XLRI’s Innov8 E-Cell Committee hosted its Start-up Conclave – Ingenium 3.0 on 28th January 2023.
Ingenium 3.0 is a humble attempt to showcase the start-up journeys, the success stories, the routes are taken by a few prominent start-ups, and the challenges that they have faced to become the unicorns of the world. The conclave would provide the entire audience with some thought-breaking keynote speaker sessions, panel discussions & knowledge-sharing sessions, etc.
Start-ups play a vital role in competitive markets with their focus on innovation, and new markets/products. They provide dynamism to markets and offer more efficient ways to enhance consumer welfare. In this backdrop, this conclave is an attempt to bring different stakeholders together on a platform for the exchange of views to create a better understanding of the start-up ecosystem and competition.
The conclave was held offline with Saurabh Kothari, Aparajita Chaudhuri, and Akash Raj Shukla as Moderators for the session. Students Dilpreet Kaur, Shivank Chaudhary, Surabhi Sinha and Urvashi Kaul were host and co-host for the event.
It started with the Inaugural Address by Fr. S George S.J., Director, XLRI Jamshedpur and Fr. Donald D’Silva, Dean Administration & Finance, XLRI Jamshedpur. Father George Sebastian addressed the audience and thanked the speakers for taking the time to interact with the students of XLRI. He requested the speakers to share their life stories with the students as he believes that effective change in a student’s mindset comes from inspiring stories. Fr. Donald D’Silva, S.J. addressed the audience and thanked the speakers for taking the time to speak to the students of XLRI PGDM (GM). He also thanked the Innov8 Committee and others in the organizing team for organizing this Ingenium 3.0. In his address, he asked the students to contemplate their entrepreneurial ideas. He also advised the students to interact with others to turn those bright ideas into reality.
It was followed by the Keynote Speaker Mr. Rajeev Warrier, EVP Wadhwani Entrepreneur, Wadhwani Foundation. The topic was: Business School role in Start-up Ecosystem. Rajeev spoke about decisions you take at the right time, which does entrepreneurship work. Diving deep into the role of Business schools in the Start-up Ecosystem, he mentions partnering with institutes to develop a new brigade of entrepreneurs with various models of upskilling and mentoring.
It was followed by another Keynote Speaker Mr. Saurabh Garg, Co-Founder, NoBroker.com. The topic was: To Start Up or Not to Start Up. He started by narrating his life journey about how an interaction with a broker to rent a house in Mumbai eventually convinced him to start nobroker.in. He talked at length about how the logo of nobroker.in came into existence and how he eventually convinced VCs to invest in his company. He reflected on his journey and highlighted the need for perseverance and the need for just one believer in your idea to turn it into a reality. He further highlighted that India is very strongly positioned to invest in the start-up ecosystem, and 2023 is a really good time to be an entrepreneur and launch a start-up. In his words, “Not launching a start-up in 2023 is a bigger risk than the risk of failure of a start-up.”
Being the enablers for the start-up, you understand the perseverance, learning, and risk-taking attitude that drives entrepreneurship. Once you get the taste of Success, you aren’t satisfied with anything else.
It was followed by Panel Discussion by Founders on Topic “Indian Start-up- RoadMap to become Global Leaders” by Mr. Pratyush Nalla, Founding Member, OfBusiness, Mr. Varun Gupta, Founder, Boult Audio, Mr. Avelo Roy, MD, Kolkata Ventures, Former Start-up Advisor to the Prime Minister of Nepal, Mr. Vishal Chaudhary, Co-Founder, ZETWERK.
They shared their side on having a Bootstrap business; one has to know the business, the core value proposition, core unit economics, and profitability. They also mentioned the difficulty of being an entrepreneur as a journey where you get to know about your merits and the benefits you will be getting out of it. One should have the right notion to have the startup and be in the game even if the roads are rough. Solving the underlying problem might require you to pivot the company multiple times. He further highlights the fact that there will be significant involvement of technology in the B2B segment.
The Women Entrepreneurship Panel discussed on “Entrepreneurship and Social Impact” by Ms. Dipti Tandon, Co-Founder, CoffeeMug & Ex Co-Founder, Jeevansathi.com, Ms. Yeshasvini Ramaswamy, Serial Entrepreneur & CEO, Great Place to Work® Institute (India), Ms. Basudha Shrivastav, Founder & Managing Director, Empfly Services Pvt. Ltd. & ExpressEarth Digital Services Pvt. Ltd., Ms. Udita Pal, Co-Founder, SALT (YC W’22).
They shared their point of view on entrepreneurship, which is entrepreneurship is a fast-track path to Zen, as one faces many emotional upheavals in the journey that enhance one as a human being. On the front of the challenges faced in the corporate environment, they also spoke on the three biases she faced during her journey of entrepreneurship: Age bias, gender bias, and country bias. They spoke about the shift in the mindset of today’s youth. The word entrepreneur has now become aspirational for the youth of this country. They further highlighted the role of the COVID-19 pandemic in changing the mindset of the youth of this country. They also described Entrepreneurs are eternal optimists when it comes to their mindset, an entrepreneur is always and only an entrepreneur, not a male or female entrepreneur.
The last Panel discussion was by Investors on “League of Future Unicorns” by Mr. Gaurav Kachru- Managing Partner, Superfuel Ventures, CEO & Co-Founder, Celeste By Talking Threads, Mr. Arijit Bhattacharyya- Founder, Virtualinfo.com, World Leader Summit, Entrepreneursface, CoinnovateVentures, Mr. Abhijeet Kumar- Co-Founding Partner, ah! Ventures Fund, Angel Investor & Entrepreneur.
They began by recounting his business endeavours. He emphasized the significance of being there throughout the entire lifecycle of a start-up. Before investing in a start-up, investors view the founders as one of the most crucial aspects. Narratively describing the product in a concise manner is essential. They also spoke about the need to look at a start-up from a holistic point of view before deciding to fund a start-up. He emphasizes looking at the fundamentals of the business model, the founders and the customer needs that the start-up addresses. During the discussion, they mentioned At some point, investors need a different type of story for the investment. To explain it further, they mentioned that nothing is theoretical, but negotiations happen at the table. There is a vast difference between running a company and making an investment-ready company. Once you understand the model of fitting the company with the investors, you are the winner. India is a vibrant country, and a lot of money is on the table; whosoever comes with the disruptive idea will grab the cash.”
The grand event was concluded with a Vote of Thanks by the Innov8 E-Cell Committee of XLRI summarizing the whole session & bringing it to a delightful close.
