#entreesphere

The question I would ask is: were these world-changing companies ever been incubated? I couldn’t find substantial evidence but if someone has one, then please give us one.

I personally don’t understand the purpose of incubators and feel as though they never give attention to whatever I think, create or propose as I am either a naïve choice or a risky investment. It is too much like the college scene: a few elite ones, the rest are never accounted for. Whereas I strongly feel innovation has, and always will be, born out of a college canteen, or library or sit-out outside the college gate.

Technically, the Start-up ecosystem defines Business Incubator as “An organization designed to accelerate the growth and success of entrepreneurial companies through an array of business support resources and services that could include physical space, capital, coaching, common services, and networking connections”

Where am I (College Student with a unique life-changing idea)? If Incubators are to incubate entrepreneurial companies then what do we get from the ecosystem? 

The truth is either I will be dictated to work on an idea conceived by a faculty at college with no defined outcome but with a false pride of attempting the project or I will be commanded to visit a few webinars, workshops to fulfill the tick mark compliance requirement of sending the students to such events. 

And when I come up with what I feel could be an idea or a skill that can support an idea, I will be made to wait for someone to guide/assist me? And that someone will be unable to support me because they are designed to accelerate the entrepreneurial companies, which have been incorporated and are earning some revenues. 

I want someone to help me understand how Entrepreneurship is the right choice for my career? 

What are the requisite skills to become that Entrepreneur and how can I acquire them? 

Will only people with Idea can become Entrepreneurs? 

What if I don’t have an idea but have a skill that can help an idea to become strong?  

But more often, I am explained about the hypothesis of the probability of the permutations and combinations of the potential solutions which are still a mystery. 

I may not be intelligent, committed, unaware of the potential of me as an individual or my idea. I may be confused, indecisive, volatile but I am ready to be guided, informed, counseled and lead to experience the Entrepreneurial Journey. 

To conclude, I would say if you’re looking to nurture and incentivize a culture of innovation for this country, we are where you can start by fostering before you define, ideate, and solve the problems that matter.

A Guide to Being a winner in this Tough Game

We, students, have a very rough journey to face with all those rejections and underestimating judgments. Many new start-ups come up every year in India but only a few sustain. Out of all failed start-ups, the most witnessed is in a scenario where a student hustles for the start-up to be a sustaining Entrepreneur. It is not because the idea wasn’t good or the business model wasn’t right. 

So, why are we failing even after numerous schemes and programs available to boost the start-up?

It is because we are unaware of the ecosystem and it’s way of working things out. There is a huge void in communication and knowledge between Students and the start-up ecosystem where Students have no knowledge of what the ecosystem expects and in turn, the ecosystem fails to discover the best ideas from Students.

A whole new world is waiting for our presence on the other side of our college gate  

1. Access to an Ocean of knowledge: A large ocean of knowledge now fits into our palm, yet we don’t try to unleash its huge potential. If we can understand the tool in our palm-The Mobile Phone, we can learn a lot from it, just Google all the information you need and the library is on your screen to answer it all for us, knowing how to get the answer from Google is an art in itself and irony is that you can learn the same art from google and the knowledge you gain can be from the experiences of other entrepreneurs or the balance sheet of a good MNC. 

2. Access to Capital: Any great idea to come into full reality it needs capital. Initially, we have to invest in our own idea and prove, to the rest that our idea is valuable and it is worth generating revenue, to expand further we will be needing an investor.  Finding an investor is a tough job but with an ecosystem, you will have access to the network as such that the job turns out to be very easy and everything else falls into a place.  The capital must be available to embrace each stage of development, from seed to early to growth stages of your business.

3. Mentors: Mentors are like the wheel-alignment of a 4-wheel drive. They will ensure continuous movement towards the expected outcome, you will never give-up or stagnate if you have the right mentor. This is a key benefit, you will have someone mentoring you in all phases, who has already gone through all ups and downs of Entrepreneurship and they ensure that you are not drifting off to lose the game.

Bonus Tip

Are you still the same crazy person thinking to change the world?

Then here is the thing: work smart, go find a team of excellent and smart people to work with because “No Great Battle Ever Fought was won by an individual”. Be efficient and be flexible.

Ratan Tata, Sudha Murthy, Ritesh Agarwal all these great entrepreneurs started at the same age as us. Do you know how many rejections did they face when they started?

Any rational person would give up but they didn’t and that’s the reason why they turned into sustainable Entrepreneurs. So, giving up is a synonym for those who want to be normal.

There are many incubators out there to guide you if you are a well-functioning and revenue making start-up. But what, if you are a student and all you have is an idea, just an idea which you believe in? Which you think can influence people’s life on this planet or probably can change the world?

What? How? Where? When? If you don’t find the answers then, stay tuned to know the answers.