When a start-up founder or a business owner initially starts their business, they are accountable for doing several activities from long working hours to juggling between numerous tasks. They are typically considered a one-man army.

With careful planning and execution, startups have the potential to succeed and make a significant impact on the economy.

How to plan & run your Start-up?

Start small and grow gradually. Don’t try to do too much too soon. Start with a small product or service that you can deliver well, and then grow your business gradually as you gain traction.

Focus on your customers. Put the needs of your customers first and always be looking for ways to improve your product or service.

Be flexible and adaptable. Things don’t always go according to plan in the startup world. Be prepared to adapt your business model and strategies as needed.

Legal and Regulatory Compliance. Entrepreneurs must comply with a wide range of legal and regulatory requirements, including tax laws, labour laws, and environmental regulations. Failure to comply with these requirements can result in penalties, fines, and legal action against them.

Build a strong support network. Surround yourself with people who believe in you and your business. This could include family, friends, colleagues, or mentors.

Stay positive. No matter what challenges you face, stay positive and focused on your goals. Believe in yourself and your ability to succeed.

Don’t give up. Starting a startup is hard work, but it’s also incredibly rewarding. Don’t give up on your dream, even when things get tough.

Difficulties of Start-ups

Lack of supportive network. Though Indian entrepreneurs often have a strong network of family, friends, and colleagues but rarely get support from them in their entrepreneurial journey. This is due to the fact that there is a stigma attached to entrepreneurship in India, and many people believe that it is a risky and uncertain career path. Hence Indian entrepreneurs lack the emotional and financial support they need to succeed.

Lack of funding. Indian entrepreneurs often have limited financial resources. This can make it difficult to start and grow a business, and it can also lead to stress and anxiety. Startups in India often have difficulty raising capital, especially from traditional sources like banks. This is due to a number of factors, including the high risk associated with investing in startups, the lack of understanding of startups among banks and other financial institutions, and the regulatory hurdles involved in raising capital.

Lack of talent. India has a large pool of skilled workers, but it can be difficult for start-ups to find the right talent, especially in technical areas. This is due to the fact that many of the best and brightest engineers and other technical professionals are attracted to large, established companies that offer more stability and higher salaries.

Lack of access to information. Indian entrepreneurs often lack access to the information and resources they need to succeed. This is due to the fact that there is a lack of entrepreneurship support infrastructure in India, and it can be difficult for entrepreneurs to find the information and resources they need to get started.

Cultural barriers. Indian entrepreneurs often face cultural barriers that can make it difficult to start and grow a business. For example, Indian culture is often seen as being risk-averse, and this can make it difficult for entrepreneurs to take the risks that are necessary to succeed.

Competition. The Indian startup ecosystem is growing rapidly, and the competition is fierce. This can make it difficult for start-ups to stand out from the crowd and attract customers.

Regulation. The Indian government has a complex regulatory environment that can be a challenge for startups to navigate. This is especially true for start-ups that are working in industries that are heavily regulated, such as financial services and healthcare.

Some of the challenges in client management

Limited resources. Small startups often have limited resources to devote to client management. This can make it difficult to properly track and manage client relationships and to provide the level of service that clients expect.

Lack of experience. The majority of startups may not have the experience in-house to effectively manage clients. This can make it difficult to identify and meet client needs, and resolve issues.

Time constraints. Startups often have tight deadlines and limited time to devote to client management. This can make it difficult to stay on top of client relationships and to provide the level of service that clients expect.

Communication challenges. Startups may have difficulty communicating with clients. This can lead to misunderstandings and delays.

Client expectations. Startups often have to deal with high expectations from clients. This can be challenging for startups that are still trying to establish themselves and build their reputation.

Client churn. Startups are more likely to experience client churn than larger companies. This is because they may not have the resources to provide the level of service that clients expect.

Tips for Startups to overcome the challenges of client management:

Prioritize client management. Small startups need to make client management a priority. This means setting aside time and resources to properly track and manage client relationships and to provide the level of service that clients expect.

Outsource client management tasks. If startups do not have the resources or expertise to manage clients in-house, they can outsource these tasks to a third-party client management firm.

Use technology. There are a number of technology solutions available to help startups manage clients. These solutions can help to automate tasks, track client relationships, and provide insights into client behavior.

Build strong relationships with clients. Startups need to build strong relationships with their clients. This means communicating regularly with clients, understanding their needs, and working together to resolve issues.

Manage client expectations. Startups need to be realistic about their ability to meet client expectations. They should set clear expectations with clients and communicate regularly about progress.

Retain clients. Startups need to focus on retaining clients. This means providing excellent service and going the extra mile to meet client needs.

Despite these challenges, there are also a number of social and psychological factors that can help Indian entrepreneurs succeed. These include:

A strong work ethic. Indian entrepreneurs are known for their hard work and dedication. This is a key factor that has helped many Indian entrepreneurs succeed.

A positive attitude. Indian entrepreneurs are typically optimistic and have a strong belief in their ability to succeed. This positive attitude is essential for entrepreneurs, as it helps them to overcome challenges and setbacks.

A sense of purpose. Many Indian entrepreneurs are driven by a sense of purpose. They are passionate about their businesses and believe that they are making a difference in the world. This sense of purpose can help entrepreneurs stay motivated and focused on their goals.

However, entrepreneurs can overcome any challenge by nurturing the qualities like resilience, perseverance, patience, and taking action with hard work, dedication, and a positive attitude.

The post Entrepreneurship & Indian Startup Ecosystem- A brief study appeared first on Startagist.

50Every year, Y Combinator accelerates two startup batches and invests $150K each in them. Started in 2005 by Paul Graham, Jessica Livingston, Trevor Blackwell and Robert Tappan Morris, YC has funded over 1.9K startups with a portfolio of startups such as Airbnb, Dropbox, Quora and Reddit. The combined valuation of YC-funded startups has reached over $100 Bn.

Usually a large number of companies apply to Y Combinator and only a handful are selected.  2019’s winter batch of Y Combinator also had four Indian startups including MyScoot, Skill-lync, Trexo Robotics and Mudrex Inc. 

Till date, Y Combinator has invested in multiple Indian startups including, ClearTax, RazorPay, Meesho, Observe.AI, Supr Daily, WheelStart, Wifi Dabba, Drivezy, CureSkin, Fastpad, LotusPay, Innov8, Kisan Network,  Vanido, Dost Education, DocTalk, Piggy, Bulk MRO Industrial Supply, GoLorry, RedCarpetUp, Cashfree, Playment, Groww, Credy, Leena AI, Kyte.ai, Ziffy Homes and Prodigal Technologies.

Here are the four startups selected in the 2019 Summer Batch:

Binks:  Bengaluru-based Binks is an online store founded by Aamna Khan and Raj Vardhan in early 2019. The company enables Indian women to buy tailor-made clothing online. According to the company, women have to share a picture of themselves and answer a few questions, after which the app makes all of her bought clothing tailor-made to fit the buyer’s body. 

Lokal: Bengaluru-based Lokal is a vernacular news platform founded by Vipul Chaudhary, and Jani Pasha in 2018. The company  employs a team of freelance journalists to deliver ground reports in native languages. The company claims to be targeting the largely underserved market in India who got access to Internet with the Jio-led internet data revolution and cheap smartphones. 

MyPetrolPump: Bengaluru-based MyPetrolPump was founded by Ashish Gupta and Nabin Roy in 2016. It is an on-demand gas delivery platform for trucks, cars and generators in India. MyPetrolpump aims to address the problems of safety, adulteration and pilferage in fuel handling.

Vahan: Bengaluru-based Vahan was founded by Madhav Krishna and Mohammed Abdoolcarim in 2016. It uses artificial intelligence and WhatsApp’s API to automate hiring of blue collar workforce. The company claims to be working across sectors including Retail, Hospitality, Healthcare and BFSI. Some of their clients include Zomato, Dunzo, Uber Eats, and Swiggy.  

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Business-to-business payments startup EnKash on August 9 launched the country’s first corporate credit card called ‘Freedom Card’ for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The Freedom Card would give SMEs and startups the freedom to avail credit facility for immediate needs and to manage their liquidity.

“Currently, banks offer corporate credit cards and EnKash partners with most of them to enhance the experience. While we will continue enhancing our capabilities for these bank partnerships, we realised that specific products are required to address cases which are peculiar to underserved SMEs and startups as their requirements are different,” EnKash co-founder Naveen Bindal said.

Bindal added that these segments are not able to benefit fully with the existing solutions in the market, be it for enhancing their short-term credit requirements or convenience or just simply getting access to a commercial credit card.

EnKash has come up with a corporate card to cater to the varied billing cycles as per the working capital cycles of different businesses, which is a first in India, he said.

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Speaking on the development Sohel Kazani said “I am very excited that we have received a fantabulous response from the drivers and riders both. As a company, Sahyadri Smart Safe Private Limited was a late entrant in the business, but we always wanted to be the path leaders. Going forward with our vision, we have procured the equipment and supply for bio-diesel distribution. The mobile bio-diesel distribution van will travel all over the Mumbai and have fixed timings at South Mumbai and near all Mumbai entry points. In the first stage we only want to supply the fuel to our taxis, if we are surplus, we will distribute it to other vehicles too.”

Bio-diesel blend has been made a mandate in many countries. The government had recommended a blend in 2017 but the same has not been made compulsory. Biofuels also reduce the emissions making the environment cleaner. It would help the economy by reducing crude import; India imports approximately 8 lakh crores of crude oil annually. Also, it is priced lower than convention diesel, resulting in savings for the drivers. Shifting to biofuels is also a long-term solution to the problem of rising fuel prices. There is no major infrastructure change required compared to EVs where major infrastructure investment is required on charging points.

At the commercial inception of the cab services, S3 had provided a patented technology registered as ‘Oxy Power’ to all its drivers. This technology requires an external fitment in the car and helps in the better utilization of the fuel resulting in 20% and 30% reduction in fuel consumption. Reduced fuel consumption helped the taxis to operate at flat fares all the times. Now with BioDiesel, there will be further 5% to 10% reduction in fuel costs resulting in Net overall 40% reduction in fuel bill to be paid by the taxi owners.

“The average consumption of fuel by the cab owners based on 300km per day traveling amounts to 30 liters of diesel, and that equals to INR 2200 per day. A 40% reduction would mean INR 880 saving per day on fuel account or as much as INR 26000 approx a month by using bio-diesel and the oxy-power unit. A pilot study made us understand that it keeps the fuel systems and fuel injector cleaner thus reducing the vehicle maintenance cost and increasing the mileage. It will also help in additional employment generation. We would like to work closely with the government to make the shift to biofuels happen and we hope that they lower the GST on bio-diesel to 5%” mentioned Sohel.

Biodiesel can be used in any diesel car without any additional modification as in the case of CNG. It is cleaner and more efficient than regular diesel. Biodiesel can be used alone or blended with regular diesel in any proportions. Nitin Gadkari, hon. Minister of Road Transport has been advocating the use of biofuels for a very long time. He has mentioned on several occasions that there is an urgent need to re-think and revisit transport infrastructure and fuel dependency across not just India, but the globe.

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Food, water, and shelter are basic human needs, but 1.2 billion people in the world live without adequate housing, according to a report by the World Resources Institute’s Ross Center for Sustainable Cities. Today at SXSW, an Austin-based startup will unveil its approach to combat that deficiency by using low-cost 3D printing as a potential solution.

ICON has developed a method for printing a single-story 650-square-foot house out of cement in only 12 to 24 hours, a fraction of the time it takes for new construction. If all goes according to plan, a community made up of about 100 homes will be constructed for residents in El Salvador next year. The company has partnered with New Story, a nonprofit that is vested in international housing solutions. “We have been building homes for communities in Haiti, El Salvador, and Bolivia,” Alexandria Lafci, co-founder of New Story, tells The Verge.

The first model, scheduled to be unveiled in Austin, is a step toward providing shelter to those in underserved communities. Jason Ballard, one of ICON’s three founders, says he is going to trial the model as an office to test out their practical use. “We are going to install air quality monitors. How does it look, and how does it smell?” Ballard also runs Treehouse, a company that focuses on sustainable home upgrades.

Using the Vulcan printer, ICON can print an entire home for $10,000 and plans to bring costs down to $4,000 per house. “It’s much cheaper than the typical American home,” Ballard says. It’s capable of printing a home that’s 800 square feet, a significantly bigger structure than properties pushed by the tiny home movement, which top out at about 400 square feet. In contrast, the average New York apartment is about 866 square feet.

The model has a living room, bedroom, bathroom, and a curved porch. “There are a few other companies that have printed homes and structures,” Ballard says. “But they are printed in a warehouse, or they look like Yoda huts. For this venture to succeed, they have to be the best houses.” The use of cement as a common material will help normalize the process for potential tenants that question the sturdiness of the structure. “I think if we were printing in plastic we would encounter some issues.”

Once ICON completes material testing and tweaking of the design, the company will move the Vulcan printer to El Salvador to begin construction. ICON says its 3D-printed houses will create minimal waste and labor costs are significantly reduced. The company also intends to build homes in the US eventually. It’s a compelling solution to solving housing shortages but one that could be contentious among labor unions that represent workers.

It’s almost cliché that tech innovations happen in the high-end, for-profit segment long before they filter down to the masses, where innovation could serve the greatest social good. ICON and New Story are challenging that premise. Lafci uses the example of latency in cellphone availability to reach the African continent as the reason she believes in the endeavor. “(ICON) believes, as do I, that 3D printing is going to be a method for all kinds of housing,” she says.

But the company is already looking past the global housing crises to think about communities that will one day live off-planet. “One of the big challenges is how are we going to create habitats in space,” Ballard says. “You’re not going to open a two by four and open screws. It’s one of the more promising potential habitat technologies.”

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Job seekers can now use Facebook to search and apply for openings and vacancies at local businesses.

The feature was initially rolled out in the US and Canada last year.

The social media company is also making it easier for the local businesses to get their listings online by letting them post their vacancies and openings through the Facebook app.

Once a business posts a job, managers can go through the applicants and directly reach out through the Messenger app.

Job seekers can also subscribe to company’s listings to get alerts of fresh openings

While the Microsoft-owned hiring platform LinkedIn is mostly focused on white-collar or skilled jobs, Facebook Jobs will primarily focus on strengthening the local businesses with a low-skilled or semi-skilled workforce.

With Facebook Jobs, one can create job posts on mobile, manage applications and can even schedule interviews for local businesses. So, it can do pretty much everything that LinkedIn does.

How Does Facebook Jobs Work?

One can search for jobs on the ‘Jobs’ dashboard at Facebook.com/Jobs, the web version of the social media platform.

On mobile, the Job section will be available in the ‘Explore’ section of the mobile app. You can also find new job openings on the business page of a company looking to hire employees.

The job locations will be limited to a radius of 161 km from the user’s location on Facebook and only jobs within that radius will show up on the user’s dashboard.

How To Apply For Facebook Jobs?

Users will have to click on the ‘Apply’ button to start getting openings and vacancies in their feed. After clicking the Apply button, an application form will pop up with details filled-in from the Facebook profile.

Facebook will only take the public details mentioned in the profile. The form can be edited before submitting the final version. After filling the form, it can be directly sent to a company.

The company can later contact the applicant through email, phone or through the Messenger to schedule an interview directly.

Facebook Job Alerts

Job seekers can subscribe to Facebook Jobs to get timely alerts on the new listings and vacancies. To get job alerts, users need to subscribe to the various job openings in their locality by choosing the industry and job-type the users are interested in.

Once the user makes all the required selections and clicks on subscribe, they will then be notified if there is a relevant job opening in the pre-set radius.

Job Listings on Facebook Jobs

The page admins can directly put up job listings by filling in all the details such as job title, job type, salary, etc.

The job openings will then appear on the business’ Facebook Page, Jobs dashboard, Marketplace and in the News Feed of interested users. Businesses can schedule interviews, send automated reminders and can contact the applicant directly through the Messenger app.

The international expansion marks the rollout of Facebook Jobs in 40 countries.

The company has also planned to invest around $1 billion in Facebook Jobs to make the technology better, with the launch of newer programs in 2018. Google has also tried their hand at helping people to find jobs and unveiled its own job search tool.

Though Facebook Jobs is targeting a different group, LinkedIn should be worried about Facebook’s massive presence and reach.

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Amazon is keen on pushing its music service through its voice-controlled, intelligent personal assistant Alexa. Amazon’s Echo and Echo Dot smart speakers use Alexa for voice control.

Amazon will begin by offering music in ten languages like English, Hindi, Tamil

Amazon will begin by offering music in ten languages like English, Hindi, Tamil, without any additional costs for Prime members who pay a subsidized annual fee of Rs 999. Users can also download songs without any additional charges and enjoy ad-free listening, said Sean McMullan, head of international expansion for Amazon Music. He told that voice-controlled devices like Alexa were transforming the way people consumed music. We are moving from streaming music on our mobile phones to voice-based streaming, he said. Amazon Music will be made available on Android, iOS, Amazon Fire TV an Echo devices.

Amazon India captured the streaming media market in India with the launch of Prime Video in India. Amazon’s Prime Video was included with the Prime membership which offers free shipping, one-day and two-day deliveries, among others.

The Prime Music service will provide access to unlimited ad-free music streaming across various genres and languages. With this, the Amazon Prime can be termed as one of the best value for money proposition when it comes to media streaming services.

The launch of the Prime Music service in India comes just after Amazon increased the price of Prime membership from ₹499 to ₹999 — after an introductory period of about one year.

In the last few years, global players like Apple Music, Google Music have entered the India market

Along with Gaana, another domestic music streaming service, which is largely dependent on advertising revenue, is Saavn, backed by Tiger Global and other investors. In the last few years, global players like Apple Music, Google Music, and now Amazon have entered the India market which charge a subscription fee. Amazon Music is a paid product in the US where it competes with the like of Spotify. It is available across 30 countries globally.

In terms of music streaming services, Amazon ranks third globally, with over 16 million paid subscribers. Indian operation will surely help Amazon to garner more subscribers.

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Adesaa Wellness Private Limited – a Mumbai-based wellness startup, which sees themselves as the flag bearers of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s yoga initiative, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from angel investors.

Adesaa Wellness has recently launched India’s first-ever ‘pop-up theme’ program, offering an amalgamation of the best of ancient Indian traditions – Yoga, Meditation and Naturopathy –  providing some of the finest wellness retreat programs for physical, spiritual, and mental rejuvenation. It aims to spread the light of India’s ancient yoga globally to integrate body, mind and soul. Adesaa is a Sanskrit word, which means a divine command from within.

The startup intends to use the funds for growth and is planning to hire certified yoga teachers as well as nutritionists. “This investment gives us additional resources to support our expansion plan, which will be used to accelerate our marketing efforts as well as employment generation. Our expansion plans are very exciting for our investors as they foresee a huge potential for our business model. We are going to democratise healthy living – providing some of the finest retreat programs and create employment to hundreds of yoga teachers and nutritionists,” said Samidha Rasaikar, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Adesaa Wellness Private Limited.

Adesaa is focusing its efforts in niches where it has special expertise and guidance from Yoga Pandit Shri Gopinath Bhimaji Kedar, who has been practicing advanced level of Astanga yoga over 18 years. “Our plan is to become the market leader in the current set of services and introducing our various wellness retreat programs to corporate, educational institute as well as to media houses. There are plans for a strategic partnerships with various State governments, for which, we are in advanced stage of discussions with Maharashtra and Goa governments – on collaborating with Adesaa’s initiatives,” said Amjad Waghu, Co-Founder & Director, Adesaa Wellness Private Limited.

The Yoga and wellness segment has boomed into one of the most revenue generating businesses with a USD 3.2 trillion industry. While India is currently measured at INR 490 billion and it is estimated to rise by 20 per cent in the next five years.

According to Juned Khan, Co-Founder and Director, Adesaa Wellness Private Limited, the idea of expansion is to reach out to maximum people and spread benefits of yoga to prioritise health and wellness. “We intend to take India’s traditional yoga and our initiatives on the international platform since yoga is a precious gift to mankind, which is Adesaa’s key objective. Through this expansion, we will have footprints in overseas market – London, New York, Singapore, Beijing, Honk Kong, Melbourne and Sydney – which would be carried out in the phase-II by year-end,” he said.

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Yahoo Inc, which disclosed two massive data breaches last year, said on Wednesday that about 32 million user accounts were accessed by intruders in the last two years using forged cookies.

The company said some of the latest intrusions can be connected to the “same state-sponsored actor believed to be responsible for the 2014 breach”, in which at least 500 million accounts were affected.

“Based on the investigation, we believe an unauthorized third party accessed the company’s proprietary code to learn how to forge certain cookies,” Yahoo said in its latest annual filing.

These cookies have been invalidated so they cannot be used to access user accounts, the company said.

Forged cookies allow an intruder to access a user’s account without a password.

Yahoo also said in December that data from more than 1 billion user accounts was compromised in August 2013, making it the largest breach in history.

The company said on Wednesday that it would not award Chief Executive Marissa Mayer a cash bonus for 2016, following the independent committee’s findings related to the 2014 security incident.

Mayer has also offered to forgo any 2017 annual equity award as the breaches occurred during her tenure, Yahoo said.

Last month, Verizon Communications Inc, which is in the process of buying Yahoo’s core assets, lowered its original offer by $350 million to $4.48 billion.

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Your personal data, be it your residential address, your phone number, email id, details of what you bought online, age, marital status, income and profession, is all up for sale. Most of this personal data is sold for less than a rupee per person -the cost of a chewing gum.

The shocking facts are revealed by the Economic Times while they approached companies called `data brokers’, who hawk their services on online listings and sell personal information. ET posed as a prospective buyer.

From Rs 15000 onwards, personal data of about 1 lakh people can be offered through brokerage.

Most of this personal data is sold for less than a rupee per person -the cost of a chewing gum

The lists up for sale are creative and granular. One data broker told ET that he could get lists of high net worth individuals, salaried people, credit card holders, car owners and retired women in any given vicinity.

Also Read: Did Uber steal Google’s car secrets?

From the list acquired by ET, they called a dozen people to verify the details. And to the horror of those people the data was correct. “It’s scary to say the least,“ said Hyderabad-based Rajashekar, who is among the list.

“It should be deemed as a crime. Without my permission, how can someone trade information related to me?“ said Bengaluru-based Nagaraj BK, who was appalled that details of his purchase of a gas stove on eBay.

Similarly , Bengaluru-based Shruti’s purchase of luggage on Amazon, along with her phone number, and when contacted to check if the purchase listed was accurate, Shruti was offended and scared and even wondered if her Amazon account had been breached.

Most of this data was sold by mobile service providers, agents from hospitals and banks, loan agents, car dealers to the data brokers.

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