Becoming an EntrepreneurDr.Subhash Challa, CEO & Founder, SenSen Networks

CDP Program, IEEE Student Branch, Monash University2nd August 2016

Agenda � Entrepreneurs & Entrepreneurship

� My Experiences as an Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurs & Entrepreneurship

The irrationality of Entrepreneurship

“Birds fly, Fish swim, … and Startups die.”

You are incredibly lucky if you succeed

You are responsible if you fail

Yet … Entrepreneurs Start CompaniesAre Entrepreneur’s irrational?

What is Entrepreneurship?

� It’s not a Job that one can apply for.

� It’s not about big exits, huge net worth, living a life of glamour.

� It’s not about changing the world, where one feels like a hero.

What is Entrepreneurship?

� It’s about pursuing something for passion.

� Its about the pursuit of opportunities without regard to� resources� results or� odds stacked against you.

� It’s long grueling hours, and for years with no respite in sight.

� It’s lonely and as only you see the opportunity and no one else does for quite a long time.

� It’s about the remarkable ability to keep faith when things are not looking up.

� It’s about immersing yourself in meditation on what to do next when the client hasn’t paid you yet or an investor/bank refused to invest in your business idea.

What is Entrepreneurship?

� It’s an unavoidable life calling pursued by those who are � optimistic enough to believe in themselves when no one else does� aware enough to see problems around them� creative enough to find novel solutions to those problems� bold enough to act repeatedly in the presence of constant failures� crazy enough to put their reputation, money, family & everything at risk

Distinguishing Characteristics of an Entrepreneur

� Intelligent, High Emotional Quotient

� Passionate about their idea

� Highly resourceful – will often be able find resources on the go

� Great Leaders - they often inspire others to take up the entrepreneurial vision and make them own it as their own

� Never give up attitude

� Often compassionate and care for others

� There are always exceptions to the rule … not all entrepreneurs have all the above, most do.

Entrepreneurship

https://youtu.be/izP5n1SBEaI

Entrepreneurialreality is that the odds are stacked completely against you …

Here is why?

� Success in entrepreneurship is a chance meeting of an opportunity with a prepared entrepreneur.

� But there are many ’prepared’ entrepreneurs and more are joining the queue.

� No matter how big you are in ‘your’ world, you are a ‘nobody’, a ‘stranger’, in the business & customer’s world.

� So how do you win enough trust of strangers so they can part with part of their money?

� The first customer runs the risk of becoming a “Guinea pig” and they know that & no one wants to be one.

� So how do you get your first customer?

Entrepreneur’s experience when they start out

� Entrepreneur: Hello Mr. Tom,

� Tom: Hi!… (with a grin on his face saying something like ... Why the hell are u disturbing me?)

� Entrepreneur: I invented this great Product. Its pretty cool. It can do this ..., it can do that ... And this ....

� Tom: So?

� Entrepreneur: Are you interested to buy this?

� Tom: What? Do I know you? Who are you?

� Entrepreneur: I am Mr. So and So, i.e., “Mr. No body”, or “I am a new kid on the block” ....

� Tom: And you want me to buy this from you? I do not trust you Mr. Entrepreneur to part with my money.

� Entrepreneur: Sir Tom, Its a really cool product, it can do help you resolve your problems x, y, z.

� Tom: Yeilding to Entrepreneur’s persistence, “I never saw this before. Does it really solve my problems, does it actually work?

� Entrepreneur: Yes, yes, yes ...

� Tom: Who else have bought it?

� Entrepreneur: There is growing demand, every one is asking for it, we got so many pre-orders etc ...

� Tom: Annoyed, repeats ‘I asked if any one bought it, has it solved their problem’

� Entrepreneur: umm ... No.

� Tom: Where is your office

� Entrepreneur: We are in the process of establishing an office ...i.e., we do not have one

� Tom: So you want me to buy this one from some one whom I do not know, who does not have an office, and no other person on this planet has bought it, and there is no evidence or concrete proof that it actually works and solved the problems you claim to address. DO YOU THINK I am a fool.?

� Entrepreneur: No sir, you are not a fool, you are a visionary if you buy this product.

If you somehow got your first customers …

You have to figure out a way

to cross “The Chasm”The Start Up

Mortuary

Funding

Funding The Business

The difference between

Entrepreneurship&

Small Business Ownership

Entrepreneurs

� Entrepreneurs start businesses with a passion to do what they love doing and help make the world a better place without regard to making a profit.

� Entrepreneurship involves recognizing, and being willing to accept, the high risk that the venture may fail.

� They are after a globally scalable business.

� The people who have started Starbucks or boost juice or apple are often referred to as an Entrepreneur. They do the creative part -- the concept, décor and menu – and taking the risk of changing the experience of coffee drinking from ‘drinking’ to a social experience.

Small Business Owner

� Small business owners are driven by self employment with a focus on profit making.

� Small business owners are more likely to do something others are doing. Its low risk venture by choice.

� They are after a profitable business delivering replacement income.

� The people who runs a Starbucks, boost juice or apple store franchises are often referred to as a small business owner. They are focused on execution, delivering operational efficiency -- controlling costs and maximizing customer satisfaction.

My Entrepreneurial Journey2006 – 2016, Its Still On …

Our Company

� SenSen was founded in 2007 as a spinout from the University of Technology Sydney.

� SenSen is active in Australia, USA, Canada, Europe, India, Singapore, & UAE

� Proven, patented technology.

� SenSen is backed by global team of scientists & engineers with HQ in Melbourne, Australia and offices in Hyderabad, India.

� Growing strong by the day.

My Inspiration

� My Father who started many businesses in his life time � a Chit-fund business � a Cooperative Bank � a School � a Chemical Company � a Real Estate Firm � a Restaurant

� By the time he died in 2008, there were over 2000 employees in the ventures he founded. He used to measure his success in the number of people who where employed and number of families it they supported.

� Google

FundraisingEating the Humble Pie

� Family & Friends (be careful with this, as this can strain friendships if things do not workout)

� Seed investors, High Net worth Individuals or groups

� Crowd funding platforms – Kick-starter, ASSOB – never tried

� Venture Capital – Not Successful to date

� Strategic Investors/Partners – Companies that are in the value chain of our markets

� Banks

� Private Equity – Not reached the scale yet and never tried.

� IPO – Primary markets or Secondary Markets – Not ready yet.

Our First Customers

� National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council

� A Local Shopping Centre

Our visionary customers

� Roads and Maritime Services, NSW

� Ipswich City Council

� Abu Dhabi Airport

The Hard Times

� Not knowing which market takes off, we start playing in a few (too many).

� Lack of focus on any particular market and experience in handling customers, delays happen.

� Consequently Customers delay payments.

� Investors hold off investment decisions as they are unsure of our viability.

� With customers and investors holding their purses tight, Cash flow crisis hits.

� Key staff members became insecure and leave.

� Leads to further customer delivery delays. Loss of knowledge.

� Then we ran out of money.

� Lead to mortgaging our house and diverting all our family savings to help keep save the sinking ship.

� This is the time, you are at risk of losing everything, your reputation, your money, your family support, your everything.

� You are literally riding against the tide here, your investors, banks, family, friends, customers are all losing faith and are convinced that you will fail.

� Remarkably, I kept my faith and survived these hard times.

My Experiences as

an Entrepreneur

� Leaving a safe, Professor’s job @ UTS to start a company for pure passion.

� ‘Out-casted’ by (some) colleagues as I lost my ‘nobility’ by chosing to go into the business world to make money.

� ‘Out-casted’ by most investors & banks as I am an Academic.

� The ’Prof’ title ... an epitome of academic success .... is indeed the worst possible qualification to go into the business world.

� Raising investments from funds and strategic partner companies.

� Risking everything we have got.

� The hurt one feels when the only hope for surviving yet another day fades away in a whim.

� Experiance what running out of cash feels like on a daily basis.

My Experiences as

an Entrepreneur

� Inventing ingenous ways for find the cash to survive yet another day.

� Signing up the first customer and

� Getting the first payment.

� The first Million dollar contract.

� Establishing global parnerships with established companies.

� Seeing our company brand get established and watching it grow.

� Meeting extraordinarily people.

Yes & No. Its depends on who you are.

Its pursued by the few who do things that most people find irrational. For Entrepreneurs it’s the only thing they want to do.

I encourage you to pursue it if you have the passion fot it

Without passion its impossible to survive the odds that are stacked againt you

We all should be thankful that a few of us have this irrational gene of entrepreneurship in us

– else there will be no progress, no jobs, no joy & no life

Is Entrepreneurship an Irrational Pursuit?

Entrepreneurship Passion

Love

Equally Irrational things but essential

for human existence and progress

I am a Technology Entrepreneur. My wife calls me an irrational man for this reason.

She still loves me though …

and

I call her irrational for loving me ... an irrational man.I still love her though.