The Bain Talk

In the thick of the sad placement scenario this semester, Mr. Amit Sinha, a Principal at Bain and Company gave a talk on "Why Start Up Amidst this Economic Meltdown?" today. A modest number of E-enthusiasts including CELites and non-CELites attended the session.

Mr. Sinha, a pro at start-up consultancy explored the various aspects of executing a business plan as a whole from ideating to sustainability to improvisation of the idea for making a start-up into a major business venture. Beginning with the social stigma attached with starting up like parental pressure and financial vulnerability, he went on to stress on the importance of team composition, dedication, faith in the concept and foreseeing the risks involved in a start up. Sharing his own experiences with budding and successful entrepreneurs, he came to the conclusion that an idea only contributes 20% of the success of a start up, the remaining 80% being execution. He also acknowledged the concept of promoting ideation via platforms like "Epsilon" and "Conquest" asserting how the competitions are playing a major role in promoting entrepreneurship.

He also touched the developing nature of the Indian Venture capitalist market and the immature nature of the economy in various sectors. Comparing it with the present US market, he said India still has a lot more to offer than the economies of many developed nations. Being a US return himself, he reassured the faith of the students in the Indian Economy calling it one of unimaginable potential.

Addressing the aspirations of each member of the audience personally and giving them a brilliant insight in the world of start-ups, the enlightened audience dispersed with a sense of purpose as they went on to their usual technological education.

EPSILON updated

EPSILON.The transition from zero to infinity.From an idea to a business plan.
And this transition is a story in itself -wonderful to watch and absolutely brilliant to be a part of.
The annual intrabits business idea competition got off to an amazing start last september.
The publicity was amazing...from a promotional video and its own spoof(which was much more appealing :)) to the many posters that came out nearly every
third day,from having lennon's picture in one of them..to the one saying "do u want yet another
poster?"!
Hilarious,interesting and creative..but most important of all-it created a huge buzz among the junta which resonated brilliantly in the record number of entries we got this year.
The first BPW by Mr. P.K.Padi saw a jampacked lecture hall.We also had some very good bpws by Mr Prajakt Raut(Founder,TIE) and Mr L.Desouza,Dean (academics),ISB.
The judging has been done in two rounds to shortlist the finalists (the results of the second phase are just around the corner-so tighten your seatbelts folks!!)

The finals have been scheduled for february the 14th,as the finale to the E-Week celebrations (and not because of any other traditions being followed on that date:)).
This is the first week of a new semester and its pretty amazing the way the team is working on it right now..the pitch is feverish,the days are closing in..its started to feel a bit crazy already but yes..the stage is being set for a very interesting event:)..
from zero to infinity!

Find problems, Solve them

Identifying problems is a key to building successful businesses. A lot of times simply “replicating” a model elsewhere doesn’t quite work. Demographics for instance play a crucial role. One of the most successful starts to come out of Pilani city was Mobile Medics (later acquired by Nicholas Piramal) founded by a BITS Pilani team.

Mobile Medics was essentially a private health care system that would compliment the existing government infrastructure. A van equipped with testing equipment and drug supplies would carry a doctor and nurse and reach the villages in the operation radius. They plan to charge each patient Rs.50 ($1.25) as consultation fees. The system is modeled as “treatment at doorstep”, saving the villager from the long and cumbersome journey to the major hospitals.

A couple of months ago my father told me that a student wanted to do something which sounded very much like mobile medics in Hyderabad and had consulted him regarding that. A mobile medics like start-up is most likely suited with a rural backdrop in mind, one where there is no health care for miles and hence transport becomes a burden. Doing it in a city isn’t quite feasible especially taking into account the running costs as well as sustainability.

Looking around my hostel, I can think of so many businesses germinating with the simple idea of solving problems. Take BITS for example, the entire campus houses around 4000 students and the major eating joint is around 500 meters from almost every hostel. And students are lazy. Now, an effective business that could spring up here is room delivery. Every restaurant might not be able to employ workers especially for delivery purposes. However, if another new venture was established; one which provided room delivery and had tie ups with every restaurant in Pilani (or at least many of them), this could solve a lot of problems. Generating employment, revenues flowing in are just some of the offshoots, but the major reason for all this is because you are providing a service to people which is really useful to them.

Find problems, solve them.