-RICHARD BRANSON

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.Editors Note 2
2.Mentors Note 3
3.Presidents Note

4. Go the LEAN way.

5. How Richard Found His Virgin-ity.

6. What an Idea Sir-jee !!!

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7. What Makes a Person

to be an Entrepreneur?

14

8. Beginning of New
Era after Independence

15

9.Interview with Mr. Vivek Anand, Founder &

CEO, IncLabs. 18
10.Inspiration from InCampus Venture.

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THE EDITORIAL
TEAM
1. Anup Yeoleker
2. Nikita Kiran
3. Yukti Taneja
4. Crystal D Souza

EDITORS NOTE
Dear Readers,

A warm welcome to the batch of 2014-15 from Maon the Entrepreneurship

Cell of IBS Hyderabad and LEntrepreneur the editorial team. This is the most
exciting time of the year partly because of the new friendships being forged and
the fond memories being created along the way. The contagious cheer and excitement brought by the new junior batch reminds us all of the memorable past.
But the most prominent activity that takes place during this period every year is the change of guard from old to the new. We at LEntrepreneur too have decided to change with the time by bringing new flairs
to our magazine and present our readers with new enriching content.
Our focus still remains to act as mouthpiece of Maon and promote entrepreneurship but at the same time add value and give a quality read.
THE CREATIVE
TEAM
1. Rishab Nigam
2. Rahul Bongoni

This issue presents an article on the dynamics of new government taking charge and the change in environment for entrepreneurs in India. This issues cover story is on Sir Richard Branson, to understand
the lessons and key take-a-ways from his entrepreneurial journey.
We also have included an article written on Lean Startup Methodology devised
by Eric Ries for creating sustainable ventures. In another article we have tried to
throw light on Intrapreneurship. We have also covered an interview with Mr.
Vivek Anand, founder and CEO at Inc Labs. To inspire entrepreneurship in students we have covered the story of a venture being successfully run inside campus.
We at the Editorial team hope that the hard work we have put in publishing
this issue meets its objectives and not only adds value but inspires our readers for entrepreneurship.
Happy Reading !!!
Regards,
Anup Yeolekar
Chief Editor, LEntrepreneur
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MENTORS NOTE

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PRESIDENTS NOTE

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GO THE LEAN WAY:

All that you needed to know about Lean Startup Methodology.
What is Lean Startup
Methodology?
Lean startup is a methodology devised by Eric
Ries for developing businesses and products with
which startups can shorten their Product Development Cycles by adopting a combination of business-hypothesis-driven experimentation, iterative
product releases, called Validated Learning.
If startups invest their time into iteratively building products or services to meet the needs of early
customers, they can reduce the market risks and
sidestep the need for large amounts of initial project funding and expensive product launches and
failures.
The Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is a key lean
startup concept. The basic idea is to maximize validated learning for the least amount of effort. After all, why waste efforts building out a product
without first testing if its worth it.

Who started it?

In September 2008, Eric Ries first coined the term
on his blog, Startup Lessons Learned, in a post
called The lean startup. Ries took the advice of
his mentors like Steven G. Blank (well known for
Customer Development Methodology & author of bestseller Four Steps to Epiphany) and
developed the idea for the lean startup, using his
personal experiences adapting lean management
principles to the high-tech startup world.

The lean startups popularity has spread throughout the world, in large part due to the success of
Ries bestselling book, The Lean Startup: How
Todays Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses.

Inspiration for Lean Startup Methodology.

The lean startup philosophy is based on lean
manufacturing, the streamlined production philosophy developed in the 1980s by Japanese auto
manufacturers. The lean manufacturing system
considers as waste the expenditure of resources
for any goal other than the creation of value for the
end customer, and thus a target for elimination.
Immediate quality control checkpoints can identify mistakes or imperfections during assembly as
early as possible to ensure that the least amount of
time is expended developing a faulty product. Another primary focus of the lean management system is to maintain close connections with suppliers
in order to understand their customers desires.

What Lean Startup means?

Lean Startup method was devised with hightech companies in mind, to eliminate the waste
of resources that companies make in developing products or services for the first time.

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PRINCIPLES OF LSM:
1.Entrepreneurs are Everywhere: You dont have
to work in a garage to be in a startup.
2.Entrepreneurship is Management.
A startup is an institution, not just a product, so it
requires management, a new kind of management
specifically geared to its context.
3.Validated Learning.
Startups exist not to make stuff, make money, or
serve customers. They exist to learn how to build
a sustainable business. This learning can be validated scientifically, by running experiments that
allow us to test each element of our vision.
4.Innovation Accounting.
To improve entrepreneurial outcomes, and to
hold entrepreneurs accountable, we need to focus on the boring stuff: how to measure progress,
how to setup milestones, how to prioritize work.
This requires a new kind of accounting, specific to
startups.

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Terms used in Lean:

Minimum viable product
A minimum viable product (MVP) is the version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning
about customers with the least effort. The goal of
a MVP is to test fundamental business hypotheses (or leap-of-faith assumptions) and to help entrepreneurs begin the learning process as quickly
as possible.

Continuous Deployment
Continuous deployment is a process whereby
all code that is written for an application is immediately deployed into production, which results
in a reduction of cycle times.

5.Build-Measure-Learn.
The fundamental activity of a startup is to turn
ideas into products, measure how customers respond, and then learn whether to
pivot or persevere. All successful startup processes should be geared to accelerate that feedback
loop.

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Split Testing
A split or A/B test is an experiment in which different versions of a product are offered to customers at the same time. The goal of a split test is to
observe differences in behaviour between the two
groups and to measure the impact of each version
on an actionable metric.

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A team or companys effectiveness is determined

by its ability to ideate, quickly build a Minimum
Viable Product of that idea, measure its effectiveness in the market, and learn from that experiment.
This rapid iteration allows teams to determine the
most feasible path towards Product/market fit.

Actionable Metrics
Actionable metrics can lead to informed business
decisions and subsequent action.

Pivot
A pivot is a structured course correction designed
to test a new fundamental hypothesis about the
product, strategy, and engine of growth.

Validated Learning
It is a process in which one learns by trying
out an initial idea and then measuring it to
validate the effect.
Innovation Accounting
This topic focuses on how entrepreneurs can
maintain accountability and maximize outcomes
by measuring progress, planning milestones, and
prioritizing.

Build-Measure-Learn

Business Model Canvas

The Business Model Canvas is a strategic management and lean startup template for developing
new or documenting existing business models. It
is a visual chart with elements describing a firms
value proposition, infrastructure, customers, and
finances. It assists firms in aligning their activities
by illustrating potential trade-offs.

The Build-Measure-Learn loop emphasizes speed

as a critical ingredient to product development.

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Lean Canvas
The Lean Canvas is a lean startup adaptation of
the Business Model Canvas. The lean canvas focuses on addressing broad customer problems
and solutions and delivering them to customer
segments through a unique value proposition.

Whats in it for me?

If you are an entrepreneur looking for a startup
in the field of technology or even otherwise, then
Lean Startup Methodology could potentially save
valuable monetary resources for you, which could
be used elsewhere freeing your venture of locked
resources.

Why should I use it?

To reduce the unnecessary resources being spent
on developing a new product or service which
dont add value to the customer, thus increasing the success rate and sustainability of the new
product with which you plan to launch your venture. This is a philosophy that is not just restricted
to tech startups but can be expanded to apply to
any individual, team, or company looking to introduce new products or services into the market.

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HOW RICHARD FOUND HIS VIRGIN-ity

His father was a barrister and grandfather a Judge.
He lives with his mother Eve Branson, wife Joan
Templeman, a daughter and a son.
For his entrepreneurial success he found his mentor in Sir Freddie Laker.He was honoured with
Knighthood for his services to the field of Entrepreneurship in the year 2000.

The life of Sir Richard Branson is a constant source

of inspiration to many aspiring entrepreneurs all
around the world. His name has become synonymous with Virgin Group and entrepreneurship.
The story of his life is not only about the success
he had with the Virgin Group but also the adventures and failures he had experienced while creating it. This article is an attempt to share the life
story of Sir Richard as a person and the learnings
from his entrepreneurial journey that led to the
creation of todays Virgin Empire. This article intends to peek into the mind of successful entrepreneurs to understand the thought process that
successful entrepreneurs go through while creating their ventures.
Fact File
Richard Charles Nicholas Branson was born in
Blackheath London, UK on 18th July 1950. He is
the eldest amongst the four siblings.

Personality
Richard completed his schooling till the age of
thirteen from Scaitcliffe School and later attended Stowe School till the age of sixteen. Richard
was not particularly a bright student in his studies. Dyslexia was one of the problems, he faced
as a child. But he always took leadership roles in
sports. He had a particular liking towards swimming. His school principal had once said to him
..You are either going to be a millionaire or you
are going to prison, but I am not sure which..
He is also famous for the adventures that he loves
to undertake. They range from hot air ballooning
(which almost got him killed) to serving as air
hostess on his friends airline after losing a bet. He
has the risk taking abilities that every entrepreneurs needs. Be it launching multiple companies
even after some failed terribly or entering the field
of space tourism, he has done it all. He even owns
British Virgin Islands.
His ability to live life to its fullest can be well
summed in the following incident. Coffee, Tea
or Me? is what Sir Richard Branson the owner of
Virgin Atlantic Airways found himself saying, in
a red flight attendant uniform to passengers on a
competitors flight when he lost a bet to a friend in
the airline industry.
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List of companies

Message for Entrepreneurs:

He has tried his hand at creating a whopping

300+ companies, though only few survived but
he hasnt given up. He started his entrepreneurial
journey when he tried his hands at growing and
selling Christmas trees and budgerigars. But his
first successful venture was Student a youth-culture Magazine in January 1968, while he was just
a teenager. The real success streak began with
the music records business named Virgin as
suggested by one of his early employees as they
were new in the business. He began with selling
records by mail orders, then opened a records
store, opened a recording studio and then in 1973
launched Virgin Records Label. He is also known
to initiate large scale discounting in recorded music.

The below is a compilation of valuable insights

delivered by Richard Branson over the years to
entrepreneurs in his own words.

He made his first million from the Records business and the first billion came from his Virgin
Atlantic airways in 1984, when he took on British Airways for competition. He also has tried his
hands at few of the businesses like broadcasting,
video games, satellite music stations, manufacturing condoms, book publishing, train services,
clothing line, cell phone service, car dealerships,
health club chain and the most recent space tourism company Virgin Galactic.
Books by Richard
He has authored multiple books as follows. Losing My Virginity, Screw It Lets Do It, Business
Stripped Bare, Reach For The Skies, Screw Business As Usual, Like A Virgin and The Virgin Way.

Enjoy What You Are Doing.

Starting a business is a huge amount of hard work,
requiring a great deal of time, you had better enjoy it.
I did not set out to build a business empire. I set out
to create something I enjoyed that would pay the bills.
There was no great plan or strategy.
Building a business is all about doing something to be
proud of, bringing talented people together and creating something thats going to make a real difference to
other peoples lives. The business is never finished. It
constantly evolves.
Create Something That Stands Out.
Youve got to do something radically different to
make a mark today. Microsoft, Google or Apple,
for example, shook up a sector by doing something that hadnt ever been done and by continually innovating.
Create Something That Everybody Who Works
for You is Really Proud of.
Businesses generally consist of a group of people,
and they are your biggest assets. You want to create something youre proud of. This has always
been my philosophy of business. I can honestly
say that I have never gone into any business purely to make money. If that is the sole motive, then I
believe you are better off not doing it.

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Learn To Delegate
One of the early things you have to do as an entrepreneur is learn the art of delegation. Find people who are better than you to run the companies
on a day-to-day basis, freeing yourself up to think
about the bigger picture..
As entrepreneur my mind is always thinking
ahead and wanting to create new things.I just
think once Ive set something up, its better if someone else runs it. I can dive in and out and be a pain
occasionally, but the day-today business is better
for somebody else to do.

Get Up and Try Again

Your full concentration has to be on surviving.
Obviously, if you dont survive, just remember
that most businesses fail and the best lessons
are usually learned from failure. You must not
get too dispirited. Just get back up and try again.
And remember Business opportunities are like
buses there is always another one coming.

Be a good leader
As a leader you have to be a really good listener.
No one has a monopoly on good ideas or good
advice.
Get out there, listen to people, draw people out
and learn from them. As a leader youve also got
to be extremely good at praising people. Never
openly criticize people; never lose your temper,
and always lavish praise on your colleagues for
a job well done. People flourish if theyre praised.
Be Visible.
A good leader does not get stuck behind a desk.
Get out and about, meeting people. It seems I am
traveling all the time but I always have a notebook
in my back pocket to jot down questions, concerns
or good ideas. By writing them down, I remember
all of them.

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WHAT AN IDEA, SIRJJEE..!! :)

The world of most entrepreneurial, tech-savvy
and self-educated generation; the world of Startup; this is an inherent characteristic of a Millennial.
With the daily digital lives, this cohort strives for
a better work life balance. With an every second
domed and humped essentials-for-living around,
it bounds to invite tycoon-bees to meet the undying needs.
The underlying principle of economics says,
Needs are unlimited, Resources are limited!,
and to wane off this demand-supply gap, the era
of movers-and-shakers is extremely needed.
But if not entrepreneurship, then what! Well, companies know how to ooze out the best from the
While its beyond the bounds of possibility to rest! Coca-Colas, Come home on Deepawali ad
yank at the glories in a limited time-frame in cer- campaign reflects entirely the work of a managetain sectors (for e.g. power industry, attributing ment trainee who created and branded that adverthe reasons to heavy investments, legal policies, tisement all by himself.
competitors and much more), technology and digital bytes are, in fact, incessant road to revolutions This is called as Intrapreneurship, wherein an
and improvisations, for such can be seen through employed person takes up the responsibility of
these days virally spread across online social com- turning an idea into a profitable product, takes
munities like Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc.
initiatives and risks, and contributes largely towards the companys growth. He is the one who
And the amazing fact is that these communities is usually said to have possessed the traits of an
were not even heard some 10 years ago and there entrepreneur.
even have been social platforms which were a hit
for a few years but then vanished all of a sudden Intrapreneurship is also about new ventures of the
like for e.g. hi5, Orkut, etc. !
parent brand that can bring in more trade. MNCs
these days are widely using this concept to engage
This is predominantly because the road to tech- Gen Y by increasing their participation and are
nology is bumpy and short-lived! And to gain working towards their career-progression, theresuch accreditation, the venture should be in an by increasing employee retention.
untapped segment (which is, now, no longer un- To have economies of scale, its important to have
tapped!) as done by Mark Zuckerberg, Sachin and more customers and to enjoy that dominant posiBinny Bansal, etc.
tion, in-house idea labs are rewarded.

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Orkut was an initiative by a Google employee, Orkut Buyukkokten, which increased Googles cash
inflow and carved a niche in the social community. Intrapreneurship has led to an encyclopedia
on wines worldwide with wine tasting events and
stores.
This wine-community venture, Bottlenotes.com,
is a subsidiary of a digital marketing company,
Regalix, which now delivers a new portfolio for
valuation of the company. Google lets its employees to use 20% of their work time so that their
monkeys-in-the-head are never put to rest.

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Its important to be a growth hacker in todays

cut-throat competitive world, for now the one
who gets his thinking cap along is the one who resides by the throne. Global board director of SAP
once quoted, We are either innovating or dying.
We must always have entrepreneurial mind set.
After all its survival of the fittest.

Microsoft encourages avant-garde through a

physical space known as, The Garage. Dell is
promoting entrepreneur-in-residence by pushing
special projects thereby saving its investment on
R&D.

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What Makes a Person to be an Entrepreneur?

- Doing what the majority isnt doing is nature of Entrepreneurship

Is Entrepreneurship a born quality?

The absolute answer is No. To be an Entrepreneur all that needs is to be apparent, focussed and
must have a little bit of differential thinking.

E Eager
N New Ideas
T Team player
R Rationale
E Efficacy
P Passionate
R Realistic
E Energetic
N Needful
E Emotional Intelligence
U Ultramodern in ideas
R Risk Taker

Can Entrepreneur be a follower?

Yes, obviously, but a real entrepreneur should not
follow/imitate the person from whom he/she has
been inspired otherwise it might lead to losing the
essence of innovation. An Entrepreneur can follow a few things, but in a different style, and implement them in a way which ignites the creative
thinking and blooms out the innovation. Thus innovative thinking helps in creativity and results An ordinary human can become an Entrepreneur
increation of a sparking IDEA which glows up when his / her vision leads to creative and foyour passion and Entrepreneurial skills.
cussed thoughts. This can result in finding a good
solution for social/human needs and betterment
Should an Entrepreneur think wide?
for the existing solutions, which is then proves the
true outcome of an Entrepreneurial Thinking.
An Entrepreneur must always think out of the box
and beyond the possibilities, there is no limit for
thinking. Once the thoughts grow above the practical then a real innovation born in the mind that
will be the fuel to glow as an Entrepreneur, which
will in-turn makes impossible things possible.
A good Entrepreneur must always think socially
and must strive to explore the world, to know and
understand the needs and wants of living beings,
at the same time he /she must be aware of economic environment to create a profitable ideas and
plans to cater those identified needs and wants
through his/ her Entrepreneurial skills.ENTREPRENEUR is not just a word but it has enclosed
with several qualities and thoughts in it, according to me those skills and qualities can be defined
as below,

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Beginning of a New Era After Independence- A Positive Hope

for Entrepreneurship in shining India
The art of using unfathomable dreams in stretching limited resources is Entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs are the new freedom fighters for achieving National Prosperity and have the ability to
uplift the hunchbacked India out of the burden of
poverty. But India is a riddle. On real time analysis, within todays India, there seemingly exists
four India:

Thanks to it, it became a rage rather a trend, if you

may, to voice your opinion. But that could be a
myopic generalization. The larger picture however could be the rampant usage of social media
as a platform to raise any and every issue related
to the system of the country. The result of this
is the spawning of a single dream of the acche
India converging from the million miniscule yet
optimistic dreams of the multitude.

The India of the restless laden with poverty and

living in inhuman conditions;
But can hope and renewed enthusiasm and non
The gradually rising middle class;
cynism be enough to bring about the change? PerThe India of con men, fixers and politicians and haps Entrepreneurship is the answer.
The new synergised Entrepreneurial nation.
The Entrepreneurial India is capable of fuelling
& propelling this Country to the well being we
incessantly hope for and shall perhaps solve and
mitigate some of the problems regarding the impoverished and the scamsters. The impoverished
and unemployed constitute the majority of Indian
population. That day will not be far when they resort to arms to demand their rightful rights. And
then vengeance will be rampant, hopelessness
and hatred in plethora. The literate middle class
remained a mock-up until recently. The reason
of the re discovered humanity can be attributed
perhaps to the Anna Hazare led Anti Corruption
movement.

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Perhaps that is the only entity that can help convert hope into reality and build the India we wish
for. A grave and wise Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi has all the wanted qualities & capabilities that can foster this by spurring the system and
promoting autonomy. Needless to say he has used
reforms in both judicial and administrative areas
to bring about the needed change.

Some of the strategic economic reforms that were

set in motion by the Narasimha Rao Government
accelerated & put on the ground as shinning India
by the Vajpayee Government engendered a new,
invigorated and revived India. It dismantled the
old aristocracy and cemented on the left overs a
stronger economy.
Almost all major sectors have had the benefit of
entrepreneurial infusion. These sectors include
Banking, Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, IT, Automobiles and Mobile Telephony. It is worth mentioning that E-Commerce in particular has seen an
upsurge in entrepreneurial activity, examples being- big players like Flipkart, Snapdeal and StartUps like App Virality, Servesy etc.

Their foray into different sectors with much ease

acts as a catalyst for their growth. Entrepreneurs
always bring something new to the table, challenging and defying orthodox laws. They create
wealth in recess, they make new markets and new
demands. They utilize the resources in a different,
unimaginative way possible making it available in
These reforms are exactly what shall help the En- a unique unexpected fashion to their target custrepreneurial India take the step up a notch. His- tomers.
tory stands witness to the success stories of many
developed countries like America and many Eu- Self-respect, self-trust and determination is the
ropean Nations and the leading cause behind it is much needed impetus that Narendra Modi has
Entrepreneurship in those countries. The Entre- helped Indians discover in them, especially the
preneurial Economy built and destroyed feudalism. India shall learn and follow the footprints of
those successful.

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youth and filled them with aspirations and dreams.

The new governments move in entering the social
networks alone drives many a mind. The biggest
impediment to our Entrepreneurs today is our
policies, archaic norms and regulations and layers
of bureaucracy that have strangled growth and innovation, inviting more and more corruption.

proposed to be set up. Further the finance minister has

set a higher capital ceiling for tagging an enterprise as
MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises). What
is interesting however is the proposal for easy exit
of SMEs through establishment of an entrepreneur
friendly legal bankruptcy framework. Besides a District level District level Incubation and Accelerator
Program will be set up for incubation of new ideas.
But now with the new Iron Man of India, It is rela- This and the Start Up Village Entrepreneurship Protively easier to clear large-scale industrial projects gram for fostering rural youth entrepreneurship have
and expedite clearances, cases and orders waiting been a noteworthy contribution to the Start-Up ecofor approval. Gujarat stands tall as an exempla- system.
ry of Modis governance but that remains to be
seen for India at large. His master stroke of More All this and more signify the boost the new governGovernance and Less Government is a godsend ment is trying to give to the entrepreneurial commufor Entrepreneurs. For this shall enable them to nity for its take off and sustainment. However the sucsoar high above the ground without any strings cess of the initiatives suggested shall only come to the
attached and without any inhibitions from the fore post their implementation to realize the aftermath
Good Governance and its laws.
of the Union Budget and Modis thought waves on the
Start-Up community.
The Union Budget, 2014 can be called in to support the argument around Modis intentions for a

better life for Entrepreneurs. After realizing that

the bane of many ill comforts to the Entrepreneurial community is finance, Mr. Arun Jaitley, The
Finance Minister of India, resonating with Modis
intentions has proposed various funds for fostering the growth of the subject in point. The Funds
of funds (corpus 10,000 crore) has been proposed
to be set up for providing them the much needed
capital via venture capital funds, Soft loans, Quasi
Equity etc. Another fund namely the Technology
Development Fund with a corpus of 100 crore has
been

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Interview with Mr. Vivek Anand, Founder & CEO, IncLabs

Maon, The Entrepreneurship Cell of IBS

Hyderabad had the privilege of hosting the
Orientation session for its fresh batch of
Wantrepreneurs, 2014-16 in the presence of Mr.
Vivek Anand, the Founder and CEO of Inc Labs,
a Start-up working on a niche social platform.
With a knack for Entrepreneurship, Mr. Anand
has already hit the ground running with two of
his earlier sterling Start-Ups, Earl Grey Hospitality Network Pvt. Ltd. founded in January 2012
and Arike Electric founded in January 2013. The
NIT Calicut Graduate has worn many hats in his
career as of yet. The entire gamut includes Convener, IT Analyst, Business Analyst, Consultant,
Manager, Marketer, Strategist and Business
Evangelist. The Editorial team of Maon had the opportunity to pick his ingenuous brain before the session began. Here are the excerpts from the interview.

Q. Can you tell us about your association with Entrepreneurship?

Mr. Vivek: Officially it began a couple of years back.
But before that I was involved in things that can be
counted as small ventures. Back in school I and a couple of friends had a Start-Up idea. We started a QSR
(Quick service restaurant) concept. Then in 2012 I
had Co-Founded a Start-Up in the service sector but
was missing the network for it to flourish. Unlike Silicon Valley and Bangalore, that is one element missing in Hyderabad. So initially when we started out we
would see the same faces over and over again. But as the
word spread out we saw more Start-up. related activities
around Hyderabad. Also, as the convener of Hyderabad
Entrepreneurs Society, we had Workshops, Internship
Drives and Recruitment drives for Wantrepreneurs.

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Q. Can you give us a sneak peek into what goes

on in the workshops conducted by the Society?

Q. What is the importance of innovation according to you? As laymen we think Entrepreneurship is all about innovation. But how much
importance does innovation actually play in
Entrepreneurship?

Mr. Vivek: Yes. We have something called Lean

Start-Up, Social Entrepreneurship and General
Workshop for which there is a dedicated group.
One of the workshops is called Start-Up 101.
We make sure it goes on for at least 78 hours. i.e.
4-5 hrs each day. We teach all the aspects about
Start-Ups from ideation to product strategy to
market research and other related basics, part of
which is theoretical and part hands on. However,
discussions are encouraged in our workshops.
The good thing about this opportunity is that it is
not just for Start-Ups but for students and anyone
willing to learn. Apart from the afore mentioned
we have Smash up workshops and Mobile workshops which do not focus on technology but on
the market.
Q. What according to you is the importance of
having a good team?
Mr. Vivek: It is very important. When we expanded we needed people for operations. Then
when our operations expanded faster we needed
somebody who could focus on such things. Typically you start a Start-Up with friends. But you
never know whether your friend is actually good
at what he says he is. And you can never ask him
either. So one suggestion for people is not to start
with friends unless you have friends who are really good at what you want them to be good at
and also start with people whom you are professionally connected with.

Mr. Vivek: I think innovation is overrated. At

the same time we need innovation. However, we dont really need to have a unique idea
for it because innovation cannot just be an idea
but also how it is marketed. Take Quora for
example. Yahoo answers existed long before
we had Quora. So why did Quora outperform
the former? There are two things to keep in
mind. First, The quality of Quora superseded
the former since it had a filtered set of users and
the trend of posting quality answers that engendered from experts in Silicon Valley continues
till date. And second, we did not have Facebook
back when yahooanswers.com was launched.
Therefore today you keep seeing someone has
answered or up-voted something on Quora via
your Facebook news feed. Innovation is not just
about the product or idea but about how you
make people use it and also about choosing the
correct user. Thus, Innovation is important but
an innovative idea is not a must.
Q. What is the thought process that an Entrepreneur goes through while coming up with a
Start-Up?
Mr. Vivek: Thats a difficult question. When
you start you are excited because you have your
own firm and then the fear creeps in. You think
you know everything but you dont. It takes
courage to go to the unknown without taking
help from anyone. So it is very important to
have self motivation, positivity and a great attitude towards life.

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Q. How is the progress on Inc Labs till date?

Mr. Vivek: We are almost ready for our Beta
launch. We have a small team as of now each
excited about what he/she is working on. There
is a lot of enthusiasm in our people. They are
constantly trying out new ideas and building a
solution to something. Recently, we raised preseed funding with TiE Hyderabad and a private
investor. So, we are moving fast and I am excited
about the whole thing.
Q. What are the three most important things that
you think aspiring Entrepreneurs should watch
out for?
Mr. Vivek: First is Network. Without connections
you are losing out on a lot. Second is being the
Jack of all trades and learning as much as possible about anything. Third is, stop planning and
start implementing.

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