Learnings galore for startups and entrepreneurs at Mumbai TechSparks 2013

The Mumbai edition of TechSparks held last weekend at IIT, Powai was an epic event to say the least. Over 300 people attended the second city event of this year’s TechSparks. Besides the innumerable networking opportunity that the event provided, the three main agenda for the day was -- an energising talk by YourStory founder, Shradha Sharma on her experience of being an Indian entrepreneur in the Valley, a panel discussion, and pitches by three promising startups.

The panel discussion moderated by Shradha, had Shailesh Lakhani of Sequoia Capital; Srikanth Srinivas of Business World; Rubia Braun, founder of MetroBrava; Nishchal Shetty, founder of Just Unfollow (winner of last year’s TechSparks) and Sudhir Mody, founder, Maximojo on stage sharing their learnings, journey, challenges and more with all the participants.

The discussion started with Shradha asking the panel, if there was a pattern that successful startups follow? While Shailesh gave a VCs perspective on it by saying “do something in the space that you can be the best in,” Sudhir, Rubia and Nishchal represented the entrepreneurs’ mindset. “Be honest to yourself. Think big, focus on the future,” said Sudhir, while Rubia, credited 'perseverance' as the most important quality. "Nobody actually knows anything, so don't give up something because people tell you it can't be done", she said, speaking from personal experience. Nishchal said 'a right team' as the key factor that startups must get right, "and I'm saying this, despite the fact that we at Just Unfollow help you get rid of relationships", he added, in jest. 

Speaking of product market fit, Shailesh made an interesting point, "experiment a lot, fail quickly, and figure things out fast,” he offered. But at the sametime cautioned startups against: “that one big mistake of spending a lot of marketing, early on, which is not required for all business,” he opined. Echoing Shailesh’s viewpoint, Srikanth added: "Everything does not have to began with an app since not all businesses are driven by technology.” He agreed that while non tech startups are harder to be noticed, with the right passion and clarity, it is possible to get space under the sun. “Just like journalism is all about interesting stories, interesting ideas", he said, validating what YourStory has always believed in – telling Your Stories.

The lively panel was distracted with a few minutes powercut, but the enterprising lot on stage, shared two important entrepreneur advice with the audience. Sudhir said: "Though the buck stops with you if you're the founder and there's a lot of things you have to deal with, the joy of having a startup far exceeds the problems you face.” And among the many things you learn as an entrepreneur, “is the art of learning to adapt,” said Rabia.

Shailesh next spoke of how growth sometimes comes at a cost, both for an entrepreneur and for the industry. Case in point being eCommerce, where more money was spent than what the market was ready for, leading to many of them shutting shop abruptly. In response to an audience question on whether “acquisition as a way to grow”, Nishchal spoke from experience and said building one’s own team works better and cost effective. On the point of growth strategy, Srikant added that growth of a startup depends on the stage at which the startup is. 

With the discussion veered towards monetization, revenue and funds, Rubia made an important point. "Think about whether you really want funding. For eg., we have consciously chosen to stay away from it. We don't want funding. We want to control our growth and our strategies based on where the market is heading,” she shared.

The next question that came from the audience was about finding the right co-founder and it brought some distinctive and diverse responses by the entrepreneurs on the panel. "Find someone you can grow old with. There will be stress and conflict in startups, so you need a person who you can laugh with, through all of it,” suggested Sudhir. Rubia said the thing that worked for her is 'not being friends before', and 'communication being key' adding that most companies fall apart because of different vision, which is often a result of lack of clear communication right in the beginning. 

As the CitySparks awaited their turn to present at the event, the discussion ended on the note that a good ecosystem to support startups and entrepreneurs -- one that would help connect all the dots is needed.

We thank everyone for coming to TechSparks in Mumbai and being such an enthusiastic audience. YourStory started its journey in Mumbai and the maximum city has always given us that pep we need in the steps we take. Thank you Mumbai! :) Check out the visuals of the event here.

Our next stop is Hyderabad on June 22, 2013. Be there!