Volume 2, Issue 3

Sneak Peak 20 Aug, 2008

• How to Write a Bplan - Page 2
Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a
• Innovation Speed in Start-Ups - Page 3 habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character,
• Mr. Shwetang Jain interview - Page 5 reap a destiny - Chinese Proverb

DOES INFLATION SPELL DOOM FOR

INDIA’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP BOOM ?
On the 15th of August 2008, for the first time
ever, a consul general (Neelam Deo for India)
rang the closing bell at the US stock market. As
recognition of the fast growing Indian economy,
the giant billboard overlooking Times Square
also had the Indian Tricolour being displayed
with the text ‘India Independence Day’. The
KHARAGPUR
policies. So what are the entrepreneurial options
left for a young Indian? Going deeper into under-
standing the nature of India’s entrepreneurship
and the current economy will give us a better
idea about the future prospects of an aspiring
entrepreneur.
Mrs. Sramana Mitra, a successful Indian entrepre-

recent upheavals in the market notwithstand- neur in the Silicon Valley, believes that the excess
ing, it can be clearly seen that the Indian econ- capital chasing Indian start-ups and the lack of
The Entrepreneur

omy has been on a steep rise since the past 5 fundable deals is clearly manifested in India’s
years and is brimming with promise to accom- entrepreneurship today. Going by past trends,
modate more influx to synergise this growth. In consumer internet turned out to be a big trend
a country of billion odd people like ours, where from last
millions live below the poverty line and millions year, for In-
more are unemployed, where do we start to dia, while
bring about a change so that the country keeps Sramana
IIT

surging ahead? One of the obvious answers is feels that non

to get more jobs for people. To do this, there is -tech sectors
need for enterprising individuals among us who like retail and
CELL,

will be responsible for generating wealth from real estate

within the country. Entrepreneurship is a critical are also big
element of a growth economy, and many be- m o n e y -
lieve India is poised to unlock a Silicon Valley making op-
ENTREPRENEURSHIP

like entrepreneurial boom through the next 10 portunities in the future.

years. The beginnings are already in place, steps
have been taken in the right direction and
change is afoot.
But what about the problems brought about by
inflation? India has produced the most impres-
sive set of corporate results anywhere in the
world, in the recent past. However government
policies and nature of coalition government,
deprive India of more encouraging economic
Talk about retail and real estate hogging the lime-
light in the future; it seems to be universally ac-
cepted. Land has, from ancient times, been
deemed as a symbol of wealth. Even today, its
one of the most orthodox yet sure-fire commodi-
ties to invest in. Mr. Michael Sexton, President,
Trump University also seems to agree..
Continued on page 4

Have you con- Key factors that A few of the Recent activities
sidered these determine inno- upcoming events have keep spirit
points while vation speed in to look forward of entrepreneur-
writing a B-plan? Start-Ups to ship soaring high
- PAGE 2 - PAGE 3 - PAGE 4 - PAGE 5
Page 2 THE ENTREPRENEUR

The successful person makes a habit of doing what the failing person doesn’t do - Thomas Edison

How to Write a B-Plan

Writing a business plan is a fundamental step to en- How many outlets will you have? How much passive
suring your business has every chance of succeeding. income will it produce for you in the future? How many
Common statistics state that 9 out of 10 businesses customers on your database will you have? What will
fail on the first 5 years of operation, and of the re- be your geographic area of influence? These goals will
maining 10%, 90% fail in the following 5 years be a combination of your personal goals for your own
Why? There may be a number of reasons - from poor life blended with that of the life of the business.
customer service, Step 3 - Define your USP
inadequate product, In order to stand out form the crowd, it is imperative
poor logistics man- that you know and define your USP Unique Selling
agement and cost Proposition. What it is that you offer and provide that
control. However, the is different to other people in the market? It may be
number of businesses that you offer additional services to your core product;
that do not define it may be that you have a more personalized customer
their goals and map service approach; it may be your after sales service and
out their path to warrantee on the product. What is it that your cus-
success is phenomenal. Taking the tomer will be attracted to above other
step to define your business goals, Business planning is a vital businesses offering the same service
plan where you want to go and component of starting and or product? Once you know this, then
what you want to achieve will place growing a successful enter- you can use it as a focus for your cus-
you in an increased position of fu- prise. Many different varia- tomers to recognize you and remem-
ture success and realization of your tions of business plans ex- ber you.
dreams. ist, so you must carefully Step 4 - Know your market
Below is a list of the areas you need choose the right one that Have you ever thought up a brilliant
to consider when writing your busi- serves your purpose and idea and began to investigate it, only
ness plan. These steps will help enterprise. A well-executed to find out that another business has
define the business goals, the rea- business plan will enhance already started with that exact same
son for existence (of the business), the odds that your venture idea? This happens daily to many peo-
and define the direction you will will take a successful path ple, but do not be discouraged. The
take. and satisfactorily fulfill your marketplace is huge and can support a
Step 1- Define your vision goals. number of businesses providing the
You may know inside your head same service. Look at petrol stations
why you want to start a business, and what business and dry cleaners as an example. So, get to know the
it will be. However, your staff will not know this infor- market your market. How many competitors are there?
mation, and after a time, you too will also forget What do they offer? What have the trends been in the
some of the details. Write down what your mission is industry? What might be the future trends and pre-
your purpose and vision for the company. This sets dicted growth/decline of the industry? Are there any
the tone for all business and actions taken on a daily benchmarks you can base your business performance
basis, working toward achieving your mission and on, such as profit margins, expected turnover per busi-
purpose. ness size, and so on? Once you have a broader picture
Step 2 - Set your goals and objectives for the busi- of the market you are entering into, you will be better
ness equipped to handle and maximize your potential busi-
Think big. Do not let your own limitations impact on ness growth.
what you think your business is capable of achieving. Contd…
Define what you short (less than 12 months), me-
dium (1-3 years time frame) and long term goals For further reference :
(usually 3-5 years timeframe) will be. Think of topics http://www.powerhomebiz.com/082005/
such as how much revenue do you want to generate? businessplan.htm
Page 3
Failure defeats losers, failure inspires winners. – Robert T. Kiyosaki
Innovation Speed in Start-Ups
Research-based start-ups are new business
start-ups that develop and market new products
based on proprietary knowledge or skill. Such start-
ups form the basis of technopreneurship, which has
received a great deal of attention from academics in
the last couple of years. Although considerable re-
search has been done in the field of resources, strat-
egy and industry environ-
ment of new firms, little
attention has been paid to
the factors which control the
speed of innovation in start-
ups. Innovation forms the
heart of every techno-
preneurial venture and
hence it is essential to study
the forces which affect it.
It is widely accepted
that tangible assets such as
starting capital and the stage of product develop-
ment at founding and intangible assets such as team
tenure, experience of founders, and collaborations
with third parties are important antecedents for in-
novation speed in startups. Intuition suggests that
starting capital and stage of product development
encourage innovation speed. Moreover, its under-
stood that team tenure and experience of founders
lead to faster product launch. And of course, alliances
with third parties should also affect innovation speed
positively. But research says otherwise.
Now why is innovation speed so important?
Innovation speed is directly related to the time re-
quired to market or time between firm founding and
product launch. This might seem strange but it takes
months to market the product even after product
creation. Especially for new ventures, time to market
is a crucial factor for these reasons (i) gaining early
cash flow for greater financial independence, (ii)
gaining early market share, and (iii) to increase the
likelihood of survival. Moreover slow product devel-
opment leads to increasing costs and no immediate
financial returns.
There are several ways in which a firm may
obtain the required financial resources, such as self-
THE ENTREPRENEUR
financing, loans, obtaining angel-investments and ven-
ture capital, and of course grants. It is seen that most
firms which have to expand quickly go for venture capi-
tal. However, surveys indicate starting capital has no
significant affect on innovation speed. This discrepancy
is best described by the following reasons, (i) v e n t u r e
capitalists may push firms to ramp up their commer-
cialization efforts, diverting
attention and investments
from R&D toward marketing
and sales, which may delay
product completion, and (ii)
venture capital and high
amounts of initial investments
might be associated with
more ambitious projects,
which inherently face longer
development times.
Higher stage of prod-
uct development significantly
reduces the time to market the product but this is true
only for non-software firms. Surprised? For software
firms, it is seen that the launch of a beta version con-
siderably delays product launch. This is obvious be-
cause customer involvement leads to repetitive modifi-
cations to the product which ends up delaying product
launch. This situation does not apply to non-software
products probably because for such products repetitive
modifications are often impossible or pricey and hence
customers don't get to dig in their noses too much!
Thankfully, team tenure and experience counts
and assists innovation as predicted by common sense.
A better team shall always lead to more efficient prod-
uct development. But alliances with third parties may
hinder innovation speed. Collaborations with private
firms show no effect on innovation speed. Collabora-
tions with universities slow down innovation speed but
this must not be taken as a setback because such col-
laborations can be considered a long term investment
and may show profitable results in the long run.
Reference : J PROD INNOV MANAG 2007;24:303–31
Page 4 THE ENTREPRENEUR

Failure defeats losers, failure inspires winners. – Robert T. Kiyosaki

Does inflation spell doom for India’s entrepreneurship boom

...Continued from page 1
..to the above thought, suggesting investing in real estate as a way of benefiting during the current heavy infla-
tion period. It’s what the millionaires and billionaires are doing today. So, is future of entrepreneurship in real
danger? Does the current inflation spell doom for those willing to establish start-ups now? Clearly, the answer
is no!
Despite facing innumerable challenges, the entrepreneurial energy that now radiates across all activities from
almost all parts of India is greater than what one has seen over the past four decades. Mrs. Sramana is indeed
very optimistic about India’s entrepreneurial potential. The enormous successful growth of most existing Indian
companies, as also the promising start and rise to fame of many young Indian entrepreneurs both domestically
and abroad in a very short span of time, is a very encouraging sign to say the least. So, the answer is not to bide
your time waiting for the tide of inflation to ebb down to manageable levels, its infact to try to use inflation
itself as a stepping stone to get a head-start.
But will this trend last? Certainly for the next few years, says Mr. Omkar Goswami, in a BW article.
He believes India’s entrepreneurship is now second to none. So, maybe you are indeed in the right country for
entrepreneurship at the right time.
References : http://indianeconomy.org/2007/03/27/entrepreneurship-in-india/, http://www.trumpuniversity.
com/blog/post/2008/07/benefit-from-inflation.cfm, http://
www.businessworld.in/index.php/Of-Entrepreneurship.html

IN THE PIPELINE...
Concipio is the annual b-plan competition organised by Entrepreneurship Cell, IIT Kharagpur. First round sub-
mission deadline for this event is 31 August, 2008. Selected teams from this round get exposed to a one and
a half month mentorship period , mentored by successful and seasoned professionals which include successful
industrialists and alumni of IIT Kharagpur, before going on to present their final plan at E-Summit ‘08.
http://www.ecell.iitkgp.ernet.in/concipio/

Envision, the Product Design competition organized by Entrepreneurship Cell, IIT Kharagpur aims to provide a
platform where participants can showcase their ideas of next-generation products. A brief technical summary
of the product is to be submitted online before 31 October, 2008.tHowever, teams will have to present a
working model or assembly parts of their products during the final judging at E-Summit ‘08.
http://www.ecell.iitkgp.ernet.in/envision/

Eclairez, is a Social Entrepreneurship Challenge aimed towards those individuals who have the gumption to
empower those at the bottom of the pyramid as well as earn profits for themselves while doing so. First round
submission expects participants to submit an online summary of their idea before on or before 25 October,
2008. The participants will then get a chance to perk up their business plan with our mentorship board, com-
prising of Social Entrepreneurs and Venture Capitalists, and finally convert it into a successful social venture,
after a brief presentation at E-Summit ‘08.
http://www.ecell.iitkgp.ernet.in/eclairez/

Pensez, is the annual Case Study Competition organised by the Entrepreneurship Cell, IIT Kharagpur. This years
problem statement is “Analysing the impact of web-based technologies on technology start-ups“. Preliminary
round expects a brief write-up of about 500-700 words is to be submitted before 17 October, 2008. A final
presentation of the dossier and report will have to be given at E-Summit ‘08.
http://www.ecell.iitkgp.ernet.in/pensez/
Page 5 THE ENTREPRENEUR
A man’s worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions – Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

A KGP alumnus’ tale from student to CEO

On the 9th of August 2008, we were honoured to
have Mr. Shwetank Jain, CEO P2P Power Solutions,
alumnus IIT Kharagpur, amongst us answering queries
to a jam-packed gathering of 1st year students at V1
auditorium, on the occasion of Fresher’s Induction
Program. Shwetank won
Conipio 2005 through
which he got his start up
initially funded. 90% of
the young audience said
they too would like to
have a start-up of their
own at some point of
time!! These are a few
excerpts from the question-answer session with Mr.
Shwetank on that day.
1.Please tell us something about P2P Power Solution?
A: It basically developed from my b-tech project which
I did in 2006.It deals with power handling, improving
efficiency of machines & reducing grid pollution.
2.Whom does your industry caters?
A: It caters to basically steel industry, paper mills,
printing press any hardware industry and even the
medical industry.
3.When did you think of starting a company of your
own?
A: I wanted to do something of my own since my 2nd
year of my college & was actually looking for a good idea
which I got in my third year from Prof. Poddar.
4.How did you manage the initial funding?
A: The initial seed loan was provided by IIT Kharagpur.
Now I have some funding from the WB mutual funds but
they have only been sanctioned not issued.
5.At what stage is your business sales currently?
A: At this time I have sales order of Rs.60 lakh with
around 30 lakh implemented and we aim to take it to 1
crore by the end of this year.
6.What role does the MBA play in business?
A: For doing business you don’t need to do MBA because
its mostly theoretical knowledge and that doesn’t help
you anyways it’s just your brain which comes for your
rescue at places.
Even I joined XLRI last year because of persuation from
my parents but I had to leave it anyways because I could-
n’t do the two things simultaneously.
7.Whats the advantage of opening your own company?
A: You directly become the CEO of your company what
else?
And once your company starts doing well you become
independent .
8.Does one need a great personality to have a start up
on his own?
A: As far as I think, it’s not needed that much, It’s your
mind which actually works but yes, you should be confi-
dent and be presentable to others.

Entrepreneurship Pledge
On 14th August 2008, eve of India’s 61st Independence Day anniversary, Entrepreneurship Cell organised Entrepre-
neurship-Pledge, 2008,a pledge to inculcate the spirit of entrepreneurship. The pledge was to be followed by a dis-
cussion on “Is the present Indian Economic scenario viable for Entrepreneurship?”
The event commenced with a small presentation on the functioning of Entrepreneurship-Cell which was followed
by a speech by Prof. Dhrubes Biswas (Prof In-Charge, Incubation & Entrepreneurship Programmes ,SRIC) in which he
not only outlined the various facets of an entrepreneur’s personality but also talked about the “Education – Enter-
prise Model”, and the foundation of E-Cell. To make this model functional, he added that it was important for stu-
dents especially from institutions like IITs and IIMs, to venture into entrepreneurship. Subsequent to these inspira-
tional words was the E-Pledge where all present pledged to contribute to the building of an enterprising India.
We had the good fortune of having one the most vibrant and revered professors of IIT Kharagpur Prof. G.S.Sanyal
share with us his honest opinion on the importance of entrepreneurship in the growth and development of our na-
tion and the ways to encourage IIT graduates to view entrepreneurship as a serious career option.
To oblige us with their august presence and valuable opinions, we had the honour of having Prof. Amit Patra
(DEAN Alumni Affairs), Prof. D. Biswas , Prof. Kalyan K. Guin (Vinod Gupta School of Management), Prof. Gautam
Sinha (Vinod Gupta School of Management), Prof. Suman Chakraborty (Dept. of Mechanical Engineering) and Prof.
K.D. Raju (Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property and Law) to serve as the bench of panelists for the discus-
sion.At the end of the discussion, the panel entertained queries from students to clarify their doubts and dilemma.
The discussion was concluded with the playing of the national anthem.