A step by step guide to building a multi-million dollar business

61st Startup Sathi Webinar Series organized by iHub & SSIP on 01 June 2020

Speakers: Avelo Roy, Managing Director - Kolkata Ventures

Moderator: Mr Hiranmay Mahanta, CEO - iHub

Dignitary: Shri M Nagarajan IAS, Director - Higher Education,  Education Department, Gujarat

About Webinar

The webinar was focused on how to build a better product by choosing the right market for Startup and grow over a  period of time by following some ground rules.  Mr. Roy also shared some gripping insights on Entrepreneurship/ Startups and how to move up the ladder by starting taking the  small - small steps.

Some highlights from the session:

• CAN’T SPELL ENTREPRENEUR? - Be the one and hire someone  who can! 

It’s not a problem that one doesn’t know everything about entrepreneurship/ startup; It’s important to have a vision about the business and a compatible team which can help you to achieve it. If  you are a  Creative, find a  co-founder with Analytic skills and  vice versa.

• Kolkata Ventures provides virtual incubation. It has supported over 400 startups till date and raised funds of INR  10 Crores in the last year.  

• It’s very important to have a media presence and spread awareness among people about what value  you’re adding. “Jo dihkta  hai, vo bikta hai”

• Entrepreneurs are different from others. They Disgust with the routine/ monotonous work, Desire to do something better and contribute to lives/ society and Decide to resolve the issues. Once you decide to Resolve, the next step is  to Create a Campling VISION, which has to be specific. Then, ACT : divide your vision into  short term & long term goals and act to achieve it.

• Preparing a day wise plan to achieve at least three things to reach out to your short term goal. Everyday Small changes = Sustainable; could result in massive changes over a period of time.  

• The top things you’re passionate about can be the  best Market for your business, since you understand as well as empathise with the pain/ problems in  that area. And, with your top skills you can create a product or can find a co-founder with the required skill sets to solve the problem. Thus, combining the  PASSION & SKILL one can build the Business model.

• A BUSINESS MODEL describes all parts of the company necessary to make Money. It is important to start earning money with a minimum viable product. THere are different segments such as Customers, Marketing &  promotions, Value proposition, Revenue Stream, Expenditure, Strategic partners and more are part of BUSINESS  Model and  needs to be taken care of while preparing the  same. Create a repeatable  and scalable business model.    

• A STARTUP is a  temporary organisation designed to search for  a repeatable and scalable business model

• A problem is something that no one wants, but everyone  has to face and no one can avoid it.  Successful STARTUP starts with a market problem and not with an idea. so START with a  problem  and idea.

• Once you identify the problem that a group of people face, conduct primary market research by direct interviewing/ talking to the same group of people as well as use secondary market research to collect the  information. Afterwards, Ideate the solution on paper/ visual and  go to market for feedback on  your Idea. Accordingly,  build your prototype; get the  feedback on  it and Validate the solution. 

• When you are creating a  product, it is important to know who your customer is and what product they really want?

• Build a minimum viable product, test it in the target market, and learn the responses. Launch the MVP and start earning. Once you get succeed; repeat the process in bigger market and  scale the business like other startups such as Zoomcar, Airbnb,Ola etc

• Divide your 1 Million dollar dream into small goals and make a plan to achieve it over a period of time 

• Having a good team and a mentor is very important for a successful  startup. Multiple digital platforms can be used for the  same.

• The top most required skills for entrepreneurs are  Communication skills & Money management  skills.  Also, skills like digital marketing, HR management, Analytics add advantage and apart from all those skills, an entrepreneur must follow ethical aspects.