MindBytes

Being here at the campus , I also got an opportunity to attend the finals of “Kaun Banega Entrepreneur“  conducted by TIE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) Bangalore Chapter last week . TIE is one of the biggest community of Entrepreneurs in the world. This was a great initiative by TIE , which should also be started by all other chapters of  TIE  giving chance to entrepreneurs all over the country.

I would like offer some of my observations and learning’s gained from this event

The finalists of the competition were five groups

Artoo                 -  Development of Cloud Application for Workflow of Microfinance Transactions

Star Wishlist    – Online shopping site for giving marriage gifts  based on a wishlist created by Bride & Bridegrooms

Ixora                  – Development of Cloud application for Biogenetic analysis

Schools            -  Web portal for submitting online applications to schools

Fifth Group     – Waste Management

Panelists  :   Subrato Bagchi,Vinita Bali,Sudhir Sethi,Bipin Chandran

The panelists had done an excellent job in awarding the Artoo, the first prize . To my surprise , the presenters from four other groups just dint have confidence in their business plans at all. Most of the presentations were not complete in the aspects which a VC or an Investor would like see. Marketing strategy was completely missing from most of the presentations. There was hardly any market survey carried out  by the teams with the prospective customers whether they would accept their product , which they were planning to make. Financials were not clearly drawn up explaining  the  sales forecast or cash inflows forecast. There were no statistics to support their forecasts. One of groups was ambiguous about the sources of revenue, and had diverted from the objective of the business. Infact i was wondering , how did these guys even qualify for the final round out of so many aspirants with business ideas.

Some of the learnings  gained from attending this session:

1.         Business Plan should be complete in all aspects most importantly – Market Research,Existing Competitors,Target Segmentation,SWOT Analysis, USP,Positioning Strategy Revenue Model,Cash flow statement,Income & Expenditure Statement,P&L Statement,Marketing Plan,Exit Strategy. I dint see all of these components in any of the presentations

2.        The Business plan should be presented by a person, who is confident  about the business plan and has strong presentation skills , aggressively selling the business proposition to the panel.

3.          Basic principles of preparing power point presentations should be followed – Not cluttering the slides with too much information where the panel is struggling to actually see what is written. The slides should have short points backed up by verbal explanation by the speaker, so that the speaker has the attention of the audience.

4.        Any startup which is seeking funds , should always have a professional and an eminent person on the board of advisors, who is professionally strong in the domain of the business.This is a plus point to attract investors.

5.       Estimations/forecasts of the cash flows should be realistic in nature , should be carefully drawn up after looking at the actual market potential and then the extent to which the market can be penetrated using marketing plans, Sales and Business development

6.     Wherever a specific process of the business plan has to be explained, it is better to do it with diagrams instead of putting up the text on the slides(This was being done with Waste Management group here in the competiton)

7.     All the group members/founders  should have extensively carried out market research , moving out of their cool ac spaces  and running on the fields, to actually know the pulse of their target market.

8.    Explaining why a customer would like to buy your product, if alternate options are available. This could be explained with a Cost Benefit Analysis.

I am eagerly waiting for the next such event , where i want to participate.

Lately I stopped blogging due to the busy schedule at the campus. Suddenly I realised that it has been months that I spent some time on my blog .This was after the  preaching given to all my colleagues at the campus , telling  everyone  that they should have a blog so as to bring out their experiences both professional and personal, if they think that they are worth sharing.

In December I was contemplating whether to go for my Six Months Executive Management Program at IIM Bangalore, as I had already completed my MBA in Marketing , not the full time one but the 3 year executive program at Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management, New Delhi, which gave me adequate exposure to the concepts of the business management. But my experience here has been very fulfilling and enriching and I am sure i wont get this kind of exposure  in any of the b-schools other than IIM’s and ISB. I should say that Iam lucky to be a student of IIM Bangalore , atleast through this six months programme designed for all armed forces officers on the verge of retirement.

Many officers have visited this campus to take a feedback of this program , whether it would be useful to attend this course. I will say this with full confidence and so do my colleagues who will agree that this program will bring a real difference in their outlook towards the corporate life . Though it is challenging for everyone to get many business concepts right , within such a short span of the course, but it opens up many windows of thoughts for those who really want to jump in entrepreneurship roles.All the professors are very rich ,experienced most of them who have taught in the b-schools abroad after finishing their corporate stints. They bring with both the real life experiences and the theoretical knowledge  to teach us.  The campus has excellent resources of books,digital media,access to many research databases which cannot be easily available to individuals if they want it at their own expense. For those people who want to jump into entrepreneurship roles, there is a NSR Centre which incubates many startups in their initial stages , which means the institute provides funding and office space for an year or two , in case if the business plan gets approved by the institute. Most importantly we get to attend many seminars at National level on Corporate Strategy, Entrepreneurship Games, Industry Experts , Seminars which are so insightful and useful, where we get an exposure to what is happening in the Industry outside. We also get to meet very important people and in case if there is a will to start something , they would act as ur links, who can make your dreams come true  by mentoring and helping us to fulfil our dreams. We  are also very lucky for the fact that we will  get status of IIMB Alumni, which opens up a big network of friends with whom we can interact, share our dreams and discuss the wildest of the wild ideas.

Sometimes i feel that i should come back for the One year Executive Management Program …but not now….enough of studies. Now i really want to put to use what all i have already learnt.

Thank you IIM for making me a much more confident person today , wherein i feel i can go out and reach the top .  I promise that I will make you proud one day !!! very soon