No startup idea is stupid if it solves a real problem, says TurningIdeas founder Ashish Mittal
Our belief was that although we have the talent in India, unfortunately the fear of failure meant many did not want to be an entrepreneur.
By Pranbihanga Borpuzari, ET Online | Updated:
While there are several incubators in the country, Ashish Mittal says TurningIdeas is different. An incubator that looks to transform a mere idea into a business, Mittal, the founder of TurningIdeas, says an aspiring entrepreneur does not need an idea that looks to reinvent the wheel, but only needs to solve a problem or do something better.
What is the thought behind TurningIdeas and what does it do?
TurningIdeas is an incubation platform set up around three years ago, with a vision to replicate what goes on in universities like Harvard and Stanford. Our belief was that although we have the talent in India, unfortunately the fear of failure meant many did not want to be an entrepreneur. We wanted to tackle this issue by focusing on emerging entrepreneurs who are passing out of educational institutes and want to start something.
In the three years of your existence, what has been your experience around startups? Has the eco-system moved forward?
If I look back at three years when we started and where we are today, there are a lot of success stories. The e-commerce space is a good example of that and I think a lot of traction has been built up around mentors, funding and the kind of companies that we see. A lot of people have also started considering being entrepreneurs as a viable career option. Having said that, there are still a lot of challenges, where we are still a very closed and conservative society. A lot of decisions regarding career and what a youngster should do and not do are still dependant on the parents and for them starting up is not a very wise choice. Our belief is if given the right environment, entrepreneurs can scale their startup and we can have many more companies of global scale.
As a startup what can one expect from TurningIdeas?
At TurningIdeas our line of thinking is that no idea is a stupid idea. In a nutshell, we are open to entrepreneurs' right from the ideation stage. It is not about a great idea, but more about the entrepreneur or the founding team that need to have the courage to startup and solve issues and challenges that exists today. Any aspiring entrepreneur can walk into TurningIdeas and we will vet the idea for them - whether it makes sense, does it solve a problem and can it be turned into a business. Once we have established the fact that the idea has potential, we then move from ideation to inception, where we help in doing a pilot with help of shared pool of technical resources. We offer co-working space, bootstrap capital for the founders and give them enough support to carry on with their business. To ensure they have a market fit product we connect them to our eco-system of mentors and the investor community.
We also help entrepreneurs define the go-to market to help them test their product. We also help entrepreneurs in raising funds and help them navigate the entire lifecycle from the ideation stage to having a marketable product.
In some cases one idea may not work and in that case we help them pivot and try out different ideas to solve an issue. As an entrepreneur you do not need a prototype or a fancy business plan to be a part of TurningIdeas and this has been our differentiator, all you need is right skills and attitude to change the world for better. Gone are the times when entrepreneurs needed to spend time making power point presentations. We are happy to know from an entrepreneur if he can merely state how his idea solves a problem and why it makes sense. If we see a value in it, we would definitely pursue it.
What is the thought behind TurningIdeas and what does it do?
TurningIdeas is an incubation platform set up around three years ago, with a vision to replicate what goes on in universities like Harvard and Stanford. Our belief was that although we have the talent in India, unfortunately the fear of failure meant many did not want to be an entrepreneur. We wanted to tackle this issue by focusing on emerging entrepreneurs who are passing out of educational institutes and want to start something.
In the three years of your existence, what has been your experience around startups? Has the eco-system moved forward?
If I look back at three years when we started and where we are today, there are a lot of success stories. The e-commerce space is a good example of that and I think a lot of traction has been built up around mentors, funding and the kind of companies that we see. A lot of people have also started considering being entrepreneurs as a viable career option. Having said that, there are still a lot of challenges, where we are still a very closed and conservative society. A lot of decisions regarding career and what a youngster should do and not do are still dependant on the parents and for them starting up is not a very wise choice. Our belief is if given the right environment, entrepreneurs can scale their startup and we can have many more companies of global scale.
As a startup what can one expect from TurningIdeas?
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At TurningIdeas our line of thinking is that no idea is a stupid idea. In a nutshell, we are open to entrepreneurs' right from the ideation stage. It is not about a great idea, but more about the entrepreneur or the founding team that need to have the courage to startup and solve issues and challenges that exists today. Any aspiring entrepreneur can walk into TurningIdeas and we will vet the idea for them - whether it makes sense, does it solve a problem and can it be turned into a business. Once we have established the fact that the idea has potential, we then move from ideation to inception, where we help in doing a pilot with help of shared pool of technical resources. We offer co-working space, bootstrap capital for the founders and give them enough support to carry on with their business. To ensure they have a market fit product we connect them to our eco-system of mentors and the investor community.
We also help entrepreneurs define the go-to market to help them test their product. We also help entrepreneurs in raising funds and help them navigate the entire lifecycle from the ideation stage to having a marketable product.
In some cases one idea may not work and in that case we help them pivot and try out different ideas to solve an issue. As an entrepreneur you do not need a prototype or a fancy business plan to be a part of TurningIdeas and this has been our differentiator, all you need is right skills and attitude to change the world for better. Gone are the times when entrepreneurs needed to spend time making power point presentations. We are happy to know from an entrepreneur if he can merely state how his idea solves a problem and why it makes sense. If we see a value in it, we would definitely pursue it.
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Which sectors do you focus on?
We are sector agnostic and considering India is an emerging market and we are more focused on sectors like education and healthcare. We believe a lot can be done in these spaces and we should be supportive of startups in such fields - both at the eco-system level and at the community level.
What according to you is a good idea? What is that idea that works?
A good idea is the one that solves a real world problem. What I have seen over the years is that before the idea takes shape, the entrepreneur has a great deal of focus on the monetization. This, I believe, is not the correct approach. However, the entire industry has been built on monetizing the product and every investor to mentor will only stress on the importance of monetizing the product. I think it is wrong for a founder to think of monetization before building a great product. Every idea is a great idea if it solves a real world problem.
It is not about re-inventing the wheel but in most cases executing something in a much better way. For example e-commerce has been existence for a long time in India but companies like Flipkart and Snapdeal were able to do it in better way and hence succeeded. Aggregation of taxis and cabs is another example of this with the likes of Uber and Ola doing well in a segment that has been around for a long time. If startups execute an existing idea well, the chances of them succeeding are quite high.
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How important is the team or the founder in relation to the idea and the success of a startup? In any startup, the founder or the team of founders is the main ingredient. It is often not about the great idea or not how much effort you put it in. It is the founder or the right team that often decides whether a startup will work or fail. We have seen entrepreneurs coming to us with ideas which they felt very strongly about only to realize there is not enough market potential. Founders that realize the need to pivot and are agile are often the ones to succeed.
A founding team with complimenting skills is very important. Startups with one founder have also done well but our belief is that you should have multiple founders in a startup with complimenting skills. The startup journey is not easy and you need founders with complimenting skills. Ideally, there should be a founder that understands technology, another which knows marketing, one that has a financial background and someone who is good at looking at the larger picture. A founder doing it alone may face burn out or may have to outsource non-core aspects of the business, which may not work out.
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Pranbihanga Borpuzari, ET Bureau
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Hailed and applauded for doing it at a fraction of a cost and in its first attempt, ISRO's Mars Orbiter has produced a huge fillip to technology in the country. What has remained largely under the radar is that a significant part of the technology has in fact come from our small and medium technology companies from across the country.
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