Sunday, February 28, 2016

ENTREPRENEUR SPECIAL........... Meet the Buddypreneurs

Meet the Buddypreneurs


How startup founders are creating informal networking groups among themselves to foster camaraderie, beat loneliness, share success, and, yes, scale the business

He may never be dubbed the world's most successful entrepreneur, but if there was ever an award for the number of business ventures and adventures -embarked upon, Richard Branson would surely be right up there among the contend ers. In the early '70s, when still in his teens, he started a record busi ness that signed on, among others, the controversial band Sex Pistols; before that, when still in his teens, he had launched a magazine (The Student) for which he snared an interview with Mick Jagger; two decades later, he went on to launch Virgin Atlantic Airways, then Vir gin Mobile and then Virgin Blue (now Virgin Australia); at last count Branson had some 200 ven tures under the Virgin group um brella. For good measure, he also made a record-breaking Atlantic Ocean crossing, and holds the re cord for the fastest crossing of the English Channel in an amphibious vehicle.
So when the flamboyant British tycoon who's been there, done that, and is still at it confesses that “launching a startup is tough and scary“ -as he once wrote in a column three years ago -you may be prompted to wonder: “Is he serious?“ You bet he is. Branson's magic bullet to battle adversity and fear: “...build your network...a network of peers, so don't be wary of making friends with your competition. When you see other people achieving similar goals, you will be reminded that your own plans and dreams are possible. In my experience, moments like those have been the tipping point for many a new business venture,“ Branson avers.
Back in Gurgaon in India's Na tional Capital Region the husbandwife duo of Swati and Rohan Bhargava, founders of CashKaro, a cashback and coupon platform that recently had Ratan Tata investing in it, are implementing guru Branson's advice in earnest. “Very often entrepreneurs wonder if the challenges that they are facing are theirs alone,“ says Rohan, his eyes firmly fixated on the entrance of the Di Ghent Café, where he impatiently awaits a group of friends.The agenda? “Nothing but fun,“ Swati chips in.
A Friend in Need
One isn't sure if one of those friends is Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of ecommerce marketplace Paytm but he's definitely a prominent name in the Bhargavas' mobile phone address book.
Early last year, when CashKaro received an acquisition offer, one of the first things Swati did was to message Sharma on WhatsApp; for the next 30 minutes they talked on the phone.
“Vijay helped us think through the pros and cons, and then wanted us to decide for ourselves,“ she says. The decision was of course not to sell, but not before sounding out their counterparts in the startup ecosystem.
“It helps greatly to talk to other entrepreneurs because different people are able to advise on a different part of the puzzle,“ adds Swati, who first came face to face with the networking culture last summer when she attended the Google for Entrepreneurs' Blackbox Connect Programme in Silicon Valley.
From validating a business model or strategy and finding potential partners and investors, from gar nering emotional support from an empathetic bunch of founders to partaking of doses of advice and inspiration, a growing number of startup founders are choosing to be a part of close-knit groups, if not surrounding themselves with entrepreneurial peers. “Entrepreneurs work in a high-pressure environment with limited resources,“ points out Siddharth Singh, associate professor of marketing at Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad. “Being part of a strong network of people who have faced similar challenges is extremely valuable to get help and support,“ adds Singh.
In early 2013, Nidhi Agarwal, founder of Kaaryah, was in dilemma over launching her women clothing startup as a single brand or a marketplace. A discussion with Prerak Sethi, cofounder of RoomStory, a home renovation firm, helped her find an answer. “Prerak made me understand the nuances -being a marketplace is very different from being a brand,“ recalls Agarwal, who met Sethi when both were pursuing their MBA from Kellogg School of Management. Brainstorming with Sethi made it easy for her to take make up her mind -to build a brand of western, non-casual wear for women. Since then, both have not only cemented their friendship but also added layers of business dimensions to it by sharing problems and offering solutions.
The Right Connect
“Starting a company can be physically, emotionally and mentally exhausting,“ says Agarwal. To be able to pick up the phone and speak with someone who identifies with the same set of experiences and has perhaps solved it is not just an efficient solution but also goes a long way in proving that you are not alone, she adds. Agarwal dishes out another instance on how expanding her network to include Mohit Jain, cofounder of Northwest Executive Education, which offers professional education courses for mid and senior management executives globally, helped her on a crucial front: sourcing the right talent.
Since July 2015, when Agarwal first met Jain at a pool party she had hosted, Northwest Executive Education has been the first port of call for talent requirements for Kaaryah. The clincher was Northwest's top-tier executive education programmes in partnership with the likes of UCLA and UC Berkeley.
Apart from solving professional problems, networking can also do wonders for those yearning to take a break from a hectic business life.“It's important to unwind and talk about small little things at home, about travel and friends,“ says Jain, who enjoys exchanging notes about places to eat and places to travel and movies to watch (as well as avoid).
Jain is also a part of formal networks such as Harvard and IIT but yet has a soft spot for informal communities.Reason: It's not always possible to get past the appearances and meet the real person without any agenda at formal gatherings. “Meeting new people is never a challenge, meeting good people that you connect with and want to hang out with is,“ he says.
Ankur Warikoo, cofounder of Nearbuy (formerly Groupon India), a deals and discount coupons venture, would readily agree. Warikoo reckons that even with cofounders -Nearbuy has five of them -entrepreneurship can often be a lonely, one-way street. What has eased the journey is a small and tight group of entrepreneur friends -Akhilesh Bali, founder of LimeTray who was also a cofounder of Foodpanda; and Ankur Singla, founder of chat-based personal assistant company Helpchat. “We call it the brotherhood, and we meet every month for a Bromance,“ says Warikoo.
The trio that has known each other for six years have plenty to share: how to run organisations and raise funds, industry developments and trends, and even their own insecurities and concerns. A WhatsApp group is all it takes to keep them connected 24x7, and it's loaded with exciting stuff such as videos, blogs and book suggestions. Apart from the personal equation, what also keeps them together is business -and their investments in each other's ventures. Warikoo is an investor in Helpchat and LimeTray, Singla has invested in Nearbuy and LimeTray, and Bali has put his money in Helpchat and Nearbuy. “We also invest jointly in other companies and have made around seven such investments together,“ says Warikoo.
Sink & Sail Together
It's a unique camaraderie of fellow entrepreneurs sailing in the same boat in waters that are seldom placid. Navneet Singh, co founder of grocery startup PepperTap, real ised the power of the network when he hit a brick wall with Nuvo Ex, a reverse logistics startup he founded in September 2013.
The first few months were extremely chal lenging. Singh had a shoestring budget, the thought of running out of money was wreck ing his nerves, and he could barely sleep. “I used to get up at three in the morning every day thinking of business problems,“ recalls Singh. That's when he started discussing the issue with some of his entrepreneur friends. “I started building my moral support network, which helped me ride through those testing times,“ he says.
Entrepreneurship, contends Singh, pushes a founder away from the social world. For one, it sucks up almost all of one's time. For another, even when one socialises, it isn't exactly the simplest of tasks for an entrepreneur to communicate his stress, pain and insecurities -if he is able to, most people wouldn't be able to understand it. Still, just having a circle around you is good enough sometimes.“There are good times and bad times. In bad times, one needs friends to fall back upon,“ says Singh, who counts Snapdeal cofounder Kunal Bahl, PayU India cofounder Nitin Gupta and LabsAdvisor founder Ashish Bhatia among his entrepreneur friends.
Singh again tapped into his network after a few months when there was a buyout offer for Nuvo Ex. While it was quite tempting to sell out and come out of a financial mess -heavy personal investments had taken a toll on him -the idea of hanging on was equally alluring, what with an imminent turnaround a distinct possibility. “My friends advised me to slug it out,“ he says. The decision turned out to be a good one as Nuvo Ex grew to be a premium reverse logistics player, adds Singh.
If Singh was able to slay his demons with the help of his entrepreneur friends, Nitin Saluja's network helped him exorcise the ghosts of not being able to get his hiring mix right. Saluja, cofounder of customised tea café Chaayos, had been grappling with the problem of hiring; some timely and `mythological' advice by his friend set things right for him. Zishaan Hayath, cofounder of Toppr, an online test prep startup, used the metaphors of goddesses Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati to shed some light on what potential hires look for. While the first would want power and respect, the second desires money and the last one opts for satisfaction and peace. “It's your job to find out which category does a potential hire falls into,“ he told Saluja. Get that right and your hiring is sorted.
Fred Wilson, a New York based venture capitalist and a prolific blogger, recently wrote that while working with entrepreneurs he at times advises them, criticises them, but most importantly supports them. “Someone has to.Because everyone is relying on the leader but who is the leader going to rely on,“ he wrote in his blog titled “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown“.
Mentor, Partner, Investor
Wilson encourages entrepreneurs of his portfolio companies to join a support group. Meeting regularly with peer chief executives is a great way to vent with each other about the nonsense that goes on in a company, he says.“It is also a great place to get actionable advice and learn from each other.“
Back home, Kalaari Capital, an early-stage technology-focused venture capital firm, has taken the lead in connecting the entrepreneurs of its portfolio companies. A WhatsApp group of over 35 entrepreneurs, including the likes of Ashish Goel of Urban Ladder, Richa Kar of Zivame and Sattvik Mishra of ScoopWhoop, keeps buzzing with discussions and queries ranging from recommendations for recruitment consultants and HR policies to accounting software. The results have been heartening, at least for CashKaro's Swati Bhargava -sharing of resources, solving marketing and technological challenges and exploring business synergies are some of the benefits, she avers.
Meantime, having industry veterans in a network provides the rest in that group with the valuable bonus of a mentor. For instance, Raman Roy, chief executive of Quatrro and better known as the “Father of the Indian BPO Industry“ is mentor to Prasoon Gupta, cofounder of food startup Sattviko. Gupta received a Pioneering Spirit Award -an award constituted by Lufthansa Pioneering Spirit -from Roy in 2010 and ever since the latter has been friend and mentor to the 29-year-old entrepreneur. “Entrepreneurship is like a pressure cooker situation, and peer to peer networking acts as a vent,“ explains Roy. “It makes the lonely task of entrepreneurship more bearable.“ Branson would agree with that, even after almost five decades on the entrepreneurial road.

ETM21FEB16

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