ITC Infotech, a global scale full service provider of technology solutions and a fully-owned subsidiary of ITC Ltd have announced the third edition of its flagship annual co-creation and technology innovation platform iTech 2017. The event will take place at the ITC Infotech campus in Bangalore on 22nd and 23rd of July, 2017.
This year, iTech 2017 will run two parallel tracks, a startup ‘Showcase’ segment and ‘Codeathon’. For ‘Showcase’, ITC Infotech will invite startups to demonstrate solutions leveraging Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Cognitive Computing, Automation, Deep Learning, Natural Language Processing and Bots, to address specific business challenges. These real-world industry challenges are crowdsourced from across ITC Infotech’s global client base, as well as from ITC Ltd.
Some of these use cases include:
Voice-controlled AI devices/technologies (such as Amazon Echo, Google Home, Siri or Cortana) to improve inpatient hospital experience by providing an intelligent virtual assistant to hospital patients
Identify patterns in Loyalty customers and drive proactive engagement for Retail, Consumer Goods, Travel and Hospitality
Enable personalized marketing [across industries, including Banking, Insurance, Retail, Consumer Goods, Healthcare, Insurance, Travel and Hospitality]
Predictive Maintenance in factories
Yield prediction for Agriculture
Identification of pest [insects, diseases, weeds etc.] through image analysis, and recommender system for remedies
Golden Batch Analysis in Process Manufacturing – Control limits for various process parameters and Predictive & prescriptive composition of raw material
AI based Trade promotion/campaign management
The Codeathon segment will see 40 teams, shortlisted from the entries received, face-off in a race against time to create code components for complex business applications. Participants can present their ideas across challenge areas provided by ITC Infotech. The event is free and open to all students, professionals, developers and early stage technology startups.
iTech is where young technology disruptors and innovators from across India come together to celebrate all things ‘new’ in technology. Technocrats and business leaders from across our global client base will be joining us for these two days to understand how they can unlock the untapped opportunity within their organizations through the latest digital technologies. With iTech 2017, we will be bringing together some of the sharpest technology minds to compete, create and code, while interacting closely with the vibrant ecosystem of entrepreneurs and business leaders of the future.
An exciting addition to iTech 2017 for technology startups is the ITC Infotech Grant of Rs. 5 Lakhs for a paid POC, and the opportunity to partner with the company in creating a thriving ecosystem to foster technology innovations. With the phenomenal success of iTech 2015 and iTech 2016, ITC Infotech is excited to host iTech 2017 and recreate an innovation platform to ‘Experience Intelligence’.
About iTech 2017
iTech, an ITC Infotech initiative, is an annual technology innovation platform. The platform will focus on leveraging emerging and disruptive technologies to create business-ready solutions, for addressing some of the most challenging problems faced by the industry. For more information, please visit iTech 2017
Trend Micro, a global leader in cyber-security solutions, have announced the launch of a corporate venture fund to explore emerging technology markets. With an initial investment of $100 million, this venture fund will allow Trend Micro to nurture a portfolio of startups that are incubating ideas and living at the epicenter of hyper growth markets, such as the Internet of Things [IoT].According to Gartner estimates, 26 billion devices will be connected to the Internet by 2020.
Trend Micro’s vision has always been to make the world safe for exchanging digital information. The explosion of devices is transforming how the world works, thinks and acts. It is clear that the ecosystem is still evolving and there is work to do to ensure organizations and individuals can operate and live safely in this new reality.
Trend Micro’s venture will offer companies financial backing, access to its world-class global threat intelligence, strategic alliances, as well as its channel of more than 28,000 partners. In return, working with these investments will uncover insights into emerging ecosystem opportunities, disruptive business models, market gaps and skillset shortages. These learnings will influence Trend Micro’s cyber-security solution planning across the company.
We have a 29-year history of successfully anticipating technology trends to secure all types of environments. The first mega wave we caught was the growth of the PC marketplace; we committed early on to endpoint protection and remain a Leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for EndpointProtection Platforms today. The second mega wave was all about the cloud; we made a bet early on to securing the cloud and so far we have secured over two billion workload hours on Amazon Web Services [AWS] alone. Now, we believe the next wave has arrived with IoT; our fund will help us harness this opportunity.
With a strong financial position and 72 quarters of consecutive profitability, Trend Micro is well positioned to invest funds to do research and make advancements consistent with its corporate strategy. The formation of this venture arm allows additional freedom to dive into new areas without disrupting core business resources.
About Trend Micro
Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in cyber-security solutions, helps to make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Their innovative solutions for consumers, businesses, and governments provide layered security for data centers, cloud environments, networks, and endpoints. With over 5,000 employees in over 50 countries and the world’s most advanced global threat intelligence, Trend Micro enables organizations to secure their journey to the cloud. For more information, please visit Trend Micro
Mastercard announced the list of new startups joining the MastercardStartPathProgram, the company’s global effort to support later-stage fintech and tech companies shaping the future of commerce. Of the six startups, three hail from the Asia Pacific region including ftcash[India], ToneTag[India] and CardUp[Singapore].
As India moves ahead in its journey to a less-cash society, both ftcash and ToneTag will offer platforms that enable consumers & merchants to adopt digital payment solutions. With the significant growth in smartphone penetration, the innovation from the two startups fits into the larger ecosystem. ToneTag, will allow convenient and secure payment solutions using soundwaves [Tone] or NFC [Tag] technology to enable contactless payments through mobile devices.
On the other hand, ftcash has focused on building the acceptance infrastructure with its solutions for micro-merchants and entrepreneurs that enable them to accept different modes of digital payments.
Porush Singh, Country Corporate Officer, South Asia, Mastercard said
The MastercardStartPathProgram helps innovative later-stage startups develop the next generation of commerce solutions. We are happy to announce that two Indianstartups ftcash and ToneTag are joining this year’s edition of the program. Mastercard will offer them the technology with reliable and secure financial networks to create an even more rewarding and seamless payments experience for the consumers.
Spanning five countries across the globe, the newest class is focused on bridging the gap between physical and digital retail through a variety of solutions. Several of the selected startups are harnessing insights from in-store traffic patterns and spending habits to create personalized experiences for customers. Others are helping merchants accept payments through SMS messaging systems and bill-paying platforms for large expenses that historically could not be paid using a card.
The latest wave of Start Path participants include:
CardUpmanages monthly credit card payments for big ticket items such as rent or insurance, while also accessing credit and earning additional rewards.
ftcashenables micro-merchants and entrepreneurs to take collateral-free business loans and accept mobile app and messaging-based payments from their customers.
ToneTag enables contactless payments on any device using soundwaves or NFC.
The ModoPaymentsplatform enables new ways to pay, including the use of loyalty points to buy everyday goods in-store.
Movvoprovides insights on in-store browsing and shopping patterns.
RecommenderXdevelops cutting-edge data analytics to offer personalized recommendations.
The Start Path team will work with the selected startups against a tailored plan that will deliver tangible value and help these companies to scale. The startups will receive access to Mastercard experts, partners and customers representing leading banks and retailers in all regions of the globe to enable their business development.
Applications for the next six-month virtual program will be accepted through 11:59 p.m. ET on Tuesday, August 1, 2017. The program is open to startups who are rethinking banking, payments and commerce and have raised a significant seed or Series A round of investment. Interested startups can visit StartPath for additional information and to submit an application.
About Mastercard Start Path
Mastercard Start Path is a global effort to support innovative startups developing the next generation of commerce solutions today. Start Pathwas launched in 2014 with an objective to help startups to grow their businesses faster than they could by themselves. Startups that join the program can benefit from the knowledge of a global network of Mastercard experts, access to Mastercard customers and partners, and the ability to innovate on top of Mastercard solutions. Mastercard customers that join the program as partners get connected to the best and brightest startups and gain access to innovations from across the globe. For more information visit www.startpath.com or follow MastercardStart Path on Twitter at @MAstartpath.
Michael & Susan Dell Foundation funded Oliveboard achieved a major milestone crossing 1 million registered users on its platform. Very few edtech companies manage a reach of over 1 million users and Oliveboard has managed this within just few years of its launch.
The company offers courses in both English & Hindi and has a majority of its users coming from Tier 2 & 3 cities of India. The company delivers its courses on both PC & Mobile and its Android mobile app for over 20 exams across MBA, Banking & Government Job exam categories.
We are probably one of the few e-learning companies in India, with a heavy focus on government job and banking exam related curriculum. We believe that our various initiatives such as introduction of vernacular, gamification of courseware, study planners, analytics for feedback and our thrust on smaller cities of India have immensely helped us achieve this milestone within a short period of time.
Founded in 2012 by ex-Inmobi colleagues, Abhishek Patil & Satish Kumar, Oliveboard has received Pre-series A funding from India Educational Investment Fund [IEIF], an early-stage impact investment fund established by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. The company began with a focus on MBA exams before expanding to the Bank & Government job exam segment in early 2014. Since then, it has established itself as one of the most recognized names in the field of Bank & Government Job exam preparation. The company provides its users with complete preparation with Video lectures, online study material, All India test series along with various other practice tests.
Most of its users are 21~30 year old, with a majority [around 70%] of them from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities of India. Oliveboard users span across 1000+ cities & towns of India spread over all 29 states & 7 union territories of India making it one of the most geographically penetrated online services in India. The 1 million users have attempted over 100 million questions on the platform.
About Oliveboard
Oliveboard is an online test preparation platform for MBA, Banking & Government Job exams. Students are prepped for success using Video lectures, Up to date comprehensive course material, Live Group Practice Sessions, Customized Study Planners, All India Test Series, Practice Tests and Analytics for instant feedback. Users can access Oliveboard’s courses on their computers, laptops or an app on their smartphones. For more information, please visit OliveBoard
V Resorts, an asset-light resort management company, recently raised $4 million in its third round of funding, with Seedfund and RB International. V Resorts currently manages over 70 resorts across 15 states in the country. The company operates on a business model of aggregating existing properties and managing the operations of those properties on a revenue share basis. With this infusion of funds, V Resorts is all set to make a paradigm shift in the landscape of the leisure travel sector in India.
Commenting on the development, Aditi Balbir, Founder and CEO of V Resorts said
Our competitors are aggregators who solve the problem of discovery – ‘Where to go’. The travel space is flooded with such aggregators but no player is currently targeting the problem of on-ground experience. We at V Resorts solve the problem of customer experience – from manpower to vendors, procurement, booking, feedback etc. – covering the entire gamut of hospitality services. The funds will be utilized to further invest in these consumer and operator interfaces. We are also looking at doubling our inventory by the end of this year and are geared towards a three fold growth in the company.
Initiatives are in place to increase our footprints to over 1000 locations in India in the next two years. Keeping in mind our goal of going where Indians go, international expansion is on the cards as well. South East Asia is amongst the favorite overseas destinations with Indians, so it’s a prudent decision to focus our initial expansion efforts there.
In this challenging ecosystem, VResorts has a differentiated business model that allows for high profitability with occupancy increase. And given the high capital efficiency, the model can be scaled quickly.
Executive Director Shailesh Vikram Singh, Seedfund which has invested in VResorts in the initial phase as well said
This is indeed exciting times for the travel leisure segment. Our strategy will be to build travel choices even to the most inaccessible places and create profitable businesses with the involvement of the local community.
V Resorts is an alternate accommodation provider in the leisure travel space. Since 2014, the company has been operating on the foundation of bringing superior quality and standardization to the less explored but breathtaking destinations of India. For customers who want to travel to new places and explore parts of India, the company promises a seamless standardised experience – from searching for information, making a booking, reaching the place to experiencing the local appeal of that destination.
AtherEnergy, the smart electric two-wheeler start-up, have announced the new addition of Dr.VenkateshPadmanabhan as the ChiefOperatingOfficer and Thiruppathy Srinivasan (Thiru) as Vice-President of Vehicle Development. Fondly known as Venki, he will head supply chain, quality, manufacturing, and service delivery at Ather.
Dr.VenkateshPadmanabhansaid
For my 10 years in India, I have been wrestling with this singular question : Can we, will we create world beating consumer hardware products and brands from scratch? We are great in value engineering, local sourcing manufacturing and even at detail engineering of designs of others. But what about solving hairy consumer problems with our own design, and our own brand? When I met Tarun, Swapnil and their team at Ather, it was like a lightning bolt hit me. They surely have great brand, design and engineering mojo and are in early stages of building detail engineering and manufacturing capability. I thought I had value to add to this exciting quest and I signed up.
Having worked around the world and in India, I am convinced of the great capability here to engineer innovative product concepts. Especially our young engineers with guidance from seniors from industry and academia have been developing exceptional product concepts, as seen with many IIT Madras incubated companies recently. Ather Energy is among the best of them and have assembled a great team producing a product design with no compromises.
Guiding the team in taking the design through development, along with supplier partners, into production and successfully into the market is an opportunity I am truly delighted to take up. In the past few months I have been with them, I have enjoyed the great level of openness, diligence, enthusiasm, and high sense of purpose of the team.
Venki’s career has taken him to multiple countries and multiple automotive companies. He has a strong knowledge base of the operational requirements for an automotive company, specially two wheelers. His network and his experience in the industry is a valuable asset for a young company. Ather is a young company, building on a new platform with a nascent to often non-existent vendor ecosystem. Venki’s exposure to vendors and manufacturing processes in India will prove a strategic advantage as we close in on the production of the S340.
Thiru joins Ather with over 25 years of experience in product organisations and with a number of product launches under his belt. His knowledge of new product development and introduction will be a tremendous advantage for a startup like Ather. His exposure to the product vendor ecosystems in India, China as well as in countries like Singapore and the United States, gives us a strategic advantage in the prototyping cycle of the S340 and in our future products.
After 15 years at General Motors, in 2004 Dr. Padmanabhan joined Daimler Chrysler’s (DCX) Chrysler Division to support the integration of Lean Manufacturing in its diverse operations and later also worked at Mercedes Car Division. He was brought to India in 2007 as Managing Director of Chrysler’s first South East Asia Global Sourcing Centre in Chennai from where the company today sources close to USD 1 Billion every year in automotive parts.
About Dr.VenkateshPadmanabhan
He joined Royal Enfield as Chief Operating Officer in 2008 and rose to the position of Chief Executive Officer in 2011. During this period, with two successful launches of the Classic and Thunderbird single cylinder UCE based motorcycles, the company saw a threefold increase in sales and twenty fold increase in profits. Royal Enfield now is a brand reborn and thriving in India and 45 other countries.
In 2013, Dr. Padmanabhan served as the MD & CEO of EICL [English Indian Clays Limited] to help recast a 75 year old $80M Kaolin Clay and Starch Producer into a modern innovation driven specialty chemicals company. He moved to Cyient in October 2015 to integrate its acquisition of Rangsons Electronics into extending the detail engineering offerings of its aerospace, defense, rail, medical and consumer business units into complete life cycle offerings.
About Thiruppathy Srinivasan
Thiru also serves as a Senior Advisor of Industry Relations at the Center for Industrial Consultancy & Sponsored Research, IIT Madras. In this role he advises Industry and IITM faculty on Technology and Capability development in Manufacturing towards global leadership.
Thiru started his career in 3M after completing his Masters in Mechanical Engineering from The Ohio State University, USA. Eventually, he moved to Iomega (now Lenovo) supporting their worldwide design centers and factories in sourcing components from Asia. In 2002, he joined Rexnord as its Director of Global Quality in the Bearing Products Division.
He moved back to India in 2003 to serve as the Director of Sourcing for Tyco Healthcare (now Medtronic) managing their Bangalore and Shanghai offices. After a stint at IMI International, he joined AO Smith as Director of Operations, India in 2008. Thiru played a key role in establishing their Green Field Manufacturing Operations in Bangalore. In 2012, he joined Ariv Technologies as their Managing Director and currently serves on their Board of Directors.
About Ather Energy
Ather Energy Pvt. Ltd. is an automobile design and manufacturing company founded in the year 2013 by IIT Madras graduates – Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain. Ather is committed to building smart, connected, uncompromising vehicles and seeks to re-imagine urban commute with the help of technology. The company has so far received funding from Hero MotoCorp, Tiger Global and Flipkart founders Sachin & Binny Bansal. The team of about 200+ employees is currently developing an electric two-wheeler, which will be completely designed and made In India. Ather is also setting up a charging network with its own smart charging pods. These fast charging pods will be set up initially across its three market cities – Bangalore, Chennai & Pune. For more information, please visit Ather Energy
As a testament to its continued popularity among its users, MoneyTap is on target to issue credit lines worth INR 300 crores by the end of the current fiscal year. With this fresh funding, MoneyTap plans to solidify its leadership position by improving credit accessibility for other segments of customers, partnering with 6 other Banks and NBFCs and expanding to 50 cities in India by the end of 2017.
Since its launch in September 2016, India’s first app-based consumer credit line has attracted over three hundred thousand [300k] users. The majority of users have a monthly income of INR 30,000~40,000 and are aged between 28~32 years.
The Indian consumer finance market is estimated to grow at a compounded growth rate of 18 percent to become a USD 1.2 trillion opportunity by 2020. Reports also suggest that it is also one of the most underpenetrated markets for lending, with close to 70% of the population being underserved by institutional lenders. Penetration of unsecured personal loans has been extremely poor in India with the organized credit presence at around 1% in the country.
According to RBI data of August 2016, in a country of 1.2 billion Indians, only 26.4 million have credit cards. Comparatively, there are about 600 million active mobile phones in India and mobile banking transactions rose from Rs 4,185 billion in 2012 to Rs 5,243 billion in October 2016. All this data points out to the fact that consumer-lending startups such as MoneyTap, supported by financial institutions, can serve a huge creditworthy but financially excluded customer base previously overlooked by the lending businesses.
MoneyTap is available on Android Playstore and is targeted at salaried individuals and self-employed professionals earning more than INR 20,000 per month. MoneyTap evaluates the user’s eligibility in less than 4 minutes after which it provides an instant, real-time decision on the application along with the amount they are eligible for. Using the credit line, consumers can choose to borrow as little as INR 3000 or as much as INR 5 lakhs or up to their maximum eligibility limit. Customers can decide their own EMI plans with flexible payback periods ranging from 2 months to 3 years. Interest is paid only on the amount borrowed and rates can be as low as 1.25% per month. If the user does not borrow any amount, then no interest needs to be paid. The credit limit also gets topped up once EMIs are paid back.
MoneyTap along with RBL Bank is able to provide its customers, instant decisions and instant access to money, 24/7. All financial transactions such as billing and repayment are directly dealt with the bank but through the MoneyTap App using secure APIs, thus ensuring 100% secure transactions.
These are exciting times at MoneyTap. We deeply believe that the rapidly growing middle-income group in India is largely underserved by financial institutions. They are app-savvy and very demanding. We have been fortunate to partner with Sequoia, NEA & Prime – all of whom are top tier investors with deep fintech and operational expertise to take us to the next level.
Abheek Anand, Principal, Sequoia Capital India Advisors said
Consumer credit in India is highly under-penetrated and is a complex problem to solve. MoneyTap combines an experienced team with a thoughtfully designed product – and their strong early traction is a testament to the efficacy of their approach to address this massive market opportunity.
MoneyTap is using the power of technology to provide a seamless lending experience to what currently is a largely broken discovery process with long execution timelines for consumers. Also, MoneyTap works with banks & NBFCs instead of competing with them therefore getting access to large amount of lending capital while managing the consumer journey throughout the lending lifecycle.
MoneyTap’s strong growth since its inception is testament to both the innovative nature as well as rapid consumer adoption of their solution which addresses a monster opportunity – providing effortless credit to worthy consumers entirely through an app. We are privileged to be associated with this stellar team from the start of their journey and be part of their vision to reinvent the unsecured consumer lending landscape.
About MoneyTap
MoneyTap is a Bengaluru-based fintech startup, founded by serial entrepreneurs Bala Parthasarathy, Anuj Kacker & Kunal Varma, who are IIT/ISB alumni. Bala has co-founded multiple startups in Silicon Valley including Snapfish (sold to Hewlett Packard), which he helped grow to 100M users and $300M in revenue. After moving to India in 2007, he volunteered for UIDAI under Mr. Nandan Nilekani before starting AngelPrime in 2011 (now Prime Venture Partners) where he helped create companies like ZipDial (sold to Twitter), EZETap, Happay, etc. Kunal (ex Texas Instruments) & Anuj (ex Airtel & JWT) co-founded Tapstart that grew to 300K users and turned profitable in 2 years. MoneyTap works in very close partnerships with various banks and other financial institutions to make the process painless and on-app. For more details, please visit MoneyTap
Co-working spaces have been on the rise in India and the wave is catching up the interest of the entrepreneur as well as the investor community. The primary advantage that co-working space brings to the table is you can find passionate folks who might have complimentary skills that could be of help in building your startup. Most of these co-working spaces also host number of events around scaling, marketing, design, funding, etc. In order to make startups sustainable, it may be important to involve large businesses in their growth story, and such programs further add more value to co-working spaces [Source].
Couple of weeks back, we had written about GoodWorks CoWork,a design-inspired co-working incubation studio started by serial entrepreneurs Vishwas Mudagal and Sonia Sharma. As per the founders, the major USP of GoodWorks CoWork is that along with office space, entrepreneurs can also use GoodWorkLabs’s expertise in order to polish/validate their idea. GoodWorkLabs is a boutique Software and Mobile App Development Company in India and USA which was started by the duo. Through GoodWorks CoWork, they plan to give back to the entrepreneurial eco-system and angel-fund the startup [in case if they find the idea path-breaking].
We caught up with Vishwas Mudagalfor a chat about this venture, its USP, insights into co-working, etc. So, lets get started…
Can you please give a brief about the team behind GoodWorks CoWork ?
After successfully establishing GoodWorkLabs as a leading new-age Outsourced Product Development Firm [OPD] and UX design studio, Sonia Sharma and myself wanted to use our knowledge to give back to the start-up ecosystem. GoodWorks CoWork was launched to build a thriving start-up community and provide the best ecosystem for them to succeed. Under Sonia’s valuable guidance and thought leadership, and my years of experience in handling startups, co-workers can expect to learn numerous tricks and trades of the industry.
What are some of the pain points your team identified which would be solved if a startup is working out of GoodWorks CoWork ?
As a new entrepreneur, you need to wear multiple hats. The sales guy, the tech guy and the marketing guy, you are constantly juggling between different roles. The most valuable benefit of working out of a coworking space is that it reduces burn-rate and allows investment in core business requirements. Secondly, it reduces the logistical pains of running an office and lastly, it provides the best opportunity for networking.
The objective of GoodWorks CoWork is to help budding entrepreneurs grow their business without the hassles of managing operations and logistics. Through GoodWorks CoWork, we aim at creating a perfect ecosystem for startups to nurture their growth.
There has been a plethora of co-working spaces that have been recently started in Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, etc. what are some of the USPs of GoodWorks CoWork vis-a-vis other co-working spaces in the city.
Apart from providing world class services, I think what really sets us apart is our unique approach to coworking. The USPs are as follow:
Design-inspired coworking space – We provide creative, design inspired coworking spaces for our coworkers. Every element in the coworking space has been selected after considerable thought. The wall décor, the seating layout, the lighting structures and overall ambience have a creative undertone. We want to encourage creativity and innovative thinking in this space. We also have inspirational posters and graffiti on the walls to keep the community motivated at all times.
The possibility of getting funded – After successfully establishing GoodWorkLabs as a world-leading and award-winning new-age software lab and design studio, the founders are now all set to provide seed investment to upcoming start-ups and extend our Thought Leadership to help businesses grow. We plan to choose upto three promising start-ups annually that have a ‘real’ business/revenue model and growth potential and plan to invest anywhere between Rs. 20 lakhs ~ Rs. 1 Crore.
Consultation with In-House Experts – We have an in-house team of management consultants to help get the basics in place for your company. Start-ups can book a time with our experts to discuss problems and issues related to HR, Finance, Marketing, Design and Branding faced by the company.
The founders also act as mentors to the startups selected by us and support them through every step of their startup journey.
Can you please walk us through the application process for GoodWorks CoWork ?
GoodWorks CoWork was started to help budding entrepreneurs grow their business without the hassle of sweating about Operations & Support Services. So we’re open to any startup, entrepreneur or small business owners who are passionate about their new venture. Our space provides all the facilities needed to run a company smoothly without logistical hassles.
Is your team looking into particular sectors that a startup operates in or is GoodWorks CoWork open to startups in any sector ?
We are open to all sectors, there is no restriction as such. However, most of the queries we have received is primarily from the IT and Design sectors. However, we do not want to be limited to these two sectors only.
Given that GoodWorkLabs is a pioneer in the software industry. What are some of the areas where GoodWorkLabs can be of support to the companies in GoodWorks CoWork ?
GoodWorkLabs brings tremendous insights and valuable learning to cowork division, this aspect is one of our main USP’s. We provide consulting services for design, software development, android development, iOS development to name a few. The startups can really benefit from all these services which would be very unique in nature.
Vishwas, you as an entrepreneur have seen ups & downs, what is one best reason why a startupper has to choose working out of a co-working space vis-a-vis working out of SOHO
Coworking encourages networking and collaboration. Entrepreneurs, space providers, thought leaders, investors and mentors come together and exchange value with each other creating a mutually beneficial ecosystem. Also, working amidst various people, observing and adopting diverse work cultures can increase productivity as it helps maintain a professional outlook and also helps create your own identity.
This congenial environment doesn’t only foster interesting and divergent work, but also encourages knowledge sharing and instils a sense of ownership. Communicating regularly on work topics, trending news and exchanging jokes helps build a healthy environment for entrepreneurs.
Working out of a small office from your home closes all doors to such knowledge sharing and networking opportunities which are integral to your business growth.
GoodWorks CoWork is currently operational in how many cities and what are the future expansion plans ?
Currently, we have one co-working space in Whitefield, Bengaluru and the response has been overwhelming. We want to become one of the largest players in the premium coworking and shared office market with a Pan India presence. We will continue to provide creative, design inspired coworking spaces for startups, freelancers and entrepreneurs encouraging the shared economy. We believe that GoodWorks CoWork is not just a workspace. It’s a way of life & a path to success!
Apart from the business idea, what are some of the key things your team looks into while assessing the applications for Angel Investment ?
We will be selecting startups who demonstrate an idea that solves ‘real’ business problems and must be able to sustain itself. The startups will receive intense mentoring and training over a period of time and they are expected to iterate rapidly. So we are open to any startup, entrepreneur or small business owners who are passionate about their new venture. Our space provides all the facilities needed to run a company smoothly without logistical hassles. As mentioned apart from mentoring, the basic administrative facilities will be taken care of and most importantly, you will get free tech-consulting services with our team.
Vishwas, you don multiple hats [serial entrepreneur, best-selling author, etc.], how do you manage time ? [especially for founders since they need to get priorities right] ?
I won’t lie to you by saying it’s easy. It’s incredibly hard to balance different roles. I am a CEO during the days and a storyteller by night and weekends. I wish I had 48 hours in a day. I have so many stories to tell, and I have so many business ideas to execute. Our group companies GoodWorkLabs and GoodWorks CoWork are doing some incredible work right now, so things are hectic.
However, it is my passion that drives me and if you’re passionate enough you’ll find the time to do it.
Can you share some tips for building an effective team for startups [especially the initial core team] ?
Building the core team is one of the most critical factors that leads to the success of a startup. It is important to attract and hire the people who have the same values and reflect the same ideologies as the founding members. It’s easy to lose track of the goal and get lost in the initial days, if everyone’s not on the same page. The core team must believe in the idea as strongly as the founding members. No matter how many years of experience or how well educated the person may be – if he isn’t convinced about your proposition, it’s not going to be a fruitful partnership.
You have witnessed ups & downs in your career [shutting down of your startup than bouncing back], how according to you should entrepreneurs deal with such adverse situations and how they can keep themselves motivated so that they can bounce back ?
I have experimented a lot in my life. I have tried so many different fields, done random experiments, failed, succeeded, and all that. I usually tell budding entrepreneurs – ‘Be shameless. Experiment. That’s the only way to identify your true passion.‘ If I had not experimented by being shameless, I would never have identified my passions of writing and entrepreneurship.
With push for Digital India, sectors like Fintech, etc. what are some of the areas that might catch entrepreneur’s & investor’s interest in 2017 ?
There are many emerging markets and it’s vital for investors to keep an eye on what’s happening in these sectors. I am closely watching sectors related to – AI, AR, Machine learning, AR, VR, IOT, organic farming, renewable tech, REG [REGULATION TECH] and eGovernance and believe they are the future to look out for.
VC Funding or Bootstrapping, your thoughts on the same and when should a founder look out for institutional funding
Both VC Funding and Bootstrapping have their pros and cons. With bootstrapping, it’s a lot harder as the founders have invested their own money, scalability is a lot tougher and a much longer process when if comes to bootstrapped companies. On the other hand, getting funded doesn’t make the journey any easier. Companies will be giving away stake to investors and with it their freedom – you’ll have to be answerable to the investors and need their approvals for every step that the company takes.
However, the right time to apply for funding is when the startup has a Minimal Viable Product [MVP] and some traction or successful pilot to validate their business model.
Any books that you recommend and when would your next novel/book hit the market ?
Ayn Rand is my favorite author. Her book The Fountainhead influenced me deeply during my college days. It’s the perfect book to gift. I also enjoy reading Dan Brown, Michael Crichton, Sydney Sheldon, & Jeff Archer among others. So people can gift me a range of books! I like reading science fiction, thrillers, adventures, and many more genres. But I usually stay away from books that are boring. I have very little patience.
My next novel is completed and in the final stages of editing. It’s an exciting trilogy that I’m thrilled about, I’m hoping that it hits the market sometime in December. I will be announcing more details about the story and launch plans shortly.
We thank Vishwas for his time and sharing valuable insights with our readers! If you have any questions for Vishwas about GoodWorks CoWork, startups, funding, technology, etc., please email them to himanshu.sheth@gmail.com or leave your question in the comments section.
