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Power Talk │ February 2021│Ready to Startup

POWER TALK FEBRUARY-MARCH 2021 Edition - READY TO STARTUP It’s time to start as pandemic paves way to a new day, a new year, a new life, a new relationships, a new career, new opportunities and so much more for so many of us. As the first edition of the new year 2021. POWER TALK focuses on sharing all that we need to make a perfect new beginning, plunging into the world of entrepreneurship. The stalwarts from the world of Start-up, Finance, Media and Coaching have penned down their years of experience on reams of paper for us to take a hiccup free flight into the territory of UNICORNS .. turning over a new leaf Dr. Abha Rishi is on the cover page .CEO for the Atal Incubation Centre at Birla Institute of Management Technology. She has her Honors in Entrepreneurship from Stanford University,holds a Chevening Rolls Royce Science and Innovation Leadership Programme-scholar from University of Oxford Enjoy the issue ! More power to you Founder & CEO- Archanna (https://www.linkedin.com/in/archannagaarg/) Power Talk with Archanna www.powertalkwitharchanna.com

POWER TALK FEBRUARY-MARCH 2021 Edition - READY TO STARTUP
It’s time to start as pandemic paves way to a new day, a new year, a new life, a new relationships, a new career, new opportunities and so much more for so many of us. As the first edition of the new year 2021. POWER TALK focuses on sharing all that we need to make a perfect new beginning, plunging into the world of entrepreneurship. The stalwarts from the world of Start-up, Finance, Media and Coaching have penned down their years of experience on reams of paper for us to take a hiccup free flight into the territory of UNICORNS .. turning over a new leaf
Dr. Abha Rishi is on the cover page .CEO for the Atal Incubation Centre at Birla Institute of Management Technology. She has her Honors in Entrepreneurship from Stanford University,holds a Chevening Rolls Royce Science and Innovation Leadership Programme-scholar from University of Oxford

Enjoy the issue !
More power to you
Founder & CEO- Archanna (https://www.linkedin.com/in/archannagaarg/)
Power Talk with Archanna
www.powertalkwitharchanna.com

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SUSTANABILITY DRIVEN ENTREPRENUERS

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41

READY TO

STARTUP

ATAL INNOVATION CENTRE

BIMTECH

LEGAL PLOT

BRAND EQUITY

FUNDING RULES

BOOTSTRAPPED

STARTUP TRENDS

BANKING START UP

STARTUP TO DO LIST

STURDY LAUNCH PAD

SUSTAINABLE GROWTH

GLOBAL ADJUSTMENTS

FOUNDATION

REPUTATION AT STAKE



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EDUCATION

31


EDITORIAL

It’s time to start as pandemic paves way to

a new day, a new year, a new life, a new

relationships, a new career, new opportunities

and so much more for so many of us. As the first

edition of the new year 2021. POWER TALK

focuses on sharing all that we need to make a

perfect new beginning, plunging into the world

of entrepreneurship. The stalwarts from the

world of Start-up, Finance, Media and Coaching

have penned down their years of experience on

reams of paper for us to take a hiccup free flight

into the territory of UNICORNS .. turning over a

new leaf

In this edition we have also soft launched our

new publication, POWER KIDS .An e-magazine

that celebrates the beautiful relationship and

the umbilical chord that children and parents

share .The magazine is going to be an essence

of learnings and experiences of people who

have enjoyed the process of blooming into

lovely human beings. It comes with catalytic

deliberations from global experts to make the

journey for both parents and children a

beautiful one. POWER KIDS goes online on

15 th March. We seek your blessings and hope

you enjoy this adventure with us.

I would like to leave you with a beautiful poem

on New Beginnings by Julie Hébert.

Julie is an American writer, director of theatre,

film and television

The sun is shining,

On this amazing day,

Of new beginnings,

And farewells to say.

Our new road is paved,

With a new path in sight.

It's time to take it,

It feels quite right.

We will say farewell,

To all we've known.

The knowledge we will take with us

And no longer be attending class.

It's time to explore,

The world that awaits.

Allow yourself too,

Embrace your fate

-Julie Hebert

Thanks for all your love and support. Love us. Follow us

See you in the next edition of POWER TALK in April’21


Power Talk l Ready to StartUp

Corporate Humor



CONTENT

05

18

Dr. ABHA RISHI

16

BRAND EQUITY

Sr. VICE PRESIDENT

Times of India

Bengaluru, India

33

24

FORMER

MD & CEO

SBI Life Insurance

Mumbai, INDIA

Power Talk l Ready to StartUp


MAHAVIR PRATAP SHARMA

STURDY LAUNCHPAD

12

30

DELIGENT

DELHI, INDIA

SUCCESS STORY

26

Global Adjustments Foundation

Chennai, India

53

www.powertalkwitharchanna.com 9


50

40

44

36

Power Talk l Ready to StartUp


8

20000 STARTUPS

61+chapters

14 countries

MENTORING NETWORKING EDUCATION INCUBATION FUNDING


Mahavir Pratap Sharma

2013-PRESENT

CO-FOUNDER & CHAIR

RAJASTHAN ANGELS (RAIN)

2020-PRESENT

CHAIR

TiE INDIA ANGELS

FORMER CHAIR

TiE Global BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Q

The shareholders agreement is a very comprehensive document. It may take

months to come to a common ground of agreement between the founder and the

investor. What would you like to add in support of Early Startups.

The term sheet or the SHA are very important documents and the startups should understand each and

every clause of the agreement with great detail. The implications of the same at an early stage start-up for

future investments will be very high and hence it is imperative that the co-founders seek out to various

platforms/advisors/consultants that can help them sign on something that is right for their start-up. They

should also ask the right questions to the investors to better understand why the investor is insisting on a

certain clause. The proactive discussion between the two will not only help the start-up, not make a mistake

but also help the deal to go through. While understanding and questioning the clause is important, but

sometimes too much questioning or doubting will make the deal fall through. So a balance needs to be

struck between questioning to learn and improve the term sheet for the start-up and questioning with doubt

and fear of the intent of the investor. A quick background check by the start-up of the investor or their fund

Power Talk l Ready to StartUp


Not one but many options to

choose from. Weigh each one

carefully to suit your proposed

business model

Grants

Many state governments or corporates or non-profits

do give equity free grant to work with. This is the best

thing to get for a start-up to get off and do the

prototype and do a proof of concept(POC). The grants

are most of the times not loaded with deliverables

but at times have certain milestones, checks and

measures; which are required so that the same

cannot be misused. I would also include prize money

at business plan competitions or hackathons in this

category. This i.e. the grant or prize money is the

safest form of investment and works best at an idea

stage, to build a prototype and perhaps a POC too.

Friends or family

If a grant is not available or one doesn’t qualify, this

is the next best thing that should be done and it can

be taken for a very small equity or on interest or on

a discounted convertible shares. This also works

best to build a prototype or do a POC or to make

you angel ready.

Incubators or Accelerators

or network, and their process and policy is also

something that the start-up needs to do. A background

check and past experience of the other startups that

are invested in by an investor or the fund, will help you

go ahead with the deal and build confidence and trust.

While the investor does a DD on you, with your

customers and or suppliers, a start-up should also do

the same for the investor.

Q

What are the different types of

investments a start-up can avail. Which is

the safest and most effective for early stage

startups?

Certain incubator’s and accelerator’s in addition to

providing you space & mentoring, also give you an

investment at a fixed valuation or at a convertible

note on future investments that you might get. This

is the 3rd best option if the incubator or accelerator

is of repute. Being part of an incubation or

accelerator program and/or qualifying for the same

also makes a difference on the overall valuation of

the start-up. Hence it is very critical that you chose

the right one and go ahead with some money that

you might have to pay, as in the long run the same

will be compensated with a better valuation.

Angel Investment

This is an equity based investment that an angel

would do either individually or collectively through a

network or through a fund that they are part of. This

is where the right match of the start-up and investor

has to be made, due diligence done at both ends,

valuation and investment amount agreed upon and

www.powertalkwitharchanna.com 13


lastly term sheets and share holders agreement (SHA)

signed his of course is the next best option and works

post POC or post revenue stage. The matchmaking as I

have said is very important, as this investment at an

early stage is not only an investment, but needs a lot

of handholding, nurturing & mentoring. This investor

paves the way for future investments, the valuation

and equity that is agreed upon decides the course of

further action for the start-up. And as I have said that

earlier, “while we did not have a choice of siblings or

parents that we were born with, but we do have a

choice by way of choosing the right co-founders as

siblings and the first angel investors as the set of

parents.” So please take your time, but don’t just go

after the money or valuation but get an intelligent

investor, a strategic investor, an investor that will

complement and add value today and in the future

Crowd Funding

This is also done through online platforms and small

sum of monies invested by investors can be raised.

Not that prevalent in India, but exists in the US and

other countries. Sometimes this can work in college

communities or cooperatives, especially for impact

investments.

Debt funding

It normally works for startups that are in revenue and

growth stage and have ways and means to repay the

debt in a year or two. This again is very important

and critical at times, mostly works as a bridge

between series A and B or B and C. The legalities and

fine print of this is also very important and critical,

and having an intelligent investor on board earlier or

having a good consultant is needed.

Institutional or VC funding

Post one or two rounds of angel investment and

having revenues, growth and idea that is scalable,

the VC or Institutional funding kicks in at pre-series A

or Series A. At this point you are or you should be in

safe hands, have your own financial & legal

consultants and be able to deal with the negotiation

& execution as required. Pretty much similar to

Angel investing, except with a far more detailed

diligence and post investment compliances are or

maybe required.

Power Talk l Ready to StartUp

Q

Any case study you would like to

discuss here to help startups

understand where they go wrong

that delays the process of finding

the right investor

They go wrong at multiple levels; the timing of the

fund raise, size of the fund required, the valuation

that they seek or should get, not doing full due

diligence on the investor or their network, not

making the right pitch, agreeing or disagreeing by

not understanding the TS or SHA. And all of this

does delay the fund raiser for the startups. I have

had startups pitch to me on a daily basis, who don’t

understand the amount that they need or the

valuation that they are seeking. They have no idea

on cash flow, on burn, on funds needed to scale;

basically the how much, when & why of the money

needed. They might have great idea’s, great teams,

but lack the basic business acumen and experience.

They need to work with mentors, networks,

incubators etc. and understand all of this before

pitching. Once this is sorted, pitching, due diligence

and terms on the fund raise all fall into place.

Q

Every startups dreams about

mergers and acquisitions. How

does TIE help startups in the same.

Mergers & Acquisitions happen when the marriage

or adoption are a win-win for both the startups or

businesses. The business plan, in addition to what

one has for a fund raiser at that point, should also

say how the merger and acquisition would make

the two companies collectively grow multiple times

and create a company that the competition can’t


match or catchup to. TiE and its vast network,

will help startups to provide opportunity to

network and find the right companies to partner

and grow. Also the market outreach through TiE

and its network can help companies backward

or forward integration. Being part of the right

network or having the right

mentor/investor/consultant on mergers and

acquisitions is a must.

Q

What is considered to be a error

free, fool proof plan to safely

launch a start-up?

To identify a unique problem and have the right

team, that can solve that problem, is the starting

point for any start-up. Continue to strengthen the

core of the business and staying focused on that is

step two. Being focused, passionate, time-bound,

agile, nimble, bootstrapped mindset, firm yet

flexible, pivot if required, have the right mentors &

early stage investors, and the ability to survive

despite all odds, and much more, are amongst the

steps that one needs to continue to take. And as I

said earlier, “the co-founders are your siblings that

you chose, the first set of employees is the

extended family that you will have, be sure that all

of you compliment each other, strengthen the idea

execution and most importantly discuss, debate,

disagree, disrupt yet execute, execute, execute,

execute….”

Q

TiE Angels is one of the largest

angel groups helping portfolio

companies meet the challenges of

scaling into successful enterprises.

What is your vision for the

company ?

TiE’s mandate is to educate, mentor, incubate,

network and invest in startups and amongst all its

members of the ecosystem. It’s also mandated to

work at the bottom on the pyramid. So while we

D

D

D

D

BUT

EXECUTE

work with schools and colleges through our TYE and

TiE University program, through TiE India angels we

intend to invest at idea and early stage startups,

startups that have brilliant teams and idea’s that are

scalable with innovative solutions. The startups that

need the right mentoring, strategic investors, help with

market outreach, and hand holding until possible

institutional or fund investing. The various programs

and global business plan competitions that we do also

will culminate into a possible investment for the top

few. So while we mentor and give Gyan, we put our

money where are mouth is and actually impact the

entire chain and lifecycle of a start-up and the entire

ecosystem

From the investors point of view, we also want to

expand the investor base not just in India but from

outside of India. Many of our TiE members across the

globe are in to non-tech businesses and they need to

learn the tech domain, co-invest with fellow TIE

members and invest in the future of India through

scalable startups. The future of the world lies in tech

and tech enabled businesses, the governments are

enablers and we as successful entrepreneurs have to reinvest

in the economies of the world; and what better

way to do it than through a community of people that

you can trust, who follow a processes and have

compliances & governance in place.

If we can help many prospective startups raise money;

expand the investor base and give a great ROI to

everyone in the ecosystem, then we would have

achieved what we intend to achieve.

www.powertalkwitharchanna.com 15


Sundar Kondur

BRAND & STRATEGY ARCHITECT

Senior Vice President

Times of India


25 years

Brand Equity at its best

Novel ways to create

a personal brand image strategy for 2021

Say what you mean, do what you say and say it in a manner that’s never

been said before. Always use your unique secret sauce

One tip to make storytelling

captivating and effective

Truth well told. Make it real and relatable

The new world of sketch notes and how they

enhance communication

Sketch notes brings alive ideas, creativity and makes any communication into a

story.Complex data and analysis can be made simple by visual and sketch note storytelling

Your biggest achievement

Is yet to come



ABHA RISHI

A DREAM CATCHER

PASSIONATELY DRIVEN

BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY


SUCCESS

POTION

Execution always trumps novelty of an idea. As an incubator that sees more 60 applications monthly, on an

average, and has incubated over 90 startups in the last 3 years, we can say this as a fact, that an idea is only

as good as a blank paper, until it is being worked upon in real time. The newness of an idea is not a

parameter of its potential success, the efforts being put in by the team to survive in the market ranks much

higher. Also, funding should be used as a tool by a venture for its expansion, and not for its existence! Also

don’t expect instant returns on your investment. It takes a minimum of 3-5 year for an idea to become a

successful venture.

Start-up to UNICORN

Context is very necessary when we talk about

scaling a venture. You cannot point towards any one

playbook or one treatment, because when you look

at the start-ups which have really achieved unicorn

status, you will understand that for every insight,

there is a flip side also. There are many unicorns

who succeeded because they had the first mover

advantage, and then there are the stories of those

who failed because they were ahead of the market!

So which adage do you follow? But having said

that, there are a few things which helps in building a

sustainable unicorn and here I will emphasize on

sustainability because it is important to not only

create but also maintain momentum.

If you look at it, there are just a few things that

most unicorns had in common

• The most important, a simple solution to an

existing problem, which is felt by many.

• A strong value proposition and distinct

positioning

• A clear roadmap for the future

• An easy to use User Interface and a good User

Experience

Power Talk l Ready to StartUp

Watch Out

This question is a tricky one, as it would be a very

difficult to point a single most important thing in a

start-up’s journey. What we need to understand, is

that every start-up has a unique journey, that

depends on things like the sector and industry the

idea is based in, to the background of the founders

and innumerable factors in between. The fact that

you do not get influenced by anybody else’s

journey and do not hesitate to take a new road

through an uncharted territory while on your

journey, would be the most important thing. Equal

importance must be given to the intent of the

journey and your fellow companions on it.

Financial and emotional support plays a major

role. Do build up on financial reserves also, as you

begin the start-up journey

Pitch Perfect

Know your audience before telling them a story! For

an entrepreneur who has worked on his/her idea,

day and night, it is at times difficult to choose what

to share and how to articulate it. The same idea has

to be presented, shared with different people in

different capacities, which for an entrepreneur is a

normal day at work. This at times, even

unknowingly, takes a templated form of a pitch,


which ignores the intent of the audience being

addressed. A pitch should be constructed keeping

in mind the listener, be it an investor, a jury in

competition, a potential customer, followed by

your story that connects to them.

Cross Border Ventures

India itself is a huge market with a lot of potential!

But having said that, there are certain ventures for

whom geographical boundaries are not barriers,

e.g, Zoom, Airmeets, etc. This is especially true of

tech based platform startups and startups catering

to niche markets. These niche markets could be

homogenous across different countries. The only

advice that I would give is to be respectful of the

host culture and be flexible.

BIMTECH – An Edge Up!

Atal Incubation Centre- BIMTECH has a vision to

nurture startups that not only create an economical,

but also a social impact on the ecosystem. We run

three programs which focus on the different stages

of start-up where they need support; Khoj for

ideation, Gurukul for early revenue and Udaan for

expansion. Each program is carefully customized

and tweaked regularly to keep up with the current

requirements of the startups. AIC-BIMTECH also

offers co-living facility to the incubated startups,

which provides them access to the residential

infrastructure akin to the students of BIMTECH.

Another differentiating factor would be the focus

on the partnerships created within the ecosystem.

AIC-BIMTECH not only brings aboard partners

from all spheres to provide support structure for the

incubated startups, but there are many international

partners in.

Case Study

An interesting case that we came across in 2018

was of Akash Singh, now an Ashoka Young

Changemaker and Founder of Energinee

Innovation. When we first interacted with him, he

was applying for our Khoj (ideation) Program, with a

self-power generating stick innovated by him for his

grandfather. He wanted to turn that idea into a

venture. It was his enthusiasm and drive that

showed promise, for which he was selected for the

program. Since he was just 19 years at that

Dr.Abha Rishi

CHAIRPERSON

BIMTECH

Centre of innovation

Entrepreneurship Development

particular point in time, it was gently but firmly

established, in the first month itself, that his existing

product was not marketable. It had a lot of design

flaws and low market potential, and he was asked

to pivot. This was followed by many interactions

with him, while he kept on seeking a different idea

that he was equally passionate for, more if not less.

Finally after quite a few interactions with our

mentors, he moved into the waste management

space. As a result, his company is now collecting

temple waste like incense stick ash, from temples

across Delhi NCR, to convert it into different

sculptures moulded with the help of under-trial

prison inmates

Work Culture at BIMTECH

OPEN . EXPERIMENTAL . FAMILIAL

The environment at AIC-BIMTECH, both for the

team and the incubated startups is very friendly

and open with a flat reporting structure. It

www.powertalkwitharchanna.com 21


increases the accessibility of everyone, making the

discussions and interactions more open and

productive. Another focus that the team has is to

keep experimenting place for creating a market

access network to broaden horizon. We also partner

with academic institutes to encourage budding

entrepreneurs and equip them with right tools and

mindset required for the tedious entrepreneurial

journey

with the existing processes of doing things, with the

intent of refining it further. This practice is also

imbibed by the incubated startups which helps them

to be fairly flexible and on their toes while sailing

their ships in rough weather.

AIC-BIMTECH strives to support the startups in every

possible way, and this can be achieved only after

building a certain level of trust between the

incubator and the start-up. It is only after the trust is

established that the startups can sincerely listen to

the advices and suggestions being made by the

incubator and act upon it. The same trust allows the

startups to also share critical and constructive

feedback for the incubator that helps improve their

functionality, enabling us to serve startups better.

Startup Trends 2021 onwards

Healthcare and EdTech are two industries that have

seen a huge surge due to the impact of COVID

pandemic. This surge is here to stay until the

ultimate product market fitment emerges between

the competition, after the dust settles. The startups

enabling the new “work from home” approach of

the corporates across globe are also a hot trend that

is going to be highly packed. The funding has seen a

shift towards more mature sectors in the

entrepreneurial ecosystem which have low

operational expenditures, but this trend is going to

be relative to the impact of COVID.

Impactful Contribution to Society

Archanna, where there is a will, there is always a

way! I am also the Treasurer for the BIMTECH

Foundation. The Institute runs a number of

voluntary outreach programmes to create a positive

influence in the community and the society at

large. I am personally involved in two projects,

Project Chiraiya [1] and Project Uthan [2] . Project

Power Talk l Ready to StartUp

Chiraiya is run in villages for adolescent girls Project

Uthan is for the inmates of 11 prisons across the

state. Both the projects are fuelled by more than

10,000 hours of voluntary work by the students,

faculty and staff, under the aegis of Dr Chaturvedi,

Director BIMTECH and Dr Rishi Tiwari. The biggest

and foremost benefit for the girls has been the

social acceptance and change in the mind-set of

the village community. The understanding that girls

can lead developmental change, be able to earn

accolades (from people like Sh. Venkaiah Naidu,

Vice President of India & other national level

dignitaries), be social and health agents and earn a

decent livelihood has led to a perceptible change in

the social hierarchy of women and girls in the

village.

In the prison project, the main impact is measured

in two areas, viz., the number of suicides being

reduced due to the inmates coming regularly to the

library and workshops and the number of people

who are going in for education certifications like

secondary, senior secondary, graduation etc. The

main idea is to educate and skill the men and

women prison inmates, so that recidivism is

reduced. Women, especially, have no recourse to a

dignified life of labour and have to either resort to

prostitution or revert back to crime to earn a

livelihood. By educating and skilling them through

various workshops conducted in the libraries, these

women can be brought back into the mainstream.

Both our projects help in the empowerment of the

underprivileged sections of society. Project Chiraiya

is completely dedicated to the up-liftment of rural

adolescent girls (who are at the most vulnerable

age due to social demands of marriage and

dropping out of schools). The Prison project gives

equal opportunities to female and male inmates to

access the libraries and attend workshops, but the

focus is on helping the women inmates in creating

microenterprise

Chiraiya [1

Uthan [2]

‘Chiraiya’ means a small female sparrow in Hindi

‘Uthan’ means regeneration or creating a new devp.



Arijit Basu

2021- PRESENT

SENIOR CONSULTANT

AZB PARTNERS

2018-2020

MANAGING DIRECTOR

STATE BANK OF INDIA

2014-2018

MANAGING DIRECTOR & CEO

SBI LIFE INSURANCE

India is home to the third largest number of startups

in the world, numbering close to 10,000. Innovation

is the common thread for all of them. The power

that they are demonstrating in making a change to

the lives of all Indians, not just in urban India but

even in remote parts of the country is remarkable.

Farmers are using drones and banking is being done

on phones in remote villages.

Startups commence with hope and promise and

many of them go ahead to fulfil their dreams. As

would be expected not all succeed. In a vibrant

economy, startups that harness the best ideas and

business models would be able to grow and perhaps

become Unicorns in future. The challenges that they

face in this journey are immense; not only do they

have to sell an idea which is new but also overcome

a mindset that is resistant to change. Funding is not

easy to come by and they have to tread a thin line

between investing for expansion and reining in

costs. While the Government has attempted to

make the journey easier by launching a Startup India

Banks look for a past

track record and a

proven business model

both of which the

startups would not be

able to meet

programme, it is not always easy for the companies

to reap its benefits. In a way it is like a roller coaster

ride for many of them

The financial system has a key role to play in

nurturing the startup ecosystem. Raising equity from

domestic and foreign investors is the starting

challenge. In case of debt, while initial venture debt

itself may be difficult to access, the problem is

compounded because banks look for a past track

record and a proven business model, both of which

startups would not be able to meet. How do the

best startups overcome this riddle?

Startups need to be guided and mentored as they

progress on their journey. The fact they have

developed a good business model is only a starting

point. They need to simultaneously focus on

ensuring efficient delivery, track and manage their

cash flows and liquidity, and look for newer

Power Talk l Ready to StartUp


RBI’s recent move to

include loans up to

Rs 50 crores as

Priority Sector loans

competing, wish to offer services to banks like

carrying out their digital e KYC, creating algorithms

for risk analysis and meet many other needs in an

increasingly tech-enabled environment.

opportunities domestically and even overseas. This

guidance is provided by the equity or venture funds

that have invested in them. Banks can also step in

and play a vital role. The ideal situation for both

banks and startups would be to develop a symbiotic

relationship where they prove beneficial to each

other

A closer examination of Startups that operate in the

financial technology or Fintech space may yield

some pointers. Out of the total 10,000 odd startups

in India, around 25% operate in this space. Many of

them have been changing the financial landscape of

the country Among fintech startups the maximum

number deal in the ‘payments’ space followed by

online lending, personal finance, insurance

technology and others. Many of them have become

Unicorns with valuations more than $ 1 billion. The

experience that banks have had with many of these

companies is interesting. Some of the startups are

competing with banks in areas that have traditionally

been their bastion like payments, remittances and

lending. In response banks have also invested in

technology in these areas to take on the challenge.

The best banks today have online digital lending

products that can appraise, sanction and disburse

loans in minutes. Digital applications of banks can

transfer money quickly. The path for all this has been

shown by startups and many of them continue to be

leaders in services that they provide. There are

some fintech startups, however, who instead of

Startups needs banks that are agile, responsive and

efficient. They not only need funds for capex and

working capital but also an efficient mechanism for

collection of their receivables and for efficient

liquidity management. They also need guidance on

how to manage their balance sheet. Banks would be

the best placed to take up this role. To achieve this,

however, banks would need to be responsive. Many

startups with their limited resources can get lost in

the maize of the complex organizational structure of

a large bank, either to market their service or when

looking for financial support and guidance. Good

banks have understood the need to become nimbler

and have schemes and services that are specifically

aimed at startups. They aim to become partners of

the startups right from the time they start their

journey. Many banks have specifically earmarked

funds for investing in startups that could be

strategically important for them. The risk in lending

to new entities deters banks from providing finance

to them. RBI’s recent move to include loans up to Rs

50 crores as Priority Sector loans aims at addressing

this problem by encouraging banks to support

startups and design appropriate risk systems for the

purpose.

The adoption of digital technology is set to grow at an

exponential rate in the days to come. Concepts like

open banking riding on the ‘India Stack’ are going to

get traction. Banks have no option but to partner with

the best startups to retain their competitive

advantage. Startups also need a reliable partner as

they come forth with new ideas and services. The

synergy between the two can play a transformative

role for the Indian economy. Millions of Indians will

benefit.

www.powertalkwitharchanna.com 25


#Champion Women

Dr.Ranjini Manian

Founder Chair

GLOBAL ADJUSTMENTS FOUNDATION


The Driving Factor

25 years ago I met an American diplomatic

wife who was living in Chennai. At the time Chennai

called Madras. I realised that they were going to be

lot of foreign direct investment coming into our

country and they would have to go to various

different places to get answers to living and working

in India. It was then that the idea of providing an

umbrella of services under one roof came to my

mind. This is what drove me and gave birth to my

company Global Adjustments. So really, the one

thought of not looking back and not giving up, even

when entrepreneurship was difficult was the idea

that what I was doing and what my old team was

doing along with me was actually building the

nation. We were helping attract foreign direct

investments to stay, to enjoy and to love our country

while making a lot of money for themselves. For this

idea, and the bigger picture that we helped our

nation to grow was a never looking back kind of

concept that really worked for me

Entrepreneurship Then & NOW

Entrepreneurship itself I don't think has changed in

the texture of what it stands for. In some ways,

between two decades ago it has become easier now.

For instance, finance is much more easily available. If

you have a good idea. then institution come forward

and are in fact queuing up to fund that Idea, which

has become the big impetus for the startups. So

that’s a plus but with every plus there is also a

challenge. Negative being the over leveraging and

funding through EMI. Learn from entrepreneurs who

were aggressive in growth but cautiously aggressive.

When there is a good idea, there is always money to

back it up but when there is good money we can't

throw good money over bad money. If the idea is not

working for the territory or geography, the

entrepreneur needs to think .I would like to give an

example from my own life. I started an academy of

learning called Global Academy under the Global

Adjustments services after we started relocating

foreigners to come to India. This was for Indians to

understand the world and for the world to

understand doing business with Indians. That was a

very successful tenure .We would work with people

Like Jeff Bezos himself. Before he invested his first

billion dollars into Amazon India, we would work

with his middle level managers in India .We would

work with Indian managers going to work for

Hyundai, Ford and Facebook. The entire concept

seemed quite scalable to us . With that in mind, we

started a digital platform called GLOBAL INDIAN.in A

portal where people could learn online and advance

their careers. The concept behind that portal was

create a platform that would help people

strengthen their Indian roots but fly on global

wings. So, the idea was to educate people how the

style of doing business changes with people coming

from different nationalists. The approach of doing

business with Korean may differ from that with a

German. Adapting to their way of thinking was

crucial for doing good business. Now, when the

same sessions were taken in the real time class

,things were different.

All ideas don’t work

We would have real life examples. we would have

people from those nationalities even coming in

and presenting and co-presenting along with me

and my trainers. We would talk about the actual

problems they were facing in business .May be in

mergers and acquisitions. Discussions would lead

to answers alongside. The solution would come

from themselves, when they heard about the

different values and forces that drive different

cultures.

Now, when we translated this to an online

platform everything changed. Although we had

made a very interactive portal. Had that been the

time of pandemic with no other choice, I think

people would have enjoyed that interface, just as

they do now with Zoom and all other platforms.

But because we were ahead of time that

particular project didn’t do well.

I had already invested a very big amount of

money in digitizing the portal and money spent

ion marketing this venture was huge .I quickly

realized that the concept wasn’t going to fly. So,

www.powertalkwitharchanna.com 27


instead of continuing that and risking more money

on it, we brought it to a close and increased the

spent on the in person led communication

programmes .If an idea doesn’t work, its okay to

accept your mistake and move on .If you have both

time and money then use it wisely instead of

shifting gears trying to make things work when the

situation seem to have laid breaks on it.

DNA of your organization

Another difference in the entrepreneurship then

and now is that ,if you look at an entrepreneur’s

mind set she is a little arrogant, she is a little proud

of being able to do everything herself. We find

ourselves very equipped to do everybody's jobs

ourselves but shouldn’t do it all the time .So my real

advice to startups is to bring people who are

smarter than you and surround yourself with them

.Partner with people who have complementary

skills and let them show the way .Don’t hire people

who are smarter than you and also tell them what

to do. We entrepreneur fall into that trap. We.

should now let others to lead the way so long as we

have a few checks and balances and regular reviews

going on numbers and quality

particular product or service that you are creating as a

startups has to be constantly disseminated not just to

your leadership but even to the levels below them.

I used to know a very high level managing director of

a huge Bank that would have monthly review open

platform for an hour .In fact, Indra Nooyi used to

have Indra Hour and anyone could ask her questions

in that one hour . So create that for yourself inside

your organisation and allowing people to ask

questions. For sensitive things that the founder is

smart enough to park that issue and say that let me

answer that you're offline ,but INTERACT

Being available as the

visionary founder is

going to be the most

important thing for

entrepreneurship and

startups today

People come to work for an entrepreneur at least in

many of these services industry because of their

personality. It is your personality and it is your

vision that can drive your startups. If you bring a

paid CEO or COO and you decide to never review

him, then it wont work. If you feel he is going to

take the whole business forward and everything will

turn out to be fine then then you are dreaming. He

will have his personality and his altered vison to put

into this business. If it was the perfect then he

would have been an entrepreneur and not you

So my advice here to all the startups is that today

we are in a no touch world. You have to make sure

that there are enough touch points for people to

see you, feel you and have your words run through

them become the DNA of the organisation. Today,

no water cooler conversations are not going to be

possible because of the virtual world. So, you have

to find and devise ways and means by which your

town hall meetings or your regular interactions with

people bringing across your speciality in the

Power Talk l Ready to StartUp


Overcoming challenges

Right Decisions at the right time

Under the umbrella of Global adjustments which

was primarily relocations company, I had added

Global Adjustments Academy, a Reality Division

and a Publishing Division.

Let me tell you 2 stories from them that will

hopefully give you the window of understanding

of an entrepreneur challenge and how she

overcomes them

we had a flagship product in the publication

division which was called At A Glance. A magazine

which gave a view at a glance of the city where

the expats were coming to live in India. It had

everything that would given any expat a clear

sketch note on the culture and everything relevant

for their stay in India .It was very well accepted by

people as the magazine has all the answers to the

expected queries any expat. We were always

complimented for the design element , the content

, the interviews it carried of the influential people

.But the truth is that was a time for us to REBRAND

the magazine and that’s where as an entrepreneur

I think it is very important that we always have a

kind of openness to learn from others and to do

what I call IMMOVATION and not innovation.

innovation is the first idea that you get but

IMMOVATION is improving on someone else’s

idea.

I had a client Sachi & Sachi who was amazing at

design, the world leading design company in

London. They had moved here to live and work in

India. So, I was able to enlist to just come and help

brainstorm how I could renew my free publication

by a few notches. The result was amazing because

I did not allow the complacency of entrepreneur to

creep in. I had this presence of mind to make of

this opportunity. Help of someone that was

already in India and understood the ground level

realty of India but also had a global mind-set.

Between Richard and me we were able to come up

with completely new format of AT A GLANCE and

my team started the same magazine in a new

avatar called CULTURAMA .A magazine that still

lives on even after 25 years

Don't be complacent,

seek support of experts

and have the presence of

mind to change when

needed

CULTURAMA seems to be the right name for

magazine. It has both expat and Indian voices in it

and explains the nuances of life in India not just on

a daily basis but the that is driven by the value

systems and the beliefs that we hold dear.

For eg., why do Indian managers not disagree with

your boss. Everybody seems to be the YES MAN in

front of the boss but actually fail to deliver .This

question was answered in Culturama. We

explained that Indian keep hierarchy at a very high

pedestal. We rarely disagree with the boss or the

founder especially in a public forum with the

founder of the main Boss .So, allow platforms

where you have one to one conversations, smaller

team conversations and have an open discussion

with the leader of that particular single business

unit. Have the comfort to disagree and suggest

ways to accomplish the task in hand .The magazine

would come with solutions like these. The

magazine became the talk of the town because of

the practical solutions it had to offer. Culturama

found its place at British council, coffee spaces of

top multinational corporations. We started having

a distribution of Culturama and remains free

magazine for the years to have a better bridging of

cultures. The outcome of it was always to have

business impact. That was a time when I realise

that you can have the same medicine in an

improved bottle and it did get accepted by many

more people That was a story that happened in my

life as an entrepreneur and might take away from

this Life lesson is don't be complacent seek

support of experts and have the presence of mind

to change when needed.

www.powertalkwitharchanna.com 29


SONAL AGARWAL BALI

2019-PRESENT

FOUNDER

DILIGENT CONSULTING

There are various methods of valuation, like venture capital method, Berkus method, Scorecard valuation

method, discounted cash flow method etc. But at an early stage, it becomes difficult to arrive at a perfect

valuation. A well-articulated & realistic Business Plan or financial projections helps the startup arrive at a

valuation. It is important for the founder to understand the concept of PRE-MONEY and POST MONEY

VALUATION Concept to avoid any unnecessary dilution. PRE-MONEY refers to the valuation of the company

before it receives the investment such as external funding or financing. The post money valuation of the

startup refers to its value immediately after receiving the capital from the round of funding. This determines

the equity share that investors are entitled to. Sometimes in a startup since there is no historical data

available of the startup, it is advisable to do a peer-to –peer comparison of a company of similar

background, offering equivalent products or services and take a peep into their valuation at different stages.

Accordingly, their own valuation can be arrived at.There’s a Scorecard Method of valuing an early stage

Power Talk l Ready to StartUp


startup. It is the most preferred method used by

angel investors. It uses the comparison of the

startup with the perception of the other startups

suing factors such as Robust Business Idea,

Management Team, Market Size,

Product/Technology, Funding needs & Scalability etc.

It is highly subjective but the main emphasis

(20%-30% of weightage) goes to the startup team of

Founders. The next can be how unique and

disruptive is the business idea. “In building a

business, the quality of the team is paramount to

success. A great team will fix early product flaws,

but the reverse is not true.”

The early stage valuations are difficult to make and

are hence generally “Guesstimates”. A startup

doesn’t have any historical data to show and

talks only on the basis of EXCEL SHEET NUMBERS. Since

there is no validation of numbers, the best method is to

build a business plan which is broken into plausible

steps or milestones and it is easier to be able to gauge

the kind of funds the startup would require for fulfilling

each milestone. The Fund requirement should be

broken into Working Capital, Manpower, Marketing

Branding & Customer Acquisition, Technology or

Product, Capex etc. The investors would be happy to

fund the entire cost of pick the cost that they want to

invest into as per their mandates / investment thesis.

A Good Pitch which showcases the product or the

startup with right numbers and valuation makes a lot of

impression. It should define the need of the founder to

negotiate as to how much fund is required and what is

the equity that the startup is agreeing to share with the

investor.

Even with the best approach, 90% of the startups in

India fail to raise the funds. This is because of more

than one reason .The metrics show that PRE-REVENUE

stage startup don’t get funding easily as compared to

the POST–REVENUE stage startups . To combat this it is

best to bootstrap the venture till it reaches the revenue

stage and the model is proven with a paying customer

by its side. So it’s better to bootstrap and also explore

all other funding possibilities, generate revenue,

stabilize business model and then approach the

investors for funding needs. With history of constant

revenue generation, the business model is explained

better. Surviving the pre-revenue model is enough proof

that the startup is on its way to attract customer who

are willing to pay for their business idea.

Another reason why the startups fail to get the

attention of the investor is because of over

declaration of the value of their startup. The founder

must make a very well calculated and fair estimate of

the value of company.The size of the opportunity also

is a big deciding factor for the investors. The

scalability of the business is an important factor. A

business that is very niche means restricted revenue

which may sometimes not interest the investor, that

is the reason that B2C startups gets better attention

from investors. It is important for the founder to show

a very clear path of Return on Investment (ROI). It is

important to share how the investment will

accelerate the revenue, increase margins, reduce the

resources used to generate revenue and keep scaling.

Remember it important to secure funds from

investors to scale business, build robust technology

and not to fund the expenses of the startup.

www.powertalkwitharchanna.com 31


The current pandemic we are experiencing was disruptive for most businesses. It was specifically harsh on

start-ups or small businesses delivering them a body blow that was big enough to shake them up. Brutal for

these young start-ups since they have limited cash reserves for managing steep slumps such as this. In

India, life in the pandemic was even more demanding as the Country experienced the toughest lockdown,

compared to anywhere else in the world.

The Indian Government did announce an economic

package to help businesses to remain standing and

to revive the economy. For the young start-ups and

SMEs the government announced loan products,

right shifting of interest / return of capital,

statutory dues, filing of returns, amongst many

other relaxations. Government Departments like

BIRAC, announced grants for start-ups focussed on

innovation to fight the COVID challenge. And to be

fair, Industry responded to the Hon Prime Minister

Modi’s clarion call to fight the Pandemic. The

Indian Venture Capital Funds, Corporates and

Foundations all announced grants for young startups

innovating for the COVID 19 Pandemic. It was a

fight fought together and now we are seeing India

starting to emerge out of the COVID tunnel faster than

any other country. Interestingly, it is India which is

now helping deliver the world the much needed

vaccine. The Serum Institute has become the largest

vaccine manufacturer in the world. It stands today as

an icon for Indian entrepreneurship, its resilience, its

risk taking ability and for going global.

India is the world’s third-largest start-up ecosystem

and it surely is the fastest growing. Companies have

grown exponentially not despite, but because of the

Pandemic. Quickly adapting to leverage upon the

changing consumer behaviour, swivelling to cater to

their needs. These companies underlined the fact that

focus on the market and the customer ensure that

they grow.

Power Talk l Ready to StartUp


DigVijay Singh

2017-Jan 2021

COO

INDIA ANGELS NETWORK

Lockdown & social distancing pushed several

businesses to shift from the conventional methods

to entirely digitally-driven operations, thereby

creating better avenues for market forces.

Leveraging new-age technologies such as Artificial

Intelligence, Internet of Things, Data Analytics, Big

Data, Robotics etc. They quickly identified the shift

and leveraged upon the customer demand for digital

which accelerated their growth path.

India is surely in the

eyes of the world

Large diverse markets, technology innovation,

disruptive propositions and extremely high-quality

talent are a few factors contributing in the start-up

growth story. India has seen innovation and fastgrowing

companies across several sectors .Indian

Unicorns have emerged from sectors such as

Education, Beauty, Delivery, Retail, Fintech,

Ecommerce, Mobility, Salon and Spa Management

The new trend that is sure to

emerge is the hybrid model of

PHYGITAL : a combination of

physical and digital

Software, Healthcare, Trucking Services, Groceries,

Insurance, Food-tech, Analytics, Mobile Ads etc.

Both enterprise and consumer focus with different

business models : B2B, B2C and B2B2C have

delivered high growth companies

The trend that emerged during the Pandemic was to

“go online” and “anything tech” was slated to grow.

With social distancing, it became a need but as we

are coming out of the pandemic, going digital is the

norm. The world has changed forever : online is

here to stay. The technology infrastructure is the

fourth utility we will all need alongside water,

electricity and clean air.

However, interestingly there are already glimpses of

the trend changing again. With the cloud of the virus

lifting, the human mind is keen to get back to the

offline space : in person interactions and offline

models will start to pick up.

www.powertalkwitharchanna.com 33


Companies soon realised, during the hardest

months of April – June 2020, that ‘Cash is King’. It

became imperative that companies right shifted

their expenses and left shifted their collections /

advances. Hence, the focus on capital efficiency,

gross margins, are all key investor trends.

Companies with strong revenue projections AND an

eye on profitability or, at least an intent to be

profitable, did attract stronger interest.

The pandemic did not halt

the investing business

It just slowed it down. As young companies took a

deep breath, gathered their wits and re architected

their models, investors sat down to research and

keenly follow the emerging trends. It became

apparent that customers had not gone away but

their behaviour had changed, customer acquisition

was still required, but now companies would need

to do it from their laptops, and delivery will need to

have a mix of offline and online!

Investor sentiment did not

dissipate during the

pandemic

It paused and then picked up and how! The Edutech

sector is evidence of this! And investors continued

to invest though the number of investments

reduced. The changed customer behaviour focused

on the “basics” food, logistics, education,

healthcare, clean energy all enabled by technology

– garnered investments. Sectors which have seen

innovation and going forward we will see more of

are manufacturing, textile, agriculture. Innovation is

already starting to happen and new business

models enabled by technology are starting to

emerge.

Strong Founding teams is not the only key. The

pandemic did reflect that only those with resilience,

imagination and an instinctive DNA could survive

the body blow of 2020. It’s even more critical now

that founders not only building quickly, but are also

able to leverage upon the new opportunities by

taking quick decisions. It is not enough to have

focus on current customers or look at organic

growth, but to be alert for new customer bases and

ready to adapt. For instance, with social distancing,

digitisation has become mainstay. And people from

rural markets are now compelled to go online.

These are completely new virgin markets! They have

to get on the online highway but need products /

tools to do so. And companies which can cater to

these customers as well, will surely witness an

accelerated growth

co-create

Imagine

be effective

innovate

adapt

History has shown us that in the worst of times,

some of the best companies have emerged :

General Motors, General Electric, Disney, IBM, HP,

Traders Joe, Microsoft, Uber, Instagram, Whatsapp

and many others. When we look back, the

Pandemic and global recession of 2020 will also

mark the year of some great and successful

companies that left a massive impact on the

landscape of how businesses are run in future.

Clearly, innovation will thrive, start-ups will

burgeon, investors will invest and soon valuable

companies and investor returns will take shape.

Power Talk l Ready to StartUp


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www.powertalkwitharchanna.com 47


SUSTAINABLE

GROWTH

After completion of a taxing year, we have finally arrived into 2021. Are you still alive, is your business still

running? That means you have good news in the future. If you can survive the pandemic, you would be able to

sustain yourself in the future as well. However, did you do anything different? Did you try new techniques? Did

you pivot or change your business model?

Often we entrepreneurs are asked a few common questions. What is the real problem which we are solving?

And how are we planning to make money? However, mostly the long term innovative approach has kept

investors hooked onto disruptive business ideas without thinking much about sustainability or its profitability

in the short term. The story of valuations is like a cobweb, once you start building it, it keeps getting bigger

and bigger with more complications, and often we forget that one vacuum cleaner can wipe it off in a few

seconds. I think 2020 was that vacuum for all of us. Will the cobweb theory still work?

As we get into the final phase of pandemic it is clear that the businesses won't be the same, we might be

selling the same thing but differently and managing things is also different. In India, the governance and

Power Talk l Ready to StartUp


Yatin k.Thakur

2016-PRESENT

MANAGING DIRECTOR

GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

NETWORK INDIA

2016-PRESENT

2016-PRESENT

GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

NETWORK INDIA

compliance structure adds to the streamlining

process. It is becoming more and more evident that

we are one of the fastest growing digital economies in

the world. Everything is trackable, which surely may

not be the preferred choice for most but it does add

to transparency and provides a better structure to

scale and provide access to capital.

As an entrepreneur I have seen many cycles, right

from the 2008 Global Recession to another peak in

2013 followed by a slump in 2014 and another peak

in 2018. Usually the life cycle of an economy used to

be 10 years before it was refreshed, however over the

years we have seen the life cycle reduce to about 4

years. Why is that so? Have you ever thought

about why you change your smartphone every

second year? Maybe there is some correlation

between the two.

The communication methods are completely

changing and the distances surely do not exist any

more as this is the new normal. What does that

mean for us as entrepreneurs?

2014 onwards we started seeing a sudden surge in

mobile apps, right from traditional social apps and

messaging, there was a gradual shift to

entertainment, utilities and financial transactions .

Today from your mobility of movement to your daily

needs, your health and wellness tracking, billing,

accounting and entertainment are all through an app

www.powertalkwitharchanna.com 37


From morning coffee to evening entertainment,

everything was happening on this small screen, and

hence the screen sizes kept expanding. Ever

wondered why Android phones have so large

screens? This might be the answer. Surprisingly

laptops are also making their screens look like a

smartphone. Consumption of content has

led to many new business opportunities .

Earlier creation of content was considered cool,

however today getting traction is the key. We have

seen apps and new business models emerge, but one

of the biggest concerns for any and every company

including a unicorn is traction and engagement. Some

manage to do it early, while others ride on the wave.

Have you been on “ClubHouse”? That's the perfect

example of an early venture with amazing traction.

Today every unicorn is trying to figure out their

traction and sustainability model as pandemic has

taught us one thing very clearing “NOTHING IS

PERMANENT ''.

While we have seen some of the new industries take

up the lead, majorly EdTech, FinTech, HealthTech and

of course Entertainment. If I am getting upskilled, I

have the potential to make money more efficiently,

once I make the money, I need to manage it well and

while doing all of it I need to stay sane.

Often I am questioned about future trends and the

new trend setters. While shared economies was the

flavour of the second decade, I think third decade

would be the age of digitisation. With remote

workforce and globalisation, digitisation compliments

this new age economy. Block Chain, AI, ML are the

foundational pillars of this new age economy. Let me

explain in a simplistic manner. Earlier you would walk

into a Chaayos store, it would ask your phone number

and then take your order. I am sure most of you

experienced that. Over the time, they built a new app

in partnership with True Caller, which detects your

face and checks you in automatically. Fast forward to

third quarter of 2020, Chaayos has its own app, you

simply login to place and order whether for a dine in

or take away. It lets you order, accumulate all points

and then quickly make the payment through various

payment options which are saved on your account ,

Power Talk l Ready to StartUp

.

based on the cards which you would have used at any

of the Chaayos store in the past. That’s data storage

with Machine Learning. I am sure in the future, I wont

have to repeat my orders on Chaayos as it would also

know what do I usually order. Also, all tea’s are

automatically made using Chaayos’ proprietary

technology which automatically prepares the tea at a

preset temperature for a preset time. No wonder an

IITian is leading this company

If you are thinking of starting something, it is time for

you to think about your daily routine and all the

problems which you face throughout the day. If you

can pin down possible solutions, it would give you a

definite starting point. Next step is to validate your

solution. That’s when you have got to start talking.

Build an outreach, connect with as many people as

possible, share your ideas and take feedback.

Eventually ask these people whether they would like

to pay for this solution, and if so then how much?

Bingo you have

your business model ready. That’s the time for you to

commercially launch and move towards the next

level of your entrepreneurial journey.

Today every VC backed company is also thinking

about its profitability as capital is precious and

everyone wants to bet on a sustainable venture.

The companies until 2020 may not be there in the

next 3 years, but the ones adapting to new

technologies and trends with a solid business model

will be taking the lead. But remember it all starts

with a problem, and your more simplistic solution

can be the next unicorn


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www.powertalkwitharchanna.com 41

The world is more than ever in an Incredible phase

when it comes to the need of Innovation and the

talented, highly motivated Start-up founders are

putting in enormous effort to take their companies to

higher levels of growth. Seize the day and NOW is your

time.

In this highly competitive global market , we also see

failures, Black Swan unpredictable events laying the

finest companies low . The harsh fact of high failure

rates, not able to sustain the Progress, tough

Customer acquisition and high marketing costs are

factors to be well aware of for Founders.

There will be factors way beyond your control. Do not

feel let down and stifle your ability to be creative,

Innovate and find ways to survive and Thrive!! There

is support, Strategies and frameworks to Pivot, Find

new customer segments and unleash the full

potential you and your teams have.

So what needs to be done?

What are the critical factors to always be tracking

to stay strong in these challenging times ?

A few thoughts and guidelines from the hundreds of

conversations, Workshops and Research work that I

have been personally involved with. Will look at

diverse aspects like Marketing, Personal Branding,

Digital Tools, Networking, Skill Building,

Communities and Ecosystem

Government policies and opportunities. This is not

just for large enterprises, even Start-up founders

must study about government grants and

onboarding as a vendor. Apply for the various

Programs. Few of them are listed below

KSUM( Kerala), THUB(Telangana),Karnataka Startup

Cell( KITS,KTECH,NAIN etc).These two states are

just some of the very active states

Great resources

Invest India, DIPP programs

https://startup.karnataka.gov.in/

https://dipp.gov.in/japan-plus/flagshipprogrammes-goi-digital-india

Vijetha Shastry

2019-PRESENT

EXCEUTIVE DIRECTOR

TiE BANGALORE

2017-2019

LEAD INNOVATION

NASSCOMM

CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE

There are many active associations in your state

and city, CII ,FICCI, TiE, NASSCOM, ASSOCHAM,

Toastmasters, Dev circles etc

Seasoned founders are learners and readers. Be a

good mentor to younger founders , and remember

the digital natives are amazing growth tools

Be honest and strive to cut down unnecessary

costs, you need a good Runway to stay around for

longer terms and achieve your dreams, vision!

Invest in Free or Paid CRM, billing marketing, note

taking ,blogging tools like Hubspot ,Zoho,

Mailchimp, Freshworks, Medium, Asana, Notion

The playbooks are out there in the Open. Do your

research, apply the vital principles. Some samples

for addon reading :

https://www.birac.nic.in/big.php


When and why to Pivot

Think about how you can get into new customer

segments, be profitable and take advantage of

schemes, Address the changing needs of

consumers, which means a lot of on the ground

research, customer conversations, adopting new

technologies. Remember the biggest companies

changed course and fought many tough battles .

See the examples of Amazon, Reliance, Tata

Group on how they brought new

products/services in very crowded markets and

tough business environments

Sales

An important skill even if founders have not done

this too often in their previous assignments. I Will

stress that you have to build your ability, know

your competition and customers very well. Show

your sales team how to do it. Please don't leave

it to others. Clients want to get the backup from

the senior leaders, Founders to build trust in your

product or your service. Build that Relationship

and Goodwill.

Investor Talks, Embassy Conversation on

Global Expansion

The Ecosystem is always providing knowledge

sessions and Platforms like Power Talk with

Archanna ,Yourstory, TiE, GoI are always bringing

the info to you , stay tuned through Newsletters,

Email and Digital Media.

Referral Marketing

The Gig economy has many freelancers,

agencies who can get you customers for a

success fee; So you do not have to have a huge

infrastructure marketing team that sums upto

be huge upfront costs that shoot up your budget

manifold

Tools like the Business Model Canvas, Lean Startup

(Al Reis), Flywheel Marketing should be

used. These tools are not just concepts. They

are frameworks for growth and a dashboard to

monitor your organisation. Engage and Delight

customers and they will keep buying from you.

Customer retention is the key

Marketing Collaterals & Digital Assets

Invest on working with top notch folks both external

and internal on having your website, mailers, social

media channels like LinkedIn showcase page,

Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram/ and Youtube

channel. Each of these social media handles should

look good, stay updated. You must have your

customer testimonials highlighted along with

product updates, your team and ,industry news.

Obviously costs matter, so look at barter tools,

upgrading skills for team and yourself. Get interns

and value resources by asking other founders for

recommendations.

Build your personal brand as a Thought Leader who

is keen on adding Value, Knowledge and Ecosystem

Building. This entails Hard work , putting aside

committed hours and selfless giving, Pay it Forward

activities. All this is indeed very much worth it!!

How to do this though when there is so much

pressure on time, driving sales. Customer

interactions is a very valid point and so look at few

start points like blogging, being a volunteer with

Organisations like TiE, Headstart Network

Foundation etc.. Podcasting is a great ide.

Contributing simple Articles on LinkedIn. Do it on a

regular basis on subjects where you are expert, have

insights is much appreciated and valuable.

Digital Tools for Remote sales & Networking

Whether you are Providing SaaS services, product

company, Hardware/IoT, it is important to stay on top

of your game .Its advisable to use tools like Webinars,

Skype, ZOOM, G Meet, Slack etc to monitor, connect,

seamlessly support your teams and clients. Be part of

Groups( Digital, Hybrid, Mentor Circles) to know about

your Industry.

Publish well curated, researched videos, white papers

that will be of vital use to your customers and their

teams; they will love the value and help .This gives a

gentle nudge to build trust , retain and get referrals.

Attend workshops and industry seminars regularly.

Work on the digital networking without being too

pushy and self agenda promotion .These meetings

Power Talk l Ready to StartUp


Will set the stage for you This sends out a clear

message that you are building rapport and quality

connects. Its an added advantage if you can set up

roundtables, industry meetups .This turns in your

favour to et you the limelight and is definitely the

icing on the cake.

Research reports, industry statistics , consumer

trends are available for reading for free; educate

yourself constantly however busy you are. This helps

you understand the nerve of the market, better your

reasoning ,makes your farsighted, see

opportunities, help you collaborate with the right

people .In short, it keeps you abreast with your

hidden ecosystem.

Where are the opportunitiestoday?

A small snapshot.

AgriTech Innovation on reducing consumption

of Water, Energy resources. The world is talking

about sustainability .These are the shoes we nee t

fill in .Go for it .This is the future

The call for Vocal for Local is not a fad

Consumers want healthy, Local foods Take

advantage of this long term behaviour change.

Pandemic has put everyone on their toes. People

have realised that health is the real wealth .They

are looking for organic , local chemical free food

tat helps them with better immunity and nutrition

that to the list by all means and is here to stay with

no compromise what so ever

FinTech

Even the smallest of business operations has seen

growth during the pandemic and has given them

stability like never before . The answer is e-

commerce, digital platforms, Neo banking, Lending,

Payments will continue to grow leaps and bounds.

New businesses, newer roadblocks and newer

solutions and that’s where Fintech will resolve it for

the business owner so that their customers get a

smooth ride.

Health , MedTech, Nutrition and Mental wellness.

Customised services will be the focus .Developing

newer ,user friendly, innovative and unique Apps will

remain the focus to rope in more ad more customers

services.

Products and services related to Yoga and Fitness will

take a big time plunge. People will look forward to

novel ways to staying fit

Self reliance in Defence tech and manufacturing means

greater participation of the private sector in weapon

manufacturing in support of the Indian government

Biotech and Pharma is going to see an all time boom

because of the vaccines. R & D are focus areas for the

government too and is here to stay . Private labelling

for generic medicines will be on the rise

The use of electrical vehicles is going to rise .This only

means that there is gong to be a sudden requirement

od charging stations, battery swapping

Education for the masses has become the need of the

hour . Industries are focusing on the deliverables to

make it happen .Crossing the digital divide is on

everybody’s mind .This will give birth to many new

businesses that will truly have the potential to turn into

UNICORNS provided they focus on key essential areas.

This in turns shall create many job opportunities for

many within the ecosystem. This will also become the

reason for vocational skills to take its share of pie

Media content market has risen up multi folds ever

since the pandemic. However the fun has just begun. A

major shift in people preference has been observed

during pandemic. Over the top content is on top of its

game. The ever green market of video, digital content,

animation, movie, television and music production is

already creating waves and will continue to create

more and more jobs which means its time to take this

shot

Artificial intelligence based applications across

Industries is coming up in a big way in vocational

training ad education ,human resources, medical and

lot more

Stay Resilient and trust your own worth!

www.powertalkwitharchanna.com 43


Reputation

AT STAKE

Your reputation is what

serves as an anchor when

you choose to soar and as

a life jacket, if things go

south. Invest wisely

Ruby Thapar

2019- PRESENT

PRINCIPAL

RUBY THAPAR CONSULTING

The start-up world for me is a game changer, not

only for their ideas; but also for the sheer landscape

it provides to play, with no barriers of domain and

age. Their vision, gumption, imagination and grit is

to be envied. Having said that, Start-ups can at times

be inward looking, like the metaphorical hammer for

whom every problem is a nail. An idea, funding and

an online presence is not enough. Would You

Embark on a Sailing Trip Without a Life Jacket?

Power Talk l Ready to StartUp


Business is all

about relationships.

How well you build

them, determines

how well they build

your business

- Brad Sugars

Reputation is not built by what we tell our

consumers, but by what our stakeholders tell

each other. In that sense, it is intangible and is a

function of the actions and behaviour of the

company within and without.

As the new age mediums of communication

become our normal, one must take cognizance of

the fact, that stories no longer have a definitive

shelf life; or are restricted by geographies or

limited to only qualified journalists or publishers.

Stories can be told by anyone, re-emerge multiple

times and be tagged and associated directly or

indirectly to any number of themes. The digital

medium has vested powers in the hands of many

stakeholders beyond the customer, who drive

perception and thus our reputation.

Reputation management will increasingly have a

direct correlation to business, which must be

startegistically capitalised. Additionally

anticipating and planning for risks and crisis must

be integral to any reputation strategy.

Let’s use 3 philosophical questions which come

up more often than not, to set the context to this

conversation on reputation management.

The 1 st question asked is:

How did you come up with this idea?

I like this question. It is an opportunity to tell your

story with things material to you and own your

reputation. There are so many pegs around which

the story of any start-up can be written. Decide on

the ‘Hero’ of your enterprise – is it you, the

product, the company, all of it or something else.

Craft . the narrative you want everyone to carry

The 2 nd big question asked is:

Who are your stakeholders or audience?

Take a strategic, structured and timely approach to

map, know and communicate with your

stakeholders. I like to group stakeholders as ABC:

Allies Actively engaged with you

Bystanders Believe in you with a But

Critics Hold views contradictory to yours

Having said that, also remember that the stakeholder

universe is agile today. We may not always be able to

map our stakeholders to the tee. Reviewing your

stakeholder base at regular intervals will keep you on

your game in including and engaging with them .The

above two questions is what most start-ups get

www.powertalkwitharchanna.com 45


asked and the 3 rd question is what they ask

themselves.

When should I start investing in reputation

management?

Whether your offering is in the online space or in

the brick or mortar category, it is a good idea to

integrate reputation management as one of the

building blocks of your business from day zero. We

tend to miss this key piece simply because we have

not given it enough thought. So look at starting

early.

Knowing Your Pillars of Reputation Management

Helps in Creating Competitive Advantage!

For each of these pillars, draw out a strategy and

action plan and you will find seamless synergy with

your larger business strategy. These pillars

eventually speak to the ethos of your enterprise.

Refer to ‘FIND’ as you start to create your

reputation management tool box. Under each of

the pillars, I have shared some indicative measures.

This is not by any means an exhaustive list.

Foster Trust

• You are the first and most important ambassador of

your start-up. In a new enterprise everyone bets on

the founder

• Tell stories. Not just of the product, but the vision,

people, products, company, challenges,

opportunities, magic, coincidences, failures, wins,

solutions, issues

• Be consistent and proactive with your presence,

engagement and communication

Invest in Relationships

• Strive for win-win solutions to create long term

equity

• Align and include people around the shared

purpose

• Identify and navigate to the value your bring

Nurture Networks – the obvious

and not so obvious

• Look for opportunities to represent the cause your

solution is serving

• Engage with thought leaders and on their platforms

Meaningful

relationships and

meaningful work are

mutually reinforcing,

especially when

supported by radical

truth and radical

transparency

-Ray Dalio

• Be visible as a thought leader

Deliver Customer Value

• Ensure constancy of experience

• Cherish your referrals – they are lending their

credibility to you

• Make your customers feel safe and protected

Have a strategy to combat key board warriors. Not all

battles are to be fought, but how you approach and

handle them will be watched

Depending on the life cycle or round of funding your

start-up is in, keep upgrading your reputation

management tool box. You will discover some

approaches to be sacrosanct, while others serving a

short term or a specific purpose.

Building an intangible asset like reputation, requires

listening, empathy and care. It requires being

authentic about who you are as a company, not once

but consistently over and over again and for the long

term.

I believe, your reputation is what serves as an

anchor when you choose to soar and as a life jacket,

if things go south. Invest wisely.

Power Talk l Ready to StartUp


Power Talk with Archanna

https://www.youtube.com/powertalkwitharchanna



,

World over, the legal sector has seen the slowest adoption

of tech-based solutions. Even within the sector, India is a

couple of years behind some other nations. 2020 saw the

introduction of virtual courts for the first time in the

country. Though the process was catalysed by Covid-19, it

has kick-started a very important conversation - ‘how can

the legal industry benefit from the very many pros that

emerging tech offer?’ We might be late to the party, but

given the importance of the legal sector, the overburdened

judiciary and the immense potential that the Indian

demographic offers ,we will be booming with legal tech

products .So its time for entrepreneurs to start thinking as

this is going to be one among trending business going

forward

Dreaming a business that can turn an idea into a billion

dollar worth entity is always very easy. The real pain in the

neck starts when startups plan to learn on the way .

Legalities can trap your success and clip your wings.

However a good understanding can give wings to your

ideas, thoughts and allow you to spread young wings as

much as you would like given you have all other aspects of

business execution in place.

This is where LAWYERED comes in. We have a huge

platform with more than 20,000 lawyers registered

with us and board the band wagon following a very

stringent process in line .

Till now ,we have catered to 50,000+ Startups. Our

research team constantly works on bringing together

every documents that can easy of the life of a startups.

With over 100+ agreements, we have a rich gallery of

agreements, MOU’s, reference sheets and templates

,in short a one stop shop all for startups. This comes

with a consultation to support them ,hand hold them

to understand what exactly would they require to get

the engine running. This comes to them at NO COST.

“Legal Toolkit for Startups & Businesses”

Negligence can definitely get startups into trouble and

these troubles can easily be avoided. These are

processes that are a part of any business launch and

come with few legal bindings which must be adhered

to. However should not be taken lightly For e.g., it is

important to understand the business the startup gets

into and incorporate a company to stat with. Speaking

in Indian context, the company could either be limited

liability partnership in India(LLP) or be incorporated

Himanshu Gupta

2018-PRESENT

FOUNDER & CEO

LAWYERED

STARTUP MENTOR

as a private limited company or registered as a

partnership firm .It will be termed as a start-up

if Its turnover for any of the financial years since

incorporation or registration has not exceeded

Rs 100 crore .Its important to understand

taxation and accounting laws .Startups need to

keep in mind the business licenses they need to

apply for and definitely remember to renew

them time and again. They must be well aware

of the compliances they need to meet for the

business they wish to run.

Startups are very quick in creating their logo’s,

completely unaware of the protection of their

intellectual property rights or if they are

stepping on someone else's foot. Create a fool

proof entity by formalizing business structure

and formalising founders agreement. It is also

important to understand the liabilities startups

move around with on their shoulders and how

they can stay stress free if they follow systems

and understand the law of the land.

There are many implications that comes with a

poorly executed idea. Legal hassles are one of

them. CONSULT A LAWYER .READ .READ. READ

www.powertalkwitharchanna.com 49


Amod Anand

2018-PRESENT

Co-Founder

Loom Solar Pvt Ltd

Faridabad, India

2014-2017

Sr. Manager

Home Shop 18

Noida, India

The startup SOLAR LOOM was launched by Amod Anand and Amol Anand in 2018. The duo was more

than busy in their corporate life Before. Amol handled operations at Luminous India. Amod started his

career with Reliance as a business analyst. While at Bharti Airtel Ltd as a senior manager, Amod was still

thinking about venturing on his own. With 3 years at Home Shop 18 as a senior manager, he was sure he

wanted more .The entrepreneurial spirit in the Anand brothers kept surfacing until they both decided to

finally start working on it alongside their corporate jobs. The duo investigated several industries and ended

up joining the solar power industry. It was the idea of becoming financial independent, while working in

corporate jobs. .They were thinking like a true entrepreneur. Minimum investment and maximum returns.

After much research they mutually zeroed down their option to Solar energy. As a start up company, the

only that really worried them was SURVIVAL. Stories floating in the market about start-up failure gave

them sleepless nights. Their focus on profitability and 100% prepaid transactions was their starting point

It was difficult to find how to start and from where to start, which product to sell and how to earn

profit. Once we were sure of the business we wanted to create a fortune in ,We were a bit relieved .

We knew it was solar energy and LOOM SOLAR was born !

Power Talk l Ready to StartUp


THUMB RULE

Identifying strengths and weakness

Strength: Understanding of Digital Marketing, How to build website, How to transport products,

How to Identify supplier for procurement of products.

Weakness: Capital for investment was very low, small office / warehouse, no brand, no

customer and no credibility in the market to get the product on credit.

All we had were savings and fire in the bely to make it big. We invested our hard earned money on creating

a website with all our focus was on digital marketing. In the process, we learnt about everything customer

acquisition and strategies to leverage our business. It took us some time as we handle everything. All

operations under one roof- our home .It took us time to recruit people as they were not keen on joining us

because us the limited space available at our home grown office. This did not affect the energy and passion

that drew us towards our goal constantly .We were determined aa a duo and didn’t have time to think

about those who didn’t want to join us in this journey

To begin with, we started as distributors for companies that were into solar energy like Luminous India. We

created a market for ourselves. Gaining the trust of the customer as been the key focus for us from the very

beginning .As my brother Anmol had experience in this industry we grew faster than we expected. In

October 2018 we launched Monocrystalline panels .This was a big boom for us . We started seeing stability

in our business . This as a stepping stone , we launched AC Module in DEC 2019. This came with a

partnership with EnPhase . Now our focus grew into making Loom Solar a popular business among

customers by constantly working on quality, timely deliveries and ofcourse manufacturing premium quality

solar panels with no compromise on quality whatso ever .

www.powertalkwitharchanna.com 51


ONE STEP AT A TIME

Anmol and myself along with 10 more people

That’s what Loom solar was all about .A company

that was multitasking all the time but was full of

passion to make it big Now we are a team of 100

people . Our goal is to expand it gradually.

Earlier Loom Solar had tie-ups with solar brands

with good infrastructure and a network of sales

personnel in each state or territory. We aligned

their sales employees and distribution channel to

Loom Solar for a commission of 15 percent. Now

the Loom Solar has approx. 1500 resellers present

in across 700 cities who are aligned to sell and

distribute. Loom Solar guarantees a three-day

delivery period across the country and also

provides end-to-end solutions.

At the time of market research we discovered that

there were many rural areas in India with little

access to electricity (especially in Uttar

Pradesh).There was a need for more. When we set

out to understand the inside story of the industry,

we found that three major problems that slowed

down the acceptance of solar power: There was

inadequate knowledge and understanding of the

product . People were not very well versed with the

benefits of using solar energy .We also found that

there weren’t many suppliers who would reach out

in the interiors and also promise good after sales

service. Another undeniable fact came to surface .

Poor quality of products being manufactured

because of use of obsolete technology

Power Talk l Ready to StartUp

With in a year of its inception

the organization installed

3,500 kW solar panels. A

reduction of 99,000 tonnes of

carbon dioxide emissions,

which is equal to planting

1,58,000 trees

This lowers emissions and electricity reliance on the

national grid. Bootstrapped Loom Solar hosts only

luxury brands in the solar industry, but plans to

bring more brands on board in the future, including

Luminous, Microtek, Okaya, and Schneider Electric.

For such brands, it offers solar arrays, screens,

inverters, and chargers online.

The company has never sold the products on credit,

and is not even planning to do that in future. In

order to sustain we should always sell product with

profit. Currently valuation of the company is Rs

120 crore

GOLDEN ADVICE

My advice to the budding entrepreneur is: Do

business with trust and focus on profitability. In

the early stage of the business, you have to build

trust with customer, supplier, employee and

shareholders. Once trust is built, business starts

growing and rest of the things can be managed.

The next more important thing after that brilliant

idea is to look for a great team.


You need a few people who can work like you, who can

understand your idea and work on the project day and

night just like you do. Once idea is validated with

sample customer size then marketing becomes

important things to grow the business.

helping our team get certifications during

pandemic. Most of our employees from sales and

marketing department are solar certified by

Udemy . Now we are back to work

.

Also, people believe that funding is the last thing to be

considered. In my view, every founder must start

business as bootstrap and later on once its validated

take help of funding to grow your business multi fold. It

gives confidence to business idea and product

Business size may be small to begin with but it grows

with time provided you don’t loose your focus on

quality and customer retention. Solar industry of India

is growing by 3 times every year. Our organization

growth is growing by 2 times in every aspects. Target

to establish your business with in 3 years of its

inception. It will start seeing growth with time and

demand of the market

EXPERIENCE SPEAKS

FEW TIPS

• We bootstrapped our company , and also advice

others to follow the same, it's your hard-earned

money. So we spend it wisely compare to the

investors money

• How to reach to the customers? – Digital Medium

• Why will our customer trust on us? –

Cutting Edge Technology Products & Simplify

Service Process

• Who will execute all process? – Strong Team

• Who will fund to our business? – Customer

Funded

• Pandemic and black swan events shouldn’t

dampen your spirits

For us pandemic was difficult too but we managed

to grow our company as Power backup Industry also

grew due to high demand in residential sector. Most

of the people started working from home so they

needed more electricity with power backup, and it

helped to grow our business .We concentrated on

Awards and recognition:

• A huge customer base

• A very good team

• A private limited company with 2 Director .

My brother Anmol Anand and myself

• Received fastest growing SMB of the year

by Amazon Sambhav Year 2020

• DIPP Certified Startup India

• Golden Bridge Awards 201

• Featured in various publications like

POWER TALK ,SAUR ENERGY, EQ

INTERNATIONAL, ENERGETICA, PV

MAGAZINE, YOURSTORY, BUSINESS

STANDARD,

ELETIMES,

DEVDISCOURSE, ELECTRONICS

BAZAAR

www.powertalkwitharchanna.com 53


Shan M Elangovan

2018- PRESENT

MANAGING DIRECTOR

CEAE

United Kingdom

2011- PRESENT

Managing Director

VEE CEE Ltd

United Kingdom

Born in a family of entrepreneurs, I took my own path towards self build! Working for other business was

essential steps towards bigger goals in life, one is to gain experience and the other is to ensure the ends

meet. Sustainability is always been with me, as I believe in that lifestyle and it has got on to me more and

more over a period of time. Working for others and for myself, I had a large exposure in to sustainable

trends globally. CEAE is a passion to make anything we do 100% sustainable & Circular. Sustainability

always doesn’t need to be at an extra cost. I don’t believe in that. It’s lack of information on what

sustainable solutions are available out there. When you speak about additional cost, it’s also about the

tiniest percentage of margins what you are willing to forego, if there is any. There are several ways to

accomplish circularity in your business without additional cost. It’s the mindset which is all important!

Q

A

start-up founder at the start of pandemic 2020,what inspired you to plunge

into the risky waters of sustainability ?

Having worked with international clothing brands all my life, Sustainability & Circularity has always

been my passion. I have worked within R&D functions on several circular developments including

fabrics, accessories, packaging and several sustainable production process initiatives with these

global brands. But there was always a lot of limitations, when it comes to sustainability initiatives, as

Power Talk l Ready to StartUp


Yes we are a

pandemic Launch

I was involved in the tiniest

aspects of the project and it

has been a huge learning curve

there are so many other factors involved in

accepting a change. My passion was always to

create a brand that will solely build on

sustainability and circularity in mind.

Q

After the launch consistency is

very important .What kept you

on your toes from day one ?

Finance and the ability to meet demand when you

explode, and how you actually manage your

cashflow. Again, it was not just 1 thing, it was

several different things, to make it all work together

flawlessly starting from product design,

development, testing, performance, packaging,

branding, user experience online, the box opening

experience and to be prepared with any objections,

questions and customer queries. Every single thing

mattered to me. Once you have nailed a product

then presenting them to wider audience,

distributers, wholesalers in different geographical

locations were challenging at the same time

rewarding, when see acceptance on what you have

believed in all this while

Q

A pandemic launch,

implementation must have been

a rocky ride.

More than the problems, it’s all the different steps

involved and executing them within the time frame.

It was at the peak of lockdowns and the ability to

develop a design and go to market.

Logistics and continuity of continuity of work force

was a greater challenge. When we launched our

100% Organic cotton masks, I wanted it to tick all the

boxes of a circular/sustainable product and at the

same time to perform better than any other product

out there. We had to do a lot of performance testing

and choice of material played a significant role.

Testing took time and we had to plan production,

volumes and availability of stock in different markets

and sales channels are all set and ready when the

product hits the market. I was involved in the tiniest

aspects of the project and it has been a huge

learning curve in a such a short time span from

initial conceptualisation to market. We in fact

submitted patent/trademark for the innovation.

I am now proud that our product is available with

more than 3000 retailers and look forward to the

launch of all future product line. We aspire to be a

truly circular lifestyle brand reassuring with

accreditations and transparency to all our customers

www.powertalkwitharchanna.com 55


Q

The innovation window of

startups needs funds .Your

advise to budding entrepreneurs

Yes absolutely! Backed up with sufficient funds to

start up and sustain for a period of time. Creating the

visibility for the brand through your online sales

channels and distribution network. Gaining the

acceptance of the product and the trust. Sell, Sustain

and build the brand and reinvest all earnings back

into products and markets .We have done the initial

We have created a channel- retail and wholesale in

a short span of time and we need to optimise on

the opportunity. Now is the time to continue giving

great products to these distributors, wholesalers

and retailers and they know the brand and the

quality of the products they can expect. It’s a range

of products that we need to launch, just not one at

a time. It’s about creating an offering to someone’s

lifestyles, so funding is super important at this stage

or else we will be slow in the game, loose

momentum that we have already built. We can still

be successful but will be slow and conventional.

Funding changes the whole scenario!

I am proud that our

product is available with

3000 retailers in a such

a short time span from

initial conceptualisation

to market

it’s been over 7 months that we launched. Now we

are preparing for brand deck/future aspirations so

we can present it to possible venture capitalists, I

think that’s the key!

Self-funding is relevant for a start-up and to sustain

for a while. To takes any business to next level,

funding is the key, like the stage we are in now. We

have huge aspirations, working on our first ever

clothing range which is 100% Organic, 100% chemical

free, dyes from herbs barks of trees and leaves etc..,

100% water reused/circular,100% biodegradable/

recyclable and with almost 0% carbon emission. We

want to reduce our carbon emission during

production process rather than emit and offset! We

want to accredit & communicate all we do to end

consumers.

CEAE- Circular Economy Accredited & Ethical

Power Talk l Ready to StartUp


Q

What is the next most important

thing after that brilliant idea ?

Its marketing and the sales channels. Precisely the

digital marketing partner! I believe the reach to

wholesale and distribution comes thru your online

presence. The success online hugely depends on the

digital marketing and choosing the right ecommerce

partners. We have invested a lot on this front and

have seen a lot of results, which will help us shape

and succeed in all our future product launches.

For online retail, digital marketing is expensive but

inevitable. You need to look at least 20-25% of the

retail price of a product towards the cost of digital

marketing/ e-commerce partnerships. Most often

this cost is overlooked by start-ups. Unfortunately

Great idea/ product wont sell by itself. There are so

many other entities within the retail chain for

example, fulfilment, digital marketing, e-commerce

partner, manufacturing, logistics, agents all have

their share of the cake. So it vital to consider every

single cost elements before finalising retail prices

and wholesale prices.

Q

What was your perfect

sustainability business plan ?

With CEAE I always knew what we were going to offer.

But the Pandemic, infact gave me a kick start. There

was a problem in hand to solve and you have the

expertise to leverage. Face masks! We kept the ethos

intact about what we want to do and came up with a

great product, comfort, performance and

sustainability are three key elements we focused on.

Huge challenges, starting from prototyping to final

product as things weren’t normal in terms of

workforce nor the logistics. The production was

interrupted several times. When I started this project

when pandemic hit, I was based out of USA, product

development/ production based out of India and I was

setting up retail, distribution/ fulfilment in UK . It was

super challenging!

I kept at it and we managed to launch a global website,

tie up with fulfilment companies, signup with partners

in UAE, Canada, South Africa, USA and UK. All our

distributers came thru our online presence .We have

about 4 large distributors/ wholesalers in the UK/

Europe, who in turn have over 3000 retailers buy from

them. The list is Growing!

Our Focus- 3 key elements

comfort, performance

and sustainability

Future of any business in today’s world, whether its

product or services that you offer, they need to be

sustainable. What difference are making to

anyone’s sustainable lifestyle? Who much is it

contributing to global sustainability goals? Carbon

emission, are you controlling? Plastics- are you

reducing the usage? Are your products circular?

Biodegradable/ recyclable? Will it contribute to

the over growing pollution in our ocean? It’s about

going back in time and fixing things for a better

tomorrow and for generations to come.

www.powertalkwitharchanna.com 57


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Power Talk l Ready to StartUp



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