Sunday, February 22, 2015

ENTREPRENEUR SPECIAL ..................Startup to Startup: Lessons from the Round Trip

Startup to Startup: Lessons from the Round Trip


In barely their 20s and early 30s, they have learnt a crucial life lesson: Better to have tried and failed than not having tried at all. Most of these entrepreneurs are back with start-ups after exiting their own ventures due to lack of funds, disagreement among stakeholders or even personal reasons. Only this time, they're back as employees with cash-rich start-ups that offer them ownership in the form of stock options and make the best use of their entrepreneurial instincts. Rushabh Sanghavi, 31, finds his role as vice president (category management) at Urban Ladder (UL) fulfilling after exiting his business venture, The Stiff Collar. “Having worked with the founder directly for a long time in an earlier stint, I was confident of the independent responsibility and that UL would be a great entrepreneurial training ground,“ he says. An adrenalin rush made Yayati Boruah quit his venture, TalentBridge Technologies, only to join start-up, Taxiforsure, as GM, operations. He had quit his venture for personal reasons but was soon pulled back when his friends invited him to join Taxiforsure. Prachi Verma brings you the stories of more such entrepreneurs, who share the highs and lows of their journey.

TAXIFORSURE

Tejbir Singh, 35 VP ­ Expansion
THE EARLIER VENTURE:
HSM Venture Fund
INCEPTION, BUSINESS, FUNDING:
Singh was working as an investor banker in the US and came back to India in early 2000 to start up a business. He had accumulated some funds, but that wasn't enough to see him through.
HOW THE VENTURE ENDED:
Singh did not have his own team, so he used to work with the acquired company's staff. The approach towards work was not compatible. He then sold all the ventures.
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES:
100-250 for each stream of business
REASON FOR TURNING INTO AN EMPLOYEE:
Singh says he was never made to feel like an employee. He manages the pan India strategic expansion independently. “I do not have a reporting relationship. Here it's more of a peer relationship,“ he says.
LESSONS LEARNT:
Ground-level execution, people skills.

LENSKART.COM

Mayank Batheja, 28 AVP; heads `Home Eye Check Up' at Lenskart.com
What the venture was called:
Letsintern Career Solutions
Inception, business, funding:
Started in 2010; two rounds of funding; finalist at the Economic Times Power of Ideas 2010.
Listed as India's largest platform for college students to find internships practical learning opportunities with more than 8,000 em ployers.
How the venture ended:
It's still alive
Number of employees:
35
Year of joining as an employee:
Dec 2014
Reason for turning employee: Couldn't generate enough funds to meet personal needs.
Lessons learned as entrepreneur:
A business is only as good as its team. Don't wait for things to be perfect. Execute faster, time is costly.
Advice to failed entrepreneurs
1) You haven't failed, yet. Humans didn't start walking the first times we tried; business is no different
2) Entrepreneurs make better employees and the market values you
 3) You can see the business beyond the boundaries of a job role and chances of aligning with the business vision are much higher 4) Entrepreneur to intrapreneur isn't too bad

URBAN LADDER

Prithvi Raj Tejavath, 32 VP Décor at Urban Ladder
Earlier venture:
BuynBrag.com
Inception, business, funding:
Launched in October 2012, BuynBrag was a marketplace for distinctive design lifestyle and home products. It later focused only on the home. The venture raised two rounds of funding -in November 2012 and October 2013.
Number of employees:
14
How the venture ended:
It merged with urbanladder.com
Year of joining Urban Ladder:
2014
Reason for turning employee:
An opportunity to work in an environment that lets him be an entrepreneur, run a business and not worry about raising funds or paying a salary the next month. Also, the team at Urban Ladder.
Lessons learnt as an entrepreneur:
Prioritising on what to do next. As an entrepreneur, we go ahead thinking and believing that we can do a lot, but the challenge is to think hard and prioritise on the one thing that needs to be done now. The ability to let go is what prioritising really is. The other lesson is on hiring great people.Nothing can be more important.
Advice to failed entrepreneurs:
It takes courage to do something and there is nothing wrong in failing.It's better to try, fail and learn than not to try.

IBIBO GROUP

Swapnil Tripathi, 40 Customer Operations at ibibo Group
EARLIER VENTURE:
India Art Village, http:www.indiaartvillage.cm
INCEPTION, BUSINESS, FUNDING:
The venture was incubated in 2011-end and the beginning of 2012, and was self-funded. It was started along with Annie Mathai and funded by angel investor Arun Goswami, owner of Montage Advertising. The venture was clocking Rs 2.53 crore in revenues in 2014 with 60% B2B revenues.
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES:
14-15
HOW THE VENTURE ENDED:
The venture hasn't been shut down yet, with Tripathi's stake purchased by an exporter who was a client
YEAR OF JOINING IBIBO:
2014
REASON FOR BECOMING AN EMPLOYEE:
Tripathi did not have any idea to work on and wanted to generate financial comfort
LESSONS LEARNED AS ENTREPRENEUR:
Frugal innovation mindset, desperation to succeed
ADVICE TO FAILED ENTREPRENEURS:
Plan finances well, do your research prior to starting a business

ET17FEB15

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