What makes startups succeed: Anish Rajgopal, Founder Director of Chemtrols Solar
At a press briefing announcing a major solar installation, I met Anish Rajgopal, Founder Director of Chemtrols Solar, and asked him what makes startups succeed. If you are very passionate about something, you can actually branch off into a startup, and you may end up being successful, begins Anish. Another type of startup, he finds, is the one about a huge idea; yet another type is what people venture into when just so frustrated working for someone, and they want to do their own thing, even if they don’t have any particular idea.
He urges entrepreneurs to have a very strong business model in terms of how they are going to generate the revenue, and how they are going have the competitive advantage and sustain it. “Until you get a business model correct, it is going to be very difficult. Why a large percentage of startups fail is because of taking a plunge without actually thinking through the business model.”An example he mentions in this video is the innovative wrist band that monitors the heart, but attracting also the global players to enter the same product space. In such a scenario, will the competitive advantage be sustained, he wonders.
About
Anish Rajgopal is also the Director of the Chemtrols Group of Companies, which undertakes manufacturing and system integration of in-process instrumentation, renewables (solar & biomass), and mechanical products. An MBA in Marketing from XIM, Bhubaneswar, and a Mechanical Engineer from the College of Engineering, Trivandrum, Anish has also undergone the prestigious Owner President Program of Harvard Business School. He is: a member of the Governing Council of the Industry Affiliate Program of the National Centre for Photovoltaic Research & Education of IIT, Bombay; a member of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) State Council of Maharashtra; the Co-Convenor of the CII MSME Maharashtra Council; the Vice-Chairman of the US Indian Importers Council (USIIC); and, interestingly, a member of Mensa, a worldwide fraternity of people whose IQ is in the top 2% of the population.
