Of Experiments and Entrepreneurs

Of Experiments and Entrepreneurs Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship, IIM Ahmedabad

Preface Centre for Innovation Incubation and

As CIIE Initiatives completes a decade

Entrepreneurship (CIIE), a vibrant

in fostering innovation-based entrepre-

organisation located in one of the

neurship, I am very pleased to present

scenic corners of IIM Ahmedabad – its

this book to you. We celebrate stimulat-

parent institute – has been at the fore-

ing stories of 78 entrepreneurs from 50

front of creating and nurturing a strong

CIIE ventures. We also travel down the

and dynamic entrepreneurial ecosys-

memory lane to narrate the history of

tem in the country since its inception.

the ever-evolving Centre.

At a time when entrepreneurship was not so popular in the Indian business

On this milestone, I congratulate CIIE –

sphere as much as it is today, IIMA’s

the team, the stakeholders and donors,

faculty instituted a centre dedicated

and, of course, the entrepreneurs – for

towards startups that were slowly

their courage in actualizing of the

beginning to enter the business ecosys-

propensity for imagining, believing in,

tem. Supported by government bodies

and creating new ventures. I hope that

and powered by corporate partner-

you, the readers, will enjoy this chroni-

ships, CIIE has emerged as a frontrun-

cle about CIIE as well as the tales of its

ner in providing platforms, opportuni-

agents of experimentation – the entre-

ties and support to hundreds of start-

preneurs.

ups and entrepreneurs who have chosen the path less travelled.

ERROL D'SOUZA Director, IIM Ahmedabad Member, Board of Directors, CIIE Initiatives

Foreword We are delighted and proud to present

emerging sectors characterized by

associated with CIIE. These stories

‘CIIE: A Decade of Fostering Innova-

market failure, like agriculture, health

showcase their challenges, successes,

tion-Driven Entrepreneurship’.

and energy, it helps create enterprises

joys, heartbreaks, grit and courage.

aimed at producing mass impact

They are bound to engage and inspire

through technology.

you.

CIIE’s core operating value is to be dynamic, and to be able to respond to

e thank all who have contributed to

India's ever-changing startup ecosys-

This book details the experiment called

tem. Looking back, it can claim many

CIIE – it takes the reader step by step

CIIE in various capacities and roles over

firsts – the first incubator in the country

through the conceptualisation, early

the last decade. We are humbled by

to start accelerator programmes, the

years, and the large-scale initiatives

their commitment and confidence in

first to offer them for sectors with

being undertaken now. CIIE has contin-

us. Our entrepreneurs continue to

sparse support systems, the first to set

ually tested and learnt from imple-

inspire us to push harder in our quest.

up cleantech VC fund in India called

menting newer models of supporting

Permit us to present this book to all of

I

entrepreneurs and the larger ecosys-

you. We hope that it enkindles an inno-

platform in India through Bharat

tem. The book highlights the risk-tak-

vation and entrepreneurship fire in you

Innovation Fund and Bharat Inclusion

ing and contribution of academia,

Initiative.

policy makers, government and corpo-

NEHARIKA VOHRA

rate partners, peers, and the unique

Chairperson, Board of Directors, CIIE Initiatives

synergies created amongst them.

Professor, IIM Ahmedabad

and policy makers to facilitate creation

The primary aspect of this journey are

AMIT KARNA

and implementation of various policy

the entrepreneurs – the real heroes of

Faculty Chair, CIIE

initiatives. everaging its network to

CIIE s growth. The book presents stories

provide access to startups across

of 78 entrepreneurs from 50 enterprises

E, and the first to create a fund

CIIE has partnered, and continues to do so, with multiple government bodies

Associate Professor, IIM Ahmedabad

Table of Contents CIIE - Over the Years

09

The CIIE Timeline

11

Makers of the Experiment

13

Ongoing Experiments

41

Celebrating Entrepreneurs

81

Powering Together

83

Shedding the Suit

107

When School Means More

139

Solving Problems, on a Repeat Mode

163

The Experiment Continues

191

Thank You

205

RAKESH BASANT Member, Board of Directors, CIIE Initiatives Professor, IIM Ahmedabad

TURN OVER FOR CIIE'S TIMELINE

Move into Dorm D18 basement

Pratyarpan 1 - Social Entrepreneurship Fair

academia

01

partners

Rooted in Knowledge Building

15

Laying the Ground

21

Finding Fellow Dreamers

27

Turning the Wheels

29

From the lens of a Policymaker

33

Re-imagining Partnerships

35

policy makers

infrastructure

06

02

05

03 04 alumni

entrepreneurs

14

organised a workshop on innovation incubation

The faculty group soon identified a missing but

DEVANATH TIRUPATI

in December 1998. This workshop witnessed

critical component of the incubator – ‘entrepre-

Founding Faculty, CIIE

active participation from policymakers, industry

neurship’. Thus, in 2001, the Centre for Innova-

Former Professor, IIM Ahmedabad

representatives, entrepreneurs, students, and

tion Incubation and Entrepreneurship, or what is

academia. The seeds for an incubation centre

now popularly called CIIE, was established at

were, thus, sown.

IIMA.

A few months later, we presented to the Board

An office space was allocated in the basement

of Directors of IIMA a proposal to establish an

of Dorm 18. A small team was appointed to scout

incubator. Intense conversations about the

for innovations (through ‘Anveshan’) and

need, viability, and fit of this centre in IIMA soon

manage the incubation process. The first few

followed. In a quest to prove the centre’s legiti-

incubatees were selected and a mentoring

macy, the faculty undertook scouting innova-

process was developed. Each incubatee would

tions that could benefit from incubation at IIMA.

be mentored by a committee comprising of an

The year was 1998. As Ahmedabad struggled

Soon, the Government of Gujarat came on board

IIMA professor, an established entrepreneur, a

with the humid monsoon heat, a few academics

after discussions with Prof. Anil Gupta and in

member from the incubatee’s customer indus-

– Prof. Devanath Tirupati, Prof. Anil Gupta, Prof.

2000, released a grant of about ! 2 crore to set

try, and a design expert, if needed. In addition to

Rakesh Basant, Prof. M. R. Dixit and myself – met

up the incubation centre. Department of

monthly mentoring interactions, incubatees had

in a small room in the sprawling IIM Ahmedabad

Science and Technology, GoI, agreed to come on

full access to the working space and resources in

(IIMA) campus. Indian economy had recently

board too. It was decided to set up a ‘Centre for

the centre.

embarked on its journey towards liberalisation

Innovation Incubation’. Its mandate was to

and globalisation. Working with emerging

incubate innovations that would address social

Academics are often taken to be dispassionate

technologies and innovators, the academics had

problems and would have a potential for mass

and detached from ‘reality’. CIIE is living proof of

M. R. DIXIT

come across radical innovations addressing

impact.

passion and unflinching commitment of a few

Founding Faculty, CIIE

critical problems, and holding immense promise

stalwart academicians towards setting up an

Adjunct Professor, IIM Ahmedabad

for the masses. However, most of these innova-

institution. The faculty at IIMA conceptualized

tions failed at commercialisation, therefore

and have nurtured CIIE through its fledgling

unable to make the promised impact.

years. In the true sense of the word, they are the

01

makers of the experiment Rooted in Knowledge Building

ones who incubated the incubator.

These innovations needed to be nurtured, supported and coached on various aspects related

PANKAJ CHANDRA

to setting up and running an enterprise. In other words, they needed to be incubated. To start the conversations on incubation, this faculty group

CIIE's first logo – a womb incubating and delivering an enterprise

Founding Faculty, CIIE Former Professor, IIM Ahmedabad

“Within the founding team, some faculty members who had international exposure had seen how academics and students in the West often floated enterprises together that leveraged on the best of innovation and management expertise. Thus, theirs was a push towards a faculty driven model of incubation. Our greater purpose was to enable successful commercialisation of innovation. This wasn't limited to only young innovators. We were trying to make a dent in a culture which looked down upon and deterred all attempts at commercialising of innovation.”

"The conference by Anil, Pankaj, Rakesh, Tirupati and I launched the incubator that rolled the dice of entrepreneurship based on innovations.

We experimented, learnt and developed CIIE. The IIMA and CIIE team has steered it into higher orbits."

16

18

20

02

makers of the experiment Laying the Ground

pushed for the building to be constructed along

scout for angel funding locally. Groups in and

SAMIR K. BARUA

with IMDC and classroom complexes. Dedicat-

around CIIE were willing to contribute towards

Former Director and Professor, IIM Ahmedabad

ing an entire building to CIIE was an encourag-

this. The institutions around IIMA also came

ing signal from the office of the Director, Prof.

together to create a dialogue amongst them-

Bakul Dholakia (2002-07). The Government of

selves, giving the students an opportunity to

Gujarat also invested around

mingle with others from diverse backgrounds.

2 crores in the

building of the Centre. The building was formally

The future is looking bright; surmounting all

inaugurated in March 2007.

challenges, CIIE continues to grow.

ne of the significant events that shaped the direction CIIE ultimately travelled towards was the arrival of unal

padhyay

and Pranay

B. H. JAJOO

“When I began my tenure as Director, an oft-repeated comment was that while IIMA has produced excellent managers, it has not produced entrepreneurs. CIIE was set up to give expression to Institute’s contribution to entrepreneurship in India. Starting with funding support from the Institute, CIIE has moved from strength to strength over the years, to become a key player in the startup ecosystem of the country. It is a shining example of the institute’s contribution to building a new India.”

ormer Dean and Ad unct Professor, IIM Ahmedabad

Gupta (2009) as key executives at the Centre. Till then, the Centre was primarily run by faculty, The year 1998 witnessed the conception and

who were academicians and theoreticians

ANIL GUPTA

formulation of CIIE by the faculty of IIM

rather than practitioners. The Centre was in

Founding Faculty, CIIE

Ahmedabad.

desperate need of the latter.

hile the enthusiasm of the

ith their experi-

professors to build the centre was indeed a

ence in the corporate sector, they brought with

driving force, what also mattered significantly

them the much-needed vibrancy to CIIE. They

was the timing of starting the centre. The IT

engaged the Centre on diversifying the portfolio

sector was booming; there was progress in the

of activities aimed at scouting and tunnelling

fundamental, technical infrastructure for inter-

innovative ideas, beginning with The Power of

net; and technology in general, had become

Ideas. Pioneering accelerators in India through

affordable.

iAccelerator made CIIE distinct from other

owever, the business applications

for these technologies were lagging behind. ence, it was the perfect time for innovative

incubators in the country. Approaching alumni, who were entrepreneurs themselves, to take

minds to come together and start something

CIIE forward through expert inputs and mentor-

new.

ing helped the Centre flourish. The initial budget being tight, IIMA was quite liberal in letting use

The same year, plans were being formulated on

of the infrastructure at concessional rates.

how to use the new campus space in IIMA. The

Student hostels were used to allot rooms for

timing was also right because there was this

participants of various programmes of CIIE.

vast stretch of land waiting to be built upon.

hile Ahmedabad wouldn t have been the first

Understanding how vital infrastructure is for an

choice for setting up an incubator, it did happen

initiative such as CIIE, the founding team

in its own ways. After CIIE matured, it had to

Ad unct Professor, IIM Ahmedabad

“I am extremely happy that CIIE has grown so well. After the first innovators' workshop in 1998, an idea was mooted that IIMA should have a full-fledged centre to study, promote and support innovations in high-tech and mass-impact sectors. In the initial phase, we kept away from IT-based activities and focused on high-tech inventors mainly. I hope that CIIE can do what most other incubators may not be able to do and support hightech and mass-impact sectors. I am very happy that a seed sown years ago has flourished so well.”

22

24

26

Then came the moment of change. With sup-

become entrepreneurs. Their achievements and

port from alumni like Jerry Rao (PGP 1973) and

growth stories make us proud. Their achieve-

Nuni Murthy (PGP 1988), IIMA Alumni Associa-

ments fill our hearts with gratitude towards

tion decided to fund salaries of two top execu-

alumni who made it possible.

tives of CIIE Initiatives – CEO and Joint CEO – for

makers of the experiment Finding Fellow Dreamers

two years. This, along with the continued sup-

In addition to these three phases, IIMA alumni

port from IIMA, contributed immensely in

have contributed to CIIE in numerous other

enabling CIIE team rise above the existential

ways. We are humbled by their contribution.

struggle. The team could now focus its energies

There is so much that CIIE has gained and

on bigger goals around innovation and entre-

learned in the process. With the continued

preneurship in India – creating pioneering

support from the alumni, we are excited about

incubation and entrepreneur support initiatives

the prospects of CIIE’s future.

in the country.

Around 2011, in fond memory of Sunil Mehta

K. N. VAIDYANATHAN

(PGP 1988), the IIMA alumni contributed towards

Member, Board of Directors, CIIE Initiatives

It takes a village to raise a child. For CIIE, it was

redevelopment of CIIE’s conference hall. In

the IIMA alumni that comprised the village and

recognition, the hall was named Sunil J. Mehta

the community that nurtured the fledgling

Conference Hall and since its inauguration, the

organisation. Over the last decade, alumni of

hall continues to be a vibrant space for conver-

IIMA have made the CIIE’s foundations stronger

sations around innovation, startups, and entre-

and have plugged various gaps that emerged on

preneurship. It continues to be popular in

the way. The alumni’s contribution to strength-

Ahmedabad’s entrepreneurial circuits with

ening CIIE can be seen to span three salient

many events being hosted here every month.

phases – each with a distinct focal point.

The third and the most recent phase started in Coinciding with the incorporation of CIIE Initia-

2012 when alumni from across batches under-

tives in 2008 was the need to provide respect-

took to sponsor stipends for students of IIMA

able remuneration to attract and retain talent.

aiming to pursue entrepreneurship. Being run

hile IIMA provided significant financial and

by CIIE, this programme was called IIMAvericks,

infrastructural resources, including offering

where a student would get

30,000 per month

residences for employees of the Centre, it had

as stipend and a placement holiday for two

limitations in terms of providing salaries to

years.

employees of CIIE Initiatives.

supported by IIMA alumni, have gone on to

ver the last five years,

Chief Risk

fficer, Mahindra and Mahindra

RITU BANGA Co-founder, Zoomdojo IIM Ahmedabad PGP 1981

"While visiting CIIE, I could sense the energy. I have enjoyed judging pitch competitions and advising aspiring entrepreneurs. These initiatives provide a nucleus for innovation, which could become a significant force."

IIMAvericks,

28

makers of the experiment Turning the Wheels

entrepreneurs out there (alumni of IIMA) and

In 2012, CIIE found support from alumni who

CHENDER BALJEE

those in the making (students of IIMA).

undertook to sponsor and mentor graduates

CMD, Royal Orchid Hotels

from IIMA wanting to pursue entrepreneurship.

IIM Ahmedabad PGP 1972

Until 2007/2008, entrepreneurs were considered

Many alumni entrepreneurs including Deep

a rare ‘breed’ of people and this often dissuaded

Kalra and Raghunandan G. have readily accept-

many youngsters from taking the ‘uncommon’

ed to deliver talks and interact with students to

path. We were beginning to realise a critical

acquaint them with the hardships and joys of

need to promote entrepreneurship among the

entrepreneurship. CIIE’s talk series How to Start

masses, and to inspire more towards building

a Start-Up or HTSAS – now in its second season –

businesses and becoming job creators. Through

continues to witness active participation from

many conversations between faculty, entrepre-

the IIMA student community.

neurs and alumni, we conceptualised an anthology of stories of some of the most successful

Support and encouragement from IIMA’s alumni

entrepreneurs from IIMA. IIMA alumna Rashmi

entrepreneurs have created a foundation for

Entrepreneurship has always been in the DNA of

Bansal partnered with CIIE to author this book,

CIIE’s initiatives towards building an active

IIM Ahmedabad. Rashesh Shah, Chender Baljee,

while many IIMA alumni entrepreneurs enthusi-

ecosystem for entrepreneurs on IIMA campus.

Madan Mohanka, Deep Kalra, and K Raghaven-

astically supported this initiative by sharing their

After all, good things must begin at home.

dra Rao are just a few names among many. The

stories and experiences. Published in 2008, Stay

course – Laboratory in Entrepreneurial Motiva-

Hungry Stay Foolish has become a bestseller.

tion or LEM – is credited with opening the entre-

Translated into eight languages, this book

SANJEEV BIKHCHANDANI

preneurial path for many. Conceptualised and

continues to inspire many on their entrepre-

Member, Board of Directors, CIIE Initiatives

offered by Prof. Pradeep Khandwalla and taken

neurial journey.

Co-founder, Info Edge

“Alumni and entrepreneurs at IIMA and CIIE have managed to keep the spirit of innovation alive. It has added to cultivating and maintaining the bridge between the industry, individual and entrepreneur.

It is heartening to see that CIIE has incubated numerous startups, which in turn, have filled the missing gaps in the industry.”

IIM Ahmedabad PGP 1989

over by Prof. Sunil Handa subsequently, this course has inspired many on an uncommon,

Deeply committed towards entrepreneurship

difficult but highly rewarding path of entrepre-

and their alma mater, alumni entrepreneurs

neurship.

have plugged various gaps and created unparalleled opportunities for entrepreneurs-in-making

While academic and research interests drove

through CIIE. Students at IIMA often reach out to

the founding of CIIE, its objectives concurred

alumni and seek mentorship. Towards more

with those of many alumni entrepreneurs – a

efficient mentoring, CIIE initiated creation of a

push towards entrepreneurship at IIMA. CIIE,

mentor network in 2009, which witnessed

therefore, became the conduit for an exchange

wholehearted participation from alumni

of thoughts, ideas, and resources between

entrepreneurs.

30

32

makers of the experiment From the lens of a Policy Maker

India. According to you, what is India’s entrepre-

early stage startups become unicorns, Indian

partnerships. It has done some pioneering work

In conclusion, what are your recommendations

Although these are not conflicting ob ectives,

neurship story?

investors lose out on the opportunity to profit

in setting up accelerators in India – which has

for CIIE? What should be the focus area on its

temporary conflicts may arise. CIIE will have to

from them. There are various measures which

now led way for other incubators to also adopt

journey onwards?

make sure that both the host institution and the

I have been working in this area since 1984, and I

the government has taken, like the I

the accelerator boot camp based incubation

have seen the ecosystem develop. Before 1991, in

Ventures and the Bharat Innovation Fund, some

model. Another very important contribution has

Any organization has multiple objectives and

objectives for supporting CIIE. There is merit in

a closed economy, it was very difficult to

of which have been set up by CIIE itself. These

been CIIE’s hand-holding and helping out other

focus areas. The first priority for CIIE should be

supporting both of them, as they both feed into

promote entrepreneurship, and tech entrepre-

are the first funds which have been set up in an

incubators in setting up and start operations. It

taking care of the aims of the host institution.

each other and one cannot survive without the

neurship was almost unheard of. Things started

academic environment. While it comes with its

has openly shared its experiences and ideas with

The experience and knowledge which CIIE

other. Finally, I wish the team stays together and

moving with liberalization, but the real shift

own set of challenges, CIIE has established itself

others and helped grow the entrepreneurship

gathers should be used to strengthen the

continues to receive the support it gets from

happened around 1999, when the Y2K problem

as a pioneer and has shown the way for the rest

ecosystem in India.

academic environment within IIMA. Also, CIIE

IIMA. I also wish that the government and other

first surfaced. A host of Indian IT professionals

of the country on how to set up funds within an

should keep focusing on getting more

support industries keep extending their support

went to developed countries to solve the prob-

academic environment.

What were the objectives for establishing CIIE?

high-quality entrepreneurs and creating more

to CIIE, making it an example to follow.

Do you see any change in those objectives or

unicorns, thereby increasing wealth creation.

E

lem. That was when the world recognized Indians as major players in the IT sector and we as

What were the initial situations and conditions

Excerpts from an interview with

Indians gained confidence in our own capability

that led to the formation of CIIE?

Mr Harkesh Kumar Mittal, Adviser, Member

to deliver on global challenges.

endeavors?

Any organization which exists for a long time IIM Ahmedabad had been fostering entrepre-

has to relook and rework its objectives and

From 2001 to 2003, these IT professionals came

neurship and innovation long before CIIE, but

operations, which is the hallmark of a dynamic

Department of Science and Technology (DST),

back with an exposure to global as well as local

they did not have a formal setup. When they

organization. CIIE has ventured into a lot of new

and former Secretary of Technology Develop-

markets. That is when entrepreneurship took off

approached DST, we were quick to give our

programmes and framed various new policies.

ment Board, DST.

not only in IT, but also other technological fields

approval to set up a technology incubator. The

There are various new ventures in the offing,

such as biotechnology and design. Since then,

building took a lot of time to come up, and other

including the Centre of Excellence for business

DST has played a critical role in engendering

Indian entrepreneurs have not looked back.

critical activities were running way behind time.

incubators. I honestly believe that all the chang-

CIIE. Mr Mittal, an IIMA alumnus (PGP 1984), has

While currently we are more focused on services

The advisory committee which had approved

es CIIE has been through have been for the

closely witnessed the unfolding of this experi-

(e-commerce, ITeS etc.), we are also seeing

the incubator was getting worked up regarding

better, and will continue to be so.

ment. In this interview, he recalls the founding

major innovations coming in manufacturing and

the progress.

of CIIE and the challenges and successes during

product development.

ecretary,

ational cience

Technology Entre-

preneurship Development Board

TEDB ,

its progress. Reflecting on India s entrepreneur-

It was started as an academic centre, to conduct In 2007, with the infrastructure ready and the

research and development on entrepreneurship

ship story, he highlights the promising future for

And, what are the key challenges facing entre-

team in place, CIIE took a tremendous leap. We

and develop case studies. However, in the

entrepreneurship in India and outlines goals for

preneurs today?

were then convinced that it was going to be a

course of time, CIIE has been able to transcend

success. From then, CIIE has not looked back.

those objectives and has contributed positively

The biggest challenge is unavailability of risk

We have partnered with them for many

to the process of nationbuilding by directly

You have been deeply engaged with the science

capital. More than 90 per cent of early stage

programmes, and today, I have no hesitation in

promoting and supporting entrepreneurs and

and technology entrepreneurship ecosystem in

funding still comes from abroad. Hence, once

saying that CIIE is one of our most successful

incubators.

CIIE to pursue.

funding supporting institutions meet their

34

makers of the experiment Re-imagining Partnerships

(b) how do we produce truly transformational

Corporate support became a vital resource and

Intellectual Property or IP-driven innovations

these partnerships meant more than funding.

from India. Both are areas where conventional

They opened business networks for our startups.

VCs fear to tread, at least, as of today. For the

With university-based tech business incubators

coming decade, we have found our purpose – to

becoming eligible destinations for corporate

‘foster entrepreneurship in Bharat and innova-

CSR funding, that avenue has become a great

tion for Bharat’.

source of long-term grant funding for our accelerators. Similarly, foundations and development

Though mission driven but perennially under-re-

finance institutions or D Is have increasingly

sourced financially, none of what we have

sought us out to support our work around

accomplished to date would have been possible

impact and innovation.

Regional President and Country Head, BP India

“BP is a proud founding partner for INFUSE. I congratulate CIIE for creating this critical initiative. We are enthused by this unique combination of industry, government and academia coming together to develop innovative solutions for clean energy needs.”

A. Arumugam

without the support of partners who shared the vision of the team. One of the key decisions of

Over the coming decade, partnerships will

our founding faculty – to keep our incubation

remain central to what we do. But the nature of

As the CIIE Board, we have kept a close eye on

and ecosystem development activity open-ac-

these partnerships will change into deeper,

our mission to ‘foster innovation-driven entre-

cess, available to all entrepreneurs in the coun-

longer-term collaborations from the earlier

preneurship’ and its relevance in the ever evolv-

try (rather than only meant for the IIMA commu-

format of programmatic associations.

ing and developing Indian ecosystem. What

nity – students, alumni, and faculty), made us a

should be our raison d’être in this new world of

national resource and platform for convening

entrepreneurs, startups, VCs and incubators?

government, corporates and marquee individu-

A. Arumugam

als.

Member, Board of Directors, CIIE Initiatives Partner, GestAlt Network,

The guiding light for us was bridging the gaps in the ecosystem by doing things that others

Over the years, we have built several pivotal

(especially the private sector) may shy away

partnerships that have left a lasting impact

from. Be it instituting incubators in an emerging

on the ecosystem. In partnership with The

state like Rajasthan or setting up a venture fund

Economic Times, on behalf of the DST, we have

in a risky sector like cleantech – being the

been conducting the largest business plan

‘market-maker’ has been the key driver. Recent-

competition in India (and probably the world!) –

ly, when we were faced with the same existential

The Power of Ideas for several years now. All

question again, we decided that we will pick two

through our journey, these last 10 years, the

tough areas to focus on in the future, i.e. (a) how

Government of India – through agencies such as

do we use digital technologies for creating

DST, MNRE, TDB, NITI Aayog, SIDBI, MeitY – has

hyper scalable inclusive solutions for India’s

been our biggest supporter and partner.

masses and beyond the urban elite, and

SASHI MUKUNDAN

IIM Ahmedabad PGP 1995

Amit Karna

Errol D'Souza

K. N. Vaidyanathan

Neharika Vohra

Rakesh Basant

Sanjeev Bikhchandani

36

Team CIIE – Over the Years

38

40

49

43

g 'in SE t FU o r IN upp S

Ongoing Experiments

71 55

Fi l l i

ng G Alw aps, ays

57 ng ies i ld log at i Bu n o a r ch r Bh e T fo

63 Co Cr m eat m in un g it i es

rd s a w To iven r s IP-D ologie hn Tec

59 ust b o R nd a s l e Mod ctures S tr u

P Kn ush i o Fro wle ng nt dg ier e s

77

Creatin g A l te r n a te Career s

D em o Ent cratisi re p re n n g - s h i eu r p

79

65 n g to i ld s in es i t B u ad r a ro r p o n i o C

42

01

ongoing experiments Filling Gaps, Always

However, at the kick-off stage of India’s startup

To address this conundrum, CIIE decided to heal

commercialization. We partnered with individu-

trajectory, two prominent concerns surfaced:

the ecosystem where it hurt the most i.e. to

als and organizations sharing our vision to

Firstly, a majority of the capital was directed

bring early-stage risk capital to underserved

support growth stage startups financially.

towards the so-called ‘hot’ sectors, typically

spaces through our catalytic investing. Today,

the last decade, we have witnessed follow-on

consumer-internet based solutions for urban

we have seeded more than 110 startups across

investment for our startups from numerous

elite, etc., while only a fraction trickled down to

energy access, clean technology, food and

marquee investors like Accel Partners, Matrix

core sectors like agriculture, energy, enter-

agriculture, healthcare, enterprise tech, educa-

Partners,

prise-tech and healthcare. Secondly, funding

tion and Information and Communication

E uity,

was primarily focused on growth stage;

Technology (ICT) for development. We have

nitus eed und, Dell oundations,

early-stage capital for assumption validation,

allocated about 58 per cent capital to MVP stage

entures, ID

proof of concept, prototype development and

startups and 70 per cent of capital has been

enture Partners and so on.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP) development

deployed in underserved sectors. In fact, we

a portfolio leverage of

was scarce and hard to access.

were the first institutional investors for most of

exits that we have received further affirm that

these sectors. But, all of these ventures needed

catalytic seed finance can be profitable.

Our incubation and acceleration work coincides

The irony struck us then. Unless there is ade-

with the start of India’s entrepreneurial ecosys-

quate seed capital that gives a fair chance to

tem growth. As an incubator, we started to

impactful innovations, how can growth-stage be

By seeding new ideas and innovations, we

provide mentorship, incubation, moving on to

populated without seeding impactful innova-

aimed to create a launchpad for them to reach

network connects, advisory support, and profes-

tions?

the next orbit by scaling up and

mnivore Partners, I midyar

cientist ver

Private

etwork, Blume entures ualcomm

entures, ungle entures,

exus

e have generated

. The

profitable

continuous availability of follow-on funds.

Today, our portfolio features India s largest

sional services to de-risk our ventures.

producer of biomass cook stove

reenway

rameen , one of the largest startups providing primary healthcare in India i ure Techsoft , a medical device startup that has touched over two million lives in blindness

orus

DR AJAI K. GARG

countries by preventing

, Ministry of Electronics and

Information Technology, overnment of India

"India has seen some exemplary entrepreneurial activity in the IT space in the recent past. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is committed to keeping this spirit alive. We work closely on evangelizing and bolstering entrepreneurship in the electronics and IT space.

CIIE, as a Technology Business Incubator (TBI), has been an important partner in pushing this objective. We work closely with CIIE on a wide gamut of activities, including ideating and experimenting with newer models of entrepreneurship support as well as providing comprehensive support to entrepreneurs and startups."

MANISH CHAUDHARY cientist D, Technology Development Board, Department of cience

Technology.

overnment of India

“Between where we are today and where we want to be lies a gap, and that can be bridged via technology and critical talent dedicated to bridging this gap. There is a need for supporting these technologies and talent to create and leverage opportunities that fundamentally impact the way we live, work and relate to one another. Institutions like CIIE are pushing this objective with sharp focus and unwavering commitment.”

ealth , and an innovative

Integrated Pest Management IPM solution provider Barrix Agro promoting organic farming in

states in India through a network of

over 2000 dealers.

But, for us, this is ust the beginning.

e hope to

continue innovating to provide riskiest capital to our entrepreneurs.

Anshul Modi

Chintan Antani

Vipul Patel

44

46

48

02

ongoing experiments INFUSE'ing Support

space in India was characterised by many voids

in selected startups. MNRE and ADB offered

and blurred boundaries. To be able to make a

access to scale-up capital via INFUSE Ventures

comprehensive impact, we undertook a

and gave seed and pre-Series A investments to

multi-pronged approach. We had our eyes set

over a dozen startups.

on both developmental and commercial objectives. These included partnering with financial

NADIR GODREJ

institutions for access to capital, engaging with

MD, Godrej Industries

government to influence policy formulations, mentoring and coaching entrepreneurs and other stakeholders in the system to energise conversations about cleantech, as well as building the mammoth impact-driven enterprises of tomorrow.

The Government of India’s mandate to develop

The market-making approach involved actively

CIIE as a Centre of Excellence in promoting

engaging with the government and multi-later-

sustainable energy entrepreneurship took shape

als to create and unlock new opportunities via

through INFUSE or Indian Fund for Sustainable

policy interventions and partnerships with

Energy, jointly established by MNRE, BP, IFC,

organisations for providing debt-funding.

and TDB. I

Through their efforts, startups actively partici-

E entures is India s first

early-stage cleantech-focused venture capital

pated in schemes like National Solar Mission and

fund.

NABARD-MNRE Solar Water Pumping Scheme.

I

E entures is the flagship initiative by CIIE

Under the INFUSE umbrella, we also pioneered

to create an ecosystem by enabling mentoring,

the concept of sustainability-focused accelera-

seed-funding, equity, and debt funding for

tors in India. Through PowerStart, a three-month

innovations in the cleantech sector. Set up to

startup boot camp, we have supported about 50

address the gaps that exist in sustainability-fo-

fledgling cleantech innovation driven startups in

cused entrepreneurship ecosystem, INFUSE is

four batches. In partnership with MNRE, we

building a strong line-up of massive impact-fo-

provided grants to PowerStart startups. By

cused enterprises of tomorrow.

collaborating with Seed Capital Assistance Facility (SCAF) from Asian Development Bank

When INFUSE was conceptualised, cleantech

(ADB), we were able to make seed investments

“Godrej Industries is pleased to be a part of INFUSE and work closely to build sustainable entrepreneurial solutions for India. INFUSE fits well with our vision of creating a greener I ndia and innovating for socially relevant and environment-sensitive products”

Today, our portfolio proudly boasts investments

companies in the country; Silvan in the home

such as Ecolibrium Energy operating in remote

automation and energy management

energy analytics and predictive maintenance of

domain TE

industrial equipment; REConnect Energy offer-

cold chain solutions space; Proklean offering

ing wind and solar forecasting solutions to

industrial green chemicals probiotics; and

power generators; Gold Farm operating in the

c ers which is India s first decentrali ed

solar water pumping and tractor aggregation

renewable energy and energy efficiency

space; Fourth Partner Energy providing solar

focused pro ect finance company.

in affordable and efficient

focused renewable energy services to several

Amber Maheshwari

GAURI SINGH Former Joint Secretary, MNRE, GoI Principal Secretary, Department of Public Health and Family Welfare, Government of Madhya Pradesh

“The proposal by CIIE for identifying, mentoring and providing initial funding to entrepreneurs in the clean energy sector was radical. CIIE convinced us to take a leap of faith.

Outstanding implementation and support leveraged from private sector and academia has not just created a powerful precedent for other organisations to follow but has catalysed entrepreneurial activity in the sector.”

Anil Paranjape

Daniel Hersson

Nilay Doshi

Supriya Nair

Shyam Menon

Vibhor Dhanuka

50

52

54

ongoing experiments

The Bharat Innovation Fund is an early stage VC Fund that invests in IP-driven startups with a high threshold of innovation on technology in areas such as digital enterprise, healthcare, sustainability, and fintech.

Towards IP-driven Technologies

IoT world. These technologies carry the ability to

mark areas of anomaly automatically in a brain

RATAN TATA

better resolve challenges of scale. They become

scan to diagnose early onset of Alzheimer’s

Chairman, Tata Trusts

‘must have’, rather than ‘good to have’, in com-

Disease and to identify crops and forecast yields

bating today’s complex challenges. Moreover,

accurately using satellite imagery and farm

they go beyond solving only Indian problems to

sensors. Alternately, sensor technology that

addressing global issues.

helps detect corrosion in high-temperature pipelines, or those that monitor highway con-

Despite the apparent transformational nature of

structions, bring about efficiencies in large

these ‘deep technologies’, only 5% of fund

infrastructure projects.

investments in 2016 went into IP-driven startups.

In investing at the early-stage startups, our

Every one of these examples listed above is

philosophy at the Bharat Innovation Fund is to

manifested in products that have been created

back those that create advanced technologies

by Indian startups. We hope to help them on

that change the way we live our lives today. It is

their journey towards large-scale adoption.

“India needs disruptive ideas and technologies to revolutionise the lives of the masses. Tata Trusts believe that entrepreneurship is one of the more effective of creating scalable solutions and we are delighted to be a partner in the Bharat Fund.”

Ashwin Raguraman

our perspective that, much as Information Information Technology has transformed India.

India is, however, a complex country. Our 1.34

Technology has been all-pervasive, some of

Its rise, roughly coinciding with the time that

billion and rapidly-rising population mean that

these technologies, particularly machine learn-

liberalisation took place, changed people and

there is an inherent scale. This translates into an

ing, will become a part of every business solu-

AMITABH KANT

mindsets, and put us on the global map. While

asset in the form of human capital but also leads

tion.

CEO, NITI Aayog

transformational, Information Technology, in its

to larger problems. We have one of the highest

first avatar, did not directly impact the way India

incidence of diabetics and heart disease global-

The Bharat Innovation Fund experiment is,

lived.

ly. Further, about 190 million people go to bed

therefore, looking to support and further other

hungry every day, despite food grain production

experiments in multiple areas: Those that enable

The second wave of India’s transformation

having doubled in the last two decades. Our

digital enterprise, such as solutions that gener-

through digital technologies is well upon us, one

solutions then need to be transformative in

ate automated natural language reports after

which will impact the majority, and enhance our

nature and be able to address large complex

sifting through large data sets. Others in health-

quality of life. The impact will be widespread.

problems.

care that enable early diagnostics, treatment

Consider a technology-driven logistics company,

“Through policies enabling infrastructure and developmental capital, the government has a role to play where there is market failure or perceived risk. The private sector, investors and foundations need to help us while creating sustainable value for themselves.”

Hemendra Mathur

Kailash Nath

Rohan Choukkar

Somsubhro Pal

through novel approaches, and revolutionary

which through a relay approach has created a

The third wave, which is just beginning, will

service models like delivery of healthcare at

model: a truck driver, hitherto on the road for

address this through the emergence of deep

home, for instance, devices that transmit a live

many days at a time, can now return to his

technologies, powered by advancements in data

ECG signal from a remote location to a cardiolo-

family and home- cooked meals every evening.

sciences, biological sciences, material sciences

gist or those that enable a patient to undergo a

The societal impact of such enablement is

and automation. This includes areas like Artifi-

dialysis session in the comfort of his/her bed-

enormous.

cial Intelligence (AI), machine learning and

room. AI-powered solutions that process large

devices communicating with each other in the

datasets to analyse images can be used both to

56

tion driven ventures which can scale.

A vast majority of the newcomers are rural

entrepreneurs aiming to leverage inclusive

customers, accessing this new world through

ongoing experiments Building Technologies for Bharat

their smartphones. This invisible majority,

Contrary to many in the investor, entrepreneur

technologies to serve the poor. Incubation and

Bharat, is being empowered by the digital

and startup communities who believe that this

institutional support to nascent ventures are

revolution.

is hard and risky, we believe that it is possible!

two key components of this experiment. In

CIIE is putting together a programme to use

addition, it is strengthening its capabilities to

The digitization of India on the platforms of Jan

inclusive technologies to serve the needs of

provide holistic support to high growth entre-

Dhan, Aadhaar, and Mobile

Bharat.

preneurial solutions.

programme, the government has facilitated the

Co located with and under the aegis of IIMA,

At CIIE, we are at the beginning of an exciting

creation of layers such as

CIIE has a unique advantage. It can leverage the

journey. A migration which could bring about a

the Digital Locker. Formalization of large

knowledge and experience of its faculty, and the

huge positive change for our country. We are

swathes of the economy is also underway

vast network of entrepreneurs, mentors, policy-

committed to making this happen by equipping

through the shift to a unified, digital tax infra-

makers and experts on the field. CIIE aims to

entrepreneurs to meet the aspirations of Bharat!

structure – the

create an ecosystem to understand the needs of

AM has been

picking up steam. As a part of the Digital India

PI, e

C, e ign and

oods and ervices Tax

T.

the poor, and to design appropriate solutions for

India is going digital – silently, but steadily.

According to The Economist, every second, three

This digital revolution is giving hope to Bharat.

them. It is working with stalwart academics and

people in India are experiencing the internet for

With more information available, their aspira-

researchers to develop insights and identify

the first time. Morgan tanley predicts that

tions are on the rise, and they are looking for

interventions. Through this effort, we look to

internet penetration in the country will rise from

their needs to be serviced. This indicates a huge

give voice to the poor and underserved

32 per cent in 2015 to 59 per cent in 2020.

opportunity for the creation of innova-

segments.

AMIT BHALLA ead, trategy, Ba a Electricals

Sanjay Jain

As part of this experiment, CIIE will nurture

Sandeep Koujalgi

"The quality of interaction and passion of the team are some of the core strengths that we were attracted to.

The startups can get the advantage of testing their ideas, co-create products and could become long-term partners for us."

DR PAWAN BAKHSHI India Country Lead, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

“At the Gates Foundation, we are committed to creating a disproportionate and sustained impact on some of the most critical challenges facing the nation today. In CIIE, we find a similar drive towards meeting some of these goals. CIIE and the Foundation have together embarked on a mission to enable enhanced financial inclusion of the underserved segments of the society, by leveraging innovative technologies. The journey has just begun and we are excited by its potential.”

58

ongoing experiments Robust Models and Structures

We wanted to leverage the strengths of an

not for profits i.e. no case laws or precedents ,

that tie in multiple organizational identities and

CA CHOKSHI SHREYAS B

exemplary academic institution and build an

we have often referred to examples from other

objectives such as incubation, investment, and

Sorab S Engineer & Co

agile organization suited to the rapidly evolving

nations, consulted subject matter experts, and

research, without compromising on any one of

Statutory Auditor, CIIE Initiatives

ecosystem. Thus, in 2008, we decided to incor-

engaged with the policy- makers towards build-

them.

porate as a ection

ing greater clarity. Internally, we have constantly

“Working in a dynamic ecosystem puts immense pressure on organizations. They have to remain relevant and attuned to the fast-evolving needs of their partners and customers, yet remain in line with the institu-

not for profit company

under Companies Act, 1956 (now a Section 8

worked on adhering to specific funding and

At CIIE, we have been continually building

company under Companies Act,

project related accounting, along with all the

robust legal and financial structures to become

company, called CIIE Initiatives, addressed many

statutory compliances for a Section 25 company.

the force multiplier of the innovation and entre-

teething issues and helped us pursue a wide

With an evolution in the incubation ecosystem,

preneurship pursuits in the nation.

variety of activities. It also enabled recruitment

there have been changes in the Finance Act and

of critical talent and adoption of a defter gover-

policies by DST, making the path clearer and

nance structure. Being an erstwhile

smoother for newer incubators.

. The

ection

tionalized legal and regulatory frameworks. Working with CIIE, we have witnessed this from up close. Together, we have delved into the laws and understood the ecosystem closely. In the process, we have created novel structures and processes for others to adopt.“

company also enabled us access resources and funding from various government bodies, CSR

With the establishment of Bharat Innovation

corpus, and funds from various multilateral

Fund, newer structures for legal and accounting

Among its many identities and functions, CIIE is

organizations. Most importantly, we could now

came into place. While we built on our learning

an incubator at IIM Ahmedabad. It was started

invest in startups through equity holding.

from setting up INFUSE Ventures, the challeng-

as a centre focused on a variety of activities around entrepreneurship, including research,

es with Bharat Innovation Fund were very differhile becoming a not for profit organi ation

ent, given the changed ecosystem and needs of

mentoring and training entrepreneurs, and

opened doors, it also brought along the tradi-

startups. It was now imperative to engage

supporting young ventures. It was, therefore,

tional notions of being ‘social’ – where advisory

critical talent with specific technical skills and

always a research centre as well as an incubator.

and investments, a core of incubation activities,

experience. More importantly, we are now

were believed to be misfits. Breaking this barrier

working on building governance structures

Being under the governance of an academic

and perception has been a challenge. We have

institution has brought along a variety of experi-

undertaken various activities to change them,

ences, successes and challenges. While it was

including changing and structuring our legal

easier to reach out to and tap into the academic

and accounting structure.

pool for research, providing financial support to new ventures was increasingly becoming chal-

Setting up of INFUSE Ventures was another

lenging. Some key challenges included inability

experiment that we undertook. A public-pri-

to fund a startup through equity investment,

vate-academia fund focused on clean energy –

hire specific talent, and remain nimble and

the fund was a first of its kind in India. Parti

experimental with decision-making.

cularly owing to the low clarity in laws governing

Amitkumar Jain

Gaurang Singh

Hema Mehta

Jinali Thacker

Sanea Vakaliya

Shailee Dholakia

ANISHA PATNAIK ounder, exstart Consultancy Private imited

“Its been an honour and joy to have been associated with CIIE for over five years now. When working with CIIE, it’s not just about getting a funding done but also ensuring that the startup does everything right, thus helping the startup lay a strong foundation for scalability and success."

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62

ongoing experiments Creating Communities

Accelerators are robust platforms for creating

In addition to acceleration, we designed

A recent experiment that is unfolding at CIIE is

networks between innovators, mentors, inves-

programmes and events for various needs of the

Innocity – a technology-enabled and on-demand

tors, corporates, and domain experts. Innovators

ecosystem, including DemoDays, PitchTowns,

incubation platform which focuses on develop-

often develop powerful peer networks that

workshops, startup fests, and challenges.

ing regional ecosystems in21 tier-2 cities. On

outlast the programme and become their sup-

Innocity, entrepreneurs can choose what work-

port systems.

shops to attend, which mentors to get connect-

GUNJAN PATEL In our quest to expand the scale of acceleration efforts, we partnered with The Economic Times and the Department of Science and Technology in 2010 to launch The Power of Ideas – arguably India’s largest entrepreneurship platform. The programme is a powerful catalyser of national networks and entrepreneurship ecosystems. The

Innovation and startups tend to flourish in ecosystems that are agile, diverse, and richly networked. One way to develop such ecosystems is by building mechanisms and incentives that enable diverse stakeholders to engage in high-value interactions and build strong

programme has been conducted four times,

ead, C R, Asia Pacific, apan and India, AP

“Large scale and sustainable change can be enabled by empowering youth.

SAP and CIIE have focused on initiatives that energise the ecosystem and youth to undertake innovation and entrepreneurship.”

ed to, and, when or where to pitch. Within six months of its launch, Innocity has supported over 200 aspiring entrepreneurs, 50+ early stage entrepreneurs and 15+ startups. Considering the rapidly evolving ecosystem, we are placing our

Jagan Karthick

Kiran Chakkingal

Sahil Jain

Susmita Ghosh

Swarup Pandya

Yash Joglekar

bets on such a blended model for ecosystem development – one that powers in-person exchanges using robust technology.

with over 30,000 startups and ideas screened.

This energised the entrepreneurial activity in

JOYDIP BHATTACHARYA

India by bringing together over 300 mentors,

Brand Lead, The Economic Times

100 angel investors, and many corporates and

“Thanks to the commendable spadework done by the DST and CIIE, The Economic Times Power of Ideas has become India’s largest platform for aspiring and budding entrepreneurs.”

incubators.

networks. In our journey, we have experimented with numerous models of programmes – including accelerators, national and regional scouting, and market access programmes – to evangelize and inspire more entrepreneurs. Our quest

FREEMAN MURRAY

towards identifying innovations and supporting

Mentor-in-Residence, iAccelerator

them started in 2002 with Anveshan – an inno-

“The iAccelerator pioneered a form of incubation that was effective in helping Indian startups get established.

The IIMA brand allowed it to appeal to the elite"

vation scouting competition. Learning from a fast-changing economy, in 2008 we launched iAccelerator. Aimed at ICT businesses, iAccelerator was one of the first accelerators in India. It also inspired us to design accelerators for other nascent ecosystems including food and

Ashwin Joshi

Ghazal Goyal

agri-business, clean energy, water, healthcare, and mobility.

64

and rich talent – contribute to various ob ectives

mented with creating platforms for corporates

Castrol India’s CSR contribution was utilized to

NIKHIL KELKAR

various models of engaging startups and corpo-

and startups to discover each other and find

support Banyan

Director, Teamcenter Product Development, iemens

rates with each other. The first mentoring teams,

common purposes efficiently.

tech startup. Mahindra inance supported two

created in 2001-2004, included a representative of

like GrowthCamps, where leading corporates

innovation-based ventures in agriculture space

to engage startups or have accelerators to

a corporate from the customer industry. tartups

and startups from a domain interface with each

i.e. ickle Innovations and

support relevant startups.

owever, these are

could, thereby, polish their offering during incuba-

other, often lead to interesting partnerships,

Infoline footed three prototype grants for inno-

only few and far between.

hile there is

tion using the feedback from a corporate custom-

spanning across balance sheet investments, LPs,

vative solutions in fintech to make access to

immense value for both corporates and startups

er. Realising the diversity and peculiarity in the

customer/vendor engagements and other

financial services viable for a vast underserved

in engaging with each other, most of it lies

needs of both corporates and startups, we experi

strategic partnerships.

segment. TA E solutions invested in Bodhi

of a corporate.

ome corporates have well defined programmes

ongoing experiments Building In-Roads into Corporates

ver the last decade, we have experimented with

locked.

at various levels.

tartups engagement with corporates extends

Arjit Johri

Salim Vali

distribution network and customer base. An early customer in a corporate enables startups get early validation and sharpen their offering. A

between the startup ecosystem and the corpo-

health workers i.e. A

rate world. The Companies Act

support from Ba a Electricals for a strategic role

mandated

A workers . CIIE received

companies to institute Corporate Social Respon-

in facilitating entrepreneurial approaches to

sibility C R processes and investments. The

improve energy access through our startup ergy.

as a valid C R spend. Riding on this remarkable

These are but a few examples of the corpo-

policy change, we have undertaken identifying

rate startup connect enabled by the C R policy,

and creating mechanisms for making the CSR

facilitated by CIIE. Building startup engagement

spends more meaningful for the corporates as

models that suit the corporates’ needs and are

well as the startup ecosystem.

e ually valuable to the startups can be challenging.

well as the grit and promise of startups and

corporates and startups, we have been develop-

entrepreneurs keeps us excited on this ourney.

include support to programmes fostering inno-

alignment with the corporate have also been

vations as well as financial support in varied

able to raise capital from the corporate partners.

forms to startups/entrepreneurs working on

n the other hand, corporates, in their uest to

promising technologies and innovations.

accelerate growth and continue to remain ahead of the curve, find an ideal partner in

Sharada Kapilavai

owever, the enthusiasm of corporates as

To address the various needs and interests of

ing diverse C R engagement models. These

handful of startups that saw strong strategic

strengths of startups such as innovation,

improving rural health by training frontline

business incubators located within universities

tion, CIIE has been collaborating with corporates

startups driven by innovation. ome of the key

In 2014, the ground was laid for a strong bond

rule specifically identified contributions to

hosting India’s largest business plan competi-

often gain market access through a corporate’s

inemach. India

Health, a startup committed to the cause of

rom conducting India s first accelerator to

beyond only customer relationships. tartups

ur programmes

ation – a waste management

“CIIE has been a partner of Siemens Industry Software, helping SISW connect and engage with innovative startups. CIIE is helping build a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in India. Congratulations on your 10th anniversary and best wishes for the future!”

SHEKHAR BAJAJ CMD, Ba a Electricals

“We would like to deploy our CSR funds by identifying partner organisations who move from ideation to execution. Environmental sustainability is one of our priority areas in CSR, and supporting enterprises working in promoting renewable energies serve the larger purpose.”

SUDHAKAR POTUKUCHI ead, Eaton India Innovation Centre

“Our partnership with CIIE in building innovation ecosystem on sustainability-related areas has been very successful. This team helped us with high-quality startups who enabled us to catalyse innovation change. Wishing them success and looking forward to a deeper engagement.”

Shivam Choubey

dynamic cultures

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68

70

ongoing experiments

Such arduous conditions are known to have

At Startup Oasis, we are determined to energise

We are also creating infrastructure, platforms,

MAHAVIR SHARMA

RAVI MATHUR

instilled a sense of frugality in the community.

startups in Rajasthan. To achieve this, we are

and support systems for entrepreneurs. Through

Chairman and Co-founder, Rajasthan

Vice President, Rajasthan Venture Capital Fund

Conducting a few programmes for students in

partnering with prestigious organisations for

Innocity, we aim to empower them to design

Angel Investors Network (RAIN)

Rajasthan made us realise the strong and innate

building a robust startup ecosystem. To promote

their own incubation programme with more

frugal innovation and entrepreneurship predis-

social entrepreneurship, we have signed an

pointed and relevant inputs. Our 120-seater

positions of the local community, as well as

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the

co-working space in Jaipur is a vibrant one; the

conspicuous absence of support systems for

Department of Technical Education, Government

energy and optimism of entrepreneurs working

entrepreneurs.

of Rajasthan to establish and operate incubators

here is infectious.

“Startup Oasis helps startups to understand their idea better, and handhold them into creating a POC, a workable B-plan, how to pitch to investors and so on. Wishing success and partnerships together in the future."

in seven key cities of the state. We were also In June 2013, this led to founding of Startup Oasis

selected as one of the four incubation centres to

Four years ago, we started Startup Oasis with a

– a joint initiative of the Rajasthan State Industrial

implement the INVENT programme, a joint

single question – why should entrepreneurship

Development and Investment Corporation

initiative of UK’s Department of International

ecosystems remain cloistered in a few chosen

(RIICO) and CIIE Initiatives. Its objectives included

Development (DFID) and TDB of DST, GoI. Under

geographies? Over the years, Startups Oasis has

planning, designing, and executing programmes

the programme, Startup Oasis shall fund and

been our experiment to evangelize entrepre-

that would aid in building and strengthening the

incubate around 40 social enterprises over three

neurship by leveraging the innate, embedded

Rajasthan, as a state, has been known for its

innovation and startup ecosystem in Rajasthan.

years. Through our partnership with the Rajas-

knowledge of the communities. Ever since its

culture, art, music, dance, and tourism potential.

Startup Oasis was further selected in June 2015

than Venture Capital Fund (RVCF), we aim to

founding, Startup Oasis has mentored and

The keen business acumen of the Marwari com-

as a Technology Business Incubator (TBI) by the

scout and incubate early stage startups until

incubated 104 startups. Of these, 21 have raised

munity is well known the world over. On the

National Science and Technology Development

their seed funding by RVCF. In collaboration with

external follow-on funding, while another 26

other hand, the expansive Thar desert and arid

Board (NSTEDB) of the DST, GoI.

Banasthali University, we are establishing India’s

continue to grow through internal accruals. One

first women-only incubator.

of our startups, Razorpay, has reached the

Democratising Entrepreneurship

landscapes make living conditions difficult.

pinnacle after being accelerated at Y-Combinator. Our startups work on innovations and solu-

"RVCF sees Startup Oasis as a key stakeholder in building the startup ecosystem. Since 2013, it has been nurturing and supporting aspiring entrepreneurs and startups from Rajasthan and helping them to become investible through its incubator and accelerator programmes."

Dr. Pallavi Tak

Saurabh Chandra Rai

Tarun Agrawal

Vaibhav Vashishtha

tions with positive social and/or environmental impact. Startup Oasis has been our experiment in democratizing geographies. We believe that the experiment is unfolding well.

Abhimanyu Saxena

Abhishek Gupta

Chintan Bakshi

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74

76

an institutional mechanism for the placement

RAVI SAXENA

holiday – with a stipend and senior mentor for

Managing Director,

entrepreneurial ventures at IIMA. Called IIMAver-

IIM Ahmedabad P P

onderchef,

icks, this programme aims at producing more mavericks from IIMA, who will take the road less travelled. Entirely supported by IIMA alumni in

ongoing experiments Creating Alternate Careers

the beginning, the programme includes a two year financial and mentoring support to graduating students at IIMA, and a two year placement holiday. About

the IIMAvericks fellowship.

hardest. This is especially true with regard to entrepreneurship at IIMA and, for that matter, across all leading academic institutions. A combination of high salaries on campus and student loans mean that the entrepreneurial path has a

, based on inputs from the IIMAvericks

Founder and CEO, MakeMyTrip

Mohan (IIMAvericks 2015-17) co-founded Predible

connect startups with students for various

IIM Ahmedabad PGP 1992

that has recently raised seed funding from

objectives including live projects, summer

IIMAvericks Emeritus

Unitus and is on the way to achieving superla-

internships, research etc. Over the years, these

tive growth and impact.

experiments have helped create a culture of entrepreneurship on campus, as evident from

academic collaboration called A-league. A

and professional inclinations of young manage-

collaboration platform between 14 major educa-

ment graduates, we’re on our toes, continually

tional institutions of Ahmedabad and Gandhi-

trying to make relevant connects, start conver-

this internship some interns went on to take the

nagar (including NID, IIT Gandhinagar, CEPT,

sations, and open up choices. After all, having

IIMAvericks fellowship.

Ahmedabad University etc.), A-league is sup-

alternatives is a good thing!

Till date, CIIE has supported

students under

fellows, we introduced a summer internship IIMAvericks has been our experiment with

and multi-disciplinary ecosystem amongst

two kinds of students, i.e. those absolutely

creating and easing alternate career paths for

students, thereby creating opportunities for

certain of their idea and wanting to dive in

students at IIMA. Its positive outcomes are now

innovation and entrepreneurship.

headlong as early as possible, as well as those

manifesting

wanting to test the waters with minimum risk.

Agarwal, IIMAvericks

programme.

e expected the internship to help

“It has been a pleasure to see CIIE grow from an idea to one of the finest incubators. Kudos to the team who made CIIE a fertile ground for entrepreneurs to nurture ideas and help them grow into businesses.”

ported by SAP and aims at building a vibrant

iddhi arnani and Anurag and their

In 2017, we introduced ‘Experiencing Live Action of Business’ or eLAB, a course aimed at giving students hands-on experience of running an enterprise. Students of A-League colleges were invited to be a part of the course. With a small

, CIIE pioneered the concept of

seed funding from CIIE, student groups conceptualised and ran their enterprises for 12 weeks.

entrepreneurs keen on pursuing an entrepre-

Trying their hands on a variety of businesses, the

neurial path, enabling them to come back and

groups experienced diverse but real challenges

sit for placements anytime over the next two

of running an enterprise. Six out of seven teams

years if their ventures don t take off. This initia-

made profits at the end of the course. Two

tive changed the landscape of campus entrepre-

teams have handed over their businesses to

neurship in India, as most academic institutions

collaborators from the local ecosystem who

drew inspiration from this and adopted versions

Jigar Jivani , we went a step further and created

versations around entrepreneurship going. We

given the evolving entrepreneurship ecosystems

placement holiday for graduating aspiring

In

and lauded by the Prime Minister. Deepak

outside IIMA, CIIE is also seeding a unique

for a de risking programme.

of it.

DEEP KALRA

their popularity amongst students. However,

very high opportunity cost. Therefore, the need

In

We continue to hold other events to keep con-

To push towards student entrepreneurship

undertaken entrepreneurial pursuits through

In The first step towards anything is usually the

students have

“Ved Arya Trust was founded to keep the memory of our dear classmate alive by sponsoring young entrepreneurs. CIIE selects the deserving candidates for the award via its IIMAvericks programme.”

venture Parvata Foods, have been recognised

Tapish Bhatt

continue to run the enterprise, while one team, having ironed out the chinks in their business model, has decided to start up formally.

78

academics.

10

ongoing experiments Pushing Knowledge Frontiers

hile difficult to sustain, this model

difficult for mentors to keep a track of their

V. K. NARAYANAN

IIMA for research, teaching material, and other

At CIIE, we have experimented with conspicu-

of integrating practice with knowledge genera-

mentee s progress, especially considering the

Fulbright Fellow, Deloitte Touche Jones Stubbs

knowledge resources. Our research spans a

ously diverse mechanisms, approaches, process-

tion created the foundations for development of

prolonged engagement of mentoring. We

Professor of Strategy & Entrepreneurship,

variety of focus areas on various pointed topics

es, and outputs of knowledge creation and

case studies and deep research, and courses on

created and published the Mentoring Journal to

Le Bow College of Business, Drexel University

in the broad horizontal of entrepreneurship.

dissemination. However, sharper understanding

innovation and entrepreneurship. Over our

equip mentors for making the mentoring

Cognitive processes of entrepreneurs, social

for improved practices and, therefore, more

journey, we have experimented with various

process more efficient and effective. Another

entrepreneurship, gender and entrepreneurship,

robust outcomes for innovation and entrepre-

other models to blend the field and class .

one of our publications - Think Pune! was aimed

organisational design of new ventures, unbun-

neurship in the country, has continued to be the

Partnering with IIMA faculty to co-author cases,

at presenting a consolidated view of the indus-

dling entrepreneurial pitches, and models and

bedrock for all our knowledge building efforts.

designing and offering courses, and creating

trial and innovation ecosystem in a rapidly

opportunities for live projects by students, are

growing geographical region. It is a compendi-

just few ways that fuel the cross-feeding knowl-

um of industries in Pune that looks at the critical

edge-practice relationship.

factors that made Pune produce numerous

“It was my pleasure to have spent my Fulbright-Nehru fellowship with CIIE during the five months of 2016. CIIE has created a dynamic environment for incubating startups, fully cognizant of the role it has to play in the evolution of Indian economy. I found the people at CIIE dedicated and helpful, and they are continually repositioning the Centre to lead and be aligned to the Indian economic context.”

successful ventures, identifies the gaps in the Our deep roots in academia have also enabled

current ecosystem, and encourages entrepre-

Pursuing research and knowledge creation

us to reach out to higher goals of creating and

neurs to fill these gaps.

continues to be one of the three pillars of CIIE.

disseminating knowledge. Particularly, CIIE has

Much of this can be credited to the academic

published resources targeted towards specific

In 2015-16, we undertook training of incubators

foundations which instilled the ethos of blended

needs in the rapidly evolving entrepreneurship

in India. We soon realised that incubators face

pursuits of knowledge and practice in CIIE.

ecosystem in India. The most notable one being

similar ambiguities and challenges while setting

Research at CIIE draws upon data generated

Stay Hungry Stay Foolish, a bestseller published

up operations. Given the accelerated growth in

and questions encountered during various

in 2008, that has energised entrepreneurship as

the number of innovators, entrepreneurs, and

activities around investment, ecosystem build-

a career choice in India for thousands of its

startups in India, there was a need for more

ing, incubation, and mentoring. Knowledge thus

readers.

incubators that would hit the ground running.

To make the setting up of an incubator more

created contributes to improved understanding

the ongoing research projects.

LAURA PARKIN Wadhwani Foundation

“I recall that, when CIIE was launched, the entrepreneurship scene in India was so much less developed than it is today. CIIE has driven our understanding of what makes for high-impact companies, has translated that knowledge into real world success, and has been an extraordinary force in building India’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.”

We have also experimented with making knowl-

efficient, and stretch our reach to a wider group

edge-based interventions towards various needs

of incubator managers, we published the Hand-

The first incubation processes at CIIE aimed at

of the ecosystem. In 2012, we published the

book for Non-Profit Incubator Managers in 2017

integrating incubation with knowledge building.

Mentoring Journal that enables a mentor to

in partnership with GIZ (or German Corporation

Mentoring teams, created for each incubatee,

meaningfully engage with an entrepreneur. The

for International Cooperation). The Handbook

were led by IIMA faculty. The objective was to

journal was a result of our learning from bring-

was aimed at helping managers of non profit

CIIE was founded as an academic centre which

facilitate a deeper and prolonged engagement

ing together entrepreneurs and mentors during

incubators in setting up processes efficiently

would delve deeper into entrepreneurship

with new ventures to give insights into process-

accelerators and various other programmes. We

and thereby creating lasting impact.

research. In 2016, to re-energise the academic

es of innovation and entrepreneurship. Leading

realised that mentoring was a deeply

objectives, CIIE started pushing harder on the

the mentoring teams was an intensive task for

person-dependent activity. Moreover, it was

research and academic output. We are actively

and more effective practice of entrepreneurship.

frameworks for financial inclusion are a few of

Rajesh Jain

Snehil Basoya

Supriya Sharma

Valerie Mendonca

partnering with faculty from within and outside

80

powering together Stories of entrepreneurs and co-founders who are force multipliers. While some have known their co-founder(s) before even knowing what, where, when, or how of venturing out, others seek out each other whilst on their path of setting up an enterprise. As they moved ahead in their partnership, these entrepreneurs continually draw immense power from each other to create massive impact.

celebrating entrepreneurs

shedding the suit There are some who jump right in, and then there are those who prepare diligently with undeterred focus. These entrepreneurs worked in a variety of industries, roles, and kinds of organisations before starting up. Their decision to venture arises from a deep discomfort with a problem or gap that they have encountered, coupled with a strong, almost personal, drive to address it.

when school means more With an inclination towards the entrepreneurial life early on, these entrepreneurs used their time in college to prepare for their venture. Drawing heavily on the expertise and available resources while in college, these entrepreneurs undertook signiďŹ cant steps towards their startup (spanning from ideation to pilot testing) while still a student. Upon graduation, they hit the ground running and set up enterprises for impact.

solving problems, on a repeat mode These entrepreneurs are on a repeat mode – notice a problem, craft a solution, deliver, repeat. They have a deep commitment to solving problems and continually work on making a difference. While some work in similar domains, there are others who have crafted entrepreneurial interventions for a wide variety of problems.

82

powering together Girish Redekar & Raghuveer Kancheria Onwards, with Determination

85

Vishal Pandya & Vibhav Nuwal Powered by Passion

99

Chintan Soni & Harit Soni Taking People Along to Success

87

Amarsh Chaturvedi & Ashwani Rawat Defying the Odds

101

Vivek Subramanian, Saif Dhorajiwala & Vikas Saluguti Going Green, Going Big

89

Hardik Sanghvi & Kushal Sanghvi Brothers on a Mission

103

Abhilash Thirupathy & Karthic Ravindranath No Such Thing as Impossible

91

Kanupradeep Subramanian & Srishti Shaw No Mountain Too High

105

Vinay Jaju & Piyush Jaju A Candle in the Dark

93

Vishwadeep Kulia, Chandrashekhar B. & Dr Sivaraman Pillai Cleaning it up, with Determination

95

Harshil Mathur & Shashank Kumar Finding Larger Fish to Fry

97

84

IIT Madras, was timely and fortunate as both had

Being nimble, learning quickly, and adapting to

faced a variety of problems while recruiting.

new situations have enabled Girish and Raghu-

Having observed the problem from close quar-

veer surpass the plethora of challenges which

ters, they knew that the market was ready for a

have come their way. Recognising the potential

recruitment software. Aplopio Technologies was

of the global market, they quickly adapted to

founded in 2008.

the diverse needs of global customers. The tough times helped them realise their shortcom-

Soon after starting up, they realised that they

ings in marketing and recruitment which were

lacked the hands-on experience and business

subsequently addressed with the addition of a

acumen required to run a company. Though

third co-founder, Raj Sheth.

participating in an accelerator helped them iron

01

Girish Redekar & Raghuveer Kancheria Aplopio Technology

Finding the right co-founder is a tough task; there is no set method to it. Sometimes, when two different but complementary personalities come together to work on a common goal,

These challenges have helped both Girish and

multiple roadblocks in their quest to develop a

Raghu grow immensely. The duo ardently

M P. By the end of the first year, they had

believes that each entrepreneur needs to seek

invested all of their life savings in developing

his/her own unique path and that neither the

their product and yet the finished product was

paths traversed nor the hindrances faced by any

nowhere in sight. Somehow they powered through and were ready with an MVP. Even then, the duo continued to struggle with various operational issues.

superlative results follow. A case in point being Girish Redekar and Raghuveer Kancheria, co-founders of Aplopio Technologies and creators of the highly-successful software suite Recruiterbox.

Although there are conspicuous differences in their personalities, Girish and Raghuveer share a common passion for making HR processes more

Onwards, with Determination

out some fundamental flaws, they still ran into

effective. While Raghuveer is a second generation entrepreneur who had been scouting to find a partner for his entrepreneurial pursuits, Girish is ‘an accidental entrepreneur’ who was rather content pursuing ‘conventional’ career options. Raghuveer’s meeting with Girish, his senior from

two entrepreneurs are the same. The novices have now transformed into astute business leaders, more confident of tackling whatever challenge is thrown their way. ‘Bring it on’ they say!

“

Always talk to your customers. The more you listen to them, the more you improve.”

86

Having been a part of dinner table conversations

able to pay salaries to their employees (the

Their deep trust in each other and the unflinch-

ing focus and a deeply committed team, there is

revolving around their family business since

brothers did not draw a salary at that time).

ing commitment of their team have enabled

no stopping Chintan and Harit.

childhood, it was only a matter of time before

Their team, the disguised heroes, unanimously

Ecolibrium Energy scale unprecedented heights.

Chintan and Harit Soni started up. After com-

decided against Ecolibrium taking a loan and

The brothers have also grown remarkably

pleting their higher education, the two brothers

volunteered to wait one or two months for their

through this journey. Chintan now embraces

decided to put their entrepreneurial dreams on

salaries.

anxiety and engages readily with various stakeholders, while Harit has become more methodi-

hold to learn the fundamentals of the corporate world. They started out separately – Chintan

Such displays of support and trust have only

cal and delegates more easily. The brothers are

worked on producing biofuel from algae while

deepened Chintan and Harit’s belief in the

now eyeing the global market. With their unerr-

arit established a carbon trading firm. The

power of people. The brothers consistently strive

unmet need for high initial investments, early

to provide their team an environment conducive

state of the market, and lack of support systems

for learning and growth. Chintan sends person-

led to shelving of their ventures. However, they

alized letters to the parents of his team mem-

did not lose their enthusiasm and came togeth-

bers, pouring his affection and concern towards

er in 2010 to establish Ecolibrium Energy, a

them and the respective team member. Such

pathbreaker in the Indian energy analytics

acts have enabled them to build a close-knit

space.

team with enviable credentials and a tremendous sense of ownership.

Ecolibrium Energy equips businesses to improve their asset efficiency with IoT powered predic-

02

Chintan Soni & Harit Soni

tive analytics. The brothers have worked closely with their customers to develop intelligent algorithms that adapt to varied usage patterns, analyse data, and identify potential for more efficient consumption of energy. Today, Ecolibrium Energy manages over 1200 MW of power consumption and partners with nearly 500 corporates such as FIAT, Suzuki, Coca Cola etc.

Ecolibrium Energy Chintan and Harit recall the hard times during

Taking People Along to Success

their initial years. Once the company almost ran out of cash. Negotiations for a funding round were taking longer than expected and it had become clear to them that they wouldn’t be

Have no fear of rejection, or failure, because there is no other option but to succeed.”

When Vivek Subramanian, Saif Dhorajiwala, and

Marching on through the tough times, facing

Vikas Saluguti decided to start their own ven-

every adversity, they ultimately overcame every

ture, they were unsure of what exactly they

challenge by devising new and innovative solu-

wanted to do. Months of brainstorming led to

tions to cure their financial woes. They, now,

ideas being created and abandoned, ranging

strongly believe in the power of people and feel

from creating an impact in the nation’s favourite

they’ve made it this far due to the sheer com-

pastime (cricket) to building a gaushala (cow

mitment displayed at every turn by their team.

ranch). Since they weren’t really ‘techies’, a

Vivek proudly points out that their team could

software based startup wasn’t an option.

easily secure higher-paying jobs with MNCs but

Instead, they resolved to address a basic need of

choose to work at Fourth Partner Energy due to

the Indian population – power. pecifically,

the satisfaction they derive from seeing the

sustainable, renewable, and green energy for all.

impact of their efforts.

This was an idea they felt connected with, and one that had the potential to impact millions of

Today, Fourth Partner makes as much revenue

lives. With focus on building decentralized solar

in a day, as it used to do in a year when it start-

power assets in India, they started Fourth Part-

ed.

ner Energy in 2010.

Their chosen path was a difficult one. As ivek

Vivek Subramanian, Saif Dhorajiwala & Vikas Saluguti

says, the power sector had largely been a neglected one in India. There were few people willing to invest in renewable energy at that point in time. Everyone including customers, investors, and partners refused to meet them.

Banks refused to talk to them. They were unable to set up their operations. They often questioned themselves – would we be able to make it?

Under an acute resource crunch, they even had

Fourth Partner Energy

Going Green, Going Big

to borrow money from their aging parents, something that greatly dampened their spirits.

Those first few years were very difficult and immensely tested their grit and determination.

“

There is no place for ego in an enterprise.”

As newbies, Abhilash’s and Karthic’s aim with

related space was now proving to be a dou-

Gold Farm has been to bridge the technology

ble-edged sword. Realizing that they lacked the

gap that exists between industry and small and

required technical nous to make a mark, they

marginal farmers. Their journey began with

understood the importance of always remaining

educating farmers about the benefits of solar

in a learning mode. They also realized the impor-

water pumps and over the last five years they

tance of humility and the need to constantly

have transformed millions of lives by converting

improve.

over 2500 hectares of barren land into cultivable.

Now, they aim to become the ‘Ola’ for farm

The pair emphatically affirms that entrepreneur-

equipment and make farm equipment easily

ship is full of surprises and that there aren’t any

accessible by leveraging the benefits of sharing

thumb rules! The only route to survival, and

economy.

perhaps success, necessitates that one always remains nimble. The many moments of agony

When you are an entrepreneur passionate about your business, each day brings a whirlwind of emotions. or over five years, this has been the

Abhilash Thirupathy & Karthic Ravindranath

problems at hand, it dawned upon them that

tremendous personal growth in Abhilash and

their respective skill sets did not equip them

Karthic. These bumps and joyrides have tough-

enough to come up with comprehensive

ened the duo and they look forward to the

answers to the issues plaguing the agriculture

adrenaline rush that a regular day at work has to

space. No prior experience in agriculture or a

offer.

Ravindranath, co-founders of Gold Farm – a startup providing high quality agricultural equipment and services to farmers.

Abhilash, a dental surgeon, and Karthic, an aerospace engineer, came together to make a difference in the agriculture space. They were

tial of the sector. They believed that coming from completely unrelated sectors gave them

No Such Thing as Impossible

and joy in their journey have brought about

reality for Abhilash Thirupathy and Karthic

confident of the tremendous unfulfilled poten-

Gold Farm

As they delved deeper into addressing the

an edge as they could approach the industry’s problems with an unbiased mind, free from any preconceived notions. With immense trust in each other and their complementary skill sets, they took the plunge and co-founded Gold Farm

“

Don’t analyse too much. Go ahead and give it a shot and, while you are at it, enjoy the journey – don’t suffer entrepreneurship.”

in 2012.

92

of us face at some stage or the other. Vinay Jaju of us face at some stage or the other. Vinay Jaju and Piyush Jaju, having spent early parts of their and Piyush Jaju, having spent early parts of their careers as a financial analyst and investment careers as a financial analyst and investment banker, respectively, realised that their happibanker, respectively, realised that their happiness lay in solving the big problems plaguing ness lay in solving the big problems plaguing their country. It is this pursuit of happiness that their country. It is this pursuit of happiness that drove Vinay and Piyush towards social entrepredrove Vinay and Piyush towards social entrepreneurship and launching ONergy, an enterprise neurship and launching ONergy, an enterprise delivering solar power to off-grid villages. delivering solar power to off-grid villages.

brothers have persevered. Soon, the tables turned. A few successful orders later, they found their métier and were on their way to becoming a flourishing enterprise.

Vinay and Piyush have grown immensely as individuals with their roles changing every six months. Their evolution from a purely implementation role to a strategic role has been enriching and has helped them understand the

ergy started as a not for profit organisation ergy started as a not for profit organisation called SwitchON which aimed at increasing called SwitchON which aimed at increasing awareness about climate change and sustainawareness about climate change and sustain-

imperative of placing faith in their team and empowering them. Having learnt to let go, the brothers now find deep happiness in the growth

able living.

In 2009, Vinay and Piyush made a a able living.

In 2009, Vinay and Piyush made

of their employees.

film uestioning India s reliance onon fossil fuels, film uestioning India s reliance fossil fuels,

they are steady on their pursuit of happiness,

especially coal, and bicycled across the 1600 km especially coal, and bicycled across the 1600 km

Vinay VinayJaju Jaju&& Piyush PiyushJaju Jaju ONergy Solar ONergy Solar

Candle AA Candle inin the Dark the Dark

long coal belt to promote it. During their jourlong coal belt to promote it. During their jour-

product recalls. product recalls.‘IsIsthis thiswhat whatwe wewant wantto todo?’ do

ney, they realised thethe severe power shortage the ney, they realised severe power shortage the

‘Where are we here are wegoing goingwrong?’ wrong the thebrothers brothers

villagers had to deal with, when they had to to pay villagers had to deal with, when they had pay

would wonder. would wonder.Remaining Remainingsteadfast steadfastand andlearnlearn-

5 to5 get their own phones recharged!

Next, the to get their own phones recharged!

Next, the brothers came upup with affordable products brothers came with affordable products powered by by solar energy providing the villagers powered solar energy providing the villagers with LEDs and clean cooking solutions.

Over with LEDs and clean cooking solutions.

Over eight years, their interventions have ledled to to eight years, their interventions have saving 30,000 tonnes of carbon emissions and saving 30,000 tonnes of carbon emissions and impacting more than 500,000 lives. impacting more than 500,000 lives.

This journey was, means, easy.

During This journey was, by by nono means, easy.

During early phases, they had everything themearly phases, they had to to dodo everything themselves.

They around unloading products selves.

They ranran around unloading products from trucks, making demonstrations villagers from trucks, making demonstrations to to villagers installing products villagershomes. homes. andand installing products at at villagers’

ur definition of happiness keeps evolving. ur definition of happiness keeps evolving.

Their problems intensified when they could not Their problems intensified when they could not

Realising happiness elsewhere Realising thatthat youryour happiness lies lies elsewhere andand

meet customer expectations and their products meet customer expectations and their products

finding is the challenge almost finding it is it the challenge thatthat almost all all

received negative feedback forcing them received negative feedback forcing them to to dodo

ith their team s backing,

powering those who are left behind.

ing from each ing from eachexperience experienceand andfeedback, feedback,the the

“

Stick to your guns, and everything will work itself out.”

A short stint of four years in the corporate world was enough for Chandrasekar B.

e found his

inclination towards entrepreneurship growing stronger and ventured out with his own consult-

Focus on team-building. You cannot be doing everything, so try to build a team with complementing skill sets.”

ing firm before he got into leather manufacturing. It was during this period that he realised the harmful effects of the chemicals used in this industry and similar ones.

is interest was

further pi ued when he came to know about probiotics. The in uisitive researcher in him came to the fore and soon he got in touch with the leader in the field – CD Probiotics, a firm based out of the

.

hat transpired next is the

beginning of the story of Proklean Technologies and their endeavour to promote usage of clean, biodegradable chemicals.

The story begins with Chandra s chance meeting with CD s CE

Vishwadeep Kulia, Chandrashekhar B. & Dr. Sivaraman Pillai Proklean Technologies

Cleaning it up, with Determination

Dr. ivaraman Pillai. Dr Pillai

tremendously and can count amongst their

their products create a significant impact on the

clients corporate giants such as Raymond,

environment has helped them turn around their

Mafatlal,

fortunes from many such setbacks. Their prod-

elspun etc., allowing Chandra and

ishy to beam with pride that Proklean is pres-

ucts have reduced water consumption in facto-

shared Chandra s passion for technology and

ent across the globe now. This fact underlines

ries and have led to their clients saving lakhs of

believed in its immense potential in environ-

their belief that a good team is the cornerstone

rupees on cost. Adhering to their philosophy,

mental applications. Their sharp business

to achieving entrepreneurial success. A strong

they have even revamped their lifestyles to

acumen helped them identify the deficiency in

team notwithstanding, Chandra and ishy have

embrace a chemical free life, and now plan to

the team and they reached out to ishwadeep

had to face their fair share of troubles. The

promote the benefits of such a lifestyle at both

biggest of which was in

personal and organisational levels. Chan-

uila, Chandra s batchmate from IIMA and a

, when their factory

marketing expert. This coming together of three

in Chennai was submerged due to floods. The

drasekhar, ishwadeep, and ivaraman are

individuals with complementary skill sets led to

incident put immense financial and emotional

deeply committed to leaving behind a better

the founding of Proklean in

pressure on them. This was a big olt.

environment.

– a company

owever,

that today provides non ha ardous, non toxic,

their irrepressible passion towards reducing

and fully biodegradable products based on

adverse environmental impact of chemicals got

probiotic technology, to replace chemicals used

them back on their feet within a year of this

in various cleaning processes across industries.

calamity.

ver the past five years, Proklean has grown

The satisfaction that accompanies watching

around!

e definitely need more of them

Shashank Kumar and Harshil Mathur com-

their jobs, they settled in Jaipur and began

and strategic investment from MasterCard have

menced their entrepreneurial journey at IIT

meeting with bankers who could help their

been the defining moments of their ourney.

Roorkee, as a part of the developer community

cause. Day after day, they met with people who

Reflecting back on the time they set up Ra or-

group that boasted of some of the best software

kept saying no and reminded them of their

pay, a pioneer in the payment gateway space,

developers in the country. At IIT Roorkee, the

inexperience in the financial space. Their

Harshil and Shashank underscore the impor-

duo toyed with the idea of building a crowd-

non-technical backgrounds made it onerous for

tance of taking the first step and then taking

sourcing portal for India. However, they soon

them to convince authorities to provide them

one step at a time, till you reach the destination.

realised that there was another problem, a

with the re uired certifications.

bigger one at that, which they had to tackle first

In September 2017, they unveiled Razorpay 2.0,

– digital payments. They, then, redirected their

Most would have folded after these constant

the first Indian fintech company offering

energies and passions to building Razorpay, a

let-downs, or would have blamed each other for

end-to-end payment solutions to merchants.

payment gateway solution that offers an alter-

the failings of the company, but Harshil and

These sharp entrepreneurs know technology

native to the tangled web of bureaucracy which

Shashank persevered and helped each other

and know its use. It’s only a matter of time until

prevents small businesses and nascent startups

cross the stream. Cross they did, to glory! Being

they take on the world.

from accepting online payments.

selected for Y-Combinator, receiving funding from Matrix partners, and 33 angel investors

Harshil and Shashank quit their jobs at Schlumberger and Microsoft, respectively, despite being unsure of their venture’s viability and long-term sustainability. They set off on the journey

Harshil Mathur & Shashank Kumar Razorpay

because they felt that they were young enough to take risks and hence, would not suffer serious setbacks even if the startup did not succeed.

‘Being a founder or an entrepreneur was never really the plan. We found a problem, and we thought we could do something about it,’ Harshil recalls. All they knew was that they wanted to build something that would benefit the masses and make this world a little easier to live in.

Finding Larger Fish to Fry

It was not an easy journey. They jumped hurdles, only to realise that there were walls to scale and rivers to cross. After leaving

“

What is that problem – the one that you want to solve, the one that must be solved?

Work on it.”

98

mere Renewable Energy Certificates REC

knell to them. Their revenues declined severely

trading company to a technology company with

as the market s confidence in the future of the

a diversified portfolio of activities. To achieve

renewables sector eroded. Their team started

this, the duo has grabbed every opportunity that

losing patience and they even considered the

has come their way with both hands. They

unthinkable – selling off the company. However,

accepted and executed a contract to service 13

they navigated these challenging moments with

plants when they only had resources to service

the support of their families, particularly their

one; to meet client expectations, they set up a

spouses. ishal and ibhav s firm belief in their

predictive analytics team overnight! The slow

team s abilities helped them stay afloat. Their

moving and policy dependent energy sector,

confidence in their relationships with their

however, made it difficult for the two founders

customers created the foundation for them to

to find a firm foothold.

scale and expand REConnect Energy’s scope of work and cater to both the demand and the

The years 2012-2013 were especially tough to get

supply sides.

through. The government went into a policy paralysis; the ensuing delay was like a death How do you come up with an idea for a startup and choose a business partner? Vibhav Nuwal and Vishal Pandya have an interesting and unusual answer to this question – social

Vishal Pandya & Vibhav Nuwal

network. They started interacting via LinkedIn

Powered by Passion

that they share for each other’s capabilities has been the most critical component in their journey; the latter’s patient and tactful nature balances the assertive streak of the former, thus making them a force to reckon with!

and soon found out that starting up together made a lot of sense as not only did they share a passion for the energy sector but also had complementary skill sets (Vishal did his M.Tech from IIT Bombay while Vibhav did his MBA from

REConnect Energy

Vishal and Vibhav feel that the mutual respect

Columbia Business School). However, they wanted to be doubly sure of their idea. The validation arrived in the form of a happenstance meeting with a stranger, who, a week later, became their first customer. Thus, REConnect Energy was born in 2010.

Over the past seven years, REConnect Energy’s growth story has known no bounds as Vishal and Vibhav have transformed it from a

“

If you think that by running a business you will make a lot more money, that should not be the objective – your dreams will be shattered very soon.”

100

Organisation (DRDO) helped them formulate an

valid for six months.” Soon, a global recession hit

idea as they were presented with a challenging

the market. Barely a year into the business, they

task of solving a technological problem that had

saw their funds drying up and were forced to

not been tackled earlier. Opting to gain some

downsize. Letting go of their team members

corporate experience, build up sufficient funds,

was a pain they hadn’t imagined facing earlier.

and test the waters before starting out, they

They still shudder at the thought of it. But they

both oined prominent real estate firms.

persevered and soon launched Transerve 2.0,

owev-

er, their passion did not let them be. In 2009,

focusing more on small projects and converging

they founded Transerve Technologies, which

on Korea and Europe as their market.

provides data collection tools, smart city solutions, and hyperlocal information solutions.

Amarsh, once a hardcore techie, now assumes multiple roles.

It would be safe to say that Amarsh Chaturvedi would have laughed off the idea of becoming his own startup’s chief salesman and administrator.

Amarsh Chaturvedi & Ashwani Rawat

Amarsh would not only have found the idea of starting up incredible but the idea of him doing sales was risible. But that is what entrepreneurship entails – doing everything that you could never foresee yourself doing. Both Amarsh and his partner, Ashwani Rawat, have found the

e has embraced the fact that

Across their journey, both of them felt crippled

travel is a part of his job and loves exploring the

by the dearth of resources and the lack of

places he visits on business trips. Ashwani, now,

support from the industry. Getting payments

has time only for work and sleep, his brain

from clients for their innovative proposals

buzzing with ideas and solutions to the inevita-

turned to be tougher than what they had

ble problems that pop up every now and then.

expected. Setting up a bank account itself took

Today, the pair, work hard to keep abreast of the

them three months. Amarsh chuckles, “Fortu-

changing needs of

nately, those days cheques were the industry and consistently provide quality service to customers. Their ideas have translated into better waste management, cleaner drinking water and more adequate power supplies for cities – a matter of great pride for both of them.

experience of leading Transerve Technologies for

Transerve Technologies

Defying the Odds

the last

years extremely fulfilling and surpris-

ing in equal measure.

Amarsh and Ashwani are now going places!

Toughened by their hardships, they are now ready to tackle any challenge thrown at them.

Amarsh and Ashwani, classmates, had first considered pursuing entrepreneurship during their second year of Civil Engineering at IIT Kanpur, but they weren’t sure of what exactly to

“

Adversities have made us thickskinned. We now can take any challenge head on.”

do. A compulsory internship at the Defence Research and Development

102

gradually bore fruit and they expanded their

During the tough times, their family came to

operations. The move into a bigger office and

the rescue. The brothers convinced their

their ability to financially sustain a larger team,

father to lead the finance division of Mukti.

established the potential of this venture to the

They consider their family to be the safe haven,

brothers. In 2003, Hardik returned to India and

where they find their stresses melting away.

co-founded another IT company with Kushal.

Working in a rapidly evolving market, the broth-

Hardik and Kushal’s story epitomises the impor-

ers experimented with a few startup ideas and,

tance of working relentlessly. They have recently

in

started rendering cloud-based video surveil-

, co founded Mukti, one of India s first

providers of low bandwidth webcasting services.

lance facilities as a service to retail and government customers enabling these organisations

10

Hardik Sanghvi & Kushal Sanghvi

They say ‘dreams don’t work until you do.’ VMuk-

monitor over 100,000 locations in 18 states

ti’s success can wholly be attributed to the

across the country. With an unwavering com-

brothers’ hard work and perseverance. Onboard-

mitment to making VMukti big, the duo is

ing

oogle as one of their first clients bears

excited about the future. Their dedication to

testimony to this. Their hard work of over 13

integrate the remote into the mainstream is

With roots in the enterprising Gujarati commu-

years brought to them their moment of glory

nity, it is hardly a surprise that Hardik and Kushal

during the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. Their

Sanghvi found their true calling in entrepreneur-

webcasting platform was used to connect Prime

ship. While Hardik began his entrepreneurial

Ministerial candidate Shri Narendra Modi with

unrivalled and they are committed to generat-

stint in 1998 by selling Ayurvedic medicines

150 remote locations. This was a matter of pride

ing sustainable value for all stakeholders. Such

through a web portal, his younger sibling,

for the startup which was talking baby steps.

strong resolve almost always gets things done!

Kushal, started as a cloth merchant in his teens.

ardik remembers the feeling of deep gratifica-

Their entrepreneurial endeavours were briefly

tion he felt upon witnessing the remotely locat-

paused when Hardik joined Tata Consultancy

ed crowds erupting with joy when being

Services (TCS) after his engineering degree.

addressed by their leader Modi.

Soon after, Kushal set up a small software ven-

Their climb to success was no cakewalk. Being

ture in Ahmedabad while pursuing his under-

located in Ahmedabad brought a series of

grad education. Hardik, based in USA, would

challenges, including lack of funding and local

route software development projects to the

R&D support systems. Continuous attrition often

venture. The brothers worked for

meant that the brothers had to juggle various

VMukti

Brothers on a Mission

unflag-

ging hours every day. Such was their passion for entrepreneurship. Their efforts

roles.

“

Resolve to succeed, no matter what.”

104

Kanu set off on this adventure immediately after

life. These learnings have shaped the startup

graduating from IIMA while Srishti decided to

into a successful venture.

oin CRI I due to financial constraints.

owever,

help soon came in the form of IIMavericks and

This initial success motivated Srishti and Kanu

G.C. Mittal scholarships. Kanu recalls that ‘start-

to explore other food-product niches. The objec-

ing up’ early in their life has also helped them

tive was to create food products from simple

become risk-takers and this ability has allowed

and natural ingredients (that the consumer

them to aggressively pursue hyper-competitive

could recognise) while maintaining the desir-

markets and strive hard to succeed in them.

able shelf life. An iterative process of product development with multiple trials followed. They

The startup started as a trading company that

soon found a tasty and healthy snacking variety

brought Shiitake mushrooms, the oriental

for consumers and named them ASAP Bars.

jewels, from Japan and China to India. The

Two engineers - one fascinated with models and

11

Kanupradeep Subramanian & Srishti Shaw WIMWI Foods

No Mountain Too High

simulations and the other excited by cutting-edge research - decided to pursue an

novices developed a strong business acumen

With ASAP Bars, WIMWI Foods is steadily climb-

through this experience. Not only did they study

ing the success ladder and is fast becoming a

the distribution and retail systems in India

trusted brand. All this while, Srishti and Kanu

thoroughly, but also gained critical knowledge

have overcome difficulties related to being

related to industry norms such as cost struc-

first generation entrepreneurs with limited work

tures, margins, lead times, and shelf

MBA from IIMA; that was the beginning of WIMWI Foods.

experience in the hyper-competitive food sector.

They feel that constantly being on their toes and

WIMWI Foods (IIMA is colloquially referred to as

keeping each other motivated has worked for

WIMWI - an acronym for ‘Well Known Institute in

them. As Kanu succinctly said, “In a moment of

West India’) was co-founded by Srishti Shaw and

crisis, in a moment of uncertainty, it helps to

Kanupradeep, or ‘Kanu’ Subramanian, with a

have a partner who is dedicated to the vision

vision to capitalize on a gap in the dietary

completely.” WIMWI Foods is committed to

requirements market - healthy snacking options.

finding solutions for the evolving lifestyle of

Srishti and Kanu, engineering graduates from

Indian consumers. Guess what? It seems like

Jadavpur University and IIT Madras respectively,

they will very well be able to do it.

“

At the end of the day, you persevere, you find solutions.”

worked together on various courses and projects during their PGP. It was during these courses and projects that Srishti convinced Kanu to partake in the entrepreneurship adventure.

106

shedding the suit Yogesh Kulkarni, Vinay Nathan & Ranjit Nair Think Through, Work Hard, Embrace Success

109

Dr Devaiah Mapangada & Vivek Madappa Turning Tides, One Tooth at a Time

125

Lokesh Makam Making Crops Healthy Again

111

Brijraj Bhuptani Ride to Success and Don’t be Late

127

Rustam Sengupta Lighting up Lives

113

Nitin Gupta Making Impact with Precision

129

Suresh Srinivasan No Shortcut to Starting Up

115

Avinash K. Gautam Grit Always Triumphs

131

K. Chandrasekhar With Eyes set on a Mission

117

Rajat Gupta Of Unwavering Determination

133

Srinivas Potukuchi Shopping for the un-Ordinary

119

Chitra Gurnani Daga & Abhishek Daga Fun is Serious Business

135

Surga Thilakan & Sreeraman Vaidyanathan A Journey of Self-Realization

121

Abhishek Chatterjee Making Banking more Efficient

137

Sashi & Rekha Somavarapu Once an Entrepreneur, Always an Entrepreneur

123

Some would see pursuing entrepreneurship at

this informal set-up brought a whiff of nostalgia,

their age as a huge risk involving letting go off of

transporting them back to their college days.

a steady salary and job security. With families to

This harmonious setting helped them quickly

take care of and young children to raise, most

get the proof of concept as they built and

others in their shoes would have chosen to play

deployed the first version of their product and

it safe, but not these three. Their corporate stints

got market feedback within the first few

had helped them build enough financial cush-

months. However, tides turned quickly and they

ion for their families. With the IoT wave rising,

had to face more than their fair share of hard-

the time was just right for the trio to pursue

ships. There were times when they had to issue

their entrepreneurial dreams.

IOUs to their partners and had to hold back on employee bonuses while they waited for the

They were off to a smooth start, transitioning

investment to come in.

easily from a well defined corporate setting to an informal one of a startup. At times,

Entrepreneurship is a fascinating and rewarding journey as long as it is done for the right

01

Yogesh Kulkarni, Vinay Nathan & Ranjit Nair

Until 2012, for the three college batchmates Yogesh Kulkarni, Vinay Nathan, and Ranjit Nair, life was what would be called ‘normal’. About 15 years into their corporate careers, the trio was doing pretty well, but that burning desire to create something of their own remained, and they aspired to build world-class products in India. With a rich exposure into building and

Altizon Systems

selling enterprise products, Yogesh, Vinay, and

Think Through, Work Hard, Embrace Success

plinary problem with immense potential; and

Ranjit aimed at tackling a tough, multi-disci-

Internet of Things (IoT) seemed like the perfect space to be in. Rising above the demands of a corporate lifestyle, the trio quit their respective jobs that were restricting their entrepreneurial foray. There began the story of Altizon Systems.

reasons. Building an enterprise product business

growing business poised to take on the global

needs a clear plan, razor-sharp focus on key

industrial IoT market. Altizon Systems is a result

customers, the financial ability to stay the

of several well-deliberated decisions of Yogesh,

course for several years, and a passionate and

Vinay, and Ranjit. That’s how some of the best

motivated team. Altizon is a result of all of these

decisions are made!

factors coming together. Their diverse backgrounds too have been of immense help. Vinay handles sales and marketing, Yogesh focuses on customers and operations, while Ranjit manages everything tech. Together, they have scaled heights and established Altizon as a leading player in IoT with a customer base that spans the US, EU, India, East Asia, and Australia.

This courageous decision has paid off, earning them several accolades and a steadily

We have the vision, the product, and the team to dominate this space.”

110

The many years Lokesh Makam spent in the

able to build a large base of crop cultivators

pharmaceutical industry led him to wonder

who regularly employ sustainable pest control

‘what is the root cause of diseases?’ News of

mechanisms. Happy moments have been plenti-

dangerous chemicals used by farmers discon-

ful with the most joyful one being when Lokesh

certed him deeply. Something had to be done.

and his team installed their first product, the fruit fly trap, and saw its effectiveness in practice.

With a bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy and an MBA in Pharmaceutical Management, Lokesh began his career with the Himalaya Drug Co.

A doting husband and father, Lokesh attributes

and subsequently worked with several other

very low priority to having a good night’s sleep.

pharma companies. He was worried by the

Deeply committed to completely removing

number of new diseases afflicting humans and

chemical pesticides from farming, he now aims

by the increase in the occurrences of already

to develop products for every farming need. He

known ones. Upon investigating, he found that

is out on a mission to purify the produce we eat

modern agricultural practices and the use of

and won’t rest till he’s conquered every pest

pesticides was a major cause. The practice of

menace out there!

spraying pesticides contributed greatly towards increasing toxicity levels in food, leading to subsequent ill health of people. Unwilling to let

02

Lokesh Makam

things be, Lokesh took upon himself the onus of solving this problem. And after working for almost a decade in the pharma sector, he set up Barrix Agro in 2011 with the objective of providing an array of affordable, efficient, and eco-friendly pest management solutions.

Since then, Lokesh has been developing new

Barrix Agro

Making Crops Healthy Again

and effective solutions for pest management in farming. A major hurdle to Barrix’s initial existence was the lack of investor support. Not one to accept defeat easily, Lokesh leveraged his immense marketing experience to reach out to

. However, he continues to face a critical chal-

He has travelled extensively to remote villages to

potential investors and keep the startup going

lenge: educating farmers about the necessity of

demonstrate the effectiveness of his products.

shifting to sustainable practices.

His efforts are now paying off as he has been

Know everything about the customers, who they are, where they are and how to reach them.”

A first generation entrepreneur, Rustam had

by sheer willpower.

worked extensively in the industry before he had

whether used to build business relations or to

spread across the world who are working in the

his first brush with entrepreneurship.

form a team, have come in very handy and have

same domain.

e com

is interpersonal skills,

pleted his master s degree in Electrical Engi

contributed immensely to making Boond Engi

neering and Computer cience from

neering what it is today. In the last seven years,

A and

worked with Deloitte Consulting before pursu ing an MBA from I

Boond Engineering has impacted lives of over

EAD in rance. During this

,

time, he was exposed to the idea of building

people and has electrified over

,

households across the country.

social ventures as part of a course. There he upporting his spouse to pursue her higher

models around products and services present in

education, Rustam has now taken a backseat

cities but unavailable in villages.

and is not a part of the day to day operations at Boond.

After considerable deliberation, Rustam found electricity to be that critical link which could e was convinced

easy, to say the least.

create a level playing field in terms of making

out of money, or overcoming hurdles at the

n the

basis of this discovery he started Boond Engi neering in

Rustam Sengupta Boond Engineering

.

ife as an entrepreneur and that too in the social sector is far different from a typical corporate ob. This ourney for him has been one of immense self discovery.

e has become more

patient and feels that his odyssey on the whole has been a humbling one. It has also helped him broaden his perspective. Memories of the sheer oy and excitement the villagers displayed, when

Lighting up Lives

The process of achieving this success wasn t

that by electrifying villages he would be able to

opportunities accessible to rural masses.

they saw a lit bulb for the first time, remain with him till date.

e has hard coded innovation and operational excellence in Boond s D A. According to him, these are imperative for any organisation aspir ing to impact lives. After all, creating impact is difficult. But when have difficulties ever

learnt about the dire need to develop business

bridge the urban rural divide.

adviser and consultant to various organisations

“

hether it was running

grassroot level, Rustam has surmounted them

Keep your head down, keep working, and things will work out. If they don’t, they will teach you a good lesson.”

e now shares his learnings as an

deterred Rustam engupta

Suresh Srinivasan’s passion for technology is

platform and provides actionable insights based

over. Suresh, though, powered on. He was deter-

that startups that deliver critical value to the

discernible from his education – master’s

on the enterprise data. Early on, it dawned upon

mined to build a product company in India to

customers are the ones that will go the distance.

degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science

Suresh that building innovation- based products

service customers across the globe.

from IIT Madras and his rich 16-year-long experi-

without being backed by big brands was not

ence with global players such as Oracle. While

going to be easy. Onboarding ESPN, a presti-

Suresh maintains that without his support

clients in Formcept’s kitty, Suresh is witnessing

working in large technology corporates in USA,

gious name in the analytics industry, for whom

system, particularly his spouse Deepa, his entre-

his dreams becoming reality. The variety and

Suresh focused on conceptualizing and deliver-

Formcept developed a comprehensive que-

preneurial dreams would not have become a

complexity of customer needs keeps him and

ing new projects and innovations. The sheer fun

ry-enabled platform to access cricket related

reality. He also credits his success to his co-pro-

his team excited. For a man in love with technol-

he had with them led him towards entrepre-

data, set the ball rolling for the venture.

moter, Anuj Kumar, and the relentless commit-

ogy and problem solving, this is just the fuel he

ment and hard work of his team, the crucial

needs to keep going.

neurship. His deep product development experience at Oracle, India and the commercial nous

While technology was his forte, Suresh strug-

he gained at IIM Bangalore fortified his ambi-

gled in adjusting to the predominant ‘business

tions and led him to founding Formcept Tech-

culture’ in India. The slow pace of decision

With his experience of working in various

in the enterprise product space, he continues to

nologies.

making and ambiguous commitments threw a

cultures, Suresh is a strong believer in the power

explore new technologies and goads his two

spanner in his scheme of things many times

of markets and customers. He believes

sons towards technology too.

ormcept offers a unified data analysis

Suresh Srinivasan Formcept Technologies

No Shortcut to Starting Up

With several well acclaimed Indian and global

pillars of any successful startup.

As he continues to create a space for Formcept

That’s surely another way to impact the future!

“

While there will be challenges at every step, but face the reality and bounce back.”

The day when Dr Aravind of Aravind Eye Hospi-

Innovation knows no boundaries and KC along

and contexts, hire the team members whose

the day when WHO would report a drop in

tal was delivering a talk on innovation, it was a

with his team at Forus have lived and breathed

motivations were aligned to his objective, wait

preventable blindness metrics in India. Until

usual one for many. For K. Chandrasekhar, or KC,

this mantra. Forus has been one of the few

and raise investment from partners aligned to

then, this altruistic entrepreneur will continue to

as he is fondly known, it turned out to be a

Indian companies to have acquired the US Food

the vision, and comply with mandatory and

march on!

life-changing day. Facts shared by Dr Aravind

and Drug Administration (USFDA) approval and

cumbersome reqiurements of the statutory and

troubled KC deeply. He thought he had seen it

can thus supply medical equipment to the US

regulatory bodies. However, he has risen above

all during his highly successful 24-year-long

market. This feat can be credited to KC’s ardent

these odds. His deep-rooted desire to help

corporate career in technology, but Dr Aravind’s

belief that technology is a great leveller. He

people has helped him stay on course. He credits

insights and passion moved him.

proudly affirms that the uality of the e uip-

his success to his wife and her unwavering sup-

ment supplied by Forus to an upscale hospital in

port in the many ebbs and flows of his ourney.

The extent to which India was struggling to

New York and to a makeshift clinic in a remote

counter the adverse impact of preventable

village in Odisha is the same. He has led his

blindness was extremely disconcerting for KC.

team to work on tirelessly to achieve this parity.

He had always harboured a desire to make the

K. Chandrasekhar Forus Health

With Eyes set on a Mission

C, a spiritually inclined person, finds the deepest satisfaction in the impact that Forus’ equipment has made and how it ensures better, more

world a better place; he had now found a chan-

This journey of uplifting rural Indian healthcare

affordable and accessible eye care to the less

nel. He now knew his mission – eradicating

ecosystem, however, hasn’t been easy. In the

privileged. On a mission to democratize health

preventable blindness. Forus Health became

nine years with Forus, KC has had to do it all i.e.

care, KC is quick to credit divine intervention for

the vehicle to carry this out.

develop the right technology for diverse needs

the success and impact of Forus. He dreams of

“

If you have a strong problem to focus on, focus on it. The solution could be a device or a service; continue to understand the problem and that’s what will really help you grow.”

118

Glowship, launched in 2014, is an online market-

Glowship

Shopping for the un-Ordinary

Success was achieved in stages. While Srini-

Moreover, his was not a hotshot idea with ‘glitz and glamour’ attached to it.

place platform that offers end-to-end energy

energy and home utility sectors, learning every-

vas's tenure at Kotak Urja and SunEdison taught

solutions. It helps customers make informed

thing that he could, before venturing out on his

him the small-scale and large-scale precepts of

decisions regarding various energy and environ-

own. It began when he noticed that there was a

solar industry respectively, a major constraint he

Operating in an unexplored sector, the journey,

ment-related products. When Srinivas Potuku-

customer need to buy home utility products via

now faced was his limited tech knowledge. He

of course, has been challenging. Srinivas’

chi began his foray, he immediately understood

an online marketplace. Srinivas wanted to

had to learn all of that by himself. While being

passion, perseverance, and hardwork have made

that the biggest hurdle that was preventing

provide a customized shopping experience

the sole founder had its luxuries, he now wishes

Glowship stay on course. In less than three years,

consumers from buying solar products was the

complete with product selectors, thereby giving

that he had had a co-founder with complemen-

it has onboarded 200 customers from across 10

lack of awareness. By organizing the home

his consumers the power to discern what is best

tary skill sets. Similarly, the ideas he proposed

states in India. To become the leading online

utility space in India, he wanted to both convert

for them so that they could shop accordingly.

had no precedents, so to speak of. No one in

residential seller in India is a major goal that

more people into buying solar products as well

Indeed, few were happy with the transparency

USA or other developed nations had created a

Srinivas is eyeing now. And there is no stopping

as support his organisation by selling conven-

that the platform afforded its customers. There

similar platform. Therefore, it was hard for him to

this tenacious entrepreneur!

tional products.

were legal notices to fight against and answer

convince investors of the viability of his idea and

to. However, Glowship and Srinivas prevailed.

the potential of his venture; they were wary of

Srinivas, an IIT Madras and Stanford Business

Srinivas Potukuchi

chool alumnus, had spent five years in solar

Glowship being a ‘risky project’.

“

The journey is challenging and the only thing that helps you be on course is fundamental, deeprooted passion” 120

Surga Thilakan and Sreeraman Vaidyanathan

has been fulfilling yet challenging. As with most

Even in the most difficult of times, the duo s

began their entrepreneurial journey at IIMA.

startups, there was not enough capital to go

innate confidence, that things do work out

Upon graduating, Surga went to work at Gold-

around when they began. They did not even

ultimately, has kept them going. After all, they

man Sachs, London, while Sreeraman joined

have an office to call their own.

are on the path of doing good. “The night is the

Microsoft, Hyderabad.

IIMA alumni provided them with a room, their

darkest right before dawn,” Sreeraman would

office was an extra room on the terrace.

often say this to Surga and the duo kept at it,

ntil another

ith

Surga, however, yearned to derive a deeper

iStar based out of Karnataka, Sreeraman had to

meaning from her work. “Finance and banking

learn Kannada quickly to communicate with

do not matter to a person on the street,” she

slum-dwellers. Early on, they also did not know

They fondly remember the graduation ceremo-

says. Wanting to doing impactful work, she quit,

where the next round of funding would come

ny of their first batch of students.

came back to India, and oined a small microfi-

from or if a contract they worked hard for would

all the students acquiring jobs, the memories of

nance company named Ujjivan, to understand

fall in place.

the joy and pride of families of these students

one of the critical problems plaguing the coun-

A Journey of Self-Realization

still warm the hearts of these two driven entreUnderstanding people has helped Surga over-

preneurs. While setting up iStar, they had a

started exploring the field of education.

come the hurdles that have come her way. For

close, and perhaps a little unsettling, tryst with

oined an Ahmedabad based firm to under-

Sreeraman, it has been perseverance and his

hyper-ambiguity, where the rules of the game

stand how corporates can participate in educa-

ability to solve problems differently.

were changing every second – a sea change

e had

tion. With her tenure at Ujjivan getting over,

from their earlier obs.

as it fulfilling

Surga and Sreeraman came together to

they say emphatically.

ould they do it again

Aiming to meet the growing need for medium-skilled labourers in India, iSTAR addresses the vexing ‘employability gap’. They provide skill training and recruitment services to college students across the nation. Today, iSTAR is an accredited partner institution of the National

iSTAR

ith almost

try. During the same time, Sreeraman had

co-found iStar.

Surga Thilakan & Sreeraman Vaidyanathan

undeterred.

Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and has trained and placed over 20,000 students across 10 states, while raising multiple rounds of venture funding from NSDC, Unitus Seed Fund, and Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.

eah

ithout a doubt they beam.

“

It requires a certain level of insanity to keep doing it.”

While the objective was earnest, their journey

122

Sashi Somavarapu, founder of MarketFront and

problems faced by retailers while selling prod-

challenging to explain their vision to the team.

perfectly complemented their skill sets and

Redlily, is excited by technology and passionate-

ucts on multiple online channels. What started

Such experiences made it clear to them that

shared a vision. While Sashi looks after the

ly applies entrepreneurial thinking to everything

as a product built exclusively for Redlily.com is

people in India view opportunities with a more

technology and operations, Rekha manages the

around him.

used by many sellers today.

pessimistic lens when compared to the West.

HR, product, and project management aspects

They saw the manifestation of the term ‘risk

of the business. This division of responsibilities

Sashi’s entrepreneurial streak can be traced to

Sashi and Rekha have had more than their fair

aversion’ and the two industrious entrepreneurs

has helped them focus on what they want to

his undergrad days. He began his journey by

share of shocks. They faced a culture shock

were discouraged. However, their passion for

deliver and keep the passion of pursuing their

developing a novel way to build circuits for

when they moved to India and faced difficulties

building new products kept them going. It also

entrepreneurial dreams alive.

nanotechnology-based instruments at an inno-

in setting up the business. They found it

helped that they had strong co-founders, who

vation lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technol-

Riding on the Indian e-commerce wave, Sashi

ogy’s (MIT). The business plan he built around

and Rekha are determined to make Marketfront

this solution was selected as one of the top five

a billion dollar company in the next five years.

B-plans shortlisted from a pool of about 1000

The duo has learned their lessons well and are

participants.

well placed on the path to success.

A visionary from the beginning, Sashi dreamt big and joined Amazon’s internal startup called Warehouse Deals and created three technology products in the seven years that he worked there. This experience served as the perfect platform and boosted his entrepreneurial spirit

Sashi & Rekha Somavarapu Marketfront

as well as allowed him to learn the basics of building scalable products and enterprises.

Having accumulated learnings, Sashi, along with his wife Rekha, founded Redlily.com, a company that sells B2C products in the children and family category. Today, Redlily.com features as one of the top vendors for the biggest Indian

Once an Entrepreneur, Always an Entrepreneur

online marketplaces. However, this was not the final goal for ashi and Rekha. In their uest to make a bigger impact, the husband-wife duo

“

Every day you have either a tough moment or a joyful moment.

Be with it!”

decided to build Marketfront - a Software as a Service (SaaS) product aimed at solving the

124

him, but he followed his conviction, purchased a

Conse uently, with the spectre of a stagnant

chassis, and built a mobile clinic for himself. He

market looming, Dr Dev realised that he needed

gradually began scaling up with the aim to

to hit the market at the earliest. Thus, he had to

transform this individual effort into a full fledged

undertake and complete a demanding task

venture. It was at this important juncture that

designing the core product in a mere four

he reached out to Vivek Madappa, a consum-

months. Next, the duo found out that India is

mate entrepreneur possessing an exemplary

not a fertile ground for product building. No one

portfolio of successful brands. Vivek, with his

in India was able to fabricate the PDC, leaving

strong business sense, entered the fray and

them with no option but to fabricate it them-

decided to revamp the whole idea to conceptu-

selves.

alise the world s first ever Portable Dental Clinic In spite of all these unforeseen setbacks, they

PDC .

did not lose hope or determination. Realising Challenging times lay ahead

Dr Devaiah Mapangada & Vivek Madappa MobiDent

the need to build an ecosystem around their

experience with building brands did not prepare

core product, they have now expanded and have

him enough, he believes, for building from

positioned themselves as a ‘Digital Dentistry’.

As a schoolboy, every time he had a vacation, Dr

scratch a new product with no expressed

The focus, however, remains on innovation. They

Devaiah Mapangada was irritated by the need to

customer demand. Hiring and training dentists

now aim at enabling 10,000 dentists to deliver

visit a hospital 21 km away from his home, to get

also proved taxing as they were not used to

dental care across 250 towns in India by provid

his penicillin shots. He would often wonder –

working in a structured environment.

ing them with portable clinics and leveraging technology to manage operations.

why could the hospital not come to him instead.

“Maybe,” Dr Devaiah, fondly known as Dr. Dev,

With Dr Dev’s passion for doing something new

speculates, “this is where my story began.” In a

and Vivek’s perseverance to see the dream

country where 30,000 dentists graduate every

realized, Mobident has created noteworthy

year, Mobident – earlier ‘the dental clinic in a

ripples. Today, they dream of having a million

suitcase’ and now ‘a Digital Dentistry’ – is quickly

customers a month. That dream is not so far

gaining widespread acceptance and momen-

away from reality!

tum.

Turning Tides, One Tooth at a Time

ivek believes his

After completing a fellowship in geriatric care in Zurich, Dr Dev returned to India and aspired to do something different in the healthcare industry. In 2008, he approached some of the senior dentists to gauge the market demand for a mobile dental clinic. They strongly discouraged

“

Have a dream to solve a big problem in India. Believe in the dream and take that step. The dream must have a purpose, and purpose must be to serve.”

126

Following a trajectory typical to those of his educational background, Brijraj Bhuptani joined the corporate giant Qualcomm after completing his MS in Electrical Engineering. Driven towards

Revenue and monetization should be your focus areas right from the start. While it takes time to get there, you need to keep them as your priority.“

building disruptive technologies, Brijraj quickly moved to work for a startup in USA. The intense desire for ownership and accountability there moved him towards starting up on his own. He returned to India in 2008, to be closer to his friends. In India, he soon encountered the appalling state of city traffic. The lack of information about public transport, more so the lack of visibility of live traffic, irked him. In

, to

remedy this, Brijraj started Birds Eye System to provide live traffic information across Indian cities. Today, the company s flagship product

10

Brijraj Bhuptani Ridlr

Ride to Success and Don’t be Late

RIDLR, delivers public transport information

with its ambiguous commitments, prolonged

global benchmarks for public transport services

across India and provides mobile ticketing for

cycle times and weak legal frameworks. These

and its impact on the lives of people has been

Mumbai’s BEST buses and metro services, with

were no easy challenges to surmount. Lack of

starkly visible during various crisis situations like

plans to expand to other cities in India.

digital infrastructure added further impedi-

strikes and natural calamities. He feels humbled

ments and overcoming them re uired signifi-

to have been able to make this impact. The

Soon, Brijraj realised that he was not just build-

cant technological expertise and innovation.

recent acquisition by Ola is sure to magnify the

ing another product. He was, in effect, trying to

Resource crunch and finding the right team

impact Brijraj aimed to achieve.

change a very deeply ingrained habit of using

added to his challenges.

Having played First Division Cricket in the South

cash for purchasing tickets and not minding the unavailability of real travel times. While

Nevertheless, Brijraj knew he was solving a real

California Cricket Association, Bri ra finds entre-

ride-tracking has now been popularised by cab

problem and all good things take time. Since he

preneurship fairly similar to cricket: Play consis-

hailing services today, it was a radical concept a

was charting unknown territories, trying to

tently, and don’t accept defeat until the last ball.

decade ago. Brijraj almost broke his back trying

change ingrained mindsets and habits, he knew

After some starting troubles, this entrepreneur

to convince people about the idea of tracking

he had to be in it for the long haul. His endur-

has now discovered his favourite pitch and

public transport. Despite being born and

ance and determination have indeed paid off.

ground. And he is definitely out there to win

brought up in India, Brijraj could not adjust to

Today, he takes pride in the fact that RIDLR is

India’s business ecosystem

completely a ‘Made in India’ product. It is setting

A three-year stint as a high-tech space engineer

enough funds to begin operations. He even

to solve problems faced by mango and apple

at Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)

landed a ma or textile player as one of his first

harvesters as well.

helped Nitin Gupta realise his strength in

clients. ickle s cotton picker passed with flying

mechanical designing. This realisation, along

colours as tests conducted on cotton harvested

While Nitin has made the most of his engineer-

with his desire to make farming easier and more

with it showed negligible contamination.

ing skills, he has learnt that he is a good salesperson as well! His advice to budding entrepre-

efficient, led him to apply to the Industrial and Product Design course at Indian Institute of

owever,

itin still found it very difficult to

neurs is to recognise the power of learning on

Science (IISc). It was at IISc that the story of

create the large-scale impact he had always

the job, something he swears by. Within three

Sickle Innovations began with Nitin and his

wanted to. He found that the farmers were more

years of its founding, Sickle is poised to enter

friend, Vinay Reddy, building a cotton-picking

than willing to give suggestions but were very

Chinese and American markets.

machine which ultimately got patented. Sickle

hesitant when it came to buying the equipment.

Innovations was founded in 2014 and focuses on

Nitin, once again, displayed tremendous agility

Nitin Gupta gets things done. Sustainable

improving conventional farming practices

and approached local influencers to help him

growth for Sickle and making remarkable

through design interventions.

market the cotton picker. He also focused on

impact are the two things high up on his to-do

designing pluckers

list!

Since 2014, Nitin Gupta and his team of designers have been working diligently to develop pickers to help farmers harvest not only cotton but also apples and mangoes. They have done

11

Nitin Gupta Sickle Innovations

so by engaging closely with farmers to identify crop specific problems and devising solutions to improve their productivity. Nitin’s endeavour to make an impact in this sector shines through the meticulousness he displays while conducting on field design thinking exercises.

Nitin has been quick to identify his own limitations. Realising that he did not have a robust

Making Impact with Precision

business model for Sickle, he reached out to Prof Sukhpal Singh, Chairperson of Centre of Management in Agriculture at IIMA and set out to build a scalable business. Soon, Nitin had in place a business model and

“

What changed between our products – not fearing the unknown.”

130

No one could have imagined what Avinash Gautam, a perfectionist, with a 200-member team reporting to him, was planning to do next.

Searching for a larger purpose, he decided to

Both victory and defeat are self-fulfilling prophecies; whatever we prophesize for ourselves, our life becomes just that.

Believe in your future, believe in yourself.”

move beyond his well-paying job and its perks and comforts and began a voyage of self-discovery. Along the way, he co-founded Silvan Innovation Labs in 2008, where he and his team work to make Indian homes safer. They aspire to re-invent the concept of home automation through the use of smartphones and IoT and making it more affordable for the public at large.

His quest towards excellence started during his school days, continued at IIT Kanpur, and gathered momentum at Texas Instruments. This

12

Avinash K. Gautam Silvan Innovation Labs

Grit Always Triumphs

streak continues with Silvan, where his efforts

Avinash credits his team for persevering through

and elderly citizens, through smartphone -con-

are bearing fruit and the company is currently

the challenges and they have emerged stronger

trolled products, gives Avinash utmost joy. He

ranked in the highest echelons in the home

than before after each setback.

believes in self fulfilling prophecies, and he has successfully proved that they exist, with Silvan.

automation space.

Avinash reminisces about the tough times as

Such was his conviction that his venture would

However, this recognition has not come easy to

much as he does about successes. He credits

triumph, that its success happened on its own

Avinash. A consummate corporate leader, it took

family, friends, and colleagues for keeping him

steam!

him time and considerable unlearning to reori-

grounded. The 50-year-young entrepreneur

ent himself to the demands of the startup world.

ensures that he finds time for sports and plays

For his startup too, it was not smooth sailing. He

soccer with players less than half his age. He

and his team had to toil hard to engage large

feels that entrepreneurship is the answer to his

realty companies (their primary customers), who

quest towards a larger purpose in life. This quest

were generally averse to working with an

and its many vicissitudes allowed him to learn

early-stage startup. Macroeconomic changes too

and become a better person.

did not help their cause. Events such as demonetisation and GST implementation have contrib-

Silvan Innovation Lab’s contribution towards

uted to the making this journey a lot more

improving the lives of many differently-abled

adventurous than he would have wished for.

it was time for him to take the plunge. In Ra at launched TE

,

, a company that focuses

outside perspective has helped him maintain a balanced view of his organisation’s impact.

on providing energy efficient and fuel saving

TESSOL winning the Startup Energy Transition

refrigeration technologies for cold chain storage

Award in early 2017 was a big achievement for

and logistics.

him. That it helped him represent India on a global platform added to his pride.

elming TE

, Ra at has seen it all team

attrition, drying up of funds, and issues on the product side, but he believes that an entrepre-

is a believer in the importance of having a good

neur does not really have a choice “you cannot

team. This hyper-focused entrepreneur had

ust give up, especially when your team is look-

always a deep desire to learn. Setting up an

ing up to you . All along, his family has been a

enterprise has enabled him to keep learning and

constant source of unwavering support. He

sharpen his skills. He is now more agile and

consciously keeps them abreast of the develop-

fearless. Trying to gain a strong foothold in a

ments at TESSOL and draws inspiration from

fast-evolving industry with a radical innovation

them.

hasn t been easy. But then, persistence is Ra at s

The single-minded pursuit of making the most of his potential, and to learn as much as he possibly could, led Ra at

upta to nurture

IIT Delhi, Ra at worked at Bosch for four years,

Rajat Gupta

where he felt that his learning goals were being restricted. In his uest to learn and to grow, he oined

TESSOL

Of Unwavering Determination

arvard Business chool s

B

strong suit. No points for guessing the outcome Ra at believes that TE

has thrived on

customer feedback. He believes that this

dreams about starting up. After graduating from

MBA

programme. He leveraged his time at HBS by gaining experience in working with startups.

After the MBA, Ra at oined Promethean Power Systems as its COO.

After a short stint with this Pune based startup,

aving seen it all during the last five years, Ra at

of his determination!

“

When like-minded people join your team early on, it is easier to become bigger and scale faster.”

Ra at decided to learn more about the Indian entrepreneurship space and oined I

E

entures as an Entrepreneur in Residence.

During this programme, while building the first cleantech accelerator in India, he realised that

134

obs and starting Thrillophilia worthwhile.

Abhishek and Chitra, now, have their eyes set on

During the first two years, they learned that

the Asian market. Their determination to delight

operating in such a niche market was restricting

their fellow travellers i.e. their customers is

their reach and their vision of making Thrillophil-

unflinching. As the next big step towards achiev-

ia the hub for all travellers. They tweaked their

ing this goal, they have now begun collaborating

model to increase their customer base, and to

more closely with their vendors by investing in

engage with them more closely. They pivoted

their operations and coaching them to become

and started catering to the needs of a larger

more customer friendly. This duo is now power-

audience by featuring experience providers

ing into the future, and they are all set to thrill

instead of only listing adventure activities providers on their website. Initially, they catered to a B B customer base and were able to generate revenues uickly.

n the back of this, they

dived headfirst into the B C space to provide the individuals, their fellow travellers, the opportunity to experience ama ing trips.

ike every ardent traveller, techies Abhishek Daga and Chitra

Chitra Gurnani Daga & Abhishek Daga Thrillophilia

Fun is Serious Business

urnani Daga too looked

forward to the weekend and often went on

aving traversed this adventure filled path for

adventure trips together. They en oyed these

more than six years, Abhishek and Chitra find

trips, but the sparse information available on the

themselves transformed as individuals. rom

web about the activities they loved so much

excited and amateur entrepreneurs, the duo has

disappointed them. urthermore, the operators

now become more mature and are determined

and vendors managing these activities did not

leaders at the helm of an enterprise. Today,

deliver uality experience to customers. ensing

Thrillophilia is India s biggest platform for travel

an opportunity with a high growth potential,

activities and experiences and lists

opera-

Abhishek and Chitra uit their comfortable IT

tors from

Asian

obs and co founded Thrillophilia in

countries. They understand and appreciate the

as a

cities across India and

pure play adventure company which curated

enormity of the responsibility on their shoulders

and listed adventure operators.

arising from the trust their customers and operators have placed on their organisation.

The adventures they have had on this entrepreneurial ourney have made uitting their

Stick to the basics.

Stick to the fundamentals of running a business.”

ave you seen someone uit their high paying investment banking job, say no to an MBA from an elite business school, and take up the hard path of entrepreneurship instead? Meet

Understand the market and speak to customers before you launch your idea.

Validation before launch is the key to success.”

Abhishek Chatter ee, an engineer turned invest ment banker, who set out to reform the func tioning of banks.

aving worked at .P. Morgan during and post the financial crisis of

, Abhishek reali ed

that the back office comprises a ma or chunk of the workforce at banks yet it operates rather inefficiently. Abhishek decided to build a tool using cutting edge AI that could easily integrate with the banks existing data and pre empt any untoward incident. Rejecting an offer to pursue his MBA from a top notch B school in Abhishek launched TookiTaki in

A,

.

Taking the plunge turned out to be the easiest

Abhishek Chatterjee

part. The next few years were replete with chal

Eventually, the team’s persistence in trying to

person, during the whole process. He now jests

lenges. Having spent two years building the

crack the banking sector bore fruit. oci t

about his initial wariness in making sales calls.

product, Abhishek and his team were confident

Making Banking more Efficient

Patience wasn’t one of his core traits and he has

while approaching banks. The long sales cycle

followed suit and several big wins followed.

been tested severely on this. He has passed this

and banks’ resistance to changing the status

Tookitaki s clientele soon included bigwigs such

test too with flying colours. This understanding

as tandard Chartered,

of his strengths and weaknesses has allowed

uo put enormous pressure on their cash flows.

TookiTaki

n rale came onboard. A couple of local banks

omura etc. They even

The team s enthusiasm and gusto also began to

landed Facebook, thus becoming the behe

him to find the perfect co founder in eeta, a

flag. At this stage, Abhishek improvised and

moth s first outh East Asian technology part

childhood friend who brought to the table a set

pitched his product to players in other industries

ner. They were also accredited by ingapore

of complementary skills in the areas of opera

such as e commerce and retail. This bet paid off

Government; this accolade paved the way for

tions and marketing.

and TookiTaki s product was soon adopted by

TookiTaki taking up government pro ects in the

biggies like PayTM and

country.

uikr.

hile Tookitaki has already won many acco lades, many more laurels are on their way. And

Abhishek has evolved tremendously as a

Abhishek, with a single minded focus, is deter mined to get them home!

when school means more Swapnil Khandelwal Of Conviction and Perseverance

141

Harjaap Singh Mann Never Giving Up

155

Ashwini Jain, Sabyasachi Roy & Tushar Gothi Deeper Knowledge, Stronger Impact

143

Vaibhav Tidke Applying Science, Creating Tomorrow

157

Daniel Raj David The Accidental Entrepreneur

145

Aurvind Lama Going Places, with Resolve

159

Divir Tiwari, Peeyush Jain & Apurva Gupta Innovation Meets Passion

147

Bramh Awasthi His Dream is a Flame Nurtured

161

Rohit Agarwal The Techie Visionary

149

Ankit Mehta Transforming India into a Drone-Nation

151

Siddhi Karnani & Anurag Agarwal The Road Not Taken

153

Believe in yourself when nobody else does.

along the way. With the potential to touch

Swapnil Khandelwal, founder of AlmaConnect,

millions of lives with AlmaConnect, there is a

did that to keep his idea alive. That too, when no

long way for him to go. He refuses to be bogged

one around him could even understand his

down by lofty goals and targets; instead, he

vision.

draws immense happiness by connecting people with their communities.

Born and brought up in a doting Marwari business family, Swapnil was genetically attuned

One who believes deeply in relationships, Swap-

towards entrepreneurship and starting his own

nil makes time to nurture his connection to

venture. While in college, he built strong friend-

friends and family. He also strives to bring some

ships. Reflecting on their impact, he reali ed the

fun to the workplace. He is proud of pulling off a

need to have a well-connected alumni network.

month-long retreat in Lavasa with the entire

Around him, he saw people with immense love

AlmaConnect team, where everyone got to work

for their alma mater and high regard for their

in a relaxed environment and have some fun. No

alumni community, and yet there weren’t

small feat, this!

efficient ways to keep in touch and communicate with fellow alumni. To address this need, after graduating in 2011, he started up AlmaConnect – an online social network based on private

01

Swapnil Khandelwal AlmaConnect

Of Conviction and Perseverance

alumni networks.

He hit a roadblock almost immediately; no one understood what he was trying to achieve.

Potential investors were sceptical of the need for

was going to solve a very prominent problem.

his first ma or accomplishment and signalled

such a platform. His friends doubted the viability

He was not to be dissuaded. He kept at it and

the beginning of the phase where AlmaConnect

of AlmaConnect and thus were not able to

soon found the right set of people and the right

partnered with several premier institutes of the

provide the support and encouragement he so

environment needed to develop his ideas.

country.

needed. It seemed as though nobody apart from

Speaking with mentors, bouncing off ideas while

him believed in the venture. Swapnil was frus-

interacting with fellow entrepreneurs, venting

Swapnil attributes his success to his family. They

trated and at his wit’s end as he was unable to

the frustration he had built up and receiving

gave him the freedom required to chase his

convince people to share his vision.

words of reassurance from them proved pivotal

dreams. The hard beginning and the subse-

as all this helped him move ahead. AlmaConnect

quent rough patches have strengthened his

Giving up, though, was not an option. He was

took off and IIT Roorkee came onboard. Despon-

self-belief. His good decision-making skills and

convinced that his well thought out product

dency turned to relief and relief to oy. This was

unwavering confidence have steadied him

Surround yourself with the right people.

Enjoy whatever you’re doing everyday.”

Sometimes you don’t need a detailed plan to

ISRO and many others, the trio is now aiming at

scale great heights. A spark can stay on long

making Ants Ceramics a global player in

enough for the fuel to reach and turn it into a

advanced materials.

bright flame that provides light and warmth to With many patents to their credit, these three

everyone.

hope to be an inspiration for other IP-driven For Ashwini Jain, Sabyasachi Roy, and Tushar

startups in India. They have their eyes set on

Gothi, this fuel came in the form of Prof Bharga-

that

va at IIT Kharagpur, where Ashwini and Sabyasa-

of the impact that Ashwini, Sabyasachi and

chi pursued their post graduate course in Mate-

Tushar set out for. And there is no other way

rial Science. Prof Bhargava became the catalyst

than reach there!

and helped speed up the trio’s quest for bringing lab-based research into the commercial domain.

Tushar and Ashwini, childhood friends, always wanted to be entrepreneurs; they just were not

02

Ashwini Jain, Sabyasachi Roy & Tushar Gothi Ants Ceramics

Deeper Knowledge, Stronger Impact

sure of what to start with and how. Sabyasachi, on the other hand, had no entrepreneurial inclinations but was fascinated with Material Science. At IIT Kharagpur, Ashwini and Sabyasachi began their journey of creating societal impact by founding and running an NGO. Impressed by their drive, Prof Bhargava introduced them to the idea of ‘scale’ or making

Thus, Ants Ceramics was founded in 2005. They

R&D capabilities, and a thin customer base. They

massive impact through an IP-driven enterprise.

have now come a long way from building India’s

even went broke and considered shutting shop.

first advanced material company with strong

However, it was hard for them to give up on some-

research and development foundations.

thing that they felt so strongly about.

gies on innovating through R&D. Tushar soon

Being fresh out of college, the three often

Drawing on their personal resources, they kept

joined them and brought in his entrepreneurial

doubted themselves, their vision, and their

Ants Ceramics afloat while constantly attempting

spirit and business acumen. The trio’s vision was

aspirations. These self-doubts grew manifold

to find a foothold in the market.

to impact the lives and health of those

especially when things didn't go as planned. The

employed in the building materials industry by

hard times lasted long; they worked under

Their perseverance paid off. With an impressive

developing advanced building materials.

severe financial constraints, with negligible

list of clients including BHEL, GE, Arcelor-Mittal,

Giving up attractive employment opportunities, Ashwini and Sabyasachi focused all their ener-

100 crore revenue mark. That is the scale

Believe in what you have started. If you believe enough, luck will be on your side too.”

"To him that will, ways are not wanting" - George

segment. It has also raised funding from giants

had assumed that the road ahead would be

their investors-cum-customers abreast of each

Daniel firmly believes in the necessity of having

Herbert

such as RIL, HPCL, and BPCL. Such a high-inten-

easy, and on field implementation would be a

and every development and the expected

a good team. He has several highly specialized

sity and power-packed start has pushed Daniel

piece of cake. But this seemingly simple task

pitfalls. Managing investors’ expectations has

people from his alma mater working with him

Daniel Raj David’s entrepreneurial journey

to hone his R&D and managerial skills. Thus, as

took them three long years to accomplish. While

been tough for this team of entrepreneurs

currently. Now he dreams of showing the world

began on the back of this quote. After having a

only a young graduate (he graduated in 2017)

the technology was ready in

which is technologically adept but are still

that India is not just a country capable of

not-so-great experience during his summer

Daniel has been able to gain skills that any other

successful implementation was only in 2016.

learning the ropes of running an enterprise.

producing software companies, but one that

internship, he decided to pursue a project under

fresher can only dream of acquiring.

Along the way, Daniel and his team had to keep

, the first

also has strong R&D capabilities. He and his team continue to grow from strength to

Prof Krishnan at IIT Madras. Little did he know that he was taking the first steps on his entre-

Having developed the technology in a

strength. Their second product, an industrial

preneurial expedition. What started off as a

state-of-the-art laboratory, Daniel and his team

inspection drone, is quickly gaining traction.

trickle in the form of just another college project, turned out to be a flood. The pro ect he was

Barely out of college, Daniel Raj David is no

working on with Tarun Mishra, his senior, and

rookie. He has learnt his lessons well and the

Prof Krishnan, gradually turned into a massive

rewards are pouring in. To him, this is just the

business opportunity.

beginning!

Prof Krishnan and Tarun were working on developing a technology that could generate signals in the vicinity of temperatures as high as 350 degree Celsius. Daniel, a mechanical engineer, was brought on board to create a product based on this technology. The result was a machine that could inspect oil pipelines at very

Daniel Raj David

high temperatures, and generate reports thereby preventing accidents that could cost a company crores of rupees. Realising the immense potential of this machine, Detect Technologies was founded while Daniel was still pursuing his

Detect Technologies

The Accidental Entrepreneur

engineering degree.

Today, as one of the promoters of Detect Technologies, he is engaged in bridging the gap between the petroleum industry and new tech-

“

With a great team you can do anything.

It is the most important thing for the startup.”

nologies. In its short history, Detect has won an enviable client list across the heavy industry

146

The startup was a part of the iAccelerator in 2010

added to their challenges. Patience and perse-

that helped them chart a growth path. Identify-

verance served as the pillars of strength. These

ing another monetizable user need, they lever-

qualities also helped them to navigate unchart-

aged this technology to develop SaaS solutions

ed and difficult territories.

for sales automation with FieldAssist being their flagship product. It became immensely popular

The team found respite once they started land-

as it brought to this rookie startup over 175

ing their first customers. It is a memory they will

corporate customers including some of the

always cherish. They received a lot of recognition

biggest players such as Raymond, Mahindra,

in the tech community once FieldAssist was

Star TV etc.

named among the top 10 innovative ideas in Intel’s App Innovation Contest (AIC) 2013. Adding

Peeyush recounts the initial experiences as a

each new customer continues to thrill them.

roller coaster ride. Those days were very tough

Witnessing the strong positive emotions of the

as they have had their legitimacy questioned

people who appraised their products has been a

and had to convince new customers to not be

great motivator for this trio.

prejudiced by their (young) age. Further, being a As undergraduate students at Indian School of Mines (ISM) Dhanbad, all that Divir Tiwari, Peeyush Jain, and Apurva Gupta ensured was that

Divir Tiwari, Peeyush Jain, & Apurva Gupta

they had their hands full with what they loved doing – solving problems. Having undertaken up some self-initiated projects earlier, they joined their college’s entrepreneurship cell. Here they got excited about entrepreneurship and began identifying needs which could be monetised. A TED talk by Pranav Mistry proved to be the final

Flick2Know Technologies

trigger which motivated them to connect the physical and the digital world, giving birth to

Innovation Meets Passion

Flick2Know.

As part of their final year pro ect they developed tags/holograms that could be read by mobile applications which would then display relevant information to a user. Leveraging this, the team developed a QR code marketing platform which had over 200 customers.

product company, the imperatives to keep costs

They advise young entrepreneurs to court entre-

down and the team together while developing

preneurship with passion. Once they set out,

their product in an extremely dynamic market

patience and perseverance need to be constant companions, while keeping an eye on the cash flow. Both Peeyush and Divir believe that building teams should be a priority, as a single idea or an individual can’t grow a startup. Having built an enviable team, they are now geared up for the next phase of growth. They have stuck together through the hardest times; they believe it can only get better now.

“

We’re still making mistakes and learning.

It has become a way of life now.”

148

Rohit Agarwal had no two thoughts about

This journey has been extremely enriching for

becoming an entrepreneur since his early

Rohit. He believes that he has learnt more about

college days. The encouragement and support

people management, networking, technology

he received from his college, BITS Pilani, allowed

etc. from his adventures with Framebench than

him to take charge of his destiny. An avid

he could have anywhere else. He feels that he

programmer, Rohit started his entrepreneurial

has become more mature and can understand

pursuits in his second year at BITS Pilani by

when people say, ‘this is a marathon, not a

enrolling for a course on entrepreneurship. This

sprint’. After he became a part of Freshworks in

course stoked the fire. Rohit, alongwith his

2015 (after they acquired Framebench), Rohit is

batchmate Vineet Markan, set up a venture in

enjoying focusing solely on product manage-

the animation and graphics space. This idea

ment. He continues to take up small tech proj-

received instant validation in the form of a small

ects inside the company to satiate the hustler in

grant from a BITS alumnus. It also won an award

him and keep his abilities sharp.

and along with it a grant of

5,00,000 at The

Power of Ideas competition.

Always one to stand out in a crowd and make his own mark, Rohit and Vineet joined Krayon Pictures, an animation studio, as interns to hone their skills and do some scoping. While recognising and fixing a critical problem faced by the studio, the duo developed an interactive online tool to help cross-continental teams collaborate

Rohit Agarwal Framebench Technologies

The Techie Visionary

on videos. They soon landed their first paying client which was Krayon itself! The visionary in

hiring, sales, client relationships etc. Letting go

Rohit then took over. He and his team launched

off a team member, in case he or she wasn’t a

Framebench in 2012 and his conviction led him

good fit, was a task Rohit found particularly

to securing funding very early on from several

challenging. His leadership style of building a

angel investors and Blume Ventures.

team that shared a very close bond made this task even more onerous. At the end of it all, it is

The first olt was not far away though. ineet left

the team and the moments he has enjoyed with

the team to start his own venture and Rohit was

them that he cherishes the most.

left alone to manage everything including

It felt like we were all a big bunch of friends rather than a company.”

ow does this machine work A young Ankit

Department of Defense. Today,

A s of this

Mehta was often intrigued by this uestion it

rookie startup are creating a massive impact in

didn’t matter if the machine appeared in a

various fields including anti terror operations

cartoon, a movie, a book or was physically next

Pathankot and Pampore attacks , crowd surveil-

to him. Drones and other Unmanned Aerial ehicles

lance Amarnath atra and umbh Melas , and

A s fascinated this young boy. Pur-

disaster management

suing his passion for machines, Ankit and his

ttarakhand floods .

team built uadcopter prototypes at IIT Bombay

epal earth uake and etra was the first

A to

be used by Indian defence forces.

and now make their technologies more accessible to the masses. His journey from Jodhpur to

Remember the drone in the movie

currently leading ideaForge, who are creators of

was an ideaForge drone too.

India s first micro

A named

Idiots That

etra, is truly

inspiring.

Ankit’s journey showcases the diligent pursuit of one’s dreams. Behind his cheerful and calm

Ankit’s interests in machines and technology

disposition lies immense grit and perseverance,

were bolstered by his teachers who encouraged

the two ualities necessary to realise one s

him to take tough and unconventional deci-

dreams. Technologies must create far-reaching

sions. Always a curious kid, Ankit secured top

impact and Ankit is committed to make it

ranks in several national-level Science Olympi-

happen.

ads and pursued a dual degree in Mechanical Engineering from the coveted IIT Bombay IITB .

During his course, he worked on do ens of hardware projects, almost all of which were

Ankit Mehta

based on his original ideas. co-founded ideaForge.

problems, and then worked on them. This con-

hile at IITB, Ankit worked on various mechani-

ideaForge

Transforming India into a Drone-Nation

simpler, base components, found the source of

cal and electronics engineering projects and

His trail was beset with numerous challenges.

tinues to be his way of dealing with problems,

became a part of the then newly formed Innova-

His family wasn’t entirely supportive of the

and it works like a charm.

tion Cell. Here he got access to resources and

venture, while the lack of prior experience in

mentorship. He also met his co-founders who

running an enterprise threatened the existence

Given his tenacity and resolve, success had to

were his juniors in the course, Ashish Bhat and

of ideaForge. However, Ankit was determined to

follow. idea orge shared the first pri e with MIT,

Rahul Singh. Upon graduating, Ankit took an

solve these problems and he knew that idea-

USA in the hovering category of platforms at the

off-campus placement while continuing to work

Forge would succeed. Being a meticulous engi-

prestigious Micro Air ehicle MA

on his startup. In

neer, he broke each problem into smaller,

, he uit his ob and

competition

, organi ed by the Indian Army and the

An entrepreneur’s journey is filled with mutations. Every few months something forces you to think differently.

Be open to it.”

Unwilling to take the road chosen most often by

without having any access to food or water in

their peers, Siddhi Karnani and Anurag Agarwal

areas where processing units were located and

chose to walk the uncommon path – that of

where even the basic sanitation facilities were

being entrepreneurs, after completing their Post

not available for women. She was often looked

Graduate Programme in Agri-Business Manage-

down upon by traders, who considered her to be

ment from IIMA. The seeds of their entrepre-

‘just a woman’.

neurial foray were sown during Shodh Yatra , a course conducted by the inspirational

The strong trust and camaraderie that the

Prof Anil Gupta, a Padma Shri awardee. Students

co-founders share has helped them face these

opting for the course hike in tough geographical

challenges head-on. Expanding their presence

conditions, interacting with local people aiming

in the region, they are now setting up their

to better comprehend their realities. Enveloped

second processing plant in Siliguri. Their efforts

in the pristine air of an unexploited Sikkim, lay

towards energising the region have been public-

Siddhi’s and Anurag’s purpose.

ly recognised by the Prime Minister. Their unwavering commitment has had a widespread

Siddhi Karnani & Anurag Agarwal

Reflecting back on the course, the duo noticed

impact. Siddhi and Anurag smile brightly upon

an anomaly. Their education at IIMA had made

seeing a greater number of women in their

them aware of the presence of a rapidly rising

farmer meetings. Their eyes light up upon

and already huge market for organic foods

witnessing the faces of overjoyed farmers receiv-

despite the high prices associated with them.

ing their fair share of money.

On the other hand, the Sikkimese farmers growing these organic produce were living in poverty. These farmers, unaware of the market realities, were being exploited by the middlemen and were unfairly deprived of even basic living standards. The two rookies decided to take up the mantle of setting right this wrong.

Parvata Foods

The Road Not Taken

They worked tirelessly to develop their idea at IIMA itself and, in

grown from a distributor of organic produce landing Mother Dairy as their first client to

behind forgoing a settled corporate career to taking a step towards becoming ‘vegetable

having full command over the processing of

vendors’. The capital-intensive nature of busi-

organic spices with its processing unit in

ness further exacerbated their troubles; Siddhi

Sikkim.

had taken up online tutoring and Anurag con-

, founded Parvata oods, a

sulting projects, to fund their venture. The

socio-commercial enterprise aiming to elevate

Nothing was easy and it was a struggle all the

difficult to traverse terrains of ikkim made

the living standards of farmers in North-East

way, much like their hike in Sikkim. The duo had

things tougher for them.

India by integrating them with the core value

to deal with the scepticism of their families who

chain. In the last five years, Parvata oods has

could not fathom their children’s reasoning

iddhi often stayed in the field for

hours

The chances of your success will always increase. Wait till say, your 1000th day.

Then look back to see where you’ve reached.“

Our paths are oft beset with doubts and seldom

he could work on software development proj-

Harjaap’s family recognised the hard work he

do we know exactly what we want to achieve.

ects during the day. He devoted each non-work-

had put in and offered him their full support.

ing second of his (including breaks, cab rides

Things started falling in place when his venture,

He has always had his eyes on his goals and,

and weekly offs) to his projects. His colleagues

Proof of Performance (PoP), got selected for The

despite the many impediments, has marched

noticed his enthusiasm and started pitching in.

Power of Ideas 2010. The team soon expanded.

steadfastly towards them.

Even the management recognised his smarts

His wife and a few colleagues from the call

and offered him a position in London. However,

centre came on board. However, his quota of

A Computer Science engineer from National

Harjaap had other plans. He quit, explaining his

challenges hadn’t been exhausted! PoP’s

Institute of Technology (NIT) Silchar, Harjaap

rationale to his manager, “I am a horse, but this

billboard advertising recording team came

started his entrepreneurial journey as an under-

is not my race.”

under the suspicious eye of the authorities

ar aap ingh Mann is an exception to this rule.

graduate student with his first pro ect, comput-

across many cities and towns. This capital-

erisation of recruitment process, at the Assam University. After graduation, he worked on multiple software projects across industries before setting up a joint venture with Semiconductor Laboratories to work on embedded software.

In

, this venture went into litigation. ollow-

ing this were five very difficult years.

ar aap

spent all his time preparing for court hearings,

Harjaap Singh Mann Proof of Performance Data Services

Never Giving Up

while he helplessly watched his venture falling

intensive method of data collection slowly

winds fiercely, and has come out stronger. And,

apart. Customers backed out, projects shut

became unsustainable; Harjaap urged his team

Harjaap is the captain of this ship.

down, and employees quit. By 2009, Harjaap was

to save their careers and find other obs. Many

left all alone. His family, utterly disappointed

stayed back to work without any compensation,

with the state of affairs, implored him to take up

committing fully to the arduous task of reviving

a ‘normal’ job. He succumbed to their wishes,

the company.

but only after securing a lifeline that he could continue working on projects outside of his

And revive they did! Harjaap and PoP are now on

work hours, so that he could continue trying to

a steady growth path. With an enviable client list

fulfil his dreams.

including B P, tar T , ber, reecharge,

ero Motors, lipkart,

ar aap is now focusing on

With forethought, Harjaap joined a call centre as

achieving unmatched growth. PoP is a ship that

a voice agent and worked the night shift so that

has weathered numerous storms, battled the

Work hard, do the right thing, and success will follow.”

156

aibhav Tidke s memories as a young child are

needs, Vaibhav and his team undertook various

peppered with instances of visiting and shop-

consulting projects and tutoring. They were

ping at the weekly fruit and vegetable markets.

committed to making it work. Another signifi-

As he grew up, he developed a strong inclination

cant hurdle that the organisation faced was the

towards applying science to address the prob-

need to persuade the reluctant farmers to

lems of this community. In college, he estab-

accept this technology.

lished a not for profit

cience for ociety with a

few of his friends and during his final year, collaborated with

ational

aibhav and his co founders have steadily and

niversity of inga-

successfully overcome this plethora of challeng-

pore (NUS) on a project to study the relationship

es. S4S now collaborates with FICCI, DFID, and

between dehydration and agricultural harvest.

ates oundation to test the application of their

This project was not only aligned with his moti-

technology on various food products.

vation to create a social impact, but also formed

revenues from CD becoming stronger each

the knowledge foundation for his future entre-

year, S4S is now eyeing newer technologies and

preneurial pursuits.

platforms. There is a massive need for technolo-

ith

gy solutions for agriculture. The team at During his post graduate programme, Vaibhav

with Vaibhav at the helm, is committed to it.

sustained his earlier inclination and developed a Solar Conduction Dryer (SCD) under the umbrella of cience for ociety along with a friend. As the name proposes, CD utili es solar power to convert fruits and vegetables into their respec-

Vaibhav Tidke

tive dehydrated forms. In

, recognition came

in the form of Bayer A s recognition of CD as a global innovation; the team was also awarded

technology at its core, S4S is working with a

Being entirely at the mercy of the weather, the

€

range of partner organisations to create sustain-

agricultural cycle and consequently the custom-

able supply of preserved food products.

er cycle remained unpredictable. The environ-

. Receiving the Dell Award in

further

bolstered the team s confidence in their technol-

S4S Technology

Applying Science, Creating Tomorrow

mental and climatic conditions affected the

ogy and its potential to make an impact. This is

overall production levels which, in turn, affected

when the team of four friends, who had started

hile the technology gained recognition and

cience for ociety, decided to set up an enter-

momentum, there were many sector specific

the post harvest processing.

challenges that aibhav had to face. ong gesta-

there is little to no rain, the importance of

tion period and payment cycles, low adoption

post-harvest technology decreases, and eco-

rate of technology and capital intensive opera-

nomic returns are affected. To meet the eco-

tions put immense financial pressure on

nomic returns are affected. To meet the financial

prise which could commercialise its technology. acronym for cience for ociety was founded in

as a food preservation company for

inventing new food processing machines.

ith

,

.

or instance, when

It is your vision, your dream, and your passion that makes a startup feasible.

Start early, give sufficient time and take your own decisions.”

Sneaking into electronics shops near his school

maintenance in smart cities), and Irya Innova-

while in the tenth standard and feeling at home

tions (manufacturing a variety of tools, sensors,

amongst the whirrs of those devices is a fond

and equipment for agriculture, space, and

childhood memory for Bramh Awasthi. In the

energy sectors .

next two years, he graduated from mere observation to action and undertook apprenticeships

Bramh maintains that entrepreneurship is not

at the local electronic repair shops. It was in

for the faint-hearted or for the ones who give up

these messy shops, surrounded by a sea of

easily on their vision.

appliances, electronics, and tools, that Bramh

more fearless and patient now and is resolute in

first realised the extent of his passion for

his mission to making India self sufficient as a

machines. The seed for

manufacturer of its own defence e uipment.

hirlybird Electronics

And not much can come in the way of such a

was sown.

resolute man! is decision to pursue entrepreneurship was primarily influenced by two critical experiences during his undergrad course at IIT anpur. A visit to two of the hallmarks of India’s technology uest i.e. Indian pace Research I R

and

rganisation

industan Aeronautics imited

A

revealed to a young Bramh, the hard reality of

11

Bramh Awasthi

India’s severe dependence on other nations for almost all its defence e uipment. It was incomprehensible to him that his nation should have to import critical defence equipment even after graduation, Bramh founded

during his internship at Bose Corporation that

ics in 2004 aiming to establish India’s presence

display considerable grit merely to keep Whirly-

Whirlybird Electronics

Bramh gained confidence in his ideas and his

in the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and

bird afloat in this sector.

His Dream is a Flame Nurtured

mating quality control processes at a factory

the first six years,

level.

producing defence e uipment. It found consid-

is pro ect at Bose involved auto-

e developed a mechanism which was

nmanned

round ehicles

hirlybird Electron-

Several systemic constraints required Bramh to

so many decades of independence. And it was

capabilities.

e finds himself to be

market. or

hirlybird focused solely on

implemented successfully at all manufacturing

erable success and designed an at-sea-trans-

plants of Bose Corporation.

fer alignment system, avy.

The seed eventually sprouted and soon after

E M, for the Indian

owever, surviving as a startup in the

Indian defence sector is easier said than done.

e displayed these

qualities and instead of being bogged down, saw this as an opportunity to test other strategic, non military and commerical markets.

Pursuing his passion for machines, Bramh now helms three startups i.e.

hirlybird, ensefix

(offering IoT enabled services for repairs and

Reserve some time to learn new things everyday.”

It was in April 2006 that Aurvind Lama, a soft-

unorganised travel industry led him to pushing

ware engineer by training, was first introduced

himself beyond his boundaries.

to the world of startups. During an internship in Germany, he met two men who were living the entrepreneurial dream.

is conversations with

e has risen above the challenges the world has thrown at him.

e has faced and triumphed over

them validated the assumption he had formu-

days when cash was hard to come by, the com-

lated at IIMA, that internet is going to be the

petition was stiff and his team was small. His

future of business and that he should do some-

belief is that an entrepreneur lives for the sprin-

thing on his own. These happenstance encoun-

kling of oyous moments over a vast expanse of

ters while Aurvind was off getting a taste of the

difficult ones. This belief has lightened his own

post MBA corporate world ultimately led to the

dark moments.

founding of Travelyaari in 2008.

times when a long awaited and coveted govern-

e proudly remembers the

ment agency became their client. The point Back from

ermany and during his second year

at IIMA, Aurvind started his research.

e eroed

in on the travel industry. The space s unorgan-

when Travelyaari became profitable is one amongst the many cheering moments that make him work harder.

ised nature appealed to Aurvind and he, along with his co founders, Partha inha and Prateek igam, began working on building a platform

Aurvind believes that single-minded determination and a good team are necessary for any

that enables users to reserve bus tickets online.

entrepreneur to overcome challenges and to

10

In the last 10 years, Travelyaari has grown into

ultimately succeed. eeping himself free from

one of the largest online bus booking portals in

distractions and sticking to the basics in a

India, managing more than . lakh transactions

difficult unorganised market have been the two

a day.

lifebuoys in his ourney.

Aurvind believes that this decade long vigil has

Aurvind is well on his way towards fulfilling his

Travelyaari

made him more mature and has helped him

dream of building a self-sustaining,

become more patient and a transition into a

process driven, and profitable venture.

more meticulous decision maker.

en oyed every day of his ourney. It can only get

Aurvind Lama Going Places, with Resolve

aving grown

up in a protected environment and worked with large corporates, it took him some time to get used to the way of life as an entrepreneur.

Managing relationships with transport agencies and other diverse stakeholders in the

better, he says!

e has

Focus on the basics and build a viable business, don’t get carried away by the noise in the ecosystem.”

solving problems, on a repeat mode Jaydeep Mandal Making the World More Equal

165

Harpreet Singh & Ravneet Kaur No Adversity Too Big

179

Neil Patel Every Voice Needs to be Heard

167

Deepak Ravindran Passion Meets Brilliance

181

Hamish Patel Build Technology, Impact Lives

169

Anand Babu Driven to Make a Difference

183

Puneet Jaggi Of Relentless Pursuits

171

Arpita Kapoor & Mohit Rangaraju Play = Work = Play

185

Satish K. S. A Journey from Space to Earth

173

Dr Ashutosh & Sangeeta Khurana Transforming Thinking, Creating Futures

187

Neha Juneja & Ankit Mathur Lighting Stoves, Igniting Smiles

175

Senthil Kanthaswamy The Spirit of Entrepreneurship

189

Sujay Santra Making Healthcare Accessible, One Village at a Time

177

Actively participating in science workshops and competitions, young Jaydeep Mandal found immense joy in developing prototypes and won

Change is slowly happening. Women working

several national and international awards for his

for Aakar are able to earn about

innovations. After these successes and recogni-

month; allowing them to make pukka houses

tions, he ultimately found his way to National

and send their daughters to school. With more

Innovation Foundation (NIF) and began working

and more women joining in, the taboo associat-

on grassroot innovations. This was the begin-

ed with menstruation is being broken too. Talk

ning of his tryst with entrepreneurship.

about creating social change? This is how it’s done!

In 2008, he started Renaissance Consulting with his friend Amit. Their objective was to provide enterprise building consultation to help commercialize grassroot innovations. While promising, the firm soon had to be wound up as Amit, having done his MBA from the US, had to take up a job to repay his education loans.

A driven Jaydeep, however, continued working

01

Jaydeep Mandal Aakar Innovations

Making the World More Equal

on grassroot innovations, undeterred. During his stint with NIF, he had realised the dire need to provide rural women with means to improve menstrual hygiene. Partnering with a team from heffield

niversity, he started working on a e has had to draw on every bit of his willpower

low-cost manufacturing unit for sanitary nap-

Jaydeep soon found out that, all his positive

kins. The story of Aakar Innovations began in

intentions aside, people never willingly adapt to

and patience to address the many challenges

2014 with the creation of a small, low-cost com-

change, however big or small it may be. Consid-

Aakar was facing, from need to convincing

postable sanitary pads manufacturing unit that

ering that he was dealing with an issue widely

women, who had never even heard about a

could easily be installed in a small room.

regarded as ‘taboo’ despite it impacting lives of

sanitary napkin, to use them, to losing investors

Jaydeep and his team showcased this machine

over 300 million menstruating women, opposi-

because of issues relating to health and manu-

at the first estival of Innovation held at Rashtra-

tion was inevitable. In the eyes of the villagers,

facturing guidelines.

pati Bhavan in 2015. The applause from the

he was committing a cardinal sin. Not only was

unethical firms making false claims added to his

august audience present there boosted his

he supplying sanitary pads to women but was

woes. But, this story has a happy ending; the

confidence.

also enabling women manufacture them!

good is finally triumphing

e knew he was on the right path.

aving to compete against

30,000 per

There is no alternative to hard work.

Be ready to do any kind of work.”

A Gujarati, born and brought up in California,

had set for Awaaz.De. Over the years, several

taking up a plush software development job

moments and experiences have brought him

after completing his graduation from UC Berke-

immense joy and have kept him steady during

ley is not surprising. What Neil Patel did, two

the pursuit of his mission. The most fulfilling

years into his corporate career though, is aston-

moments of his journey, though, have always

ishing. Growing tired of ‘making the rich richer’

revolved around witnessing his team members

and feeling his work lacked a deeper purpose,

grow, farmers and communities getting empow-

he quit his job to delve into pursuing his two

ered, and technology reaching the last mile.

passions: Impacting lives of the underprivileged, and technology. He reached Stanford University

While many may have chosen to lead a cushy

where he found a fellow enthusiast in Prof

lifestyle after completing a PhD. Not this gritty

Tapan Parikh and this encounter ultimately led

entrepreneur though. Constantly working in

to the founding of Awaaz.De, a company provid-

conditions which force him out of his comfort

ing mobile-based interventions for social

zone, he is determined to keep giving voice to

change.

the underserved.

Neil began his research in Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) under Prof Parikh’s watchful eye. As a part of the course, he visited Baroda, and while

02

Neil Patel Awaaz.De

Every Voice Must be Heard

working with an NGO, discovered the huge information gap that existed in the farming ecosystem. He learnt that this gap can be addressed by harnessing the farmers’ innate desire to share useful information with their

Awaaz.De (i.e. give voice) in 2012. Over the past

he has faced his share of challenges trying to

peers and could be made possible by leveraging

six years, Awaaz.De has reached out to over 7

adjust to the vastly different business norms

the simple yet effective communication mode,

million people across 12 countries.

prevalent in India.

ot only did he have to find a

way to adapt his technology solution to Indian

voice calling. A seed was sown and in the next four years, Neil designed and perfected his

Neil has led Awaaz.De’s transformation from a

conditions, he also had to learn and adjust to the

technology solution. This technology interven-

research project, to developing a line of four

unsaid and often unfair business norms. At every

tion found interest and appreciation in no small

unique Interactive Voice Response (IVR) com-

juncture, Neil has had to push himself beyond

measure from all quarters alike, whether farm-

munication products, and now to offering

his comfort zone. He wouldn’t have it any other

ers, NGOs, or the government. Inspired by this

customised solutions aimed at two different

way. Neil credits his team for continually push-

recognition, he, along with Prof Parikh, founded

impact sectors. Having spent all his life in USA,

ing themselves towards achieving the goals they

Being organised and disciplined are required, but persistence is an entrepreneur’s most important quality.”

ith his entire family engaged in managing a multitude of businesses, it was only a matter of time before

amish Patel himself would strike

out on his own. After completing his undergrad education as an engineer, he decided to start his venture in the space that most excited him technology.

is inclination towards building

The high point is always to launch products and to experience customers coming back to you and telling you how good it feels.“

hardware products led him to found A oi Tech, a product based startup, in

.

amish began by researching about sensors and building products that leveraged technolo gy to track body vitals. In launched its first product,

, A oi Tech ello, an iPhone

cover that had built in sensors to measure critical vitals such as EC , heart rate, blood oxygen level, etc. The product received wide spread recognition from media with Tech Crunch, Daily Mail, and The Daily Telegraph giving rave reviews. oon, manufacturing facili ties were setup in China, with the marketing team in the R D base.

Hamish Patel A oi Mobile Technologies

Build Technology, Impact Lives

, while India was chosen as the ello had a strong footprint in

Europe with sales in an

and across the Europe couldn t be pursued in parallel. These long and

nion.

amish and his team had to face numerous

All these difficulties seem worthwhile to

unpredictable delays in product timelines were

amish, each time he sees customers use

frustrating. In the time that they had developed

e also believes that he has gained immense

ello.

challenges to realise these successes. ince the

their first iPhone case prototype and were ready

perspective over the years.

company was in the healthcare industry, there

to launch it, the iPhone had entirely changed in

products and innovations from various vantage

were plenty of regulatory roadblocks at both the

its appearance.

points. That is the only way to build robust

firm and the product levels. After spending a

strength to motivate his team through these

couple of years getting an I

tough phases and they were able to deliver a

tion for A oi,

certifica

amish began working on the

product certifications, as the two applications

amish, however, found the

e now evaluates all

products that solve real problems, he believes. amish marches on and is working on another

new version of the product, in time for the next

startup.

iPhone launch.

products, we can hardly wait for it

nowing his knack of building great

or Puneet ingh aggi, it all began with a three month stint at his brother Anmol ingh aggi s company,

ensol Consultants, a consult

prior corporate experience has been a tough ask

age.

for Puneet.

digital marketing and building e commerce

e has had to take a leap of faith and

sign term sheets and other important agree

e was also a blank slate when it came to

platforms.

ing firm helping stakeholders set up solar power

ments without having a thorough look ust to

plants. As usually happens with someone who

keep his companies afloat.

cannot stay still, Puneet was completely

on the ob and ensure that his companies

driven by the direct and measurable impact he

engrossed with the startup ecosystem and with

comply with all legal and accounting guidelines

can create, he has stayed motivated and

solar power industry.

in a highly regulated space.

prevailed.

e decided to take the

plunge and oin his brother as a Director at ensol, and not take up either of the two offers he had received as a part of on campus place

e has had to learn

e has had to sound

owever, through dedication, perseverance and

e feels that he has matured a lot as

confident while making promises, upholding

an individual and compares the learning curve

which is not always in his control, to big corpora

he went through to umping off a cliff and

tions who doubt his abilities due to his young

constructing an aeroplane while falling down.

ment process. Puneet hasn t looked back since, and has made a huge impact in this industry, facilitating construction of solar power plants with a capacity of , ty is

,

M

M

India s total capaci

.

To achieve such scale was not easy.

ensol ran

into troubles with the global downturn and lack of support systems in the clean energy sector.

The company was almost shut down twice

Puneet Jaggi E ysolare

Of Relentless Pursuits

because of acute resource constraint and

And how times have changed

rom trying to

prolonged spells of lack of business. To cope

gain weight then to make people take him

with such spells in an unstable yet rapidly evolv

seriously to now, running companies that are

ing industry, Puneet and Anmol decided to

operational in nine countries, being present in

expand their scope. Attracted by the scalability

states in India, and generating more than

of online businesses, they launched E ysolare,

crores in revenue. And Puneet wants to

an online platform that integrates system design

continue doing what makes him happy –

and engineering guidance for the procurement

impacting lives with his ventures

and installation of solar e uipment and solar panels.

elming multiple companies without any

Entrepreneurship is the accelerated path to maturity; it’s a super accelerated learning curve.”

172

Satish K.S. is an entrepreneur by habit, an

From having to convince farmers to come on

Today, Flybird is a recognized name in the farm-

explorer by choice, and a farmer at heart. He was

board to powering the startup through his

ing space in India. Satish now has his eyes set on

born and brought up in the startup capital of

personal savings, it has been quite a ride for

the next level. To establish Flybird as a globally

India, Bangalore. After completing his engineer-

atish. Difficult times abounded.

is co found-

recognized name for affordable and high-quality

ing studies, Satish started his career in product

er’s departure meant he had to fend for himself.

farming products. While looking back, he

development in the aerospace and automotive

Satish’s patience and optimism kept him going

regrets nothing and only wishes he had been

verticals at HCL and continued to hone his

and after months of intense, committed hard

faster and more effective in team-building and

technological expertise with them for over 12

work, Flybird was on track to make a mark in

in increasing the overall productivity of farms.

years.

this industry. With a vision to ensure sustainable

Firmly rooted with Flybird, Satish is in for the

growth for the farmers, he tackles the challeng-

long haul. And there is no other way that he can

Having been raised in a family that believes in

es posed by each day, for taking his company to

imagine it!

staying close to its roots, Satish always knew

new heights.

farming to be his true calling, after all, it had been practised by his ancestors for generations.

He feels truly rewarded when he sees his ven-

In 2007, he decided to take it up at his ancestral

ture making a positive impact on the lives of

village while still working at HCL. It was here

farmers.

that Satish understood the true meaning of struggle. Traditional farming methods, where lack of technology and poor water resource management were the norm, reduced his farm’s productivity radically. This made Satish realize that the farmers were in dire need of technologi-

Satish K. S.

cal expertise that could improve their outputs.

Flybird Farm Innovations

Along with a friend, he designed a smart irriga-

A Journey from Space to Earth

e knew that he had to find a solution to this.

tion controller to save water by 30-40 per cent.

He quit his job in 2012 and worked full time on developing this idea. By 2013, the idea was crystallized enough for Satish and his friend to launch his startup.

“

Be patient, have a clear vision with alternate plans ready, and take calculated risks in order to be successful.”

174

“Madam, how did you like the stove?” The

They now stand tall as the largest manufacturer

woman blinked, blushed, and then smiled. No

of eco-friendly stoves in India.

one had called her ‘madam’ before. It was strangely empowering. She murmured a “thank

It has been exciting six years. Their future is

you’’, and the two fellows smiled at her. This was

flushed with optimism and hope of making

what kept them going. The beguiling surprise

Greenway the brand of choice in developing

that their customers felt when they were

nations. “We want a Greenway product in every

addressed with respect; the respect they always

home.” As to what that product is, they do not

deserved but seldom received.

know, yet. They will eventually, so why should it matter now?

Sitting cloistered in a cubicle and crunching numbers while helping the rich get richer was never an option for Neha Juneja and Ankit Mathur. Their ambition was to impact the lives of the less privileged with their work. This ambition led them to start with Greenway Eco-Development, a consulting company that focused on carbon-reduction and renewable energy projects. However, they soon realized that their consulting without implementation would not succeed. This prompted them to start developing products for the rural markets - products

Neha Juneja & Ankit Mathur Greenway Grameen

Lighting Stoves, Igniting Smiles

that had an impact on how people led their lives. To this end, they founded Greenway Grameen in 2011.

extorting money, false police complaints, and

households at significantly lower costs.

vendors selling their designs in grey market continue to add drama to their story.

What commenced as Greenway cooktops, the

They have had to take the rough with the

modern alternative for conventional chulhaas,

smooth. They have had to constantly cope with

has now evolved a range of Greenway applianc-

rejection from vendors who did not take them

However, the efforts they have put into making

es that aim to deliver high-impact technological

seriously. The inability of rural women to pay

their products acceptable and accessible to

solutions to meet the critical needs of individual

and continual efforts to get the menfolk inter-

those who need them, has unlocked immense

users, families, and communities. Their recent

ested in purchasing a stove (as the kitchen is

value for them. Despite various barriers, they

product, Greenway TV, democratizes entertain-

predominantly a woman’s realm) brought con-

now have found a strong foothold in the other-

ment by bringing over 200 channels to rural

siderable financial strain to

wise difficult and inaccessible rural market.

reenway.

oons

A phase of six bad months does not mean that you give up. Be resilient, keep going!”

As an inquisitive child, Sujay Santra questioned

agencies, bstructed the process of acquiring

the need for Kharagpur residents to travel far

required bureaucratic permissions. But Sujay

distances to Chennai and Vellore to get quality

displayed resolute resilience and always found a

medical treatment. After receiving an MCA

solution to work for him in such challenging

degree from Institution of Electronics and

situations.

Telecommunication Engineers IETE ,

yder-

abad, and gaining experience by working for

Sujay’s resilience and determination have

over 10 years with tech giants Oracle and IBM,

brought him into the spotlight on numerous

Sujay decided to address this question himself.

occasions such as case studies about him and

Blending his strengths in technology with his

iKure being taught at MIT, and receiving appre-

passion to do good for the society led to the

ciation from the President and Vice President of

birth of iKure.

India. or him, however, receiving the first position in the Global Sourcing Council’s 3S

An entrepreneur always starts with identifying

awards in New York, remains the highest point

the core need of the market. In Sujay’s case, he

to date.

observed that no major companies were using

Sujay Santra iKure

Making Healthcare Accessible, One Village at a Time

technology to bridge the gap between doctors

Even amidst all the adulation, he believes that all

and patients. So, iKure began as a tech-provider

his dreams haven t been fulfilled.

to

to provide affordable, accessible, and quality

s and government agencies.

owever, he

is goal is still

soon realised that the entire healthcare system

healthcare to all the rural population in India. In

was broken. Government agencies were resis-

the next five years, i ure aims to impact the lives

tant to change and the local players felt that

of more than 100 million underprivileged people

their livelihood was threatened by his company.

and, in some sense, become a leader in the

That motivated him to pivot the offering to

space of social innovation in ICT-related health-

encompass the entire healthcare network. This

care services.

was achieved through an operationally efficient hub-and-spoke model, consisting of four hubs

Persistence and unwavering commitment to

and

making a difference keeps u ay soldier on.

spokes across six states catering to five

million patients.

e is

now intimately entwined with the complexities of a system that needs decade-long attention,

Success had counterpoints of challenges too.

and he won’t rest until all the wrongs are right-

Uncooperative local players and scheming

ed.

small time doctors, who held significant influence on the local people and government

Often we are so passionate about the idea and so confident of its success, that we forget to prepare for failure - Always have a plan B, C, and D.”

Adversity strikes. Two choices give up or fight

born prematurely . One of the twins passed

and international bodies. iNICU is now funded

back. For Harpreet Singh and Ravneet Kaur the

away in the first week itself, and the other had

entirely by the South Korean government and

first is not an option. They have used their

to be hospitalised for 10 more weeks. This came

sources its equipments from China.

software technology background, entrepreneur-

as a rude shock, while

ial spirit, and zeal to make a difference, to build a

feeling settled in a regular ob at Mc insey.

Harpreet believes that entrepreneurs must

company to save the lives of newborn children.

Rising above their grief, the duo decided to find

spend time with their customers to truly under-

solutions that would help others facing similar

stand the market and be successful in the

issues.

long-run, instead of being clouded by awards

Coming from business families, they couldn’t

arpreet was finally

and accelerators. In this tough ourney, apart

envision themselves working in service compa-

Harpreet Singh & Ravneet Kaur

After trying to multitask,

returning to India from USA in 2007, they started

insey, realising that this problem needed his

products, Harpreet and Ravneet derive strength

Oxyent, an offshore product development com-

entire attention. iNICU was started to build a

from their son.

pany, with its first client based out of

platform that could analyse prenatal data to

ermany.

Within a year, Harpreet, with the help of his PhD

help doctors identify issues a week in advance

Their work at iNICU is not done. They draw

advisor, forged an alliance with Philips and

and administer antibiotics to the child. They

satisfaction from saving lives. They are address-

Electrical

soon received recognition from various national

ing a critical need in India. Next, they want to

eodesics Inc. E I where the ob ec-

tive was to integrate data collected from the

make iNICU a large enough intervention to

brain and the body and analyse it to aid diagno-

create a worldwide impact. The duo has seen

sis. Harpreet grasped the opportunity with both

grief from up close. They are committed to

hands and invested the next three years in

ensuring that no other parent ever encounters

pursuing it.

it.

It was hard times. Harpreet had to manage a large team and put in long hours at work. He had to do all this while raising loans. At times the deferred payment of his credit card bills. His family questioned him on the point of it all. But,

iNICU

all such questions were answered when he sold the product to E I and settled all his loans and

No Adversity Too Big

arpreet uit Mc -

from their strong background in building great

nies for long. Therefore, immediately after

left enough for buying a house.

Tougher times were not far away. The couple faced tremendous challenges. Their twins were

“

Success is fixing all areas that need improvement.”

A major impediment for Deepak was his age.

Not disheartened by this turn of events, Deepak

People found it hard to trust someone who

continued his ourney with

wasn t even

years old And, a college drop out

uest used smartphone

technology to enable its users ask questions to

Inno finally partnered with leading telecom

people geographically close to them. He soon

operators such as Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, and

understood the limited growth prospects of this

Tata Docomo to integrate M

product in a fiercely competitive market and

A .

yan into alue

ith a simple profit

sharing model, Innoz not only crossed the

How about doing that multiple times? Deepak

.

at that. However, Deepak worked tirelessly, and

Added ervices

Building a successful enterprise is no mean feat.

startups in the

uest funded by

decided to move on. After a short stint in the ilicon alley, Deepak returned to India in late

million dollar revenue benchmark, but also

2014 and founded Lookup, a WhatsApp-like chat

received widespread recognition. Innoz is even

messenger connecting users with local busi-

listed in the Limca Book of Records as the larg-

nesses. uccess followed the app ac uired a

est offline search engine. It was not fair weather

million users in ust eight months. This innova-

all the way. Increasing internet penetration led

tive product and the industrious entrepreneur

to a decrease in usage and sales of offline search

caught the attention of industry leaders such as

engines. The founders had to resort to selling

Kris Gopalakrishnan and Vinod Khosla; they

their technology to telecom operators and

invested about

exited the space in early 2014.

of funding.

million over several rounds

Ravindran makes this look formulaic. He began his entrepreneurial foray as a young high school

Deepak Ravindran

student - by making a website for small busi-

In 2016, Lookup was acquired by NowFloats.

Deepak’s endeavour has always been to build

nesses. Inspired by the stories of Google and

Deepak is now working on building Pirate Fund

meaningful, innovation-based businesses. No

Yahoo, and how they were founded by college

in an attempt to help entrepreneurs in

points for predicting that he will continue doing

dropouts, he dreamt of going to college and

cross border connection of India and the

finding like minded individuals to startup with

Inno Technologies

Passion Meets Brilliance

Fortune favoured Deepak and he met his co founders in the first year of college. Together they formed Inno Technologies and launched an offline search engine called M

yan by

partnering with various knowledge providers including

ikipedia. In

, while in their fifth

semester, the team decided to drop out of college and incorporate their firm.

“

.

so

Start young! You have little risk of failure and regardless of success or failure, you will have lots of great stories to tell when you get older.”

182

to his village, Bellary, located in North Karnataka.

download once every three minutes, on an

His cousin, L. Sivaprakash, who shared his vision,

average.

joined him and the duo founded Jayalaxmi AgroTech in 2014.

Anand Babu is now working on building a pan-India presence. Having weathered

A startup in agriculture based out of a remote

immensely difficult times, this humble and

village in Karnataka was quite unconventional.

gritty entrepreneur is determined to impact

Investors were wary because of this. However,

farming. And we are sure that he will.

Anand did not let this deter him. Instead, he worked hard to understand the nuances of farming and identify potential gaps which could be filled by technological interventions.

His research revealed that every household had at least one smartphone (though, ironically, most of them did not have a toilet) and that the

10

Anand Babu Jayalaxmi AgroTech

Driven to Make a Difference

With roots in farming, education in biotechnolo-

information they required varied by region. The

gy, global cultural exposure, and a rich work

type and the frequency of information was the

experience, Anand has been determined to

major difference. While certain regions and

change the way farming is done in India. Lever-

associated crops require more frequent informa-

aging his business acumen and years of experi-

tion on weather, others need information on

ence in data analytics, he wanted to create a

pest control and market prices. Anand came up

massive impact in agriculture.

with an elegant solution and decided to bridge the information gap in agriculture by using

Hailing from a farming family, Anand had to

mobile apps to guide farmers towards achieving

take up a corporate job owing to economic

higher efficiencies by improving all processes

constraints. He was, however, always driven

from sowing to harvesting to the sale of crops.

towards transforming agriculture and helping farmers. His experience with ICT revealed a

Anand’s relentless pursuits have now borne

gamut of interventions beneficial to farming in

fruit. He has gained recognition on multiple

India. He spoke with several organisations in the

platforms. He was recently invited by NITI Aayog

ICT space, but failed to ignite interest. He decid-

to participate in a dialogue on policy making for

ed to take the onus upon himself. Giving up a

the agriculture sector. Jayalaxmi AgroTech apps

high-paying corporate job, he returned

too have become hyper popular and see a new

“

Don’t start up for funding. Do it for passion.

Make a difference!”

184

Mohit Rangaraju and Arpita Kapoor, though two

was downloaded more than a million times.

completely different people, are set on the

Partnering with the prestigious Halfbrick

same goals and passions. Mohit, a

Studios, they are now creating the Indian

number-cruncher, is interested in behavioural

version of the hyper popular Jetpack Joyride.

psychology and music, while Arpita, a problem-solver, is a cook at heart and loves

In their short journey, this energetic duo has

spending quality time with her dog Yoda.

already checked off a few large milestones on

Together, they are on an entrepreneurial journey

their list. They are now eyeing to become the

- a journey that started with, well, curries.

go-to people for mobile gaming in India. Arpita and Mohit know their game and their story has

Mess food is a sore point with all hostel dwellers.

just begun!

Heard of anyone who has solved this problem?

Arpita and Mohit did. During their undergraduate days at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management (ABV-IIITM), Gwalior, the duo realised that curries, and not chapatis/rice, were the core problem. They quickly tied up with a few leading

11

Arpita Kapoor & Mohit Rangaraju Mech Mocha

Play = Work = Play

restaurants to deliver a choice of curries in bulk quantities to their campus (about 10 kilometres away from the city). The students would place their orders through a website or an app and the

contextualised to India.

shortage of resources added to their troubles.

Sometimes, the hard spells lasted for a few

restaurant would deliver the cumulated quantities to their campus, which would then be

Partnering on multiple projects and activities,

months at a stretch. A resource crunch often left

retailed to the students.

the duo recognised that they had complemen-

them questioning their decision to start up.

tary personalities that made them a great team.

The startup, such as it was, quickly gained

Arpita was a visionary with a very positive

Sticking together, drawing on each other’s

traction. However, Arpita and Mohit soon real-

outlook whereas Mohit depended on numbers

strengths, and not losing the sight of their vision

ised that this was a logistics business. Their

for decision making. On starting up, they quickly

has helped the duo successfully keep their chin

heart, however, lay with technology. During their

realised that a good team is not all that it takes,

up. Their perseverance and razor- sharp focus

coursework, they found a deeper calling in

especially when entering a market they knew

has paid off. Their game Chhota Bheem became

gaming and in 2011, while they were still at

nothing about. They had their fair share of trials

one of the most popular mobile games in India,

college, Arpita and Mohit co-founded Mech

and tribulations. Negligible prior business expe-

surpassing Temple Run and Candy Crush.

Mocha, a startup to create mobile games

rience, nebulous industry environment, and a

Within a few months of its launch, the game

Have a personal network of people who can give you the right advice at the right time. Remember, this network of people needs to grow along with you.�

Dr Ashutosh Khurana’s life in the corporate

educationists. Entrenched in the corporate way

agreement. Along the way they also picked up a

sector remained unruffled until he was expect-

of working, Ashutosh hired a team soon after he

few accolades including Bharat Ratna hri Atal

ing his first child with his wife angeeta

came onboard T

Bihari a payee Award for Innovation in

hura-

T .

owever, many of these

hiring decisions

Asia s Best Educational Innovation Award in

fulness and well being, it now became impera-

turned out to be mistakes, adding resource

2013.

tive for the couple to e uip their child with

pressures on this rookie startup. Ashutosh and

na.

hile angeeta had been working on mind-

capabilities to successfully navigate the world and live a fulfilling life. They wanted to help their

angeeta uickly learned from these mistakes and continued to persevere on their mission. uccess had to follow.

child break subconscious patterns, become

stop with ust their child

ith that commenced

the ourney of Mind Edutainment, which aims at experientially developing kills

12

Dr Ashutosh & Sangeeta Khurana

people,

T

igher

rder Thinking

in children. To avoid misleading T was soon renamed. Thus, T

T

Transforming Thinking, Creating Futures

schools in Delhi and

CR is now a part of the

main curriculum across schools in nine states. nce T

T was in the main curriculum, the

duo pushed for a dedicated lab for the programme in each school. In the face of a spate

but their dedication and perseverance kept

and Sangeeta’s conviction and reasoning

them going.

prevailed and 17 schools agreed to create a permanent lab and signed up for a five year

which affirmed the acceptance of T Indian schools. In

T by

, Ashutosh oined in and

together they set upon the path to improving

THOTS Lab

hat started as a hobby programme at a few

of uestions from school authorities, Ashutosh

. he onboarded the first few customers,

thinking patterns of children and helping them get ready to face the complex challenges of life.

While Sangeeta had deep interests in mindfulness, therapy, and well being, Ashutosh s background in telecom industry made him ill-suited for this entrepreneurial venture. It was often hard for the couple to establish credibility as

towards their vision of creating learning environ-

the process. With boundless energy and unfal-

was born. The path was fraught with hurdles,

Sangeeta conceptualised and founded THOTS in

Ashutosh and Sangeeta are pushing harder

ments at home and making parents enablers in

more aware of the mental schemas, and conscious of its thoughts and actions. But then, why

and

tering focus, their goal is not far from being realised.

“

Do what makes you happy. If it makes you happy, it makes you a better person everyday. And in turn that would be right for the society.”

There are some who become entrepreneurs by

ne of the most difficult moments for enthil

serendipity. And there are those who nurture

was when he had to let go.

their entrepreneurial aspirations and plan the

team, had put their heart and soul into building

path ahead in great detail. Senthil Kanthaswamy

Turing.

was passionate about entrepreneurship ever

scape, there were two choices available to him:

acquisition turned out to be a blessing. He

since his early college days.

continue with slower growth because of the

recalls that experience akin to getting ‘reserve

he became a part of an idea think-tank where

limited funds or accept an offer of acquisition by

rocket fuel’ which powered them along the path

he exchanged ideas big enough to build the

Freshdesk which came with a potential for

of solving the problems they so wanted to solve.

next Instagram or Top Box along with fellow

accelerated growth. For a founder who puts

Accepting this acquisition was a challenge for

tech enthusiasts. This is where he met his

everything into creating an enterprise, getting

him. It was the Turing team that gave him the

co-founder Shyam Anandaraman, an ex-Gold-

acquired is as close to heartbreak as it can be.

strength to accept and work with this choice.

pon graduating,

e, along with his

Senthil experienced this heartbreak too. Turing

hen there was a flux in their land-

was acquired by Freshdesk in 2015.

However, in hindsight, Senthil accepts that the

man achs analyst. After months of deliberating on various ideas, they converted a friend’s apartment into their temporary headquarters and in 2013 founded Turing Research Labs Pvt Ltd. Their offering was Frilp, an application that connects users with local businesses and services through trusted recommendations of their friends and colleagues.

13

Senthil Kanthaswamy

Being a first time entrepreneur, it has been an arduous ourney.

nly when they started, enthil

reali ed how little he knew.

e remembers the

Senthil had always dreamt of becoming an entrepreneur.

is experience, filled with spice

early days when he fumbled with running an

and adventures, has made this decision worth-

organisation and made some embarrassing

while. He believes entrepreneurship is a euphe-

mistakes.

mism for being plagued with doubts, for being

e reali ed early on that to execute a

large vision and to translate that vision into a

letdown, forgetting bruised over and over again,

reality, each and every employee of the company

and receiving support and warmth from close

Turing Research Labs

must have trust and belief in it. Senthil learnt

ones. Would he do it again? ‘Most certainly so’,

that it is this ownership of the vision that gives

he says!

The Spirit of Entrepreneurship

everyone – engineers, salespersons, just about

Be prepared!”

everyone – a purpose, and that purpose manifests as enthusiasm and commitment towards the organisation.

190

CIIE Alumni – Powering the Mission

Aditi Gupta

Gayatri Ashta

Amar Gupta

Prateek Diwan

Dilnawaz Khan

Akshata Kari

CIIE Role - Manager (’11-’12) Current Role - Managing Partner (India), DesignThinkers Group

CIIE Role - Program Specialist (’12-’14) Current Role - Consultant, Cognizant Business Consulting

CIIE Role - Program Manager (’08-’10) Current Role - Managing Director, YouScore Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

CIIE Role - Startup Consultant (’17-’17) Current Role - Investment Professional, 1Crowd

CIIE Role - Manager - Startup Oasis (’14-’17) Current Role - Founder, Codesign Labs

CIIE Role - Program Manager (’14-’15) Current Role - Assistant Project Manager, TechnoServe

Vidya Reddy

Shrey Deb

Kumar Gaurav

Mohsin Bin Latheef

Divya Titus

Srishtie Srivastava

CIIE Role - Research Associate (’13-’14) Current Role - PhD Candidate, AEM, Cornell University

CIIE Role - Program Manager (’13-’14) Current Role - Co-founder, empowerEd

CIIE Role - Program Manager (’06-’07) Current Role - Managing Director, YouScore Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

CIIE Role - Program Manager (’15-’16) Current Role - Pursuing MBA, Rotman School of Management

CIIE Role - Research Analyst (’13-’14) Current Role - Program Director, How To Tell Your Child

CIIE Role - Operations Co-ordinator (’14-’14) Current Role - Logistics Co-ordinator, Nanoleaf

Venkatesh Bhaskara

Nitasha Jhala

Radhika Perrot

Pooja Pandhe

Rushabh Shah

Jaideep Panwar

CIIE Role - Research Associate (’06-’06) Current Role - Manager, Tech Mahindra

CIIE Role - Associate (’14-’17) Current Role - PhD Candidate, ESSEC Business School

CIIE Role - Research Associate (’03-’05) Current Role - Artepreneur and Writer

CIIE Role - Research Analyst (’14-’17) Current Role - Director, Pandhe Infracons Pvt. Ltd.

CIIE Role - Finance Manager (’12-’17) Current Role - Senior Application Analyst, Wealth Spectrum

CIIE Role - VP - ICT (’15-’15) Current Role - Global Responsible Investment & Governance, APG Asset Management

SAMKIT SHAH SAMKITMINISTRY SHAH OF

MINISTRY RAILWAYSOF AND COAL, GoI RAILWAYS AND COAL, GoI

DEVANSHI BHATT DEVANSHI THEBUTT 9 LOTUS THE 9 LOTUS

CSRCSR EVANGELIZERS EVANGELIZERS

PRANAY GUPTA

SOMNATH CHATTERJEE

Pranay Gupta was the Joint CEO of CIIE from 2009 to 2013. The impact that CIIE creates in making India entrepreneurship-friendly makes the Centre dear to Pranay. He is now a Partner at 91springboard.

Somnath Chatterjee joined CIIE as its first CEO to develop a pan-India initiative focused on hi-tech and mass impact innovations. He played a significant role in scouting for young innovators. He is a strong believer in the power of entrepreneurship for job creation in India.

ISHITA AGARWAL ISHITA AGARWAL

ATAL INNOVATION MISSION, ATAL INNOVATION MISSION, NITI AAYOG NITI AAYOG

POLIC POLIC Y Y MAKER MAKER S S

GUNJAN PATEL GUNJAN PATEL SAP SAP

MUDIT NARAIN MUDIT NARAIN

ATAL INNOVATION MISSION, ATAL INNOVATION MISSION, NITI AAYOG NITI AAYOG

SWATI PANDEY

SWATI PANDEY ARBOREAL INNOVATIONS ARBOREAL INNOVATIONS

ENTREPRENEURS ENTREPRENEURS

SOMNATH CHATTERJEE

SOMNATH CHATTERJEE SIMILARITY, SAN FRANCISCO SIMILARITY, SAN FRANCISCO

AKASH BANSAL AKASH BANSAL LABS ORANGEWOOD

ECOSYSTEM ECOSYSTEM CHAMPIONS CHAMPIONS

ZOUK LOANS

GOURAV KHABYA GOURAV KHABYA HITH YOGA HITH YOGA

SHASHANK RASTOGI In 2010, Shashank Rastogi joined CIIE as the Director-Operations for The Power of Ideas. For him, CIIE was like his own venture. In 2011, he managed MentorEdge and focused more on developing programmes related to social impact after 2012. After CIIE, he joined EY.

TANVI SHAH Tanvi Shah Rangwala came to CIIE with the desire to work with early-stage startups. She led iAccelerator, India’s first accelerator, when it was launched. Over her tenure at CIIE, Tanvi continued to closely engage with startups in the ICT space.

ADITI GUPTA

ADITIDESIGNTHINKERS GUPTA DESIGNTHINKERS

INVESTORS INVESTORS & & ADVISORS ADVISORS NILAY SHAH NILAY NEO SHAH SPACES

PRANAY GUPTA PRANAY GUPTA 91SPRINGBOARD

NEO SPACES

SHASHANK RASTOGI SHASHANK ERNST RASTOGI AND YOUNG LLP

91SPRINGBOARD

ERNST AND YOUNG LLP

MANEESH BHANDARI MANEESH BHANDARI PROPELUSS PROPELUSS

KHUSHALEE KAPADIA KHUSHALEE VAKIL SA GLOBAL ADVISORS

ANGEL INVESTORS NETWORK

MAINAK BHATTACHARYA

MAINAK BHATTACHARYA CALCUTTA ANGELS NETWORK CALCUTTA ANGELS NETWORK

196

Acknowledgements We would not have created this memoir and documentation chronicling our story without the generous and enthusiastic support of several people: the founding members of CIIE, faculty from IIMA, our collaborators in the ecosystem, corporates and academics who have catalysed and witnessed our growth from close quarters, members from the CIIE team, and other well-wishers. All of them have provided content, quotes, and photographs for the book, while revisiting the beautiful memories of their association with us. We are extremely grateful for the eagerness and promptness they have shown, and for extending us the help and sparing the time while creating this book. Here are their names in alphabetical order.

Amit Bhalla Amitabh Kant Anisha Patnaik Chender Baljee Deep Kalra Dr Ajai K. Garg Dr Pawan Bakhshi Gauri Singh Gunjan Patel Harkesh Kumar Mittal Joydip Bhattacharya Laura Parkin Mahavir Sharma Manish Chaudhary Nadir Godrej Nikhil Kelkar Prof Amit Karna

Bajaj Electricals NITI Aayog Lexstart Royal Orchid Hotels Make My Trip, IIMA PGP 1992 Ministry of Electronics and IT BMGF Government of MP SAP NSTEDB, DST, GoI The Economic Times Wadhwani Foundation RAIN Department of Science & Technology Godrej Industries Siemens PLM Faculty Chair, CIIE

Prof Anil Gupta Prof B H Jajoo Prof Devanath Tirupati Prof Errol D'Souza Prof M. R. Dixit Prof Neharika Vohra Prof Pankaj Chandra Prof Rakesh Basant Prof Samir Barua Prof V. K. Narayanan Ratan N. Tata Ravi Mathur Ravi Saxena Ritu Banga Sashi Mukundan Shekhar Bajaj Sudhakar Potukuchi

IIMA IIMA Ahmedabad University Director, IIMA IIMA Chairperson of the Board, CIIE Ahmedabad University Dean (Alumni & External Relations), IIMA IIMA Drexel University, IIMA PGP 1973 Tata Trusts Rajasthan Venture Capital Fund Wonderchef, IIMA PGP 1993 Zoomdojo, IIMA PGP 1981 BP India Bajaj Electricals Eaton India Innovation Centre

From CIIE A. Arumugam, Arjit Johri, Ashwin Joshi, Ashwin Raguraman, Chintan Bakshi, K. N. Vaidyanathan, Kunal Upadhyay, Neeraj Jain, Niraj Mulani, Priyanka Chopra, Salim Vali, Saman Arora M., Sanea Vakaliya, Sanjay Jain, Sanjiv Bikhchandani, Shyam Menon, Snehil Basoya, Supriya Sharma, Tapish Bhatt, Vipul Patel

This book would also have been incomplete without the generous contribution from our entrepreneurs who opened their hearts to us while sharing their life stories and startup experiences with us, and providing us with quotes and photographs. We thank each one of them for their support, congratulate them on the success they have achieved in their odyssey, and wish them luck for their future endeavours.

Curated by Supriya Sharma. Developed by Flexiple (IIMAvericks startup)