Entrepreneur October 2011

New rules of dressing up for work è Profanity, Obama and Guy Kawasaki

OCTOBER 2011  VOLUME 3  ISSUE 2  Rs 100

INDIA’S BEST

MEETING PLACES

Hotels, bars and cafes where deals are sealed ALSO INSIDE

FUNDING THE FUTURE WAYS TO GIVE YOURSELF CREDIT STEPS TO ACQUIRE CUSTOMERS FOR A NEW COMPANY

HOW TO Create a balancesheet

How and why is

ANAND MAHINDRA betting big on INNOVATIONS ?

Save taxes as a proprietor Start a food processing unit Use market research Get foreign investment Hire a CEO for your business

table of contents 24

INSIGHTS 18 RIGHT INSURANCE PLANNING FOR YOUR BUSINESS Ranjeet S. Mudholkar on the need to protect the downside of a business in case of contingency.

20 BIFR: NEXT PIT STOP FOR THE WEST? Bharat Banka on considering economies with dismal balance sheets as perfect cases for BIFR package.

64 INDIA’S BEST MEETING PLACES 66 THE BEST HOTELS

From the top five-star hotel properties to the small and functional meeting rooms offered by other business hotels, the Indian hotel industry throws a plethora of choices for entrepreneurs to pick from.

By Sriya Ray Chaudhuri

82 BARS AND COFFEE BARS A look at the meeting places that focus on ambience, amenities like Wi-Fi connectivity and comfortable seating arrangements that ensure privacy and seal the success of your business.

By Sriya Ray Chaudhuri 90 VIRTUAL OFFICES AND OTHER SPACES

22 COMMUNICATION ETIQUETTE Nandini Vaidyanathan on what behavior you should be careful about as you go around asking someone to mentor.

23 PROFANITY OBAMA AND

GUY KAWASAKI Diana Ransom on what Guy Kawasaki has to say about selective cursing in public.

24 REACH FOR THE STARS

Richard Branson on the reasons to travel to space.

26 THE CUSTOMER CAPTURE CONTRAPTION Ann Handley on how to turn your blog into an Eight-Nozzled Elephant-Toted Boom Blitz for lead gen.

Save yourself the high cost of hiring real estate, thanks to these providers of workplace solutions, standalone office spaces and even your local coffee shop.

By Sriya Ray Chaudhuri

28 THE PICTURE OF POVERTY Tara Thiagarajan on how India can tackle poverty by integrating knowledge and interaction.

NEW DRIVE

30 MOVING AWAY FROM HOME TO CREATE A GLOBAL FOOTPRINT Mitali Bose on what all drives Indian entrepreneurs to leave home ground and take to foreign lands.

58 WHY 'RISE' IS THE NEW

MAHINDRA MANTRA? The Mahindra Group will have a new tag line from now on. This is not some corporate branding but a new strategic move that will cost the Group around Rs.120 crore over the next three years.

By Menaka Doshi

32 BIG THINK, SMALL MOVEMENT

60 “AS THE HEAD, MY JOB IS

34“SME EXCHANGE WILL HELP IN WEALTH CREATION” Lakshman Gugulothu, CEO, BSE SME Exchange, speaks about how the exchange can help SMEs with opportunities and provide an alternate source of raising funds.

By Pranbihanga Borpuzari

TO ADD VALUE” Anand Mahindra, VC and MD, Mahindra & Mahindra, talks about the Group's new tagline and more.

By Menaka Doshi

6 Intelligent Entrepreneur  October 2011

Erika Napoletano on how buzzspeak can make you look less intelligent than you actually are.

IN CONVERSATION

34

38“YOU NEED MORE THAN AN IDEA

AND FUNDING TO BE SUCCESSFUL” Haragopal Mangipudi, Global Head, Finacle, Infosys Technologies talks to Entrepreneur on the cutting it in the software products space, and the IT sector at large.

By Shonali Advani

SUCCESS INC 42 “BET FOR SUCCESS DON'T HEDGE FOR FAILURE” Phaneesh Murthy shares his life’s successes, strife and everything that made him the entrepreneur he is today.

By Shonali Advani 48 WRITING A SUCCESS SAGA

42

Making a move from his family business, Nikhil Ranjan decided to make a niche in the segment of high-end writing instruments.

By Shonali Advani

GETTING THERE 52 MIND GAMES For Dinesh Victor of SIP Academy India, it started with creating a demand for his programs that were, until then, unheard of.

By Prerna Raturi

OFFBEAT 54 HOW TO DRESS THE PART

Gone are the days when formality defined style. T-shirt-and-hoodie set defines the new rules of dressing for work.

By Ross McCammon

48

SUCCESS STRATEGIES 94 CUSTOMERS FIRST Lining up buyers in advance of launch can be challenging for a new company. But finding the right ones and capitalizing on them can ensure early success.

By Christopher Hann 98 HOW TO ENTER A ROOM Some tips to make a lasting impression on new connections, before a meeting even starts.

By Ross McCammon

October 2011  Intelligent Entrepreneur 7

table of contents TECH DEPARTMENT

126 100

100 THE DIGITAL UNDERGROUND

A disturbing look at the far-reaching depths of the cybercriminal network—and what you can do to make sure the bad element stays out of your company.

By Ericka Chickowski

THE ULTIMATE ‘HOW TO’ BUSINESS GUIDE

104 ON FAMILIAR GROUND Read to know how Scott Wells and his co-worker Robert Boyle convinced Squeaky Wheel Media founder and president Anthony Del Monte, their boss, about developing a custom mobile app in-house.

By Michelle Goodman

114 Create a balance sheet 116 Get foreign investment 118 Save taxes as a proprietor 120 Start up a food processing unit

105 BOOKS SMART Small-business accounting is moving online, where it’s becoming cheaper, more powerful—and a lot more confusing.

By Jonathan Blum

122 Do cost-effective market research 125 Hire CEO 126 Set up an IT firm in Tier II and III cities

107 PROMOTION IN MOTION

Know how MerchantCircle gets merchants online, connects them with other merchants and provides them with adequate tools to reach customers.

By Jason Ankeny

SPEND IT

130

130 FOR WIT AND STOUT

The Beer Café by Pradeep Gidwani provides you beer as well as comprehensive information about beer, their styles, brands, and traditions.

By Pranbihanga Borpuzari

109 A NEW MOBILE GENERATION?

Know what the next generation mobile, dubbed as 4G, is all about and why you should take a plunge.

By Rich Karpinski

133 BOOK REVIEW

A must have for every aspiring entrepreneur, here’s the mentor you are looking for as you begin your entrepreneurial journey.

By Rajat Dhariwal

MONEY DEPARTMENT 110GIVE YOURSELF SOME CREDIT Do you know your credit score? Read on to know how your credit history plays a key role in your financial future as well as personal life.

By J.D. Roth 113 FUNDING THE FUTURE Entrepreneur brings to you five retirement plan options for your business.

By Gwen Moran 8 Intelligent Entrepreneur  October 2011

REGULARS COVER IMAGE

INDIATODAYIMAGES COVER DESIGN

NIRMAL BISWAS

10 FEEDBACK 11 RESOURCES 12 SME DOCTOR 16 STUMP SPEAK 134 BACKSTAGE

resources [Info that’s handy]

IIM KOZHIKODE E-SUMMIT 2011

E

ntrepreneurship Cell IIT Kharagpur, a non-profit student organization which aims to foster the spirit of entrepreneurship among college students in India, will conduct an Entrepreneurship Awareness Drive in the first week of October. The drive is a panIndia entrepreneurial voyage covering 18 major cities. Each city will see an entrepreneurship awareness camp featuring guest lectures, interactive workshops and networking sessions to enlighten students about vivid values of entrepreneurship. The drive is expected to motivate around 15,000 college students and give them an opportunity to interact first hand with the best entrepreneurs of their city.

E-Cell has also launched its annual business plan competitions for the year 2011-12. The competitions are open to everybody in India.

The B-plan competitions are: 1. Concipio: The in-house B-plan competition 2. Envision: Product design competition 3. Empresario: Global B-plan competition

Empresario is the biggest B-Plan competition in India in terms of funding and prize money to the tune of Rs.1.8 crore. Integrating earlier B-Plan competitions—Cleantech Challenge (for ideas in clean technology sector), Eclairez (for ideas in social category) and Negocio (for web and mobile application-based ideas)—Empresario caters to all categories and enterprises. To participate, all you need is an idea. All other requirements will be taken care of by converting the idea into a full-fledged working business model. The shortlisted entries will procure immense help in terms of mentorship.

The best will also get a chance to pitch their ideas in front of some of India’s big venture capitalists and angel investors. To know more about Empresario, visit www.ecell-iitkgp.org/ competitions/empresario.

Date: Deadline for the first round is October 30, 2011 Website: www.ecell-iitkgp.org Contact person: Pranita Padalwar

EUREKA!, EUREKA! SOCIAL 2011

E

ntrepreneurship Cell IIT Bombay, in association with Entrepreneur, presents Eureka! 2011. Eureka!, an international business plan competition, aims to encourage people from across the globe to present their ideas and form global enterprises that combine technology, vision and business acumen. It is Asia’s largest business plan competition with total prizes worth Rs.23,40,000.

The top 50 teams will get intensive mentoring by leading corporate, legal and financial consultancies. These teams will also get an online platform to get solutions to their queries.

Adding social dimension to Eureka!, a new initiative—Eureka! Social—has been launched to support social ventures that aim to add value to the people at the bottom of the pyramid and/or the environment. Top three business plans will get direct entry in to the semi-final

round of Dell Social Innovation Competition, organized jointly by University of Texas and Dell, an incubation opportunity at Villigro and UnLtd India and a funding opportunity at Grameen Creative Lab. So, participate if you have a potential idea and want to develop it into a business plan or if you have a business plan and want to refine it. Submitted entries will be evaluated by organizations such as TIE and IAN. To register, visit: www. ecell.in/eureka. You can submit any query regarding your B-plan just by tweeting to @ecell_iitb.

Your query will be answered by an expert panel of experienced entrepreneurs and VCs through “Tweet-your-doubt” campaign within a few days.

Date: October 4, 2011 Website: http://ecell.in/eureka/

TIECON CHENNAI 2011

Receive one-on-one mentoring from successful business owners, find a platform to connect with passionate entrepreneurs and pitch to VCs as TiEcon CHENNAI 2011 presents array of networking and business opportunities.

This all-day event has speakers deliver keynote addresses and participate in panel discussions covering topics aimed at facilitating the creation of tomorrow’s entrepreneur. TiEcon also offers a platform for VCs to interact and understand the visions and directions of the future game changers, thereby providing way for new avenues of investment opportunities.

The first-hand experience of the entrepreneurial world will provide future entrepreneurs a strong understanding of how an entrepreneurial ecosystem works. Want to be entrepreneur? TiEcon is where you should start.

Date: November 24, 2011 Website: www.tie.org/ major_event/tieconchennai Venue: Chennai Convention Centre, Chennai

October 2011  Intelligent Entrepreneur 11 To read more, grab the October issue of Entrepreneur To Subscribe, visit www.entrepreneurindia.in

INSIGHTS GOINGXXXX FORWARD

Big Think, Small Movement Are nonsensical and annoying words sucking the soul out of your business?

By Erika Napoletano

IT

’s not uncommon to find me at one coffee shop or another across the country during my workday. Not only do I get caffeinated delights to accompany free Wi-Fi, I also get the benefits of peoplewatching and overhearing myriad conversations. And sometimes those conversations make me want to poke myself in my left eye.

Coffee shops have become the de facto conference room of the working class, which means as a frequent coffee shop patron, I’m privy to a significant amount of BS that spews from tables around me.

I get to hear about overarching concepts. It aggregates content in an innovative fashion and integrates seamlessly with existing infrastructure.

If you have no idea what any of the above means, that’s OK. I don’t either. In fact, no one does (even the people spewing the words). So, I’ll ask the tough question: Is Buzzspeak Killing Your Business?

Buzzspeak is the uncooked spaghetti of the business world: When you throw it against the refrigerator, nothing sticks. It’s lazy and the epitome of monkeysee, monkey-do. Seriously— would you know an overarching idea if it bit you on the leg? The only thing that buzzspeak does for us is make us seem less intelligent than we truly are. Buzzwords are an excuse to talk around what we really mean to say, and those are the words that will close business and help us give our audience what they really wanted all along: tools that get things done.

So how do you break the buzzspeak bubble and start finding words that work? First, it goes back to the issue of respect. Respect your audience and tell them straight.

Stop sugarcoating and dancing around the conversations.

I’ll bet if you sat down with your audience and asked, “What do you need?” the answer would probably sound something like this: “I need you to fix my problem.”

Once you understand that the reason we all have

careers is because other people’s problems need fixing, the next step is to get to fixing those problems. Here are four tips for closing your mouth, thus denying the buzzwords bandwidth, and opening it in the pursuit of problem solving (the heart of entrepreneurship).

Simplicity: If you want your audience to buy in to what you’re putting on the table, don’t make them learn a new language. Simplicity goes a long way. When people feel they’re not smart enough to understand your solutions, they feel they’re not smart enough to do business with you.

Brilliance: If what you’re offering can make your client look brilliant to people, that’s a huge selling point. You’re not the brilliant one for bringing them the solution—they are brilliant for bringing your solution to the table. Take a moment to understand how your solutions make your client shine.

Time: It’s the mother of all sins— wasting someone’s time. Great solutions don’t integrate or aggregate. They save time. While not every solution saves time, the fact that it might is a fair share more significant than any crap vocabulary you throw into the mix.

Usability: If it takes a village to learn, it’s probably not the best solution. Respect your audience by offering easy-to-use solutions that make sense for how they operate. Asking them to change their routine won’t get the yeses you crave. Our job is to lend value. We don’t get points for using big words but for results. Best solutions never need dressing up, they just need a team who can effectively communicate their worth and put them into action.

“The only thing buzzspeak does is make us seem less intelligent than we are.”

32 Intelligent Entrepreneur  October 2011

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

ERIKA NAPOLETANO Head Redhead at Redhead Writing, a Denver-based online strategies consultancy dedicated to keeping companies from looking like idiots online. Visit her (if you dare) at redheadwriting.com.

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success inc ‘BET FOR

SUCCESS,

DON’T HEDGE FOR

FAILURE’ Branded as the other ‘Murthy,’ he made news this year in the IT circuit with his acquisition of Patni Computer Systems. Phaneesh Murthy shares his life’s successes, strife and everything that has made him the entrepreneur he is today.

By Shonali Advani

HE

’s 48-years old, has been traveling 20 days a month for the last 15 years, a large part of which involves shuttling between his Bengaluru and Fremont offices. Still going strong, he’s decided to retire by 55. Unrelated to a formal retirement age, Phaneesh Murthy, CEO, iGATE Patni, says it’s a personal goal to take his company to the next level of success, and build a succession model as well. He’s got no plans set in stone post-retirement; maybe he’ll go back to studying medicine or start his dream venture, a cross between green, medicine and technology, he doesn’t know yet.

“All this requires a lot of thinking and right now my focus is committed here,” says Murthy.

school days. He went on to do a year of Pre-University at MES College, but his mind was quite set on studying medicine. Murthy’s father however suggested he write the IIT JEE examination, which he did, after a year’s preparation. In 1980, he got into IIT Madras, his first achievement which Murthy owes completely to his mother’s support and encouragement. “The whole concept of a mother’s love is completely different, that’s when you appreciate it,” he comments.

Personally, he had to choose between taking the seat or applying for medicine. Peer pressure took over, and he opted for mechanical engineering. “Many of my friends hadn’t got into IIT and thought I was nuts, evaluating whether to take it or not,” he quips.

FOUNDATION YEARS

GRADUATING YEARS

“My first recollection of school was in Ranchi when I went to St. Xavier’s,” recalls the soft-spoken Murthy.

The memories are vivid, for the first time Murthy, the 11-year old boy, was uprooted in the middle of a school year. His father had moved jobs to Kolkata. Not being entirely clear on how long he was going to be there, he suggested Murthy and his sister live with their grandparents in Bengaluru. The then sixth-grader joined Bishop Cottons where he spent the rest of his

The five years at IIT was Murthy’s first taste of freedom, away from the shelter of home, no compulsory attendance, afternoon siestas in the hostel and football. In fact he went on to represent his hostel in seven-eight games. “IIT Madras was a fascinating first semester because of the 250 students in our batch, probably 240 of them would have been classtoppers in school,” he says. “Suddenly after the first couple of tests, you realize that you’re not likely to

42 Intelligent Entrepreneur  October 2011

SNAPSHOTS INFLIGHT READING: Murder mysteries SPORTING PASSION: Golf, 3-4 times a month ANNUAL ADVENTURE: Extreme sports like sky diving, cliff jumping, car racing, anything that puts him in a discomfort zone INFLUENCED LARGELY BY:

Father PLANS TO SELL IGATE:

None FUTURE ACQUISITIONS: If iGate Patni creates significant value WHO AFTER HIM: There are enough leaders CHILDREN:

Two sons, Mukul (19) and Nirav (15) ADVICE TO ASPIRING ENTREPRENEURS: Seek only advice, not approval PAYBACKS TO ECOSYSTEM: Donated Rs.25 lakh to a B-fund in Bengaluru aimed at being a transformative social model to make poor people entrepreneurs

Photos© Maximage

October 2011 Entrepreneur 43 To read more, grab the October issue of Intelligent Entrepreneur To Subscribe, visit www.entrepreneurindia.in

getting there

MIND

GAMES For Dinesh Victor of SIP Academy India, it started with creating a demand for his programs that were, until then, unheard of.

By Prerna Raturi

T

hankfully, his work speaks for him.

Otherwise, Dinesh Victor, MD, SIP Academy India and Sri Lanka, is so humble about his role in making his company the best in the area of skill-based education that you would think it’s been a cakewalk so far. What he isn’t underestimating, however, is the way SIP Academy has grown since 2003. With a turnover of Rs.10 crore, the firm has 650 franchisees in 19 Indian states. Over 1,50,000 children have passed out from the academy while cricketers such as Sreesanth swear by the Brain Gym inputs. With nearly 90 percent of franchisees being women, it has helped the women’s financial independence movement, too. “Women were a natural choice for our business model since they are far more committed to working with children,” says the 39-year-old.

The company, with its flagship programs of SIP Abacus and Brain Gym, is a subsidiary of a Malaysiabased company founded in 1993 by Kelvin Tham, who designed the courses to increase the mental ability of children with better attention, recall and so on. Other SIP Academy India programs— Global Art, MIKids phonics, AMAL and Orator English fluency program— were a far cry from what Victor was doing before he started SIP. An IIM-A management graduate, he joined Godrej Soaps in the marketing division in 1994.

After three years, he joined the retail arm of Standard Chartered Bank in Chennai. “Although it was a great learning experience, I didn’t necessarily agree with the working culture of

52 Intelligent Entrepreneur  October 2011

such organizations that value numbers over people,” says Victor. He thus started a company similar to SIP with common friends in January 2002.

But differences soon cropped up as Victor didn’t necessarily agree with the vision and values of his friends and decided to part ways. Not surprisingly, Victor’s family expected him to take up a job again. But that was not to be. For, his ears perked up when he heard one of his friend’s mother talk about SIP, Malaysia. “It seemed interesting and I took the plunge. It also looked reasonably easy to do,” smiles Victor. “If it didn’t work out, I could also go back to the corporate world.”

But, was it anything but easy? “It wasn’t. For one, we didn’t have the first-mover advantage,” he says. There were hardly any such classes for children other than a few, imparting computer courses or summer courses for theater, arts and dance. Victor had the tough task of creating demand for SIP’s course offerings, SIP Abacus and Brain Gym at that time. “It was concept selling at its best. I was sure that once I spoke to parents and stakeholders, they would warm up to the idea,” he reveals. With an investment of Rs.10 lakh, of which Rs.5 lakh was from his own savings and

instance. “But we were wise in conserving capital and had a very good finance person who knew how to make each rupee last longer,” he says. Financial crunch eased a little bit with Rs.10 lakh Citibank loan. The IIM-A degree held him in good stead, Victor feels. Then came overdrafts and banking channels offering loans without collateral.

“The biggest challenge was finding good area partners in the form of franchisees,” reminisces Victor. Then the added work of convincing a prospective franchisee on how it was a profitable venture. But as the existing franchisees started to make money, word of mouth became the most significant way of getting committed franchisees. In fact, it started with some parents turning teachers at the centers and then franchisees. The turnover for the first year of operations was Rs.1 crore and the company had 72 franchisees by March 2004.

Victor feels his biggest brand endorsements were children, who showed their skills and acumen in various competitions and got a lot of press coverage. “The media helped immensely with great responses to our press conferences in Hyderabad and Bengaluru, the two cities we were struggling to get traction,” he feels. With that, the demand for

“AS FRANCHISEES STARTED TO RUN PROFITABLE UNITS, WORD-OF-MOUTH BECAME THE MOST SIGNIFICANT WAY OF GETTING COMMITTED FRANCHISEES. ” Rs.5 lakh was borrowed from a friend, Victor started the company. Marketing assistance was provided by the parent company in Malaysia. In August 2003, SIP Academy got its office in the T Nagar area of Chennai on a rent of Rs.17,000 a month. Since the centers were franchisees, there was little investment needed for infrastructure. It was also the reason why the company broke even fairly quickly—in the first seven months.

The first three centers in Chennai opened in 2003, of which two continue to operate. The first outstation franchisee center was in Bengaluru, in September. It was slow in the beginning, until Victor was invited to Bengaluru for a center inauguration in 2003. After ads, the franchisee had to wait for just three hours. “Then came one parent who, it turned out, was related to the franchisee and was already sold on the idea,” laughs Victor.

There were other challenges, too. Capital, for

SIP classes grew, something that can be seen in the company’s turnover for 2004-05— Rs.1.74 crore.

Then Sri Lanka came calling. The Indian arm had been supporting the Sri Lankan operations in terms of training and resources, when the concerned person was moving out. Victor acquired 60 per cent of the organization in April, 2007. By the year end, it was a wholly-owned subsidiary.

Currently running 22 centers in the southernmost country, Victor is also considering acquisitions in other countries but would rather talk about it when it does happen.

At SIP Academy India, he is also happy that the company’s work culture is exactly what he wanted it to be. “Words such as innovation don’t figure in our mission statement. It is more about building relationships, recognition, responsibility and continuous learning.” Nearly what most entrepreneurs live by.

To read more, grab the October issue of Entrepreneur October 2011 Intelligent Entrepreneur 53 To Subscribe, visit www.entrepreneurindia.in

new drive WHY

‘RISE’ IS THE NEW MAHINDRA MANTRA?

Mahindra & Mahindra accepts no limit to creativity and swears to bring about positive change with its new tagline.

By Menaka Doshi

T

he Mahindra brand logo will read as “Mahindra Rise” from now onwards. The Group’s new tagline reflects a new strategy, accepts no limits in creativity and alternate thinking and is a drive to bring about positive change. It’s a call to action—a core purpose that will galvanize employees, customers and stakeholders to come together and form a more cohesive and formidable unit.

This is not some corporate branding but a new strategic move that will cost the Mahindra Group around Rs.120 crore over the next three years. It will render strength to Anand Mahindra’s federation of companies.

But, why “Rise” is the new Mahindra mantra? Anand Mahindra, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Mahindra and Mahindra explains, “About 13 years ago we felt the need to define a core purpose for the group. A core purpose is important for every company but it becomes even more important for a group of companies to create alignment. The idea of having a core purpose intrigued me. It stems from a kind of hypothesis.”

Exemplifying how one can arrive at the core purpose of one’s company, Mahindra said, “What if you were working in a company and a competitor takes over it for the sole purpose of liquidation and competition? The competitor continues to pay everybody well. No one in the company has any monetary reason to regret the 58 Intelligent Entrepreneur  October 2011

liquidation of the company. But what is it that you will still miss about the company before liquidation and about going to work every day?

If you are able to figure this out, you are close to defining the core purpose of your company. In other words, what makes people go for work every day and transcends the aim of earning roti, kapda aur makan is your core purpose.”

It was 13 years back when the company’s objective was redefined and so started the drive of defining the core purpose of the company.

“At the time of independence, the idea was to demonstrate that Indians were second to none.

The idea worked well. It energized everybody and the results were for everybody to see. As time passed by, two things happened—we grew, India grew in stature and Indian companies grew and we became increasingly global as a corporation,” Mahindra reminisced.

But how was this relevant? Yes, Mahindra did have a purpose when he asked his office of strategy management to work on the core purpose of the company, which had a number of foreign expats feeling that lack of connect. “If I am Mr. Chi running the company’s Chinese operations, why would I get up every day and work to prove that the Indians were second to none? If we can be a company that engenders consumers and whose employees can shape up their destiny, we can have value, position, trust and a viable business model,” Mahindra signs off.

THE

BEST HOTELS From the top 5-star hotel properties to the small functional meeting rooms offered by other hotels, the Indian hospitality sector has a huge diversity to help small and medium business entrepreneurs choose one which suits their needs & pockets…

TRIDENT, NARIMAN POINT, MUMBAI Trident Meetings are ideal for small to mediumsized meetings. The rooms at Trident Meetings are ideal venues for meetings of 3-14 people.

Trident Meetings offers nine meeting rooms and two offices, spread over two floors, in addition to computer workstations, each with a panoramic view of the sea. The soundproof meeting rooms are equipped with state-of-theart business tools and are located on the 35th floor of Trident, Nariman Point, Mumbai. According to the hotel authorities, Trident Meetings is the highest meeting space in India at a height of 350 feet from ground level. The nine meeting rooms comprises of two 14-seater, one 8-seater and one 6-seater room at the upper level and two 14-seater, one 8-seater, one 7-seater and one 6-seater room at the lower level. There are two office spaces. There is a separate foyer and waiting area for the lower level meeting rooms.

There is a blackout curtain wall, high resolution plasma TVs or large screens with drop down projectors in each meeting room with speakers and remote facilities. Meeting rooms 3 and 7, which can each accommodate 8 persons have a tariff of Rs.3,500 per hour while the full day (9 hours) charge is Rs.14,000. For meeting rooms 4 and 8, which can each accommodate 6 persons, the rate is Rs.3,000 per hour. Office 1 and 2, which can accommodate 3 persons each, can be booked at an hourly rate of Rs.1,500. The full day tariff is Rs.6,500. These rates are exclusive of taxes.

TRIDENT CLUB The Trident Club is meant for a privileged few, with a host of special services and offers. For the

business traveler, the Trident Club services are on offer on the 28th, 29th 30th and 31st floors of Trident, Nariman Point, Mumbai. The Trident Club Lounge, open only for resident guests of the Trident Club, is an ideal meeting space.

Conveniently located on the 28th floor, it offers express check-in and check-out facilities, complimentary breakfast, canapés, tea, coffee and light snacks through the day, a bar, secretarial support and complimentary Internet facilities.

TAJ PALACE HOTEL, NEW DELHI Located on Sardar Patel Marg in New Delhi’s Diplomatic Enclave, the Taj Palace has 10 halls and 2 open spaces which serve as the venues for

Taj Palace Hotel, New Delhi

To read more, grab the October issue of Entrepreneur October 2011  Intelligent Entrepreneur 67 To Subscribe, visit www.entrepreneurindia.in

success strategies [Tips to stay ahead]

HOW TO

ENTER A ROOM Consider these tips to make a lasting impression on new connections, before a meeting even starts.

By Ross McCammon

SO

, we’re assuming you’re on time and you know why you’re there and you know exactly what you want from the people in the room and you’ve Googled them and found out where they went to school and that according to LinkedIn they made a couple of questionable professional

moves in the early ’90s and at least two of them tweet. What we’re interested in is that pregnant series of moments that lasts for around a minute and is ostensibly about introductions and handshakes and the offering of beverages and, if you’re lucky, a Danish or something, but is really about the beginning of potentially

KEY TECHNICAL MATTERS WHEN people introduce themselves, say their names back to them or take a mental note. But try to keep their names in your head. Saying a person’s name back to them 20 or 30 minutes after you’ve met them suggests graciousness and respect, and it will endear you to them.

DON’T talk about anything that isn’t pleasant, such as how much traffic you were just in or how hot it is or how you have a cold.

DO NOT give out business cards before the meeting begins. Because it makes you look like a blackjack dealer..

NO FIST BUMPS.

LOOK everyone in the eye for, like, a millisecond longer than is comfortable.

At no time say, “LET’S DO THIS!”

IF there are fewer than six other people in the room, shake everyone’s hand. If there are six or more, shake approximately five hands, and then nod amiably to the rest. The shaking of hands can get out of hand.

98 Intelligent Entrepreneur  October 2011

DON’T carry yourself in a way that could be described as “jaunty.”

important relationships.

“Because he was curiThe main problem with ous, he wanted to talk to entering an unfamiliar people and would totally meeting room is that it’s engage them. And pretty like leaving a bar when it’s soon all the energy in still light outside. Things the room was running in GUIDANCE RULE: You are incharge of your room, even if your earnings are a 10th of the seem a little too bright, one direction.” guy you are about to shake hands with. a little overwhelming, a Marlin Fitzwater, little disconcerting. Yet press secretary for Ronald no matter how thrown Reagan and George H.W. off you feel, the guiding principle is: It’s your Bush, says, “Clinton was probably the best I’ve room. For the next, oh, 30 seconds to a minute, ever seen. He walked in and demanded the you’re in charge. Even if it’s their room, you’re attention of everyone. The lessons of Clinton in charge. Even if your earnings are a 10th of the are: Don’t be aimless, don’t be casual, don’t salary of that guy you’re about to shake hands be flippant. Let your audience know they’re with, you’re in charge. You’re not the only one important and that you’re there because you determining the mood of the room, but you have a message to give them.” have to take responsibility for it.

So, it’s an act, yes. But it’s not entirely an act.

Consider a lesson from the forest. “Pretend The act is supported by an important psychologeveryone’s a bear in the woods,” says Robbie ical underpinning: actual curiosity. “You have Pickard, a Calif.-based comedian who spends his to be curious,” says Thomas Huseby, managing career entering rooms full of people he needs to partner at Seattle VC firm SeaPoint Ventures. impress. “If you look scared, the bear is going to “Most entrepreneurs are thinking about attack you.” Which we always thought involved what they want to teach or what they want to yelling and waving your arms and stomping convey, and everybody would much rather talk the earth and throwing a Coleman lantern. But to someone who is curious. It’s amazing what what he’s saying is, offer no apologies or expresthat attitude does.” sions of trepidation or false humility. Protect That’s how to enter a room. With curiosity. yourself with confidence.

But not necessarily about the business at hand.

Confidence makes you look comfortable. It Meetings at Esquire often start off with quesshould seem like there’s no other place in the tions about the view from our conference room world you’d rather be. At this moment, more on the 21st floor of a tower in Manhattan. If the than any other moment in the meeting, you’re person we’re meeting asks anything about the your own agent. You’re saying, “I’d like you to city, we take them to the window and give them meet myself.” (Note: Do not actually say, “I’d like a quick tour of the buildings around us, includyou to meet myself.”) ing that statue of Ronald McDonald that ended Bill Clinton is a useful example. The man up on the roof of a four-floor walk-up on Eighth knows how to enter a room. He might not know Avenue. It’s a rich, interesting conversation. how to leave, but he knows how to enter. Two out Who wouldn’t want to be in a room with you of the two former press secretaries we called for now? You’re amiable and confident and pleased help with this column (we figured they might with the way things are going. You’re ready to know something about the subject of entering talk and to listen. You haven’t given them any meetings, since they’ve seen people enter the reason why they couldn’t see themselves giving most important rooms in the world) mentioned you a lot of money or offering you a contract or Clinton as the best room-enterer they’ve ever partnering with you in some way. You’re someseen. Which is pretty easy to do when you’re the one they could see themselves doing business president of the United States, but still, there are with, is what we’re trying to say. All that, and lessons in his approach. you haven’t even sat down yet.

“When Bill Clinton entered a room, he ©Entrepreneur August 2011 by Entrepreneur owned the room from the second he walked in,” Media, Inc. All rights reserved. says Dee Dee Myers, Clinton’s first press secretary and now a managing director at The Glover ROSS MCCAMMON is an articles editor at Esquire magazine.

Park Group, a D.C. communications firm.

To read more, grab the October issue of Entrepreneur October 2011  Intelligent Entrepreneur 99 To Subscribe, visit www.entrepreneurindia.in

MITHAI MAGIC

Find Your Sweet Tooth With Mithaimate.com, customers can have sweets delivered at their doorstep.

By Pranbihanga Borpuzari

102 Intelligent Entrepreneur ď‚„ September 2011

PhotoŠ Shamik Banerjee

A

khilesh Bali joined Accenture in 2008 as a software engineer only to realize within six-seven months that he was not made for a 9 to 5 job. Deciding to quit, Bali wanted to start something which was easy on capital, easy to set up and unique in itself.

“That is when we hit upon the idea of Mithaimate. Everyone is selling flowers online, books online and we realized that if we go anywhere in India, mithai shops or sweet shops do really good business. The same thing, however, was not done online and India being India, I thought if we can give people a platform where they can choose any mithai from anywhere, get it within a time frame and at a reasonable price, it could become a good business opportunity,” says Bali.

He teamed up with two of his friends and towards the end of 2008 the idea was conceived as they went about finetuning it and getting to know the market better. “We all knew how to make a website and we knew if it is an idea

I am comfortable with my situation now but expect to need funds when the company starts scaling up. which would click, in the online medium one does not need a lot of capital. We decided to give it a try as the initial amount involved was less than Rs 20, 000,” says Bali.

A market survey was done and issues like freshness, quality and apprehension on health risks if the sweets are spoilt were some areas that needed considerable brainstorming.

“We decided to partner with known offline stores and aggregate such stores that are famous and people know them for their quality. For example, in Delhi we partnered with Nathu sweets and people instantly recognized what they had to offer and quality was never an issue,” says Bali. “We went about other cities in

a similar way and in the initial phase started with Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. This was, however, the easy part. The difficult part was in reality approaching the sweet shops and convincing them to do business with us. All of them were doing brisk business on their own and we asked for preferential pricing for our site, which made it a difficult proposition for them to offer,” he adds.

Bali was, however, able to convince most of the sweet shop owners, as for the first time, he offered these players a pan-India reach.

“For example for a sweet shop in Delhi, his customers were mainly from the NCR. With my platform, even a person sitting in Chennai could now order his sweets.”

Starting the business around April 2009, Bali banked on expensive logistics companies like Blue Dart and FedEx to deliver sweets.

A mithai delivered to them at 6 in the evening is with the customer by 11 in the morning. Mithaimate also delivers within 24 hours in all the metros and takes around 48 hours to deliver in smaller cities.

In this case, both Mithaimate and the sweet shop are accountable for the products. In case a customer says the sweets were broken or were not fresh, they are given a free redelivery and in case the customer is not pleased even then, a refund is usually given.

“I got to know of Mithaimate one day when I was randomly browsing the internet to check ways to deliver sweets within Mumbai.

I was impressed with what a bunch of young guys were doing and got in touch with them.

Mithaimate has done much better than what we expected and quarter-on-quarter has been churning out good numbers for us,” says Anuj Goyal of Mumbai-based Brijwasi Sweets.

Today the site has grown from getting 1-2 orders every week to about 40-50 orders in a day and the festive season is a good hit.

A back of the hand calculation shows that an average order on the site is about Rs 600 per customer, which pegs Bali’s monthly revenues at about Rs.7 lakh-Rs.8 lakh.

“We have stayed cash flow positive on every order. I am comfortable with my situation as of now but expect to need funds when the company starts scaling up,” says Bali.

To read more, grab the OctoberSeptember issue2011 of Entrepreneur Intelligent Entrepreneur 103 To Subscribe, visit www.entrepreneurindia.in

tech department [Cool ways tech can help you grow]

! .%7 -/"),% '%.%2!4)/.

What 4G is all about and why you should care.

By Rich Karpinski

WITH TECHNOLOGY, THE TRICK is to buy in at the right time and at the right price. So with the next generation of mobile—dubbed 4G, or fourth generation—rolling out now, should you take the plunge? The short answer is yes.

In most cases you’ll get faster connections and the most cutting-edge phones, at a price that isn’t too much higher than what you’re paying for 3G (this generation) service today. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some decisions to make, made more difficult by a lot of jargon.

Here’s a rapid-fire 4G primer to equip you for some next-generation wireless shopping.

smart to have some sense of what the providers are betting on, as it will impact the speeds you get and the phones you have access to.

Here’s enough info to make you dangerous: WiMax data networks were the first, with Clear and Sprint offering WiMax mobile data services last year. But WiMax hasn’t taken off as expected, and those providers are considering other technologies. HSPA+ underlies networks from T-Mobile and AT&T and can reach theoretical speeds of about 21 Mbps (but more likely around 5 Mbps). The gold standard is LTE (Long Term Evolution), which Verizon launched recently. Sprint has talked about using LTE, and AT&T is rolling out its combined HSPA+ LTE network. It’s the technology most likely to deliver 1 Gbps of bandwidth.

WHAT IS 4G, EXACTLY? Faster mobile internet service. How much faster? It depends. And you probably won’t get a straight answer from your service provider. One problem is that the term 4G has morphed from something with a strict industry definition (100 Mbps-plus mobile service, or networks about 10 to 20 times faster than current ones, according to the International Telecommunication Union), to a marketing phrase mobile providers use to describe their upgraded networks.

WHY DOES ANY OF THIS MATTER? Right out of the gate, it may not. You can go to almost any provider and order up 4G service and get something faster than you had last year.

Most providers can deliver service roughly in the 5 Mbps to 10 Mbps range in the real world.

Place your bets on LTE-based operators. Faster downloads and the most cutting-edge mobile devices? Sounds like a winning formula.

WHAT ARE LTE, HSPA+ AND WIMAX? These are the names of the technologies used to deliver 4G service. Why should you care? It’s

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

Operator

Technology

Speeds

Costs (per month)

AT&T

HSPA+ and LTE

Up to 6 Mbps

Rs.1,125 for 2 GB

Verizon

LTE

5 to 12 Mbps

Rs.2,250 for 5 GB; Rs.3,600 for 10 GB

T-Mobile

HSPA+

21 Mbps peak; 5 to 10 Mbps average

Rs.1,125 for 200 MB; Rs.1,800 for 5 GB

Sprint

WiMax

3 to 6 Mbps average; 10 Mbps peak

Rs.4,500 for unlimited

To read more, grab the October issue of Entrepreneur October 2011  Intelligent Entrepreneur 109 To Subscribe, visit www.entrepreneurindia.in

how to [... do just about anything]

Create a Balancesheet Summarizing your company’s assets and liabilities, the financial statement is indicative of what your company owes and owns.

By Pranbihanga Borpuzari

AS

an owner of a new business, your revenue will increase and so will the demand on your accounting system. This includes profit and loss statements and cash flow statements, among others.

This is where maintaining a balancesheet will be essential to your business. The balancesheet 114 Intelligent Entrepreneur  October 2011

shall summarize your company’s assets, liabilities and shareholder’s equity and give investors an idea as to what the company owns and owes and how much have shareholders invested in the company.

Roughly, a balancesheet has two sections— left and right. On the left hand side are assets Illustration© Chaitanya Dinesh Surpur

or things that are positive for the company and on the right hand side are liabilities or equity. At the end, assets have to be equal to liabilities of equity. This would mean your accounts are balanced.

Assets are something which can be converted into cash or will be of economic benefit in the future. The assets for your business would be the money in your bank in the form of savings, money owed to your company, bonds and assets like car, land building and inventory.

Assets always mean positive and portray what a business is worth.

Liabilities are exact opposites of assets.

Liability would be the amount payable or money that your business owes to someone else. The sources of capital are lenders and shareholders. For example, if a bank gives the company a loan of Rs.900 crore of which Rs.300 crore is due soon, this would fall under current liabilities. The amount of Rs.600 crore would then be categorized as non-current liability of a long-term debt.

A company would have shareholder (s) and if they contribute Rs.100 crore in cash and some initial inventory worth Rs.400 crore to get the company started, this would mean the company has Rs.500 crore under current assets. If the company uses the rest of the debt to buy plant and machinery, which are of use in the long term, this would fall under non-current assets.

The balancesheet would now have current assets of Rs.500 crore and non-current assets of Rs.500 crore, making assets side stand at Rs.1,000 crore. The amount is to benefit the company, can be converted in to cash and/or is of future benefit to the company. On the other hand, we have claims on those assets as liabilities. This would

include Rs.900 crore by the debt holders, who have the first claim, and shareholders, who have a residual claim of Rs.100 crore. This means the liability side stands at Rs. 1,000 crore, which equals the balance on the assets side. The basic premise of a balancesheet is that Assets = Equity + Liabilities and Equity = Assets – Liabilities.

This means if we sold of all the assets and paid of all the liabilities, the money left would be for the shareholders.

In our current example, if the values of current assets drop to Rs.400 crore, with debt of Rs.900 crore, the equity of shareholders is completely wiped out and they are left with nothing. However, if the value of current assets (real estate for example) becomes Rs. 600 crore, with a debt of Rs.900 crore, the value for shareholders will increase to Rs.200 crore.

Order in a balancesheet is mainly in terms of liquidity which puts cash in hand on the top, followed by current assets. Similarly, on the liability side, the current liabilities come first followed by debt and shareholdings.

Balancesheet follows mixed model, which is a combination of historical cost and fair value.

In our example, the non-current assets will include real estate. As time passes, their value would only increase. However, the balancesheet would not include the current value of the assets. Thus, a balancesheet reflects mainly a book value of an item and not its fair value.

A balancesheet is a snap shot of the financial position of a company at a point in time.

The balancesheet also helps an analyst perform ratio analysis. In this case, if we take current assets and divide it by current liabilities, one would get a snapshot of the liquidity position of a company.

A BALANCE SHEET Assets (in Rs. crore)

Liabilities (in Rs. crore)

Resources

Sources of capital

Cash

100

Accounts payable

Inventory

400

Debt

Current assets

500

Current liabilities

300

Long-term debt Non-current liabilities

600

PP& E Goodwill Non-current assets

500

Shareholders equity

100

Total assets

1,000

Liability + Equity

1,000 October 2011 ď‚„ Intelligent Entrepreneur 115

how to [... do just about anything]

Save Taxes as a Proprietor A sole proprietorship is entitled to tax exemption under certain conditions as is an individual.

By Mukesh Goel

S

Total income (in Rs)

ole proprietorship business is taxable as is an individual under the Income Tax Act. If a person is sole proprietor of more than one business, he is liable to pay tax on income from all firms together as a single assessee. Rates of income tax for individuals for the financial year 2011-12 (assessment year 2012-13) are as given here:

firm can maintain its accounts either on cash basis or on accrual basis. Method of accounting is also very useful for tax calculation.

To minimize the tax liability, you should first recognize the expenditure related to the business. Normally, sole proprietorship business runs from home or without having proper office, especially in case of services, and

Males (except senior citizens)

Females (except senior citizens)

Senior citizens (above 65 years)

Rate

0 to 1,80,000

0 to 1,90,000

0 to 2,50,000

Nil

1,80,001 to 5,00,000

1,90,001 to 5,00,000

2,50,001 to 5,00,000

10%

5,00,001 to 8,00,000 5,00,001 to 8,00,000 5,00,001 to 8,00,000

20%

> 8,00,000

30%

> 8,00,000

To compute the total income of an individual, let’s understand the procedure. Total income is equal to the net profit of all businesses and sole proprietorship firms of the individual. Net profit of the firm, in turn, means gross receipts/turnover less all expenditure made related to the business.

To make it more clear, total income of an individual is calculated by adding net profits of all proprietorship firms of the individual.

For income tax purposes, a sole proprietorship

> 8,00,000

many assets are used simultaneously for business and personal purposes. To claim expenditure, you should segregate expenditure for business and personal purposes. Apart from direct expenses, below are common expenditures made for business purpose: Rent of the business place. You can pay rent to the owner of the property even if the business is run from home. A proprietor cannot take rent for the property he owns. Running, maintenance, finance cost and

Cash-based accounting system

Accrual system

Income is taxable when a person actually receives the money and expenditure is allowed when a person actually pays the money.

Income is taxable as soon an amount is due from the customer and expenditure is allowed as a person purchases goods or utilizes the services.

If you have a long credit period on your If you have long credit period on your sales/income then choose this system. purchases and expenditure then opt for this system.

Cash basis is more suitable for service industry.

118 Intelligent Entrepreneur  October 2011

Accrual is more suitable for manufacturing and trading goods.

depreciation of vehicle.  Computer, furniture and equipment maintenance, interest cost and depreciation. Telephone, internet and communication expenses. Electricity, power and generator running and maintenance expenses. Staff salary and welfare expenses.  Stationery, computer consumables, books and periodical expenses. Advertising, promotion and website expenses.  Travelling and conveyance expenses.

For claiming the expenditure against a business income, following requirements need to be met:  You must have an evidence to support the expenditure made.  Make no cash expenditure beyond specified limit.  Deduct and deposit TDS if applicable.

Certain deductions are applicable to all individual assesses. The same is true for sole proprietor also. Following deductions can be claimed to save tax:  Deduction u/s 80C of the Income Tax Act for investments in LIC, PPF, mutual funds, tuition fee, principal payment of housing loan, etc up to Rs.1,00,000.  Deduction u/s 80CCF up to Rs.20,000 for investment in infrastructure bonds.  Deduction u/s 80D against payment of Mediclaim policy premium up to Rs.15,000.  Deduction u/s 8GG if a person is paying rent for his residence.  Deduction u/s 80G for donation to any registered charitable organization.

SPECIAL PROVISION FOR SMALL BUSINESS PROVIDERS A new provision has been made in the Income Tax Act with effect from 2010-11 that if an assessee has a turnover of less than Rs.60 lakh a year, he can declare income at eight percent or more on the total turnover and shall not be liable to maintain any books of accounts. So, even if you have a maximum turnover of Rs.60 lakh, your income will be assumed as Rs.4.80 lakh only and total tax liability will be Rs.30,900 (for male individuals below 60 years). This provision is applicable to all businesses having turnover of up to Rs.60 Lakh, irrespective of the nature of business.

Illustration© Chaitanya Dinesh Surpur

ADJUSTMENT OF LOSSES Under the Income Tax Act, if an assessee incurs loss in one business, he can set off this with profit from another business. If the loss still persists, the assessee can carry forward this to next year and set off with the profit next year, and so on up to eight years from the year of loss. To carry forward business loss to next year, assessee must file the return on or before due date.

LOCATION ADVANTAGE If sole proprietorship business has a turnover from export, one can avail up to 100 percent tax exemption by setting up a unit in a special economic zone. No tax is levied on income for the first five years. As much as 50 percent income is taxable in the next five years under section 10AA of the Income Tax Act. MUKESH GOEL is a chartered accountant and partner at Mukesh Raj & Company.

To read more, grab the October issue of Entrepreneur October 2011  Intelligent Entrepreneur 119 To Subscribe, visit www.entrepreneurindia.in

back stage Mmm… bacon NO

Nicely done.

Now pay back your Uncle Bob before he spills the beans to your mom

YES

What about caramel or nougat instead?

YES

NO

And may be some ranch dressing for dipping?

CAN YOU WRAP YOUR IDEA IN BACON?

YES

DO YOU HAVE A MILLIONDOLLAR IDEA? YES

We’ll watch for you on the upcoming Maury episode “I’m not a young millionaire and I’m not your baby daddy, either.”

Is this also the couch where you sit and watch TV all day long?

YES

NO

DID YOU BORROW MONEY FROM YOUR PARENTS?

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A YOUNG MILLIONAIRE?

Is this “loan” just pocket change you recovered from under the cushions of their couch?

YES

IS YOUR IDEA THE GREATEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD?

NO

YES

By Jason Ankeny and Jason Meyers No dough for you, then

Did you steal it from the Winklevoss twins?

IS A FORMER CAST MEMBER OF THAT ’70S SHOW INTERESTED IN BECOMING AN ANGEL INVESTOR?

YES Aaron Sorkin is on line one for you.

It’s not just a fancy bread slicer, is it?

YES

YES

YES

“Winning 2.0!”

134 Intelligent Entrepreneur  October 2011

Is it Ashton Kutcher?

Is it Tommy Chong?

Sorry, man..

Dave’s not here, man.

YES

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

Maybe give that Slap Chop guy a ring