Entrepreneur March 2011

THE BUDGET 2011 SPECIAL

MARCH 2011  VOLUME 2  ISSUE 7  Rs 100

Penny Pinching Promotions

Office Overheads

Employee Economics

50 WAYS TO CUT COSTS Innovative methods that will help boost your bottom line

CLASSROOMS

Staying at the Top Without Compromising on Quality

WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

How a Bunch of Housewives in Kolkata Got Together to Start Funding Ventures

INSIGHTS

Anu Aga on Business Ethics

ALSO: How to Write a Marketing Newsletter How to Recycle Office Supplies How to Calculate Tax in a Proprietary Business How to Start Up in Orissa How to Manage Your Team

table of contents 36

INSIGHTS 26 INVESTING IN STOCK MARKETS

Ranjeet S. Mudholkar on how to benefit from the stock market judiciously.

28 THE PRELUDE TO LEADERSHIP Nandini Vaidyanathan on the highly undervalued skill of ‘followership’.

30 JASMINE INC. Bharat Banka ponders the possibility of India following Egypt’s lead and pushing for transformation.

32 CREATING BELONGERS

Richard Branson on the difference between ‘employees’ and ‘belongers’, and why terminology can take success to new levels.

GET POCKET HEAVY 51 50 WAYS TO CUT COSTS

Flip through these 50 tips and make hefty savings for your company.

67

THE BUDGET

IMPACT 68 "REFORMS MUST BE REAL" An exclusive interview with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee post his announcement of Union Budget 2011.

72 SECTORAL ANALYSIS

How Budget 2011 will impact key sectors.

74 BUDGET 2011-2012: WHAT IT MEANS FOR SMEs Jayesh Sanghvi, Tax Partner, Ernst & Young provides answers.

76 BENEFITS OF THE BUDGET

IDEA Asheesh Advani shares his tips on the Herculean task of raising funds for a business idea.

35 A NEW ACT

Sriya Ray Chaudhuri on how entrepreneurs in the entertainment vertical are learning to make the masses smile.

36 BUSINESS ETHICS & ENTREPRENEURS Anu Aga on how young entrepreneurs can battle corruption and create a better India.

38 BEFORE BECOMING YOUR OWN BOSS Melinda F. Emerson on essential steps to take before becoming an entrepreneur.

IN CONVERSATION 40 ‘GROW YOUR COMPANY THROUGH SINGLES AND DOUBLES…’ Business transformation guru Dr. Ram Charan shares his simple, practical approach that Indian entrepreneurs can use to become world leaders.

By Pranbihanga Borpuzari

An analysis by Shankar Bala, Executive Director, Ernst & Young.

WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR

78 BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS

These homemakers turned into financially savvy investors and entrepreneurs, thanks to B.K. Dhanuka’s organization, Millennium Mams.

By Prerna Raturi

Budget 2011 at a glance.

6 Entrepreneur + March 2011

34 FINANCING A NOT-YET-A-BUSINESS

44 FROM STOVE TO STOCKS

40

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR 48 SERIAL EFFECT

Hina Shah’s ICECD is living up to her belief that every woman has the power to transform her entire family and, eventually, even her country.

By Bindi Mehta

CUTTING EDGE 58 HOW TO ENSURE MARKETING BRILLIANCE The top 13 marketing moves of 2010, in India and the U.S.

By Jason Daley & Ankush Chibber

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63 MULTIPLE MARKETING PERSONALITIES Boost your sales with these lead generation tactics.

By Brian Quinton

SUCCESS STRATEGIES 83 FLYING HIGH ON ENTERTAINMENT Bring out the popcorn and ride the rollercoaster—the journey of popular web portal BookmyShow.com.

By Bindi Mehta 86 SOCIAL CLIMBERS Social media platforms like Facebook are proving to be a boon for franchises.

By Jason Ankeny

83

88 MYTH OF THE BUSINESS PLAN Why writing a business plan, as you know it, is an absolute waste of time.

By Kate Lister

MONEY 98 SMART MONEY When funds are tight, these once-unimaginable financing alternatives could open up new avenues.

By Jonathan Blum 100 LOVE AND MONEY If you can get your customers to love your product, you’re golden.

By Virginia Postrel 101 FLUSH WITH GREAT IDEAS?

How do you convince VCs that your inventions are worth investing in?

Enter the mind of the pros.

By Kate Lister Entrepreneur + March 2011 7

table of contents 112

CLASSROOMS 102 STAYING AT THE TOP WITH UNCOMPROMISING QUALITY Shoot for quality and you’ll hit success.

By Rana Kapoor 104 HOW DO YOU MANAGE SOCIAL MEDIA GAFFES? Social media is a powerful marketing tool… as long as you avoid these commonly made mistakes.

By Rajiv Dingra

THE ULTIMATE ‘HOW TO’ BUSINESS GUIDE

TECH DEPARTMENT 90 FIRE IN THE BERRY The BlackBerry Torch is a smartphone that’s all about business.

By Jonathan Blum

112 Write a marketing newsletter 114 Recycle your office supplies

91 ANALYZE THIS

116 Get a SMERA rating for

Straight talk about the pros and cons of website analytics tool Omniture.

By Ericka Chickowski

your venture 118 Set up a company in Orissa 120 Compute your taxes in a sole proprietorship business

91 UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT

The art of picking the right pro to outsource your company’s IT functions to and reduce your burdens.

By Ericka Chickowski

92 HEAR IT NOW

The humble headphone is fast becoming a small-business productivity tool. Our top choices to block out those noises.

By Jonathan Blum

93 THE MOB SCENE

123 Manage your team HOT STARTUP OF THE MONTH

106 MISSED CALLS SPELL GAINS

Valerie Rozycki turned missed calls into a lucrative venture with ZipDial.

By Shonali Advani

108 FOODIE’S GUIDE

Crowdsourcing could dramatically increase your company’s versatility and creativity.

By Gwen Moran

Zomato.com is an online storehouse to help you plan your next restaurant visit.

By Pranbihanga Borpuzari

94 YOUR MANAGEMENT GURU Need a project manager? How about a virtual one?

By Jason Ankeny

110 THE RACE IS ON

Dinesh Reddy is giving motor sports in India the professional approach it lacked thus far.

By Shonali Advani

95 COUPONS GET A MOVE ON

97 SETTING SALE ON SMARTPHONES

8 Entrepreneur + March 2011

126 TABLE TALK

Count on the ‘small plates’ and ‘half glasses’ served at SoBo’s The Table to tempt and tantalize you.

By Sriya Ray Chaudhuri

128 FIAT’S CHANGE OF HEART The Linea and Punto have undergone modifications post complaints from Indian consumers. Here’s the verdict.

By Pranbihanga Borpuzari

REGULARS

Yowza!!, a mobile coupon solutions startup, connects merchants with customers who are on the move.

By Jason Ankeny Sail ahead to profits with m-commerce.

By Jason Ankeny

SPEND IT

COVER DESIGN

NIRMAL BISWAS

12 FEEDBACK 13 RESOURCES 16 NEWS IMPACT 20 SME DOCTOR 24 STUMPSPEAK 125 SHELF LIFE 130 BACKSTAGE

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INSIGHTS BRAND XXXX BRANSON

Creating Belongers The business icon talks about empowering employees to break the rules.

By Richard Branson

I

am incredibly lucky to be living in the British Virgin Islands (BVIs), one of the most beautiful spots on the planet. Among the first charming things visitors to the BVIs see are signs in the airport arrivals area that designate the immigration channels.

Here, the signs read “Belongers” and “Non-Belongers,” rather than “Residents” and “Non-residents.”

Since I became a resident, I’ve come to find the term “belonger” amazingly powerful.

When a nation embraces its own as “belonging here” as opposed to just “living here”, it breeds a different form of loyalty. It reminds us that our efforts are not just on our own behalf but also for the community. This made me think about how such small, semantic details might apply in the business world: What if companies had belongers rather than employees?

Millions of people proudly claim the title “entrepreneur.”

On the other hand, a title that hasn’t had the attention it deserves is the entrepreneur’s little brother, the “intrapreneur”: An employee who is given the freedom and financial support to create new products, services and systems. While every company needs an entrepreneur to get it underway, healthy growth requires a smattering of intrapreneurs who drive new projects and explore new and unexpected directions for business development.

Virgin could never have grown into a group of over 200 companies had it not been for a steady stream of intrapreneurs who often lead efforts that went against the grain. One example that springs to mind was at Virgin Atlantic, about 10 years ago. The big, expensive seat design firms seemed unable to solve the design problems posed by our specifications for our Upper Class cabin. But a young designer, Joe Ferry, volunteered (insistently) to give the project a go. We set him loose, and the herringbone-configured private sleeper

suites he designed put us years ahead of the pack and made for millions of very happy horizontal fliers.

So how does one unleash the power of intrapreneurs like Joe? The key is to enable them to pursue their vision. But people don’t always think of leaders in a company as people who enable others. As I learned when starting up Student magazine, “A CEO might make only a couple of decisions a year, but those decisions can affect the lives of millions.” What a terrible way to run a company!

Clearly, it’s time for a major shake-up in the nomenclature of business. What if CEO stood for “Chief Enabling Officer”?

What if the CEO’s primary role was to nurture intrapreneurs who’d grow into entrepreneurs?

We inadvertently developed this role at Virgin when we jumped into businesses about which we had little knowledge. For instance, we had no experience in the mobile phone industry.

So we looked for our rivals’ best managers, hired them, took off their ties and gave them the freedom to set up their own ventures within the Virgin Group. Tom Alexander in the U.K., Dan Schulman in the U.S., and Andrew Black in Canada all did this with great success.

Perhaps the greatest thing about this form of enabled intrapreneurship is that people become so immersed in what they’re doing that they feel like they own the company. They don’t feel like employees— they feel much more like... well, I think the only word to describe it is “belongers.”

“Healthy growth requires a smattering of intrapreneurs who drive new projects.”

32 Entrepreneur + March 2011

©Entrepreneur Inc. All rights reserved.

RICHARD BRANSON is the founder of the Virgin brand, which houses over 360 companies. If you have a question for him, you can e-mail him at BransonQuestions@Entrepreneur.com. Please include your name and country with the question.

in conversation

‘Grow your company through singles and doubles…’ …And home runs will automatically come, says Dr Ram Charan, a noted authority on business transformation. His simple and practical approach has helped many business leaders transform their enterprises. Dr Charan speaks to Entrepreneur about the path Indian entrepreneurs should take to become world leaders.

By Pranbihanga Borpuzari

ENTREPRENEUR (E): How can Indian entrepreneurs and enterprises maintain profitability and growth, without compromising on business ethics?

RAM CHARAN (RC): Entrepreneurs should be able to sustain their business and have the perseverance to survive a long time because the economy is going to grow and demand will continue to rise. Do not take your eyes off the destination. In between, you will face many struggles and hurdles but do not waiver in your focus. Also, whenever there is a change—negative or positive—it will present an opportunity for somebody. So, are you on the lookout for opportunities? These changes do not affect competitors in the same way, so an entrepreneur has to determine how segments, consumers and digitization are changing the relative value of channels. You will have to work backwards to understand consumers, undergo innovations and also factor in things like inflation when making plans.

E: Inflation is a major source of worry in India. Comment.

RC: Yes, it is. Anyone who is not paying attention to it will face difficulties going forward.

E: In your book ‘Profitable Growth,’ you talk of growing a company through singles and doubles and not through home runs?

RC: Home runs are important but you cannot singularly wait for them. You have to practice growing your company through singles and doubles and home runs will eventually come.

You must be the mental muscle of the organi40 Entrepreneur + March 2011

Photos© Shamik Banerjee

zation continuously practicing growth. While home runs provide the opportunity for a quantum increase in the growth trajectory, they are unpredictable and don’t happen all the time.

Singles and doubles, however, can happen every day of the year. They result from a determined, day-in and day-out improvement in the activities and social processes of a company; they form the drivers of profitable revenue growth. Increasing revenues through singles and doubles builds a growth mindset throughout the business, so that when the opportunity for a home run does come along, you’ll be better prepared to take advantage of it.

E: Does this hold true for startups in India?

RC: Startups are in a different league. Startups are when someone conceives an idea which has to be shaped and tested. For them, it’s not about singles and doubles. They have to make the idea take off and become a business. You get to the point of singles and doubles when your company is more or less established, which means you already have customers, are making or losing some money and have a considerable number of employees. Innovation has to be an everyday affair and established companies should look at both singles and doubles along with some home runs.

E: Are established Indian companies following this?

RC: It does apply to Indian companies, industry by industry and company by company.

I think Ratan Tata’s Nano is a game changer.

It has some minor difficulties but these will be overcome. The market is here and this will be a sure home run. The technology that they have developed for the Nano will be useful in other models. Similarly, other companies in India have also innovated and created products which are home runs. In the last 10 years, we have seen a whole host of entrepreneurs driven by liberalization.

E: Where do you see Indian entrepreneurs vis-à-vis others across the globe?

RC: People need to realize that it is only about 15 years since the license raj was dismantled and in a sense we are only about a 15-year-old economy. The unshackled way of doing business is relatively new and now you see people com-

“PEOPLE NEED TO REALIZE THAT IT IS ONLY ABOUT 15 YEARS SINCE THE LICENSE RAJ WAS DISMANTLED.” ing through in very large numbers to become entrepreneurs, compared to other countries.

More people are completing their education; many have technical knowledge and understanding of operations. So, it virtually becomes a no-brainer to become an entrepreneur.

E: What will be the major challenges that Indian entrepreneurs will face?

RC: It will be no different than anywhere else in the world. Three things, however, are very important. One would be inflation, second is the uncertainty of government changing the rules of the game and third is how digitization can change the relative importance of channels. The key point here is what makes an entrepreneur different from others. They know they cannot control everything but they figure out a way to take control over it. They are resourceful and use their creativity and tenacity to succeed.

E: We have seen a lot of activity in the services but manufacturing seems to have been left behind. Are we going to be servicing the world while someone else does the manufacturing?

RC: That won’t be the case. We may be slow but India is working on it. We need to develop our infrastructure. We need better power, roads and better communication systems. We have the managerial and technical strengths to carry out any manufacturing and I am not worried about it.

E: You have also said good growth does not come from cutting cost and acquisitions but from retooling resources and improving cooperation in the company.

What does this mean?

RC: For any company to compete, you must have relative to competition cost leadership. If you do not do that, you are out of the game.

Productivity is a must and this should fund growth. Many people do not do it regularly and hence involve themselves in one-time cost cutting measures in three-four years, which is

To read more, grab the March issue ofEntrepreneur Entrepreneur + December 2010 To Subscribe, visit www.entrepreneurindia.in

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women entrepreneur

Stocks FROM STOVE TO

Financial literacy has changed the lives of thousands of women as they turn smart investors and entrepreneurs.

By Prerna Raturi

T

FINANCE MEETS FASHION: Shruti Goenka

44 Entrepreneur + March 2011

here’s no way you’ll believe that these women were ever “just homemakers.”

But that’s exactly what this bunch of six women say they were—taking care of home and hearth, yet wanting more. After all, for married women belonging to the upper-middle class, money is not the biggest concern.

Well-educated and provided for, the family also doesn’t encourage them to take up jobs as a hobby either.

Thus, for these women, who would switch on the TV only to follow soaps and movies and flip lifestyle magazines, to reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad and The War of Wealth, it has been more than just a change in the psyche.

“We now call ourselves homemakers with a difference,” laughs the vivacious Jyoti Wadhwa. A psychology graduate, Wadhwa refuses to divulge her age and, like a clever investor, is also cagey about disclosing her investment options. All she’ll reveal is that she not only takes care of her own investments but manages the entire family’s portfolio, too.

It wasn’t always like this. Married into a business family in Kolkata, she was soon caught in family life—until a friend told her about Millennium Mams. She was a part of the third batch of Millennium Mams, and now that her children are grown-up and settled, she devotes nearly five hours everyday to her work. From scanning macro news in financial dailies to tracking the market on channels and the Internet, Wadhwa is cued in for Photo© Saibal Das

most of the day. “I get into sectors such as FMCG, banking, cement and sugar, which I know about and understand from what I see in daily life,” she says, adding that her Saturday revision classes with Millennium Mams keep her going. “I feel so young, probably because we still address ourselves as girls!” laughs the lady.

An 18-year-old initiative started by Kolkata-based industrialist B. K. Dhanuka, Millennium Mams is a non-profit organization that imparts financial education to women. It now has chapters in Mumbai and Bengaluru as well. Wadhwa claims it changed her life forever. “I not only learned about the financial world, but I’m now a pro at understanding company balance sheets,” says Wadhwa.

She is not alone. The motley group of six women gathered at The Bengal Rowing Club represents just a few women who have found their life’s calling—being businesswomen and savvy investors—and all of them give the credit to Dhanuka and his organization.

Started with the aim of giving women financial education and know-how about capital markets, Millennium Mams has, in turn, made women more aware of how money makes the world go round. “Women’s emancipation has no meaning if they aren’t financially independent,” says Dhanuka. And gradually, once these women enroll themselves for a two-year course with Millennium Mams, they not only understand terms such as market share and inflation but also learn to handle money by investing in markets.

Says Shruti Goenka: “Married at 19, I was an extremely shy girl.” Not anymore. Today, Goenka, in collaboration with another friend, runs Nouveau, a hugely successful high-fashion exhibition and sales bazaar across the cities of Bengaluru, Delhi, Dubai, Kolkata, Mumbai and Hyderabad. “From being tonguetied in front of people whom I didn’t know, to cutting smart deals, I have come a long wayand I only have Millennium Mams to thank,” says Goenka.

DOWN TO BRASS TACKS STARTED 18 YEARS ago in Kolkata by industrialist-investor B. K. Dhanuka, Millennium Mams is registered as a not-for-profit organization and had just 15 women in its first batch. Last year, it received 200 applications for 40 seats in the city. Until now, being married was one of the conditions for admission, but the rule is waived off sometimes.

The two-year course covers aspects of the Indian economy, various industry sectors with a detailed analysis of each, understanding the Union Budget and its repercussions, market trends, and the impact of the global economy on the Indian markets. The curriculum also requires the women to do projects, study various companies’ balance sheets and financial results, and attend annual general meetings of a few industrial groups as well as visit manufacturing plants and units of companies. Once the two-year course is over, women may opt to continue being a part of the weekly classes that are usually held on Saturdays.

The Mams Forte arm invites distinguished names in the Indian industry to interact with members. Millennium Youth in Kolkata is a five-week program for young boys and girls. With no fees charged for the classes, a member has to share the cost of venue and refreshments—about Rs.5,500 a year.

For others such as Ritika Kumar, it inspires them to become businesswomen in their own right. Married at an early age, Kumar found herself in a different city, without friends and a social life. But things changed once she enrolled for the course in 1995. After learning how to dabble in shares, Kumar became confident enough to start the city’s first standalone gym and spa called Add Life on Camac Street.

She won’t tell how much she sold it for in 2008, and has now started Fresco, a company that offers high-end fine china and porcelain for the city’s clientele. “I learned how not to be sentimental about investments and stocks from Dhanuka and moved on once similar spas and gyms came up in the city.”

For Shradha Saraf, the classes came as a push “DHANUKA CAJOLES WOMEN TO in the right direction. A PICK UP SHARES OF A COMPANY graphic designer, Saraf got married when she THEY LIKE, ONLY SO THAT THEY was 25. “When I had my FOLLOW THE MARKET KEENLY.” daughter, I was at home,

To read more, grab the March issue ofEntrepreneur Entrepreneur + March 2011 To Subscribe, visit www.entrepreneurindia.in

45

SERIAL EFFECT

S

hahnaz Makbulbhai Vora runs a cutlery and provision store in Memdavad, a small village in Patan district of Gujarat.

In 2002, Vora enrolled for a 40-day training program with the International Center for Entrepreneurship and Career Development (ICECD) and then bought cutlery worth Rs.1,000, which she sold in her village for Rs.1,400. That gave her a decent enough margin to start a full-fledged business. Today, she has an annual turnover of Rs.18 lakh (about 40 percent of that is revenue) and plans to diversify into the dairy business in this calendar year by investing in buffaloes. Vora is

48 Entrepreneur + March 2011

Hina Shah’s organization helps women discover their entrepreneurial spirit.

By Bindi Mehta

also investing in herself by engaging in activities like English language coaching. As she walks down the steps of the ICECD campus in Bopal, Ahmedabad, in tandem with a group of empowered women running their own enterprises, Hina Shah, the founder of ICECD, says with a look of content and pride on her face, “Every woman has the potential to transform an entire family and eventually a nation. We train these women such that they see opportunities everywhere.”

Shah would know. In the late ‘70s, when she was helping her husband in his plastics business, she gathered from industry talk Photos© Neha Mithbawkar

social entrepreneur that polypropylene was going to be the next big thing. Her husband had a plant related to PRODUCTIVE PROGRAM PVC manufacturing. He did not diversify at KAILASBEN DANTANI that point but Shah set up her own plant in lives in Gupta Nagar, a Surendranagar district of Gujarat to capitalsprawling slum in the city ize on the opportunity that had arisen. Those of Ahmedabad. When were the days when it was rare for a woman Entrepreneur entered to pursue industrial activity. Financial instiher home, the entire tutions were apprehensive to lend any money family was occupied. Her to Shah and she had a tough time convincing husband and son were everyone that she could pull off the venture. busy working at sewing However, she was successful and steadily built machines, her daughter a reputation for herself in the industrial circles tending to a small baby, of Gujarat. When the Ford Foundation came while she was arranging to India to conduct a special study on women piles of packed clothes. entrepreneurs, a large segment of the women Dantani’s smile is genuine and remains glued to her face till the they met were engaged in conventional activiend of our conversation. “I wasn’t doing anything productive till I ties like selling sarees, jewelry and papads joined an Entrepreneurship Development Program (EDP) at ICECD and pickles. They were looking for a nonin 1998. A group of women from our slum enrolled for it together. conventional role model for women across I was one of them. There I learnt how to identify a product, survey India, who could motivate and inspire other the market, set up an enterprise and run it. I then decided to start a women to turn entrepreneurs. Senior offibusiness related to the refurbishing of garments and selling them cials at the Gujarat Industry and Investment in rural areas. And today, I am planning to build another floor in Corporation (GIIC) and the Gujarat State our house. There has been no looking back since I attended that Finance Corporation (GSFC) strongly recomprogram,” says Dantani. mended Shah to the Foundation. They wanted her to come on board and become an official trainer for a select group of women from the success of Shah’s training sessions in India for state. ‘Preach what you have practised’ was the women entrepreneurs, General Muhammad Ziamandate given to Shah. ul-Haq, then president of Pakistan, invited her In 1983, she conducted the first over to train women there. That was training program for a group of Shah’s foray into the international SUCCESS SAGA 25 women under the aegis of the domain. “The social context there  Created 2 lakh women entrepreneurs Ford Foundation. From those 25, was totally different. Each man had - Their investments range from Rs.2,500 18 became entrepreneurs and are three wives and none of them could to Rs.50 lakh successfully running their ventures go out and work. Entrepreneurship - Total investment creation by them : even today. would enable them to become finanApprox. Rs.199.35 crore in India That was the first milestone in cially independent from their own  Development of four lakh deprived Shah’s journey. She continued with homes,” says Shah. Today, ICECD’s women the training as a part-time activendeavors have reached more than  Created >20 community-based ity. During this same period, the 60 developed/developing countries microfinance institutions Ministry of Science and Technology of Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and  Created > 1,000 self-help groups in Delhi wanted to establish an Pacific regions, with more than  Economically empowered > 10,000 poor Entrepreneurship Development 1,150 organizations. More than youth in urban slums, tribal and rural Board. They sought help from Shah 5,500 trainers have been trained in areas and introduced women entreprethe international arena.  Entrepreneurial hubs called ‘Village neurship in Delhi. She played an It is this kind of multiplier effect Service Centers’ created to cater to important role in policy formulation that Shah had visualized when business requirements of 75 villages and worked with various government she founded ICECD in 1986. The  Economic and social rehabilitation in 36 organizations and NGOs. institute is an initiative by Shah to earthquake-hit villages of Gujarat, and Today, each state in India boasts convert her own entrepreneurial worked for tsunami-affected areas of Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Maldives of an Entrepreneurship Development experience into a development and Board. In 1985, considering the training effort for women across all

To read more, grab the March issue ofEntrepreneur Entrepreneur + March 2011 To Subscribe, visit www.entrepreneurindia.in

49

cover story

ON

a shoestring budget (and what entrepreneur isn’t?), it really pays to scrimp and save. Just in case you’ve forgotten the value of a hardearned penny, we’ve come up with a slew of money-saving ideas to boost your business’s bottom line—from cutting your legal bills to inexpensive ways to draw in customers. Though some tips will save you more money than others, the end result of your overall spendthrift strategy could add up to a bundle.

PENNY-PINCHING PROMOTIONS

vices. So go ahead and ask! Your contacts can also give prospects your name and number. As the number of referrals you receive increases, so does your potential for increasing the percentage of your business generated through referrals.

GOT A HAPPY CUSTOMER? By telling others what they’ve gained from using your products or services in presentations or informal conversations, your sources can encourage others to use your products or services.

4

MAKE A SPECIAL TV APPEARANCE. Local cable TV stations often have very reasonable advertising rates at time slots throughout the day and night. Though you won’t necessarily reach prime-time viewers, you will make an impression where it counts-in the comfort of potential customers’ homes.

5

PIGGYBACK YOUR ADVERTISING. Including advertising material in other mailings, such as in invoices, saves postage and other costs, says J. Donald Weinrauch, co-author of The Frugal Marketer. Likewise, make the most of your pointof-purchase opportunities by tucking coupons, newsletters or other promotional fliers in the bag with customers’ purchases.

1

BE A GOOD NEIGHBOR. Split advertising and promotion costs with neighboring businesses. Jointly promote a sidewalk sale, or take your marketing alliance further by sharing mailing lists, distribution channels and suppliers with businesses that sell complementary goods or services.

2

ASK THE PEOPLE YOU KNOW FOR HELP. The kind of support you’d most like to get from your contacts is referrals-the names of specific individuals who need your products and ser-

3

52 Entrepreneur + March 2011

OFFER EXPERT ADVICE. Teaching a class, speaking at a community meeting, or writing an article for a local paper not only makes you look like an expert but garners low-cost attention for your business.

6

INTERNET IDEAS START YOUR SEARCH ENGINES. Research your market and find potential visitors for your website by looking through Usenet newsgroups (forums on the Internet where people post messages for public viewing) and special-interest groups related to your target market, product or service.

7

CUT COSTS WHEN SETTING UP YOUR ONLINE STORE. Think going online has to cost an arm and a leg? You can start out by selling items for next to nothing on online auction sites like eBay and Yahoo! Auctions. If you want to

8

based entrepreneurs find executive suites meet a range of needs, including access to a private mailbox and a receptionist to answer or forward calls to your home office. Visit the Office Business Center Association International website for more information.

BE MOBILE. While the costs of establishing a permanent retail location can be steep, kiosks and temporary spaces can be an easier way to get a foot in the door with a lot less risk. The upfront investment for a kiosk or a cart starts from Rs.90,000, according to Patricia Norins, publisher of Specialty Retail Report. License agreements for carts and kiosks are shorter and are usually renewed every month up to one year depending on the location.

This arrangement makes it easy for entrepreneurs to “come in, try it out for a month, and if their product isn’t working, shift to a new product line or close up shop and move to a new location,” Norins says.

12

create a professional storefront, there are several “Web site in a box” solutions available, usually for a low monthly fee.

OFFICE OVERHEAD

START CHATTING. Find newsgroups that cater to your audience, and join the fray. “I didn’t start [participating in online discussion groups] to generate business, but as a way to find information for myself on various subjects,” says Shel Horowitz, owner of Northampton, Massachusetts-based Accurate Writing & More and author of several marketing books, including Grassroots Marketing. “But it turned out to be the single best marketing tool I use. It costs only my time. [One] list alone has gotten me around 60 clients in the past five years.” Always include your URL in your signature, but don’t do any hard selling-most groups will ban you immediately. Instead, provide useful information that’ll make people will want to click on your site.

9

SPREAD THE WORD YOURSELF. Are you letting people know what your URL is? Try putting it on your letterhead and business cards and in e-mail signatures, wherever potential visitors are likely to see it. Include it on employee uniforms, any promotional items you give away, all press releases, in your Yellow Pages ad and on company vehicles.

10

13

BUY RECYCLED PRINTER CARTRIDGES. Check Google or your Yellow Pages for a local recycled printer cartridge supplier.

FILL IT OUT FOR FREE. Instead of buying forms at your local office supply store or spending time creating them yourself, you can find tons of free forms online that you can download, customize and print.

14

LOCATION LOGIC

11

GET A SUITE DEAL. You don’t have to run your office full-time from an executive suite to benefit from its services. Many home-

15

GET FREE SOFTWARE. Visit Download.com to try hundreds of software products for free through trial downloads, freeware and lim-

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53

cover story ited versions of the full product. Visit Entrepreneur’s Complete Guide to Software to find the best software options for small businesses, including many links to the free trials of those brands. Another tip: If you haven’t found what you’re looking for through Download.com or our software guide, check out the manufacturer’s site. Most offer free trial downloads.

BUY USED EQUIPMENT. Save up to 60 per cent by buying used computer equipment, copiers and office furniture. Auctions and newspaper classifieds are other good sources of used equipment.

16

INSURANCE INTELLIGENCE

advises the U.S. Insurance Information Institute. For instance, you could arrange with a firm in the same industry to use their facilities in case of damage, and vice versa.

CHECK UP ON YOUR MEDICAL INSURANCE. Before choosing a medical insurance carrier, ask for information on past claims and the loss ratio of paid claims to premiums, advises the Council of Better Business Bureaus in Arlington, Virginia.

20

RAISE YOUR DEDUCTIBLE. Raising the deductible on your insurance usually lowers your premiums. Even if you end up having to pay the deductible, it’s likely to be less than the amount you save.

21

EMPLOYEE ECONOMICS

SAVE BY ASSOCIATION. When looking for insurance, check with your trade association. Many associations offer competitive group insurance.

17

BE PREPARED. Buying appropriate insurance upfront saves money in the long run, says Jeanne Salvatore of the Insurance Information Institute, a nonprofit organization in New York City. Consider what situations would be catastrophic to your business and protect yourself with adequate insurance. “Disaster recovery,” says Salvatore, “is one area where business owners shouldn’t scrimp.”

18

MAKE A FOUL-WEATHER FRIEND. By arranging for an alternative place to run your business in case of a major disaster, you may be able to save on business interruption insurance,

19

54 Entrepreneur + March 2011

AIM TO LEASE. Employee leasing-in which you turn over your work force to a professional employer organization that leases your employees back to you-can save you substantial cash on employee benefits, says Bruce Steinberg at the American Staffing Association (ASA).

22

GO WITH THE FLOW. Rather than paying for employees who sit idle when business is slow, consider hiring temporary employees to handle surges in business.

23

24 terns.

MAKE EXPERIENCE COUNT. Get free or low-cost help, and give local college students a chance to learn the ropes, by hiring in-

USE INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS. Employers generally don’t have to withhold or pay any taxes on payments to independent contractors. But be very careful that your independent contractors fit the definition provided by the IRS or you could face penalties.

25

Commission your sales force. Overhead, salaries, incentives, training costs, fringe benefits and expenses add up when you’re hiring your own sales representatives. Contracting independent manufacturers’ sales reps, paid on commission only, is less expensive and often equally effective.

26

29

BE AN EARLY BIRD. Send mail early in the day, and you can usually expect to get oneto two-day delivery.

SHOP AROUND FOR AN OVERNIGHT COURIER. Overnight delivery rates for the major couriers are competitive; however, if you’re willing to wait a few hours—or even an extra day—you could save.

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TAX TACTICS

SHIPPING SAVINGS

MIND SOME PETTY POINTERS. Don’t get careless about your petty cash account.

“Though you don’t need receipts for expenses under a minimum amount, you should still track these expenses since they can add up,” advises Holmes Crouch, author of 18 tax books.

31

CLEAN UP YOUR MAILING LIST. The Indian Postal Service will help you keep your mail box clean . In addition, you can also use the PO Box services from the good old Indian Post as well.

27

PRUNE THAT MAILING LIST EVEN MORE. Eliminate non-responders and marginal prospects from your mailing list. “Address Correction Requested” on the face of your mail; investigate co-mingling your mail with that of other small mailers to take advantage of discounts available mainly to large mailers; and stockpile mail to build up larger volumes.

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HIRE YOUR CHILDREN. If your children are at least 14 years old and pay their own taxes, it pays to take advantage of their lower tax bracket. “You can essentially transfer income from your business to them [to save money],” says David L. Scott, author of The Guide to Saving Money (The Globe Pequot Press).

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TAKE A STAND ON TAXES. If your business is new in the neighborhood, you may be at a higher tax rate than those who have been there longer. “Go to city hall to determine what your neighbors are paying, and use this to negotiate a better rate,” says Pete Collins of New York City-based PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. “Expanding business-

33

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55

budget special

“Reforms must be real” Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced the Union Budget 2011 amidst hopes of fixing the three ‘D’s—fiscal deficit, current account deficit and government deficit. In an exclusive interview with Network18 founder and editor Raghav Bahl, Mukherjee admits that he “could have done better with the budget.” Excerpts from the exclusive interview.

consensus, because without the support of all the major political parties of the parliament, we cannot have a two-thirds majority to amend the constitution. Without the support of the state governments, it would not be possible to implement it. Therefore, it is a challenge to bring consensus among political parties. I may exercise the entire period of this year to narrow the divergences of views so that we can reach [a consensus].

Q: The first question is, you came at this budget with a

Q: This is exactly what we had spoken about last year as well.

If someone like you, who possibly has the largest amount of cross-party relationships and respect with other political leaders, is finding it that difficult, then this doesn’t give too much confidence to people that it will be done even in the 12-month period you are speaking about.

A: Sometimes it appears that from our attitude or approach that we have reached a stage where positions cannot be reconciled.

When the entire winter session was washed out, many people thought that it is again going to reflect in the budget session. But then the same people later sat together for days and we have now been able to find a mechanism through which we can resolve the issues.

very buoyant revenue, but with also a fairly depleted political capital for the Government. Did that constrain you in any way?

A: Not really, because as a political activist, I have sometimes seen that there may be situations where ruling parties or governments face a lot of problems and criticism from different quarters. So it did not affect me that much. My undivided attention was on addressing the economic problems we are confronted with, and how best I can address them through the instrumentality of the budget.

Q: As you know more than anybody

“REFORM DOES NOT ALWAYS MEAN THAT IT SHOULD ATTRACT HEADLINES.”

else, as you have been in politics for so long, a crisis is actually an opportunity in politics because you sometimes push through much more difficult policies than you could otherwise have in good times. In that sense, do you think you have used the crisis in the best possible manner or could you have wasted this crisis, in a manner of speaking?

A: I am a person who always believes that I could have done better, because I believe in the philosophy that even the best can be improved. So from that point of view, I will respond to your question by saying, yes, I could have done better.

But at the same time, I have given a clear direction towards tax reforms, and a clear direction for the need of fiscal consolidation by reducing the fiscal deficit. Reform does not always mean that it should attract headlines. Real reform is a change in the functioning of the Government, a change in the policies and its implementation that will affect the lives of the aam admi.

Those are the types of reforms we require, and I’ve indicated it. If we can have the Direct Tax Code after the Parliamentary Standing Committee give their recommendations, which they are examining right now, perhaps it would be possible to implement it from April 1, 2012.

Q: But what about goods and services?

A: The Goods and Services Tax (GST) requires political 68 Entrepreneur + March 2011

Q: Picking up from that, since the

mechanism was such that the government agreed to what the opposition was asking for, are we therefore saying that you, as the central government, are now going to come at this negotiation with a far greater sense of accommodation of

the states’ demands?

A: I always say that I am ready to cover an extra mile to achieve

the objectives that are in the larger interest of the people.

Q: What is it that you can do? Because if I could just embellish my question, last time when we had spoken and I had asked you whether you have a plan B, in case there is a logjam, you smiled and said that there is a plan B. But we didn’t see that plan B in operation today.

A: But what I have done, if you analyze it, is that I have aligned the rate—the merit rate of the state VAT is 5 percent. I have gone to 5 percent. The exempted list in the state VAT is 99 items, nearing 100. There are 370 items, which were in the exempted list. As far as the Centre is concerned, I have brought 130 items this year within the tax net of 1 percent.

Q: You didn’t do anything on CST, though?

A: I am working on CST. Please remember that CST was temporary.

PhotoŠ Getty Images

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69

budget special It was expected that GST will be operational earlier. Therefore, it was there to cover that period. And something was to be done by the states, for instance, the adjustment of the VAT. For example, they have adjusted it from 4 percent to 5 percent largely in this year. On CST, as for the compensation, even in the Thirteenth Finance Commission they have indicated that about Rs.50,000 crore will be available to them.

If it is required for more money, I would not mind providing that. I can assure the states that there would be no revenue loss— but certain other things are also to be done. The IT platform is very important. Several chief ministers and ministers told me that unless the IT platform is ready, it would be very difficult to implement it. There has been substantial progress in the IT platform. NSDL is going to start the pilot projects with eleven states.

These are not big tickets or something that captures headlines, but real work is being done in those areas.

Q: But the level of subsidy you have shown seems to suggest that the appropriate time is going to be very soon.

A: Let us not prejudge at what point of time we are going to do it or when we are going to do it because on oil, it will be too premature to make any comment since the situation is so volatile. Nobody can say at what level it will settle today. Therefore, if I say x amount today, it may be x + x + x. If I say that it is a substantial quantum I may gain, it can depend on the international situation. I will give you one example between August 2008 and January 2009. In August 2008, prices per barrel went to as high as $147 (Rs.6,615). In January 2009, it came down to in the neighbourhood of $50 (Rs.2,250) per barrel. Therefore, it fluctuates so much that any assessment would be too premature, particularly at this point of time. Therefore, my direction is that subsidies are to be reduced. In kerosene, fertilizer and LPG, I would like to go directly to the consumers.

Q: Can you lay out a timeline for us?

A: It is very difficult to lay a timeline even for the constitutional

amendment, which I am going to introduce. It is not that there will be no further discussion. It will be discussed in the standing committee. It will be discussed in the parliament when it is passed. As I mentioned, without the support of the principal opposition parties and others, it cannot get passed. So we shall have to come together.

Q: But you have only got a task force that has been constituted, isn’t it?

A: That is why I have fixed the deadline. By June of this year, they will give their recommendations. And I have also stated that I am hopeful that by March 2012 I will be able to implement them. As for the person who has been entrusted with this job, everybody in the country has great faith in his competence and capacity to deliver.

Q: So April 2012 is also not likely to happen, or are you quite

Q: But are we saying that by March 2012 there will be

confident that you will use all the political capital that you have to push it?

A: Let us not take an extreme view. We are trying with the hope that we will be able to succeed. But there may be some problems.

The short point that I am trying to drive at is that it is not what appears to be positioned is reconcilable. It is not like that. Yes, there are divergences of views, but convergence is also emerging. Gradually, more and more states are coming around.

direct cash transfers all across the country in these three items, or are we talking about a task force whose recommendations will be with us and we will begin to act on them in some pilot or phased manner?

A: It depends on what type of recommendations come. But it is very simple. You just now juxtaposed it with the release of the Aadhaar numbers, which are also being done. The number will be generated to the extent of 10 lakh per day at some point of time. So with the help of this number plus the recommendations that they make and the sentiment that is prevailing right now, everybody agrees that kerosene is highly misused and the concession is abused.

It is diverted for other purposes and not meant for consumers for whom these subsidies are based. Therefore, it would be easier to implement.

Q: I just want to switch from the GST

“IF IT IS REQUIRED FOR MORE MONEY, I WOULD NOT MIND PROVIDING THAT.”

now and try and understand some of the budgetary arithmetic. It is one of the few budgets where we are seeing the subsidy level in your arithmetic coming down, but we want to understand how this is happening. Clearly, the only way that it can happen, to my simplistic mind, is if we move towards free pricing of diesel and cut petrol subsidies. Is that something you that have factored-in in your calculation?

A: What we have done is we have decided that certain petrol prices will be market related and it has been done from last June onwards. For diesel, we have decided that it will be done at the appropriate time, which has not yet been decided.

70 Entrepreneur + March 2011

Q: The move will be radical and, as we have seen, radical moves don’t happen in our country.

Therefore, are you saying that subsidy in all these three items will be directly cash transferred to all of the targeted beneficiaries by March?

A: I will be able to do a substantial number, because the number is also limited below the poverty line (BPL).

Q: But the Aadhaar cards, even at the rate at which you are saying (10 lakh per day), will be about 20 crore out of 120 crore people. So, just the Aadhaar cards, even if everything happens according to the numbers that you have given...

A: I will be able to cover it, at least partly.

Q: That’s what I am saying. So will it be a phased rolling?

A: Because a number is required, mechanism is required.

Even if I take the number, the Planning Commission will give me the final number of the BPL families. It will go by the Tendulkar Committee’s number, 8.5 crore families. That, multiplied by five, is about 42.5 crore people.

can foresee, or are you going to rely entirely on the correct implementation of the budget?

A: I would like to wait for that correct implementation and I will not indulge in guessing or just announcing it prematurely.

In the 2009-10 budget, I indicated that I should get Rs.35,000 crore through the auction of the 3G spectrum. When we were moving towards the end of the budget, I was advised by my advisor that we can wait, and that we can manage this year’s financial situation and let us wait for good times in the next year.

I listened to that advice and waited for the next year. Even in the parliament, there was some criticism that you had promised and not made any moves. I said I will make a move, but not by March 31. I will make a move after March 31, and this little rescheduling has paid me dividends.

This year also I have done it, and I have no hesitation in telling you that. My target was Rs.40,000 crore—I have done Rs.22,000 crore. It was not very difficult for me to go another Rs.10,000-15,000 crore, but I thought that perhaps I can wait for better times when this will fetch that real amount that I require.

“ I’D LIKE TO WAIT FOR THE CORRECT IMPLEMENTATION AND WILL NOT INDULGE IN GUESSING OR ANNOUNCING IT PREMATURELY.”

Q: As I said, that would be a radical thing if it happens, it will be a fundamental reform. So we keep our fingers crossed on that. Another thing that did not find as much political mention in your speech, as one would have imagined it would have, was inflation.

You talked about it, but it did not find front off, top-of-mind space in your speech. I know there is lot of talk today about what’s causing this inflation—is it structural, is it on the supply side, is it on the demand side? I was quite surprised at a statistic, that in the last two years, nominal GDP has grown only about 40 percent, but government borrowing has gone up nearly four times. So, there is a cause of inflation lying right there in front of you.

A: That is why the emphasis has been on fiscal consolidation and to reduce the government debt. I have given the percentage as well.

If you look at the budgetary figures, you will find that, in absolute terms, the quantum of borrowing next year will be almost at the same level of the current year, which is flat. That is the objective. And it is not merely an objective—we are reaching there, we are trying to do it.

Take the case of fiscal deficit. I indicated in my last year’s budget speech that it would be 5.6 percent. But when I found that I can manage—when I got unexpected revenue from the non-tax side, when there was revenue buoyancy—I said it can be reduced. I did not hesitate, I did not squander that money by going for some other programs that could have made me popular politically. I did not indulge in the populist approach for the utilization of that money; I utilized it to reduce the fiscal deficit.

The signal is quite clear.

Q: Any windfall that you can visibly see this year, like the 3G licenses that were Rs.100,000 crore almost, nearly 1.5 percent of your GDP, came from that? Anything that you

Q: As for the absorptive capacity of the Indian economy, and that’s also related to inflation and structural inflation...

We have come close to 9 percent GDP growth three times in the last decade, and see what happened. Inflation spiked to double digits, interest rates went up to 13 percent and 14 percent, all three times. So now, three times cannot be a coincidence. Clearly, the economy today doesn’t have the absorptive capacity to grow at 9 percent without creating these imbalances in the economy. There was a great expectation that you would talk about this. The FDI, for instance, a much more liberal FDI policy also in retail—these things will enhance the absorptive capacity. In both these things, you just did not talk about your budget.

A: On the FDI, I have spoken, of course, in general terms because many things are to be done. That’s why in my approach towards reforms, I said that you should not run after the big tickets that will capture headlines. Much more work could be done silently by changing the guidelines, changing the policy formulations that will inspire confidence. I am trying to do that for the FDI. Q: Is that why one would think you were silent on retail? You did not even use that word in your two-hour speech.

A: I do not use the budgetary exercise as an announcement of a policy, unless I am quite confident that I am going to do it within a specified period of time for which I am not to depend on others.

Source : CNBC TV18.

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71

success strategies [Ticket Talk]

FLYING HIGH ON

ENTERTAINMENT A number of entrepreneurial ventures start with ideas to fulfill the unmet needs of consumers in the marketplace or the environment surrounding entrepreneurs. The story of BookmyShow is slightly different. The founders of this venture started Bigtree Entertainment Services Pvt Ltd in 1999 to overcome the inconvenience they themselves had experienced in

BookmyShow has overcome many hurdles in its entrepreneurial journey.

By Bindi Mehta

the simple process of buying movie tickets.

Waiting in long queues for hours together, being exploited by resellers outside theaters, buying tickets at exorbitant rates in black etc are experiences all of us have gone through at some point in the ’80s and ’90s before online ticketing became a reality.

“The seeds of Bigtree Entertainment were sown in 1999 when I was backpacking with my friends Parikshit Dar and Rajesh Balpande in South Africa. The discussion emerged during our journey from Johannesburg to Cape Town and once back in India, we gave shape to the venture,” says Ashish Hemrajani, Founder and CEO, Bigtree Entertainment Services Pvt Ltd, the company that owns BookmyShow.com.

The core idea of the founding team was to start a ticketing service business and capitalize on the dotcom boom that was unfolding in the country. “We had heard of the success of portals like Ticketmaster and Fandango.com abroad. We wanted to build India’s answer to that,” says Hemrajani. “We wanted to democratize the ticket buying process in the true sense and offer easy access to entertainment and other events to consumers across India.

The overall inefficiency had to be tackled,” he adds.

INITIAL HURDLES When BookmyShow was conceptualized, ticketing across cinema screens in India was still a manual process. This left the founders in a quandary, as online selling of tickets would require a system of allotment, blocking and reservation. There was an immediate need to automate the box office of theaters across India. If specialized software was brought in for the purpose of selling tickets and the back end was automated, it would enable Bigtree to have a front end, consumer-facing Photo© Neha Mithbawkar

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83

success strategies [Ticket Talk]

portal that could be updated live with the This was a double whammy for us and curbed availability of seats and enable online ticket the scaling up of our business. The telecom sales. “We had to emulate the functioning revolution had also not happened yet. We model of travel booking sites like Cleartrip were running a separate call center in each and MakeMyTrip. These portals would sit on city which added to our marketing expenses. the booking engines of airlines and reach We also had to hire several agents to assist consumers. We had to partner with theater with the booking process at each call center. owners for our site. The specialized software Similarly, on field, we had to have people on that we needed to enable the automation of bikes to meet CoD (Cash on Delivery) promtheir box offices could either be developed by ises. In most IT-related businesses, the reveus in-house or we could partner with a firm nue cost keeps increasing while the cost curve that already owned such software. We went in flattens very quickly. That wasn’t happening for the latter option as that would help us to in our case,” says Hemrajani. reduce our time-to-market,” says Hemrajani.

The dotcom bust forced Bigtree to reconBigtree partnered with Vista Entertainment sider its entire business model. A lot of people Solutions from New Zealand. The firm became were exiting the business during this phase, the latter’s first consumer in and overall, there was a lot of India and is today their offinegativity in the air. The foundcial Indian representative. “We ers decided to stick by though. bought the licenses for the softThey retrenched staff (strength MOVIE MAGIC ware and customized it to meet fell from 150 to six) and waited Indian standards. Initially, we patiently for the external envi The portal is operational in 87 cities were giving the software free to ronment to change. This move across India theater owners thinking if they paid off. Within a few years, the  NCR, Hyderabad and Bengaluru were the installed it, we would be able to real estate and multiplex boom top three cities in terms of number of users dip into their inventory. At that happened in India and bought on BookmyShow in 2010 point, we learnt our first harsh with it immense opportunity  The number of new users has been lesson in business. Never give for Bigtree Entertainment. “All constantly on the rise on BMS.com, with the anything for free; it won’t have the new multiplexes and cinema percentage growth being almost 50 percent any value if you do so. We started chains needed our software. For in 2010 w.r.t 2009 selling the software after that the next two years, our order  No. of total users has increased by 60 and till date, it remains an intebooks were full selling softpercent in 2010 w.r.t 2009 gral part of our business,” says ware. This also helped us to  Over 53 percent growth in the number of Hemrajani. build strong relationships with tickets sold in 2010 w.r.t 2009 On the investment front, production houses and multiChase Capital Partners JP plex owners which would evenMorgan bought stake in the tually help the transformation of firm in 1999 itself. Chase BookmyShow,” says Hemrajani. exited successfully in 2001 and News Corp EVOLUTION OF THE ECOSYSTEM (News Corporation) came on board through The dawn of 2006 saw the advent of another an affiliation with indya.com. At that stage, dotcom boom in the country, this time one the company ran a portal called indyatthat unfolded a holistic revolution. Internet ickets.com. In 2002, the dotcom bust penetration had reached new heights, broadhappened. The tables turned completely band speeds had improved, mobile call rates for Bigtree Entertainment Services during had dropped to about Rs.2 per call from that phase. “The Internet wasn’t a popular incoming charges that were as high as Rs.16 enough medium to sell entertainment yet. per call, and net banking had arrived with Operationally, we bought a fixed number of the usage of debit and credit cards to transtickets from cinemas across the country. With act online. “We were waiting for this juncture such an arrangement, we could not balance since we started in 1999. The evolution of weekday and weekend demand. During the each of these elements was necessary for the week, we had more tickets than we could existence of a vibrant ecosystem that would sell, while on weekends, we ran out of tickets.

84 Entrepreneur + March 2011

make the selling of enterBUSINESS INDICATORS OF BOOKMYSHOW.COM tainment online feasible and possible. By this time, SPORTS people were not just surfFEMALE ing the Net, they were going 10% a step further and transactEVENTS ing online which gave us a chance for customer service 25 % 15 % and convenience delivery.

We started a portal called 60% movietel.co.in to capitalize 15 % 75 % on the opportunity that had PLAYS arisen,” says Hemrajani.

The company already had a good rapport with MOVIES MALE multiplex owners whom it approached with an offer VOLUME OF BUSINESS SEGREGATION OF CUSTOMERS to sell their tickets. News Corp meanwhile exited the dotcom space worldwide, so Bigtree bought it was a small market with widespread broadback their stake and went shopping for money band usage. once more. “We wanted investors who would THE FUTURE let us build the business independently. We It is a well-known fact that in India more found the right partners in Network18. In people use the mobile phone to browse the December 2006, they stepped on board as Internet as compared to computers. “With our growth partners with their wide and an increase in the use of smartphones, we in-depth management experience. There has know that the mobile medium can no longer been no looking back since,” says Hemrajani. be ignored. We have developed apps for the In August 2007, Bigtree Entertainment iphone and BlackBerry handsets to enable Services launched the brand BookmyShow smooth purchase of tickets. We also have a officially. The company converted all customWAP site that loads on mobile phones. For ers and all transactions to the BookmyShow the call center part of our operations, we have platform. It reworked on its branding, unified installed automated speech recognition softits call center operations with a single, toll ware so that people calling in don’t have to free number across the country, stopped take the phone off their ear each time they CoD, and built renewed focus on the web as want to book tickets. Our IVR (Interactive the primary medium of selling. The portal Voice Response) gives customers real-time, gained momentum quickly. By December region-wise updates. One area where we came 2009, the company was selling a million ticklate to the party is social media; however, with ets a month through the portal; BookmyShow our Facebook app Ticket Buddy we have tried was among the top five transacted web portals to give the consumer certain facilities. He in India; and the brand was the third highest doesn’t have to leave Facebook to complete valued brand in the e-commerce space. The the transaction, can invite friends for movies company was offering white label services and finally, each person can pay for his/her to clients who did not have an internet presown ticket. Within the first five months of ence. It was also managing entire events and the launch of Ticket Buddy (August 2010), concerts for organizers. This included managwe went from zero to 5,000 fans on Facebook ing gate entries to the box office, security and and have now reached 12,000 fans for the on-ground delivery of tickets through tiesame,” concludes Hemrajani. ups with retail outlets like Café Coffee Day There is no looking back for this company and Reliance Fresh (for the IPL). In March that has overcome many entrepreneurial 2009, the company entered the New Zealand challenges in its journey. market and broke even by September 2009 as

To read more, grab the March issue of Entrepreneur Entrepreneur + March 2011 To Subscribe, visit www.entrepreneurindia.in

85

start ups NOTHING’S AMISS

MISSED CALLS SPELL GAINS Valerie Rozycki came to India to work, and in the process discovered a way to monetize missed calls with her venture ZipDial.

By Shonali Advani

106 Entrepreneur + March 2011

R

ubia Braun, Chief Innovations Officer, Metro Brava, a Bengaluru-based film company was looking for interesting ways to interact with her audience at an exclusive screening of one of her films. Through a friend’s suggestion she tried ZipDial’s service to get viewers to answer a few questions. Almost 95 percent of the over 300 audience members were able to cast their opinions by just missed dialing certain numbers on their mobile phones and Braun secured instant, real-time feedback.

“The missed call phenomenon was practically invented in India,” laughs Valerie Rozycki, Founder and CEO, ZipDial Mobile Solutions Pvt. Ltd., a Bengaluru-based company. As an expatriate in India, she noticed that unlike the West, missed calls are a deliberate work-around to pass on a message. Despite being a common behavior pattern, no one had thought of commercializing it. That’s probably the most fascinating discovery she made, because today it is has spun itself into a business opportunity that monetizes missed calls, run on the back of an in-house technology (patent pending) when it launched in February 2010.

The Stanford University graduate knew she had to experience the challenges of working in a developing country, different from California where she grew up, and the space of mobile technology excited her.

Rozycki moved to India in June 2008 to work at mCheck, a mobile Photo© Neha Mithbawkar

payment startup after she was introcustomers and SMEs. Every campaign duced to founder Sanjay Swamy. The for a premium customer is a different ZIPPING PAST idea for ZipDial germinated during this package based on individual requirephase when they were brainstorming on ments, with a baseline minimum and opportunities around mobile phones. volume-based fee. There’s no upfront NO. OF EMPLOYEES While Swamy went on gut feeling, fee unless a proprietary installation 9 full-time some crucial facts made life simpler or integration is required. For SMEs, it for Rozycki. According to data by the offers a simple, self-service model. Any NO. OF TIMES USERS HAVE Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, business can come directly to ZipDial ZIPDIALED the total number of subscribers in this and create a campaign through the web 57.14 million ZipDials as of segment touched 687.71 million in portal. The standard package is priced February 24, 2011 September 2010, much higher than the at Rs.1,000 per number, per month, and TARGET NO. OF ZIPDIALS TILL number of web users. India has a greater there is a special Rs.2,000 package for JUNE 2011 choice of low-end phones as compared to live events which has specific features Over 200 million the U.S., but half its mobile phone-ownfor audience participation. “SMEs can ing population still doesn’t know how use ZipDial by coming to the site and to send an SMS, according to the entrecreating a campaign on the platform as preneur. “Our hypothesis was a missed simple as setting up a Google AdWords call is simpler, is language agnostic and campaign,” she explains. doesn’t cost, making it compelling for Like for Braun who collected accuusers to interact with,” says Rozycki. rate, unbiased and useful data which ZipDial is an interactive mobilehelped further shape the film’s marketbased platform based on missed dialing ing campaign and to make changes numbers which can be applied in a wide prior to its release. “Rather than having range of use cases. These can be in some kind of engagement viewers fill a questionnaire, which some wouldn’t participate in, between a brand and consumer base or between one end-user we had ZipDial give us immediate feedback,” says Braun. Abhaey and a user group, or between user groups, the platform for which Singh, Founder, Indian Debating Union used ZipDial’s services is hosted by the tech startup. “It’s like the eBay for mobile marketfor a similar purpose and was pleased with the innovative soluing,” says Rozycki. Any large or small business can use ZipDial for tion and price points it offered. However, he expressed concerns lead generation, votings, ratings & surveys, branding campaigns, over bad telecom network at various venues that could impede loyalty and coupons and second factor authentication. “ZipDial’s ZipDial’s service. “The reliability of results in these circumobjective is to take several services to the mass market with the stances needs to be checked,” points out Singh. simplest possible user experience and zero friction. Our primary Though confident of Rozycki’s strategic expertise and good focus is the enterprise, just like Google’s,” states Sanjay Swamy, presentation skills, ex-colleague Suresh Anantpurkar, President, Chairman and Chief Mentor, ZipDial.

Product and Telecom Services at mChek, critiques the scalability Ease of use is probably ZipDial’s most compelling feature of the model. “The technology is simple and can be replicated; that’s helped it span across sectors—FMCG, NGO, finance, the key is to run as fast as possible,” says Anantpurkar. “If people pharmaceutical, hospitality, offering a range of services to each. see this succeeding, the market will be flooded with many such It has worked with Videocon and Mumbai Indians for a campaign players,” he adds. His advice for growth is to focus on marketing during the Champions League cricket 2010 for fan club engagethe business. In addition, he feels telecom operators may not like ment including opinion polls, market research. Pharmaceutical this as it eats into their existing revenue stream. firm Sanofi-Aventis is using ZipDial in partner-doctor offices for Disagreeing, Swamy says, “Not at all, we are creating new patients to ZipDial for diabetes/blood pressure health tips. opportunities for everyone.” ZipDial, Rozycki mentions, is ZipDial’s services also include personalized/private content expanding the range of services available and market segments for registered mobile numbers of particular customers, like Funds that can be addressed. “ZipDial creates more engagement opporIndia, a portal for managing stock portfolios. It has a ZipDial tunities for end-users, businesses and operators, so we will partnumber that delivers personal portfolio updates for registered ner to deliver these new services and share in that business users. “We will expand this idea to a range of customers and partmodel,” she notes. ners, including things like flight/train status updates for ticket The firm’s currently in talks with TV broadcasters as potenholders and mobile banking information,” mentions Rozycki. tial customers. “Broadcasters should use ZipDial as a platform ZipDial is also a method for second factor authentication that for mass-market viewer engagement where SMS does not fit,” she can be used to log into services like net banking. The business says. Plus, there is no cost-effective way of doing market research, model has two broad verticals for revenue generation: premium but ZipDial can be the answer, say the people behind it.

To read more, grab the March issue of Entrepreneur Entrepreneur + March 2011 To Subscribe, visit www.entrepreneurindia.in

107

how to [... do just about anything]

Recycle Your Office Supplies You can enjoy a host of benefits after this.

By Bindi Mehta

W

hen we talk of a workplace or an organization, the first thing that comes to our mind is efficiency and effectiveness. But there are several factors that contribute to a fun and productive workplace. Like everything else, adopting and fostering environmental stewardship in the organization plays an important role in this process. Going green not only contributes towards a healthier bottom line but also boosts employee morale and helps to reduce the organization’s carbon footprint on the planet.

114 Entrepreneur + March 2011

Going green generally connotes reducing fuel consumption, using alternative sources of energy, carpooling, recycling biodegradable waste etc. One area that is often neglected in the green movement is recycling and waste reduction of office supplies. Formulating a strategy for recycling of office supplies is fortunately not so complicated. Implementation of such a strategy can start with small, simple steps that can lead to change of everyday habits and efficiency in the overall procurement and use of supplies.

We tell you how you can go about doing this.

Illustration© Chaitanya Surpur

ADOPT A RECYCLING PROGRAM Till date, you could have been least bothered about the demand and use of office supplies in the organization. After all, they are necessary for your staff to perform their duties. Change this attitude. Decide that you will monitor and control the use, procurement and disposal of all supplies. Formulate a central policy for that.

BREAKING THE PAPER CHAIN The obvious area to go green is through recycling and reduction in the use of paper. There are multiple ways to go about achieving this.

Start with digitization of records and files. Is it possible to save your records and files on the computer? This will save both file and floor space and make the process of taking offsite backups easier, as you can transfer files electronically onto low cost, portable storage devices like hard drives or compact discs.

Further, can you review and edit documents online? This will save the process of taking draft prints. Can you convert documents into PDF format and share them? This will save the hassle of printing multiple copies of the same document. Again, encourage double-sided printing among employees. Inculcate a culture of depositing all paper that has been used only on one side next to the printer/copier machine.

Reuse this paper for incoming faxes, internal informal printing, or for making scratch pads (by gluing it together). Buy recycled paper where it is possible to use it.

EXAMINE WHAT OTHER SUPPLIES CAN BE RE-USED Though paper is an important area of office supplies’ conservation, you should not overlook other items of use. These include stationery items like staplers, file folders, hole punchers, pens and pencils, erasers, sharpeners, envelopes, post-it notes, and other items like printer cartridges and coffee mugs/water mugs. In case of items like hole punchers and file folders, they rarely go bad and often can be re-used.

Encourage the practice of having a ‘mini shop’ in the office where people can deposit items they don’t need and others can pick them up while looking for something new. Sometimes seniors upgrade their supplies while the older items may still be in perfectly good shape. For pens, your employees may not be happy with a particular style of pen they are using. You

could have an exchange desk FIVE GOLDEN RE-USE TIPS: for that. That way, people can Eg^ci dc hZXdcY h^YZ d[ Xde^Zg$eg^ciZg eVeZg select what matches their taste. dg \ajZ i]Zb id\Zi]Zg id bV`Z V hXgViX] eVY The practice of recycling pens

GZ"jhZ ZckZadeZh [gdb ^cXdb^c\ bV^a Wn and printer cartridges/toner eVhi^c\ aVWZah [dg [gZh] VYYgZhhZh cartridges (by refilling and

GZÑaa eZch VcY idcZg XVgig^Y\Zh re-using) must be encouraged GZ"jhZ XdøZZ VcY lViZg bj\h also. This could have a direct impact on your cost. Envelopes G Z"jhZ ^iZbh a^`Z ÑaZ [daYZgh VcY ]daZ ejcX]Zgh Wn X^gXjaVi^c\ Vbdc\ hiVø that come in mail can also be reused by pasting labels and writing/typing fresh addresses on them. Replace the disposable coffee/water mugs with re-usable ones. You have to just work your way round a bit and you will find innovative ways to recycle your supplies in-house.

MONITOR PROCUREMENT AND THE SUPPLY CABINET A simple policy to adopt is to buy only what you need. We all know that every item we purchase consumes a certain amount of environmental resources. Yet, we often end up buying things and never using them. Imagine all those resources having gone waste for an item that only remains on the shelf all its life.

Also, you should filter vendors for the amount and kind of packaging they use. For example, if you are buying folders in bulk, insist that the vendor doesn’t pack each folder separately. In the office, monitor the supply cabinet or hand over control to an admin in-charge. Restricted access often means restricted use. When you are investing in electronic items, think longterm. Buy printers/ copy machines that print/ copy on both sides. Buy rechargeable batteries and chargers for your digital cameras and other devices from day one. This can make a huge difference too.

OFFER INCENTIVES AND BOAST ABOUT YOUR EFFORTS No program in the office can be successful without the active involvement of employees. Offer incentives to your staff for recycling of supplies.

Maybe, you could throw a lunch for the team from a part of the cost savings accrued out of the recycling efforts. When printing brochures of the company, put in a small paragraph talking about your recycling initiative. Your customers/vendors will certainly appreciate it. For all you know, it may even inspire other businesses to go green.

Entrepreneur + March 2011 115

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how to [… do just about anything]

Manage Your Team United, do you stand?

By Nithya Nagarathinam

T

eam is a duck that lays golden eggs. Here are some advantages and disadvantages of teamwork and the essentials of, well, duck-keeping:

I vs US In the pursuit of teamwork and innovation, individual traits are often undermined. A team does offer obvious advantages—more inputs, diversity, better quality, and wider acceptability. But if the individuals who make up the team lose their identity, the outcome suffers. Further, team members often don’t express their real opinions in fear of being criticized.

EFFICIENCY Activities like decision making in a team are time-consuming. That’s why during an emergency, most organizations revert to the authoritarian style. Reserve teamwork for complex matters that demand many perspectives.

BELL THE CAT

… And so does the head A team’s success doesn’t always depend on its leader. If the members are disciplined and committed, it can sail smoothly to success with little guidance. But when a project involves dealing with highly uncertain and changing circumstances, a leader’s role becomes vital.

Since a team as a whole is held accountable for a project, individuals tend to make bold decisions, having a sort of protection against failure. But it can also foster irresponsibility, and ambiguity in accountability makes corrective action difficult.

Flock together Group affinity is important. The more comfortable the members are with each other, the higher the productivity. Being comfortable is different from being like-minded. Heterogeneity can actually be professionally valuable.

MEDIOCRITY

Give and take Different techniques of discussions can be used to achieve healthy interaction. For instance, the problem could be intimated to the team in advance and then each one’s ideas can be circulated before the discussion under anonymity. This saves time during the discussion and enables members to come up with well-thought through ideas, free of bias.

Team work tends to encourage mediocrity as it’s the team and not the individual that’s usually recognized. Talented employees feel frustrated, average ones feel secure.

GOING ABOUT DUCK-KEEPING Use sparingly Analyze a project thoroughly and form a team only if it could attain considerably better results than individuals. If not, it could hurt productivity and worsen relationships.

Size matters...

Too many team members can cause chaos, and too few may be ineffective.

Illustration© Chaitanya Surpur

Use the carrots, reserve the stick Individual team members should be recognized and rewarded. Let them learn from mistakes instead of punishing them. This promotes commitment and creativity. To do this, clearly define each individual’s responsibilities.

Entrepreneur + March 2011 123

spend it

table talk

SoBo’s latest eatery offers ‘small plates’ and ‘half glasses’ to tempt you…

By Sriya Ray Chaudhuri 1

hy would a trendy SoBo restaurant name itself The Table? Especially when there are definitely many more than just one table inside. The answer lies in the eye-catching 20 feet cross-cut Burma Teak table that extends from a bar to a community table, with revolving bar stools.

It can seat 18 diners and draws your attention the moment you step into the plush interiors of this trendy restaurant. The Table scores heavily on its location: Just around the corner from the famous

W

126 Entrepreneur + March 2011

Taj hotel in Colaba. Owners Jay Yousuf and Gauri Devidayal have teamed up with the San Francisco Bay area’s consultant chef Joey Altman and executive chef Alex Sanchez and Mumbai’s executive chef Viraf Patel and Naveen Kotyankar. They have collectively conceptualized The Table to be a destination for people to come, relax and enjoy the company of friends while sharing a great meal.

The bar at The Table offers over 60 wines, imported and local, selected by Naveen Kotyankar.

restaurants

2

4

5

3

The USP here is that you can select wine by the half glass; so that you can try out more of the elaborate selection of wines. There are full-bodied, aromatic, voluptuous reds as well as the light-bodied, refreshing and aromatic fruity whites.

The food menu, too, has a unique aspect to it.

It consists of small and large plates, again allowing diners to try a wider variety. You must try the zucchini spaghetti with almonds and parmesan shavings or the pumpkin ravioli with sage-brown butter and toasted hazelnut.

There are a number of snacks you can munch on with your drinks, including the mixed nuts with Zaatar and Sumac, rosemary garlic marinated olives, fries and Cajun mayo and the black olive and Parmesan breadsticks.

The New Orleans’ style lobster and shrimp cake with Creole remoulade and the boneless chicken wings with chilligarlic sauce are special concoctions, and hence must-tries. You could also indulge in the Mozzarella stuffed buffalo meatballs and tomato gravy or baked baby eggplants, babaganoush, fried garlic, and feta with Lavosh crackers.

The desserts include chilled espresso granita parfait, warm chocolate tart with jaggery vanilla gelato and Morello cherry sauce and the sinful praline icecream sundae with butterscotch sauce.

A last word about The Table. It’s a great place for a meal with your family, friends or just an intimate dinner with your spouse.

TUCK IN 1,2 & 5. Interiors of The Table, with its high ceilings and tall French windows 3. Boneless chicken wings with gingerglaze 4. Roasted red beets, goat cheese, orange, mint & pine nuts

Entrepreneur + March 2011 127

back+stage THE

OPPOSITE OF MARKETING GENIUS Some companies are skilled in the art of advertising and branding.

Then there are these guys…

By Jason Ankeny

Believe it or not, 2010 marked the silver anniversary of arguably the most misguided marketing move of all time: Coca-Cola’s stupefying decision to reformulate its flagship soft drink as “new Coke.” The move faced enormous consumer backlash and the original formula—renamed “Coca-Cola classic”—returned to stores within weeks.

Although the debacle offered many lessons, not all marketers learned them. Join us as we stroll down short-term memory lane to revisit the biggest marketing gaffes of the past year.

GAP’S NEW LOGO In one of the most illconsidered marketing makeovers in corporate history, Gap abandoned its familiar blue-square logo last October. The clothing retailer said the redesign represented its evolution from “classic, American design, to modern, sexy, cool.” As modern and cool as stonewashed denim, that is. The revamped logo—white background, black type, new typeface and a shrunken-down blue box—was universally savaged, and it even spawned a satirical DIY website, Crap Logo Yourself. Gap scrapped it within a week.

Fashionistas take note: Khaki pants do not go with red faces.

THE FALL OF KING JAMES In the summer of 2010, Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James was a coveted free agent and a god in his native Ohio—a state desperate to keep him. Then came The Decision, an ESPN primetime special in which James declared he would “take my talents to South Beach,” joining the Miami Heat.

That evening, James was reborn as one of the most reviled figures in professional sports.

His efforts to win back fans continue—but as Cleveland knows, James always comes up short when it matters most.

THE iPHONE 4 Sometimes it seems Apple can do no wrong.

Just ask CEO Steve Jobs.

When Apple’s iPhone 4 came out last June, buyers complained of reception problems when they held the smartphone by its metal sides, which are the phone’s antenna.

One user e-mailed Jobs, writing, “What’s going to be done about the signal-dropping issue?”

Jobs’ reply: “Non issue.

Just avoid holding it in that way.” Apple later gave away cases to solve the “non issue,” but Jobs’ condescending response got a decidedly poor reception from consumers.

©Entrepreneur February 2011 by Entrepreneur Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

130 Entrepreneur + March 2011

NESTLÉ’S FACEBOOK FIASCO In March, environmental activists turned to social media sites to wage battle against Nestlé over the food goliath’s partnership with a firm that harvests palm oil from the Indonesian rain forest. Nestlé responded in kind, leveraging its corporate FB page to reach out to consumers and stem the bad publicity.

After first threatening to delete comments that incorporated altered versions of the company’s logo, Nestlé’s FB page administrator lost it, proclaiming, “It’s our page, we set the rules, it was ever thus.”

Apologies followed.

“Good Food, Good Life” is Nestlé’s slogan.

Too bad the company stopped before it got to “Good Sense.”

ZYNGA’S FAKE MONEY Thanks to the popularity of games like FarmVille, Zynga rules the virtual world. The real world is a different story. To promote the August release of Mafia Wars: Las Vegas, Zynga partner Davis Elen Advertising subcontracted a guerilla marketer to glue 4,000 fake $25,000 bills to the sidewalks of San Francisco. As public works crews armed with steam-cleaning equipment hit the streets, Zynga dropped a dime on Davis Elen, fingering the ad firm as the culprit behind the campaign. Three months later, Davis Elen ponied up $45,000 to San Francisco’s coffers, accepting responsibility.

Snitching on an associate? The real Mafia’s not impressed.