What Mentors Say

NNeewwsslleetttteerr Edition-1 September 2014

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Thank

You Sirs!

Mr. Kochouseph Chittilappilly Chairman

V-guard industries Limited

Mr. Shamim Rafeek Founder & Chief Facilitator

“Winner in You”

Mr. V. Sathyanarayanan Sr. Partner

Varma & Varma

STARTUP MANTRA

Peter Chacko, Founding Technologist & CEO,

Athinio Data Systems Pvt.Ltd, Bangalore

91-984 557 6885, www.athinio.com

MOTIVATIONAL

It is the innate aspiration for excellence that I believe is at the root of all successful

entrepreneurial activity. It is the desire to differentiate. To be different in a positive way.

To stand out from the crowd; not to blend in with it. To express your identity in a unique

way such that it is recognized and honored. That is the meaning of ‘Branding’. Without that

you are a grain of rice in a sack. Excellence is to take responsibility not only for your own

well being but that of others. To lead others on the road which will not only help you to

make your dream come true but to weave the dreams of others into the fabric so

intrinsically that when they look out on the achievement of your vision, they will also see

their own visions becoming reality. To leave behind a legacy by which you are remembered

when affection and your passing regretted. Entrepreneurship is to always act with this

consciousness about the long term effects of our actions. To be willing to give an account,

because we know that we will be held accountable.

Entrepreneurship is all about spirit. It is recognizing that you did not come into this world

either randomly by accident or by your own choice. Your parents did not choose for you to

be born. I believe that we were sent and we were sent with a purpose. When we discover the

purpose we enter a state of grace.

I believe that we were not sent into this world to dominate it or conquer it or to impose our

will on it. We were sent to live in it, harmony with it, as its caretakers and trustees. We

were given special skills and knowledge not so that we could use them oppress others and

destroy all those who opposed us, but to be better be able to ensure that peace prevails in

the land and justice done and the earth and its inhabitants are happy that we live on it.

From AAnn EEnnttrreepprreenneeuurrss DDiiaarryy

Mirza Yawar Baig

(An Entrepreneur and successful motivational speaker)

STARTUP MANTRA

After I started Athinio, I went through the passing away of 2 of

my close family members, and 2 of my immediate members of

extended family when my company was very vulnerable and I

faced more than a dozen times of occasions for closing down. I

went through many months, when I had no money to pay

salaries for the next month and so on and so forth. When your

team realizes your vulnerability, why should your executives

and employees stick on and be lead by you? Dealing with

market forces, managing your personal adversities,

implementing and managing the adaptive changes of your

leadership team and employees can be never easy. Very often,

employees look up the chain of command for carrying

responsibilities. Getting employees assume greater

responsibilities during troubled time are hard.

Entrepreneurship is hard, and doing a product start up having

gestation period such as more than 20 man years, in a country

having no eco system is much harder unless it’s well-funded

and will never go like a clock work, will face many struggles,

break downs in managing the changes. Facing such adaptive

challenges and driving their team through changes, that they

absorb and understand, who otherwise thrive on status quo is

a test of character for the Founder. In the first edition of our

Newsletter, I wish to switch on some red-light to this inevitable

phase of your startup that I learned from my experience,

where I made many mistakes. This is specifically relevant to a

world-beating product start up running on its internal steam

without an external gratification, needing highly skilled talents,

while it’s not VC-backed.

Many employees are told what to do while many managers are

learned to treat subordinates like machinery that requires

control. Letting lower level people take the initiative, define the

problem and solve it, means management learns to support

them rather than control. Many leaders are unable to address

competing perspectives collectively. It’s the role of the founder,

to get their lower-grade employees to face tough trade-offs in

life styles, procedures and power, by making adaptive changes

to your leadership team. If your executive team cannot be

adaptive, your venture will languish. More than 60% of un-

funded product start ups cease to exist in the first 2 years,

because founders and leaders fail to bring in their collective

wisdom, confidence, heart, brains and hands work together, and

learn from each other and face the adaptive challenges. I

worked for many failed start ups, because founders never

learned from each other and adapt. The biggest challenge is

getting senior executives address conflicts boldly; bring in

changes needing themselves also go through a transformation,

need of active collaboration with their teams, who are

otherwise ambivalent about changing the way they work.

During bad times, or challenged by various market forces,

convincing the team about the change , and do something

different is a tough proposition and mostly likely they will lose

confidence in your directions and is likely to leave your

company. They may become cynical about the company for the

mis-construed-wavering decisions. Lead executives may not

want to lose control or position of power that they gain from

current model or solutions and fail to re-organize, re-distribute

their experience, roles for the new situation and challenges and

re-form for the new model. During this time, Founder exercise

his leadership skills, not managerial skills, to share the conflicts,

challenges with the team, and motivate them to take the

responsibility for protecting the company, with strong empathy,

and transfer of control and command, and giving the work back

to them, and empower them to initiate the change needed,

rather than leader himself make the changes and enforce on the

team. Sometimes, voice of leadership can come from the

bottom of the pyramid and Founder should never fail to listen to

it. A true founder will prove his leadership, when he succeeds in

people willing to be lead by him, when he has nothing to offer

to them. Founder should exercise disciplined attention to every

concern to see the underlying pattern of a larger problem, and

identify and fire those executives who prefer work-avoidance.

During this time, founder has to constrain the leadership

partners, while empower the employees, who want to do the

actual work and take the company out of trouble. It’s imperative

that founder design his business model for failures and prepares

his team to face stress. And I believe that, a true leader should

maintain a minimum stress, to fill the needed air for the tyre to

move. He should regulate this stress all the time. I once had to

fire one of my partners who were heading our Engineering,

when I saw that under his supervision, company lost the

collective confidence when I was away for 1 month tending my

sick father back home. During the stress time, no body wishes to

hear, or be heard. This is the most important time, that people

ask the definition of "my company culture". I made many

mistakes in hiring wrong executives, funder-managing the

executives and micro-managing the employees. I found many of

my leaders unable to address any real issues and will only climb

on other's shoulders, when challenged. I made many mistakes in

not spending enough time in understanding, listening and

convincing some of my sub-ordinates, in their language, and

paid a huge price in losing them during the bad time. I faced 100

occasions when, the best way forward was to shut down the

venture...Friends, build your company with positivism, but

always understand, most of your employees are not as

confident or positive as yourself. Be prepared to take new roles,

learn new skills, do different things or same things differently

and always invest a good time in every month, to add a new

skill, and build your character, and the collective character of

your team, and the culture of your company and improve

collective energy, only to prepare you for the next rainy season.

As work avoidance is rampant, you have to nullify or dilute the

stumbling blocks that prevent people from dealing with

adaptive challenges. You train your leaders of your start up,

motivate them to allow their subordinates to feel the pinch of

reality, to stimulate them to adapt and show them how to dis-

orient their subordinates to realize new relationships to

develop, rather than orienting them to their current positions

and roles.

Depending on whom you are and why you started a company,

and where you want to take the company to, Your Company

culture is characteristic of your DNA. A company is a business

machine to some, while it’s a family with a shared philosophy

and a common heart to some. No product start up can stay

afloat unless it has a real team who will help the company from

troubles and protect it. A founder's real challenge is to

transform his Leadership and Employee team needing

protection, to a prolific team who is willing to protect their

company. Your company culture has to be built for failure-

tolerance, like a good product. Your company is like an air-craft

in the air, and will see 1000 reasons to crash-land, and it’s not

you, but your team should be responsible for, for which they

need power to exercise and suggest decisions and the right to

be heard. Without delegation of power, responsibilities cannot

be transferred. Give that to your team, and be the enabler, and

pulse sensor and regulator of the team! Founder's charisma or

his American accent can come later! True valuation of your

company is not your customers, but the collective character

strength of your employees who are your equity-partners as

well, who will help you during your bad times. As a leader, our

job is to identify, nurture, motivate, engage with, groom every

employee having the voice of leadership, as a mini-CEO within,

and he will never be working for your company, but it will be his

company - and you become a real entrepreneur only then. In

the end, you will find yourself as the mother of your start up; all

employees are your children and all leadership partners as your

brothers or sisters.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) works to create and sustain an environment conducive to the growth of industry in India, partnering industry and government alike through advisory and consultative processes. http://www.cii.in/

TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) is a nonprofit trade group dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship. It sponsors the TiECON annual conference for entrepreneurs from technology companies, venture capital firms, and service providers.

https://kerala.tie.org/

KSIDC Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation Ltd. (KSIDC) is a wholly owned company of Government of Kerala, for the promotion and development of medium and large scale units in the State. As the nodal agency for foreign and domestic investments in Kerala, KSIDC provide comprehensive support for investors, besides processing various incentive schemes and facilitating constant interaction between the government and the industrial sector. Project Lending: KSIDC offers financial assistance and support to medium and large scale industries in the State including service sectors like tourism, star category hotels, resorts, hospitals, infrastructure projects, etc and where the constitution of assisted unit is in the nature of Private/ Public Ltd Company.

http://www.ksidc.org

BNI-INDIA BNI is a 29 year old business and professional organisation that allows only one person from each trade or profession to join a chapter. BNI has over 160,000 members worldwide, in 55 different countries, from over 300 different types of profession… all of whom have benefited from increased referral business as a result of BNI. In 2013, BNI helped generate 5.4 million referrals which generated Rs.40,000 crores (US$6.5 Billion) of business world wide. Belonging to BNI is like having dozens of salespeople representing your business

www.bni-india.com

Startup Village Startup Village aims to launch 1,000 start-ups over the next 10 years and start the search for the next billion-dollar Indian company. We will create an ecosystem that promotes innovation and provides a platform for youngsters to create cutting-edge technology. Our focus is on student start-ups and telecom innovation http://www.startupvillage.in/

Kerala Startups

Kerala Startups is a group of individuals who have come forward to make the difference in the entrepreneurship scene of Kerala. The initial formation was done in a very informal way through social media groups which currently have close to 6,000 members, but eventually grew to become a formal organization with good support from the founding members and from institutions like Technopark and Startup Village. Two chapters of Kerala Startups, each at Trivandrum and Kochi, are functioning now and we plan to launch chapters in other cities very soon. Kerala Startups is a Not For Profit Society registered under Travancore - Cochin Societies Act http://keralastartups.org/

Technopark Technology

Business Incubator (T-TBI), is the India's first and Most successful Non Academic Business Incubator, hosted and housed inside the Asia Largest IT Park Technopark. Technopark Technology Business Incubator (T-TBI), a joint association of Technopark, Trivandrum and the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, to help the technology business start-ups. Since launching in 2006, our family includes more than 195+ of India's most promising startups.

MSME Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) contribute nearly 8 percent of the country’s GDP, 45 percent of the manufacturing output and 40 percent of the exports. They provide the largest share of employment after agriculture. They are the nurseries for entrepreneurship and innovation. They are widely dispersed across the country and produce a diverse range of products and services to meet the needs of the local markets, the global market and the national and international value chains.

http://msme.gov.in/

Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry The Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), is a voluntary organization that promotes and develops trade and industry in Kerala and functions as a Central Forum for Businesspersons. The KCCI has its Head Quarters in Cochin, The main objective of the Chamber is to facilitate, protect, and promote trade and commerce in Kerala by considering and formulating opinions on all subjects connected with trade, commerce and industries and conveying it to local, State or Central authorities. The Chamber has been actively involved in the development of infrastructure, which is essential for the growth of Kerala economy. http://www.keralachamber.in

G-Tech Group of Technology Companies or GTECH is a strategic grouping of IT/ITES Companies in Kerala playing a proactive role in the accelerated growth of the IT Industry in the state. GTECH is the reference point for the Kerala IT Industry and works closely with the Government of Kerala in promoting the state as an Ideal IT/ITES destination. GTECH is an Industry led no-profit organization playing a positive role in building the competencies of the IT/ITES companies in Kerala http://gtechindia.org/

Kerala State Entrepreneur Development Mission(KSEDM), is an ambitious scheme of the Government of Kerala, aims at inculcating entrepreneurial confidence among youth of the State through the process of selecting persons with aptitude and earnestness, training them meticulously and enabling them avail finance on easy terms from Banks/Financial Institutions. The dream project of Sri. K.M. Mani, Hon. Minister for Finance, Law and Housing. Mission aims at establishment of 10 micro enterprises in each local body in five years thereby giving encouragement to 50,000 entrepreneurs, about 50,000 more employment opportunities and much more indirect employment.

http://www.kfc.org/kssedm-project/index.php.

Note: From our VB Alumni Fourth ambit has been selected for financial support from KFC as part of KSSEDM Scheme. Those who are looking for financial assistance from KFC, please get in touch with Jikku Jolly of FourthAmbit jikku.jolly@gmail.com (+91 9947345005)

KNOW YOUR ECO SYSTEM

A Signature Firm in

Hardware Sector The New Indian Express | 26th May 2014

KOCHI: In Kerala, where software startups are the latest trend, getting into hardware designs and surviving its vicissitudes is a dicey prospect for

any startup. But for Z-Crossing Solutions, a Kochi-based electronic hardware design services and product manufacturing firm, taking up the

challenge has opened a floodgate of untapped opportunities. According to Premy Varghese, founder and one of the directors of Z-Crossing, the

startup aims to create awareness and interest among the next generation in the embedded domain and to provide complete embedded products

to customers in the best time to market (TTM).

Premy Varghese, a BTech graduate in Biomedical Engineering from Government Model Engineering College, Thrikkakara, is no newbie in

hardware designing. He has over 15 years of experience in the hardware and embedded domain.

“Most of our customers come up with their own unique ideas and we work closely with them throughout the various stages of product

development, right from concept, design and to manufacturing, to realise an end product of their choice for the market,” he says.

The startup works with multiple eco-system partners focused on their own areas of expertise for the product development. The company primarily

focuses on hardware components, the firmware and software components are developed by our ecosystem partners namely GadgEon Smart

Systems and mechanical components by Teqzo Consultancy. Ignitarium Technology Solutions is their FPGA solutions partner. The products by

Z-Crossing Solutions find majority of its applications in the IOT (Internet of things) area.

Z-Crossing has been able to support customers, who had failed miserably by doing the initial designs with other companies mainly in China, and

also in India, to help identify and solve their technical problems and take the products to production within a very short span of time. This includes

products in the medical field and entertainment space. Beyond this, they have been able to do the project management from this stage and

ensure the successful volume production. These customers have indicated their plans to do the subsequent designs directly with Z-Crossing.

“In a small state like Kerala, we have a lot of challenges and limitations ahead. Being in the hardware space, there are a lot of imports and

exports involved. The rate of duty and the lead time for the clearance are some of the greatest challenges we face, beyond other technical

bottlenecks,” he said.

The lack of standard PCB (printed circuit board) assembly firms and PCB fabrication companies in and around Kochi has been a challenge for

the production and prototyping phase. At present, they work with vendors in East Asia like China and Taiwan, in additional to the US and also

other parts of India. But Z-Crossing believes that embedded eco system will take off in a great way in the southern state of Kerala also and they

are committed to supporting any activities towards this.

Embedded Ecosystem

The companies involved in the ecosystem can share and grow together and create a new environment for embedded solutions in India. This will

in turn enable the companies to share your efforts, infrastructure costs and profits and hence increased profits to all by providing quality end to

end solutions to the customer in a much faster pace. Through this model, the teams will get exposure to a complete product development cycle

instead of restricting it to their core expertise areas. It will change the face of India and Kerala by coming out with a product development capable

team. Z-Crossing Solutions, with an 11-member strong workforce and maintaining an eco-system mode of partnership, is poised to take a giant

leap in the hardware design and manufacturing sector in the state.

http://www.newindianexpress.com/business/news/A-Signature-Firm-in-Hardware-Sector/2014/05/26/article2245662.ece

“Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard.”

Guy Kawasaki, Alltop Co-Founder and Entrepreneur

VBians in News!

VB LESSONS LEARNED

"It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think

about that, you’ll do things differently."

Warren Buffett: Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

Be

Transparent

Quit with grace if it is

not your cup of tea

Be

Innovative

Never give up

No

Employees,

Only TEAM Members

FOCUS and

NO DIVERT

Fortune favors the

BRAVE

Act fast;

Immediate execution of

plans

Obey the Rules before

you fight

Be the Captain of

your ship

Overcome

your Negativity

Keep

Excellent relationship

with your customers and

suppliers

SUCCESS

drives, NOT

Money

Continuous

Learning

Team work

is what matters

Improve

Networking

skills

MARKETING & CUSTOMER CENTRICITY: Tips & Tricks

1. Be or become an expert in your domain.

2. Fix your RIGHT Customer Segment.

3. Identify the RIGHT Customer. All opportunities many not favor your business

4. Listen to the customer, patiently.

5. Don't think of returns always; think of what way your product and service can become useful for

the customer.

6. Find a reason for "Why the customer should choose your product or service".

7. Always ensure that there is a USP (unique selling point) for your products & Services.

8. Give maximum value addition to the customer and be unique.

9. Be innovative, continuously improve your product and service

10. Always learn/observe features in other similar services/products, need not copy the ideas... but

understand.

Pradeep Kumar M Pravaha Softwares & Consultancy Services (P) Ltd, Palakkad

cmpradeep@pravahasoftwares.com

Mobile: +91 93886 32168 (Mob)

“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my

career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times

I’ve been trusted to take the game winning

shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over

and over again in my life and that is why I

succeed.”

Michael Jordan, NBA Legendary

Basketball MVP

Contact VijayeeBhava

Alumni

vijayeebhava@googlegroups.com

BE IN TOUCH!

Way Forward

VB will emerge as one of the strong platform and ecosystem for young Entrepreneurs in Kerala to learn and

grow. We urge each and every one of you to come together and take this great movement to greater

heights!!

Contribute to our

eco-system.

Let’s build a new

Vision!

Share your

Ideas

To make this

gathering more

meaningful

Connect with

likeminded people

Find and Create new

opportunities for you

and others

DD ee aa rr VVBB FF aammii ll yy MMee mm bb ee rr ss ,,

LL ee tt mm ee ss ii gg nnoo ff ff ff oo rr tt hh ee

tt ii mmee bb ee ii nngg .. WWii ll ll cc aa tt cc hh

yy oo uu ff oo ll kk ss ii nn nn ee xx tt ee dd ii tt ii oo nn !!

Upcoming Entrepreneurial Events

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The Kerala Government is planning to promote women entrepreneurs as a ‘specific brand’ in the State. KCCI - Ladies forum , under the leadership of Convener Ms Sherly Jose and Jt Convener Ms Sheela Matthai , would be conducting a programme in August fully supported by KSIDC .

Venue - Avenue Centre, Date - August