ENTREPRENEUER

&
ENTREPRENEURSHIP A Presentation by Dr.Daleep Parimoo

People are afraid of the future, of the unknown. If a man faces up to it, and takes the dare of the future, he can have some control over his destiny. Thats an exciting idea to me, better than waiting with everybody else to see whats going to happen.
---John Glenn

JRD
D.Ambani

N.Murthy

BM Munjal

Rahul Bajaj

Sunil Bharti Mittal Mahendra Nahata

Lakshmi Mittal

WHAT IS COMMON LINK BETWEEN THESE GENTLEMEN ?

WHAT IS UNCOMMON ABOUT THEM?

COMMON & UNCOMMON

THEY ARE ALL VISIONARIES THEY TREADED THE PATH,WHICH PROBABLY YOU & ME HAS NOT THEY ARE DETERMINED THEY HAVE THE PERSEVERANCE

Entrepreneurship
Long ago two people went to a lonely Island in search of Shoe Market. Both of them visited extensively this Island and found People bare-footed.

One of the person sent telegram to his parents saying

NO MARKET EXISTS, SO COMING BACK.

The other one wrote to his parents saying HUGE POTENTIAL EXISTS, HENCE STAYING BACK.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE STATEMENTS OF THOSE TWO INDIVIDUALS

PERCEPTION? THINKING ? WHAT ..?

Entrepreneurship
Plan for a month Sow Seeds
Plan for a year. Grow plants Plan for 10 yrs, Plant trees Plan for life time, Develop Man Plan for countrys Economy, Develop Entrepreneurs ,create Entrepreneurial culture

Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur is a French word (Noun)which means :Contractor Entreprendre (Verb): To undertake, To Start Entrepreneur is a person who starts /undertakes any venture and Would like to Make things happen Have his own way of doing things Pull together events and situations that may appear bizarre to Average person

Entrepreneurship is undertaking any venture -With Profit/Non-Profit Motive

Entrepreneur
Entreprendre...17th

century French...the individual who undertook the risk of a new enterprise... undertakers. They were contractors who bore the risks of profit or loss Examples: soldiers of fortune, adventurers, builders, merchants and funeral directors

Entrepreneur
14th

century...Tax contractors...bore the risks of collecting taxes. If they collected more than the fee...they kept the rest as profit.
Called

the change agents of progressive economies

Entrepreneur
Essai

sur la nature du commerce en general(Test on the nature of commerce in general)...1755 ...describes an entrepreneur as a person who pays a certain price for a product to resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making decisions about obtaining and using resources while consequently assuming the risk of enterprise

Entrepreneur
Adam

Smith...The Wealth of Nations: spoke of the enterpriser as an individual who undertook the formation of an organization for commercial purposes A. Smith...mentioned role of industrialist...,person with unusual foresight who could recognize potential demand for goods and services

Entrepreneur
A Treatise

on Political Economy...describes an entrepreneur as one who possessed certain arts and skills of creating new economic enterprises, yet a person who had exceptional insight into societys needs and was able to fulfill them. Influences society and is influenced by it.

Entrepreneur
John

Stuart Mill...describes an entrepreneur as a business founder Recognized entrepreneurship as central to economic theory Carl Menger...Principles of Economics: Economic change does not arise from circumstances but from an individuals awareness and understanding of those circumstances

Entrepreneur
In

19th century entrepreneurs were:

takers makers

Risk

Decision Aspired

to wealth

Gathered

and managed resources to create new enterprises

Entrepreneur
Joseph

Schumpeter...20th century talks about creative destruction whereby established ways of doing things are destroyed by the creation of new and better ways of getting things done Described it as a process and entrepreneurs as innovators who use process to shatter the status quo through new methods...

Entrepreneurs...
Are

not equal to inventors...inventor might only create a new product, whereas an entrepreneur will gather resources, organize talent, and provide leadership to make it a commercial success
Peter

Drucker...Resources, to produce results, must be allocated to opportunities rather than to problems...

Entrepreneur
An individual does not have to invent something to be considered entrepreneur an individual can pick up something that already exists and make it different-By his/her innovative ideas

Entrepreneur
E: Examines Needs & wants of the society at large for which he/she feels some solution can be found to satisfy these needs/wants N:Narrows the possible opportunities down to specific opportunities T: Thinks of Innovative Ideas R: Researches the opportunities and ideas thoroughly E: Enlists the best source of advice and assistance that can be found P: Plans the venture and looks for the possible problems that may arise on setting of the venture R:Ranks the Risks and Possible Rewards E:Evaluates the Risks/Possible rewards & makes Decision N:Never hangs on an idea , if research shows it would not work E:Employs Resources necessary for venture U:Understands that any venture will take a great deal of long & hard work R:Realizes a sense of accomplishment from successful ventures and learns from failures.

Entrepreneurship
What is entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is the ability/ attitude of an individual to see opportunities, where others see only problems. They solve problems and take advantage of opportunities. They are interested in progress and change

Entrepreneurship
The pursuit of opportunity beyond the resources you currently control

Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business School

Entrepreneurship
Is

a dynamic process of creating incremental wealth. This wealth is created by individuals who assume the major risks in terms of equity, time and career commitment of providing value for some product or service
The

entrepreneur must somehow infuse value to the product or service...

Entrepreneurship
[Entrepreneurship] is more of an 'art form' than a lot of people give it credit for...I think that you are a business producer...Just as Steven Speilberg creates movies, I think that entrepreneurs create businesses... it is just a different canvas.
Tim DeMello '81 ,Streamline.com

Entrepreneurial Culture Culture refers to set of values, Norms and traits that are prevalent in any society and entrepreneurial Culture is set of values, norms and traits that are conducive for its growth in a country/organization. It is this culture, which focuses on the emergence of new opportunities, the means of capitalizing on them and creation of structure appropriate for pursuing them. The difference between administrative and entrepreneurial culture is between what resources to control and where is the opportunity ? When we say what resources to control, we talk about ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE and then we talk about opportunity, we are talking about ENTREPRENEURIAL CULTURE

Whats the spirit of the entrepreneur?

Creative

Excited about life and optimistic

Independent Risk-taking And needing self-expression

Attributes of an Entrepreneur Out of Box Thinker

One who thinks differently . One who On that lonely island did not think of no demand but 100% Demand for foot-ware as nobody wore them yet

Innovator
Who sees and seizes the need for innovation. In a World of Personal Banking, it took an innovation at Citibank.To Conceptualize the ATM

Creativity
The world moves along with the beaten track. But it stops to watch the one who creates his own way as Gandhi ji did With his idea of Satyagraha and A-

Sahiyog Andolan

Open-ness to ideas
Adi Godrej says that he was once a virtual dictator But he realized the virtue of being open to ideas. It Was idea of jack Smith, the friend that Sabeer BhatiaAccepted and HOTMAIL has created History.

Pamberton did not make Cola in a single day. Edison did not do so with us of electricity Risk Taker Hotmail did well. Aarzo did not. But the risk Has to be taken. One can nt stop the story with One risk. An Entrepreneur is a romaticizer of Risk.

Arther Martinez says RISK IS WHY I AM HERE.THAT THE THRILL. WHAT SETS THE HEART BEAT FASTER
Undeterred by failure Success or failure does not change the person Who is the entrepreneur. He remains the same Person. Sabeer is undeterred by his failure in his venture Aarzo.com after he tasted success With HOTMAIL Opportunity Seeker They see Glass half empty. Yes Half Empty and Pounce on the opportunity to fill it up .Sunil Perseverance and Patience Mittal saw the opportunity and changed the Face of Indian telecom

scenario.

John Pamberton was working as assistant for Kellogs. He was a man with yearning creativity. Every two Months he created something newBe it cereal, some Capsule or whatever. With big dreams he left the job To start his own venture. It never took more than a couple of Months for his business to fail and every time he returned to Kellongs. Again he created something! He called it a drink. It looked Horrible! Black, Frothy and now he did not leave his job. He Was asked to do so? However, he again started his new venture. Guess What? He tasted success! His new venture rewrote history . He Guided his dream to reality that saw his drink become Number 1 Brand for over decades. The US Government was Almost declaring it as a National Drink. That Black Frothy Liquid is today known to this world as

COCA COLA

This is what is called entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs...Traits

Entrepreneurs...Traits
Self-confident Able

and optimistic

to take calculated risk positively to changes and able to adapt of markets

Respond Flexible

Knowledgeable Able

to get along well with others

minded

Independent

Entrepreneurs...Traits II
Energetic Creative, Dynamic

and diligent need to achieve Leader to suggestions

Responsive Take

initiatives and persevering

Resourceful Perceptive

with foresight Responsive to criticism

ENTREPRENEURS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE THEY... Risk their own money Must find customers to survive Organize their own work Are vulnerable to economic change Have income that varies with market success Make all the final decisions Need a wide range of management skills Handle diverse activities at the same time Depend on their own ability to market and sell Work longer hours...at least at first Are open to change as a necessity of existence

ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES

Competency
A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a person which enables him /her to deliver superior performance in a given job, role or a situation. They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and skills that affect an individuals ability to perform.

COMPETENCIES
Initiative- acting out of choice rather than compulsion, taking the lead rather than waiting for others to start. Sees and Acts on Opportunities- A mindset where one is trained to look for business opportunities from everyday experiences.

Persistence- A never say die attitude, not giving up easily, striving Information seeking continuously until success is achieved. Knowing- Knowing who knows, consulting experts, reading relevant material and an overall openness to ideas and information.

Concern for High Quality of Work- Attention to details and observance of established standards and norms. Commitment to Work Contract- Taking personal pains to complete a task as scheduled.

Efficiency Orientation- Concern for conservation of time, money and effort.

Systematic Planning- Breaking up the complex whole into parts, close examination of the parts and inferring about the whole; e.g. simultaneously attending to production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of the overall business strategy (the whole).

Problem solving-Observing the symptoms, diagnosing and curing. Self-confidence- Not being afraid of the risks associated with business and relying on ones capabilities to successfully manage these. Assertiveness- Conveying emphatically ones vision and convincing others of its value.

Persuasion- Eliciting support of others in the venture.

Use of Influence Strategies- Providing leadership. Monitoring- Ensuring the progress of the venture as planned. Concern for Employee Welfare- Believing in employee well being as the key to competitiveness and success and initiating programmes of employee welfare.

Thinking Like an Entrepreneur

On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges and the price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and consume these merrily en route. This is consumers mindset.

On the contrary, an entrepreneur may buy and enjoy the oranges as well, MAY also start thinking what if I arrange for their transportation and sale at HIS place if volume-weight factor and perish-ability is the constraint how about packaged orange juice where would the technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume packaged juices when by the roadside they can get fresh juice? Exports? Which are the countries that could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality expectations?

WHAT MOTIVATES ENTREPRENEURS

Why Entrepreneurial Motivation

An Entrepreneur is essentially an individual, who has special Competencies which transform him from an ORDINARY INDIVIDUAL to AN ENTREPRENEUR An Entrepreneur is always under sustained pressure because of the nature of his job, hence sustained Motivation is required to accomplish his job

what motivates an entrepreneur. Different Theories Need Hierarchy Theory propounded by Maslow

Two-Factor Theory given by Herzberg and .

McClelland who is regarded as the father of the study of entrepreneurial motivation has given Three main Motivation factors for their motivation: Need for Achievement (N-Ach.), Need for Power (N-Pow) Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.). However, it is the N-Ach. That finds the pride of its place in entrepreneurship literature, so much so that achievement motivation is considered synonymous to entrepreneurial motivation.

Need for Achievement Entrepreneurial behavior is so much singularly attributed to this need that one may just stop short of taking entrepreneurial motivation and achievement motivation as synonymous. N-ach. Concerns issues of excellence, competition, challenging goals and overcoming difficulties. A complete achievement sequence would comprise, defining the problem, wanting to solve it, thinking of means to solving it, thinking of difficulties that get in the way of solving it (either in ones self or in the environment), thinking of people who might help in solving it, and anticipating what would happen if one succeeded or failed.

They are determined to finish a project once undertaken Even under difficult conditions

They are able to examine themselves and their ideas Impartially, never slipping into complacency
They dont blame others or make excuses for their own Failures/Errors Their aspirations and expectations are always rising

They have good grasp of general economic concepts

They have the ability to make the very best use of resources at hand

What it takes to be Entrepreneur

Kher and venture capitalist Sandeep Murthy, Partner, Sherapalo Ventures, have some advice to offer.
Entrepreneurs advice -Raghav Kher If you have a passion for something, follow it. All you need to do is prioritize your ideas and work hard. Clarity of thinking and a drive to excel is a must; you may have great ideas, but what is elementary to success is the drive to excel. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you are bound to make them. Mistakes are integral to success. If one start-up has failed, it doesn't mean you will lose again; it is a great learning experience that one has to go through to emerge successful.

Contd

The venture capitalist's tips-Sandeep

An entrepreneur must have a passion for what he is doing. The important thing to remember is that he will hit lows during the process that will make him question his decision. Belief in the idea is important though, and your passion will keep you going. You should be able to build a competitive edge in the business. It could be in technological processes, marketing relationships or solutions you offer customers. You should be able to build the business and manage its growth -- as the company grows, the number of people will increase. You should be able to hire the right kind of people and establish a good work culture. You should be able to manage change, retain people and scale with the business. Should have a bit of luck too

SUCCESS MANTRAS
AS PERCEIVED BY ENTREPRENEURS

NARAYANA MURTHY
To me, entrepreneurship is a marathon. I believe that the key to a successful corporation is longevitymy heroes are companies like IBM, Levers, and GE. These firms have shown growth in earnings quarter after quarter, for a long time. The name of the game is: predictability of revenues; sustainability of the prediction; profitability; and a good de-risking model. Measurement is key to improvement. Value system Trust of employees, investors

Lakshmi Nivas Mittal

His success mantra lies in the identification, acquisition and turnaround of many loss making steel companies all across the world

Success Mantra/Challenges-Sunil Mittal

challenges before the new age CEO/Entrepreneur and the critical success factors in an economic environment that is ever evolving and is in a constant flux. Ability to take decisions amidst uncertainties is at the root of new leadership paradigm. Managing the current as well as future breed of volatile customers, reading their mind and predicting the future consumption trend. In this era of me-too products that flood the market place, the key to survival and success of an innovation is speed to market. Retaining talent and building a team around then is as critical as recruiting talent. The key to talent retention is building structures and processes that keep the organizational objectives and employees aspirations in alignment.

Build adaptability in the system to quickly respond to changes in macro environment.

Build a learning organization that promotes individual and collective learning as well as systematic unlearning of past knowledge that becomes irrelevant. Out-of-the-box thinking is one of the essentials of new leadership. The ideal CEO is one who has the spirit of an entrepreneurship, who sees opportunities ahead of competition, and who is not afraid to challenge conventional wisdom.

Karsan bhai- Nirma was made of an innovative formulation, which global detergent giants were later on compelled to emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour intensive, which offered large scale employment. Nandan Nilekani: meritocracy; the ability to work as part of a team; hard work; and the importance of giving back to the society-

Verghese Kurian Known as the "father of the white revolution. also called as the Milkman of India. Dr. Varghese Kurien was the architect behind the success of the largest dairy development program in the world, christened as Operation Flood
Shahnaj Hussain-She has ushered an era of herbal cosmetics.

Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway) Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind. George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees) Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed. I will not make an important decision without them Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon) Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching. Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox) The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones. Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist) Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into denials.

WHO ARE ENTREPRENEURS

Research findings

Rupert Steiner in his book 'My First Break' attempted to define the secret of becoming an entrepreneur Following interviews with over one hundred entrepreneurs, Steiner concluded that there was not one defined path

They have a tendency to be rebels, outsiders, original thinkers, risk takers and break new ground. Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new business opportunities and have the guts it needs to start up a business. They have total commitment to what they are doing

Some of the traits that they exhibit are similar to those of 'ordinary' businessmen, entrepreneurs have a tendency to come up with good ideas, which they execute better than anyone else. The have the flair to identify niche opportunities and are able to secure finances and to build an infrastructure and to keep the organisation afloat until it starts to make a profit

Sue Birley, Imperial College Management School Professor of Entrepreneurship who tried to identify
when the spark of an entrepreneur comes from, concluded that to get a business established you need someone with persuasion, persistence with no inhibitions about identifying resources to transform the vision into reality.

Extensive research has been carried out on the psychology of entrepreneurs by Cary Cooper who is Bupa Professor of Organizational Psychology at Manchester University's Institute of Science and Technology and he states that many entrepreneurs

are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful desire to achieve

He says that They do not get distracted by either success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after one success they think 'I fooled them' and need to do it again to prove it was not just a freak event.

ENTREPRENEURS

Sunil Mittal
STARTED WITH NATIONAL LONG DISTANCE AND NOW INTO INTERNATIONAL LONG DISTANCE ALSO. PRICE WAR LED BY AIRTEL, A FLAGSHIP COMPANY OF BHARTI ENTERPRISE. LOWER STD, ISD, AND CELLULAR RATED WITH SUBSCRIBER BASE SURGING NORTHWARDS. INDIAS FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE LINK (CHENNAI TO SINGAPORE). $ 1.2 BILLION FOREIGN EQUITY INVESTMENT. INDIAS FIBRE BACKBONE SPREADING AROUND ABOUT 24,000 KMS.

Milestones
1976 MITTAL SET UP HIS FIRST BUSINESS MANUFACTURING BICYCLE PARTS. 1985 BHARTI TELECOM LIMITED(BLT) WAS INCORPORATED.

1992 BHARTI CELLULAR LIMITED(BCL) WAS FORMED

1997 - BHARTI GLOBAL WAS GRANTED THE LICENCE TO OPERATE COMPREHENSIVE TELECOM SERVICES IN SEYCHELLES AS SECOND OPERATOR. 1999 BHARTI BT INTERNET LAUNCHED MANTRA ONLINE. 2001 ACQUIRED CELLULAR OPERATION FROM SPICE CELL IN KOLKATTA. 2002 - BHARTI RECEIVED A LETTER OF INTENT FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO PROVIDE INTERNATIONAL VOICE SERVICES.

Million dollar company built on a failure

He started his first Internet Company, Radio FM, a streaming online radio portal, when he was a mere 17 year old.

His father was not happy that his teenaged son was wasting most of his time online, rather than preparing for his exams. His stand was vindicated when his son's maiden venture failed to produce any profits. Vishal Sampat, CEO of Convonix.com wasn't about to give up. He maintained his faith in the Internet, and transformed Radio FM into Khopcha.com which, in turn, became the genesis for Convonix.com, a search engine optimization company.
Convonix is a one million dollar company and by 2008-2009, Vishal is confident of doubling his company's turnover.

Vishal Sampat

Million dollar company built on a failure-Contd

Started his first online radio streaming business in 1999-2000 The reason he started the venture was that he believed there was a huge audience abroad who would be interested in Indian music and, for that matter, in knowing what's happening back in their own country? A cousin of his who was into radio got for him some audio capsules which he could play in between the 20-30 minute programme. They used to have songs as well as the RJ (Radio jockey) capsules in the middle

Basically, none of the people who were with him knew what they were doing and Vishal had no money. So what they did was they got free space from various free web hosting companies that operated at that time, like Geocities. They managed to get the load balanced with these servers and got their online music channel going.
He invested Rs 3,000-4,000, with his father footing the Internet bills , which at that time was very expensive. His father wasn't very happy about that. He did not make any profit. He did succeed in getting around six and a half million visitors, but it was too expensive to carry out this business online. Being in college and having no sense of economy helped them make no profits. Finally, this website transitioned into another website named khopcha.com, a portal for teenagers.

What inspired him to start the streaming online music portal then? It was something that just struck to them. It was huge market that was waiting to be tapped. The late 1990s and the early 2000s was an era of the dot com boom and everybody wanted to be online then. This venture was something that they thought they might try and make a lot of money out of, which actually didn't happen. What did He learn or gain from this failure? He does not call it a failure as such.? It was lot of fun. When Radio FM and khopcha were both online, he did not have money to market the product and services they offered online. This was the genesis of his current venture He used search engines to market both the services; He used online portals; He learned about banner exchanges; all kinds of online marketing tools. This experience helped him a lot in offering various products under the Convonix .

Convonix's business model

Main business of Convonix is, search engine optimization or SEO

Suppose a bank wants to sell credit cards. When people search for such services online, they get a list of links on which they click to avail the service. What Convonix do is they consult the banks that want to do business online and get maximum traffic directed to their portal. The org identifies who is searching for their products and services, estimate the number of searches, what are the key words they are using for their search and where they are looking out for their requirements

Other Business is :paid advertising business.

The company has around 50 employees spread across our two offices in Mumbai. In 2007, the company purchased a new 10,000 sq ft office in Navi Mumbai that will help them to triple the headcount

Interesting journey from an online radio streaming business to a one million dollar company Convonix?in his own words: It was indeed an exciting and interesting journey to begin with. Every day we learn something new, and adapt it to improve our businesses. Initially, when I started Radio FM, people didn't know what I was doing. To add to it I wasn't making any money from the business. And I was wasting a lot of time online, according to my dad, instead of studying . That was difficult, but from 2002-2003 when I started explaining to people about my first business the germ of Convonix started taking roots. It was me and,two of my colleagues from my engineering college, Pallav Jain and Sarfraz Khimani - the former passed out from IIM-A and the latter will pass out from IIM-K in March 2008. I had pulled these guys midway from their engineering courses, and they were firm on completing their academics. We are still very close friends; we used to work out of my bedroom. That's when the revenues started flowing, and that's when my parents started believing in my business. After that everyone started supporting me. The reason why I am here today is because I got the best team that I could have ever got and great support from my family and friends. ????????????

His advice to budding entrepreneurs

First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and that what you are doing is right and has a future, then you should persevere and work honestly towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be successful one day. You will get a million people who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing what you are doing, but you have to persevere. The world will never believe in you till you achieve something. That perhaps is the most difficult aspect for the people who are starting on their own.

Success story: A $250,000 business, aged 25

Atul Khekade Innovation Trip

What does it take to start a company? Well, if you are Atul Khekade of Innovation Trip, then only $2,000 would be sufficient to bankroll a business -- a business that was expected to generate revenues of $250,000 by December and could well hit the million dollar mark by 2008-2009.

Life has not always been so easy for Atul. He studied in a Marathi medium school where the culture of entrepreneurship was unheard of and getting a job was considered a better option than becoming a businessman. He enjoyed his school days because he had a great circle of friends. But what we lacked was an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurship. Not one to be bogged down by such hurdles as having studied in a vernacular medium school and brought up in an atmosphere that shunted entrepreneurship, Atul succeeded in opening his own company, Innovation Trip, in partnership with his friend Anand Chhatbar in 2005.

Innovation Trips core business is to arrange for corporate executives to meet with idea innovators abroad and discuss these ideas one-on-one.

He completed his engineering course in Information Technology from the Sardar Patel College of Engineering. After completing the course he started working with i-Flex as a software engineer. worked there for about a year and then quit to start Innovation Trip in 2005. Most of that year he planned meticulously to start Innovation Trip; he was only 23 at the time.

Before Innovation Trip he obtained a diploma in computer engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Mumbai and Anand (Chhatbar) and started a small enterprise. Developed applications for the Web, writing software programs and selling them to companies. It was very difficult at that time to squeeze out our rightful payments from clients -- while it was a profitable venture, they had to push to receive dues for anything that they did. That was sort of a grounding for them to start his next enterprise, Innovation Trip

Innovation Trip started as an event model. They take corporate executives from all over the world to countries like the US, Australia and Latin America and have them train and interact with innovators abroad.

Basically, it is a knowledge transfer exercise wherein people who are innovators and entrepreneurs come together and exchange ideas. While some ideas actually materialize into innovation, others act as catalysts for future innovation. Innovation Trip acts like a bridge that spans the gap between an innovative idea and its successful execution.

Revenue Model

Revenues come from registration fees that every participant has to pay us for organizing trips abroad.
The organizations charges around $9,000 per participant. That is the main contribution. Apart from company receives money from companies that sponsor events like dinners, panel discussions, outbound trips etc

Clients
In 2007 beginning the organization had 22 customers from India.
Some of them are: GEI Godavari Engineering from Hyderabad, BPI Engineering, UTI Logistics which is a multi-billion dollar logistics firm, Suchir India Group, a real estate group and a BSE-listed company Bartronics India

Advice for budding Entrepreneurs in India?. In his own words

India is a great place to do business but then there are lots of hurdles in bootstrapping a venture. I'd advise young entrepreneurs to be more global in their outlook. Setting up a company and having it registered here is a tricky business. So I'd advise that entrepreneurs should have their companies registered abroad and then establish a subsidiary in India. Even Innovation Trip works on that model. We have registered in the US and run a subsidiary in India. This helps us grow in appeal as an international company. India as a country is great to operate in because of its low costs.

'To dream big has always been my motto': CEO at 27

M Thiagarajan, the 29-year-old promoter, chief executive officer and managing director of Chennai-based Paramount Airways

At 27, on October 19, 2005 , he launched India's first and only 'business class' airline Paramount Airways. Before that he had set up Paramount Mills in Madurai when he was dabbling in business management

Apart from that he is an avid stargazer and a hobby pilot.

An interesting incident inside a flight simulator in Frankfurt sparked Thiagarajan's passion for aviation. "A pilot friend had invited him to view his 747 Jumbo Jet flight simulator in Frankfurt. He was seated in the simulator and his friend was called away. He began to idly press the buttons and fidget with the controls. He created enough chaos to bring the flight instructor running But the incident, sparked a very real passion for aviation. After that he started taking the pilot in him seriously and joined the flying school near London. When the instructor there asked me to fly a Cessna, I told him I only flew 747s. It was an amazing feeling to become a full-fledged pilot with a license to fly! Despite coming from an illustrious family -- his grandfather Sri Karumuttu Thiagaraja Chettiar, a reputed name in the field of textiles and education founded Bank of Madura , this gutsy aviator says that he believes in functioning independently of the family connections.

"I believe that one needs to blaze one's own path in life."

And that he has done time and again to prove his point. When most entrepreneurs thought of starting low-cost airlines like Air Deccan and Spice Jet, Thiagarajan purchased the next-generation aircraft from Embraer to give travelers an 'Elite flying experience'.

The other feather in the cap of this 29-year-old is that Paramount succeeded in making operational profits within two years of its existence and boasts of an attrition rate of employees of zero per cent.

At 26, he wanted to nurture my passion further taking advantage of the Open Skies policy in India, He decided to set up Paramount Airways. To dream big has always been his motto and it was his desire to create an organisation that would reflect excellence and give him an opportunity to set up a global brand. By then, he had already established his own textile mills -Paramount Mills in Madurai, which won a national award for the highest export of cotton products from the Textile Export Promotion Council Of India. His journey while establishing Paramount Mills began even as he was graduating in management. Having decided to venture into the civil aviation sector he started to assiduously research the various existing business models of international airline companies. This was to primarily understand the trend that was ingrained in commercial aviation. He realized that I didn't want to imitate any model.

Secret behind Paramount Airways making operational profits with only two years into operations
Dreaming big, a clear vision and sheer hard work makes the impossible, the often untried, happen Important message for young entrepreneurs who'd also want to make it big in life like he did?..his words My message to young entrepreneurs is this -- persevere endlessly while believing in yourself and your dreams. Nurture your strength of mind and your power of conviction, while exploring our rich heritage and traditional roots. Live life to the fullest and contentment will always be yours!

It took them only Rs 25,000 and nine years to build a company worth $ 300 million

Divyank and Bhavin Turakhia Directi (pronounced Direct I

in 1998. Bhavin, the CEO and chairman was just 19 then. Younger brother Divyank, president and director, was only 16

The company delves into traffic solutions, online advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and windows server management software. "Everything the byte touches is our kingdom," is the fundamental principle that guides the two brothers at Directi.

Advice to budding entrepreneurs these two young entrepreneurs believein their word
First and foremost, you have to love what you are doing. If you are not passionate about what you are doing then the chances of reaching the top are minimal. At first spend as much time as you need to find the thing that you love doing. In addition to that, once you get started, you have to build a team that will help you reach your goal. You alone will never be able to do that; you need to hire the best people in your line of business. The team that you will build around you will significantly impact the success of your business. An entrepreneur should always design processes that s/he would be able to scale without much difficulty. Apart from that you should have the guts to have fun with failure. Out of the hundreds of decisions that you will make there will be several ones that will go wrong but it is important to keep making them on an ongoing basis. Great entrepreneurs are ones who get a balance between great numbers of variables affecting their businesses.

Both Divyank and Bhavin were involved in computers school days. While in school they coded large numbers of complicated projects in programming languages far more complex than the general curriculum at that point in time. During college days started off with a small fledgling unit just as a side project for a couple of months. Both were freelancing, providing network consulting to organizations, hardware consultancies and various random things now and then.

Sometime in late 1998 decided to start off with a set of fundamental services that will be useful to setup web services. That's how Directi started. They borrowed Rs 25,000 from our thier and bought first server. It all started with a seed capital of Rs 25,000.

There was no looking back. They then obtained CANN Accredition & started making business automation solutions for web service providers, traffic solutions, online advertising solutions, DNS management products, mail solutions, mail anti-spam, mail anti-virus, Linux and windows server management software, web hosting control panels and many other products.

Hobbies and interests

Both are avid readers; they read all kinds of books, fiction, non-fiction, books on time management and have an extremely huge library at home. Hobbies include a lot of stuff around technology in general. Apart from that both of them love a lot of extreme sports like scuba diving, paragliding, hobby flying, sky diving, wing walking, skateboarding.

1997-2008, the net worth stood at $ 300 million. The company is a debt-free and investment-free company as it generates enough revenues from their various business models to take care of their financial needs.

They have always grown through internal accruals; have always been very cash-flow positive company, very highly profitable. All the growth is funded out of internal reserves and hence they don't borrow nor sell equity to outside investors.

Amazing story of how Munjal built Hero Honda

The forties were turbulent times, but in the midst of all the uncertainty, four young restless brothers in undivided Punjab were marking time for an opportunity to explode upon the Indian corporate scenario. They were the Munjal brothers: Dayanand, Satyanand, Brij and Om.

Born in a rather nondescript tehsil called Kamalia in Lalpur district of undivided Punjab, the Munjal brothers always looked at life beyond their traditional business of vegetable trading. Brijmohan Lal had barely stepped out of his teens when his older brothers decided to set up their new business -- trading in bicycle components In 1943, unconsciously preempting the inevitable partition of India and its frightening consequences, they decided to shift base from Lahore to Amritsar.

Brijmohan Lal Munjal told CNBC-TV18, "There was nothing available but bicycles on the road. But there was nothing to repair them with. Some artisans in Sialkot, Amritsar and Lahore, started making some components in a very crude way. People like us, our family and another family in Amritsar, started getting those parts from the market, wherever we could get some imported parts and bring it to those artisans. We gave them some money to start making these parts."

Four years after the business shifted to Amritsar, a sudden turn of events hit the Munjals very hard. India was now a free country and the turbulent political climate in Amritsar frightened them into putting the brakes on the fledgling bicycle components business. The Munjals had little choice but to shift base yet again -- this time to Ludhiana. Munjal recalls, "In Ludhiana, there is this community called Ramgarhias. They are born artisans. There they had already started manufacturing certain parts and when some people like us, who had the capability of bringing them the samples and the possibility of selling them -- it became a very beautiful combination -- their technology and our commercial strength."

India's independence brought with it a new determination: one of self-reliance. The entire nation was on the move and the Munjals would provide the wheels for it. "Many entrepreneurs took the opportunity, amongst them were bicycle makers, bicycles were in big demand at that time. . . groups like the Birlas with Hind Cycles, TI in the south, they all jumped on to this bandwagon. The Munjals were one of them, in fact, they knew the business better than most and their centre of operation would be Ludhiana." Ludhiana in the early 1950s was the melting pot of pathbreaking business ideas, a place steaming with entrepreneurs. This one sleepy little town evolved into a buzzing business hub and captured the spirit of an emerging new India. This was just the right place for young entrepreneurs like Munjals to pump their bicycle components manufacturing business to greater heights, but as always, wheels turned within wheels.

Those were difficult times and it didn't turn out as easy for the brothers to take off as they had anticipated. There were plenty of challenges, the foremost among which was to procure a manufacturing licence. Munjal recalls: "Manubhai Shah was the industry and commence minister between 1950 and 1954. He somehow got convinced that if you have to get these people settled and provide them with employment, then you have to allow people to manufacture something, allow people to import something. He created the National Small Industries Corporation, NSIC. " "A Ford Foundation team had come from the United States to advise and guide because at that time, everything was so fluid, nobody knew where to go. I had to travel along with them to Madras (now Chennai), Bangalore and several places. They made a blueprint for the NSIC."

What set the Munjal brothers apart from their contemporaries was their gumption and the ability to swing tides in their favour. While, government regulations may have stifled their growth, Brijmohan Lal started travelling across the length and breadth of India, scouting for new possibilities. It was during one such trip that he got the idea to manufacture bicycles. Fortuitously, this time, the government would give him the much-needed encouragement and the thrust that he needed to scale up. Immediately after the launch of Hero Cycles, the youngest of the four brothers Omprakash was given the crucial task of putting a dealer network in place. This was a very significant step that gave Hero Cycles an edge over existing competition like Raleigh and Atlas Cycles. While the brothers worked hard to sell their stuff, Brijmohan Lal straddled the globe to source world-class components and machines. In 1959, he made his first trip beyond Indian shores to Germany -- again a move that would leave this competition miles behind.

Munjal recalls, "I went first to Germany for some years and then to Japan and I started bringing in the modern equipment for manufacturing bicycle components. I think I can claim that I took bicycle making to a different level than it was being done then. Germany, at that time, was really bagging business. I bought a complete chainmaking plant for Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000)." While Brijmohan Lal travelled across the world to explore new opportunities, his brothers concentrated on consolidating the business and just when it seemed that the good times had finally arrived; tragedy struck. While Hero Cycles was trying to find a foothold in the industry and had almost got even with its competition - a tragedy hit the Munjals. In 1968, the eldest of the Munjals brothers, Dayanand, died. He was the omnipresent father figure who had guided and protected his brothers from all the evils of the big bad world of business. This loss left a vacuum that would be very difficult to fill.

Dayanand's sudden demise came as a huge blow for the Munjals, but the brothers were determined not to let his dreams die. The Munjals bounced back from the tragedy with a more focussed look at their long-term expansion strategy. By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero Cycles and launched another company called Highway Cycles that would make freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal restructured and streamlined Heros rapidly expanding business. Within a span of 6-7 years, production at the Hero Cycles plant doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles in India. In the late 70s, the Indian government was slowly stirred into doling out licenses for Indian companies to venture into mopeds and Brijmohan Lal, who had seen mopeds on the roads in Western countries, quickly snapped up the opportunity. Hero Cycles' two-wheeler business would now reach its next level.

But to start manufacturing mopeds, Hero Cycles would need a partner. Munjals approached a French two-wheeler giant Peugeot for a tie-up, but in spite of drawing initial interest, the dream ticket eluded the Munjals. The talks broke down and Hero went on to make its own mopeds modeled on the Peugeot machine but designed in India and it was called Majestic Auto By 1983, Majestic Auto had captured almost 35% of the Indian moped market.

The ambitious drive of the 70s culminated on a high note in 1979. The company had just reached the production mark of 1 million bicycles. In that same year, Hero ventured into unknown business territories.

"In the 1950s, there were just four Munjal brothers in the business. At the turn of the 21st century, there were 21 active members. BM Munjal's handling of the situation is perhaps a classic illustration of how to manage growth and a growing family." "He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the original four brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal companies. The second premise was that any Munjal who wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now what did that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and 2000, the business began to expand and to diversify -- they went into textile spinning, they went into financial services. . . although not all of these succeeded."

"They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling steel mill. But the biggest and the most important factor in all this was their continuous growth in the auto components' segment, and this would become perhaps the Munjal's key competitive strength." After the curtain raiser of the 70s and the successful launch of Munjal Casting in 1981, the stage had been set for a quantum leap that would take India's corporate world by surprise -- in fact, they might never know what hit them, until it was too late. With an enviable slew of successes behind them, the Hero Group emerged a bigger, bolder player in the world of twowheelers in the early 80s. The first mega milestone of the decade was the decision to join hands with the Japanese automobile giant, Honda. And thus Hero Honda was born. Overnight, it redefined the rules of the game in the twowheeler industry.

Two-wheelers in India were then synonymous with scooters and the scooter market was the monopoly of a lone player -- Bajaj Auto Limited. At a time, when scooters had a waiting period of 12 years or even longer, Hero's tie-up with Honda changed it all. Although, it was Munjal's long cherished desire to produce scooters, destiny had other plans. It was a blessing in disguise. India's preferred vehicle, scooters, would amazingly be relegated into oblivion. India had wanted to break free and choked by the malaise of the Licence Raj, it craved for more choices and the sleek motorcycles that rolled out of the Hero Honda assembly line, were just such a welcome sight. But just when things were looking promising for the new joint venture, the clouds of misfortune had gathered over Punjab and cast an ominous shadow over Hero Honda. This time an unexpected political event would rattle it: Operation Blue Star

Armoured tanks rolled into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and in their wake, the country was plunged into a state of unprecedented confusion and cruelty. Sikhism was the target of xenophobia. The Munjals' business based out of Punjab bore the brunt of irrational hatred. For the Munjals, these were difficult times. But Brijmohan Lal Mumnjal was determined not to leave Punjab, not ever, not even after Indira Gandhi's assassination. The summer of 1984 was a tumultuous period for India and it was a watershed moment for the Munjals in their corporate saga. That month, Indian troops were storming the Golden Temple at Amritsar and on the other hand, the Munjals were inking their pact with Honda to begin motorcycle production in India. A few months later, Hero Honda made its first public offering."

Hero Honda had set up its first assembly line in Dharuhera, Haryana. The Munjals had for the first time, set foot outside Ludhiana to build a manufacturing facility. Thus, the first 100 cc Hero Honda motorcycle came off the assembly line in April 1985 and with it Hero Honda kick started its journey to unimaginable success.

Fill it, shut it, forget it. Slick and unforgettable slogans for a never before kind of launch and a new icon in the two-wheeler industry was born.

The same year that Hero Honda launched its first bike, Hero struck pay dirt with another Japanese collaboration, with Showa to make shock absorbers. The new company was called Munjal Showa But at the very same time, returns from Hero Honda had the Munjals disturbed. A falling yen-rupee exchange rate suddenly left the Munjals on the losing end. Ironically, fortunes had reversed and with the sale of each bike, the Munjals now actually lost money. "The yen was rising and they were actually losing money on every bike. Honda on the other hand, wanted the components sourced from Japan. They were not sure of the quality and they insisted on it." Behind this, also lay the fact that who is going to make how much money -- will it be Honda or will it be the Munjal Group companies, which made the components. It was a delicate balancing act, a transfer of pricing gain.

But good times were right around the corner and soon enough the Munjals got a pleasant surprise. After three decades of non-stop rigour, Hero Cycles emerged right on top of the pile, not just in India, but also in the world, as the largest bicycle manufacturer. The seal of approval came from none other than the Guinness Book of World Records. "When the Guinness Book of World Recordssent out a press release that Hero Cycles was the world's biggest single bicycle maker, it really came as a bolt from the blue and it became a source of pride. There were very few world class companies in India at the time, and this became like a beacon of hope - that it was possible for Indian companies to be world class."

Despite the hassles that came with it, the 80s were eventful for the Munjals -- with new partnerships, new milestones and new horizons. In the 90s, Hero Honda had already emerged as the number one manufacturer in India and compelled competitors like Bajaj Auto to reinvent their strategy from scooters to motorcycles. The rupee yen exchange had taken a healthy turn. In 1990, Hero Honda Motors made Rs 1,000 for every bike it sold and that lead to an annual profit of $10 million. But silver clouds are often followed by dark ones. Raman Kant Munjal, Brijmohan's elder son, who had shouldered the responsibility of setting up Hero Honda and had been instrumental in translating his father Brijmohan Lal's dream into reality, died quite suddenly in June 1991.

When he died suddenly it was a massive shock for the family. BM Munjal had actually retired by then and the sad man got back into business and set about grooming his younger son, Pawan. Under Pawan's leadership, Hero Honda actually managed to overtake Bajaj Auto." One personal loss after the another hit Brijmohan Lal Munjal. First his mentor -- elder brother Dayanand -- and then his son Raman Kant passed away, but neither political unrest nor personal losses shook his determination; he was made of sterner stuff. Putting these tragedies behind him, Brijmohan moved on with Hero's expansion plans. In the first lap of the 90s, the group diversified its portfolio. In 1991, it set-up Hero Honda Finlease to finance its customers. Two years later, in 1993, the Group launched Hero Exports, which emerged as India's largest exporter of two-wheelers.

And a year later, the Japanese firm reaffirmed its partnership with Hero for the next ten years, and Hero Honda drove all the way, laughing into a brand-new sunrise. This time, Honda finally allowed Hero to move into a domain that was until then, the absolute monopoly of another two-wheeler manufacturer, Kinetic Hero now got the nod from Honda to manufacture scooters with Honda's technology, but for the Munjals the offer came just a wee bit too late. Hero Honda Motors CEO Pawan Munjal says, "We were very focussed on motorcycles, so they decided to set up a separate company -- a subsidiary of theirs and we decided they would make scooters and we would make motorcycles for the first couple of years. Thereafter, both of us would be free to make all kinds of two-wheelers."

Though outwardly, the partners presented an amicable front. . . that everything is hunky-dory. . . below the surface there were many tensions. Some of these tensions were, for instance, which model should be introduced in the second round, actually delayed the building of the Gurgaon plant. It's a beautiful plant, spanking new, well laid out and spotless but because of these underlying tensions, growth got stymied so much so that, Bajaj Auto once again took the leadership. It brought out its four-stoke engine and had a very cheeky ad -- 'Kyon Hero?"

The ambition for growth and to break new ground took the Hero Group from one milestone to the next. Hero tehn tied up with the German automobile giant, BMW. It announced its plans to produce the three-series in India. But neither the partnership not the plan worked. The BMW aspiration remained a pie in the sky and left the Munjals poorer but wiser. Not all dreams come true, not all decisions lead to profit nor all opportunities to success, but in business, what matters is the ability to have the courage to think big. Those who can't, lead nondescript lives but those who dare, become legends. That, in a way, is also the essence of Hero Group's corporate success and by the end of the 90s, they were ready to reap the harvest of the seeds, they had sown on unexplored soil.

Young Turks of the Munjal family had taken over the mantel from the patriarch Brijmohan Munjal. Under them, the Hero Group diversified into IT and IT-enabled services and Hero Honda emerged as the market leader with sales of over a million motorcycles. In 2002, Hero Cycles tied up with National Bicycle Industries, a part of the Matsushita Group to manufacture high-end bicycles. The same year, they launched Easy Bills to offer utility bill collection and retail services and then in 2004, they went ahead with a tie-up that would make all the difference to the Hero Group's portfolio. But with this Hero had a little lesson to learn. In 2004, Hero Motors tied up with Aprilia Scooters of Italy. They also worked out an export channel to European market for its two-wheelers and two-wheeler engine through Aprilia. But the demand for two-wheelers in India was only a functional one and they were trying too hard to position high-end motorcycles in the consumer mindspace that couldn't comprehend the need for them. The Aprilia bubble burst but there was still reason to sell it. The Munjals had, with their ambition of making scooters, finally entered the market with the launch of its 100 cc Pleasure in 2006.

"The Munjals knew, by this time, that they could not forever hang on to Honda Scooters. Right in the beginning, they had been disappointed that they wanted to make scooters but had not been allowed to. Of course, the motorcycle business today is much larger than scooters. Then when Honda thought that it would bring cars to India, they did not come to the Munjals, they went to the Shrirams. All this, gave the Munjals food for thought." Despite a long drawn track record of multiple tie-ups and expansion, the Hero Group has always relied on technologies developed by international companies. A strategy that has held the Munjals in good stead for 50 years in this business.

So, from the bylanes of Ludhiana to the highways of international renown, 83-year-old Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication towards his work. He built it all with his hard work, nurtured his dreams and fulfilled tehm. With the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country, the Hero Group today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of Rs 10,000 crore. Highs and lows, rewards and backlashes have all been a part of the Hero Group's corporate story, but downfalls didn't discourage them, nor did losses kill their spirit of entrepreneurship.

Marketing whiz John Ridgway of Novocom, Inc People think entrepreneurs try to be difficult and contrary, that they're trying to prove something. But really, we just constantly believe there is a better way, that there is opportunity after opportunity out there, and that we can do it." Ridgway says most entrepreneurs share two additional traits with him: stubbornness and a "complete, egotistical belief that I can create whatever needs to be created to solve a problem. Many see these solutions in their minds very clearly. I can see the pictures framed on the walls of the studio sets before I design them," he continued.