30th June, 2011
MLP student Animesh Mukherjee's account of the Start-up Marketplace on the first day of the Academies
Wow!!! What a day....30th June 2011 provided a unique “Start-up Marketplace” experience for the batch of “GAME CHANGERS”. The day started with the usual anticipation and curiosity for the unknown, which by now we have all got used to in this past month at SOIL. What was perceived as another lecture on how to start a venture and become an entrepreneur, turned out to be the most memorable day of my short tenure at SOIL.
It began with dividing all the students in teams of five and giving us exactly 7 hours to conceptualise a product or a service, frame a business plan, source seed capital from VCs and then execute the idea. Needless to say, an exceptional amount of enthusiasm was flowing amongst the students, as this was an opportunity to give shape to their ideas which the entrepreneur inside them had been needling for a while now.
The rules were very simple, every team was given exactly 2 minutes to present their ideas in front of a team of “venture capitalists” seek their approval and of course funding. Once done with that they had to focus on other aspects of their venture like the logo and the tag line, concept note, business plan, marketing strategy, website, HR structuring and the works. For once all the students got to step into the shoes of a CEO of a new start-up, understand the risks and gains involved and even if for a short while, we got to live the “free spirit dream of an entrepreneur”.
At 4 pm the presentations commenced and the judges whose identities were not disclosed to us started pouring in. And what a sight it was! Starting from waste management companies, coffee shops, online retail stores, tiffin delivery portals, and taxi services to innovative car designs and sports promotion portals, the creativity and innovation was at its peak. If all this was possible in 7 hours, one can only imagine what could happen if we dedicated all our time and energy to our ventures. Amber Agarwal’s team with an aim to launch an online sports portal SPORG won the first prize amongst the top 5 ventures that were shortlisted out of 18 business ideas. Hopefully this will inspire many to walk the path less taken.
It was an amazing learning experience which gave us a lot of food for thought besides bolstering our confidence and courage of conviction. I am sure after the session was over many would give entrepreneurship a serious thought...I know I will. Congratulations to the SOIL staff and most importantly Shiv from The Viewspaper for making this a huge success.