QnA
Starting your company is pretty tough, how do you keep yourself motivated ?
Joyneel Acharya: First is the feeling that... read more
Joyneel Acharya: First is the feeling that you are working for yourself and the second is that you are doing something for the good, it gives me a drive. There is a lot of learning. If everything fails and you go back to a job eventually, you would have learnt more than you could ever have in a job. You don’t see the negative side after a point. You don’t think of what will happen, you just see the positives and go on. You take personal accountability during a low, you take the responsibility to turn that low into a high.
Read about Joyneel Acharya's journey here.
Vishnu Saran: There were exciting as well... read more
Vishnu Saran: There were exciting as well as low moments, so you need to find a source for motivation. I used to write journals, I used to write down my ideas. The more convenient way is to watch movies.
Read about Vishnu Saran's journey here.
Usually one gets several ideas and thoughts that one thinks are marketable but these never see the light of the day, what made you implement your ideas?
Vishnu Saran: Curiosity. Curiosity has driven me to work on my ideas. Confidence is something you would gain on the go. If the market rejects it, it’s of no use. You should be flexible enough to look at the market and change your product on the go.
Read about Vishnu Saran's journey here
Equity vs funding, the trade-off has been a great dilemma to all founders, what advice would you give to young startups in this regard?
Vishnu Saran: Pick your investor on the basis of what value they bring. Don’t get bullied by the valuations that you receive. You should find yourself and shouldn’t allow someone else to brand on yourself. You should name your startup and you should be confident of it.
Read about Vishnu Saran's journey here
What kind of personality traits are required for a person who's in this field?
Joyneel Acharya: Risk taking, gut based intuition and a super structured in terms of what you are learning, who you are speaking to etc. You have to be someone who takes control and makes things structured. Unless you are the CTO, you have to be a people's person, you have to motivate them and give them direction. It always helps if you have a little bit of technical knowledge. Even if you are a 16 yr old who is starting something, you have to build a network of people. Perseverance and patience are other qualities. You have to be smart, it's not like that in a traditional business as you can look at the other businesses around you, with a startup you require quick thinking and quick decision making. You have to be quick and think long term. It's a mix of both the left brain and the right brain.
Read about Joyneel Acharya's journey here
What advice would you give to students aiming to venture in this field?
Vishnu Saran: You are surrounded by extremely... read more
Vishnu Saran: You are surrounded by extremely talented people if you have an idea and you want to try it, just do it. The best way to arrive to figure out if it is right for you is by going for it.
Read about Vishnu Saran's journey here.
Joyneel Acharya: BITS has a really good... read more
Joyneel Acharya: BITS has a really good startup culture. I did not have all that when I was in Pilani. A lot of incentives from the government are coming in. College is a great breeding ground, since you have a lot of time and the risk factor is low. You also have the opportunity to meet co-founders. However, one thing that I find missing in young entrepreneurs is a holistic approach. They should have one experienced person onboard as soon as they find that their idea is doing well. Find someone who is genuinely interested in the product and keep him/her in the loop for top level strategic decisions. I have also found that engineering guys are poor at sales, they struggle at that front, they should take help in that.
Read about Joyneel Acharya's journey here.