What teCh-enaBled StartUpS ShoUld do to grow In a tUrBUlent eConomY
At the PCQuest Growth Forum held in Delhi on 15th June, 2016, experts from the startup ecosystem discussed key strategies, provided advice on the pitfalls to avoid and chalked out an overall roadmap to follow for techenabled startups
At the recently concluded The Growth Forum 2016 discussions on the start-up ecosystem in India were central to all sessions. Indian start-ups have received support by the government and the policy has been very start-up friendly. This initiative is going to nurture the entrepreneurial ecosystem to create more start-ups as well as opportunities for its vast young population to find employment.
In the 90s many young people moved to the US and Europe as IT professionals and as a result most notable CEOs are now armed with a foreign university degree. India has gained a lot of experience and expertise and its capacity to deliver high quality technology products and services has grown manifold. The current generation of founder CEOs have a great exposure to innovative technologies as many have worked with major multinational corporations. The growth strategy of the Indian start-ups largely rests on their ability to tackle the challenges to scale their business and also to manage other co-founders. Speaking at the conference, Pradeep Gupta, CMD, CyberMedia said that egos of founders often brings a company down.
“In the initial phases you need to secure a business and make changes in strategy, but those who don’t make changes in strategy do not succeed. Look at Snapdeal, within five years there were three flips that happened in their strategy, but the ability to make changes should remain a key strategy,” he added.
Why Start-ups fail
Many series A or angel funded companies are having a tough time this year and survival rate is very low. Only 15-20 per cent companies survive with time. Saurabh Srivastava, Padma Shri awardee and an Angel Investor said, “My advice to all the start-ups is that don’t sit in your office. To build the best product in the world engaging with the market is a must. The reason why start-ups fail or don’t get far is because they don’t have a long term strategy. To grow you need to have capacity to grow, need skills, and need to go to the depth and breadth of your resources. Microsoft has never been known to give better products but is still