1. Let’s Start

1

LET’S START

The start-up and innovation ecosystem is developing in India. Prime Minister Modi has made his vision clear through initiatives like Start-Up India, Make-in-India and Skill Development. Let’s start; this should be the mantra of your life. This little phrase can make wonders in whatever you want to do; be it planning, meeting new people, constituting a team or learn new things. So, Let’s start. Think less and do more.

“Once we decide we have to do something we can go miles ahead.”

These words reflect PM Modi’s style of functioning. His only focus is work despite all opposition. He is a little worried about outcomes and concentrates more on how to accomplish a job. You are bound to reach somewhere if you make a beginning. Nothing better, if you know where you want to go. Clarity of goal and a concrete plan ensures success.

“If you can’t fly then run if you can’t run then walk if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

These words are enthused with energy. Despondency is poison for youth. It is borne out of either indolence or lack of purpose. India has the world’s largest young population. It will be a burden if the young generation has no direction. However,

the same power of youth can also fulfil the dreams of both the Narendras, the one we know as Swami Vivekananda and another who is currently at the helm of the country’s affairs. It only requires guidance to the country’s youth. This book will discuss the leadership qualities of both the personalities in the coming chapters.

“The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.”

Stop just thinking and do something, if you want to overcome despair. You have new vistas for career options. A favourable atmosphere is being built to help you realise your goals. The Innovate India is one such attempt. The path is long and much remains to be done, so let’s do it! As PM Modi says, no journey is impossible once we have a strong resolve.

There will be doubts as well as opponents. Yet, the most successful strategy is to start doing what you always wanted to do. What are you waiting for?

After all, the core of our spiritual philosophy lies in ‘Karmanye Vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana (You have a right to perform your prescribed duty but you are not entitled to the fruits of action)’

We need to plan beyond doubts and aspirations to set up a new business or any start-up. Planning is an art and one must learn from the past precedents for successful execution.

Think about who you want to idolise. Learn from the

struggles of the recent achievers. The stories of those who are at the top of the success ladder should inspire your dreams. However, it may not be possible to emulate them in taking the first step towards your venture. You will not find every solution is stories of stalwarts like Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates. Their saga should motivate you. But, you will need a rolemodel much closer to the ground when it comes to learning. The tricks of the trade change as fast as the circumstances in today’s world. Therefore, your ideas cannot also be rigid. Keep investing in your biggest asset, which is you. Keep reading good books and be ever ready to learn new skills. I have seen many grand dreams crumbling in the face of trifles. One factor is common among all successful stories. Their protagonists were experts in their core skills but they also learnt aspects like marketing, sales and branding. It is not merely about productinnovation. New ideas should also fuel other business aspects like marketing, sales and branding. This is exactly what many successful businesses are doing. We will talk about innovating the innovation in this book. This book will inspire you for your start-up. It will also teach you the art of successful planning. There are seldom any permanent failures in business. You will certainly establish a profitable venture if you are doing the right things.

There can broadly be five reasons for any failed enterprise

Lack of Planning Wrong market assessment Not having the right team on-board Not having enough self-confidence. Lack of purpose in establishing the business

Lack of planning means not having a proper roadmap.

Working hard on the right plan is necessary before implementing any business idea. It is just like filmmakers preparing a storyboard before shooting for a movie. They have to learn it at the cost of their success then. Every failure makes you wiser. However, there are other ways to attain wisdom as well. This aspect needs to be understood clearly. We practice almost all other tasks in life, small or big. Yet, we are ready to count on hearsay and experience of others instead of attaining practical knowledge ourselves. What will happen if you run against seasoned athletes without ever practising running? You will fail miserably and can also faint on the track. The same applies to the race of life. This book will teach you the art of effective planning and unveil the secrets of innovation in startups. We hope it will give you the necessary confidence to start your enterprise. There are many possibilities for youth in new India. But, most young citizens are unaware of them. Following PM Modi’s vision can lead to the complete eradication of unemployment from the country. Not being able to do so will lead to the worsening of crime situation across the nation and deny India her rightful place in the community of nations. Therefore, these possibilities must reach every young Indian. This book will explain the nuances of start-ups and innovation and help you develop an innovative mind. The power to think is the most precious gift to humankind. This power is behind every leap of development that the human race has witnessed. Name, fame and money are preceded by a vision of success. This book seeks to illuminate young minds with the same vision. No task is impossible if you can learn how to think and plan. My TV programme ‘Innovate India’ and later a column by the same name was a great opportunity to meet hundreds of people

from the world of start-ups and innovations and to understand their expectations. I saw how these people are overcoming the challenges and working on some superb ideas. During my stint with another TV programme ‘Naujawan Bharat (Young India)’ aired on Doordarshan, I came to witness the intensity of curiosity the young lot has towards career opportunities. It was also a chance to see the endless possibilities in comparatively less conventional sectors like garments and shoe-making. These experiences are shared in the book. There is no dearth of literature on start-ups and innovations world over. However, very few of them touch upon the Indian context. India does not lack start-up success stories, but we need is more innovation. Most of our start-ups are based on borrowed ideas from abroad. We seem to be worried less about how we are succeeding. All we bother about is how many people are making most of the available opportunities. There is still a lot of scopes for small start-ups and innovations to generate jobs. We just need to apply our mind to this direction. Along with the largest population of youth on Earth, we are also a country with the largest number of unemployed people. We should ensure that the country’s youth is not reduced to a mere crowd. We need to improve our ranking on innovation index. We are still far behind in this respect and do not figure even in the top 50 countries. Whereas, a country as small as Singapore is ahead of the world’s richest nation of the USA at 5th spot. The young innovators and fresh start-ups can help the country meet several challenges. This book narrates many such stories in detail. PM Modi has sounded a new bugle for water management in the form of ‘Jalshakti (water power)’. Anil Madhav Dave, the environmentalist who later also became Union Minister, had tried to integrate the same concept with start-ups, a few years ago. He had advocated learning lessons from Singapore in this respect and taken steps in this direction.

But these efforts ended with his unfortunate demise. PM Modi has given a golden opportunity to country’s youth for participation through his ‘Janshakti4Jalshakti (People’s power for water power)’ campaign. Such challenges fuel social entrepreneurship. Anil Madhav Dave was environmentalist par excellence. He was also a worshipper of Narmada river. The start-up he had chosen to tackle the country’s water crisis has an interesting story behind it. This book begins with the saga of Indian youth who helped Singapore become a ‘water power’ against all odds. The same endeavour became Dave’s inspiration for his efforts to conserve water and energy. This is keeping in view the need to focus on practical examples. You should certainly take note of success stories like Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, PayPal etc. However, you will understand the challenges associated with start-ups and innovations by learning from the people who are employing their education, innovation and expertise in the Indian context. You are most likely interested in starting your venture if you have taken hold of this book. You can also become a precedent by implementing the tips given in this book. So let’s start...