International Conference on STARTUP INDIA RECIPE FOR INCLUSIVE

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

March 2-3, 2017

“Innovation for the economically-backward youth”

Authors:

1. Mrs. Deepti, Asst Professor – Commerce Department (deeptikalra_16@yahoo.com)

2. Mrs. Charu Midha, Asst Professor – Commerce Department (charumedha1979@gmail.com)
3. Mrs. Kusum Kundu, Asst Professor – Commerce Department (kusumkundu@gmail.com)

Affiliation of Authors: Govt College, Faridabad

Abstract:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji in 2016 launched the Startup India Campaign to boost
entrepreneurship in the country. What followed was a series of action plans, tax breaks, simplified
compliances, and state cops targeted at making India a “Start up Hub” and “Clean India”. The
Government laid out a roadmap, which was also followed up by the regulators with a series of
circulars and guidelines. The wish list of the sector, however, called for more attention from the
government to accelerate the overall pace of reforms.

BUDGET 2016 was a bonanza for startups, while Budget 2017 is a bonanza
for the digital economy.

The Commerce and Industry Ministry under the leadership of Nirmala Sitharaman has asked all the
states and the Union Territories to set up Startup Hub as well as incubators to help budding
entrepreneurs. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has already set up the hub,
which was operationalised since April. It helps in resolving queries and provides handholding support
to startups. The hub has been able to resolve 12,290 queries received from startups through telephone,
email and twitter, the DIPP said in a status report on Startup India.

It also said that the department will write to top companies requesting them to support the initiative by
setting up new incubators or scale up existing incubators in collaboration with educational institutes.
Further, it said that seven proposals for Research Parks, 16 proposals for TBIs (technology business
incubators) and 13 proposals for startup centers have been recommended by the National Expert
Advisory Committee formed by the HRD Ministry.

All these steps are part of the Startup Action Plan

announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in
January. The government unveiled a slew of incentives
to boost startup businesses, offering them a tax holiday
and inspector raj-free regime for three years, capital
gains tax exemption and Rs 10,000 crore corpus to fund
them.

India has the third-largest number of

startups globally.

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Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has asked the finance ministry to consider
raising tax holiday for startups to seven years to encourage budding entrepreneurs. The Ministry of
Commerce and Industry has approached the Ministry of Finance with a proposal to expand the income
tax exemption period from the current three years.

Startups are essentially of two kinds. One that starts something ground up, something that no one has
thought about and is often ground breaking. This type of startup is difficult to create but once created
often sees unprecedented growth. The second kinds of startups that we see around us are primarily the
ones that do not want to reinvent the wheel. They are akin to adding old sauce in a new dish to create
something new and innovative.

Whatever may be the kind of startup, Indian startups face its own set of challenges and some stellar
opportunities. The challenges can be classified as:

Culture – Entrepreneurship and start-ups are only a recent phenomenon in the country. It is only in
the last decade and half that people in the country have moved from being job seekers to job creators.
Doing a start-up is tough and every country sees more failures than success. More often than not an
entrepreneur needs to be prepared to face failures and unprecedented hardship. However, culturally
we are not groomed to fail and failure is frowned upon. Entrepreneurship thrives on celebrations and a
society that fails to appreciate business failures stifles innovation and creativity even before it can
start. A start-up failing has to be OK as failures often teach an entrepreneur, what to do and what not
to do.

Mentoring – Doing a start-up is

perilous and often a lonely journey.
You may have co-founders, but you
may not necessarily possess the
business acumen to succeed.
Having a brilliant idea is different
from making that idea a business
success. For a start-up, it is very
important to have mentors who
have been through a similar process
of starting or have business experience. A great mentor is often what separates success from failure by
providing valuable inputs. However, there is no formal mechanism to mentor start-ups in the country.
Every mentoring that happens is on an ad-hoc basis. A start-up that has raised funds can count the
investors for some form of mentoring, but honest, unbiased, good business mentors are far and few in
between. For start-ups finding a good mentor is often an uphill task.
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Policies – Government is the single largest enabler for the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Government’s
role in ease of doing business and helping companies start is vital to ensuring success. The latest
World Bank Ease of Doing Business (out of 189 economies) ranks India at an abysmal 142 where
starting a business rank for the country is even lower at 158. It is uncannily difficult to start a business
in India and myriad laws and regulations means it takes about 30 days to comply compared to just 9
days in OECD countries. The government’s role has so far been limited to giving out grants and loans,
but without an effective, enabling environment, implementation is far off the target. In this regard it
will be interesting to see the contours of the recently announced Startup Fund in this year’s budget.
For startups to thrive and succeed, the government has a lot to do and understand the importance of
entrepreneurship in economic development.

Hiring – The economy has been in a flux and along with the world economy the heady days of high
growth are long gone. In an uncertain economy where one is not sure about demand, for a startup, it is
particularly difficult to make correct estimates on the number of employees needed. This, however, is
the minor problem where the biggest issue is about finding skilled manpower. India’s skilling need is
so huge that National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has been mandated to skill 150 million
Indians by 2022. For a startup, it is particularly difficult to attract and hire talent and skilled workers.
A startup often cannot match the salaries drawn at larger companies nor is a job at a startup seen as a
steady one. This means startups face severe hiring challenges and at times have to settle for the next
best option.

Funding – Capital and access to capital has been a

perennial problem for startups. While, of late angel
investors, venture capital and private equity have
brought succor to some extent, a large number of
startups still grapple to raise funds from institutional
setup. Funding challenge is not merely limited to seed
rounds, but also for vital Series A and B rounds. For a
startup looking to scale, it is still very hard to raise
rounds to scale as the number of investors that write
larger cheques in India are very limited in number.

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THE OPPORTUNITIES:

Demographic dividend – According to the latest UN report India with 356 million 10-24 year-olds
have the largest concentration of youth population despite having a smaller population than China.
This augurs well for the country as right education and healthcare can see the economy soar. Youth is
the driving force behind innovation, creation, and the future leaders of a country. Youth also drives
demand and consumption pattern in a country. For startups youth make up the workforce that it so
desperately needs and going forward youth can be a huge talent base for startups.

Best suited to address emerging countries’ challenges – India has a unique set of problems that need
innovations to originate out of the country. Problems around its health, education, infrastructure,
sanitation are unique to the country and solutions from western world cannot solve it. Each problem
provides a unique opportunity for start-ups to solve some pressing issue and at the same time create a
business around it. What helps is that most problems around emerging economies are similar in nature
and solutions applicable here can also work in many countries in Africa and elsewhere. This enables
Indian start-ups to acquire an even bigger scale and at the same time make a meaningful impact
around the world.

Large population – For startups in the country, it is not essential to go overseas. India, with over a
billion people, presents a very large home market for any goods or services. A rising disposable
income and growing aspirations of a mushrooming middle class have meant there is a large appetite
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for brands. The large population has also led to a consumer expenditure growth, which has in turn has
propped up supply and production. Startups that look to service and cater to the large population in
solving a pain point or providing a utility in one of the world’s most important consumer markets,
stand to do well.

High Mobile penetration – According to latest Trai figures India’s tele-density reached 76.55
percent with a subscriber base of 95.76 crore. Significantly wireless subscriber base touched 95.76
crore, just shy of 100 crore mark. High mobile penetration in urban and rural India has reshaped the
economy of the country and how goods and services are offered. It has lead to greater efficiencies and
increased productivity. It has meant businesses profit through faster decision making, better logistics
and even something like access to bank accounts. Higher mobile penetration has also led to increased
financial inclusion and flow of credit to the unbanked. Growth in mobile penetration is transforming
the way businesses and consumers communicate and work. With data enabled mobile phones, the
very nature of startups and businesses have changed. For example, startups that develop mobile apps
now have an ever increasing market to cater to.

India is at crossroads where it now has to cater to the aspirations of a billion people. Existing
frameworks can prove to be inadequate and there is a great need to leverage a billion minds and
become a global power. Start-ups and entrepreneurship is the best way forward in becoming a
knowledge superpower.

Starting up cannot be a flash in the pan. There are many impediments in the way of an entrepreneur
from converting his idea into a successful business. Capital, market research, finding a niche,
identifying a team are some of them. Here are 10 steps that can help an entrepreneur bootstrap a start-
up and provide structure to the process.

Step 1: Ignite your passion: Bootstrapping a startup does not start with great ideas but with a passion
to make a mark and solve real business issues. While an idea is very important to do a startup, the best
ideas will fail if there is no passion to execute it. A startup needs a huge amount of personal sacrifice
and an equal amount of hard work. There will be many days when a founder questions his move to be
an entrepreneur and hence at such stages, passion is needed to carry on.

Step 2: Research your idea – Sometimes an idea should remain only an idea. This is the stage where
a founder determines if his start-up can grow to become a real business. Start-up is not a charity and
for a founder it is very important to determine if the idea solves a real problem, has an addressable
market and people are willing to pay for it.

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Step 3: No Plan B: A founder has to realize that a startup is a full time job. Very often than not a
startup where the founder is moonlighting fails to take off. A startup cannot be bootstrapped as a plan
B where the founders have attempted to work on their startup idea part time while working on their
full time job. Plan your startup by taking all things into considerations. Ideally, if a founder can have a
year’s expense in savings, it provides a great cushion to execute the startup without having to fret.

Step 4: Identifying the niche – Every idea must solve a problem in the society or provide utility. It
is only when the product or service is really needed that someone is willing to pay for it and the
business is sustainable. The entrepreneur needs to focus on specifics and pinpoint how his product or
service would bring about change. If an entrepreneur can find an underserved market or can solve a
pain point for a category of people or business, it will serve as a sweet spot. It is, however, advisable
that the entrepreneur targets a niche that he understands and provides a service or a product that he has
knowledge about.

Step 5: Defining the market – Once the need is identified, it is important to define what constitutes
the target audience. This can be done on age, gender, religion, interests, where they reside among a
host of other factors. Every market is different and it is very important that the founder maps out
every aspect of the target audience. The more specifics and narrow an entrepreneur can get in terms of
defining the market, the better are the chances of the startup succeeding.

Step 6: Getting the right team: A founder cannot do a start-up alone. Every entrepreneur needs a
team to execute the idea and sometimes finding the right team is more important than a brilliant idea.
The best laid plans can come to naught if the team behind it is not right. A founder should look for
people who can compliment his skill sets so that all bases are covered.

Step 7: Creating your first prototype – Whatever

may be the nature of the startup it is very important
to get a working prototype of the key elements. This
will be the starting point for the founder from whom
he can look to improve his product or services. A
prototype is very important also because one does
not want to incur huge expenses by building the
final version and later finding flaws in it. Even in
terms of raising money, investors always want to see a working prototype.

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Step 8: Finding your first unpaid customers – Unpaid customers are needed primarily for two
reasons. The first being once you have a final version of your product or service ready, the real
feedback comes from your customers. Unpaid customers can be a great source of feedback where you
get to know the good and the bad about your product or service and hopefully iron out the bad ones.
Unpaid customers are more tolerant since they are not spending anything and if your product or
service is great, they can also be a very good source of word of mouth advertisement.

Step 9: Prepare to scale – Many startups fail to scale, primarily because they have not planned for it.
In its infancy, things are easier to manage for a startup, but teething problems begin when a startup
grows bigger and starts addressing the higher volume of clients or consumers. A founder should plan
out his execution strategies for scaling up – monthly, quarterly and even yearly. This way he ensured
the customer experience is never compromised.

Step 10: Go to market – Timing is the key when launching a product or service. Founders are under
tremendous pressure to quickly roll out their services and products, but what is important to
understand is that one has to be ready for it. From your marketing to servicing to hiring, all bases have
to be covered. More importantly, if an entrepreneur has found the prototype is not having the desired
outcome, it only means he is not ready to go to market yet.

5 things to watch out before you raise your

first startup investment

We have an idea, a MVP and now all set to raise

an investment. While raising investment is
important for scaling any start-up but it is
important and imperative to understand the
readiness before you go out to investor
community for your first raise of funds.

Due diligence, being one of the stages, assumes tremendous importance on account of the fact that
the outcome of the due diligence by the investor impacts the basic foundation of the transaction i.e.,
transaction structure, valuation, timelines, representations sought from the promoters and investee
company and indemnities etc.

Due diligence is generally conducted by an investor either before executing a term sheet or
immediately after the term-sheet but before signing the definitive documents. The investors tend to

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conduct a 360 degree evaluation of the investee company prior to finalising their investment decision
and therefore the due diligence is conducted by them from various perspectives like legal, technical
and financial.

Five things to watch out before your raise your first startup investment includes

1. Capital Structure: The capital structure and shareholding pattern of the startup. The
founders should have a clean shareholding pattern and all the commitments made by the
founders with respect to the capital of the company should be clear and unambiguous. Startup
should have registered legal entity (Private Limited company) with right paid-up and
authorized capital before approaching the investors
2. Legal Compliance: Status of filings and other legal compliance to be made by the startup
specifically with respect to companies law, taxation and employment laws. The startup should
not be in breach of basic legal compliance like accounting and filling of the returns under the
company’s law, paying of taxes and filing of returns under the income tax, service tax and
value added tax etc.
3. Intellectual Property: Status of intellectual property held by the startup and held by other
persons like founders etc. All the intellectual property required for the purpose of conducting
of business of the startup should be legally validly owned by or licensed to the startup. All
intellectual property being created by founders and the employees in connection with the
business and in the course of their employment with the investee company should belong to
the startup company.
4. Contracts: Status of contracts executed by the startup and the founders in relation to the
startup. The contracts executed by the startup should be fair, reasonable, at arm’s-length and
not unusually onerous. The business of the investee company should not (nor should it be
susceptible to) be embroiled in legal / litigation challenges. The issues, if any, that are
identified during the due diligence may have a direct implication on the transaction.
Therefore, it becomes imperative for the founders and startup to be aware of investor’s
expectations in order to be able to ensure that the due diligence conducted by the investors
results in minimum implications. Following are some of the cardinal principles which affect
an investor’s decisions making process:

The startup and founders, if they are careful on the some basic aspects mentioned above, may not face
any major challenges or hurdles during the due diligence or after the due diligence and may have a
reasonably smooth transaction closing experience.

Try. Fail. Try again. Fail better. Try Again.

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What if it didn’t work? Will I be wasting my time? Are some of the questions that pop up in our mind
when we think of starting a startup. The fear of failure have led many young minds to letup their idea
of solving a new problem by starting a Startup.

Many would be entrepreneurs if their fear of failure of starting a new business would have stopped.
The fact is that there are chances that your attempt might fail. The reality being, 90% of startups fails.
And if that gives you a cold feet then your career as an entrepreneur ain’t too bright. Entrepreneurs are
well aware of the failure of the business and still risk because they leave the fear behind. Here are the
learning from your startup failure.

THE INNOVATION:

Master the Art of Entrepreneurship: the first step is to kill the feeling of failure. Remember, failure
isn’t a bad thing, and is not the end of the world for sure. And if you are seeing failure as a negative
thing, time to take a turn. Failure is the greatest opportunity one can ever have to learn something
new. “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” said Thomas Edison. Every
startup takes the risk and then grow up in a large business. They try, they fail but never stop and so
shouldn’t you.

Establish your faith in achieving: There are many reasons for failure but ‘fear’ shouldn’t stand alone
as a hindrance in your way. Whenever such thoughts, feelings come in your mind just remember why
you started it. Every startup has a real objective and is solving a real time problem and so are you.
How much pain you have already gone through until giving up is okay?

Learning of Lifetime: Failure is not the opposite of success but a part of it. Every time you fail you
find another way to do that work more intelligently. Keeping an optimistic attitude towards your goal
and accept the setbacks and obstacles in your way. Celebrate each and every small achievement and
build on that momentum. But first, bid failure a goodbye.

Help discover your passion and skills: You try a thing, you get to know whether it’s your cup of tea
or not. Maybe it was or maybe it wasn’t. Taking risk in life is an essential part, until and unless you
take risk you won’t find out what exactly you want. Before you follow your passion you have to find
it. And this finding will come from trying.
“The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that changing really quickly, the only
strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.”- Mark Zuckerberg

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Understanding of how to run a business: Though it didn’t work but it taught you something. From
every time you ran from here to there to get your company registered to pitch an investor, it taught
you how to do things. Independently or in a team, how things work and how to get things work is
learned.

SECTORS TO WATCH OUT FOR IN 2017

Internet of Things (IoT) Around the world Internet of Things (IOT) is hot and the same is the case in
India. IoT enables objects to collect data and transmit it over the internet, which means things or
objects look and behave a lot like it did in Sci-fi movies. We will see some interesting applications
emerging in sectors such as automotive, construction, fitness and healthcare where objects in our lives
will get connected. With governmental schemes like Digital India, Smart Cities and Make in India the
sector is expected to see a great level of interest.

Software as a Service (SaaS) – When Twitter acquired Bangalore-based ZipDial early this year; it
marked the coming of age for India’s SaaS startups and further reaffirmation of the quality of new
companies in the space. Boutique and niche cloud consulting and services companies will drive the
next generation of applications.

Marketplace Lending – Born from the ashes of the financial crisis in 2009 and the widespread
mistrust of the established banking channels, alternative finance platforms have become much bigger
than anyone could have imagined. Using technology as their main weapon, these platforms has gone
on to create quite a bit of ripple.

Education –India’s educational gaps are well known and the opportunities it provides for private
participation is well chronicled. Startups have managed to create a niche around Education
Technology. IBEF’s sectoral outlook for the sector, says the country has more than 1.4 million
schools with over 227 million students enrolled and more than 36,000 higher education institutes.
India has one of the largest higher education systems in the world. India’s online education market
size is expected to touch US$ 40 billion by 2017.

Healthcare – Given the enormity of the challenges in the healthcare space, it is obvious the
government alone cannot be tasked with solving India healthcare needs. According to a FICCI –
KPMG report, India’s healthcare sector is expected to be $280 billion in size by 2020, growing at a
compound annual growth rate of 16 per cent. The year 2017 is likely to see the sector grow even
stronger as it starts tackling even larger and serious healthcare problems in the country.

Good luck to all the startup founders for great 2017.

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PRIMARY DATA & PERSONAL INTERVIEWS:

INTERVIEW NO 1: We met this young, smart man who had a good idea about a business he wanted
to start. An analyst at one of the major banks, the individual had a solid plan to back his idea but had a
problem. He had taken loans to go to B-School and now the cost of going out his own and starting up
was proving to be difficult. He had, after all EMIs to pay. It is ironic that some of the life lessons are
never taught at B-Schools but picked up outside. A look at seven of them:

1. Ability to take calculative risks – As an old adage says no risk, no gain. This is particularly true
in business as one has to take risks – calculated risks. Many fail to take risks due to the fear of
failure and maybe losing everything. This greatly diminishes an individual’s ability to make
things work and is often the thin line between grabbing the opportunity or letting it go. However,
in most cases, what entrepreneurs do not realize is that not taking a risk may itself be risky. In a
world with cut-throat competition, it is often a choice between finding the balance between the
financial risk of investing and the competitive risk of not investing. B-Schools will never be able
to teach what constitutes a calculated risk and what does not since it differs from occasion to
occasion. There are some risks that one can categorize and plan for but in all likelihood one can
never know for sure all the risks you will face in a business. Treat B-Schools like a game of
Cricket. You may have as many sessions in the nets, but nothing comes close to playing the real
game.
2. To deliver maximum with minimum – For an entrepreneur, resources are always limited.
Capital is limited, talent is limited, operating space may be limited and even cash flow can be a
trickle. However, within this limited setup an entrepreneur has to deliver. By getting his hands
dirty an entrepreneur over time learns to maximize his output with minimum resources he
possesses. In all cases an entrepreneur has to juggle with his resources to deliver the best result
and this call for smart planning and envision. While an entrepreneur may get a flavor of this at a
B-School, the real life lessons come from starting and operating a real business.
3. Working with Uncertainties – For every entrepreneur, there is a lot of uncertainty at work. From
getting the product or service ready to finding out if it’s acceptable, there is a good deal of
uncertainty. It is true that due diligence and good market research helps negate uncertainty to
some extent, nothing is cast in stone. A degree from a B-School never prepares you to work with
such uncertainties and ultimately it sometimes boils down to good old trial and error. Sometimes
it is about taking the leap of faith and every entrepreneur will tell you that trial and error has been
a vital part of their growing up. The trick is to recover quickly from each mistake and continue
forward. Uncertainties also exist when scaling as it’s a trade-off between an expansionist strategy
versus the wait-and-see strategy.

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4. What works beyond Marketing – Marketing is considered as the most vital part of making a
product or service work. One may have a great product or service, but it will fail to take off if not
marketed properly. However, most B-Schools often miss out that there is life beyond the
principles of guerrilla marketing, buzz marketing and viral marketing. Providing a good customer
experience is one of the most vital ingredients for the success of a company and this is often
overlooked. How a startup is able to provide great customer service is best figured out on the job.
Marketing techniques are also evolving. Someone passing out from a B-School would have never
learnt about marketing through Facebook or Twitter. Similarly, philanthropy and undertaking
social work is also a great way to market a company – however small it may be. Thinking beyond
bottom line and connecting with the society is a great way of leveraging your products and
services. Sadly, B-Schools often miss out on this vital part.
5. What real success and failure looks like – It is easy to find out what is at stake at a business
plan competition in a B-School. However, in real life sometimes the stakes are high and success
or failure can have different outcomes. A maverick entrepreneur by the name of Richard Branson
says, “In fact, failure is one of the secrets to success, since some of the best ideas arise from the
ashes of a shuttered business. If you are an entrepreneur and your first venture wasn’t a success,
welcome to the club!” In real life success and failure often follow each other and an entrepreneur
has to take in stride. Only life experience will teach an entrepreneur, how to deal with success,
what to do with it and equally on how to deal with failure. Real success can be sweet, but failure
may be invaluable. B-School does not prepare you for real life success and setbacks, which can
come in various forms and degrees.
6. Leveraging your network – As an entrepreneur B-Schools may not be the most ideal place to go.
Business schools have often been the bastion for the investment banker and the analyst and the
number of people wanting to startup is relatively low. As someone who wants to startup, sharing
study time with someone who wants to be in the corporate world may make you feel lost. Being
an entrepreneur is very different from working in a corporate setup.

For entrepreneurs, knowing the right people is very important and you may find them outside the B-
school setup. People that can impact your business, who can be a source of inspiration and
camaraderie are often found outside famed B-Schools. Create a rapport and over time you will be able
to leverage the network of people you know. Events, meet ups, conferences all are great places to
build your network, but sadly not one course in B-School will tell you how to build your network or
be popular

Stay humble, have fun – You may be an MBA from IIM but being humble is important. Being
grounded helps you capitalize on your education. Your B-School degree may open doors but can
alienate a lot of people by being brash about it. People do like individuals who are grounded and

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humble and this certainly works in the long run – among peers, competitors and employees. At the
same time it is important to have fun on the job. If being an entrepreneur is becoming a liability,
maybe you are doing it wrong. When an entrepreneur cannot wait to get back to his job everyday and
is excited about what he is creating, there is a far greater chance that you will do better. While starting
up can be very sapping and time consuming, keep aside time to relax, be with family and unwind.

By stating the above, I do not mean to deter anyone from education. Education after all, is the bedrock
of our intellect and wisdom. However, experience is surely the cheaper and richer source of learning
when compared to degree from B-School.

INTERVIEW NO 2: Sometime around 2013, I came across a young entrepreneur from a small city
in Gujarat. Let’s call him Pankaj. Pursuing bachelors in mechanical engineering from a local
engineering college, Pankaj had come up with a very simple yet indigenous solution that solves a
daily problem faced by garages across the country. In no time, Pankaj had a patent on the idea, soon
after which he was approached by one of the largest auto manufacturers in the country and was
offered Rs 16 lakhs for the patent.

Coming from a humble background, Pankaj took the offer, without knowing the true value of his idea,
because of lack of knowledge and mentorship in his geography about innovation and
entrepreneurship. He didn’t even have anyone to tell him that he could just license his patent to the
company instead of selling it. It turned out Pankaj’s idea had the potential to be a $25-million
business with a small ticket seed investment upfront. He also signed an ironclad non-disclosure
agreement making his name to his story irrelevant.

INTERVIEW NO 3: We met a team of 20-something entrepreneurs working on an idea and were

being offered a ‘commitment’ of around 50 Lakhs against a ridiculous 80 percent share of their
company. The teams had successfully proved the idea through a pilot test, making significant
financial returns, and still were keen on taking the abominable offer because they needed the money.

INTERVIEW NO 4: We met around 50 student entrepreneurs and innovators, most of whom are in
dire need of proper mentorship, guidance and, most importantly, access; and while the number of
incubators is steadily growing by the day, the amount of support provided at the lowest level of the
pyramid is pretty much non-existent, and highly isolated to large urban centers.

INTERVIEW NO 5: We met a new start-up company with MIND BLOWING idea inspired by
the vision of Sh. N. Modi ji “CLEAN INDIA & INNOVATION START UP”. The vision of
SPICK N SPANS firm is to turn around unorganized sector into organized one especially in
cleaning of cars & cloth ironing on daily basis giving employment to underprivileged segment of

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society at large. The base of this start up is in NOIDA, Faridabad, and Gurgaon. SPICK N
SPANS is causing potential to earn 11.25 Crores PER MONTH – yes per month. However, due
to certain complexities and lack of funds, this firm is taking time to launch in a BIG WAY. The
entire system and process will be demonstrated during the presentation by the entrepreneur if
given a chance to present in this forum.

The number of startups in the country is rising, and thus are the number of stakeholders involved in
the ecosystem. Incubators, accelerators, mentors, investors, all are adding to thriving geographical-
centered ecosystems around the country, as India takes its first significant steps to become a
knowledge-driven economy.

The challenge is, while India is an ideal place to start up today, we still lack some key
ingredients for becoming an extraordinary startup ecosystem.

Talent and skills of college-going youth and graduates, for one, is an ever-growing problem, and
while the number of people starting up is increasing by the day, it isn’t still where the policymakers
would like them to be. The need and the delivery of mentorship for young as well as for mature
startups continue to remain mostly unrecognized, and home-grown funding remains to be hugely
fragmented, isolated to a handful of top cities and significantly low in quantum nationwide. Add to
that a lack of culture that isn’t as innovative and entrepreneurial as the time demands, and that’s a
perfect recipe to stop India’s startup ecosystem to become the world’s best.

To solve these challenges, it is important to work on the base of the ecosystem, the place where the
pipeline begins: universities and the other elements of the higher education spectrum.

The correlation between successful entrepreneurship ecosystems and the role of a key university in
that ecosystem has been talked about time and again. The relationship between Stanford University
and Silicon Valley is always used as an epitome for such a correlation and that makes absolute sense
because a) universities have all the means and resources to support a young, budding entrepreneur,
such as labs to experiment in, connections to jump up and mentors to rely upon; b) a student in a
university has enough understanding of the world to start a business, and she has a significant amount
of time to work on such business ideas; and c) the risk-taking ability for a student at this point is
pretty low, so to say that if a venture fails, the student can always pick up the pieces and start again.

The trouble today is that most of our graduates settle for underpaying jobs, and after a while, they are
fed up of the status quo and want change. A lot of these individuals then start up - and as you
probably know, entrepreneurship is one of the toughest, if not the toughest profession, which leads to
a more pressurized chamber that these individuals find themselves in, adding to the chaos. Wouldn’t it

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help if these individuals were exposed to the perks of entrepreneurship and that they tried their very
first ideas while they were at university?

Of course, the counter-argument is that not everyone can start up, and neither should everyone.

The aim is five percent of students involving themselves in entrepreneurship and innovation-related
activities, and around 20 percent of that pool, which is essentially just one percent of all students,
becoming successful job creators. Then we could solve significant job problems, and become a
knowledge-driven super economy more quickly than we can imagine.

The Startup India action plan puts emphasis on developing ‘pre-incubation’ support with academic
partnerships. Most incubators in the country are set up within educational institutions, and most state
startup policies put emphasis on developing incubation facilities within academic environments. What
we are yet to do is to institutionalize and formalize the need of encouraging students to undertake
entrepreneurship or to build a much-needed culture and pre-incubation support where ideas could
thrive as ideas, be nurtured, grow into startups, and join the already thriving startup ecosystem for
mature startups. Already, a huge number of incubators and accelerators are having trouble finding
incubates and that can only be fixed through concrete efforts to build the base of the ecosystem.

It now remains to be seen how quickly policymakers around the country are able to address the need
of support for student entrepreneurship and how well such policies are executed. It goes without
saying that the startup ecosystem of the country, thanks to strong city-centered ecosystems, is growing
at a swift pace, and with receptive and responsive governments at the helm, the scenario appears
bright for startups in India.

References:

http://www.startupindia.gov.in/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Startup_India

http://www.profitbooks.net/startup-india/

https://yourstory.com/tag/startup-india/

Status Report on Start up India

www.spickandspans.in

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