Social Scientists- Interview with the Founder

Entrepreneur of the Week#4

a.   So who is Sanketh Y S basically… tell us a little about yourself?

From way back I was in 5^th grade i.e, 2005 after a workshop I decided to do something different which others haven’t but I had no Idea. Atlast 2012, I started an NGO – Shushrooshaa with no support because even now no one supported ME nor encouraged ME. They all said it would be a rough path, discouraged ME with various set of reasons. For the next 6 months I was alone handling it, visiting various other orphanages, old age homes! I Then, there was an Idea from before to start a Company of MY own and now I needed funds so I thought this was the right time to start something of MY own. Thus, Libmyth was born and following other start ups. All these start ups were born because of MY own needs.

In 2008, I wanted to publish my book and I approached few publishers, everyone said no because I was young, had no prior experience. I then realised there are many people in the same situation. So, I decided to start Libmyth. Anyone can upload their works, it is a platform for other media agencies to select a good one to syndicate into theirs’. We are in talks with paperback publishers, once it is done even these books will be published as paper back.

b.   What led you to going ahead with the idea of taking “Online Startup Incubator” online and creating a profitable business entity out of it?

In 2008, I wanted to publish my book and I approached few publishers, everyone said no because I was young, had no prior experience. I then realised there are many people in the same situation. Hence, I founded Libmyth.

All the start-ups that were founded by me were to solve a previous problem occurred. No one should face similar kind of problems and to make others’ journey easy and smooth going, Social Scientists was founded.

I have founded 5 start ups and a NGO and in the starting stage I needed some or the other help. I wanted to help start-ups so that they don’t face similar problems and to make their journey smoother and faster, I started advising them. I realised only advising wont help much. Hence, Social Scientists. It is online as its very easy to connect. As our tagline says ‘Your startup connections”.  We are building a community for collaborative growth and to enhance togetherness to bring change in this eco-system. We even have a offline presence too!

c.   What has been the most challenging task while setting up?

The difficult thing was searching for a co-worker and yes, I found after few months but nonetheless he just left after working for a couple of weeks, there were two tech guys who left one after another. Later on Ahaan Pandit came to MY rescue to guide ME further and he is Our mentor now. But we did not find anyone for designing for few months. Amrith Shanbag is helping ME with technical aspects. Now, the things are getting better, risks are always there and the journey seems to be getting more excited.

d.   What would you say are your Business Strengths?
The deliverables!

e.   Who is your main Inspiration? Business/Personal.

Inspiration. I get that from everything. I appreciate Life and the things around. I get Inspiration from everyone, bits and pieces from everyone and everything. When I see someone as a role model, I try to become like them. I want be myself in the best possible way possible.

 f. What makes you different from your competitors like?
There are many startup incubators, communities and supporters. Most of them do not reach to the nth person who wants to start. Money plays a vital role. Funded/good team/good released product startups get the support. Events would have entry fee not only that any service which is opted would be charge applicable. Entrepreneurs who would have started cannot afford it. We help them with idea validation, getting a team, mentors, investors (in future

WHY?

This world is not too small, it’s bigger enough to accommodate you. When we started up on first we faced many problems and this platform is created to help co-entrepreneurs with their projects.

HOW?

We would like to collaborate with you to make a bigger impact together. Be it a simple blog or a complex inventory system we have a plan to work with you.

THEN?

We have learnt this through our experience and we would like you to be a part of this learning process.

Here, we are forming an inter-dependent start-up community. It's an online incubator wherein you can collaborate with other start-ups, entrepreneurs, NGOs, developers, investors or anyone in the community. 

We are building a network and getting everyone in one platform to make this startup ecosystem better.

• Startups collaborate together. 
• Entrepreneurs can connect with startups in the community. 
• Mentors can choose any startup of their choice to advice or entrepreneurs can connect with them for guidance. 
• Investors to fund the dreams. 

We support entrepreneurs in building more successful start-ups, start-ups in achieving what they need for their growth, partners to develop this Community. We want to bridge the gap in start-up ecosystem and build a support network. We are building this community for collaborative growth and to enhance togetherness to bring change in this eco-system.     

f.    If given the chance to go back in time, is there anything that you would’ve done differently that would impact “Social Scientist” as it is today?

The Journey is a memorable but lots of surprises daily good, bad or in between!
The only reason to be in startup is when you feel making this world a better place than it is today. Solve real customer’s real problems, which no one else is solving. So, there is nothing as such I would have done in a different way. If I can go back inTime, I want to start it much early!

g.   What future plans do you have for your business entity?
To be the most trusted and biggest, supportive incubator + talent hub!

h.   What are the 3 top factors to which you would like to attribute the success of your startup?

1.     Idea

2.     Community

3.     Passion

i.     How inviting is India Inc. towards upcoming businesses like yourself?

If someone who’s totally ignorant about the Indian market walks up to me and asks me about entrepreneurship in India – my answer to them would be that “Entrepreneurs are everywhere, one who wants to stand on his own feet, maybe a business development guy, tech guy, real estate or even a pani puri wala. The one who does in a non-conventional way.”  The awareness about entrepreneurship is definitely increasing incredibly, but not enough converts yet. Lots of wannapreneurs, but few actual entrepreneurs. Again, our goal is to make entrepreneurship a way of Life!  

Frapp-Student Discounts

              Entrepreneur of the Week

a) So who is Karan Karnik basically… tell us a little about yourself?

I’m the guy that can’t stand not knowing something. I feel the innate need to understand everything, hence I ‘google’ most part of the day. Trying to understand things I don’t.

I graduated from NMIMS University with my Bachelors in Business Administration, and learned nothing but ‘How to sell’. Which, in retrospect is enough. I’ve always leaned a little towards creative fields, whether it’s designing, writing or photography. And overtime realized that that’s what I want to do.
Hence at ‘frapp’ lead Design, Product Development and Digital Marketing.

Also, I have an unhealthy relationship with ice creams.

b)  What led you to going ahead with the idea of “Student Discounts” to turn into a profitable business entity?

My co-founders and I were broke through our college life. We’ve stood at bars for 4 hours sipping on one beer through the night. So when we discussed Student Discounts as a concept, we were already sold on the idea. We believed in it cause we needed it. Probably why we had the courage to leave comfortable jobs and start ‘frapp’. We started operations in January last year.

c) What was the most challenging task while setting up?

Discipline.

Our generation doesn’t respect experience enough. With the digital age, we’ve become used to understanding technology and take everything else for granted. We lack the experience and discipline to run an organization. So the most challenging task was to be disciplined and try to be the leadership our team respects and learns from. And being 22 doesn’t help. So we’ve made mistakes, but learned and it’s going great now.

d)  If given the chance to go back in time, is there anything that you would’ve done differently that would impact Frapp as it is today?

Every entrepreneur can give you a never-ending list of what he would change from the his past decisions, and how he could’ve bettered them. The real challenge is to accept that there is no “chance” to go back, but an opportunity to learn from those mistakes and move on.

But since you’d want this question to be answered, it’d be focusing more on getting the product right before you launch. There is no beta product. Everyone makes a judgment the first time they see something. You don’t have second chances. So get it right the first time.

e)  What future plans do you have for your business entity?

We’ve gotten great offers from great brands for the student community. The plan is to do the same for students across the nation.

f) What are the 3 top factors to which you would like to attribute the success of your startup?

We don’t believe we’re successful yet. Hopefully soon. But to achieve success there’s not 3 but just 1 factor. It’s the team. You can’t achieve greatness or success surrounded by mediocrity. Surround yourself by creative, honest and hard working people, and I guarantee you, you’ll have a great journey.

g). How inviting is India Inc. towards upcoming businesses like yourself?

We haven’t had any troublesome issues till today. The government is making it easier for SME’s and it’ll just get better. Though all that matters in the end is if your concept is solving a problem. If it is, you have demand. If you have demand, no one can get in your way.

BlueChits- Crowdifying Dreams

             Entrepreneur of the Week#1

Sahil Bhatia & Prabhav Manchanda

a.      So who are Prabhav and Sahil basically… tell us a little about yourselves?

I am Prabhav Manchanda currently in final year of my B.tech in electronics and instrumentation degree from SRM University. Partial foodie,football and music fan.
I am Sahil Bhatia and I have just completed my Final year of B.Com from Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics. Also, I am a Final CA Student. Adventure Sports and travelling are the things I love. Apart from that, I am a fan of ever evolving technology and like almost every college student, completed lot of Seasons.

b.What led you to going ahead with the idea of "Crowd Funding" to turn into a business entity?  

                                                                                                                                                                    

There were quite a few factors. The thing is we see a lot of ideas around us dying without evengetting a chance to prove themselves. This is one of the biggest factors that motivated us.Apart from that, being an engineer I knew that the rural part of India has come up with brilliant inventions in the past couple of years but always remain under the cloth for obvious reasons. Thus, we tend to make an effort to actually promote the idea rather than the financial benefits of it.

c.       What was the most challenging task while setting up?

       Most challenging would be to get capital and setting up the website as none of us from computer background.The next most challenging thing (which still exists) is the lack of knowledge of the concept of Crowdfunding among the people. So a lot of effort would go into publicizing the concept rather than the entity.

d.      If given the chance to go back in time, is there anything that you would’ve done differently that would impact BueChits as it is today?

Fire our web developer when we had a chance.

e.      What future plans do you have for your business entity?

     

As a business entity, we are currently looking for investors in order to provide some features that are the USP of BlueChits. With Equity CrowdFunding coming into Indian diaspora and hopefully will become a reality by 2018, we are working towards establishing ourselves as prime CrowdFunding platform which would put us in a comfortable position as & when Equity crowdfunding becomes a part of Indian finance methods. Also, we aim to become a one stop shop for Crowdfunding activities right from campaign to manufacturing new concepts and unique rewards.

f.        What are the 3 top factors to which you would like to attribute the success of your startup?

1) Crowd
2) Personal Network
3) smart use of available resources

g.      How inviting is Indian Business Ecosystem towards upcoming businesses like yourself?

 Indian Business Ecosystem is based more on hype than economic factors. If you are in a field which is in trend, chances are you’ll get funded or acquired. But, if you are working in an offbeat field, you have to work really hard to get an identity. Because of lack of knowledge, getting established here is a tricky task. Apart from having the right contacts, it is important to have each and every metric ready. For aspiring startups, it becomes a real task to catch up. We are not selling a product that has margins. We are into the business of evolving ideas and concepts in such a manner that they are capable to become a business themselves. And this is something the Indian Ecosystem will take its own course to understand.

FIXOFY- Fix with a click

Entrepreneur of the Week#2

a.      So who is Mayur Misra basically… tell us a little about yourself?

Post graduating from SRM University, Chennai (class of 2012), I did my Summer Internship with RBS India and got a full-time opportunity to work with the organization in a front office role. I was associated with the MNC Bank for two years where I got a valuable experience in Sales and Management.
I am a die hard cricket fan and Bollywood buff. I like to spend whatever leisure I get, following up with science related videos. Personal favorite comic character is The Prince of Asgard – Thor.

b.      What led you to going ahead with the idea of taking "Repair Services" online and creating a profitable business entity out of it?

During the second half of 2014, while I was working for this idea, Repair services was a market which was or rather still is unorganized and untapped. The customer had services to sell, to buy, to book cabs and to book shows online but didn’t have anything for repair. Hence I decided to pursue this idea and work towards this unorganized market to make it organized.

c.    What was the most challenging task while setting up?

The most challenging task while setting up was building a team and convincing good talent to join the start-up community against their previous settled job profiles.

d.    If given the chance to go back in time, is there anything that you would’ve done differently that would impact Fixofy as it is today?

Well there’s nothing that I could think of. Perhaps hiring a tech guy at an early stage would have been something that I would change.

e.     What future plans do you have for your business entity?

We wish to be fully operational in all the major cities of India and to increase the bandwidth of our offerings.

f.     What are the 3 top factors to which you would like to attribute the success of your startup?

- Faith in the idea.
 - Self confidence
 - A good team.

g.    How inviting is India Inc. towards upcoming businesses like yourself?

Very much so. Considering the internet users in India constitute to around 20%, which is expected to grow drastically over the next few years, all the start-ups working towards serving day-to-day needs shall be accepted well by the consumer base. At the end of the day any company which is delivering well to the customers has a bright future.