Udbhav Editors: Saurabh Jha(2nd year Electronics) Kumar Sonal(2nd year Petroleum) Ashutosh Sharma(2nd year Electrical) Madhuri Suthar(2nd year Electronics)
Designer: Manthan Marvaniya(2nd year Petroleum)
Publishing & Marketing: Shubham Gupta(2nd year Petroleum) Sumeet Chilwal(2nd year Mechanical) Vikas Rai(2n year Mechanical) Gaurav Patel(2nd year Computer-science) Rahul Yadav(2nd year Computer-science)
From the President’s Desk..... Failures question an entrepreneur’s character. So do poor ideas. This is a conundrum that everyone who has ever wished to be an entrepreneur has to face.
My idea isn’t good enough. This is not going to work. But the truth is, it’s rarely only the idea that makes them
successful , it’s the people and their desires. Most entrepreneurs are driven by an overriding purpose when starting their business. Successful entrepreneurs take it one step further and develop a vision for future growth.This vision helps guide the day-to-day operations and strategic decision-making necessary to achieve success. Interestingly, some of the visionaries who built the empires that continue to thrive today, actually began with a bagful of poor ideas. This is a lesson for those willing to get on the entrepreneurial bandwagon – you don’t really need an eureka moment every time to start a venture that bears the potential to change the world. To begin the dream is most important; even with an ordinary idea, but with a vision. History is proof. Ideas which have seemed almost foolhardy at first, have often marked the beginning of entrepreneurial expeditions, which thrive on the vision set by its founders, even decades after they step down. People always ask who really is an entrepreneur. Entrepreneur is someone who sees things that others don’t; someone who sees an opportunity where others see hurdles. ; Someone who has the perseverance and confidence to keep moving even after facing the umpteenth failure. Being an entrepreneur is not easy, it’s challenging, it’s hard work and sometimes soul-destroying. But let’s face it if it were easy, everyone would do it and frankly it’s the journey and overcoming of challenges that makes the victory taste so sweet. The essence of entrepreneurship is the will to take the trouble.The trouble of getting to know what looks like a trivial problem; the trouble of finding solutions; the trouble of failing until you succeed. So what is expected to make entrepreneurs successful? They are individuals with moderate appetite for risks , but a high appetite for determination and toil.These are visionaries who realized in time it is not about idea its about the reasons why change is needed. And that’s their first true secret of success. Vipin Tom Varghese
Volume 1 Issue: Feb 2012 © copyright Genesis,ISM-dhanbad
Student President 2011-12 Genesis(ISM-Dhanbad)
IN THIS EDITION
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Entrepreneurship
The role of risk factor and audacity in livening up the hidden entrepreneur within us.
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Flick To Know
The adventurous perambulation through the history of an innovative masterpiece.
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Engineering and Enterpreneurship
Bashing the fad that engineers are monotonous job-keepers and not entrepreneurs.
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The E-business Anatomy
A step by step detailed narrative as to how to make your own site and get paid through it.
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VEN TU venture
The science of how and when ventures result into innovations.
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Creativity Versus Opportunity
The big question about how to synchronise or time your ingenuity with random chances.
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Before starting a venture one needs to have a Entrepreneurshipvery strong mental set up to understand the What Nonsense ! ! challenges and be-self motivated
Webopedia
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Graffiti ISSUE: FEB 2012
(innovations in web space)
Techopedia
(xplore the world of tech innovation)
Mediapedia
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(problems beget solutions) ISSUE: FEB 2012
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ENTERpreneurship D id you know that for 7 hours of sleep during night, our body is paralysed for more than 5 hours and the only muscles under our control are our chest muscles that ena ble us to breathe? Surprising, isn’t it?
Now you must be wondering what this has to do anything
myspace and orkut were already ruling over it.
with ENTERpreneurship…oops….my mistake...ENTREpreneurship, but wait does it really matter, anyways let’s get back to our topic. What does paralysis during REM sleep has anything to do with Entrepreneurship. Well, the thing which I wanted to prove was the fact that there are many things around us that we experience every day and yet don’t think that we do. That’s the case with paralysis and with entrepreneurship.
We
all are entrepreneurs in our very own ways, in the ways we face problems in our daily life, in the ways we solve them in our very own unique ways.The motive of an entrepreneur is never to make money in the first place, but it’s to make a difference. An entrepreneur is an innovator, a thinker, one who starts thinking where all others stop, one who sees the world at a horizon where no horizon exists and so, hence creates one. There’s no hard and fast definition as to who an entrepreneur is, it may be anyone who innovates, anyone who makes a difference, anyone who creates or anyone who recreates. Now the last point may be a bit confusing,” What in the world is recreation doing in here?” So we take an example of a person whom we all know about, the person who gives Rs. 70 lakh package to engineers from IITs, yup, you got it, I’m talking about Mark Zuckerberg, the creator, oh no wait, ‘re’creator of FACEBOOK. We all have seen the movie ‘The Social Network’ and the one thing we all noticed was the fact that the real idea behind facebook was not Mark’s but the one thing we all forgot to notice was the fact that the real vision behind facebook was Mark’s. It weren’t the real creators of facebook who made it a multi million dollar firm, it was Mark, he was the one who saw things on a different horizon and made facebook what it is now. So the one thing that I wanted you to notice was the fact that just having an idea never makes you an entrepreneur, it’s the vision to propel the idea and making it big that does. Taking again the example of facebook, do you think it was a new idea even if it had lied with its original creators; no, this was not a new idea again ‘coz when facebook came in to the market, lookalike products like ISSUE: FEB 2012
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ll now, entrepreneurship may have only meant big names to you, like Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and all but wait, it has more in store for you. Entrepreneurs are not always big industrialists; the horizon of entrepreneurship alone is very vast. Let me provide you with a very interesting case of entrepreneurship. There was an engineering student just like you, Harsh Narang (it’s a guess that you probably don’t know about him), an M.Tech student from IIT Delhi. He just exploited two facts that he noticed around him; first, ‘many giant companies have been built up around college campuses’ and secondly, ‘around 4.7 million students photocopy 450 pages a year on average’. He combined the duo and the result is the successful venture called ‘Phokatcopy’. It offers students photocopying services at no cost, subsidised by revenues gained through advertising initiatives on the back page. ” What an idea sirjee…!! ” Let’s now talk about another college dropout, Sandeep Maheshwari. At the age of 21, he authored a book which no publisher wanted to publish, so he published it himself. Out of 1000 printed copies, barely 100 were sold but it had something really very very unique. It was a very special book, unlike most books, the pages needed to be turned left to right rather than right to left. If you’re wondering why, you just need to read the first page which reads,” If you can’t even change the way you read, how can you change the way you think”. Sandeep’s attempt to create something new didn’t end here. At 23, he created a world record in photography by taking more than 100,000 shots of 122 models in just 10 hours and 45 minutes. As a photographer, Sandeep would regularly get queries from ad agencies who wanted to use his images for their campaigns rather than shooting fresh images. That’s when the idea of creating a website with a stock of images he had taken came to him. To his surprise, he found that stock photography was a well-known industry worldwide. However, he discovered that there were no stock photography agencies providing images with Indian faces. And so www.imagesbazar.com was born. Started in
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stock photography agencies providing images with Indian faces. And so www.imagesbazar.com was born. Started in February 2006, it today has more than 700,000 images and has the world’s largest stock of Indian images.Don’t you think that the next name in the list can be yours?
the real risk but nevertheless you should understand the risk and try to reduce it. It is a myth that entrepreneurs
are not risk averse. I must be the most risk averse person I have met in my life. I am really scared of risks. The point is to keep de-risking at every opportunity”. Don’t worry about the risks, it’s a common belief that entrepreneurship is risky compared to a job but a wise saying goes like,” It’s better to control your own life than to let an idiot control it!” So, what are you waiting for, go grab the idea you always wanted to work upon, and remember the only difference between what you have now and what people like Steve Jobs had then is “A DREAM”. So, keep dreaming (not by going to the paralysed state obviously).
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ow, even if you want to become an entrepreneur, lets address the one basic question, “How to get the IDEA?” Now this a tough question to answer and depends rather on what kind of entrepreneur you want to be. For example, reading newspaper may be the best way to get the idea if you want to be a social entrepreneur but you won’t benefit much if you want to be a techpreneur. Idea is not something that you just sit and say to yourself, ”I’m not getting up until I get an idea”,but it’s something that just strikes, all you need to do is observe things around you and wait for the right moment. However, it’s also not like you’re gonna get successful at every strike. Most of the successful entrepreneurs were never successful at their first attempt in this field. The above mentioned Sandeep Maheshwari himself tried 6 ventures before imagesbazar (not to mention, all unsuccessful), and maybe that’s the point where the real entrepreneurial spirit comes in, the spirit of never giving up trying.
Contact us: Send your Articles and be a part of the next issue of UDBHAV. E-mali: udbhav.ism@gmail.com
Another factor that keeps most people, especially
Contact GENESIS for any further query about entrepreneurship. WEB: www.genesisecell.com E-mail: genesis@ismu.ac.in
people like us who have a secure future (seriously, I’m not joking) is the risk factor. However some people don’t think that it’s a true fact. According to Sanjeev Bikhchandani, the founder of Info Edge India Ltd (known to most as naukri. com), believes,” Frequently the perceived risk is lower than ISSUE: FEB 2012
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Entrepreneur @ ISM
Flick -2- Know.......... “ ”
by Madhuri Suthar
Story so far
customized and pinpoint information sought after without any hassle of typing long URL’s or Google out stuff. And hence work began on building a technology along the lines of image processing. A mobile phone camera and internet connection served the rest. One of the earliest approaches that they tried was to develop something similar to hologram/USBN, having information embedded in it which can be extracted using a cell phone camera. Then came the idea of storing data in an image, its extraction and finally the use of 2-D barcodes for storing information. Unlike traditional barcodes, which when scanned are translated into a code, they created codes which are like a 2D data matrix that includes all sorts of information like URL’s, phone no., email address or any string of text up to a certain level. These codes can be placed over anything visible, on magazine ads, posters and even on certain products. The possibilities are endless.
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” -Harriet Tubman
Flick2Know Technologies Pvt. Ltd ,a frontline mobile services company, provides customized information regarding anything ranging from score updates, movie reviews, ticketing information, product demos, videos and photos to any kind of multimedia content available online just by a flick of your mobile camera. But this company has a very interesting story behind it’s origin. A talk with one of the founders of this firm opened the door of acknowlegdement to their success story. Technology Met Talent It all started with a view of awesome technological sensation ‘Sixth Sense’ featured by TED media labs and then the million dollar question came in mind of one of the firm founders Mr. Apurv Gupta, “Why can’t we do something on these lines using a mobile phone camera & GPRS?”. He wanted to create a platform where people need not Google out things, a new way of interacting with surroundings. One simple example of the problem: while shopping, there are multiple queries, like which mobile set to select from, nutritive content of a new eatery or while on a holiday to a new place, which places to visit, nearest hotels and shopping arcade locations, historical background of a monument etc and it’s generally found that there is but someone facing the same problem. Their goal was to create a medium by which one can get the
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# The Turning Point Before taking up this project, the members were in the founding team of a company named ‘Cooljunk’ with one of their seniors and set up ‘ICX -ISM Cyber eXchange’ which caters to different web related problems of the college. They loved thinking out of the box. Entrepreneurship fascinated them from the very beginning and at last one fine day they got the breakthrough when they developed their first scanner. This turned out to be the turning point which spurred them to scale it up and start developing a business plan. # How does it work? The first step is to generate codes and read them. For generation of a code, just type in what you want to include, on their web portal and it will generate the cor responding image for you. To read any code, open the Flick2Know application on your camera phone, scan the 5
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code to get connected to their portal and retrieve information without the need of typing anything. The process is very fast and simple and thus saves time and money.
# Making The Market “We figured out different used cases and did a small market research. By that time the applications for the new iAccerelator batch were invited. We had the concept at the ideation stage and this is the beauty of iAccelerator, that they incubate businesses even at the ideation stage. We were very pretty much convinced with the idea and were seriously searching out for seed capital to start at our own.” says one of the founders. Meanwhile, MSME(Ministry of micro, small & medium enterprises) set up their incubation center at ISM, Dhanbad. They applied there but finally received a call from iAccelerator for the second round (It is a five round selection process). “We had figured out an alternate plan in case we did not get incubation- One of us will work to financially support the team till we attain self sustainability. So we all took one job from our campus (as is expected from the society).” Showing their excellent sustainability approach, they qualified the next three rounds of iAcceerator and were called at the Setu Ventures’ (funding partner, iAccelerator) office for the final presentation {even though their final semester examinations were going on at that time. } And finally they got incubated from both iAccelerator and MSME, a most cherished moment of their life it was really a dream come true for them. Next they headed to IIM-Ahmedabad for a 15 day orientation program, met the stalwarts of the industry, and learned a lot about how to get started. Finally on 15th June they landed in the city of Gurgaon,
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starting Flick2know Technologies (P) Ltd. They partnered with a leading media house of India “Cybermedia” Futurity Aspect. Starting with the popular magazine PCQuest, they are now expanding with other magazines like Dataquest and Voice & Data. Apart from this,they are in the process of launching India’s most massive QR Code campaign with Morarka Organics (Asia’s Largest Veg. Organic Food Chain) who are integrating QR Codes with their 1500+ product range. They are also doing a campaign for a leading real estate house “Unitech”. You can visit the website to have an overview of the service. www.flick2know.com There are numerous possibilities for the users to get involved with 2D barcodes, so the next time you want to know about an interesting movie, just scan a code & immediately view the trailer, get reviews and also get the closest theater show timings and ticket bookings. Just wait a while!
“All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible.” -T.E. Lawrence
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SELL RS &
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sh s huto s A y B
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bechn n u b a become sa karke maket leaders in many g n i r nee posh areas.Visiting the industrial r Engi
Aakhi
Do you know that the government of India spends several lakhs on every single engineer in government colleges?
So the basic question now is why to waste the country’s resources and why to waste this knowledge for which you spent 2 to 3 years just preparing and another 4-5 years acquiring (subject to increase) and become something completely different from an engineer. Being an entrepreneur never means not being an engineer and start behaving as if you just passed out with a B.Com degree. Most people confuse entrepreneurship with business and they are not to be blamed for this because it’s a common misconception. People generally relate the term ‘selling’ with business and should do ‘coz selling is what business is all about but that’s not what entrepreneurship is all about. Before the selling process begins, there’s an important step which makes it entrepreneurship rather than business. That step is called ‘creating’.
Entrepreneurship is not in any way the same as business because business is all about money and entrepreneurship is all about creating, by making a difference. Entrepreneurship is the act of building a business by an individual through innovation or taking an initiative beyond the scope of described job duties. After all, besides god who else except engineers can be credited with creating things.I don’t think you have ever heard law or medical graduates starting ISSUE: FEB 2012
business and that too in field of entrepreneurship,Because when you need to create, all you need is an engineering mind. I mean, as an engineer, you are a part of a profession that by its very nature makes a difference. A profession that at its core is about building value – from iPads, to Electric cars, Google, MRI machines – this list just goes on and on. We live in a world that needs creative leadership, and the necessity for effective scientific and technological entrepreneurship is increasing.
It’s
a common misconception among people not only from India but also in the world that engineers are not good at entrepreneurship which of course is utter rubbish. Such an absurd view is often held by people from business background who never had an experience in technical fields.
. If such people are right that engineers cannot be entrepreneurs, then how is it that Germany is the most successful economy in Europe? .
Yes,
we all know the big companies like Daimler and Audi (with its engineering slogan Vorsprung durch Technik), but you may not know that the pillar of the German economy is the Mittelstand, the small and medium-sized companies. The Mittelstand has been successful because of its engineering expertise and business acumen. That’s enabled them to develop clever technological solutions and 7
area of many small towns in Germany you will find world leaders in every technology. Many of companies which are led by engineers, and PhDs in science or technology are common in German boardrooms. Try telling Germany that engineers can’t be entrepreneurial.
Now
let’s about whether engineers can be entrepreneurs,and let’s talk about HOW engineers can be entrepreneurs and how many have actually been successful. Now even if you are in a job from the campus placements , you are from the very first moment involved in making money in the business way. Consider this as an example: your employer is engaged in a business to produce a return on investment for shareholders.Your compensation package is an investment made by the company. What you produce is your contribution to your company’s overall return on that investment. And whether you’re the CEO in charge of the entire corporation, or a new engineer overseeing a single task or project, you are responsible for producing a positive return on the investments you manage. So,all engineers should engage in entrepreneurship. But those who deliver the best returns on the investments should manage will be in the best positions for advancement when such decisions are made.
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Fortunately, engineering education provides an excellent base for understanding entrepreneurship concepts. For example, the princi-
ples of conserving mass, energy and momentum can be applied directly to money. Engineers who understand and apply the key driving forces of business in their sphere of influence are tomorrow’s best management candidates. Return on investment is a relatively simple concept, and most engineers are exposed to it in at least one college course.The simple ratio of profits to investments is the measure of success that drives the corporate world.Your salary may be a small percentage of your company’s total annual expenses, but your work is expected to produce an individual return that meets or exceeds your employer’s minimum requirements for justifying your salary and benefits. So why to be in a job then and not be like ‘Gurukant Desai’ from the movie Guru when he reacts by leaving his job upon getting promoted and says,”Agar main itna hi acha hu to uske liye kaam kyu karu, khud liye karunga” (If I’m so good, why to work for him (his boss), I’ll rather work for myself).
Have you heard of an engineer entrepreneur ? Well of course you have, who after all are Steve
Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. And we all know that they are/were the biggest in their fields. If you think that engineers in the field of entrepreneurship are something new, you are wrong. Even before these people came in, engineers had already changed the face of entrepreneurship.
a
You all must have heard of Hewlett Packard (hp) but did you know that it was founded by two Stanford engineering graduate students?
a
Now, you must have heard of Shockley, but did you know that he was the founder of Shockley Semicondtor Laboratory, the first semiconductor company in the valley?
a
More interestingly, fifteen months later after the formation of this company, eight of Shockley’s employees (three physicists, an electrical engineer, an industrial engineer, a mechanical engineer, a metallurgist and a physical chemist) founded Fairchild Semiconductor. (Every chip company in Silicon Valley can trace their lineage from Fairchild.)
a
And we all of course know about the “Pirates of the Silicon valley”, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.
Bet you didn’t know that the biggest contribution of the Silicon Valley has been Scientists and engineers as founders and startup CEOs since 1950.
So, this is what the main aim be-
hind this article was all about, for how to use your technical knowledge and become an entrepreneur. If Bill Gates had started a company selling cornflakes, I don’t think he would have been this successful (Now keep guessing what he would have named this cornflakes company). This is the thing that we need to understand, we are the best in creating and extending this fact, I’d rather say that if we don’t create things, who would. I mean, it’s always been us engineers who have made a difference. And if you don’t think so, then maybe you don’t know about names like Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of telephone and most importantly the founder of “Bell Labs” (and mind you, if this company wouldn’t have been there, this world wouldn’t be what it is today because it nurtured the man who is believed to be a magician, the man called Nicolas Tesla). Thomas Alva Edison, inventor of the electric bulb and again most importantly the
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founder(along with three others) of “General Electric” which was also the rival company of Bell Labs.
So my advice here is simple – keep being an engineer – keep building value. In doing so you will not only make a difference, but
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you will have the kind of satisfaction that can only come from doing truly valuable work. And you will find that this kind of satisfaction will far outweigh any of the other benefits that may come from your career. And don’t worry if you don’t find it right away. Because here’s another myth – the myth that life is short. Or maybe it is true for some people, but not for you. I don’t even have to know you, just the fact that you are reading this, tells me with 100% certainty that you will do many things. And if you are lucky, your life will sometimes be messy, confusing, and downright terrifying. It might lead you down surprising paths – paths that cause others to think you’re crazy. But I promise you this, if you keep learning from your success – if you always seek to build value – and if follow your heart, your life will not only be long, it will be rich, satisfying, and deeply rewarding.
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The .
Business Anatomy By Kumar SONAL
COM Business
W
hile he was working in CERN (European Particle Laboratory ,Geneva) Tim Berners-Lee envisaged “Enquire” ,an unpublished software that went on to conjure the World Wide Web whose significance may be seconded only by the invention of The Wheel itself. As each second passes, the Web is coming a step closer in creating a more perfect and customizable virtual life for the users on the small screens. Markets may crash and economies may shrivel, but the infallible World Wide Web stands stout as it grows in range and power stashing each bit of knowledge, we have amassed inside it. This is not just about entertainment, knowledge, or marketing, Web that is Internet has evolved as a religion influencing each and every part of our lives whether we notice it or not. Security, governance, e-marketing, medical industry, corporate, banking, navigation, education, exploration, media and many more systems owe their efficiency to this multilingual and omnipresent jargon.
T
alking about the Business sector, the World Wide Web has acted as a mega land-mower mowing aside irritating cobwebs of primitive and slow business styles and creating a plethora of opportunities to do just about everything. The phenomenon could be very well sited by receding numbers of malls and plazas in the developed countries like USA where people have chosen to depend on internet for even their daily products. In India, the fever is catching up fast. With an exponential increase in usage of marketing websites like Snapdeal, Myntra, Yebhi, Flipkart, Bestylish , the young generation is pouncing on modernisation. Some philosophers even say this may be the answer to the shortage of jobs and income as setting up of a profitable website just needs a pinch of ingenuity on the base of imagination. The is expanding every second with the addition of new online properties. According to Dailychanges.com, which tracks Internet domains, there were 13.4 crore domains - Web addresses used for websites - in October 2011. Around 1.5 lakh domains are added daily. The number of websites is much more than this as each domain can host multiple sites. We could follow a few simple steps to setup our websites so that we could base further plans oriented for profit.
REGISTER A DOMAIN NAME
To
start a website, you need a unique Web address that visitors can type in their Web browsers- such as Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox-to reach your website. Register your domain with a reputed registrar. GoDaddy.com is the world’s largest domain registrar.Net4.in and BigRock.in are the two big Indian registrars. If you are targeting global reach, get .com, .net or .org. Countries also have their own domains. For example, .in is for India, while .us is for US websites. Use a country-specific name if your target audience is in a particular country. You have to pay an annual fee for domains. An .in domain can be registered for as less as Rs 100 for the first year, while a .com address is available for Rs 500-600 per year. You have to get this address renewed every year. Keep the domain name simple and short. FactS 1.5 lakh is the average number of domains or Web addresses (used for websites and emails) registered daily. 100 crore was the number of websites being monitored and indexed in 2008 by online search engine giant Google.
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Where to Buy A fresh Domain - www.Bigrock.com - www.Godaddy.com - www. Namecheap.com - www.net4.in - www.znetlive.in
BUY WEB-HOSTING SPACE
Websites need to be hosted on computers (Web servers) which other computers can
connect to via the Internet.You can set up your own Web server if you can run and manage a computer with a unique Internet Protocol address. However, this is costly. Most websites are hosted on spaces rented out by Web hosting providers such as HostGator.com, DreamHost.com and BlueHost.com. Web hosting providers run Web servers that are shared by several websites. You can buy unlimited hosting plans which enable you to host any number of websites by paying Rs 400-500 per month. If you are planning to target Indians, you website is likely to load fast if it is hosted on an Indian Web server as data will have to travel a shorter distance. When you buy web-hosting space, you have to provide the domain that you want to host.Your provider will then send you details of your hosting control panel and name servers (NS), which are entrance points for your server. Hosting Sites
POINT YOUR DOMAIN TO SERVER Unless you buy Web hosting and domain name from the same provider, your domain name and Web hosting will not be connected in the beginning.You need to point your domain to the Web server by changing your domain’s NS entries to reflect the details sent by your Web-hosting provider. A Web server has limited resources to handle traffic from visitors. For large websites which get hundreds of visitor each minute, multiple servers host exact copies of the website. By adding NS entries for multiple Web servers for a domain, the traffic to the website gets balanced among the servers.
CREATE A WEBSITE
After pointing your domain to the Web server, it is time to create the actual website. All good Web hosts will give you
access to a website creation tool which can be used to create HTML (Hyper Text Mark-up Language) websites.You can also create websites using applications such as Nvu, KompoZer, Dreamweaver and FrontPage. If the idea of working with HTML for creating websites scares you, you can easily install a content management system (CMS) which allows you create webpages and add content using a Web-based interface. WordPress is one of the most popular open source CMSes, designed primarily for blogs. As it is easy to use, WordPress is often used for creating websites as well. Using the cPanel software, you can install Word Press quickly through a Web interface.
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Making Money from Advertising
You can get advertising revenue even if you are just starting out and your
site is relatively unknown.The way to do this is to join as an “affiliate” of various sites, either directly, or through an affiliate network. An affiliate network is simply an intermediary where you can select from a variety of advertisers.
Payment Schemes Before joining any program, you should probably be aware of the different payment schemes available. 1.Pay Per Impression (CPM)-Here, you are paid according to the number of times the advertiser’s banner is displayed on your site. Needless to say, this method will allow you to automatically earn more if your site attracts a lot of visitors. 2.Pay Per Click (PPC)-When you are paid per click, you are only paid when visitors click the advertiser’s banner on your site. The amount paid is usually higher than the pay per impression scheme. A high traffic site will probably enjoy a higher click rate than a lower traffic site, although you will probably get better results if your banners are carefully selected to suit the target audience of your site. 3.Pay Per Sale or Lead- While you will probably get the highest payment rates with this method, it has the lowest conversion rate of the three schemes.You will only earn if your visitors click through the banner and either purchase an item from the advertiser or take some other prescribed action (eg, sign up for a service). Like the Pay Per click method, you get much better results if you carefully select your advertiser to suit the target audience of your site. Major Indian Adworld:
Paid surveys are perfect work from home opportunity and almost anyone can get paid to take surveys. Doing online surveys for money is especially appealing to those who want an online money making method that is free, quick and easy and doesn’t require any experience or skills. Get paid to answer questionsWe can make money answering questions and giving advice on the internet. Get paid to surf the web is based on a simple idea, we simply get paid to visit a page for a few seconds. Unlike get paid to click programs where we have to click on ads to get paid, we don’t have to click on any ads to be credited for the visited site. Some paid to surf sites have incorporated paid to click in their program as well, so we get paid to surf and click. But either way, it is a very simple way to make money online.Paid to surf business model almost died in 2001 when the dot-com bubble collapsed. And since all of the revenue came from internet advertising, most paid to surf companies disappeared. But in the recent years, with the new wave of internet users and the growing popularity of internet amongst all kinds of people, paid to surf sites are making a comeback. Get Paid Sharing Files Online There are a couple of document sharing sites that you can upload any kind of file you own to, and every time someone downloads it, you get paid for it. Files can be in almost any format, from TXT to PDF and everything in between. Get Paid to Upload
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EN TU ventuRE BY Saurabh
Do you know the purpose of a ‘condenser’ in a fan….? Do you know the purpose of a ‘starter’ in a tube light…..?? Do you know the function of ‘explosion’ in a diesel engine….???
It’s same in all the cases. One thing we all have studied about,
IMPULSE. Impulse finds an analogy in all spheres of life, including entrepreneurship. Even if we have it all planned, it’s all a waste if we don’t get the right start, or maybe with a bit more confidence we can say, if we don’t start. Now the million dollar question, especially for us engineers, is ven tu start, oh pardon me, it’s when to start? “Shall I start after my degree is complete or shall I get some job experience after that, maybe an year or two, I’ll carry on then or shall I go for an MBA, then may be again I can go for some job experience or may be first job experience then MBA and then I’ll start, maybe I can then convince my parents too, god I’m confused.” It’s normal for people like you and me to think likewise because we are risk averse people, we don’t want to take the risk Well, I got lucky being in ‘Genesis’ (no I’m not paid for saying this), meeting people who have already taken risks and you know what they said, its the same as the best time to get married. EXACTLY, it doesn’t exist. The best time to take the risk doesn’t exist. But don’t be surprised ‘cause there does exist the best time to start’ but I’ll come to that later According to Amit Grover, CEO of “Nurture Talent”, “If you think you’re not ready to start your venture after your B.Tech degree ,and getting an MBA will help ; trust me, it won’t. You’ll be thinking exactly the same thing as you would be thinking after the former”. In short, to become an entrepreneur, you don’t need to be an MBA. Your success rate would be the same in both cases. Now I do not discourage you from going for an MBA ‘coz you might have things planned out for yourself. Getting an MBA would of course make you a much more capable market analyst or maybe you would understand risks better but again the one thing that you need the most for being an entrepreneur, something we call ‘passion’ won’t be provided to you in any MBA course.Now seriously, how much do you expect classes on “financial accounting” to motivate you (and isn’t it enough by far to realise how useful classes in college have been, well they have been to me for reading novels and taking naps). And also, I’m not targeting that MBA thing specially; again a B.Tech degree won’t help you chase your dream. And don’t we know that the biggest names in the world are college dropouts? We all heard Steve Jobs in that speech (doob maro if you don’t know which one)
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of his at Stanford University Convocation when he says, “this is the closest to graduation I’ve got”.
We asked this same question to Mr. Naveen Chowdhary , Chief
Mentor at Fountainhead Training Development Pvt. Ltd. and an esteemed ISM alumnus of ’92 batch. He said that the best time to start is NOW. According to him, we are never going to be free of problems or circumstances that prevent us from doing what we want to do, so why waste time waiting for the right time to come, better start now. He also raised a very common point that most of us face when we think of doing something different, “How to convince your parents?” . That’s one thing that haunts entrepreneurs, ‘coz that’s not the kind of thing our parents expected from us when they spent all their savings over our coaching just to get us into college. Most of us think that maybe after getting settled and financially secure, we can convince our parents but wait here comes the shocker. He says that he still hasn’t been able to convince his parents over him being an entrepreneur even when he’s in it and is settled. Now, this, you may call mentality of Indian parents, they already have things planned out for you, and for those whose parents are in government service, the only reason they sent you to an engineering college is because they want you to have a job if you don’t clear the civil services exam. The only respectable people in the world, according to them, are those called IAS or IFS officers and may be in some rare cases, IPS officers too, everything else is actually nothing to them and imagine going to them and saying you want to become an entrepreneur and their reply would be, “woh kya hota hai?” and the moment you explain them, their reply is, “we thought you were there to do engineering” and suddenly they forget all those fundas they gave to you when they said, “son, engineering is easy, everyone does that, you have to go beyond”(will someone tell them engineering is not easy). ‘Beyond’ to them was something else, not entrepreneurship. But the basic thing here is that even if you’re out of college and having a job, going for an entrepreneurial work wouldn’t be in any way easy for you. Rather it would be even much more difficult, the much required impulse would be even more than required when you did not have one. But again, Entrepreneurship is all about stepping beyond the known, about taking the path less travelled. As far as parents are concerned, in the end, it’s your life and even if you go against their wish, ‘koi jail nahin bhej dega yaar!’ Although this might seem wrong in a short while, but if you really want to do something, you should clearly go for it, disregarding whatever background you come from, it simply doesn’t matter whether you hold a technical degree or a BA in philosophy. In a long run, it would be right for both your parents and you ‘coz the thing that
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matters in the end is that you should be able to love what you do. The worst situation would be the one where twenty years from now you look back and regret something you could have done and didn’t do. For example, I don’t want myself to have a boss ten years from now, one way I see it is through entrepreneurship, now another way might be to quit my job ten years from now, although I’m thinking of contesting elections too (that way I’d be the boss again).
TEN REASONS TO START
TEN REASONS NOT TO START •An idea you have seems to make sense; but you haven’t researched it fully.
•You have an idea that fits the basic criteria: large and growing market; something proprietary; clear way to monetize; partners that complement your skills; and an industry with long term potential.
•Everyone else seems to be doing it and making a lot of money.
•You can both handle and afford risk: Financially, personally and professionally.
•You want Mark Zuckerberg’s life and he’s just a kid.
•You can live with uncertainty and long hours.
•You want to make a lot of money. Fast!
•You like the industry and area/service/product you’ll be pitching.
•You’ve discovered the next killer idea (why does this one never seem to work out?).
•You have a passion for that same industry.
•You need a job (and don’t know what else to do).
•You need a job (and feel it better to create something of value than job hunt).
•If not now, never. Your career has stalled. •You hate your boss, industry, or company.
•You bring concrete skills or connections to building the business. You’ve done your homework researching the industry, competitors, competing industries, product, market and anything else you can imagine.
•You want an easier or more flexible schedule. •You want the prestige associated with being a founder.
•Others, whose business judgment you respect, have validated your idea. •A hobby is already in the process of developing into a business. •You want to build a great company and are willing to make sacrifices to do it.
Start-ups are never easy. Assess why you’re doing it and what advantages you bring to the table. If they measure up, take
the associated risks and build something great. Great companies will always be great companies. If you aren’t aiming to start a great company, why take the risk of starting one at all? It’s rarely easy. And while marginal companies might benefit more from a boom than great companies, it won’t be enough for them to prosper. Anything less may not be worth the work and stress involved.
So, I hope you understood that the best time to venture is NOW and it would always be, whether you are doing a job or another degree. In entrepreneurship, you have to make your own way and go ahead. A wise saying goes like, “Stairs are for those who want to go to the terrace, for the ones who wish for the sky, make their own”.
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V /s
“ What is the first thought that comes to your mind after reading the title ? Just hold that thought for some time. It might change after you read this article. “ -By Madhuri Suthar
Heard of GSEA? The word entrepreneur and its meaning should be clear to you
Global Student Entrepreneur Award is given each year to an undergraduate student entrepreneur who wins an international competition series. This year it went to Ludwick Marishane, currently in his last year at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, Marishane grabbed a cash prize worth $150,000 !
by now. But the urge of knowing what to do or how to start at this particular time when you are just an engineering student is undoubtedly unsatisfied.
First of all it’s very essential to ensure that this is the right time to enter the field of ENTREPRENEURSHIP and if you think that you can’t start right now, THINK TWICE.
$ But what was his start up ? Ludwick is the founder of HeadBoy Industries whose flagship product, DryBath emerged as the top student run business of 2011. DryBath, the world’s only bath substitute lotion for the whole body was inspired by Ludwick’s roommate who was often too lazy to take a shower. Launched in 2007, DryBath is now bringing a viable hygiene solution to millions of people with little or no access to clean water. What a CREATIVITY!
Last year’s awardee Brent Skoda , a man with immense devotion towards entrepreneurship and a
high school baseball player , saw a crying need for good fitness and nutrition information for his fellow students at his institue. And that led him to create CollegeFitness. com in 2007. His company boasts of what Skoda, an Ohio native, calls the largest database of nutrition information on menu items at thousands of restaurants, by location, as well as a collection of fitness videos geared to various levels. Skoda has built a profitable business with an estimated $2.4 million in revenue expected this year, landed partnerships with such companies and universities as Google and the University of Oklahoma. He did it all while pursuing his degree at TCU! Aren’t these stories one around you? Talking about India the list includes JRD Tata , Lalit Modi , Dhirubhai Amabani , Ekta Kapoor and many others entrepreneurs from diverse fields whose stories are well known.
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Not going too far , let’s talk about our very own ISM. You may be surprised but its true from the morning tea to brushing your teeth at night we are always @ Indian School Of Mines surrounded by entrepreneurs of all kind.
a a
Didn’t you try your luck in the Angry birds Game? Haven’t you eaten the sandwiches from Shantanu sir’s stall in CONCETTO?
What were they? KARTAVYA Juice Centre, SHARE MY CAMPUS, Opal Hostel Initiative --- all students’ startups right during engineering. Definitely risk involved but daring ideas are like chessman moved forward, they may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.
KARTAVYA
Startups with excellent turnovers. They had the creativity and they saw the opportunity. So which stall are you opening in the next fest? Next think of brand ambassadors of various techfest of different institutes. They are STUDENTS like us but people with the quality of leadership and determination and who know how to convince others. Again an opportunity and creativity combination.
Entrepreneur a word that is not only difficult to pronounce correctly but
more difficult to include in your life. The fact that in India not many YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS are there is true . On the other hand what’s great is that the vision towards entrepreneurship is expanding. To quote the renowned economist, T.N. Srinivasan, ‘India has been an entrepreneurial society…we had the entrepreneurial skill but suppressed it for too long a time… and now it is thriving.’
Even the Bhagwad gita says
“Far better to live your own path imperfectly than to live another’s perfectly.” And to live your own way you need to think differently, you need to think as an ENTREPRENEUR. As the world is how you see.
Although when ask about security in this field flash on SECURITY IS SUAvoiding danger is not safer in the long run than the
PERSTITION.
outright exposure and the satisfaction you get when you do what you always wanted to or the thing you dreamt is going to be true is above all the hardships of life. Dwell upon the thought “LIFE IS EITHER A DARING ADVENTURE OR NOTHING. “
At last what’s most important is that you must real-
ize what potentials you have within you. Look around yourselves in the way as an entrepreneur and definitely you will get great ideas. Make them happen. Well this is not all about entrepreneurs. As it does not include what you will do!
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Webopedia
Graffiti
innovations in the web-space
www.indiagetonline.in
In a country as vast and diverse as India, it’s challenging to get people to notice ones business. That’s why; the site is getting small businesses in India online and providing them the necessary tools, tips and resources to succeed online.The site offers a free, easy-to-build, professional website a free .in domain name and hosting for one year Free email addresses and Free online tools & resources
notes.io
storymash.com A
creative writing community where new and experienced authors, writers, and readers could come together and collaborate on short fiction stories, novels, screenplays and new creative writing forms yet to be named. An environment for collaboration, constructive criticism, and experimenting with different creative writing styles.The basic unit of authorship on StoryMash is the chapter. Attached to every chapter is a discussion forum allowing readers to provide encouragement, criticism or new ideas to the author and promoting collaboration. Once an author is satisfied with their new chapter, they “publish” it thus making it available for “peer review” via chapter ranking system.
Notes.io is a web tion for taking -based applicanotes. You ca n take your notes an d share with others by providing the friend.Notes.io shorten url to a is built for sp eed and performance. You can take notes quickly and browse your archive. Notes.io doesn’ t require inst allation. Just write an d share shorte n link
productivewebapps.com
A unique interactive collection of the best web applications available
online to help us at work and play. We’ve looked at what really grabs us when you’re navigating the web in search of apps to fit our special needs. And we’ve build something different that takes the hard work out and puts the ease and fun back in.Until now there has been no one place where you could go to search, compare, rate and comment on hundreds of web apps like Productive Web Apps does. Best of all, Productive Web Apps lets us sort apps by rating, popularity, date added or even alphabetically. And we’ve done the hard work for us: reviewing each app; telling us all the stuff that you need to know; featuring new and cool apps; putting them friendly categories to help you search; and providing links to the apps themselves.
www.5pmweb.com
www.battigul.org
The site helps to connect us to a world of the many captain planets in need of a few likeminded people around. battigul has tried hard, to provide our environment loving self, all the tools that you need to work for the issue, “effectively”. They have a pool of information for fellowships, internships, organizations, team requirements and much more. And the pool comes from our sharing the opportunities we come across.We provide us with tools or sharing. Sharing our experiences, ideas, thoughts, or just random ramblings. Post in your blog, upload an image, share a video and reach out to many likeminded people with just one click.It provide us with promotion. Create a group for your cause or project. Invite people to join. Or create an event and spread it all over the world wide web by sharing the link. And by people here, we mean the right, like minded target audience.
5pm™ is an online project management software that makes team collaboration easy. Keep and share your projects, tasks, notes and files, track progress and time, send alerts, generate reports - all in one place.5pm is easy to use - get the whole team on it
in.keegy.com www.mygrahak.com MyGrahak intends to delight all households of India with a promise of enviable online shopping. With a promise of trust and sincerity, they deliver every product we need to maintain our home, through our extensive and wholesome online market. Customers can refill their monthly stores, through an easy onsite shopping or by placing a telephonic order, reducing their efforts and multiplying their choices. It can be anything from kitchen groceries to something for our pets, or toiletries like shampoos and deodorant. MyGrahak is not only the initiator of an online grocery shopping; rather it is a brand name associated with trust and quality. Besides best value for your money, we get a complete leisure of home shopping, which saves us a meaningful time for family, from overbearing supermarket shopping.
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The robot spider KeegyBot goes through the selected 2.0 information sources (mainly blogs). Users in each location interact with the site anonymously generating interaction statistics for each City / Country. An artificial intelligence algorithm analyzes the behavior and ranks the posts for their positioning according to the updated local preferences for each region.
www.hamaraguru.com
Hamara Guru was founded in 2009 and is the one stop place to know whats happening in the industry. We have the following information provided at our site : 1) Salaries : Employees of the companies post their salary anonymously and we aggregate the salaries from across the companies and bring them to the users across the country. 2) Reviews : Employees of the companies post the reviews about their companies so that they can help their friends in the industry to make informed decisions before switching their job.
Techopedia
Countles Readers , s ing the mechanisms ke ep flood market engineer ing mind as well as th e s but a require ll pu of vering e blic approval an them ncouragm d unwaent.So p us in ho lea no mailing o uring such cre se join ations b r postin gt y udbhav.i sm@gma heir details on il.com
Xplore the world of tech Innovation
How Kinect Changed Gaming, Art and Even Medicine? Old Flatbed Scanner + 50mm Lens = Amazing 130-Megapixel Scancam Tinkerers have been turning flatbed scanners into cameras for a while, but this version by a Japanese modder is one of the finest I’ve seen--both in technical execution and the incredible quality of the massive 130-megapixel images it creates.Basically, this is the digital equivalent of a large-format view camera. Only even bigger. A mechanical implement moves the scanner’s CCD sensor over the image projected by the old Canon FD lens (he has other lens mounts, too).And here’s a still life, all 13,068 x 10,173 pixels of it:
In November 2010, Microsoft released Kinect, a motion-sensing accessory for its Xbox 360 gaming console. Kinect could measure depth by sending out thousands of small infrared dots to create a 3-D map of a room, and its microphones could pinpoint sound in space. Such hardware would not be confined to gesture-based videogames. Within a few days, engineers strapped the $150 device onto a robot vacuum and wired the machines together to allow the robot to see and hear. For developers and hackers, Kinect’s promise proved irresistible (and affordable): It could give machines sense.
Microsoft Photosynth: Turning snapshots into 3D This Web site uses ordinary photos—whether of national monuments, scientific specimens or your vacation—to build a 3-D view that you navigate as if in a videogame. Photosynth analyzes dozens of shots to find overlapping areas and piece them together. These high-resolution visuals are served smoothly over the Internet, using an algorithm that starts filling in pixels at the center of the screen (where your eye focuses first) and radiates outward. Refer to http://photosynth.net
Infiniti Scratch Shield: The finish that repairs itself It won’t save you from a key-gouging vandal, but the finish on the 2008 Infiniti EX and FX-model SUVs can erase scrapes caused by, say, car washes or stray branches. The clear coat contains a synthetic resin that, when activated by daytime heat and sunlight, flows into surface wounds, repairing the damage in anywhere from a day to a week, depending on temperature and the depth of the scratch. Thanks to the extra resin in the coating, the finish is more durable than most, too, showing 80 percent fewer abrasions than conventional clear coat after 50 trips through an automated car wash
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Square Reader, Square & Card Case Apps Urning an idea into a business is hard enough without having to deal
with the byzantine rules of merchant banking. Square, co-founded by Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, makes accepting credit card payments as easy as setting up an email account.With Square’s card reader and associated apps, any iPad, iPhone or Android handset can process transactions on the spot. Signatures register on a touchscreen, and receipts go out via email. Square’s eponymous new app turns mobile devices into full-fledged point-of-sale terminals with a visual inventory; Card Case further simplifies the process, storing payment info in a secure app to allow wireless, instant purchases at Square-ready stores.
Who say s wome , nc be an entrepr an’t en Here ar e some eur? exampl living es !!
Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairman & Managing Director of Biocon Ltd. She is the person who became India’s richest woman in 2004, was educated at the Bishop Cotton Girls School and Mount Carmel College in Bangalore. She founded a firm with a capital of Rs.10,000 in her garage in 1978 – the initial operation was to extract an enzyme from papaya. Her application for loans were turned down by banks then – on three counts – biotechnology was then a new word, the company lacked assets, women entrepreneurs were still a rarity. Today, her company is the biggest biopharmaceutical firm in the country.
Mallika Srinivasan, currently the Director of TAFE- Tractors and Farm Equipment, India. She is currently the Director of TAFE- Tractors and Farm Equipment, India, was honoured with the title of Businesswoman of the Year during 2006 by the Economic Times. She joined the company in 1986 and has since been responsible for accelerating turnover from 85 crores to 2900 crores within a span of 2 decades.
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mediapedia
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problems beget solutions
Neelam Dhawan, Managing Director, Microsoft India She is a graduate from St. Stephens College in 1980,and also passed out from Delhis Faculty Of Management studies in 1982. Then she was keen on joining FMCG majors like Hindustan Lever and Asian Paints, both companies rejected her, as they did not wish to appoint a women for marketing and sales.She now leads Microsoft India.
Naina Lal Kidwai She was the first Indian woman to graduate from Harvard Business School. Fortune magazine listed Kidwai among the worlds top 50 Corporate Women from 2000 to 2003. According to the Economic times, she is the first woman to head the operations of a foreign bank in India. ( HSBC)
Ranjana Kumar, currently Vigilance Commissioner in Central Vigilance Commission She is currently Vigilance Commissioner in Central Vigilance Commission, after her retirement as the Chairperson of NABARD- National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development, is a prominent Indian Banker. When the Government of India appointed her as the Chairperson and Managing Director of The Indian Bank, she became the first woman to become head of a public sector bank in India. At that time of her appointment, The Indian Bank was saddled with huge losses and during her tenure she ensured the turnaround of The Indian Bank.
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Entrepreneurship .
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“ at!! Are you insane? I have told you many times before that doing business and all is not our cup of tea. I cannot afford to fund your aspirations and I have to use my savings for your sister’s wedding also. You are in final year and you have done very well so far. ISM is an institute of repute and I am sure you will get placed in any of the companies coming for campus placements with a good package. Even better you can try for a government job later on, as it is more secure and then I have to find a suitable bride for your marriage. Beta, we are a middle class family and don’t have the luxury of taking so much risk. I hope you understand....please don’t get me wrong.” “Yes papa, I understand. But it is my dream to own and run an enterprise some day. I am confident that I will be able to find angel investors or seed funds, as well as Venture capital later on. All I need is your understanding and blessings, and little bit of money for my ideas...” urged Anuj with bated breath.His father interrupted. “Shut up and don’t ever call me again for this. You are out of your minds. Entrepreneurship... What Nonsense!!” He disconnected the call.
In
our country, taking risks is not appreciated especially because the probability of failure is very high. Our cultures have not evolved to encourage risk takers and hence the enterprising Indian has to struggle against a belligerent culture and society to fulfil his aspirations and dreams. After the colonial rule was over in 1947, India struggled economically for decades until the LPG led policy was introduced in 1991.The beginning of the 21st century has seen rapid strides economic liberalisation and as a result, Consumer Surplus has been created. Consumer Surplus is the key to demand, which in turn is the most essential component of an enterprising nation.
Anuj sat at the dinner table very disappointed. His best pal, Amit, was looking at him for a long time and understood that Anuj was not successful in convincing his father. He went up to him and spoke, “Anuj, my father also did not agree to assist me in my venture. I am equally sad as you are. But I will not give up. First, I will seek a job and keep my aspirations alive till I find the right opportunity.What is entrepreneurship after all? It’s just earning money by selling or trading a product or service. What is the big risk in it I don’t understand! Look at Gaurav. He is not concerned about anything. After his exams ISSUE: FEB 2012
What Nonsense ! ! this year, he will simply go and join his father’s business and make money like his father does. So convenient. Anuj, I will prove my father wrong one day! You just wait and watch.....”
“What does Ragini say about all this?” asked Anuj. Ragini and Amit had been in love since the last couple of years and had decided to get married soon.“She says entrepreneurship is about creating Value. She says that no enterprise can be successful without Networking and that funds are not a problem if the bridge between ideas and execution is robust and the business model is self-sustaining. She supports non-cyclical business more and speaks about something called as Cash Flow. God knows whatever she means by all that. She has her own way of doing things. She says I need a deeper understanding of businesses. Huh! Her OGPA is not even half of mine. I am the topper! She barely manages to pass the exams and has the courage to teach me the tenets of start-ups and raising funds. Ignore her advice, man.”
T
en years passed since this conversation. One fine morning, a local newspaper headlines read: “Businessman jailed for unethical business practices”. Amit left his plush corporate job after 4 years and ran a very successful business of exporting garments until recession hit in the year 2008. He was unable to adapt to the changing environment. His 3-year
Gaurav managed his father’s business pretty well, until his father decided to retire and hand him the charge of the entire company. Gaurav was unable to live up to the ethical standards that his father had adopted for the company. In order to increase his bottomline and net profit margins, he started evading taxes and using fake substances for manufacturing packaged foods. An organisation called “We are Indians” exposed this and a criminal case was filed against him and his company. He is now facing a 7-year Jail term.
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Anuj was unable to gather the courage to start his own enterprise ever. He is working as the GM of a top corporate but still regrets not taking the risk against his father’s wishes. His aspiration is alive but he has a wife and two kids to take care of.The idea of an enterprise keeps dying every day in his mind with the setting sun. Ragini now owns the largest supermarket chain across the world. Her company “M/s R & Sons” has recently tied up with the leading supermarket chain for opening 1200 new stores in 30 countries. She is also engaged in Social entrepreneurship through the arm “We are Indians”. She has featured in the Times magazine as India’s corporate magnate and the upcoming tsar of the corporate world. Whether we are Anuj, Amit, Gaurav, Ragini or anyone else, few things have to be very clear to all of us before we plunge into this field of entrepreneurship in a country like India. Firstly, we have to have our fundamentals very clear. We need to read a lot about businesses, case studies, understand finances etc. Our passion to own a business cannot be allowed to hijack the reasonably minded entrepreneur within us. Ragini always understood the importance of learning and having a balanced approach to her aspirations. Secondly, we have to continuously keep evolving and learning through our experiences and from the environment around us. Amit was too arrogant to learn his lessons. He was a topper, but did not think it wise to learn from Ragini or his environment. Therefore, his business was unable to adopt a strategy to tackle the recession and failed. Thirdly, we need to understand that
establishing a successful enterprise is not a matter of days or months. It could take years. Therefore, we need to have a very strong mental set up to understand the challenges and beself-motivated. We need to plan and also prepare a contingency plan. Anuj could never muster this courage ever. Finally and most important, enterprise is about creating Value – this value could be wealth or bringing about positive environmental changes or any innovative service for the defence forces or new invention in Science etc. It is important to adopt a legal and ethical approach to this. Gaurav had the advantage of owning a running business, yet spooked it as a result of his poor attitude, and his greed of earning quick money by flouting the law of the Land. He was thus involved in destroying the values and did not play by the rules.
Always remember:
A Ship is safest near the shore but that is not what it is built for – don’t forget to take your life boats though!
“ HOW NOT TO START A VENTURE ” Don’t start a company in an ebbing tide. Find an unmet need rather than one that’s being met. For example, if you are starting a web based start-up, don’t try selling a product online ‘coz big names like ‘ebay’ already exist in that field. If you want to sell something online, why not try selling a service rather than a product, like what ‘’images bazar” has done. Don’t do something you know 20 other start-ups are already doing. (Most of these 20 will be losers.) Although big personalities feel that doing so shows you’re confident, but what I personally feel, that all is “bade log, badi batein” crap and even if you are doing so, I don’t find anything related to entrepreneurship in it. If 20 people are doing it, you are doing no different and if you are different, why the hell are you doing the same thing as 20 other people. Don’t think too small. You’re more likely than not to fail, so if you’re taking a big risk, shoot for a big reward. Don’t think too big. Focus on something close enough so that you can see the path from here to there. Starting something requiring an initial investment of Rs. 684 Crores won’t get you anywhere. Actually I mentioned that figure with respect to something I had previously thought of doing and you of course know the result. Don’t build a product without a distribution plan. When you pick from among multiple ideas, try to target something that has a ready-made channel. This is a point you should keep in mind for at least your first start-up, because it is at this point when risk is at its peak
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Genesis Genesis is an entrepreneurship cell (a non-profit initiative), which
consists of a group of students, teachers, incubators, mentors, innovators and researchers, which aims to promote the entrepreneurship culture in ISM and bring a feeling of intellect in every student of ISM. It believes that emerging economies like India need the drive and innovation of young entrepreneurs. The Cell therefore aims at manifesting the latent Entrepreneurial spirit of the youth. The Cell not only motivates the youth to start-up their own enterprise, but also makes efforts to provide them with the necessary resources to do so.
Contact US: Genesis(E-cell ISM-Dhanbad) E-mail: genesis@ismu.ac.in Web:www.genesisecell.com