ATALK ON

ARISE, AWAKE

By: NAVEEN DUBEYDept of Electronics & Communications

Arise! Awake! And stop not till the goal is reached.

- Swami Vivekananda

Arise, Awake is the story of 10 young entrepreneurs who started a business while studying in college or right after graduation.

Turning their backs on lucrative placements, To pursue dreams of their own

Contents-RankersThey Cracked the toughest entrance exam in the

country. And then took on new

challenges for which there is no ‘coaching classes’

-Rebels With A CauseThese mavericks strayed

away from the beaten path into weird and wonderful places. Because …. Who you are is more than a ‘placement’

-RepeatersThe dudes who tried- and failed –but had the will to try again. Because nothing that Is worth anything comes easily.And….“Giving up is not an option”

1.

Life is a beachPracto -

Technologies (A software used by 10,000 doctors. A company of 300 employees and revenues close to ₹ 20 crore)

Abhinav Lal & Shashank ND NIT Surathkal

The StorylineNIT Suratkal –

The only college in India with its own private beach.

They joined college in 2005, when nobody heard of the term ‘Entrepreneurship”.

NIT was one of the first colleges in India to start an E-Cell

Just after 4th year they organized conference for doctors, struggled for seeking investors.

Morpheus* venture provided inputs on sales and marketing, finally they clinched deal with Sequoia**.

“The venture, started in 4th year of college, has blossomed and grown into practo

*India’s first startup accelerator, **early investor both in apple and google

The Business Idea“a software for

doctors”

Turning Points“I saw a poster in my

drom for ‘Eforea’ and it seemed like very new and exciting thing”

Prof Turner’s message “ You can invent, you can lead, put in the hard work and you can make anything happen”

One doctor –Dr Mohhamad Ali – came back and said, “ I like your idea- when can you meet me”

Year 2008 and the buzz around the internet was facebook and small startup flipkart and there was a sense “Ki kuch ho raha hai”

2009Launch of practo2.0, a tough decision job or practo

March 2011 we had 4-digit number in bank and they at sequoia said , we will give you 8-digit figure.

Chindi phase ended, visible fallout was better salary, better food

Take AwayPlay for love, play for

money, play to win! The ball is right there in front of you.

It is really important to stick to your vision , the vision should not be, “ I want a 100 crore company but “I am going to solve this problem”

-- Abhinav lal

Things will not come easy to you. Work really hard, build a great product and sell, sell, sell!

In India you have to give 75% of your time to sales, sales means face-to-face business meetings.

Stay grounded, stay focused, automatically, success will come to you.

-Shashank N D

2.

You can do magic Magicrete(A fresh graduate

and a fresh CA decided to shake up an age-old industry. Today, Magicrete is a ₹150 crore company which is changing the face of construction )

Puneet Mittal (CA)

Saurabh Bansal IIT- Kgp

Sidharth BansalIIT-D, IIM-Lko

The StorylineSaurabh Cracked IIT-JEE

and joined IIT-Kgp. RK HALL – Room No D-206 Graffiti “5000

crore”One day he noticed a

customer Siporex placed very large 50-100 tons order in his father’s quicklime factory.

He visited Siporex for the sake of curiosity and discovered they were manufacturing ACC blocks.

ACC blocks 10X size of normal brick but 70% lighter, they were not used widely because 2X cost.

Started his venture Magicrete with investment of some family friends and bank loan.

And the trio (Saurabh, Puneet, Siddharth ) redefined an old age industry.

The Business Idea:ACC Block Production

at low cost

Turning PointsIn room D-206 RK Hall, the

topic of discussion was ‘What do you want to do in your life?’, Koi kuch kah raha tha, koi kuch aur, suddenly a young man stood up and wrote a number on the wall- ‘5000 crore’

I thought that when there are listed companies in steel and cements, why not in bricks?

The Siporex was using a diesel boiler, where coal boiler are 60-70% cheaper and there were many areas we can bring cost down.

Saurabh started approaching angel investors and angle came in form of uncle Rajesh Poddar and he agreed to invest 10 crore in return 70% equity stake.

Once a deal was struck CA Puneet mittal came into the picture.

I remember how it felt to get that first loan – Ki yaar bank ne 10 crore loan pass kar diya based on our own credentials.

Take AwayDream big and work hard

and put in all efforts, keep on innovating and striving towards your goal. Take the plunge early. Age of 20-30 are the most dynamic years.

-Saurabh

Kuchh bhi start karne se pahle uska ek road map hona chahiye, at least 2-3 sal apko bahut clearity honi chahiye ke aage kya karna hai. Jo start kiya hai, you have to stick for 2-3 years, 5 years and then go forward and be gutsy!!

- PuneetEntrepreneurs should always focus on

‘making the system work’. The indicator of depth in management is that the business should grow even in their absence. - Sidharth

3.

Gift of the GabSacred Moments(He exited the campus with a ready –to –launch business. 8 years on, he is the CEO of a ₹ 4.5 crore company and has no regrets.)

Praksh MundhraSCMHRD, Pune

The StorylinePrakash appeared in CAT

examination but got eliminated from IIMs.

SCMHRD- 1st Year ITC “Mera Gaon Mera Desh” B-Plan.

His idea was in top 3 B-plan in “Business Bazigar” a Z-TV show.

He utilized all prize money and consulted with Pujari(s) and finally prepared Diwali pooja kit, that includes all required items along with a pujan vidhi booklet.

The brand name was “Subh Labh”

He sold more than 10000 pooja kits during Diwali season, including some good clients like “TOI, Ambuja Cements, etc”

The Business Idea:Pooja Kit

packaging and delivery (E-Com)

Turning PointsThe year he joined MBA,

there was news of Vardan Kabra from IIMA refusing placement to start a school. So the trend of entrepreneurship had begun.

Agarbatti was the only product which I could easily understand.

I could see that my generation is inclined towards puja, but they want it to be a hassle- free experience.

When one of the my exam at SCMHRD was clashing with a B-Plan contest, I ditched the exam.

A Punjabi family, gave puja kit to all their baratis as a gift.

By March’2014 Sacred Moments had clocked a turnover of ₹ 4.5 crore

Take AwayYou don’t have to hide

behind a tree like Ekalavya to observe Guru Dronacharya. Choose your own gurus, follow their words, their deeds and their feats.

Believe in power of marketing- use the internet, social media marketing and telecommunication to your advantage.

Non-IIM students needs to have strong belief that, it is your learning during the course which matters and not the IIM tag. When it comes to being an entrepreneur.

-- Parkash

4.

Two IdiotsBewakoof

Brands(The young entrepreneurs sell funky clothing and accessories online – with order crossing ₹1 crore per month. 1.4 million followers of the Bewakoof brand on Facebook)

Prabhkiran Singh, IIT-B

Siddharth Munot, IIT-B

The StorylineA Punjabi boy from

Ludhiyana wanted to do something big.

IIT-B 3rd Year :

.

At the same time one of his regular customer Sidhdharth was experimenting with a website “bewkoof.com”.

To promote this website they used to wear self designed bewkoof T-shirt.

Folks loved the T-shirt and wanted to know “where can we buy it ?” and they got the business idea.

They started T-shirt business and got 200-300 order from hostel itself.

“Ghanta Engineering” design of T-shirt introduced in mood indigo festival at IIT-B.

Khadke Glassi: Flavored Lassi Shop

The Business Idea:Funky clothing and

accessories (E-Com)

Turning Points“I was scared and hesitant

but people responded very well.”

Singh saab realised there was a bright side to the story, Mumbai ja kar bachcha bhatak bhi sakta tha, chalo at least he is doing something, kuchh to seekhega”

Folks loved the Bewkoof T-shirt and wanted to buy, “then we thought this is a good idea- chalo yahi karte hai”

IIT se pass hone ke baad suru me to khane ka paisa bhi, it was like kabhi idhar se udhaar, kabhi udhar se udhaar.

Being from a Gujarati business class our senior could see ki isame kuchh dam hai. This idea is working.

After we got a couple of warning from FB we made “no politics”, “no religion” rule.

Take Away On thing is that mehnat to

karna padega. Hard work karte raho persistently. Just keep doing, keep doing and keep motivating yourself.

-- Siddharth

When you start early, you do not have contacts, you don’t have money- it’s tough! At every point of time, you will have to prove yourself. But the plus point is that you have more liberty and you can experiment more.

- Parbhkiran

5.

Locha-E-BusinessHo Gaya

Innovese Technologies (Two friends came up with a cool idea.

Innovese was a shining star in the startup

sky, until interpersonal issue tore the

company apart)

Ankit Gupta & Dhruv SoganiBITS Pilani

The StorylineAnkit Gupta was born and

brought up in Jaipur, he was very fascinated by the idea to starting something of his own.

Neeraj left the company and finally in 2013 they concluded deal with Gruner+jahr

*Facebook changed policy and reset user at zero, slambook ended with its natural death

slambook* venture with a

friend Neeraj and Dhruvwinter 2010

college result portal for mid

sem examination,

started experiment with

Captcha

The Business Idea:Advertising using

Captcha : YoCaptcha

(Advertising Industry)

Turning PointsI nagged my parents until

they gave in. I think, it is one of the best decision I took in my life .

I was confused and on the verge of taking chemical. But friends like Dhruv convince me to go far the 5-year integrated course.

It was only when I asked to extend a deadline due to exams, he asked, “Oh, you are all students ?”

We had very interesting discussion where we basically said- let’s try to and break captcha.

First of all, We realised we are in advertising industry, So we have to understand how this works ?.

The first big website to sign was ibibo.com, Zapak, Way2SMS, TOI.

Neerj left the company via SMS and we thought G+R will do justice with innovese and now we are working for G+R

Take AwayI would advise college

startups to sign a ‘co-founder’ agreement. This would be very helpful in case one of the founders decides to suddenly opt out of the company because of family pressure or lure of placement.

-- AnkitCollege time is the best to

experiment with your life.

-Neeraj

It’s easy to create an app and start feeling ‘I have made it’ you are up in the air, great! But at some point you have to become grounded and practical.. You have to built suitable business.

--Dhruv

6.

Awara Paagal Deewana

Inopen Technologies

(Some one who considered himself as a failure at age 17 , became a self –taught programmer, marketer and ‘people person’, his company , now teaches computer science to over 5 Lakh schoolchildren)

Rupesh Shah (IET-Alwar)

The StorylineRupesh shah was one such

student- he not only failed to enter IIT, he failed in 12th board exam. He failed to enter in engineering college on merit and the he went on failing in 1st year university exam.

Failiure bhi usse tang aakar boli- “Jao, koi aur girlfriend dhoondo!”

“Pyaar Kiya to darna kya, fail huye to marna Kya”

IIT-B internshipINTUX-OS

Downloaded by 100K users

The Business Idea:Teaching Computer Science in form of

converstaion of cartoon characters

(e-education)

Turning PointsLinux is a great platform

but to geeky for layman. I felt there was a need for hybrid OS and at that moment, “I made up my mind- I have to be at IIT-Bombay.

“I bugged Professor Phatak to the extent that he gave up and allowed me 3 month internship at IIT-B” , my project ‘Intux’ was downloaded by 100,000 users in few month.

Professor Sridhar allowed me to work from IIT meeting room, “Kushi thi ke IIT me kam kar raha hu” but when I tried for incubation, they asked for bussiness plan. Mujhe laga “ye kya hota hai”

Inopen ke achche din aa gaye as company received a strategic investment from Japanese education company.

The unofficial endorsement from MIT gave him a new confidence to take bold step now they are planning partnership with Khan Academy

Take Away

When I started college, I didn’t know that a word called startup and till date I get the spelling of entrepreneurship wrong .

Chahe Kitane bhi mistakes karo , log kuchh bhi bole , just keep doing it.

-- Rupesh

7.

The Hunger Game Bhukkad

(A third year student of NLS found his true calling in life and started a take away food joint to cater to the many bhukkads .)

Aruj Garg (NLS- Bangalore)

The StorylineNLS is fantastic campus to

be in- Aruj simply loved it. What he didn’t like, however was ‘law’ itself.

Aruj realised that the thing an entrepreneur need is a problem- a ‘pain point’ to solve. And what bigger pain point for hostellers than the food?

The goal is to set up commercial kitchen and have Bukkhad outlet all over Bangalore

The Business Idea:Door-to-Door food

delivery by assembling precooked,

refrigerated food items .

(Food Chain)

Turning PointsNobody is happy with the

mess ka khana. “So, I thought, why not we start a small food joint on campus? A couple of my friends also said it was good idea, let’s do it together.

We wanted to be an assembly unit, like subway. They were my big inspiration.

Eventually, I decided that I had the momentum so it was logical and sensible for me to continue.

Dominos stands for Pizza, McDonalds for burgers- we had a little bit of everything.

like the sound of Bhukkad and the name has definitely been lucky for me! But, yes, we need to work on branding.

Take Away

Just be at it. Keep doing things. Even though they won’t make sense at that point. There is a larger jigsaw which is being solved in this process.

If you are still unsure, try working with startups in your vacations. That’s one sure way of knowing if you are a cut out for an entrepreneur’s life.

-- Aruj

8.

Feel like HomeGanpati Facilities

(A MBA student who faced accommodation issue when he joined college in Pune. He seized opportunity and started hostel business in 2nd year for new batch and made ₹25 lakh in profit 5 times the salary he could have got through placement)

Anurag AroraICFAI Business School, Pune

The StorylineWhen Anurag Arora got an

admit letter from ICFAI, he was on the top of the world. There was just one problem- the college did not have hostel.

He joined a private hostel but the condition was very bad, even he left the room on 3rd day and lost 46,000 non refundable fees.

All of sudden Anurag was hit by a big and bold idea.

Being a student he had the idea about students needs .

A small idea made big impact and Ganpati Facilities came into existence .

The Business Idea:

Providing home like facility in hostel .(Service Sector)

Turning PointsThat’s the age when

people fall in love and I was in a relationship… we broke up on the verge of 12th board and it affected me very badly.

I earned more than 30 lakh and blew it all up on clothes, movies, eating out. So when someone used to meet my dad and ask, ‘what your son is doing ?, he used to feel ashamed.” .

At this point I decided to go back to studies

I thought if there is no hostel provider, why don’t I set one up?

Mai khud ek student hoon, mujhe ek achchhe flat me rahne ka sauk hai to bakiyo ko bhi hoga.

Last time, I paid 3 lakh to brokers to get flats. This time, I approached Kumar Builders and they put me in touch with owners.

My students are my “brand ambassadors”

Take Away

You have to think of creative ways and means to fund your ideas.

Think of doing something with a good heart and an intention to help people and success will come to you along the way.

--Anurag

Arora

9.

To Catch A ThiefFraudexpress

(A girl who believed in herself and in her ability to clean up the world- one fraud at a time, at age of 24, she has launched a university recognized course in field of fraud risk management)

Apurva Joshi (CA final Student)

The StorylineA small town girl came to

Pune, looking for a break with CA firm. She got break with Indiaforensic,- a small startup.

The young trainee soon found herself conducting ‘fraud-risk-assessment’ and studying company balance sheet for ‘early warning sign of fraud’

Some thought it was risky and advised her to stick to taxation and audit. “Kyu aise Jhamele me Padne ka?”

During her article ship, Apurva entered the unusual domain of forensic accounting.

fraud risk management.

… And FraudExpress is running on right track.

The Business Idea:Providing course

material and assessment in fraud

risk management and a firm of

forensic accounting.(Education and

forensics)

Turning PointsMayur Said, “Articleship

me normally bachche income-tax return bharna seekhate hai, auditing seekhate hai – would you like to learn something different”.

The man said, “TVs are stacked on the top, how will you open these boxes” , “Mai chad gayi ssedi par aur upar ke maaley par baith gayee.

She open first box: empty, secon box: empty and so on…

It was difficult tool but maine seekh liya. I was told ki you are the first lady to master this tool in the country.

I further convinced by mentioning that Solapur University would be the first to launch such a course in country.

We proposed to create a database of politically exposed parties .. Key politicians ke kitane paise ghoom rahe hai aur kaha lage huye hai.

Take Away

Don’t run behind degrees. If you clear you CA in first attempt after doing a ‘dummy’ articleship’ what is its market value ? Zero. So go after practical knowledge. That is far more important.

Aur thoda daring dikhana padta hai. Be daring, be bold! Do not be afraid of anyone or anything!!

-- Apurva

10.

Holy Rava MasalaDosamatic

(Two young lads set out to create an dosamatic dosa machine. 3 year later, they have succeeded in producing the world’s first tabletop ‘dosa printer’ and secured order from more than 100 restaurant owners.)

Eshwar Vikas & Sudeep Sabat(SRM Engg. College, Chennai)

The StorylineThere was one dude in

SRM Engg. College Ehswar Vikas who was different from others. Rushing after classes to catch a train to his place of work which came without a salary, without any job value.

One day he got an idea of making automatic Dosa machine from a restaurant in Karol Bag Delhi

.

The boys scarifies their sleep, social life, even summer vacations .

Went into the gallis and bazaars of Chennai to earn real life education in mechanics.

3 year later, they have succeeded in producing the world’s first table top Dosa printer.

The Business Idea:Production and sale of Table to Dosha

printer.(Machine Design , R&

D)

Turning PointsEshwar did not hesitate to

go up to the speaker and says, “ Sir, I want to become an entrepreneur- can you help me?”

I was not getting paid, not even for my transport but I was learning so much.

Milan--Pre-book your vada pav and jaljeera- get 20% flat off! No condition applied.

Eshwar went to Raja Ganesh and said “ I want to work for you”

In Karol bag Delhi cost of Masala Dosa was Rupees 130. It was a rude shock. Why was South Indian food so expensive?

Cost goes up because cook charges 20000-30000 per month. Could there be a machine for it ! Let’s try it

80% of the shopowners won’t even talk to you, they will say, tell me which part 562B or C

“I solved the problem” He declared.

“We made plain dosa, butter dosa and masala dosa.. We got funding.

Take AwayAn idea is not enough, you

need to develop a prototype. Then go out and test it in the real world. Not just in college, where everyone knows you.

- Sudeep

Don’t think you are doing college project. It has to be commercial, somebody must be willing to pay for your product.

--

Eshwar

“Rise and rise again until lambs become lions”

- Robin Hood