Startup Ecosystem

 Startup Ecosystem 

 

 
Startup Ecosystem is essential to the Sustainable Growth. Small businesses are key driving force of the economy. Most of Employment is created by Small Business. Vibrant Small Business drive the growth. Every Big Enterprise essentially runs on inputs and supports given provided by Small Businesses.
Startups and Small Business essentially needs environment which encourages and supports them. This Environment / Support Mechanism which make sure to build Success Story is called Ecosystem.
This Ecosystem has many components, which make sure things can move in right direction. 

Learning System 

Early Education is first step. Education system should be creativity and curiosity driven. Enough importance should be given to building skills and knowledge driven by Creativity and Curiosity. Students should understand importance of learning to improve the lives. Building confidence to do something new, something different.
Yes, I Can, Attitude Can only Bring Change.
Which will develop creativity and curiosity

Training

Which will build Entrepreneurial  Capabilities. Training is essential component of success. Entrepreneurship Training Programs which will cater essential skills to the Entrepreneurs. These training programs should be available to everyone and widely promoted. Programs should build Entrepreneurial skills. These training programs must also tell, Failure is not End, it is only a step to success.
Right training will mentally strong Entrepreneurs who are ready to take risk.
No Risk no Reward
Entrepreneurship is all about taking risk. Putting your money and time to build bright future for self and society. Entrepreneurship is all about improving life for everyone, at the same time getting Rewarded.
Training programs must preach importance of Risk Taking, and Rewards on success. 

 

Idea Development

Developing Ideas is very important. Feasibility Study, Market Strategy, Evaluation of Idea is essential. Evaluation is required to see if idea is commercially viable. What is market potential, what are the challenges. Once basic questions are addressed, now it is ready for launch.

Support for building Ideas

Even though Idea may be very good. What is important is its Commercialization.
Hand-holding is essential to building a Commercially viable Idea. Understanding the potential and then Monetization are very important. 

Mentors 

Mentors are essential for Hand-holding. Mentors provides essential inputs and knowledge to successfully implementing the Idea. The role of Mentor is multi-functional and needed at each step. Mentors are essential to the Success of Idea.

 

Seed Capital..

The First investment must come from the owner of the Idea. This is essential to the commitment of the project.
 After first money, next money should come from Near and Dear who trust the Owner of Idea and Idea.
Once Idea starts moving, it is time for others to cheap in. 

 

 

Commercialization Support 

Every good Idea can not be monetize and make money. It is most important to understand the monetization potential of the Idea. Unless the Startup does not potential for mass acceptance and success, no investor will put his money. The Entrepreneur must prove the Startup can be monetize and has potential to grow.

Venture Finance.. Investment 

Once Startup Idea is commercialize, and it started growing. This is stage when Venture Capital sees potential and invest. Investors see long term growth potential. They see market opportunity and invest. At this stage the the Idea gets big boost and growth speeds up. 

 

 

Growth Capital.. Private Equity 

Once the startup comes to the breakeven and see huge growth potential, Private Equity takes interest to invest more money. Speed up the growth, so that it can be listed or sold to another investor.
Exit..
Exit is essential, it is life. IPO, sell out or Mergers, what ever may be the name, Exit is life.

How incubators are disrupting the Indian agri-tech startup landscape.

Technology has changed the way that businesses behave today. The Indian economy is home to over 56,000 startups with about 450 plus in the agri-tech space alone. There are government regulations and incentives to help these startups grow and sustain, but the dynamics are skewed towards the incubators and accelerators who drive exponential growth.

The agri-tech segment is growing at a phenomenal rate of 25% year-on-year. The fund inflow has been over $250 million in 2019 alone. The future is bright, and experts view the agri-tech innovation industry as the primary driver of agricultural economics by 2020. The multi-billion sector has a massive scope to change the face of the Indian economy. Incubators are not only funding, but also mentoring, and guiding the very fragmented businesses leading towards a cohesive structure.

The agriculture industry is fragmented and unorganized in India. There is a need to harness the potential that the sector offers to harness the growth and make it sustainable. The need for technological innovation to find solutions to everyday problems is the need of the hour. Frugal innovations in the agri-sector will help the economy grow in the long run.



The pressure points plaguing the agriculture industry is the dearth of market linkages, services, and networks that can be tapped as a cohesive whole. The experience of incubators have helped agri-tech startups to channel funds, groom entrepreneurs, provide on-ground pilot testing facility, and maximize business opportunities. The boot camp activities of the incubators facilitate the back-links to market, help in driving networks to reduce wastage, create sustainable logistics systems to promote marketing initiatives, and help agri-tech startups scale up.

The formal incubator-accelerator organizations have disrupted the Indian agricultural startup scenario over the past a few years. Incubators seed the potentially disruptive ideas of the agri-preneur intending to create a viable business model. The startups gain co-working space, structured funding, mentor-ship in the technology and financial domains as well as in-depth knowledge of the industry itself. Incubators also help to mitigate the challenges and risks in the delicate scale-up process.

Incubation is the bedrock of innovative disruption. The idea is to foster growth and ultimately commercialization of the innovation. The incubators have stepped into the gap between a good idea to a viable business. They provide necessary infrastructure, feedback, and correction advice to firm up the innovation. The hand-holding process includes mentor-ship, identification, and firming up of collaborations for the agri-preneur. Intellectual resources and advice can make or break the pattern of growth and scalability.

The role of incubators is crucial in the wider business ecosystem in India. They are integral to the shaping up process of the Indian startup network. The role of the incubator is well beyond the corporate startup office. They add value to the entire business-scape of the start-up community. The exponential growth of India as a start-up hub has opened up the potential of incubators to nurture creativity and disrupt the way traditional business works. The mentoring of the start-up will help agri-ventures transform and catapult itself to the next level.

Agri-tech startups have a vast scope to enhance livelihood opportunities in rural India. Intervention in sustainable agricultural processes, livestock management, skill development, market linkages, effective network of logistics infrastructure, sustainable pricing conventions, and robust market linkages will contribute tremendously to rural economic development and food security goals in the country. Incubators are set to disrupt the Indian startup landscape in a big way.


Disclaimer: Following article source is ET

How Entrepreneurs Made A Comeback After Business Failure.

Sydney entrepreneur Laura Moore came back from disaster to launch a successful health coaching business.
Running a small business can be one of the biggest, and most rewarding, challenges you can take on.

Imagine then, pouring your heart, time and life savings into developing, launching and growing your business, only to watch it either come close to failure, or worse, go under.

"I put on weight, was experiencing extreme fatigue, constant bloating and poor digestion, brain fog and erratic moods, which was seriously affecting my performance both personally and professionally," she said.

"To the world, it was business as usual, but behind closed doors I was battling with trying to exit the franchise, constantly worrying about my team and clients and how I could ensure they were impacted as minimally as possible, and struggling daily with my health. I now realise there was still a big part of me that felt like a failure."

Moore said she now uses what she learned during that dark time to help others through her new performance and health coaching business, Uppy.

"I learned how to manage and overcome the thoughts and behaviours that had led me to that point in the first place -- perfectionism, unrelenting standards, self-sabotage, fear of failure, fear of not being good enough, procrastination, over-working," she said.

"I've always wanted to run my own business and this setback wasn't enough to kill that dream.

"The fire was kind of a blessing because it allowed me to get amazing insight very early on into my business career, so I now know the key areas I need to improve on (or delegate!) in order to make my new and future businesses run efficiently and successfully, and in a way that serves me personally too.


"I'm sick of seeing people struggle because they've been misinformed or they don't know there's another way, so I created Uppy as I believe everyone has a right to the knowledge and support that can help them live more."

Even experienced entrepreneurs can face failure. Entrepreneur Pawl Cubbin had to completely re-think his marketing plan when his Canberra nightclub started to flounder

Pawl Cubbin, serial entrepreneur and founder of advertising agency ZOO Group, also faced the burn of a failing business 12 years ago when the shine wore off his Canberra nightclub Academy 11 months after opening.

"It was a massive endeavour to get it going: Canberra's not a big place and we opened this nightclub in an underground cinema," he told HuffPost Australia.

"It had heaps of atmosphere and the novelty value was big, so it went well for the best part of 12 months -- everybody came and it was a big deal. We killed it.


"But after 12 months the novelty wore off; everybody had been multiple times and even though it was unique in Canberra, it was reduced to a certain demographic and that wasn't enough to sustain it."

Cubbin said the business floundered for three months before he could come up with a plan to save it.

"It was an expensive project ... we'd invested too much to close it," he said.

"It did too well too initially for us to close it. You've got to identify what you're doing wrong -- you've got to take some blame.


"One of the guys I worked with said 'I think this is the demographic we want, let's put that out there and promote that' and we did. And it was the right thing at the right time, so we were lucky."

Disclaimer: - Following article come from THP

The Richest Entrepreneur Under 40 in Hurun's India Rich List for 2016.

BENGALURU: Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma's wealth surged by 162% in the past one year, making him the richest entrepreneur under 40 in Hurun's India rich list for 2016.

Sharma is worth about Rs 7,300 crore, up from Rs 2,824 crore a year earlier. The rise in wealth can be attributed to Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba investment in the company and subsequent funding rounds that have raised Paytm valuation. Sharma holds about 21% stake in the company.

After Sharma, Indigo co-founder Rakesh Gangawal has seen the biggest increase in wealth of more than 150%. His wealth stood at Rs 15,900 crore, thanks to the share price performance of the airline post its IPO last year. 

Anas Rahman Junaid, MDIndia of Hurun Report, a monthly magazine that focuses on high net-worth individuals in China and India, said subdued investor interest in e-commerce and online businesses had reduced valuations of e commerce unicorns in 2016. Several mutual funds with holdings in Flipkart have lowered the valuations of those stakes in the past few months 

Bhavish Aggarwal of Ola, the youngest in the list at 30, is worth Rs 3,000 crore, up from Rs 2,385 crore in last year's list. His co-founder Ankit Bhati is no longer in the list, which looks at those with wealth of Rs 1,600 crore and more. Last year, Bhati's wealth was exactly the same as Aggarwal's. Hurun's Junaid said Bhati does not have as much stake as Aggarwal does at present.

Disclaimer: - Following article come from ET