Learning, Innovating, Investing@ i5 Summit: Angel Investors to Fund Budding Entrepreneurs
i5 Summit, the first and the biggest event ever held together by IIM and IIT Indore concluded with lot of enthusiasm and youthful spirit on Sunday, August 23, 2015. The second day of the event along with workshops and panel discussions had the most hyped competitions of the entire event- Venture-I and Tata i5.
Workshop: App Development
Mr. Lakshmikant Pathak, Head of Products-Edureka was the guest speaker for the workshop. He talked about the product life cycle and various stages involved in app development right from conceptualizing to narrowing down the target users. Explaining the development process, he mentioned that testing an app is the most time consuming part. Although third party outsourcing may be cost effective, having a strong in house foundation for developing is a better option, he said. Mr. Pathak also explained the launching and marketing process for a newly designed app, and mentioned that social media is an easy and quick way for effective marketing in today’s scenario.
Workshop: Business Model Canvassing
The guest speaker for this workshop was Mr. Madan Padaki, former Co-Founder of MeritTrac and Co-founder, CEO & MD at Head Held High Services Pvt.Ltd. He emphasized on the importance of luck in an entrepreneur’s life and how luck meant being able to successfully convert operations in growth. Mentioning about start-ups, Mr. Padaki stated that any problem’s solution should be designed keeping the consumer in mind. He emphasized on value creation and benefits rather than letting price of the commodity be the deciding factor. ‘If you are in a market where price is the only deciding factor, get out of the market’, he said.
While differentiating between an entrepreneur and a businessman Mr. Padaki referred to the research of Professor Saras Saraswathi of The Darden Graduate School of Business which stated that most successful entrepreneurs believed that the future was unpredictable. Mr. Padaki encouraged the students by asking them only do the work they actually fall in love with, rather than continuing the work they don’t like.
Panel Discussion: Digital Media
The most thrilled panel discussion was held on Digital Media with the much famous Mr. Tanmay Bhat, Co-Founder-AIB, Mr. Biswapati Sarkar-TVF, Mr. Sameer Pitalwalla, CEO-Culture Machine and Mr. Vijay Nair, Founder-Only Much Louder as the panelists. Mr. Nair believed that YouTube, Netflix and Facebook videos are becoming popular day by day thereby generating a revenue stream for the artists. Mr. Sarkar mentioned that advertising is a big source of income as once artists find their audience they get hold of their livelihood. Discussing about internet videos replacing traditional TV, Mr. Pitalwalla pointed out that Indian consumers have turned towards cable more after digitization and the Indian consumer base is more inclined towards paying for service rather than content, so instead of replacing, internet will subsume TV. Discussing the possibility of any video getting viral, Mr. Bhat said that it’s the title of the video that makes the difference. ‘Whenever a video has a title: 10 things that only…, it attracts viewers attention and they share it, creating a consumer base’ said Mr. Bhat. All the panelists also agreed that the field of digital media is not only confined to artists. Even a common man can play a major role on it. The colloquy was peppered with the celebrated wit and satire of Mr. Bhat and Mr. Sarkar and the infallible insight of Mr.Pitalwalla and Mr. Nair. All in all, the discussion was enlightening and sprinkled with pun and ultimately, a huge success.
Panel Discussion: 360 Degree View of Funding
The next panel discussion on 360 Degree View of Funding was graced by the presence of Mr.Digvijay Gagneja, VC-Matrix Partners, Mr.Neeraj Kumar Singhal, Angel Investor & Member IAN, Dr.S. Sundararajan, VC-Helion Ventures, Mr. Vijay Nair, Founder-Only Much Louder and Mr.Agam Khare, Director and Chief Executive-Vertex Group of Companies. The panel emphasized on the importance of setting milestones for the organization and then consequently understanding the resources that would be needed to achieve them. ‘It is all about fixing a timeline first and then mapping the resources to the timeline’, said Mr. Khare. Mr.Gagneja elaborated about how the amount that needs to be raised depends on a variety of factors. He highlighted that the energy that an entrepreneur is able to build has a huge impact on the kind of funding it can raise.
Mr.Singhal brought to light the importance of building an edge through ‘competitive strength and comparative advantage’, as it is one of the crucial factors that affects the decisions of venture capitalists. Discussing about the funding and the time taken for the same, Dr.Srikanth mentioned that funding is more of an art than a science and the consumer space that a new firm decides to operate in, influences this art of funding. Describing his own experiences, Mr. Nair said it was relatively easy in the initial stages to obtain the funding for his venture, as it was a rather profitable prospect.
All in all it was a very enriching discussion and a particularly good event for all prospective and budding entrepreneurs.
Ending Keynote
An engaging keynote speech by Mr. Kunal Shah, Founder and CEO, Freecharge.in, marked the end of the maiden i5 Summit. Mr. Shah talked about opportunity costs and risks associated with entrepreneurship and how to go about one’s venture without worrying about them. He emphasized on the need to rid oneself of the idea of social stigma attached with failure in starting up and simply treat each failed attempt as a stepping stone towards success. Mr. Shah advised budding entrepreneurs not to engage in a mad rush for funding and focus on their product instead.
Venture-I
In Venture-I, Angel Investors evaluated the entrepreneurial ideas to be presented by the top 15 teams shortlisted from hundreds of entries. Each team had 15 minutes to pitch their idea and garner funding from a bunch of enthusiastic Angel Investors and venture capitalists to the tune of Rs. 15 Lakh per team. Mr. Digvijay Gagneja of Matrix Partners India and Dr. Srikanth Sundarajan of Helion Venture partners along with Mr. Neeraj Gutgutia of Guts Unlimited were some of the prominent names among the 10 Angel Investors on board. A couple of the teams successfully sold their ideas, receiving valuable advice, suggestions and investment promises from the panel. Team Bingage and Team Hate2Wait got a funding of Rs. 15 Lakh from MP Angel networks.
The details of the teams are as follows:
- Bingage( Engage/reward/love)-An app that allows you to grab deals, enroll and earn loyalty benefits, along with sharing and reading experiences.
- Hate2wait– The guest app which allows you to demand table reservations, skip the wait, pre-order, pay on the phone and more, all in real time.
- Planmyad and Sponsifymealso got investment from MP Angel networks (amount not disclosed).
- Gamezop got an investment of Rs.5 Lakh from IIM Indore Alumni (Mr. Neeraj Gutgutia)
The event was a perfect platform that brought together bright, innovative minds from across the country; putting them face-to-face with the best investors in the market.
Tata i5 Prize
With the intent to enhance the entrepreneurial spirit amongst the budding mangers and engineers of IIM and IIT Indore, specifically for the social sector; the TATA Trust, in collaboration with StartupWave and Head Held High, conducted Tata i5 competition wherein the teams gave a presentation on a business case either in agriculture, health or education. In agriculture, reducing food wastage from farm to fork was the focus; in health sector, diagnosis and monitoring of non communicable diseases among low income people was to be studied; in education, creating career opportunities for people in rural India was the focal point. The case launch had happened on 7th August, 2015 and the top ten teams gave their presentations today. The occasion was marked with the presence of Mr. Madan Padaki, Co-founder, CEO & MD at Head Held High Services Pvt.Ltd and members of TATA Trust namely Mr. Paritosh and Ms. Deepshikha, who explained the criteria for evaluation. Team Freak Machans won the first prize for their presentation. The event drew to a close with thunderous applause from the audience.