHAL DUGAR l 33 l FOUNDER & CEO, TEABOX
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iliguri is a laid-back town and e-commerce and start-ups are not a regular feature, that’s where Kaushal Dugar made the dent. Teabox is delivering freshness by reducing production to consumer time, which is typically three to -six months to a week or even lesser. In the past four years, it has shipped over 40 million cups worth of teas to customers in over 100 countries. Teabox went on to raise over seven million from investors like JAFCO Asia, Accel Partners, Keystone Group LP and Dragoneer Investment Group, Ratan Tata, Cameron Jones. Kaushal proudly shares, “We are highly profitable on units economy basis.” 50
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THE EVERYDAY DESIGNERS ANISHA SINGH l 34 l COFOUNDER, LETTERNOTE, 2012
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o fill the gap with a range of everyday objects with a simple, minimalist design aesthetic, Anisha Singh with her husband, Gurpreet Singh, founded LetterNote in 2012. Before Gurpreet and Anisha founded LetterNote, they were running a creative agency. It was a big pivot for them to start a product design brand. “We started LetterNote with our savings and haven’t taken any external funds. We have focused on a steady, self-sustainable growth path for LetterNote”, said Anisha. They have remained true to their design philosophy, created an unique design brand, found acceptance and appreciation, and have a profitable, growing business now. Their big high is when they see someone using a LetterNote product.
THE COOL MATHEMATICIAN MANAN KHURMA l 31 l FOUNDER AND CEO, CUEMATH
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ou are above all if you know maths, if not then you are just another one among all. That’s precisely how most students feel in learning numbers. But what makes them hate maths is lack of clarity on basics right from lower grade and style of teaching math that seems inherently boring. Launched in December 2013 Cuemath unlike other e-learning platforms is focused on helping kids understand maths right from kindergarten till 8th grade through a technologyenabled offline learning mechanism. “I realized that maths is a way of thinking and if you can build a strong maths foundation at a very young age then students can excel in it,” says Khurma, a maths lover who have been teaching maths to students even before graduating from IIT Delhi in 2007. Cuemath partners with teachers who are given two-week training on Cuemath teaching module that consists of books, tablets, and puzzle cards that is personalized and calibrated based on student’s understanding and expose them to the speed and accuracy of problem solving. The Sequoia-backed startup in January this year closed its Series B round of $15 million led by from CapitalG. The start-up grew 10x last year and currently has 2,000 centres or teacher partners and more than 10,000 students across six cities including Delhi NCR, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. By year-end, Khurma is aiming for 5,000 centres and 40,000 students along with adding four new cities.
EASING THE TAXING JOB
ARCHIT GUPTA l 32 l CLEARTAX FOUNDER
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learTax solves two key problems for a consumer namely tax filing and tax savings. In order to address the painful need to solve the tax payers’ headache, this great software was created which was very easy to use. For businesses, the ClearTax platform helps businesses get incorporated, do their business and tax filings. Sharing his lows from his journey Archit says, “Three years of bootstrapping was incredibly challenging. Maintaining cash flow to stay alive was painful on many days.” ClearTax went on became the first Indian company to raise investments from PayPal co-founder, Max Levchin and Founders Fund.
THE CHANGING FACE OF CINEMA AYAN MUKHERJEE l 33 l FILM DIRECTOR
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ith two all-out hits, Wake Up Sid and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, even before he turned 30, Ayan Mukherji fits perfect the bracket of new age directors and undoubtedly no one does young love better. Grandson of S Mukherji, who founded the famous Mumbai studio (Filmalaya), son of not-so-well-known actor Deb and cousin of screen goddesses Kajol and Rani Mukherji, Ayan grew up binging on Hindi movies. Though he started studying engineering but left it after a year to assist Ashutosh Gowariker’s movie Swades. Later, he also assisted Karan Johar. Currently, Ayan is directing Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt for his superhero film, Dragon.
A VISION BEYOND SIGHT SRIKANTH BOLLA l 24 l FOUNDER AND CEO, BOLLANT INDUSTRIES
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hen he met former President APJ Abdul Kalam, he told him he wishes to be the first blind President of India. He is also the first Indian blind student to secure an admission in MIT. Today, he is running his 4-year-old company, started with a total investment of Rs. 8 crore, including that of Ratan Tata, to churn out annual revenue of Rs. 20 crore, selling earth-friendly products and helping cottage industries grow with the technical know-how of modern machinery and financial inclusion. Incidentally, over half of Bollant Industries’ workforce is differently-abled. Srikanth tells us, “I wanted to provide employment opportunities for people whom nobody wants to employ. That is my social mission and I combine it my commercial mission, because charities are not sustainable. We want to create something that people would be of proud of using and that should not disturb the ecology and the environment.” FEBRUARY 2017 l ENTREPRENEUR
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35 35 THE MOVER AND SHAKER RAJESH YABAJI l 28 l CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, BLACKBUCK
ARONIN P l 27 l CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, SASTRA ROBOTICS
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ithin around 10 months of launching operations in April 2015, Bengaluru-based BlackBuck became India’s biggest logistics company in business-to-business full truck load (FTL) freight transportation category. The inter-city logistics start-up works on a marketplace model by aggregating truck fleet owners and improving their utilization time by 30 per cent with real time visibility of the demand and movement of trucks across India. “We have 100,000 trucks aggregated on our platform but that is not even close to probably one per cent of the total trucks in India which is about 10 million out of which five million trucks operates on inter-city routes,” says Yabaji.
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ascinated by electronics while growing up, Aronin P. gradually realized how future belongs to a marriage between machines and humans that can bring characters from the science fiction movies to reality. Started in 2012, his robotics start-up, Sastra Robotics, has built an industrial robotic arm for small scale manufacturing and research and a touch screen testing robotic arm to save time and cost. In fact, the latter is the world’s fastest touch screen testing robotic arm. But the most exciting first of its kind in India product Aronin and his team developing is a prosthetic robotic arm (like seen in I, Robot movie) to do much more than what a human hand can do. “It will be controlled by human brain signals,” says Aronin about its application.
FUELLING A REVOLUTION
A PASSWORD TO SECURITY
TAPPING THE BUDGET SEGMENT
NEHA JUNEJA l 32 l CO-FOUNDER, GREENWAY
SAKET MODI l 26 l FOUNDER, LUCIDEUS TECH
SIDHARTH GUPTA l 32 l FOUNDER, TREEBO HOTELS
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rior to Greenway Neha Juneja had two other start-ups which did not take off. In 2011, she partnered with Ankit Mathur and co-founded Greenway. She went on to raise USD 2.5 Million from Acumen Fund, Vikram Gandhi and Pramod Bhasin. Sharing her biggest achievement, Neha says,” Our biggest achievement has been able to build a credible distribution network and to fully backward integrate i.e. set up a manufacturing unit from scratch. Glad to share that today, Greenway is India’s largest manufacturer of clean cookstoves.” Greenway is one of the few enterprises that sees a lucrative business opportunity in developing specialized everyday products for developing world consumers. Its flagship product – the Greenway Smart Stove aims to serve over 3 billion people globally who continue to rely on traditional fuels and cooking methods.of the hospitality industry by empowering millions to travel without having to worry about finding a quality accommodation in affordable price range”.
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THE CREATOR – TURNING SCI-FI REAL
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he founder of Lucideus Tech, a four-year-old cyber security start-up with a 700% turnover since inception, helps some of the largest banks, FMCG & aviation companies, among many others, that assess and manage cyber risk. A majority shareholder in the company, Modi has no institutional investor on board to maintain autonomy in decision making. The company has successfully bagged security assessment projects of some of the most critical projects launched by the Government of India recently. It now envisions itself as the salesforce of cyber security. Lucideus Tech boasts of a 100-member team that Modi calls the sharpest minds in cyber security from around the world.
tarted at a time when the nearest competitor was “demonstrating gravity defying growth and seemed to have found a business model that was unstoppable, unbeatable”, says Sidharth Gupta. Treebo had a tough time in the initial phase to validate its model of business that did not rely on unrealistic discounts and freebies to the customers. What differentiates Treebo from hotel aggregators is the fact that the in-room inventory is completely owned by the company, giving them larger control on the properties. Today, Treebo has become the third largest hotel chain and the largest budget hotel brand in India with 230+ properties and an inventory of 5600+ rooms in 45+ cities, getting a total of $ 23 million as investments, which is just a fraction of what the nearest competition has raised and spent. Also, it enjoys a rate of 75-80 per cent occupancy that is above the market average by 20-30 per cent.
CHAT ON CHAAT
Vinod Gupta, Founder, InfoGROUP and DatabaseUSA.com
“I think Indian start-ups are as good as American start-ups” Born in a village near Saharanpur, Vinod Gupta, IIT graduate and an Indo-American entrepreneur, started his business by borrowing $100 in 1972 and won over America with his commendable research on data science. He later went on to be hired as a consultant by 42nd American President Bill Clinton, after he left his office, a relationship that has continued. He has a history of giving and raising funds for Bill and Hillary Clinton during their campaign and has also got mentioned on latter’s autobiography. A staunch believer in quality education, Gupta, has made several benevolent donations to help advance education penetration in India and recently Akhilesh Yadav, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (UP) awarded him with UP Pravasi Bhartiya Sammaan 2017 for his contribution in the field. Entrepreneur’s Editor in chief, Ritu Marya, caught up with Gupta, for a Chat on Chaat.
From Saharanpur to White House and back, tell us about Vinod Gupta, the entrepreneur, the philanthropist? I had a job but I realized early that if you want to be happy then you need to run your own show. I started my own venture with only $100; failed twice and became successful only the third time. My companies, which conventionally dealt with big data, became big and I got familiar with people in the White House. Following this, I realized I could do much to help improve quality of education in India and, we started our education foundation and I had Bill Clinton to inaugurate it.
Today, we have polytechnic school, nursing school and also high school. In entrepreneurial journey, how important is education? My father was a doctor and valued the importance of good education above everything else. Post my school education, I went to IIT and then to the US, where I pursued my career. I look back and realize that it was my education ,that changed my life. In 2001, I was in India and we began our education foundation. So one day, I was taking a walk down the village and somebody called out my
name; I saw he was selling vegetables. I asked him how he knew me and he told me, he went to school with me. Later he asked me, how you got out of here? I told him it was the education. People from India would rather think of working in a big corporation in USA. So, why did you choose entrepreneurship? In US, I first joined a job and realized, if I wanted to be in control, I have got be taking the decisions. In those days, if you failed at something, people would mock at you saying that you
Ritu Marya, Editor in Chief, Entrepreneur India Media
are not cut for it. But, I learnt not to give up. Do you follow the start-up investment cycle in India? Are they doing it right? I think Indian start-ups are as good as American startups but the only difference is that the American market is much bigger. And today, most of the products and services are global. So you can start something in India and then grow that somewhere else. Some advice to Indian students who are passionate about entrepreneurship. You should get a good education and then grab a job. Work for a couple of years and learn how the business works and then think of something that has a demand. After five years in the field, you can easily find your partners and finances. One advice to your younger self (Laughs out loud). Why mess with the winning formula? FEBRUARY 2017 l ENTREPRENEUR
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GROWTH
CHAT ON CHAAT | WEALTH MANAGEMENT | LEGACY | SELF IMPROVEMENT | STORY BOARD
Can Impatient Indian Entrepreneurs Find Patient Capital in Family Offices?
ltra big Indian family businesses appear to be finally transitioning from their traditional “munimjis” only to a slightly closer but highly professional form when it comes to managing their massive wealth. Family offices, a concept popular on foreign shores, are basically private wealth management advisories that have begun to show shoots of growth in the Indian market too. Radically distinct from the traditional wealth management shops, family offices devise a methodology to manage investments of a wealthy individual or family via an outsourced solution. However, the concept, being at a nascent stage in India, has not been fully comprehended. Often misunderstood as investment offices, family offices in India are undergoing widespread experimentation. By Aashika Jain & Sneha Banerjee
WHAT ARE FAMILY OFFICES?
capital operations, investments and so on. Nitin Shakder, the Founder and CEO of Green Capital, a multifamily office says, they look at long term opportunities vis-à-vis all asset classes and study them over a period of 10 years to provide services. “Some of the key metrics we employ are risk reward calculators, money flow, dynamic and passive asset allocation tools,” says Shakder.
Family offices are an ideal forum for an open and candid discussion among family members on their expectations, needs, aspirations, fears and much more, according to Aditya Gadge, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Association of International Wealth Management of India (AIWMI). From the most conservative of investment mandates that invest all money in Government bonds and deposit the rest in banks, to INDIAN FAMILY OFFICES VS SILICON the most aggressive mandates pushing investments into early VALLEY FAMILY OFFICES stage unlisted ventures, the family offices tend to operate in very The biggest difference between the two is the extent of idiosyncratic manner. “Family offices are typically expected to sophistication in terms of the approach towards carrying out its provide an all-round solution to the needs of the family, both in activities. “Right from setting up processes and systems to guide terms of execution as well as strategic direction to manage their the way an office operates, to the people, software, wealth. Therefore, to run a family office successfully, and tools used, the Silicon Valley family offices have one needs to have two distinct teams for execution a reasonable head start,” says Utkarsh. He adds that and strategy respectively,” says Nitai Utkarsh, the in terms of investment, the Indian family offices are Chief Investment Officer of SAR Group’s Family Office. still very conservative, focusing mostly around safer Rajmohan Krishnan, Principal Founder and and more familiar avenues such as the principal’s Managing Director of Entrust family office investment own businesses, popular financial instruments advisors says over a period of time, one starts predominantly in the listed space with high liquidity developing a warm relationship with the client. and low risk profiles. However, for a Silicon Valley One learns about their family, personality, dreams family office, the focus is clearly on exploring and aspirations. “And so many clients trust new and untapped opportunities such as venture “SOME OF KEY wealth managers such as me implicitly. One feels investments and other alternative assets that can responsible, answerable. It was killing my conscience METRICS WE EMPLOY generate higher returns than the traditional assets in ARE RISK REWARD that I wasn’t acting in the best interests of my the US cannot provide. CALCULATORS, client,” he adds. MONEY FLOW, The execution team generally have professionals WHY SHOULD UHNIs OPT DYNAMIC AND in accounting, MIS, taxation, legal, and in some FOR FAMILY OFFICES PASSIVE ASSET cases even concierge. On the other hand, the strategy The key ingredient for the success of a family office ALLOCATION TOOLS.” team members are from the fields of portfolio Nitin Shakder, Founder and is the trust between the promoter family and the management, investment research, banking, venture CEO, Green Capital management. In light of the recent Tata Sons versus 54
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Family offices, a concept popular on foreign shores, are basically private wealth management advisories that have also begun to show shoots of growth in the Indian market.
Cyrus Mistry controversy, a lot of family businesses can try imbibing this through their family offices, believes Gadge. Shakder says, “Most Ultra-high-net-worth-individual (UHNI) investors link investments with an understanding of business sectors or more clearly identifying opportunities linked to core businesses or asset classes. Compounding of investments is emerging as a key trend rather than following any short term indicators. Trends and wealth creation happens over time and takes an effort to building yield, portfolio and strong assets.” There are no defined sectors that are preferred by family offices and the investments really depend upon the objectives of each individual, who has set up a family office according to Utkarsh.
HOW CAN FAMILY OFFICES BENEFIT?
Family offices are usually designed to serve on long term basis – at least for three generations including the current one. Family businesses will do well if they are willing to adopt this long term approach, according to Gadge. In families business, that are in to third or fourth generation, wherein family members have gone separate ways with their careers and interests, the cohesiveness of the earlier generations could be missing and hence setting up a family office could be a good way to get it back. Aditya Gadge believes, the bigger requirement for family office kind of structure is among the Tier-II
HNI business families in India. Utkarsh says, family offices in India are being set up by the class of rich who are either selfmade or have progressive second generation taking over the reins (in case of inherited wealth). The greater focus of these Family Offices is to have at least some (and in many cases, significant) allocation to unlisted ventures of different sizes. It can be said that many of the promoters and principals of these family offices like to work with entrepreneurs and therefore invest time and money in their ventures to whatever extent is allowed by their long terms wealth management objectives.
HEADWINDS FACED BY FAMILY OFFICES IN INDIA
Gadge says, a peculiar trait in a lot of Tier-II family businesses is that a miniscule separation between the company and promoter wealth exists. This is not only risky but may also lead to issues “FAMILY OFFICES ARE AN of governance and family disputes. Setting up IDEAL FORUM FOR OPEN a family office can help such families separate AND CANDID DISCUSSION the management of company’s wealth from AMONG THE FAMILY the promoter’s wealth. This also has another MEMBERS ABOUT THEIR connotation - in such cases family culture becomes EXPECTATIONS, NEEDS, the business culture. A family office should not ASPIRATIONS, FEARS over-protect or coddle the family members at the cost of financial prudence, cautions Gadge. He says AND MUCH MORE.” Aditya Gadge, Founder and technology should be used to manage promoter Chief Executive Officer of Association of International wealth and should do with minimum number of Wealth Management of India advisors on board. FEBRUARY 2017 l ENTREPRENEUR
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CHAT ON CHAAT | WEALTH MANAGEMENT | LEGACY | SELF IMPROVEMENT | STORY BOARD
LEGACY OF THE EAST Exactly 110 years before Prime Minister Modi’s ‘Make-in-India’ was
launched, a pre-Gandhian Swadeshi movement gripped the nation in the wake of partition of Bengal. People gathered at the cross roads and burnt imported clothes and picketed shops selling foreign goods. Country-men resolved to use things that were made only in India and many came forward to build a self-reliant nation. 4 THINGS TO LEARN FROM THE BOROLINE PEOPLE
By Sanchari Ghosh
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ne of the first soldiers of the movement, Acharya P C Ray, the father of Indian chemistry, started his business from a rented house in Calcutta with a meager capital of Rs 700 to produce medicines of British pharmacopoeia standards. As doctors voicing pro-nationalistic concerns came forward to patronize its products, the company grew rapidly. In 1901, it became a private limited company as Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceutical Works Ltd. to produce medicine in large scale. “Its talcum powder, tooth paste, glycerin soap, carbolic soap became a household name across the country,” says Biplab Dasgupta, marketing head of BCPW, which was acquired by the central government in 70s. However, the products which were popular during this movement phased out with time as they were not actually cost-effective. The Swadeshi thrust gave birth to three prominent pharmaceutical companies from Calcutta, which includes BCPW, India’s first pharmaceutical company, GD pharmaceutical and Dey’s Medical. But sadly, the only company which could survive 56
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the test of times is G.D. pharmaceutical with its sole product, Boroline. “In times of yore, Calcutta was the capital of everything commercial for a while. But then that capital status shifted. When it did, so did brand talent. And that has been a challenge for brands from the East,” says Harish Bijoor, Brand-guru and Founder, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc. Gourmohan Dutta, the founder of G.D. pharmaceutical, was already an established businessman when he decided to join the movement. He realized it was essential to manufacture indigenous products instead of importing. Defying the critics, he setup GD pharmaceuticals to manufacture medicines as an alternative to the imported ones. And, in 1929, the legendary green tube was born. Boroline is a simple combination of boric powder and zinc oxide, essential oils and waxes but it has remarkable healing properties. “Its formula is no secret but several attempt to copy it has failed,” said 44-year-old Debashis Dutta, Managing Director and also the grandson of the founder. Today, with a user base of over five million, Boroline
1. Stick to the basics 2. Product is always more important than the brand 3. To think out-ofthe-box – be original 4. In terms of promotions – think ahead of times
is available through 300,000 retail outlets across India. “Detractors say Boroline is a sticky ointment. We agree Boroline is ultra rich and will always be so. And because of its thick texture, it is so effective in treating dry skin,” Dutta confirms. In 2002, while shifting homes, an user discovered a tube of Boroline that was manufactured in 1976. He found that the cream had the same texture, efficacy and smelt the same as a new tube would. Surprisingly, from the product to packaging, Boroline cream remained unchanged for 88 years. “We have made sure that our successful products are consistent—they don’t change,” he further said. Not exactly a Swadeshi-motivated company, but Dey’s medical, another pre-independence pharmaceutical company, became relevant during the World War II. In 1941, B.N. Dey started a small retail medical store
M AT T E R O F FA C T : T H E J O U R N E Y BENGAL CHEMICALS AND PHARMACEUTICALS LTD
G.D. PHARMACEUTICALS
1929- Gour Mohan Dutta
1901: Bengal
setup G.D. Pharmaceuticals in his house
Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Works Ltd. was established by eminent scientist and entrepreneur Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray
>> GD has two production units. One in Chakbagi, West Bengal, 16 kms from Kolkata. It has existing floor area of 48000 sq. ft on a 20 acre plot.
1938: Mumbai factory was established
1949: Kanpur factory was established
1977: Management of Bengal Chemical was taken over by the Government of India POPULAR PRODUCTS: Aqua Ptychotis, Cantharidine
>> The other unit is in Mohun Nagar Industrial area, Gaziabad, five Kms from Delhi, measuring about 8000 sq. ft. >> Today, the Company caters to the vast Indian market through over 650 distribution channels situated throughout the country. POPULAR PRODUCTS: Boroline, Eleen, Suthol, Penorub
(Left to right) Old posters of Boroline in newspapers and magazines. (Below): A pre-Gandhian Swadeshi movement gripped the nation in the wake of partition of Bengal.
“In times of yore, Calcutta was the capital of everything commercial for a while. But then that capital status shifted. When it did, so did brand talent. And that has been a challenge for brands from the East,” Harish Bijoor, Brand-guru and Founder, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc.
THROUGH DECADES DEY’S MEDICAL
1941: Bhupendranath Dey hired a small space at New Market area and established “Dey’s Medical Stores”. 1946: The entire Calcutta was facing riot, scarcity of food, diseases due to the diplomacy of the British. But still, in the days of crisis, “Dey’s Medical Stores” never remained closed for a single day. 1950: The factories were eshtablished
1977: The drug price control notice of 1970 became affected and prices of medicines had to be cut down 1979: Keo Karpin was brought in forefront
2008-2016: Today, Dey’s Medical is a traditional yet modern and profitable institution. The old machines are being replaced constantly by new machineries. POPULAR PRODUCTS: Keo karpin hair oil, Keo karpin massage oil and Keo karpin body oil
in Calcutta. During the global war, when the supply of essential drugs became uncertain, Dey came forward to ensure a steady supply of life-saving drugs. In 1957, they established a unit in Calcutta to manufacture indigenous products. The company did moderate business for the next 20 years despite several political uprising. But, in 1977, as drug price control notice of 1970 was introduced they had to cut down prices like every other pharma companies. Dey’s faced challenges financially and further planned to bring forward the cosmetic goods to enhance profit. “Keo Karpin was brought to the forefront. The sell increased by 30 to 40 per cent in a year. In 1989, its sales reached 20 crore from two crore,” says Gautam Dey, the Managing Director. Although KeoKarpin increased the profits but the company failed to gain momentum. On the other hand, Boroline has defied the long held belief that a brand must re-engineer itself to stay in sync with the times. After independence, Murari Mohan Dutta, son of Gourmohan Dutta, pioneered ahead-of-times ideas to take the business forward. In 1950s, when brand image, rural marketing and event sponsorships were unheard of, Boroline took to the streets during festivals, cheered players in the grounds.
The advertisements in newspapers, magazines, radio and outdoor promotions were so massive that the popular ‘Khusbudar antiseptic cream Boroline’ is relevant even after five decades. In the second half of the 1990s, Boroline launched its hair care products with Eleen. In 2007, it started manufacturing antiseptic skin liquid, Suthol. “Around 2001, my mother was bed-ridden. One of our directors suggested that we develop an antiseptic liquid for her. What he came up with turned out to be very effective. So we decided to launch it commercially,” Dutta adds. Bijoor said, “Boroline is the mother brand of the East. This brand has represented to the world at large, that if your product is great, consistent and totally wedded to values that are basic to the consumer, you will win. Boroline, Jabaskusum hair oil and Keo Karpin are gems from the East.” Looking forward, G.D. pharmaceuticals are planning to expand their retail penetration. Dattu says,“Market dynamics are changing. And, we are trying increase our presence further.” Alongside, they are also looking at the export market to open up and launch new products. “Homoeopathy may turn out to be an interesting opportunity in the future.” FEBRUARY 2017 l ENTREPRENEUR
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Self-improvement master Tim Ferriss has a surprising message for those who keep searching for something better: You have to know when to stop. By Aaron Gell Photographs by Robert Maxwell
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arrive bleary-eyed and a few minutes late at a Santa Monica steakhouse for an audience with the superman of self-improvement. Fortunately, as he rises to greet me—clad in a reddish V-neck T-shirt and blue sweatpants by Rhone (a sponsor of his podcast) and a pair of flip-flops by Havaianas (not a sponsor)—it’s clear he’s in good enough shape for both of us. Ferriss, 39, is the picture of vitality, a walking, talking, admirably cut advertisement for the outer limits of human potential. The wildly successful author, podcaster, blogger, tango master, and angel investor offers me a firm handshake and a ready smile. Having just come from a photo shoot, he’s lugging a giant gym bag and a backpack, which he admits make him feel a little like Bruce Banner—better known as the Incredible Hulk, one of his preschool idols. Ferriss, who lives in San Francisco, is in Los Angeles for the week to tape a new TV series, Fear(less) with Tim Ferriss, essentially a televised version of his popular podcast. It will premiere on DirecTV sometime in 2017. This will be Ferriss’ second run at television. His first, The Tim Ferriss Experiment, featured the host striving to master a new field every
PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDREW KELLY PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDREW KELLY
HAS PLENTY OF SOUND ADVICE FOR SOMEONE UNDERTAKING the grueling physical and psychological endurance test that is the miracle of modern air travel. To avoid jet lag, book your flight on a Dreamliner if at all possible. Newer aircraft have improved pressure systems, which means the altitude takes less of a toll. Use TSA Precheck and Global Entry to evade the sock-footed Forced March of Doom, but arrive ludicrously early anyway and spend a few hours working in the airport lounge to avoid unnecessary stress. Hydrate. Use a zinc spray to bolster your immune system. Squirt saline into your nostrils. Pop one gram of vitamin C every hour and lysine every few hours for the duration of your trip. If you must check baggage containing expensive equipment, consider packing a starter pistol as well and register it at check-in so the airline authorities are extra attentive to your stuff and won’t misplace it. Hydrate some more. And at your soonest opportunity after arriving on terra firma, hop on a stationary bike for 10 minutes of vigorous pedaling. I have followed approximately zero percent of this program when I
week (parkour, tactical shooting, rally car driving, speaking Tagalog, drumming, etc.). Turner Broadcasting shot 13 episodes only to shelve the series before it aired following a back-office shakeup. Ferriss eventually got the digital rights and put the show on iTunes, where it topped the nonfiction series charts for weeks. Meanwhile, he has also begun the laborious process of promoting a book, Tools of Titans, a 704-page bid to extend the streak of best-sellers that began with The 4-Hour Workweek, the 2007 publishing supernova that collected 26 rejections before finally finding its way to bookshelves. He followed it up with The 4-Hour Body and The 4-Hour Chef. This new book is “a toolkit for changing your life.” It’s a compendium of actionable wisdom—“field-tested beliefs and habits”—most of them gleaned from more than 200 interviews he conducted for the podcast, featuring everyone from Gen. Stanley McChrystal to actor-musician Jamie Foxx. The book is, frankly, a firehose of advice. So much advice that no one person could possibly find it all manageable, let alone useful. But Ferriss doesn’t expect it to be used as a bible, with every word followed. That’s not the way self-improvement works, he says. And he should know: He has achieved guru status not by adopting every idea that comes his way but by leading a life of trial and error, and being willing to try new things and embrace only what suits his particular circumstances and ambitions. The critical element isn’t the improvement—it’s the openness to improvement, and the self-awareness to know what’s working. “My goal is for each reader to like 50 percent, love 25 percent, and never forget 10 percent,” he writes. As for the rest of the massive volume? Maybe use it as a kettlebell. Seriously. This is a big book.
FERRISS GREW UP IN EAST HAMPTON, N.Y., the fabulously wealthy oceanside enclave on the southern fork of Long Island, famous for its graceful shingled cottages nestled behind towering hedgerows and its Veuve-soaked summertime social scene. That wasn’t the Ferrisses’ world; they were “townies.” Tim’s father was a real estate agent; his mother, a physical therapist. And he was a runt, he says. “I got my ass kicked constantly. When kids went out to recess, that was not a safe zone for me.” Eventually, the Hulk fan had a button-popping growth spurt of his own: five inches and 60 pounds of muscle. His tormentors were confused. “They were like, ‘This is the guy we always beat up.’ No, this is the guy that throws you over a desk and smashes your head into the floor.” Ferriss sips his iced tea, clearly relishing the memory. He took up wrestling, mastering the elemental combination of strength and strategy, and the benefits of working harder than the other guy. “I learned to associate discomfort with getting better,” he says. “And that transcended wrestling and applied to a lot of other things in life.” But rather than being the end of Ferriss’ adolescent struggles, it was only the beginning of a repeating pattern: He would experience a setback, find a solution, and incorporate the lesson into his life. During high school, a newly jacked Ferriss took a series of service industry jobs that put him in direct contact with the town’s moneyed elite. “There were people who would verbally berate you and treat you like you were at the bottom of the caste system,” he says. And here, growing up in the Hamptons with his face pressed against the glass, is where he suspects he learned to overvalue money for a time, fueling his intense drive for success. (Ferriss
admits he now has more in common with those one-percenters he once despised than the salt-of-the-earth types he grew up with. “When I go back,” he says, “I don’t know which world I belong to.”) Eventually, this intensity and focus brought him to Princeton University, where he began working on a degree in neuroscience, a field he remains obsessed with despite switching majors to East Asian studies. During his senior year, in 1999, things started to go south. His thesis wasn’t coming together. He failed to get a second interview at McKinsey & Company, the management consulting powerhouse. A longtime girlfriend broke up with him. Reeling, Ferriss decided to take a year off, but he soon found that being disconnected from school made things worse. As his feelings of anxiety and depression grew, he began to seriously contemplate suicide—a period in his life he spoke about publicly for the first time in a 2015 Reddit Ask Me Anything. “It was really just a matter of luck that I didn’t wind up erasing myself,” he says now. In typical style, he approached the idea with voluminous research, carefully considering the various methods and weighing the pros and cons of each. One of the many books on suicide he requested from the Princeton library was unavailable, so he placed a hold on it, forgetting that he had requested that mail be sent to his parents’ address during his leave. When the library sent a notice informing him of the book’s availability, his mother opened it and called him in a panic. “Hearing my mom’s voice waver and kind of break snapped me out of my self-absorbed delusion,” he says. “I still battle my demons and have ups and downs. But I’ve become better at managing them. I think, This is just the changing of the seasons. You’ve been richly rewarded for your up periods when you have these floods of ideas and endurance and you can get five weeks’ worth of stuff done in five days. This is the tax you pay.” He also found a lifeline in extreme physical activity: He and a friend from his wrestling days resolved to win a Chinese kickboxing national competition. He went to a boxing gym, took many beatings, made a careful study of the sport’s rule book, and developed a strategy designed to win. For example, fights took place on an elevated mat, and a participant who fell off more than three times automatically forfeited the match, so Ferriss focused on ways to shove his opponent off the platform. “I thought, If I can focus on my strengths and cover my weaknesses enough to not get knocked out, maybe I could actually do something,” he says. He was right: He won the national title. And perhaps more important, he regained his confidence and learned how to use a physical goal to keep the rest of his life on track. “You learn to manage fear,” he says. “And that doesn’t mean getting rid of it. It means you are learning to take action despite fear, and that is a very useful inoculation for everything you do later.” After graduating, Ferriss moved to Silicon Valley and wound up in a dead-end sales job with a data storage company. He resolved to start a business of his own. “First, I asked myself: What do I know really well?” he recalls. He realized that he was already something of an expert in the supplements industry, having put his neuroscience knowledge to use in college, making home-brew smart drugs in his dorm bathroom. He found, for instance, that after a few hits of a diuretic nasal spray typically prescribed for adolescent bedwetting, he could cram for his Chinese character quizzes “and flip the pages like Rain Man.” He asked himself another question: Where am I absurdly price-insensitive? Looking at his credit card statements, the answer was obvious. “At the time, I was spending probably $500 a month on sports supplements, and back then I made probably $40,000 pretax in the Bay Area.” FEBRUARY 2017 l ENTREPRENEUR 57 61 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 | ENTREPRENEUR.COM
1. Define your nightmare, the absolute worst that could happen if you did what you are considering.
3. What are the outcomes or benefits, both temporary and permanent, of more probable scenarios?
2. What steps could you take to repair the damage or get things back on the upswing, even if temporarily?
4. If you were fired from your job today, what would you do to get things under financial control?
5. What are you putting off out of fear? 6. What is it costing you—financially, emotionally, and physically—to postpone action? 7. What are you waiting for?
Done? “Measure the cost of inaction,” Ferriss writes, “realize the unlikelihood and reparability of most missteps, and develop the most important habit of those who excel and enjoy doing so: action.”
Then, a final question: What do I think I can market effectively? Ferriss had been a student of marketing since he was a kid. He often stayed up well past bedtime, immersed in late-night infomercials. “I was curious to find out how the mind works and how we navigate our decisions,” he says. He’d study the scripts, taking notes. On occasion, he’d place an order just to see what arrived, then return it for a refund. He even kept a binder filled with ads that had worked on him. He combined all this insight into a supplements company, BrainQuicken, that launched in 2000. Sales were sluggish, but he noticed users raving about the physical results they derived from the product— even though it was designed to enhance their minds. “I was hearing from high-level NCAA athletes: ‘I’m jumping higher!’ ‘My time off the blocks is faster!’” The problem wasn’t the product, he realized, but the positioning. “I thought people wanted to be smarter,” he says, “and they do. They just won’t spend $50 on it.” He kept the formula the same but changed the name to BodyQuick and targeted athletes. Soon, he had a hit. Ferriss’ efforts to run the company without letting it consume his life are at the heart of The 4-Hour Workweek. The book’s breakaway success (there are two million in print in the U.S. alone) eventually led him to cash out and plunge into investing. His large fan base in the tech world meant he had tons of relationships, which gave him a huge leg up. He learned to focus on consumer-oriented companies, where his promotional mojo could be put to good effect. “I say yes only to deals where I
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AFTER LUNCH, FERRISS DROPS by the nearby office of one of his portfolio companies, Tradesy, a peer-to-peer digital consignment shop for women’s fashion, where users buy and sell their stylish castoffs. Tracy DiNunzio, the company’s thirtysomething founder and CEO, who launched the business in 2014, had no shortage of eager investors when she went out to do her Series B fund-raising round. She passed on several extremely well-regarded Silicon Valley figures in favor of Ferriss. “He was our most value-added investor,” she tells me, sitting in a small conference room just off the spacious main workspace. “I knew he had already built a great brand for himself and that he had an uncanny knack for communications, but he delivered far more than he promised. We started with a brainstorming warmup conversation, and he had more ideas than we’d heard in a year. He also knew a lot more about tech investing than I expected. I don’t know how he learned it so quickly.” “Buy lots of booze for people who like to talk,” Ferriss says with a smile. Like just about everyone who is lucky enough to get an audience with Ferriss, DiNunzio starts with a few health concerns. Running a startup takes a toll. The company she started in her kitchen now employs 110 people. And DiNunzio recently embarked on a challenging shift in emphasis: Rather than exclusively chasing growth, the company’s north star for years, she is now aiming for profitable growth. “The operating gymnastics have become more intense,” she says. “The days are longer.” “You signed up for the majors,” Ferriss sympathizes. “And we’re in a late quarter!” DiNunzio replies. “How do I get my energy up so I can keep doing these 16-hour days, six days a week?” Ferriss offers a flood of fixes: Go on a ketogenic diet, or try synthetic ketones. Meditate more. Get comprehensive bloodwork. Then the conversation turns to another new challenge. Tradesy is seeing increasing competition from other websites that are essentially copying its central concept. Some of DiNunzio’s core marketing messages are being lifted verbatim by rivals. “Nothing we’ve said in the past is still unique to us,” she says. They need a new approach. “Imitation,” Ferriss says with a grin. “The sincerest form of driving your cost per acquisition through the roof.” He asks if the company’s slogans—for instance, “Cash in your closet”—are legally defensible. No, DiNunzio replies. They didn’t get all of them trademarked. Next, Ferriss suggests a different focus. “Ask yourself: What’s quantifiable that other people can’t duplicate? Number of years in business, number of customers, units shipped? Come up with something that’s empirically difficult for someone else to mimic.” Another thought: customer testimonials. “It’s something I ask myself
PHOTOGRAPH BY GETTY IMAGES/JEROD HARRIS/STRINGER PHOTOGRAPH BY GETTY IMAGES/JEROD HARRIS/STRINGER
FERRISS’ SEVEN STEPS TO OVERCOMING FEAR “Most people will choose unhappiness over uncertainty,” Ferriss writes in Tools of Titans. But that’s no way to live. Here, he offers a questionnaire designed to shake you free of fear. Spend a few minutes answering each question, he instructs, “and keep in mind that thinking a lot will not prove as fruitful or as prolific as simply brain vomiting on the page.”
can materially affect the outcome,” he says. And he stuck mostly to angel investing, because he preferred long-term commitment over the unending stress of the stock market. The results have been impressive. His portfolio has included such juggernauts as Facebook, Uber, Alibaba, Wealthfront, and Duolingo. “I’ve had multiple investments at $25,000 that have become worth more than a million dollars,” he reports, reaching for a forkful of spinach. With many of his startups, Ferriss’ role goes well beyond writing a check and later cashing a bigger one. He can now offer the sum of his parts—the personal knowledge, tested and retested through his own life, of how to learn from adversity and find untapped strength.
and a lot of startups,” he says. “How do you utilize your customers? How can you get them to do the marketing for you?” All the ideas make good sense to DiNunzio. Then, a bolt of lightning. DiNunzio mentions that Tradesy’s big advantage is its dominance in what’s called organic search. Due to a lot of back-end effort early on, postings on the site rank high in Google’s search algorithm. In fact, 70 percent of the site’s traffic comes in through that route, so Tradesy has been able to pull back on pricey Facebook ads—which is great because such users who arrive via search come in at no cost and often wind up making a purchase. Meanwhile, the other primary method for attracting e-commerce customers, through Facebook ads, usually captures people who may be valuable over time but often don’t buy anything right away. This gives Ferriss an idea. “How could you take away this crutch that your competitors are using—given that they are far more dependent on that paid media?” he asks. He suggests a plan that many businesses would consider unthinkable: take Tradesy’s well-developed playbook for paid acquisition and share it with the world. Just hand some of the company’s most hard-won trade secrets, free of charge, to the many deep-pocketed retailers, the Nordstroms of the world, who are relatively new to the social marketing game. Given Tradesy’s advantage in organic search, Ferriss explains, “this sacrifice is actually going to hurt your competitors more than it’s going to hurt you.” That’s because the resulting increase in competition for Facebook ads would force Tradesy’s rival consignment websites to pay more to find their customers. “So maybe guest-author a post in an industry journal?” he suggests. DiNunzio has a better idea. “I just got invited to speak at a major e-commerce conference,” she says, eyes twinkling. She turns to me. “I mean, what’s up with him, right?” she asks incredulously of Ferriss. “This is a more in-depth conversation about digital paid-marketing strategy than I can usually have with other e-commerce CEOs who do this for a living. And then layer on top of it the fucking Jedi strategy of making retailers crush the margins of our competitors.” Ferriss smiles. “Now you get why he’s so good,” she says.
FERRISS WASN’T PLANNING ON writing another book, not yet anyway. Tools of Titans began as a private project, an attempt, after creating hundreds of hours’ worth of podcasts, to simply catalog the wisdom his guests had imparted and mine it for takeaways he might apply to his own life. At the time, he was living in Paris, where he’d gone to take a class in fiction writing—a plan that soon found its way to the back burner
when he realized what gold he was turning up in those mp3s. “When I started the book, I thought it would be a cakewalk,” he admits. It wasn’t. He began, as he always does, by studying the market—purchasing “six to 12” successful books in the genre he is entering. “As it turns out,” he says bluntly, “most books of interviews are fucking terrible. They’re not actionable.” Determined to publish something authentically results-driven, he read through his transcripts, filled in gaps by conducting additional interviews, and wrote a number of original chapters himself. (Despite his faith in outsourcing, Ferriss shuns ghostwriters because they’re not able to capture his voice.) Some 700 pages of actionable advice poses several challenges for the reader, foremost among them: How do we decide whose advice to take? For instance, the chapter featuring Seth Rogen and his producing partner, Evan Goldberg, includes the oft-repeated writers’ workshop admonition to “write what you know,” a platitude Freakonomics author Steven J. Dubner categorically denounces some 50 pages later. Of course, Rogen and Goldberg make Hollywood blockbusters, while Dubner comes out of journalism. And that’s partly the point: Meaningful nitty-gritty advice tends to be situational. What works wonders for one person might be disastrous for another. Ferriss urges readers to subject ideas to rigorous testing. “It’s only good advice if it lends itself to a good experiment,” he says. “And a good experiment is measurable and replicable.” That’s the opposite, he says, of what fills most business-oriented books. “It’s like, ‘active integrity…’” he says. “What does that mean? It’s like a cheesy motivational poster. Ninety percent of the business-book content out there consists of meaningless platitudes like that. But once you define ‘good advice’ as something you can test, it takes care of itself.” And he adds, readers who achieve genuine results become the best evangelists. “If I win over 1,000 true fans, I don’t need a marketing budget,” he says—an idea popularized by Wired cofounding editor Kevin Kelly, and, naturally, featured in Tools of Titans. At this point, clearly, he’s got many more than 1,000 devotees. For instance, his podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show, has been downloaded more than 100 million times. In part, that’s because Ferriss is a good host. But there’s more to it than that. As with everything else, Ferriss’ approach to the genre has been extraordinarily methodical, data-driven, and results-oriented. He decided to start with just six episodes, the amount, he reasoned, that would “maximize lessons learned: getting better at conducting interviews, getting rid of verbal tics, learning to secure guests”— even if he decided to bail. “That is a constant question in my mind for almost every single decision I make,” he says. “Even if this fails, what other benefits can I derive from it?” The podcasting industry, Ferriss goes on, “is rife with assumptions.”
“I’VE “ HAD MULTIPLE INVESTMENTS AT $25,000 THAT HAVE BECOME WORTH MORE THAN A MILLION DOLLARS,” SAYS FERRISS. FEBRUARY 2017 l ENTREPRENEUR 59 63 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 | ENTREPRENEUR.COM
For instance, “where in the Ten Commandments is it written that you have to charge $10 to $12 CPM?” (the price for 1,000 impressions). Instead, he worked backward, asking, What financial proposition would make this exciting for me? He settled on an astronomical $60 CPM and then set about creating a product that would be worth the money. “That means that when a sponsor signs with me, I want to ensure they win.” He does it by enlisting a team of people to make sure a sponsor’s e-commerce game is optimized to convert traffic into paying customers. Meanwhile, although many episodes of his show generate more than a million downloads, he sets prices around a guarantee of just 450,000. “It’s massive underselling,” he says. “Why? Because I want my sponsors to fucking love me.” Although he puts minimal effort into sales and typically insists on payment up front, the show’s ad space is booked up several quarters in advance. “If I had followed the playbook that other successful podcasters are using, I would have quit,” he says. “It would not have been worth my time. It would be stressful. And I would not have the space to focus on the creative aspects, which are what I enjoy.”
BY THIS POINT, THE 4-HOUR MAN is on track to give me a 9-hour interview. In fact, he seems so relaxed that I’m convinced (haters to the contrary) he really has organized his life to give himself all the free time he can handle. But we’re on a roll. “I’m sure any one of these places would be more than happy to sell us some alcohol,” he says cheerfully as we stroll through downtown Santa Monica. Is Tim Ferriss perfect? He’s certainly working on it. But after close examination, I can confirm that he is in fact still a human with vices. Ginger cookies are one. Wine is another, which becomes apparent as we settle into a cavernous gastropub and Ferriss pores over the list. “If I have a waiter whom I ask about an expensive glass of wine—meaning, like, $5 more than a cheap one—and he’s like, ‘Nah, go with that bottle,’ like, you just got an extra tip,” Ferriss says. “Have an opinion. Do not just tell me everything’s good.” He orders a Malbec. “It’s important to know where you have the ability to moderate and where you don’t,” Ferriss says. “In the case of alcohol, I don’t do moderation very well. If I have one glass, I’m like, ‘I’m not properly buzzed. I might as well have two or three.’” That’s why two to four times a year, he turns teetotaler for a month. Soon our waiter arrives to take our food order, and Ferriss puts him to the test. “If you had to name your first and second choice,” Ferriss asks him, “among the hangar steak, the burger—”
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“The burger, definitely,” the waiter puts in quickly. “Good man!” Ferriss exclaims, ordering the burger, no bun, with avocado and bacon piled on top, brussels sprouts instead of fries, and oysters to start. Back on the subject of his imperfection, he readily admits to more than a touch of OCD-like behavior. “I’ll have books or stacks of things on a desk, and if the spaces between them are not parallel, it drives me crazy,” he says. “I’m very obsessed with symmetry and clean lines. But frankly, I don’t know anyone who’s really good at what they do who doesn’t have a bit of that. You have to give a shit to a level that is a bit pathological.” Given his intensity, I can’t help wondering if he might have one more vice: an addiction to continuous self-improvement. Will you ever experiment with the idea of just chilling out? I ask him. Maybe write a book about, say, kicking back on the sofa, eating ginger cookies, and becoming a slob? “Some experiments are not very interesting to me,” he replies with a laugh. “It’s a matter of incentives. Why would you do it?” I press him. Isn’t it possible, I ask, to basically optimize yourself so compulsively you forget to actually live your life? “Sure, and I’ve been there,” he says. “Because the study and pursuit of achievement is necessarily very future-tense. If you can’t be happy with what you have in the present, then you can never be happy. A sole focus on productivity, calibrated and measured based on some future outcome? Oh, you’re fucked, pal. You’re going to psychological hell in a handbasket if you don’t have some kind of counterbalancing practice.” That helps explain why despite his success as an investor, Ferriss hasn’t made an investment in a startup in a year and a half. The research required too much mental energy. “Lots of tech investors participate in popular deals out of FOMO or social obligation,” he says. “I manage my own money, so if I take a break for a few years, who gives a shit?” Instead, he is applying his freed-up cognitive capacity to new challenges: He’s tooling around with a screenplay based on The 4-Hour Workweek, a project he thinks of as “Dodgeball meets Fight Club.” Meanwhile, in order to learn the movie business, he’s planning on directing a series of short films—a project he admits may be a “take my money and set it on fire in the middle of the street” sort of venture. So why do it? “Because I want to, and I think it will be fun.” The last glass of Malbec is almost gone. Ferriss leans back from the table. “Mostly, I just really want to insert more absurdity into my life,” he says. “I think this is a very therapeutic and joy-inducing thing—to have, along with the productivity, a very large dose of absurdity. It’s a really good and healthy thing for me to do.” E Aaron Gell is a writer and an editorial consultant. Read a longer version of this story, with more on Ferriss’ background, at entm.ag/ferrissprofile.
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J UL Y 2 0 1 4 Rishab Agrawal was third exit from Housing.com co-founders’ list.
NO V E M BE R 20 1 4 Raised $37 million led by News Corp and existing investors including Accel Partners and SAIF Partners. In the same month, SoftBank led a $100 million round in Housing.com acquiring 30 per cent stake.
A P R I L 20 15 Acquired property listing and classifieds platform, Makaan.com. In the same month it acquired Bengaluru-based Out of Box Interaction – a digital interaction design start-up.
M A Y 2 0 15 Prashan Agarwal quit PropTiger with no immediate reason. Launched used car marketplace 19miles.com in June 2015.
By Sandeep Soni
Jason Kothari – the mason that was hired by Housing. com’s board last year to renovate, plaster, and repaint the crumbling dream house of 12 youths from IIT-Bombay finally paid off. The distressed sale of what was once the blue-eyed start-up for investors and valued as much as $250 million was sold at a throwaway price of around $70 million to PropTiger – which was once not even considered as a competitor. Housing.com will go into the history books of Indian start-up ecosystem as the great product ruined away by thickheaded brashness of its team.
N OV E M BE R 201 6 Raised another small round of $5 million from SoftBank amidst buyout speculations.
SE PTE M BE R 201 6 Partnered with Housing.com to sell selected projects using PropTiger’s offline services like such as site visits, loan assistance, paperwork, etc., on revenue-sharing basis.
M A Y 201 6 After heroic return with its second start-up in September 2015, Intelligent Interfaces, Yadav admitted of finding no headway with it.
J A N U A R Y 201 6 Managed to get $15 million from SoftBank.
N OV E M BE R 201 5 The news of Housing.com up for sale was already doing the rounds with Quikr and Snapdeal. Also announced layoffs and shutting of listing and rental business.
N OV E M BE R 201 5 The board elevated Jason Kothari, chief business officer, appointed in August 2015 as its CEO.
HOW HOUSING.COM SOMEHOW DID BETTER THAN BEING DEAD
JU L Y 2 0 1 5 The board fired Rahul Yadav after going over the top with investors and media.
J U NE 20 1 5 News Corp raised its stake in PropTiger to 30 per cent with an undisclosed investment.
Housing.com
PropTiger
GROWTH CHAT ON CHAAT | WEALTH MANAGEMENT | LEGACY | SELF IMPROVEMENT | STORY BOARD
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F E BR U A RY 2 0 11 Serial entrepreneurs, Dhruv Agarwala, Kartik Varma and Prashan Agarwal, launched PropTiger.
JU NE 2 0 12 12 students from IIT-Bombay come together including Advitiya Sharma, Rahul Yadav to launch real estate portal Housing.co.in.
20 12 Saw first exit of its founders. Saurabh Goyal quit to join TinyOwl.
J UN E 2 0 13 Raised $2.5 million in Series A from Nexus Venture Partners.
JU L Y 20 1 3 Second exit came within a year of first co-founder, Vaibhav Tolia.
S E P T E M B ER 20 13 Spent $1 million to acquire the premium Housing.com domain and a premium national number 333-333-3333 for around $1 million.
JU N E 20 14 Helion Venture Partners and Qualcomm Ventures along with existing investor puts $19 million in Series B.
Infographics: Manish Raghav
J A N U A R Y 201 7 Kothari immediately stepped down post merger to join Snapdeal as its chief strategy and investment officer.
J A N U A R Y 201 7 Like Makaan, Housing too will continue to exist. Later however, along with PropTiger, the three businesses will be brought under a common entity to take on the likes of 99acres, MagicBricks, QuikrHomes etc. valued at around $250 million.
Housing.com ultimately found its suitor in PropTiger with an all-stock merger deal with a commitment of $50 million in funding from News Corp-backed Australia’s REA Group and another $5 million from SoftBank. The deal valued Housing.com at $70 million.
JANUARY 2017
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DE CE M BE R 201 6 Announced bringing back the home rental business after Kothari claimed of bringing back Housing.com on growth track. In a way he made it ready for sale with only three of its co-founders left.
ECO-SYSTEM
POLICY | POLICYMAKER | AWARDS | TAX BURDEN
BHIM
Why UPI-Aadhaar’s Execution Brings Government to the Test
TOTAL DOWNL OADS : up to 10m TRANS ACTI ON L I MI TS :
Up to Rs 10,000 per transaction: up to Rs 20,000 in 24 hours L ANGUAGE S UPPOR T: Hindi and
English currently
After many things that India innovated for the world, though not in modern times, comes Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a made-in-India technology, that stands
TOTAL MERCHANTS :
and not vice versa - UPI along with Aadhaar could very well destroy business models
800 across 16 states
of how peer-to-peer and peer-to-merchant payments work but with a caveat. The
B ANKS ONB OAR DED: 14 :
execution, if not seamless, will render it just a poor distant cousin of wallets and legacy system of plastic money.
By Sandeep Soni
W
hat UPI apps, launched by banks, third party fintech companies like Trupay and BHIM – the evolved version of the UPI app, started by the government last year, will do for payments is akin to what Android did for applications and telecommunications. It aims to further simplify merchant payment system by integrating users’ Aadhaar card details to their bank accounts and using fingerprint that makes smartphone redundant. The increased clamour, hence emerging out of this bold move by the government, has created war hysteria between UPI and existing modes of payments. “This will impact wallet businesses tremendously. With offers like direct transfer of funds across different bank accounts and no hassles of loading wallets for payments, UPI has potential to be the go-to-interface for cashless payments. Also, it scores over wallets in terms of convenience, reach, and transaction capabilities,” says Harshil Mathur, Co-founder and CEO of Razorpay – the online payment platform for e-commerce businesses to accept payments pay via cards, net banking, wallets and UPI as well. YCombinator-backed Razorpay will also be building solutions around Aadhaar-based payments, similar to UPI. SPOTLIGHTING GOVERNMENT Wallet players, however, believe that the user experience they offer and the investment required in educating merchants on UPI and Aadhaar, and costs related to acquiring customers for its adoption, fingerprint devices and their distribution will keep wallets ahead of 68
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Source - online
AADHAAR PAY
to disrupt the financial services globally. A technology that India will be exporting
them and banks-led wallets. “UPI is essentially a backend switch which connects multiple banks and allows funds transfer. It doesn’t solve things like how you acquire customers and merchants for UPI and Aadhaar payments and provide best user experience which is more critical for digital payments,” says Bipin Preet Singh, Founder and CEO, Mobikwik. “If banks could have provided all that then wallets were not needed,” claims Singh. Jitendra Gupta, Managing Director of Naspers-backed payment gateway company, PayUmoney, and former founder of Citrus Pay (acquired by PayU for $130 million in September 2016) hints towards the structural
“Any new technology that comes up replaces the old one” The CEO of government’s ambitious Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) project Dr Ajay Bhushan Pandey hints towards the dead end in sight for wallets and card businesses even as talking of level playing field for all.
issue in the way banks operates. “Banks outsource every technology. They hire vendors for the development work who are least bothered to develop a solution,” says Gupta. Importantly, there are doubts about the government’s execution in investing capital in on-boarding millions of merchants and going to each one of them to educate them about UPI and Aadhaar, thanks to their inherent lackadaisical nature of work. For good, public or private companies, banks etc., participating in the payment ecosystem are best suited to do the task. “There has to be incentives for private parties to build this infrastructure and education
You call wallets as collaborators not competitors. Why? All channels of digital payments are collaborators not competitors because they are complimentary to each other. Some people may find cards to be convenient, some may find wallets to be useful, some may switch to UPI, and others may find fingerprint to be convenient. We need to push all these forms of digital payment.
But, don’t you think the impact on wallets seems certain? Definitely because for certain section of users who are comfortable using a smartphone and an app, UPI would be much more convenient. So they may choose to use BHIM app as compared to wallets and cards. The burden of loading wallets with cash from their bank accounts and then doing the transactions is no more there. In the long run wallets have
otherwise who will invest money into this? Sure government can get few million users by making grand announcements but after that it has to keep improving for users to adopt it,” asserts Singh. MobiKwik last year in October integrated UPI in its platform for users to load MobiKwik wallet. Unless leading merchants adopt UPI, it will be a slow adoption process even though the popularity of UPI is increasing. “BHIM’s adoption will depend on merchants’ awareness about it. The adoption of aadhar payments will be heavily dependent on biometric readers’ distribution, availability and related cost,” adds Mathur. INNOVATING FOR SURVIVAL To acquire more merchants in ‘Bharat’, MobiKwik is reaching out to them with a lighter version of its app of less than 1 mb size in multiple languages that works without Internet. On the other hand, PayUmoney is adding UPI as an option of payments and is in talks with the government for allowing it to use fingerprinting mechanism for Aadhaar-based payments in the merchants’ smartphones. It is likely to roll the service out by March this year. “Smartphones costing above Rs 10,000 have fingerprint
to stand on their own merit without discounts as people then might move to more convenient options.
Dr Ajay Bhushan Pandey, CEO, UIDAI
What about PoS and card businesses? I believe any new technology that comes up replaces the old one. UPI and Aadhaar are technologies that will cause disruption in the ecosystem. So any competing infrastructure which is less efficient, more burdensome, costlier, and riskier will soon begin to disappear until they continue to innovate. How do you weigh BHIM
reading capability. Attaching another device for fingerprint reading is very cumbersome and costly,” adds Gupta. PayUmoney wallet unlike other wallets offer users choice to do so in addition to traditional options of making payment like cards, and net banking. The call, still by wallet and PoS companies is that government must promote a level playing field for all. “Consumers like choices. What if they want to pay via wallets, or debit card or credit card or net banking, etc? Let the market decide who wins,” says Abhijit Bose, Co-founder and CEO, Ezetap – PoS solution provider through app and device. The start-up will be launching UPI option for payments. It will also integrate fingerprint biometric payments. For Aadhaar and UPI to be the de facto way of payments, it is a long way to go even as the early adoption is impressive by looking at BHIM’s android downloads. So far there have been mixed responses towards the app’s responsiveness while for merchants to accept Aadhaar-based payments, it is yet to actually kick off. It would be more apt if we set a timeline to it for next six months and see if government is really putting money where its mouth is.
against existing UPI apps? BHIM app is one generation ahead of them. The earlier version of the UPI technology was actually led by banks which were trying to add specific features of UPI whereas UPI in itself is an umbrella system. Now this banks-led UPI model has been replaced by a common app – BHIM. Users don’t need to use a specific bank’s app to get on to the UPI. What possibilities you are looking for Aadhaar Pay? Once Aadhaar Pay comes on to the BHIM app, the sender wouldn’t even need
an app. He/she can use the fingerprint on the receiver’s app to make payment. This will be a major breakthrough particularly for those who don’t have a smartphone or initially aren’t conversant with it. But it will be important to see if the merchant is at least digitally and financially literate to offer the facility to those who cannot install app or don’t have access to debit/credit cards etc. There are around 20 crore people without smartphones but given that they have Aadhaar, they can use their fingerprints for payments. FEBRUARY 2017 l ENTREPRENEUR
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POLICY | POLICYMAKER | AWARDS | TAX BURDEN
“NATIONAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AWARDS IS A BOOST FOR THE WHOLE ECO-SYSTEM”
To encourage entrepreneurship in the country, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) presented first ever National Awards to individuals and institutions who are key to improve the ecosystem. Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, spoke more about the awards. How will the awards benefit the entrepreneurs and also help them raise the bar for better growth and innovation?
The ‘National Awards’ is a boost for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurship as it rewards not only the young entrepreneurs who take immense risks to change the business landscape with bold and innovative ideas. But, it also recognizes the institutions and individuals that support them in early stages and equip them with the skills and resources to enhance the value of their offering to their customers and the society. The entrepreneurs would benefit as the prestigious award would make it easier for them to access opportunities both in the public and private sector and take their growth trajectory on to a higher plane.
How many entries you received in the nomination process? 70
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In this first year of the awards, more than 200 entries were received in Awards Track and close to 300 nominations were received in the Recognition Track.
Who all are jury members and how the jury shortlisted the right candidates? The national level jury comprised of eminent personalities from academia, technical field, finance, social entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurship were represented by Dr M K Bhan, Dr R A Mashelkar, Naina Lal Kidwai, Dr Bindeshwar Pathak, and Mohan Das Pai. The national jury of eminent experts deliberated on the shortlisted applications on the basis of several criteria including the impact, competitiveness and leadership to ensure that the winning entries in each category had the most potential to grow and lead industry in their category. As for the recognition of ecosystem builders, the criteria included impact and leadership and past performance in developing
THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS AWARD IS TO CATALYZE A CULTURAL SHIFT IN YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP BY PROVIDING MODELS OF EXCELLENCE IN THE ENTREPRENEURSHIP ECOSYSTEM THAT WOULD INSPIRE THE YOUTH Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Mnister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
and scaling up the ecosystem for harnessing the entrepreneurial energies of the youth.
What is the MSDE’s objective for doing the awards? The objective of this award is to catalyze a cultural shift in youth entrepreneurship by providing models of excellence in the entrepreneurial ecosystem that would inspire the youth, specially the first generation entrepreneurs, to improve and excel in their entrepreneurial pursuits. At the same time, it focuses on encouraging and inspiring the ecosystem builders in excelling in their commitment towards entrepreneurship education and capacity building for youth that includes teaching, training, practice, hand-holding, mentoring, networking, funding, and scholarly and/or creative activities.
What would be the immediate and long term benefits that entrepreneurs can look from these awards? The entrepreneurs selected for the awards would be able to leverage the prestige of the rigorous selection
process followed both in their markets as well as funding requirements. The publicity and the awareness generated in the network of investors, customers, and other stakeholders will provide both immediate and long term benefits to the awardees. A longer term impact would be from the recognition of the ecosystem builders - the institutions and mentors, who would be encouraged to support and nurture more entrepreneurs for the future.
What make the awards more start-up centric?
There are three features of the ‘National Entrepreneurship Awards’ that ensures that start-ups are targeted. The entrepreneurs should be below 30 and first generation entrepreneurs, who are not in the same line of business as their family. Then, their enterprise has to be less than five years old. These features tend to make the awards start-up centric. Start-ups are the key to economic development and efficient utilization of the resources of a country. Start-ups that grow up to become successful enterprises usually challenge and disrupt the old and inefficient incumbents to deliver additional value to the consumers in a more efficient and innovative manner. This leads to creative destruction that reconfigures the value chain for delivery of goods and services in a simpler and more efficient manner. The creation of new jobs by startups also helps improve the employment prospects for the young. This would go a long way in realizing the demographic dividend of the country. An award to identify and reward start-ups by young entrepreneurs with the potential to thus boldly transform the business ecosystem and prime it for scaling greater heights was found to be the need of the day. The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship took the initiative to institute such an award scheme and partnered with seven prestigious institutions across India as implementation partners. These institutions having been active in the ecosystem for over a couple of decades were well equipped to identify and shortlist the applicants for selection by the eminent jury FEBRUARY 2017 l ENTREPRENEUR
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NATIONAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
AWARDS 2016 FOR THE FIRST TIME TO ENCOURAGE ENTREPRENEURIAL CULTURE IN INDIA
The award was promoted through national and regional newspapers, online countrywide press releases, social media and mailers to network leaders across the country.
E
ach partner was allocated an area in their constituency to promote the award and receive the applications till December 28, 2016. The website portal www.neas.in was created to enable on-line applications, eligibility check, sorting and preliminary evaluation.
Evaluation Process
Implementing partners ascertained the validity and reliability of information including verification of the credentials of the applicants and nominee. Subsequently, after the initial screening and verification, a common pool of shortlisted candidates was created. In the second level of screening, the eligible applications were evaluated by the implementing partners with the help of expert reviewers on a mix of quantitative parameters (70 per cent) for e.g., financial metrics, and qualitative parameters (30 per cent) for e.g., innovation and social impact. Thus the total number of shortlisted applications collated at the Lead Institute were 111 (Award track: 63 and Recognition Track: 48) The Lead Institute constituted an expert selection committee comprising experts from industry, academia, government and Investment or banking. The expert committee deliberated in detail over the shortlisted applications and largely recommended up to three entries per category as per their evaluation on parameters like founding team, scalability, and quality.
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The winners were selected by a national jury of eminent personalities NAINA LAL KIDWAI retired as the Chairman of HSBC Bank in 2015. She is the first woman to guide the functioning of a foreign bank in India and the first Indian woman to have graduated from Harvard Business School. Her commendable work has been given due recognition by honouring her with the Padma Shri award. T.V. MOHANDAS PAI is the Chairman of Manipal Global Education Services and Aarin Capital. He used to be a member of the board of directors at Infosys and Head – Administration, Education and Research, Financial, HR and Infosys Leadership Institute. DR. RAGHUNATH ANANT MASHELKAR is a former Director General of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR). He chaired twelve committees established to examine a variety of issues including higher education, national fuel policy, the drug regulatory system and the agriculture research system. DR. MK BHAN is the former Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology. He conceived the newly formed BIRAC which is expected to result in product development by industry in collaboration with academia. DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK is Social Entrepreneur and founder of Sublah International that promotes human rights, environmental sanitation, non-conventional energy and social reforms through education. He is the Brand Ambassador for Swachh Rail Mission of Indian Railways.
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HONOURED WITH NATIONAL
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
AWARDS
The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has honoured seven winners who are first generation entrepreneurs below the age of 30 years and given recognition to four ecosystem builders with National Entrepreneurship Awards to encourage a culture of youth entrepreneurship across the country.
Sector: Agri-food Winner: Wow Momo Foods Private Ltd Branding the Road-Side Delicacy
After completing his graduation from St Xavier’s college, Sagar Jagdish Daryani invested Rs 35,000 to start Wow Momos in March 2015, which bootstrapped profits to scale up to 43 stores within few days. “We faced immense challenges in getting store locations in good malls and prominent places. This was because international brands like Domino’s Pizza, KFC, McDonald’s, etc., found preference over any Indian start up. However we managed to Shah Miftaur Rahman (29 years), Sagar Daryani (29 years) & Binod Kumar (30 years) somehow grow and enter the malls via shopin-shop formats through Spencer’s and Big Bazaar,” says Daryani. According to him, an entrepreneur should have perseverance, consistency, and dedication at all times.
Sector: Chemicals, Pharma, Bio and other processed material Winner: Saral Design Solutions Private Limited In a ‘Swachh’ Mission
Saral has developed India’s first and only indigenously designed automatic machine for producing ultra-thin sanitary napkins. They have sold more than 1 million of the affordable pads produced through their machine in less than a year’s time. Their work was awarded by the Department of Science & Technology with a sum of Rs 10 lakh in 2016. 88 per cent of women in India currently do not use sanitary napkins. Seeing this gap, Saral’s founders designed an automatic machine which could make premium pads at a small scale, enabling reduction in distribution costs by 30 per cent. The founders developed machine prototypes using their own capital, and borrowed furniture and interns for a while. Suhani Mohan (26 years) & Kartik Mehta (26 years)
Kanika Tekriwal (27 years)
Sector: E-commerce Winner: JetSetGo Reaching For the Sky
Kanika Tekriwal’s JetSetGo was started with the mission to redefine private aviation as a transparent, ease, and economical business. “Initially the world laughed at us and said who is going to book a Rs 5 lakh private jet on a phone? Not ready to give up, we moved on and got our first customer at a loss of a few lakhs and no money in the bank,” says Tekriwal. From there, she built the business step by step into the largest private jet company in India today. “There were months when on 28th of every month, we would think how we would pay the salaries. And, suddenly some debtor would make their payments,” she adds. Now, JetSetGo is planning to launch in Middle East and Africa. FEBRUARY 2017 l ENTREPRENEUR
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Sector: Engineering Services Winner: Swadha Energies Designing for a Better India
Chennai-based Swadha Energies is a Rural Technology and Business Incubator (IIT-Madras) incubated company. It mainly aims at developing products and services which ensures a power saving technology. It clenches the Ankit Poddar (29 years), industrial, residential, commercial Sreejith (26 years) and agricultural sectors, accelerating & Dinesh Natarajan the conservation of energy through (27 years) their products.
Sector: IT and ITes Winner: Lucideus Tech Private Limited
“We have now walked through a long path developing a wide range of energy efficient products, ensuring lesser power consumption and hence, reduced bills,” says the three founders. “The entire journey of R&D and product development was not easy. There were lots of failure during this stage, but perseverance, and positive thinking made us cross all our hurdles and made all its system working perfectly fine,” the trio adds.
Clockwise: Saket Modi (26 years), Rahul Tyagi (28 years) & Vidit Baxi
A Password to Security
Incubated out of IIT-Bombay, Saket Modi, Vidit Baxi and Rahul Tyagi started cyber security training company, Lucideus Tech Private Limited, in 2012. In 2013, they started their services business with the objective to quantify digital risk such that a risk becomes an informed decision leading to minimal disruptions to businesses and lives. “Since then, we have served more than a hundred of the Fortune 500 companies in India and abroad. In 2016, in support of Digital India, we started a campaign called “Secure Digital India”, where we yearn to train more than 10,000 students across more than 50 colleges spanning in more than 30 cities,” says Modi.
Ashwini Manoj Kadam (29 years) & Manoj Kadam (34 years)
Sector: SC/ST Winner: Jeev Anksh Eco Products Private Limited Serving ‘Organic’ on the Table
Gunajit Brahma and Rohit Bajaj, two IIM-Indore graduates, launched their e-commerce marketplace, Jeev Anksh, in 2012 and from our office in Mumbai. “In 2014, we shifted our focus to organic food, as our customers were enquiring about it,” the duo says. Most of the B2B organic food customers wanted to source food from the Northeast, following this, they have been extensively working with over 200 trained tribal farmers, working on about 200 hectares of certified organic farmland that they have leased out from the state government. “I want to see my company as one of the major organic brands of India in the next five years,” says Brahma. 74
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Sector: Woman Winner: S V Engineering and Consultancy Services Designing a Perfect Home
Ashwini Kadam with the help of her husband, Manoj Kadam, chemical engineer by profession, started their design and consultancy company with an aim to contribute to the society. “Manoj already had a job and it was a hard decision to make,” says Ashwini. Ignoring such facts, the couple started their own venture, with the concept of ‘one point solution for all design need’, with Manoj looking after the design side and Ashwini taking care of the management side. Within three years, the company has completed more than 20 projects and seven are still ongoing. Rohit Bajaj (31 years) & Gunajit Brahma (34 years)
Sector: Entrepreneurship Education Winner: National Centre for Excellence of RUDSETI Going Beyond Education
The Rural Development & Self Employment Training Institute (RUDSETI) under Ministry of Rural Development has given entrepreneurship training by working to identify, orient, train, and assist rural youth to take up self-employment. The impact has been immense due to multiplier effect of trainees giving jobs to others with over 21 lakh youth trained and 13 lakh successfully settled. Highest settlement is the hallmark of this Institute. The award is presented to Sri. K N Janardhana, National Director of RUDSETI. K.N Janardhana
Sector: Institutes/ Organizations providing incubation Winner: TREC-STEP Creativity Requires Incubation
TREC-STEP, in recognition of its incubation excellence, had won the International Champion for Business Incubation Award from UK Business Incubation in 2006. Its spectrum of incubation services address every phase of start-ups, from idea to global performance. A 75-member strong international mentor network is maintained to support ventures. TREC-STEP has mentored many incubators in the country and abroad. TREC-STEP has promoted 214 innovative, high growth and hi-tech ventures so far. Most of them are exemplary success stories of inspiration. They have won 20 start-up awards till now. R.M.P Jawahar
Individual: Mentor (Private) Winner: Pradeep Gupta Going Beyond Mentorship
Educationist, mentor, and consultant, Pradeep Gupta, have rendered significant services in entrepreneurial development in India. The Chairman of CyberMedia Group, Gupta has media brands including Dataquest, PCQuest, Voice&Data, and DARE. CyberMedia Pradeep Gupta is executing India’s first electropreneur park, an incubation centre for electronics start-ups funded by the government of India. Gupta, who chairs the alumni trust, sponsor of IvyCap Ventures with a corpus of $140 million for Series A, has mentored over 150 start-ups till now. He has received Distinguished Alumni Award, IIT Delhi and Helen Keller Award for working in disability sector.
Individual: Mentor (Govt) Winner: Harkesh Kumar Mittal Mentoring Guarantees Someone Cares
Harkesh Kumar Mittal, an alumni of IIM-Ahmedabad, has been instrumental in giving a new vibrancy to promoting the innovation and entrepreneurial acumen among a wide section of Indian entrepreneurs ranging from simple rural industries to high end technological enterprises. His two-and-a-half decades long association with the government has Harkesh Kumar Mittal coincided with the beginning of India’s economic liberalization initiatives. With his untiring efforts and personal initiative, he has not only mentored and guided over 2,000 start-ups but has also helped create an ecosystem for promoting entrepreneurship.
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future bread and butter to several large
$9.5b - total ad market size in India by 2019
digital ad networks – the Googles and Facebooks of the world – thanks to its
advertisers in India, which unfortunately backfired with controversy of being ill-fated for start-ups.
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As presumed, the biggest impact will be on start-ups and small businesses that might have to deposit that amount from their own pocket and penalty too in case of delay or failure to pay, if service providers pull themselves back from paying this amount. For e.g., for every payment of Rs 100, start-ups will have to pay Rs 106 instead of Rs 94. “This is a direct tax collected in an indirect manner. It is like I have to pay someone else’s income tax. This makes businesses completely dependent on
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the benevolence of bigger companies like Google and Facebook,” says Subho Ray, President, Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). A typical online start-up in India spends upwards of 70 per cent of its marketing budget on digital means to acquire customers, on which depends their growth rate, volume, valuation, funding etc. This directly pushes up their cost of acquiring customers and quite possibly hit their growth metrics. “When the equalization levy was introduced, the foreign companies refused to pay the six per cent and instead asked business to shell
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ECO-SYSTEM
out the extra from their own pocket. This additional six per cent cash flow will be the burden for start-ups,” says Rakesh Nangia, Managing Partner, Nangia & Co. – a premier tax advisory firm based in Noida. This is amid reports of hike from six to eight per cent tax and a proposed imposition of it on related services like cloud computing, website designing and hosting, etc,” as per the February 2016 report by committee formed under Central Board of Direct Taxes for taxation on e-commerce. “Already there is lot of paperwork. For every payment made, particularly to Facebook outside India, there is a significant paperwork involved over and above the service tax that we have to take care off. So it is further difficult for us to work with any digital foreign firms,” says Sujayath Ali, CEO and Co-founder, Voonik – Bengaluru-based online fashion store for women.
India’s Architect for Equalization Levy that compensate for the tax payments. We are now looking at ways to ensure that these enterprises pay the levy not their customers.
No State of Panic
However, when it comes to paying that extra six per cent, passed on from their technology vendors, startups doesn’t seem to be panicking. Among the few start-ups that raised funding in the drought since last year, Furlenco – a furniture rental platform had initial hiccups with Google tax, however, there hasn’t been any visible impact. “There was some confusion initially when Facebook asked us why there was deficit in payment. So we explained them and filled a form that they asked for and that was it,” says Ajith Mohan Karimpana, Founder, Furlenco. The start-up in October last year raised an impressive $30 million. Ali too is confident of these service providers remaining unfazed with any impact on their margins. “They are running a very high gross margin business. For them, it is not an increase in raw material cost that will be passed on to their customers,” adds Ali. Akhil Gupta, who co-founded ‘broker-less’ real estate platform, NoBroker, in 2014, however, had to pay initially the levy until they could convince the technology companies to accept payments at a discount as per the law. “Around 75 per cent of our marketing spend goes on digital medium and most of these companies are registered outside India. So we paid the equalization levy as well. However, we got into the agreement that we will deduct the levy on their behalf,” says Gupta. Google tax is also seen by many as a burden in addition to the new 15 per cent service tax. And, if Goods and Services tax become effective in April this year, then it can take the combined tax to either 25 or 38 per cent including the Google tax, as per IAMAI. “Here double tax law comes into the picture,” says Gupta. IAMAI as the industry voice has even called the six per cent rate irrational drawing comparison with other countries. “Globally it is not more than two per cent. There is no objection in paying the tax even as companies have been appealing to make it rational,” says Ray. The other alternative to the levy can be a part of revenues to be offered by the foreign companies to the government which they have so far rejected to comply with. However it will be worth noting how start-ups and service providers behave once GST kicks in.
Akhilesh Ranjan, Chief Commissioner of Incometax at Central Board of Direct Taxes, Ministry of Finance, headed the committee on taxation for e-commerce last year. Can’t this levy be replaced with foreign firms sharing part of their revenue? These companies don’t offer their revenues to the government otherwise we would have no problem with this. Since these companies have managed to avoid paying taxes by saying that they don’t have permanent establishment in India, the levy is coming into being. Apart from levy, there is no other corporate taxation on their income. Is there a possibility of foreign firms dictating terms for payment? We understand that it is a difficult levy to administer for start-ups and small businesses because foreign enterprises having the muscle power might pass on the burden to them by not accepting the payment after tax deduction or enhance the charges for their services
Do you think the tax rate could have been lower? We think six per cent is not a very large amount and hence, we wanted to experiment as to how it works out administratively without impacting businesses. But these are issues which the market has to solve. It is essentially about the bargaining power between the start-up and the foreign company as to who will bear how much amount. Isn’t this an additional burden with existing service tax or upcoming GST? Service tax is an indirect tax. The principle that an enterprise must pay tax in the place where value is generated doesn’t fructify in the form of indirect taxation because in an indirect tax like service tax there are ways by which the producer or the service renderer doesn’t really bear the burden. Direct tax is the only way in which that principle can be served. Of course, when it comes to GST, it translates into a fairly high figure but that it is for the GST council to decide. It seems to be an added compliance for businesses to adhere. No. In fact there is hardly any compliance required in this. There is an amount to be deducted and paid and an annual statement has to be submitted for that. Nothing else like filing for returns, assessment procedures, penalties etc., is there. It is a straight forward simple levy.
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BUSINESS UNUSUAL BIG IDEA
Would You Open Your Books? Some companies are taking transparency to the extreme and showing the world their cash flow. It’s scary, but maybe not crazy. BY CLINT CARTER LAST SPRING, JOEL GASCOIGNE realized he’d made a big mistake. He’s the CEO of
Buffer, a social media management company, and business was doing so well that he aggressively staffed up—going from 34 to 94 employees in just more than a year. But although Buffer was still bringing in $875,000 a month, the increased salary burden was eating up all that money and more. “We didn’t get the productivity impact or growth we thought we might get from hiring that many people,” says Gascoigne. Buffer was likely to be broke in five months. So in June 2016, he laid off 10 recent hires. Then the 29-year-old CEO faced an even more daunting challenge: He’d have to explain all this—how he failed, how the company’s finances suffered, and how he’d fix it—to his customers, employees, and investors. That’s because Gascoigne had previously committed to running a “totally transparent” company, which meant revealing everything at all times. He couldn’t back down now. Business transparency usually falls into two categories: At a publicly traded company, finances are revealed quarterly and the CEO answers a barrage of questions from analysts and shareholders. At a private company, the CEO is accountable to a select few people and can otherwise often hoard information. But transparent companies, sometimes called the “open-books movement,” create a third, somewhat radical way: The
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Baring it all can be good for business, but it’s not without risk.
leader of any company commits to putting its intimate financial details right out in the open, so nothing about its health is hidden. The philosophy takes cues from a more reserved style of open-book management championed by iconic strategist Jack Stack, outlined in his 1992 book, The Great Game of Business. Stack wrote that sharing sensitive data with employees helps them do their jobs more effectively and with a greater sense of ownership and loyalty. And today, many entrepreneurs believe there’s an increased need for openness. “People see situations like the Wells Fargo thing that happened, and now the business pendulum is swinging toward transparency,” says Danny Fiorentini, founder of the live-music company Muzeek, who has opened
PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHRIS DELORENZO
its books to the public. “It’s really important for industries and market leaders to say, ‘We’re here to provide ultimate value. Period. We want to be held accountable for the stuff we build.’” The proposition isn’t easy. And for many companies—particularly those still establishing their names and credibility—it may be downright reckless. But for those that can stomach the risk, the rewards can be surprising. “We know from years of research that people are willing to pay more to do business with a company they trust,” says Martha Rogers, Ph.D., a business-management consultant and coauthor of Extreme Trust: Honesty as a Competitive Advantage. “Most people just feel weary and wary of the companies they do business with.” So how much does a company have to share? That’s up to its leader. “You have to ask yourself y what it is you think you have to hide,” says Rogers. The TransparentStartups .com site lists 42 companies that take the most extreme form of openness, posting their vitals online for literally anybody to see. But thousands of other open-book companies keep their data slightly more closely held. “I still like my privacy. It can be dicey to put all that information online,” says Andy Drish, cofounder of The Foundation, an entrepreneurial education program. So at an off-site last year, he went as far as he felt comfortable: He gave access to his nine-person team. Entrepreneurs who’ve gone transparent say they’ve seen many benefits: It made them more attentive to their company’s needs, gave employees a renewed sense of purpose, and made their clients trust them more. But, of course, open books also carry plenty of risk. A bad month could spook investors. A good month might alert competitors to what a company is doing right, effectively giving up any competitive advantage. The companies committed to transparency say that to succeed with open books, leaders have to do more than just accept those risks. They have to become better storytellers, vigilantly explaining how their raw figures fit into a company’s long-term strategy. “Data can be agnostic,” says Josh Pigford, founder of Baremetrics, a transparent company that helps businesses organize and share critical metrics. “But the way w you package it up and present it—that’s where it becomes important. If you don’t actively use the numbers to tell a story, then you allow people to make assumptions.” Storytelling, of course, is a good skill for any leader to have. But this kind of storytelling can be draining. That’s what Tim Sae Koo learned when he made his marketing software company Tint transparent. He posted Tint’s revenue and cash flow numbers on the internet in 2014, and clients quickly called him with nervous questions. “How are you funded?” one suddenly wanted to know. “Are you worried you’re not growing fast enough?” asked another. At the time, Tint was pulling in about $200,000 a month—a healthy amount, to be sure, but Tint was courting clients that were operating on a bigger scale. “They didn’t want to work with a company that might shut down in a few months,” says Koo. “But if those people had more context, they’d realize our business fundamentals were really strong. We didn’t take external funding like our competitors, so our growth was organic.” He tried explaining all that, but it took far too much time and energy. His team got distracted from its product, and sales slowed. So two months after going open-book, Tint closed the books right back up. Koo says he may try again. If he does, he’ll want to have a communication plan in place. Many transparent companies keep blogs—a place where clients and others know they can go to get updates and explanations for the company’s financials. That way, nervous observers aren’t calling a CEO all day. Matt Bearman, founder of BugMuncher, always reveals new data on his company’s blog, along with
“When you’re willing to disclose everything, it makes people feel confident.”
Radical transparency hurt, then helped Buffer CEO Joel Gascoigne.
his own explanations. That was particularly important last July, when BugMuncher’s monthly number of new paying customers fell by more than 80 percent. But Bearman wrote a post explaining why the dip was a blip: The energy usually put toward sales had been briefly diverted to building a new app. His message was clear. BugMuncher, which helps websites diagnose usability problems, had a plan and was in control. A blog is also how Gascoigne, the CEO of Buffer who hired too quickly, aired his mistakes. “This wasn’t the result of a market change,” he wrote on his company’s site. “It was entirely self-inflicted.” He blamed his ego and pride, along with his blunders in self-management. He called it the biggest mistake of his career. Then he and his partner agreed to each grant the company a $100,000 personal loan and take a 40 percent pay cut for the remainder of the year. (Since that point, Buffer has become profitable again.) But as entrepreneurs like these spill their guts to the world, they often wonder, Who’s actually reading this? Despite how juicy a company’s vitals can seem, the audience may be low. Clients are busy. Employees may want to know only when things are especially good or bad. People on the internet surely have better things to do than monitor a random company’s financials. Dave Nevogt, cofounder of Hubstaff, a transparent software startup, estimates that only 15 or 20 percent of his customers pay attention to the numbers he posts. But that doesn’t matter, transparency advocates say: The very fact that a company is revealing so much information—that it’s there if a client wants it—breeds overall trust. “When you’re willing to disclose everything,” says Rogers, the management consultant, “it makes people feel confident in a way that they might not even check.” Which might be just fine for everyone involved. FEBRUARY 2017 l ENTREPRENEUR 21 79 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 | ENTREPRENEUR.COM
MONEY
STATE FUNDS | ECON
THE UNSTATES OF K A R N ATA K A
BIHAR G U J A R AT
`500 crore Venture Capital Fund
NORTHEAST
Up to `10 lakh for support at idea stage
`100 crore Venture Fund for local start-ups
2 incubators set up – Venture Park and Enterprising Zone
`25 lakh to Rs 10 crore ticket size across growth stages 25-30 start-ups to be funded over four years
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`250 crore GVFL Start-up Fund `200 crore fund for student-led start-ups Close to 60 companies exited by GVFL
`200 crore Fund of Funds `100 crore KARSEMVEN Semiconductor and ESDM Fund `15 crore Grand Challenges Funds for winners of start-up challenges
-UNITED START-UPS TELANGANA C H H AT T I S G A R H JHARKHAND
`250-crore Fund of Funds `50 lakh per year for private incubators 500 start-ups to be supported in five years
`100+ crore Venture Capital Fund
`250 crore T-SEED Fund for seed stage start-ups
`50 lakh interest free loan under Leap of Faith Revolving Fund
`2,000 crore T-Fund or Telangana Innovation Fund
140 seating capacity for first incubator with 25-30 incubatees by around March 2016
Up to 15% equity stake in start-ups
By Sandeep Soni FEBRUARY 2017 l ENTREPRENEUR
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India is a beast, of altogether different size, among the emerging start-up ecosystems globally which currently has seemingly unending capital requirements. Even as the domestic limited Partners (LPs) wake up to the enormous opportunity as the capital source remains dominated by foreign LPs, state governments too are realizing the effort on their part to make up for the existing gap. Entrepreneur shuffles through the plans of various states that have announced dedicated funds for start-ups over last year but the number of such states coming in unison is only handful.
JHARKHAND
*RAN K-7 l SCORE-9 6. 57
Banking on Incubators
J
harkhand government that had announced its start-up policy in April last year will be establishing a central innovation centre and under its aegis; incubation centres will be launched at government institutions and universities. The private incubators are also eligible to partner with the government for launching its services in the state. “If any private incubator is interested, then government is ready to provide Rs 50 lakh per year in its support and in turn the incubator will have to incubate at least 20 start-ups in a year. For this, the government has already signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Management – Ahmedabad,” says Umesh Prasad Sah, Director, IT, Department of IT and E-governance, Government of Jharkhand. The central innovation centre will begin its operations by end of March this year, having a 10,000 sq. ft built up area. Apart from this, there is a provision for Rs 5,000 stipend towards support extended to aspiring entrepreneurs with their idea development for over sixmonth period. The government has set aside Rs 10 crore for that purpose. Once the entrepreneur graduates from the incubator, with the idea developed as a company, he/she can apply for Rs 250-crore Fund of Funds (to be raised over five years). “The fund will be sector agnostic for which the government will be hiring the fund manager by end of this financial year. In five years, we are aiming to support 500 start-ups,” adds Sahu. The government will be providing additional Rs 2,000 in stipend for support to the ideas by women entrepreneurs. C H H AT T I S G A R H
*RAN K-4 l SCORE-9 7. 32
Replicating Inspiration from ‘Big’ Start-ups
T
he state, which was ranked fourth in last year’s ease of doing business report by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, is interestingly promoting start-ups that work on similar business lines of some of the successful and emerging start-ups in India like Zomato, 1mg, Netmeds, however, focused on the state only. “Large start-ups do not focus on state like ours because of low population,” says Alex Paul Menon, Joint Secretary – Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of Chhattisgarh and CEO, Chhattisgarh Infotech Promotion Society. The government, last year, in its start-up policy launched multiple funds including an innovation fund for supporting incubators and accelerators, an ideastage fund called Leap of Faith Revolving (LoFR) fund offering up to Rs 50 lakh interest-free loan to be returned in three years. Another is a venture fund of more than Rs 100 crore, a part of which may be set aside for impact investments and women entrepreneurs. Both will be sector agnostic funds. “Government and private fund managers will operate the VC fund on publicprivate partnership model. The fund will start investing in around seven months in exchange for around 7-15 per cent equity. LoFR is for those start-ups which 82
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don’t have a product market fit,” adds Menon. The state’s first incubator will be ready by around April this year with a seating capacity of 140 people. “It is like a mini T-Hub. We are simultaneously working on launching a start-up competition which will filter out businesses for first batch of 25-30 incubatees within next two months,” explains Menon. The government is also working on incubators for tribal entrepreneurs, where the focus will be on providing marketing and packaging support to their small businesses. BIHAR
*R A N K - 1 6 l S COR E- 7 5 .8 2
Potential Future Start-up Hub
T
he state which was criticized for being among the least developed states by 2013 panel report by former Reserve Bank of India governor, Raghuram Rajan, in a complete role reversal, in terms of business regulations, stunned the nation by topping DIPP’s real time ease of doing business ranking in June last year. Laying the foundation stone for that, the state government launched ‘Bihar Startup Yatra’ in October 2014 to encourage students in colleges and universities for entrepreneurship. Later, the government also set up two incubation centres – first, Venture Park, set up by Bihar Industries Association and supported by Indian Angel Network and second, Enterprising Zone, set up by Bihar Entrepreneur Association, both of which are operational since last year. Each incubator has at least 12 incubatees. Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar, had last year announced Rs 500 crore venture capital fund as part of his ‘seven resolves’ commitment. “Various provisions have been made in the Bihar Start-up Policy for funding support like seed grant of up to Rs 10 Lakhs, free of cost business valuation, and zero cost for filing domestic and foreign patents,” says Dr S. Siddharth, Principal Secretary, Department of Industries, Government of Bihar. As of now, the fund will be focusing only on Bihar-based start-ups but going ahead it might look at start-ups outside the state, however, having business interest related to Bihar in some way.
G U J A R AT
* R AN K-3 l SCORE-9 8. 21
Maintaining the Momentum
W
ith a successful industrial growth story, Gujarat has somehow been unable to pass it on to its start-up ecosystem even though it has been taking steps at regular intervals to promote itself. State government supported GVFL, probably the oldest venture capital fund in the country, last year launched a dedicated start-up fund of Rs 250 crore with Rs 75 crore of contribution from Government of Gujarat to back early-to-growth stage businesses across sectors. “We launched the start-up fund looking at the excitement in the start-up space. While we invest in companies across India but there is a natural bias for Gujarat-based businesses. The new fund will look at businesses which are tested in the market and wants to scale up,” says Sanjay Randhar, Managing Director, GVFL. Around December last year, it raised first close of Rs 100 crore and have so far closed few deals, however, haven’t announced them yet. Founded in 1990, GVFL has so far launched eight funds and has invested in over 80 companies and exited from close to 60 companies. There is no target for total investments to be made from the start-up fund but GVFL is looking to deploy the total corpus of Rs 250 crore in next three-four years. The government in January at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit announced its student start-up and innovation policy to offer Rs 200 crore in grant to student-led ideas and support around 1,000 such ideas in a year time frame. “For VCs like us, we need to have large pipeline of ideas that we can invest in and this fund will help us get the large pipeline from Gujarat,” opines Randhar. TELANGANA
The Dark Horse
*RA N K-2 l SCORE-9 8. 78
I
ndia’s youngest state is also the most business friendly in India. It might emerge strongly against Karnataka, Delhi, and Maharashtra, as the next big start-up hub. Telangana, along with Andhra Pradesh, last year jointly topped the ease of doing business ranking by DIPP. The government in its start-up policy last year had announced multiple fund types. First, Fund of Funds wherein government will select venture capital investors and invest in them. Second, Rs 2,000 crore (initial target) T-Fund or Telangana Innovation Fund in collaboration with T-Hub, that will act as a master fund investing in venture funds. Third, Rs 250 crore T-SEED fund to invest in seed stage startups. Fourth, a unique fund for serial entrepreneurs called Phoenix Fund with at least one venture launched previously with some scale. There were also reports of government launching Rs 600 crore start-up funds in August last year but there has been no update on that. “The innovation fund is initially launched at Rs 100 crore, wherein the government has contributed 20 per cent and the rest is coming from HNIs and other investors. It will be ramped up to Rs 2,000 crore over the years. The focus is eight priority verticals including agritech, transportation, gaming, aerospace, social innovation, etc.,” says Jayesh Ranjan, Secretary, Information Technology, Electronics and Communications Department, Government of Telangana. The target for investments from the fund will be demand driven and will seek equity of up to 15 per cent in start-ups. Moreover, government is also in the process of recognizing existing technology business incubators in the state for required standards, in order to provide support to its incubatees with services at par with T-Hub. K A R N ATA K A
All Hail the King
*RAN K-13 l SCORE-88. 39
B
engaluru – the king of start-up ecosystem houses maximum number of start-up related funds supported by the government. The funds caters to all start-ups that are registered with Karnataka Startup Cell launched last year and offer services as part of its start-up ‘booster kit’ that include Internet, cloud, software tools, payment, funding, incubation, marketing, tax, patents, mentorship, and other allied services. The government has adopted sector specific approach to back businesses including technology, biotechnology, semiconductor, agriculture, tourism, animation/gaming apart from two sector agnostic funds called Karnataka Fund of Funds and Channelizing Innovation for Social Impact Fund with a corpus size ranging *DIPP Ease of Doing Business 2016 ranking and score
between as low as Rs 2.5 crore up to Rs 200 crore. Among all the funds, Karnataka Information Technology Venture Capital (KITVEN) Fund backed by state and central government holds portfolio for two funds - Karnataka Semiconductor Venture Capital (KARSEMVEN) Fund of Rs 100 crore and KITVEN – 3 (Bio Venture) Fund of Rs 50 crore. “KARSEMVEN was launched last year for investments in semiconductor and electronics system design and manufacturing (ESDM) businesses. We have already invested in five companies from the fund. From the bio venture fund we will start investing from around February this year,” says A R Jayakumar, Chief Executive Officer, KITVEN. The Start-up Cell reportedly see registration of 20 startups on a daily basis and has set up Rs 15 crore ‘Grand Challenges Funds’ to host five challenges every year and identify innovative businesses.
Don’t Forget Northeast
G
uwahati-based public financial institution, North Eastern Development Finance Corporation (NEDFi), and Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) in August last year announced Rs 100 crore venture fund for start-ups and entrepreneurs based in North East. “The entrepreneurial ecosystem has been weak here. While we do business meets all over the region to encourage people for entrepreneurship and help them in various activities, we thought that there is also a need for equity investments,” says Bulu Paul Mukteih, Chairman and Managing Director, NEDFi. DoNER-NEDF, in January this year, signed a MoU with Ahmedabad-based venture capital fund, GVFL, for help in setting up process and roadmap for roll out of the start-up fund. It will start looking to invest in up to three start-ups by end of March this year. The fund will invest anywhere between Rs 25 lakh to Rs 10 crore across growth stages and sectors though food processing, tourism, IT, and ITeS are targeted areas. The government is looking to have up to 25-30 start-ups in its portfolio over four years of investment period. However, this wouldn’t be the only fund. “Next year, probably there can be more funds dedicated to sectors like social ventures. If startups are based outside Northeast but have business focused on the region then we will look into it,” adds Mukteih. NEDFi and DoNER have also been meeting with incubator at IIT-Guwahati and Guwahati Biotech Park for their funding requirements. Among other states that have launched start-up dedicated funds since last year includes Madhya Pradesh’s Rs 100 crore Venture Capital Fund, Uttar Pradesh’s Rs 100 Fund of Funds and Rs 50 crore Innovation Fund, Tamil Nadu’s Amma Venture Capital Fund of Rs 200 crore, and Odisha’a Startup Capital Infrastructure Fund of up to Rs 25 crore. Punjab announced Rs 100 crore fund in 2015 but there is no update available. Other states don’t have dedicated start-up funds launched by their respective governments.
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WHERE IS THE MONEY? The year began with a decent mix of deal sizes at both early and mid stages including investments raised by Unacademy, Lenskart, LEAP India and Byju’s. Small ticket acquisitions also kept the M&A vertical active. E-wallets continued to ride on the digital wave with FreeCharge and Ola Money acquiring more merchants. The biggest action, however, was among the new funds launched including Gujarat government’s Rs 200 crore student start-ups fund and realty major Lodha Group’s maiden start-up fund. The launch of India’s first international stock exchange – India INX by PM Modi at Gandhinagar, Gujarat was another major highlight of the month.
$4.5m
E-learning startup Unacademy raised $4.5m led by Nexus Venture Partners.
$15m
Ed-tech company Byju’s secured $15m from International Finance Corporation.
FUNDING
$10m
SaaS company Zoho invested around $10m in five start-ups including Zentron Labs and vTitan.
M&A E-fruits and vegetables seller Freshboxx.in acquired last-mile logistics startup UrMajesty for undisclosed sum.
$13m
Supply chain solutions company LEAP India secured $13m in Series B round from IndiaNivesh Growth Fund, Sixth Sense, and TCI Ventures; and existing investors.
$5m
E-commerce start-up 10i Commerce Services mopped up $5m from Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani.
$10m
Global CRM solutions company Arvato CRM Solutions bought Bengalurubased analytics company Ramyam Intelligence Lab.
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Hyperlocal logistics start-up ShadowFax got $10m in Series B funding round led by Eight Roads Ventures.
Pre-owned fashion seller CoutLoot acquired Bengaluru-based competitor Once Again Store.
$3.5m
Unilazer Ventures led by Ronnie Screwvala put $3.5m in eyewear solutions company Lenskart.
Self-drive car rental start-up Zoomcar raised undisclosed funding from Chinese venture fund Cyber Carrier CL.
PM Modi inaugurated India’s first international exchange-India INX in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. It will initially trade in equity derivatives, currency derivatives, commodity derivatives including Index and Stocks.
National Stock Exchange filed draft papers with Securities and Exchange Board of India.
FreeCharge partnered with eBay India and online food ordering start-up Faasos for digital wallet payment solution.
IPO Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages largest bottling partner for Coca-Cola India tied up with State Bank of India for its retailers and distributors to perform e-payments.
FUND LAUNCH
TIE-UP
$2.2m
Bengaluru-based fund CoCreate Ventures raised around $2.2m to invest in struggling start-ups for turn around.
Used automobile marketplace Droom tied up with Axis Bank for customers to avail loan for buying cars and bikes.
$54m
Lightbox Ventures secured $54m to add to its existing fund to back start-ups.
$100m
IDFC Alternatives raised first close of $100m of its fourth fund. Final close of $300m is expected by end of 2017.
$30m
Gujarat government launched $30m fund for student start-ups under Student Start-up Policy.
Real estate player Lodha Group forayed into start-up investment with the launch of its fund for start-up focused on real estate sector and smart city solutions particularly with initial investment corpus of around $7.5m.
Infographics: Manish Raghav
Source: Online (recent and most prominent deals between 16 December 2016 - 15 January 2017.)
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and Ola tie up for payment at fuel pumps and LPG stations from Ola Money wallet.
$7.5m
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ONLINE TREP | APPS | ASK A GEEK | SHINY STUFF
DEMOCRATIZING INVOICE DISCOUNTING LIKE NEVER BEFORE By Sandeep Soni
W
hile Anurag Jain was working for his family run real estate company, he often felt his business crippled because of delayed payments from large companies, hence stressing its working capital. Burning a hole in the business’s cash flow, Jain along with his IIT Kanpur batchmate Manish Kumar, launched KredX - India’s first marketplace for invoice discounting connecting SMEs and investors to unlock the value of blue chip invoices. The duo got so obsessed with the idea that Jain left his family business in Kolkata and relocated to Bengaluru and Kumar, former HSBC executive, ditched his corporate cushion to start from the scratch. “I was settled L to R: Anurag Jain and Manish Kumar, Co-founders, KredX in Kolkata with my family for 10 years before feeling uprooted from In fact there are employee stock ownership plans that place. But I understand what it takes to build (ESOP) given to all the members to instill a sense a business. So I knew that it will be a temporary of ownership in the company, including its office thing,” says Jain. KredX wherein Kred signifies boy. “Even our office boy has ESOP, though I had to credibility and credit availability and X represents explain him what it is for half-an-hour,” smiles Jain. the marketplace connecting two parties was Though KredX has a tier one investor like Sequoia launched in early 2015. on board but funding wasn’t on the radar for Kumar Kumar too shared the same feeling except the YEAR OF LAUNCH: and Jain. “We never intended to raise funds neither 2015, Bengaluru fact the he was already based in Bengaluru. But even we created any pitch decks for investors. Few venture during all this enthusiasm of starting up, Kumar had FUNDING: $6.25 Series funds showed interest in us but we are lucky to have an extra baggage of bad health to carry. The slipped A round led by Sequoia Sequoia wanting to invest in us,” adds Jain. disc problem for Kumar from last six years restricted Capital in Oct. 2016, Despite early success, Kumar and Jain have stood his travel, which Jain mostly takes care of. their ground instead of being swayed away or being GROWTH RATE : 20-30% “During the initial three months of starting up, month-on-month aggressive in any manner, particularly when you are I wasn’t quite able to walk and sit. We were in the doing a start-up. “Start-up teaches you to accept process of raising our seed round, so I had to be in AVERAGE BILL AMOUNT : failures and move ahead with learnings. So you all the meetings with investors, customers, etc., Rs 10-25 lacs cannot be aggressive but I believe that when you while bearing the back pain, often acute. So, I used graduate from prestigious institutes, like IITs, is that HEADCOUNT: ~30 to stand up after a while,” recalls Kumar. you get used to success and it becomes very tough to The duo operated from their respective homes in swallow the failure,” asserts Kumar. the beginning but switched to a vacant flat that Jain Nonetheless, KredX has a clear goal in sight. “We want to be a owned in the city as their start-up office. They even pulled out billion dollar company for which persistence is required because some furniture from their homes and later bought few tables, there is already lot of negativity in the ecosystem because of high bean bags and chairs from their own pocket. start-up failure rate,” claims Jain who has a very unique way of unwinding himself from work – real estate. Jain love learning For IITians it’s Tough to Swallow Failure about new properties, investments, talking to industry people, Currently, KredX has no hierarchy structure. As a company doing industry research, and honestly sounding little weird, culture, Kumar and Jain want everybody treated as an individual hanging out with brokers on weekends. KredX is amongst the contributor and with no reporting mechanism. Everybody just very few start-ups in India that raised funding amidst the severe have to update their work in the weekly team meeting. funding drought.
Small business enabler
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ONLINE TREP | APPS | ASK A GEEK | SHINY STUFF
4 APPS TO MAINTAIN A SOUND MENTAL HEALTH Cool, but ahead-of-times! Skeptical investors refused to fund Anish’s molecular gastronomy restaurant. He pawned his grandmother’s jewellery to start on his own venture but nobody understood his food. Depression, anger, frustration took over. He stopped communicating with friends and family. But, soon he realized it was time to take charge of his own life. Instead of visiting a therapist, he opted for online help. “I attend a session every evening and found myself relaxed and calmer. Here, are the four best apps,” he adds.
1
CALM - MEDITATE, SLEEP, RELAX
2
7 CUPS: ANXIETY & STRESS CHAT
3
DEPRESSION CBT SELF-HELP GUIDE
4
STAY ALIVE
Start your day to a calmer mind with the app that’s trusted by millions. It is the perfect meditation app for beginners, but also includes hundreds of programs for intermediate and advanced meditators. Guided meditation sessions are available in lengths of three, five, 10, 15, 20 or 25 minutes, so you can choose the perfect length to fit with your schedule. RATING: 4.5, INSTALLS: 1,000,000 - 5,000,000
Feeling worried, sad, stressed or lonely? Need to talk to someone? Download 7 Cups, an anonymous emotional support and counseling centre, and that helps you to speak to trained counselors. RATING: 4.3, INSTALLS: 100,000 - 500,000
This depression management app helps you understand the disease and factors that trigger it. It helps you to manage stress and pushes you to adopt self-care behaviors to control mood swings. This app contains a depression severity test, audios, articles, a cognitive diary, and a motivational point system to help you learn how to help yourself. RATING: 4.2, INSTALLS: 100,000 - 500,000
This app is a pocket suicide prevention resource, packed with useful information to help you stay safe. You can use it if you are having suicidal thoughts or if you are concerned about someone else who might be under suicidal influence. RATING: 4.2, INSTALLS: 10,000 - 50,000
By Sanchari Ghosh
Ratings and Instalss in Google Play Store
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ONLINE TREP | APPS | ASK A GEEK | SHINY STUFF
Choosing Between Native App and Hybrid App? Here’s Some Help What’s the basic different between the two app models?
To create hybrid apps, you don’t need to code it differently for different mobile operating systems (OS) – Android, iOS, and Windows. With common coding and universal design, it can be deployed to all the three OS. However, when it comes to building native apps, exclusive coding is necessary for each of the OS, because every OS has its own programming language and usually they follow native design guidelines. All large enterprises or emerging ones uses native apps like Flipkart, Facebook, and Swiggy.
So which is the ideal one to use including the cost factor?
Native apps are costlier to build than hybrid apps. There is a 30 per cent deviation both in terms of time and cost if we develop all platforms in parallel when it comes to hybrid apps. For e.g., if you are spending Rs 1 lakh on building native app, then hybrid app will cost Rs 70,000 because it requires coding once for all platform. Hybrid apps are ideal in cases when a start-up is only testing its model and the idea but is not sure about it. For businesses who understand their market, business model and customers well and are confident about scaling it up, can go for native apps.
So, is India a hybrid app market? What about the vulnerability factor? 90
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First there were websites; then came mobile apps and with that there was great dilemma whether to use mobile websites or apps, where the latter gained ground because it provided a better user experience. Now, the dilemma is between choosing native app and hybrid app models for start-ups, at least in India, where hybrid apps dominate. Jayavardhan B N, former engineer at technology giant, Huawei, and co-founder of Bengaluru-based mobile app development start-up, Hashtaag, with offices in the US and the Netherlands, puts the two app models in perspective. By Sandeep Soni
Yes, in India, the usage is largely of hybrid apps because they are cheaper, unlike the US and other evolved markets. Because native apps use local OS resources they are more secure and performs better than hybrid apps. It is like transplanting an actual organ versus an artificial organ into your body, which is the OS, when it comes to apps. The body will respond to the actual organ better than the artificial one, though artificial one will be cheaper. The security also depends on how strong your backend is which means how
HYBRID APPS ARE IDEAL IN CASES WHEN A START-UP IS ONLY TESTING ITS MODEL AND THE IDEA BUT IS NOT SURE ABOUT IT.” Jayavardhan B N, Co-founder, Hashtaag
secure is your server, how many layers of security has been added to it, whether you are using encryption methods while storing and use tokenisation, SSL certificate when transmitting information and other measures. Hybrid Apps are less secure when compared to Native since it does not use local resources to its potential.
Any particular growth stage when start-ups should switch to native apps?
There is no stage for startups to switch from hybrid to native apps. However, once the testing of the product is over and there is traction coming to the app and there is a need for optimising the performance and user experience , you can switch to native apps to enhance that. But that’s not mandatory; you can begin with hybrid apps as well. It is like you have money to buy both Nano and Mercedes, but to get great comfort and ride quality you can straight away buy Mercedes. There are some inherent flaws in hybrid apps which don’t go away even if you think of revamping the user interface of the app. But there is lot of advancements going on with respect to Hybrid and we hope these platforms can overcome the limitations in the near futurequality you can straight away buy Mercedes. There are some inherent flaws in hybrid apps which don’t go away even if you think of revamping the user interface of the app.
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TECH
ONLINE TREP | APPS | ASK A GEEK | SHINY STUFF
This can change the way you drive Exploride is the hot new heads up display for automobiles that promises a lot more than anything yet in the market today. It aims to replace your phone rather than integrate your phone and vehicle while driving. Technical specifications
Developed by Exploride, a start-up incubated at the Kochi Startup Village, the heads-up display comes with a quad-core processor, 16GB internal storage, two GB RAM and an additional five GB cloud storage with ample space for downloading apps, music and offline maps for seamless navigation on the go.
The screen
The six-inch transparent display has been optically engineered to enable the projection of the image at a virtual distance of 2.5 meters for the information to fall in the line of the driver’s 92
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sight, eliminating distraction. With its unique design, the device screen seemingly blends with the windshield of the car.
Voice and gesture controls
While driving, the device can be controlled through simple hand gestures to accept/decline an incoming call or increase/decrease the volume. The device can also be controlled through voice and is capable of reading out news items, email notifications and stock updates apart from giving voice directions for navigation with its dual, high output mini speakers.
OBD adaptor
The display can be connected directly to your car’s on-board diagnostics to optimize and display critical information like vehicle speed, tyre pressure, fuel, mileage, trip meter, and battery charge on the device screen. It can also provide weekly or monthly data for insightful metrics on driving patterns and fuel consumption.
Dashboard camera
Exploride has a dual-use front-facing infrared camera to capture hand gestures and record the street video that comes useful in claiming accidental insurance claims.
Connectivity
The device comes with an internal battery backup, dedicated power input mode, internal storage and an independent slot for 4G LTE SIM for better Internet connectivity. It also has an android/ iOS compatible application that also helps connect with other Exploride users.
Cost and competition Exploride is currently available for pre-order at a special price of $299 through its website and the closest competitor is priced at $749 (Navdy). It has already received orders above $50,000 from customers from more than 50 countries.
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LIFESTYLE
WORK LIFE BALANCE | BOOKS | THE OTHER SIDE
MORNING SHOWS THE DAY
Every morning we have two choices; continue to sleep and dream or wake up and chase that dream. Those who work towards making things happen actually become successful. So, what do the successful entrepreneurs do first thing in the morning? Entrepreneur digs out. By Nishi Kumari
I start my day at 7.15 and play at least for 30 minutes with my kids.
Then I quickly catch up on the emails through the night. Thereafter, I do yoga or go for a walk in the park. Before heading for work, I also sit with the newspaper and a cup of tea for about half-an-hour. I carry my breakfast with me, which I eat in the car. Prashant Tandon, Founder and CEO, 1 MG
I AM A DOTING MOTHER AND A HARDWORKING ENTREPRENEUR, WHO APPRECIATES HER PERSONAL TIME. WHILE RUNNING A BUSINESS AND BEING A MOTHER TAKES THE LARGER PART OF MY TIME, I AM THE FIRST TO WAKE UP IN MY HOME AND START MY DAY BY 6 AM.
and calendar check. Depending on what meetings are lined up for the day, I draw up my schedule with adequate time chalked out for team meetings and pep talks for my key employees. Radhika Aggarwal, Co-founder and Chief Business Officer, ShopClues
Before the clock strikes 7, I make sure my kids are up and then help them to get ready for school. Once the kids are away, I prepare myself a cup of tea and the time spent sipping it is purely my own. These are the few minutes I get to collect my thoughts. This is followed by a quick email, SMS
I WAKE UP EVERY MORNING WITH POSITIVE THOUGHTS. I AM AN EARLY RISER AND IT GIVES ME TIME TO PLAN MY DAY WELL. In the modern rush of things our physical and spiritual wellness is often neglected and I feel it is important to address this as one of the primary tasks in our daily lives. I am very fond of jogging and that is integral to my early morning schedule. When time permits, especially on weekends, I go for golf. Pradeep Koneru, Managing Director, Trimex Group, India
My mornings play an extremely important role in my daily routine. The first 30 minutes of my morning goes into planning my whole day. My breakfast is the source of my energy which keeps me going the whole day; fresh fruits and milk have to be on my menu for my breakfast. After which I start checking my e-mails, messages and plan my day accordingly so that I don’t miss out on any immediate deadlines. Azhar Iqubal, Co – founder and CEO, Inshorts
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LIFESTYLE
WORK LIFE BALANCE | BOOKS | THE OTHER SIDE
HOW
READING
CHANGED
ME
Harkirat Singh Managing Director of Woodland Worldwide, took over the company’s responsibility at a very young age. His love for shoes led him to the start his own adventure footwear line, first time for the Indian market, which was earlier an unorganized sector.
I REALIZED LIFE ABOVE SUCCESS AND ACHIEVEMENT :
GAVE ME A NEW PERSPECTIVE TOWARDS LIFE :
Few years ago, I read The Road to Character by David Brooks. The book teaches you that it is not only important to do good things but you also need to be good in general. Blending spirituality, psychology and politics, the book provides an opportunity to rethink our priorities, and strive to build rich inner lives marked by humility and moral depth. The book teaches you on how to live a life of depth.
The self-help book, Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, gives you an idea about how human mind works. It is basically a book on psychology which tells us about how humans think. After reading it you will realize that your thought process has become better and positive. It gave me a new perspective towards life.
Take charge of your own narrative Your story is a powerful tool ANKUR WANKOO, FOUNDER, NEARBUY NURTURE RELATIONSHIPS
We live in a social economy, which is very different from industrial economy that preceded it. The key to social economy is relationship. Value gets created through the connections you make. And, it is suicidal for entrepreneurs to ignore this. BE COMMUNICATIVE
I try to find time to write emails to people of my 96
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company – at least twice a week. I reply to every single question, good or bad, that is asked on Quora. I am answerable to all customers. I thank them for their feedbacks, apologize for unexpected experiences, acknowledge what we messed up and learn through the process. MAKE A POINT
I maintain a blog about my experiences as an entrepreneur – my anxieties, my insecurities, how I am a great example of self-
doubt that drives, and how I often think of myself as an imposter. USE SOCIAL MEDIA
I share those blogs on mediums such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter because that is how I learnt. I read, observed, and listened to others. And in all of this, the common theme is “We are solving a really tough problem. I will make mistakes. But I know we will make the world move ahead.”
TAUGHT ME TO HOLD ON TO MY BELIEF : The chapter
“When to fight and When to Fold” from the book Straight from the Gut by Jack Welch left a deep impact on me. It shows on how to play the game subtly. This book is definitely worth reading. It gives you an insight of the corporate world from a CEO’s point of view. Deep Dives is one of the chapters that a CEO or a manager should never miss. The best thing about this book is that it lays a lot of emphasis on holding on to your beliefs and not trying to be someone else. It persuades you to live with integrity and dignity.
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LIFESTYLE
WORK LIFE BALANCE | BOOKS | THE OTHER SIDE
Beat the Streak
A healthcare entrepreneur at 28, Nandit Pathak, Founder, Aermed, is a passionate musician. He has studied Indian classical music throughout his school years. At IIT-BHU, he was introduced to a vibrant rock music environment by his college seniors and few of his good friends. The first time, he played drums in his music club room, he knew this was going to be a life-long relationship. Pathak plays drums in a classic rock cover band called Rewind. By Nishi Kumari
STARTED PLAYING DRUMS:
At the age of 17. DRUMMING FOR YOU IS: A spiritual exercise
disguised as physical exercise and as recreation. MUSIC FOR YOU IS: Too
profound to put in words. FAVORITE SONG: Rock and
roll (Led Zeppelin), Yellow Submarine (The Beatles), anything by Kishore Kumar. FAVORITE SINGER:
Freddie Mercury. THE WAY I UNWIND:
Listening to full albums from start to finish.
FAVORITE MOVIE: Pulp Fiction, Interstellar, Annie Hall, I am Sam, Woody Allen is my favorite director. FAVORITE GADGET:
Recently bought a Macbook Air. Besides this, Roland TD-11KV Electronic drum kit. YOU LIKE WATCHING: Dark,
irreverent comedy - South Park, Rick and Morty, The Simpsons, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. DRINK YOU LIKE TO BE SERVED: Belgian Wheat
beer.
CUISINE YOU LOVE:
Mughlai. THINGS YOU NEVER FORGET TO CARRY WITH YOU: Phone, laptop, earphones, and chargers for all of the above; my wallet which always has a pen drive. BRAND YOU PREFER: Pearl is a brand that has always been my first choice when it comes to drum equipment. PLACE WHICH GIVES YOU PEACE: My home state of Uttarakhand, or anywhere my close friends get together.
VOLUME 06, NO. 2, February 2017 issue, and it contains 100 pages including cover. 98
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Postal Registration No: Faridabad/286/2015-17. Posting Date: 5/6/7-2-2017, Date of Publication: 1-2-2017.
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