A PROJECT ON

Study On Challenges Encountered By The Start-Ups

In INDIA.

SUBMITTED BY

ANAS AKIL KAUNCHALE

Roll No.:28
M.COM PART-2

SEMESTER – III

PROJECT GUIDE

PROF. KIRTI HEMANT MEGHANI

SUBMITTED TO

UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI

Akbar Peerbhoy College of Commerce & Economics

Affiliated to University of Mumbai.

Reaccredited by NAAC with ‘A’

M.S.ALI ROAD, DO TAAKI, Mumbai – 4000008.
A.Y.2022 – 2023.
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr. Anas Akil Kaunchale, Roll no: 28, has worked and
duly completed his Project Work for the degree of Masters of Management
Studies under the Faculty of Commerce in the subject of Management
Studies and his project is entitled, “Study On Challenges Encountered By
The Start-Ups In INDIA “under my supervision.

I further certify that the entire work has been done by the learner under my
guidance and that no part of it has been submitted previously for any Degree
or Diploma of any University.

It is his own work and facts reported by his personal findings and
investigations

Name & Signature of:

Project Guide: Principal:

Date:

External Examiner: College Seal

Date:
 DECLARATION

I, the undersigned, Mr. Anas Akil Kaunchale a student of Akbar Peerbhoy

College of Commerce & Economics , M.COM. SEMESTER – III hereby declare
that the work embodied in this project work titled Study On Challenges
Encountered By The Start-Ups In INDIA “, forms my own contribution to the
research work carried out under the guidance of Prof Kirti Hemant Menghani
is a result of my own research work and has not been previously submitted to
any otherUniversity for any other Degree/Diploma to this or any other
University.

Wherever reference has been made to previous works of others, it has been
clearlyindicated as such and included in the bibliography.

I, hereby further declare that all information of this document has been
obtained andpresented in accordance with academic rules and ethical
conduct.

Name and Signature of the

student

Certified by

Name and Signature of the Guiding Teacher

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

To list who all have helped me is difficult because they are so numerous and the depth
is so enormous.

I would like to acknowledge the following as being idealistic channels and fresh
dimensions in the completion of this project.

I would like to thank my Principal Dr. Shaukat Ali for providing the necessaryfacilities
required for completion of this project.

I take this opportunity to thank our Chief Coordinator Dr. Shaukat Ali and

Course Coordinator Prof. Samir Naik for their moral support and guidance.

I would also like to express my sincere gratitude towards my guide Prof Kiti
Hemant Menghani whose guidance and care made the project successful.

I would like to thank my College Library, for having provided various referencebooks
and magazines related to my project.

Lastly, I would like to thank each and every person who directly or indirectly helped me
in the completion of the project especially my Parents and Peers who supported me
throughout my project.
 Table of Contents.

Sr. No. Topic Page Number

• Executive Summary
1. Introduction to the Industry
1.1 Definition of Start-up 1-2
1.2 Start-up India 2-6
1.3 Start-up Company 6-7
1.4 Here are the 19 plans given by Government 7-9
1.5 Entrepreneurship 9-11

2. Literature review
2.1 Imperfect education system & conservativelifestyle 12

2.2 Lack of support system & entrepreneurshipEcosystem. 12

2.3 India lacks enough angel investors
13
2.4 Human Talent
13
2.5 Women Entrepreneur
In India. 14-15
3. Research Methodology
3.1 Objectives of the study 16-17
3.2 Data Collection Method 18-19
3.3 Women Entrepreneur in India 20-28
3.4 Reasons for limited start-up in India 29-32
3.5 Importance of Finance Agency’s in India 32-38
3.6 Entrepreneurial Development Plan 39-64

4. General Analysis
4.1 PESTLE analysis 65-67
4.2 Challenges and Opportunities 67-72
4.3 Challenges faced by women entrepreneur 72-75
5. Findings; Suggestions & Conclusions
5.1 Findings 76
5.2 Suggestions 76-78
5.3 Conclusions 79

6. 6.1 Article 80-81

6.2 Case Studies 82-84

• Bibliography & Webliography 85

 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

India is a country of many great legends that were famous all over the world because
of their work, sharp mind & high skill. Youths in India are very talented, high skilled
& full of innovative ideas. But they don't get opportunity due to lack of solid support
& proper guidance in right direction. In this way, BJP government launched “START
UP INDIA STAND UP INDIA” scheme on 16 January 2016 to help the youth of India
to go in right direction using their new & innovative ideas. This scheme was launched
to motivate & promote new comers towards business & grow their career as well as
economy of the country. This programme is a big start to enable Start-ups through
financial support so that they can use their innovative ideas in right direction. There are
tremendous opportunities for Start-up entrepreneurs in India. The key areas are Like
Textile, Media, Health Sector, Event Planner, Tourism, Automobile etc. So, there are
various opportunities where entrepreneurs can start their Start-ups. But along with
opportunities there are some challenges also that Start up entrepreneurs may have to
face like Infrastructure Deficit in India, Risk Factor and Right Talent Acquisition etc.
Despite of these challenges, Government as well Start up entrepreneurs should have to
work together to face these challenges & make this programme effective. The study
will focus on Start-up India scheme, opportunities available under this scheme as well
as challenges may have to be faced & suggestions to overcome the challenges soas
to make the Start-up India programme successful.

Skill India Programme, Start-up India and Stand-Up India programme are the buzz
words of today in manufacturing, Production and Services sectors. As present
government has taken the oath to inculcate skills in every youth and help them towards
start-ups and establish their own enterprise and become owner of theirown rather
doing job with some other and intern help in employment and GDP development. It is
also observed that SC/ST/Women categories are marginalized in this area since
inception and it was the dream of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar that equal opportunities to be
given to them also to grow and showcase their talents, ideas and ability to prove-
themselves as a successful entrepreneur, a person and citizenof India. The present
study is to understand the progress of this program and its success. The results of the
study state that nearly 70% of the units expressed positive growth and expressed that if
financial support would have not been availed through this platform, it would be a
dream to start-up their own industries and women entrepreneurs also feel that they
are more empowered and able to establish their identity.

Top 10 Startups in
Founder Headquarters
India

CRED Kunal Shah Bangalore

Sourabh Gupta, Akshay Deshraj, Prateek Gupta

Vernacular.ai Bangalore
and Manoj Sarda

PharmEasy Siddharth Shah Mumbai

Digit Insurance Kamesh Goyal Bangalore

Meesho Vidit Atreya, Sanjeev Barnwal Bangalore

Groww Lalit Keshre Bangalore

Nykaa Falguni Nayar Mumbai

Udaan Vaibhav Gupta Bangalore

Dream11 Harsh Jain Mumbai

Swiggy Sriharsha Majety, Nandan Reddy, Rahul Jaimini Bangalore

 1.INTRODUCTION TO THE

COMPANY.
1.1 Definition of Start-up:

A start-up company or start-up or start-up is a young company that is just beginning to

develop. Start-ups are usually small and initially financed and operated by a handful of
founders or one individual. These companies offer a product or service that is not
currently being offered elsewhere in the market, or that the founders believe is being
offered in an inferior manner. In the early stages,start-up companies' expenses tend to
exceed their revenues as they work on developing, testing and marketing their idea. As
such, they often require financing.Start-ups may be funded by traditional small business
loans from banks or credit unions, by government sponsored Small Business
Administration loans from local banks, or by grants from non-profit organizations and
state governments.

Paul Graham says that "A start-up is a company designed to grow fast. Being newly
founded does not in itself make a company a start-up. Nor is it necessary for-

1
a start-up to work on technology, or take venture funding, or have some sort of "exit".
The only essential thing is growth. Everything else we associate with start- ups follows
from growth."

1.2 Start-up India:

Start-up India is an initiative of the Government of India.

The campaign was first announced by Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi during
his 15 August 2015 address from the Red Fort, in New Delhi. The action plan of this
initiative, is based on the following three pillars:

1. Simplification and Handholding.

2. Funding Support and Incentives.
3. Industry-Academia Partnership and Incubation.

An additional area of focused relating to this initiative, is to discard restrictive States

Government policies within this domain, such as License Raj, Land Permissions,
Foreign Investment Proposals, and Environmental Clearances. It was organized by The
Department for promotion of industry and internal trade(DPI&IT). A startup defined as
an entity that is headquartered in India, which was opened less than seven years ago,
and has an annual turnover less than ₹25 crore (US$3.5 million). Under this initiative,
the government has already launched the I-MADE program, to help Indian
entrepreneurs build 1 million mobile app start-ups, and the MUDRA Banks scheme
(Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana), an initiative which aims to provide micro-finance,
low-interest rate loans to entrepreneurs from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Initial
capital of ₹200billion (US$2.8 billion) has been allocated for this scheme.

2
The start-up scenario in India has gone a huge makeover, now people are not alien
with the concept of start-ups. Earlier people had no idea what this concept is all
about, thanks to the rise in media’s encouraging coverage towards start-ups
recently. The concept of start-up is somehow different for Indians and not so
different for people of developed economies. Start-ups are something to do with
new product/process for the entire market or fraction of the market. Start-ups must
not be confused with small business, as the biggest difference being is
INNOVATION. Recently government of India has launched “Start-up India”
initiative to foster/support and encourage start up efforts in India. The results are
very satisfactory with initiative being accepted with open arms in country, various
state governments have also started the similar efforts. India stand at a very
important cross road, India stood at number three in overall technology driven stat
ups in the world (Top two positions are held by USA and UK respectively). The
very nature of start-ups in India is technology based which is fuelled by young IIT’s
graduates as the patterns of start-ups in India further suggests, they are undertaken
in very unconventional terrain like medical etc. The important question remains is,
how start-ups are shaping the very structure of economy in India or elsewhere (In
similar economies). The overall impact of start-ups is very visible initially then,
only those ideas persist which are smartly implemented. In India government is
constantly trying to create an environment which is both conducive and optimum
for stat ups.

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The reason is very simple, start-ups are necessary for the entrepreneurial and innovative
growth of any nation. There are nations which are smaller than ours and less naturally
equipped than ours, but made tremendous growth and advancements in the field of
economy and overall development. The secret of their success is nothing but an appetite
for innovation. If India wants to bein the front lines with developed nations in the world,
innovation is the key to become so. Fortunately, India is endowed with youngest
population which is primarily required for setting up start-ups. With the growing
inclination towards “Having something of my own” attitude is also helping in bringing
new ideas into successful implementation. India has produced some of the leading start-
ups in the world, which are working as the lighthouse for the rest. The prominent example
being OYO Rooms and Zomato (both catering to a very different market segment and
objectives). In short, the start-up scenario is looking very convincing andbright as the
investments is growing in India start-ups from worldwide investing bodies both organized
and individuals. The recent example of such investment being the huge multibillion-dollar
investments in various start-ups functioning in India like Ola and Flipkart. In a way start
up era has started in India and it is the time to give its due push.

As it is a known fact that when someone starts a new enterprise or tries to get into
entrepreneurship, they face many problems like finance, land permissions, environmental
clearance, foreign investment proposals, family support etc. It is one of the much-needed
initiative plans of Govt of India. This initiative focuses onfilling the gap in the economy
and its development and has the objective to fire theentrepreneurial blood at the bottom
level. It has brought lot of positivity and confidence among the entrepreneurs of India.
According to PM Narender Modi thestart-ups, its technology and innovation is exciting
and effective instruments for India’s transformation. An idea can be converted into a start-
up. Even sometimes the crisis becomes the opportunity and it gives birth to the start-ups.
Many times, we have seen that we have an idea but we do not dare to initiate it or we
do not find it worthy. On the other hand, other people take that idea as an opportunity and
mobilise-

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into reality. The main objective of the government is to reduce the load on the start-ups
hence allowing them to concentrate fully on their business and keeping the low cost of
adherence. The
Ministry of Human Resource Development and the Department of Science and Technology
have agreed to partner in an initiative to set up over 75 such startup support hubs in the
National Institutes of Technology (NITs), the Indian Institutes of Information Technology
(IIITs), the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) and National
Institutes of PharmaceuticalEducation and Research (NIPERs).

The Reserve Bank of India said it will take steps to help improve the ‘ease ofdoing
business’ in the country and contribute to an ecosystem that is conducive forthe growth of
start-up businesses.

SoftBank, which is headquartered in Japan, has invested US$2 billion into Indian-
startups. The Japanese firm has pledged to investment US$10
billion. Google declared to launch a startup, based on the highest votes in which thetop
three startups will be allowed to join the next Google Launchpad Week, and the final
winner could win an amount of US$100,000in Google cloud
credits. Oracle on 12 February 2016 announced that it will establish nine
incubation centers. In Bengaluru, Chennai, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Mumbai,
Noida, Pune, Trivandrum and Vijayawada.

The result of first ever startup state ranking were announced in December 2018 by the
Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) based on the criteria of policy,
incubation hubs, seeding innovation, scaling innovation, regulatory change,procurement,
communication, North-Eastern states, and hill states.

• 2018 Start-up State Ranking are as follows:

• Best performer: Gujarat
• Top performers: Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha, and Rajasthan
• Leader: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and
Telangana
5
 • Aspiring leaders: Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Uttar
• Pradesh, and West Bengal
• Emerging states: Assam, Delhi, Goa, Jammu & Kashmir,
Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and Uttarakhand
• Beginners: Chandigarh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry,
Sikkim, and Tripura

Kerala has initiated a government start-up policy called "Kerala IT Mission" which
focuses on fetching ₹50 billion (US$700 million) in investments for the state's start-up
ecosystem. It also founded India's first telecom incubator Start-up village in 2012. The
state also matches the funding raised by its incubator from Central government with 1:1.
Telangana has launched the largest incubation centre in Indiaas "T-Hub". Andhra
Pradesh has allocated a 17,000-sq.ft. Technological Research and Innovation Park as a
Research and Development laboratory. It has also createda fund called "Initial
Innovation Fund" of ₹100 crore (US$14 million) for entrepreneurs. The government
of Madhya Pradesh has collaborated withthe Small Industries Development Bank of
India (SIDBI) to create a fund of ₹200 crore (US$28 million). Rajasthan has also
launched a "Start-up Oasis" scheme. In order to promote start-ups in Odisha, the state
government organised a two-day Start-up Conclave in Bhubaneswar on November 28,
2016.

1.3Startup Company:
A start-up or start-up is started by individual founders or entrepreneurs to search for a
repeatable and scalable business model. More specifically, a start-up is a newly emerged
business venture that aims to develop a viable business model to meet a marketplace need
or problem. Founders design start-ups to effectively develop and validate a scalable
business model. Hence, the concepts of start-ups and entrepreneurship are similar.
However, entrepreneurship refers all new businesses, including self-employment and
businesses that never intend to grow big or become registered, while start-ups refer to
new businesses that intend to grow beyond the solo founder, have employees, and intend
to grow large. The flagship initiative aims to build a strong eco-system for nurturing
innovation and Startups in the country that will drive sustainable economic growth.

6
Start-upsface high uncertainty and do have high rates of failure, but the minority that go
on to be successful companies have the potential to become large and influential.
Some start-ups become unicorns, i.e. privately held start-up companies valued at over $1
billion. According to TechCrunch, there were 279 unicorns as of March 2018, with most
of the unicorns located in China, followedby the United States. The largest unicorns
founded as of October 2018 included Ant Financial, Byte Dance, Uber, Xiaomi, and
Airbnb.

1.4Here are the 19 plans Modi has for start-ups:

1. Self-certification:

The start-ups will adopt self-certification to reduce the regulatory liabilities. The self-
certification will apply to laws including payment of gratuity, labor contract, provident
fund management, water and air pollution acts.
2. Start-up India hub:
An all-India hub will be created as a single contact point for start-up foundations inIndia,
which will help the entrepreneurs to exchange knowledge and access financial aid.
3. Register through app:
An online portal, in the shape of a mobile application, will be launched to help start-up
founders to easily register. The app is scheduled to be launched on April 1.
4. Patent protection:
A fast-track system for patent examination at lower costs is being conceptualized by the
central government. The system will promote awareness and adoption of theIntellectual
Property Rights (IPRs) by the start-up foundations.
5.Rs 10,000 crore fund: The government will develop a fund with an initial corpus of Rs 2,500
crore and a total corpus of Rs 10,000 crore over four years, to support upcoming start-up
enterprises. The Life Insurance Corporation of India will play a major role in developing this
corpus. A committee of private professionals selected from the start-up industry will manage the
fund.

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6. National Credit Guarantee Trust Company:
A National Credit Guarantee Trust Company (NCGTC) is being conceptualized with a
budget of Rs 500 crore per year for the next four years to support the flowof funds to
start-ups.
7. No Capital Gains Tax:
At present, investments by venture capital funds are exempt from the CapitalGains
Tax. The same policy is being implemented on primary-level investments in

Start-ups.
8. No Income Tax for three years:
Start-ups would not pay Income Tax for three years. This policy would revolutionize the
pace with which start-ups would grow in the future.
9. Tax exemption for investments of higher value:
In case of an investment of higher value than the market price, it will be exempt from
paying tax.

10. Building entrepreneurs:

Innovation-related study plans for students in over 5 lakh schools. Besides, there will also
be an annual incubator grand challenge to develop world class incubators.

11. Atal Innovation Mission:

The Atal Innovation Mission will be launched to boost innovation and encourage talented
youths.
12. Setting up incubators:
A private-public partnership model is being considered for 35 new incubators and 31

Innovation centres’ at national institutes.

13. Research parks:

The government plans to set up seven new research parks, including six in the Indian
Institute of Technology campuses and one in the Indian Institute of Science campus, with
an investment of Rs 100 crore each.

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14. Entrepreneurship in biotechnology:

The government will further establish five new biotech clusters, 50 new bio incubators,
150 technology transfer offices and 20 bio-connect offices in the country.

15. Dedicated program in schools:

The government will introduce innovation-related program for students in over 5lakh
schools.
16. Legal support:
A panel of facilitators will provide legal support and assistance in submittingpatent
applications and other official documents.
17. Rebate:
A rebate amount of 80 percent of the total value will be provided to the
entrepreneurs on filing patent applications.
18. Easy rules:
Norms of public procurement and rules of trading have been simplified for thestart-
ups.
19. Faster exit:
If a start-up fails, the government will also assist the entrepreneurs to find suitable solutions
for their problems. If they fail again, the government will provide an easyway out.

1.5Entrepreneurship:
Entrepreneurship is the process of designing, launching and running a new business,
which is often initially a small business. The people who create these businesses are called
entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurship has been described as the "capacity and willingness to develop, organize
and manage a business venture along with any of its risks in order tomake a profit".
While definitions of entrepreneurship typically focus on the launching and running of
businesses, due to the high risks involved in launchinga start-up,

9
a significant proportion of start-up businesses have to close due to "lack of funding, bad
business decisions, an economic crisis, lack of market demand—ora combination of all of
these.

A broader definition of the term is sometimes used, especially in the fieldof

economics. In this usage, an Entrepreneur is an entity which has the ability to find and act
upon opportunities to translate inventions or technology into new products: "The
entrepreneur is able to recognize the commercial potential of the invention and organize
the capital, talent, and other resources that turn an invention into a commercially viable
innovation." In this sense, the term "Entrepreneurship" also captures innovative activities
on the part of established firms, in addition to similar activities on the part of new
businesses.

Entrepreneurship is the act of being an entrepreneur, or "the owner or manager of abusiness

enterprise who, by risk and initiative, attempts to make profits". Entrepreneurs
act as managers and oversee the launch and growth of an enterprise. Entrepreneurship is
the process by which either an individual or a team identifies a business opportunity and
acquires and deploys the necessary resources required for its exploitation. Early-19th-
century French economist Jean-Baptiste-Say provided a broad definition of
entrepreneurship, saying that it "shifts economicresources out of an area of lower and into
an area of higher productivity and greater yield". Entrepreneurs create something new,
something different—they change or transmute values. Regardless of the firm size, big
or small, they can partake in entrepreneurship opportunities. The opportunity to become
an entrepreneur requires four criteria. First, there must be opportunities or situationsto
recombine resources to generate profit. Second, entrepreneurship requires differences
between people, such as preferential access to certain individuals or theability to recognize
information about opportunities. Third, taking on risk is a necessary. Fourth, the
entrepreneurial process requires the organization of people and resources.

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The entrepreneur is a factor in and the study of entrepreneurship reaches back to
the work of Richard Cantillon and Adam Smith in the late 17th and early 18th
centuries. However, entrepreneurship was largely ignored theoretically until the
late 19th and early 20th centuries and empirically until a profound resurgence in
business and economics since the late 1970s. In the 20th century, the understanding
of entrepreneurship owes much to the work of economist Joseph Schumpeter in
the 1930s and other Austrian economists such as Carl Menger, Ludwig von
Mises and Friedrich von Hayek. According to Schumpeter,an entrepreneur is a
person who is willing and able to convert a new idea or invention into a successful
innovation. Entrepreneurship employs what Schumpeter called "the gale of
creative destruction" to replace in whole or in part inferior innovations across
markets and industries, simultaneously creating new products including new
business models. In this way, creative destruction is largely responsible for the
dynamism of industries and long-run economic growth. The supposition that
entrepreneurship leads to economic growth is an interpretation of the residual in
endogenous growth theory and as such is hotly debated in academic economics. An
alternative description posited by Israel Kerzner suggests that the majority of
innovations may be much more incremental improvements such as the replacement
of paper with plastic in the making of drinking straws.

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 2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1The Imperfect Education System and Conservative Lifestyle:

The education system is one of hindrance for start-ups. In college, students are usually
trained with advanced techniques but lack of marketing, sales and operational ability and
leadership skills needed to advance their own enterprises. Inaddition, conservative lifestyle
also contributes as one of obstacles. As a culture of family remains, family remains sceptical
to change and prefer options that are able to provide a steady income rather than engaging
risk. This places pressure on the budding entrepreneur who fall victim to the dichotomy of
providing for the family instead of following some “whimsical” dream (Au & Kwan, 2009).

2.2Lack of Support Networks and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem:

One of the major challenges is that there is severe shortage of start-up support networks
and entrepreneurship ecosystems. In many western countries, there are special institutions
serve as incubators, start-up accelerators, start-up competitions for entrepreneurs to put
their ideas to test and obtain necessary guidance. In India, incubators, start-up accelerators,
and start-up competitions are slowly making theirway into the first-tier cities, but there
truly are not enough to go around. As a resultof this shortage, many start-ups fail at the
“idea” stage of their business. The ecosystem usually does not directly provide funding to
start-ups; they just serve as platforms that link investors and entrepreneurs so that
entrepreneurs can obtain necessary funding to test out their ideas. The lack of these
facilities makes it more difficult for entrepreneurs to find investors. In return, investors
are more difficult to find entrepreneurs as well. Even if entrepreneurs are able to find
investors, they will face an entirely different set of challenges. Indian culture inherently
does not promote entrepreneurship. Conversely, it encourages stability, employment at
largestate-owned or private organizations and, above all, teaches people to be risk averse.
Even if young Indian individuals have intention to start their own business,their family
usually places a considerable amount of negative pressure on them to forget
entrepreneurship and look for a “stable job” instead.

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2.3India lacks enough angel investors to fund start-ups:

Unlike the West, India does not have an adequate number of angel investors who can fuel the
growth of the country’s thriving start-up ecosystem, industry body NASSCOM has said. “For a
successful start-up ecosystem there is a need for enough angel investors who can support
budding entrepreneurs from an earlystage. But this is not happening in India and there is a
serious lack of it,” NASSCOM Vice-President Rajat Tandon told PTI. “High net-worth
individuals and corporate executives, among others, should come forward and participate in this
growth story,” he said. A recent report by NASSCOM had said India ranks third among global
start-up ecosystems, with more than 4,200 new-age companies.Tandon said, “The case is very
different in countries like the US. People are just waiting to invest in good companies. We
should also have something like that.” “Mainly, investors (in India) are afraid because there is a
high risk of failure in these investments and also there is a lack of policy on such
investments,” headded. “Why will investors put money in such companies? They need tax
benefits and a number of other things to put in their money. We have already written about these
things to the Government and I am sure we can expect something by the year-end,” he said. In
his Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced a new campaign
„Start-up India; Stand up India‟ to promote bank financing for start-ups and offer incentives to
boost entrepreneurship and job creation in the country. “At NASSCOM, we are not only
encouraging investors butalso asking people to mentor start-ups. Like someone has a design
business, they can help start-ups develop UIs and guide them in the process. In return they take
some equity,” he said. “And there are people like Ratan Tata and Azim Premji, who are making
a slew of investments and helping these young entrepreneurs. They are the inspiration,” he said.
Ratan Tata has invested in a number of companies including Ola, Snapdeal, Paytm, Urban
Ladder, and Bluestone. Wipro boss Azim Premji has funded companies such as Myntra and
Amagi, among others, through his investment arm Premji Invest.

2.4Human Talent :

Compared to large mature enterprises, small start-ups are in an exponentially moredifficult

dilemma and encountering much severe challenging in recruiting due to the reason that it
cannot pay high salary to its employees or offer any career development opportunities aside
from building their business from the ground up.

13
What is worse is that working for a start-up in China is far less glamorous than working
for a start-up in the west due to culture differences. It is a disaster for a company who needs
to execute on their business plan with minimal errors to just survive the month.

2.5Women Entrepreneur:

Melanne Verveerin, Women entrepreneurs are a vital source of growth that can power our
economies for decades, yet they face tremendous challenges to their full economic
participation.The GEM Women ‘s Report provides important datawhich is critical to our
understanding of women-run SMEs. V Krishnamurthy andR Balasubramaniam, identified
the important women entrepreneurial motivation factors and its impact on entrepreneurial
success. The study identified ambition, skills and knowledge, family support, market
opportunities, independence, government subsidy and satisfaction are the important
entrepreneurial motivationalfactors. The study also concluded that ambition knowledge
and skill independence dimensions of entrepreneurial motivational has significant impact
on entrepreneurial success. Jalbert, (2000) performed a study to explore the role of women
entrepreneurs in a global economy. It also examined how women‘s business associations
can strengthen women‘s position in business and international trade. The analysis is
performed on the basis of facts and data collected through field work (surveys, focus
groups and interviews) and through examining the existing published research. The study
has shown that the women business owners are making significant contributions to global
economic health, national competitiveness and community commerce by bringing many
assets to the global market. Bowen & Hirsch, (1986), compared & evaluated various
research studies done on entrepreneurship including women entrepreneurship. Its
summaries various studies in this way that female entrepreneurs are relatively well
educated in general but perhaps not in management skills, high in internal locus of control,
more masculine, or instrumental than other women in their values likely to have had
entrepreneurial fathers, relatively likely to have first born or only children, to start business
in traditionally male dominated industries & experiencing a need of additional

14
managerial training. Singh, (2008), identifies the reasons & influencing factors behind
entry of women in entrepreneurship. He explained the characteristics of their businesses
in Indian context and also obstacles & challenges. He mentioned the obstacles in the
growth of women entrepreneurship are mainly lack of interaction with successful
entrepreneurs, social un-acceptance as women entrepreneurs, family responsibility, gender
discrimination, missingnetwork, low priority given by bankers to provide loan to women
entrepreneurs. He suggested the remedial measures like promoting micro enterprises,
unlocking institutional frame work, projecting & pulling to grow & support the winners
etc. The study advocates for ensuring synergy among women related ministry, economic
ministry & social & welfare development ministry of the Government ofIndia.

15
 3. RESEARCH & METHODOLOGY

3.1 Objectives:

(A) Meaning:

• A research objective is a clear, concise, declarative statement, which

provides direction to investigate the variables under the study.
• The objectives of a research project summarize what is to be achieved by
the study.

(B) Characteristics:

• Research objective is a concrete statement describing what the research is

trying to achieve.
• A well-known objective will be SMART:
• S – SPECIFIC • M – MEASURABLE. • A – ATTAINABLE. • R –
REALISTIC. • T – TIME BOUND
• Research objective should be RELEVANT, FEASIBLE, LOGICAL,
OBSERVABLE, UNEQUIVOCAL & MEASURABLE.
• Objective is a purpose that can be reasonably achieved within the expected
timeframe and with the available resources.
• The objective of research project summarizes what is to be achieved by the
study.
• The research objectives are the specific accomplishments the researcher
hopes to achieve by the study.
• The objectives include obtaining answers to research questions or testing
the research hypotheses.

16
(C) Objectives of the study are as follows:

1. To study the financial problems faced by the start-ups in India.

2. To study the Women entrepreneurs in India.
3. To find out the reasons behind few or limited start-ups in India.
4. To highlight the importance of financing agency’s for start-ups in India.
5. To understand the Entrepreneurial Development Plan.

Financial problems faced Women Entrepreneurship

by start-ups In India

Reasons behind limited Financing agency's for

start-ups start-ups

Entrepreneurial
Development Plan

17
 3.2Data Collection Method:

The data collected in this research project is totally based on secondary data.The facts and
figures are taken by the different resources.

(A) Meaning:

Secondary data means data that are already available i.e., they refer to the data which have
already been collected and analyzed by someone else. When theresearcher utilizes secondary
data, then he has to look into various sources from where he can obtain them. In this case he
is certainly not confronted with the problems that are usually associated with the collection of
original data. Secondary data may either be published data or unpublished data. Usually
published data are available in: (a) various publications of the central, state are local
governments; (b)various publications of foreign governments or of international bodies and
their subsidiary organizations; (c) technical and trade journals; (d) books, magazines and
newspapers; (e) reports and publications of various associations connected with business and
industry, banks, stock exchanges, etc.; (f) reports prepared by research scholars, universities,
economists, etc. in different fields; and (g) public records and statistics, historical documents,
and other sources of published information. The sources of unpublished data are many; they
may be found in diaries, letters, unpublished biographies and autobiographies and also may
beavailable with scholars and research workers, trade associations, labour bureaus and other
public/ private individuals and organizations.

(B) Advantages and Disadvantages of Secondary Data:

Secondary data is available from other sources and may already have been used in previous
research, making it easier to carry out further research. It is time-saving and cost-efficient:
the data was collected by someone other than the researcher. Administrative data and
census data may cover both larger and much smaller samples of the population in detail.
Information collected by the government will also cover parts of the population that may
be less likely to respond to the census.

18
A clear benefit of using secondary data is that much of the background work needed has
already been carried out, such as literature reviews or case studies. The data may have been
used in published texts and statistics elsewhere, and the data could already be promoted
in the media or bring in useful personal contacts. Secondary data generally have a pre-
established degree of validity and reliability which need not be re-examined by the
researcher who is re-using such data.

Secondary data can provide a baseline for primary research to compare the collected
primary data results to and it can also be helpful in research design.
However, secondary data can present problems, too. The data may be out of date or
inaccurate. If using data collected for different research purposes, it may not cover those
samples of the population researchers want to examine, or not in sufficient detail.
Administrative data, which is not originally collected for research, may not be available in
the usual research formats or may be difficult to get access to.

19
3.3Women Entrepreneurs in India:

Women Entrepreneurs may be defined as the women or a group of women who initiate,
organize and operate a business enterprise. The Government of India has defined women
entrepreneurs as an enterprise owned and controlled by women having a minimum
financial interest of 51 per cent of the capital and giving at least 51 per cent of the
employment generated in the enterprise to women‖. Women entrepreneurs engaged in
business due to push and pull factors which encourage women to have an independent
occupation and stands on their own legs. A sense towards independent decision-making
on their life and career is the motivational factor behind this urge. With the change of time
there is tremendous upliftment in the status of Indian women entrepreneur. Women
entrepreneurs are gaining a strong hold in most of the developing countries including India,
Brazil etc. Another recent trend is women are increasingly coming on the fore front in
private and government business organizations and occupying the top positions
everywhere- like Indra Nooyi, Chanda Kochhar, Shikha Sharma, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw,
NainaLal Kidwai, etc. Again, there is increased awareness and women entrepreneurs are
increasingly finding easy to finance their business. Women entrepreneurs are also taking up
issues of environmental changes too.

(A)Status of women entrepreneurs in India:

Entrepreneurship is considered as one of the most important factors contributing tothe

development of society. India has been ranked among the worst performing countries in the area
of women entrepreneurship in gender-focused global entrepreneurship survey, released in July
2013 by PC maker Dell and Washington based consulting firm Global Entrepreneurship and
Development Institute (GEDI).Of the 17 countries surveyed India ranks 16th, just above
Uganda. Countries like Turkey, Morocco and Egypt has outperformed India. Status of higher
education in women in India came out to be lower than most countries in the world. . At present,
women entrepreneurial role is limited in the large-scale industries and technology- based
businesses. But even in small scale industries, the women’s participation is very low. As per the
third all-India census of Small-Scale Industries, only 10.11% of the micro and small enterprises
were owned by women, and only 9.46% of themwere managed by women.

20
(B)Reasons for becoming Women Entrepreneurs:
The glass ceilings are shattered and women are found indulged in every line of business. The
entry of women into business in India is traced out as an extensionof their kitchen activities,
mainly 3P ‘s, Pickle, Powder and Pappas. But with the spread of education and passage of
time women started shifting from 3P ‘s to modern 3E ‘s i.e., Energy, Electronics and
Engineering. Skill, knowledge and adaptability in business are the main reasons for women to
emerge into business ventures. Women Entrepreneur is a person who accepts challenging role
to meet her personal needs and become economically independent. A strong desire to do
something positive is an inbuilt quality of entrepreneurial women, who is capable of
contributing values in both family and social life. With the advent of media, women are aware
of their own traits, rights and also the work situations. The challenges and opportunities
provided to the women of digital era are growing rapidly that the job seekers are turning into
job creators. Many women start a business due to some traumatic event, such as divorce,
discrimination due topregnancy or the corporate glass ceiling, the health of a family member,
or economic reasons such as a layoff. But a new talent pool of women entrepreneurs is forming
today, as more women opt to leave corporate world to chart their own destinies. They are
flourishing as designers, interior decorators, exporters, publishers, garment manufacturers and
still exploring new avenues of economic participation.

(C) Role of Government to develop Women Entrepreneurs in India:

Development of women has been a policy objective of the government since
independence. Until the 70s the concept of women development was mainlywelfare
oriented. In 1970s, there was a shift from welfare approach to developmentapproach that
recognized the mutually reinforcing nature of the process ofdevelopment. The 80s
adopted a multi-disciplinary approach with an emphasis onthree core areas of health,
education and employment. Women were givenpriorities in all the sectors including SSI
sector. Government and non- governmentbodies have paid increasing attention to
women economic contribution throughself- employment and industrial ventures.

The First Five-Year Plan (1951-56) envisaged a number of welfare measures forwomen.
Establishment of the Central Social Welfare Board, organization of Mahala Mandal’s and

21
The Community Development Programmes were a few steps in this direction.
In the second Five-Year Plan (1956-61), the empowerment of women was closelylinked with
the overall approach of intensive agricultural development programmes.

The Third and Fourth Five-Year Plans (1961- 66 and 1969-74) supported female education
as a major welfare measure.

The Fifth Five-Year Plan (1974-79) emphasized training of women, who were in need of income and
protection. This plan coincided with International Women‘s Decade and the submission of
Report of the Committee on the Status of Women inIndia. In1976, Women‘s welfare and
Development Bureau was set up under the Ministry of Social Welfare.

The Sixth Five-Year Plan (1980-85) saw a definite shift from welfare to development. It
recognized women‘s lack of access to resources as a critical factorimpending their growth.
Steps taken in Seventh Five-Year Plan:
In the seventh five-year plan, a special chapter on the “Integration of women in
development” was introduced by Government with following suggestion.

I) Specific target group:

It was suggested to treat women as a specific target groups in all major development programs
of the country.

(ii) Arranging training facilities:

It is also suggested in the chapter to devise and diversify vocational training facilities for
women to suit their changing needs and skills.

(iii) Developing new equipment’s:

Efforts should be made to increase their efficiency and productivity through appropriate
technologies, equipment’s and practices.

(iv) Marketing assistance:

It was suggested to provide the required assistance for marketing the products produced
by women entrepreneurs.

22
 (v) Decision-making process:
It was also suggested to involve the women in decision-making process.

Steps taken by Government during Eight Five-Year Plan:

The Government of India devised special programs to increases employment and income-
generating activities for women in rural areas. The following plans are lunched during the
Eight-Five Year Plan:
(i) Prime Minister Rojgar Yojana and EDPs were introduced to develop entrepreneurial
qualities among rural women.
(ii) ‘Women in agriculture’ scheme was introduced to train women farmers havingsmall
and marginal holdings in agriculture and allied activities.
(iii) To generate more employment opportunities for women KVIC took special measures
in remote areas.
(iv) Women co-operatives schemes were formed to help women in agro-based industries
like dairy farming, poultry, animal husbandry, horticulture etc. with full financial support
from the Government.
(v) Several other schemes like integrated Rural Development Programs (IRDP),
Training of Rural youth for Self-employment (TRYSEM) etc. were started to
alleviated poverty.30-40% reservation is provided to women under these schemes.

23
Steps taken by Government during Ninth Five-Year Plan:

Economic development and growth are not achieved fully without the development of women
entrepreneurs. The Government of India has introduced the following schemes for promoting
women entrepreneurship because the future of small-scale industries depends upon the
women-entrepreneurs:

(a) Trade Related Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development (TREAD) scheme

was lunched by Ministry of Small Industries to develop women entrepreneurs in rural,
semi-urban and urban areas by developing entrepreneurial qualities.
(b) Women Comkp0onent Plant, a special strategy adop0ted by Government to
provide assistance to women entrepreneurs.
(c) Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana and Swarna Jayanti Sekhari Rozgar
Yojana were introduced by government to provide reservations for women and
encouraging them to start their ventures.
(d) New schemes named Women Development Corporations were introduced by
government to help women entrepreneurs in arranging credit and marketing facilities.
(e) State Industrial and Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has introduced following
schemes to assist the women entrepreneurs. These schemes are:
(i) Mahila Udyam Nidhi
(ii) Micro Cordite Scheme for Women
(iii) Mahila Vikas Nidhi
(iv) Women Entrepreneurial Development Programmes
(v) Marketing Development Fund for Women

4. Consortium of Women entrepreneurs of India provides a platform to assist the women

entrepreneurs to develop new, creative and innovative techniques of production, finance and
marketing.

There are different bodies such as NGOs, voluntary organizations, Self-help groups,
institutions and individual enterprises from rural and urban areas which collectively help
the women entrepreneurs in their activities.
24
5. Training Programmes:

The following training schemes specially for the self-employment of women are
introduced by government:

(i) Support for Training and Employment Programmed of Women (STEP).

(ii)Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA).

(iii)Small Industry Service Institutes (SISIs)

(iv) State Financial Corporations

(v)District Industrial Centre’s (DICs)

(iv) District Industrial Centre’s (DICs)

6. Mahila Vikas Nidhi:

SIDBI has developed this fund for the entrepreneurial development of women especially in rural
areas. Under Mahila Vikas Nidhi grants loan to women are given to start their venture in the
field like spinning, weaving, knitting, embroideryproducts, block printing, handlooms
handicrafts, bamboo products etc.

7. Rastriya Mahila Kosh:

In 1993, Rastriya Mahila Kosh was set up to grant micro credit to pore women at reasonable
rates of interest with very low transaction costs and simple procedures

8. Working Women Hostel

To promote safe accommodation and environment for working women and provide day-care
facilities for their children, the Government of India has introduced the ‘Working Women Hostel
Scheme’. Through this women empowerment scheme, the Government provides grant-in-aid for
construction and new hostel buildings and extension of an existing building in rented premises.

25
States No of Units No. of Women Percentage
Registered Entrepreneurs

Tamil Nadu 9618 2930 30.36

Uttar 7980 3180 39.84

Pradesh

Kerala 5487 2135 38.91

Punjab 4791 1618 33.77

Maharashtra 4339 1394 32.12

Gujrat 3872 1538 39.72

Karnataka 3822 1026 26.84

Madhya 2967 842 28.38

Pradesh

Other States& 14576 4185 28.71

UTS

Total 57,452 18,848 32.82

26
Promotional Organizations to help Women Entrepreneur:
Federation of Indian Women Entrepreneur–The FIWE was started in 1993 at the
fourth international conference of women entrepreneurs held in December at
Hyderabad. Its main function was to establish networking and to provide a package of
service to women entrepreneurs’ association in India. Association of women
entrepreneurs in different states are affiliated to FIWE, so that they can have
networking.
Federation of Ladies Organization - FLO was formed in 1983 as a national level
forum for women with the objective of women empowerment. FLO has spectrum of
activities in order to promote women entrepreneurship and professional excellence.
World Association of Women Entrepreneurs - The world association of Women
entrepreneurs is an international women organization. It aims is to bring together all
women who are qualified to take up an active and leading part in employers’
organization along with their male colleagues.
National Women Development Corporation - NWDC serves all women especially in
rural and urban poor areas through promotion of women developmentin rural and
urban areas.

Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Karnataka - AWAKE was establishedin

1983 and has been recognized worldwide. It is an affiliation of Women World Bank in
New York. It is one of India‘s institution for women totally devoted to entrepreneurship
development.
Women’s India trust (WIT) - The trust was established in 1968 by Kamila Tyabji.
WIT centre at Panvel, 40kms, from Mumbai. The Kamila trust UK was set up in the
early 1990‘s with an aim of selling in England items produced by WIT family of women
in India. Encourage by its London, WIT expanded the export activities to Australia,
Europe, Germany from 1995 onwards. WIT had plans to launch computer training for
women.

27
Consortium of women entrepreneur of India (CWEI) - In the context of the opening
up of the economy and the need for up-gradation of technology, the consortium of
women entrepreneur of India started in year 2001 provides a common platform to help
women entrepreneurs in finding innovative techniques of production marketing and
finance.
Self-help groups (SHGs) - A SHGs’ is a small, economical homogeneous and
significant group of rural and urban poor, voluntarily formed to save and mutually
agreed to contribute to common fund to be lent to its members as per group decision.

Recovery-Oriented Mutual Self-help

Groups
Recovery-oriented mutual self-help groups can aid recovery from substance use disorders
(SUDs) and facilitate personal growth through self-exploration and peer support. Although
these groups are not a part of professional treatment, they can provide a rich source of
support for recovery and complement other treatment. Mutual self-help groups provide a
forum and opportunity for individuals in recovery to connect with others who have similar
experiences and goals, allowing them to build relationships within a substance-free support
network. These groups are typically free, anonymous, and easily accessible; as such, these
groups can be readily available over the long-term trajectory of recovery. Mutual self-help
groups include a variety of programs, with 12-step programs (e.g., Alcoholics Anonymous,
AA; or Narcotics Anonymous, NA) and Self-Management and Recovery Training (SMART
Recovery) being the most common ones. Clinicians who are knowledgeable about
community-based recovery programs may be more successful in referring patients to these
programs. Different meetings have different energies or dynamics to them, and clinicians
should encourage patients to attend several different meetings to identify the ones that feel
most comfortable for them or where they find connection with the other members.. It may be
helpful to inform patients that each meeting is unique and has its own character; if a patient
has a negative experience in a particular meeting, he or she should try attending one or more
different meetings to find the ones that feel right. In addition to 12-step programs for those
with SUDs, similar programs are available for the families and friends of the affected
individuals; for example, Al-Anon (or Nar-Anon) or Alateen can become a source of support
and valuable resource for adult and younger family members, respectively. Refer to Resource
Boxes 1-3 for additional information on 12-step programs.

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 3.4Reasons behind limited start-ups in India:

The failing-start-up problem in India has become a big issue in the start-up ecosystem.
As per statistics, majority of entrepreneurs fail while trying to establish their business.
After studying failed start-ups in India, I have compiled a list of several major
reasons behind their failure. From the lack oftalent to changing market dynamics,
these top reasons can become a nightmarefor any entrepreneur who wants to start a
new venture in the ever-changing Indian Market.

Not Understanding the Needs of the Society:

Most successful business ideas arise from needs of the society. Since high school, teenagers
become a part of the competition to get the best college and eventually, the best job. Due to
competition, most people spend countless hoursin studies and disconnect themselves from
society. The divide between the tech-driven lifestyle of millennials and lack of understanding
for society’s demands contribute towards failing business models. The educational pressure
is one of the many reasons that experts believe to be the source for lack of understanding
between people and society.

29
Lack of fresh and Innovative Ideas:
Almost every niche market in India is suffocated with multiple startups tryingto
provide solutions to the same problem. This calls for entrepreneurs to be inventive
and push the boundaries using innovation to stand out. Due to competition, the urge
to grab market share makes an entrepreneur vulnerable to mistakes by producing the
wrong product.

Lack of People with Hands-on Experience:

The startup ecosystem in India has a dearth of talent due to issues like braindrain.
Due to the competition among startups, the idea of training a new employee goes
right out of the window as time is a critical factor. Nobody wants to spend resources
training the new crop when you can get experienced personnel. This has created a void
of experienced professionals, who can contribute from the first day itself. By hiring
amateurs, which most Indian startups do, they fail to provide a better product, which
eventually leads to a startup’s demise.
Limited Access to Funding:
Entrepreneurs have to fight hard to get funding for their startups nowadays. To get
started, they use their savings or take money from friends and family. Very few are
lucky to get angel funding. Moreover, venture capitalists tend to finance only those
business ideas that can provide a good return on investment. This results in majority of
young entrepreneurs missing VC funding. As a result, most Indian entrepreneurs
are not able to continue their venture due tolack of funding.
Lack of Understanding between Technical and Management Teams:
There is a big difference between a technical graduate and a management graduate.
For a startup to succeed, complete understanding is need between the two. The lack of
technical know-how among management graduates and the lack of managerial
knowledge among technical graduates is one of the common reasons behind the failure
of startups in India

30
Offering very High Salaries:
Startups in India face a serious shortage of talent pool. To bring experienced professionals
on board, they offer high salaries to keep the startup in safe hands. However, offering
high salaries to employees makes the startup eat intoits resources. The shortage of funds
leads to instability within the startup, which leads to bad decisions.
Lack of Interpersonal and Soft Skills:
Most entrepreneurs in India are found to lack interpersonal and soft skills. Dueto poor
communication skills, an entrepreneur increases the failure rate of his/her startup. The
lack of such essential skills makes a startup not able tocompete in international market.
Also, entrepreneurs face a lot of difficulty in pitching their business ideas to a venture
capitalist with poor communication.
Not Able to Address the Issue of Scalability:
Over one-third of Indian population is on the internet. Startups that have successfully built
a product based on the needs of the society and are running profitably, will face the issue
of scalability. In such cases, lack of awareness orno mentor-ship becomes the deciding
factors behind a startup’s failure. Due to inexperience, entrepreneurs fail to understand the
changing needs of their product’s growing consumer base.
Unaware of Changing Market Dynamics:
Market dynamics keep changing with new trends becoming outdated in no time. Before
a startup knows what hit them, it is often too late to react and change the strategy. Such
scenarios arise when a startup’s core team is unableto make timely decisions due to
lack of industry insight, not conducting thorough research about the niche market,
targeting a wide market segment, and more.
Every founder cannot be the CEO:
There can be only one CEO, even if there are many founders. Only one person sets the
vision, and the others execute after there is broad agreement over what needs tobe done.
Too many people trying to display the big picture is a waste of time and shows role
ambiguity. “Too many cooks spoil the broth” comes in when everybody is the boss.

31
Direction comes from a single person and that position must be stable, secure, and given
space to experiment, with a reasonable error margin.

Meritocracy:
This should be ruthlessly executed from the top down. The agenda is to build a business
and not protect anyone. Right people doing the right task is the only way to build a
business. With a well-laid appraisal mechanism, talent must be timely rewarded and given
a greater platform so that they feel as much as a part of the venture as the founders. It takes
8-10 years to build a good/great business, and without a performing team which sticks
around, it is simply not possible.
3.5 To highlight the importance of financing agency’s in India:

A start-up is a reflection of an out of the box idea which is put into execution for the
generation of revenues through the sale of products and services that are uniqueand fills
the gap of the consumer needs that are in the market. India is fifth in the world in the aspect
of the startups with 3100 startups functioning since the last 3-4 years. India has been seeing
a trend of risk-taking entrepreneurs who are willing tosacrifice huge opportunity costs for
startups. But, according to a study, more than 94% of the business leads to the falling
scenario due to the lack of sufficient funds.Lack of funding is a common barrier seen in
the startup world. The known example of the Saurav Karukar’s startup SASLAB
technologies in 2014 was dueto the lack of funding. The generation of revenue is not a
piece of cake without the constant fuel of funding to the business. So, most of the times
this inquisitive question hits the mind of every other entrepreneur: How my startup should
be funded?

The funding of the business also depends on the nature of the business and the typeof the
business. Some startups that are unique but the idea holds a lot of risk for thebusiness the
funding becomes tough. The business can be funded through various means and ways in
India. Here, is a guide that can make you startup grow by leapsand bounds through the
proper source of funding.
32
 (A) Venture Capital:
Venture Capital is money provided by professionals who invest and manage youngrapidly
growing companies that have the potential to develop into significant economic
contributors. According to SEBI regulations, venture capital fund meansa fund established
in the form of a company or trust, which raises money through loans, donations, issue of
securities or units and makes or proposes, to make investments in accordance with these
regulations. The funds so collected are available for investment in potentially highly
profitable enterprises at a high risk of loss. A Venture Capitalist is an individual or a
company who provides. Investment Capital, Management Expertise, Networking &
marketing support while funding and running highly innovative & prospective areas of
products as well as services. In India, the Venture Capital Funds can be categorized into
the following groups:

Promoted by Public Banks: These type of Venture Capitalist funds is promoted by Public
Banks. SBI Capital Markets Ltd and Can bank Venture Capital Fund are some examples
of these kinds of VC funds.

Promoted by the Central Government controlled development finance institutions: This

group contains Venture Capital Funds that are promoted by development finance
institutions that are controlled by the Central Government of the country. The examples
are IFCI Venture Capital Funds Ltd. (IFCI Venture) and SIDBI Venture Capital Limited
(SVCL).

Promoted by State Government Controlled development finance Institutions: This group

includes Venture Capital Funds which are promoted by development finance institutions
controlled by state government. Some of the famous examples are: Hyderabad
Information Technology Venture Enterprises Limited (HITVEL), Kerala Venture Capital
Fund Private Limited, Gujarat Venture Finance Limited (GVFL), and Punjab InfoTech
Venture Fund

33
Overseas Venture Capital Funds: This group comprises of Venture Capital funds from
outside India. Like: BTS India Private Equity Fund Ltd., WaldenInternational Investment
Group, SEAF India Investment and Growth Fund.

Promoted by Private Sector Companies: This category consists of Venture Capital funds
promoted by private Sector Companies. Like: Infinity Venture India Fund, IL&FS Trust
Company Limited (ITCL).

Your pitch is crucial to obtaining funding. Sequoia, one of the most successful VC firms
on the planet, stresses, “you need to convey the main reasons why aninvestor should love
your business in the first 5 minutes.” Sequoia partners state you can do this in three simple
steps, which are:

• Explain what’s changed. Detail the innovation, industry shift, or problem that
presents substantial opportunity for your company.
• Explain what you do. In one sentence, show how your company can capitalize on
this opportunity.
• Explain the facts. Get to your company’s story and financials quickly. Lay out the
opportunity with numbers. Discuss the team and their abilities and experience.

(B) Bootstrapping:

Bootstrapping or in layman terms is the self-funding of your startup financingwhen

you are an immature entrepreneur and don’t get any support from any bank or any other
financial source unless you hold a strong plan to execute the business along with a sure
guarantee of growth of the business. Also, one of the ways to start funding the business
is that the source of the funding is flexible as your borrowing from your friends and family.
You can borrow the money at low-interestrates and also can avail the benefit of not being
answerable to anyone. At the maturity stage of the business, this is considered as an edge
in front of the investors as they consider it as a good point for the startups that have low
requirements.
34
But, not advisable to start-ups who are in need have vigorous funding since day 1 for their
operations.

(C) Crowd Funding:

One of the developing sources of finance for your start-up is to avail the finance from the
public. The process works in an interactive way wherein an entrepreneur pitches his
business idea in front of the layman on a platform where he orientsthem about his
business, the process and how revenues would be generated along with the seed capital
amount and where would the amount be invested into. The crowd then reverts the pitch in
the form of donation or form of pre-buying orders for the entrepreneur. This type of
sourcing not only full-fills the need of the entrepreneur but also generates an audience for
him who are willing to fund his idea as well as support it giving a boost for the business in
the initial years. This also grabs the attention of the venture capitalists few years down the
timeline and would be interested in funding your business by looking at the success of your
campaign and your risk.

(D)Angel Investors:

Angels are generally wealthy individuals or retired company executives who investdirectly
in small firms owned by others. They are often leaders in their own field who not only
contribute their experience and network of contacts but also their technical and/or
management knowledge. Angels tend to finance the early stages of the business with
investments in the order of $25,000 to $100,000. Institutional venture capitalists prefer
larger investments, in the order of $1,000,000. In exchange for risking their money, they
reserve the right to supervise the company's management practices. In concrete terms, this
often involves a seat on the board of directors and an assurance of transparency.

35
Angels tend to keep a low profile. To meet them, you have to contact specialized
associations or search websites on angels. The National Angel Capital Organization
(NACO) is an umbrella organization that helps build capacity for Canadian angel investors.
You can check out their member’s directory for ideas about who to contact in your region.

(E)Incubators & Accelerators:

Incubators and accelerators are one of the other options when you’re looking for aninitial
start-up investment. They are basically the programs for a short span of timethat help the
business to grow and nurture also with to provide them with other mentors and connections
for the benefit. Incubators are basically the programs where they provide you with an in-
house space and equipment with their fundingto run your start-up against stakes going as
high as up to 20%. On the other hand, accelerators are the programs with a short span of
time where you are assigned a small seed capital along with a return of a large mentor
network against the stakes of 2-10% of your business. Thus, incubators are like your
parents who nurture you and the accelerators are the programs which give you huge
opportunities. India holds some popular names of Amity Innovation Incubator & Angel
Prime.

(F)Government Programs:
The government is also providing incentives for the startups and to promote them. The
government of India passed the startup fund in the union budget of 2014-15 which is valued
at 10,000 crores for Indian startups. There are more programs launched by the government
to take the benefit such as the Bank of Ideas and Innovations by the program that will
support the new product ideas. There are also government programs wherein you need no
collateral security against the loan youborrow for your startup under the name of Credit
Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises. The government also started with
MUDRA with an amountof 20,000 crores to sanction loans to startup once you clear the
criteria. There are also institutions who take lower interest rates as compared to the market.
The awareness is a parameter if you are applying for loan through the government
programs.

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(G)High Net-Individuals:
Lastly, our final source of funding is the High Net-worth individuals who are individuals with
ample amount of financial resources for your startup. These individuals are having their
existing business and are looking for opportunities to invest into your business with their
resources for the time span of 1-3. After this time span, they expect the amount of the
investment to be twice or thrice during this period. They mainly invest in those businesses
which are having the highest caliber level to sustain in the market and generate good revenue
streams in short span of time. The first advantage of this type of funding that you can design
a custom investment based on the funds you need which give you an edge. Lastly, the high
net-worth individuals charge you lower fees.

(I)Bank Loans:

This might probably be the first option when you have an idea of your own start- up. Banks
offer loans to the entrepreneurs who are eligible and capable of carryingout a sustainable
and stable business project. For the sanction of the loan, the bank takes into consideration
the business model, the valuation of various inventories and the project report along with
other documentation. But now the process is hassle free and without any collateral. Under
all the banks there are 7-8 different types of loans for the SME Business. But the only thing
that needs to be taken careof is the timely repayment of the amount. The funding done by
the bank has got benefits such as the profit or loss remains with you along with the proper
procedure and framework of the banks. Also, they are available every and charge less as
compared to venture capitals i.e. 13-17%.

(J)Friends and Family:

One of the best places to raise funds is from your own house. As your family is wellaware
of your talents, they will be willing to support you regardless of what you want to do.
Family and friends are the only ones who know your potential and willbe willing to give
you money to start your business. This may seem like a great way of gaining investment
partners, but everything has its drawbacks.
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Acquiring loans or investment form family or friends may be advantageous to some
businesses as they have faith in your talents and yoursuccess. But for others that require
expert assistance or guidelines, angel investors are the best way as your family might
not have those experiences which are needed.

This may be a good way for you to raise money as they love and care for you but it is
not fun when you lose it as it may affect your relationship with that person forever. A
good way of raising funds from your family may be if you choose thosewho have the
knowledge of business and its risks while investing.

Regardless of this fact, it is important to behave like a professional with them, and while
they are considering to invest, you should lay out all the risks involved in theinvestment
so they can decide at first.

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3.6Entrepreneurship Development Plan:
Entrepreneurship is the process of setting up one’s own business as distinct from pursuing
any other economic activity, be it employment or practicing some profession. The person
who set-up his business is called an entrepreneur. The output of the process, that is, the
business unit is called an enterprise. It is interesting to note that entrepreneurship besides
providing self-employment tothe entrepreneur is responsible to a great extent for creation
and expansion of opportunities for the other two economic activities, that is, employment
and profession. (Can you think why and how?) Further, each business gives rise to other
businesses– the suppliers of raw materials and components, service providers (be it
transport, courier, telecom, distributor middlemen and advertising firms, accounting firms
and advocates etc. And, in the process, entrepreneurship becomes crucial for overall
economic development of a nation. Given its important role in the overall scheme of
economic development, it is interesting to note that not many persons opt for a career in
entrepreneurship. Traditionally, it was believed that entrepreneurs are born. No society can
wait for the chance of ‘birth’ of entrepreneurs to pursue its developmental plans. In fact,
plans for economic development would bear little fruit unless entrepreneurship
development is regarded as a deliberate process of making people aware of
entrepreneurship as a career at an early age and creating situations where they may actually
make a choice to become entrepreneurs. When you make this choice, you become a job-
provider rather than a job-seeker, besides enjoying a host of other financial and
psychological rewards. Taking to entrepreneurship is surely more a matter of aspiring to
become an entrepreneur rather as being born as one.

Concept of Entrepreneurship:
You are aware that entrepreneurship is regarded as one of the four major factors of
production, the other three being land, labour and capital. However, it should surprise you
that as regards its French origin, the term ‘entrepreneurship’ (derived from the verb
‘entreprende’ meaning ‘to undertake’) pertained not to economics but to undertaking of
military expeditions. So is true of many terms in management such as strategy (a course
of action to beat the competition, the ‘enemy’) and logistics (movement of men and
machines for timely availability),
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etc. Historically, as wars are followed by economic reconstruction, it should be no surprise
that military concepts are used in economics and management. It may be pointed out that
whereas the wars are rare and far between, in today’s competitive world, entrepreneurs
wage wars every day. There is a tremendous pressure to continually develop new products,
explore new markets, update technology and devise innovative ways of marketing and so
on. The term ‘entrepreneur’ was first introduced in economics by the early 18th century
French economist Richard Cantillon. In his writings, he formally defined the entrepreneur
as the “agent who buys means of production at certain prices in order to sell the produce
at uncertain prices in the future”. Since then a perusal of the usage of the term in economics
shows that entrepreneurship implies risk/uncertainty bearing; coordination of productive
resources; introduction of innovations; and the provision of capital.

We would like to define entrepreneurship as a systematic, purposeful and creative activity

of identifying a need, mobilizing resources and organizing production with a view to
delivering value to the customers, returns for the investors and profits for the self in
accordance with the risks and uncertainties associated with business. This definition points
to certain characteristics of entrepreneurship that we turn ourattention to.

Characteristics of Entrepreneurship:
In the SVO formulation of the concepts of entrepreneur, entrepreneurship and enterprise,
we saw that entrepreneurship is about the process of setting up abusiness. One cannot help
but marvel at the beauty of the process: how does one first of all decide to choose own
business as a career; how does one sense a marketopportunity; how does one muster up
courage to embark upon it, and mobilize the requisite resources, etc.; so much so that
recourse to entrepreneurship, in common parlance, is considered as an exclusive preserve
of a few gifted individuals. In the following paragraphs, our effort would be to establish
entrepreneurship as a career that you should aspire for. Remember, resources may be
limited, aspiration need not be. So, you can aspire for something greater, bigger than your
present status and resources. And start today. Remember, aspiration means desire
multiplied by action.

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1) Systematic Activity: Entrepreneurship is not a mysterious gift or charm and something that
happens by chance! It is a systematic, step-by step and purposeful activity. It has certain
temperamental, skill and other knowledge and competency requirements that can be acquired,
learnt and developed, both by formal educational and vocational training as well as by observation
and work experience.Such an understanding of the process of entrepreneurship is crucial for
dispelling the myth that entrepreneurs are born rather than made.

2) Lawful and Purposeful Activity: The object of entrepreneurship is lawful business. It is

important to take note of this as one may try to legitimise unlawful actions as
entrepreneurship on the grounds that just as entrepreneurship entailsrisk, so does illicit
businesses. Purpose of entrepreneurship is creation of value for personal profit and social
gain.

3) Innovation: From the point of view of the firm, innovation may be cost saving or revenue-
enhancing. If it does both it is more than welcome. Even if it does none, it is still welcome
as innovation must become a habit! Entrepreneurship is creative in the sense that it involves
creation of value. You must appreciate that in the absence of entrepreneurship ‘matter’ does
not become a “resource.” By combining the various factors of production, entrepreneurs
produce goods and services that meet the needs and wants of the society. Every
entrepreneurial act result in income and wealth generation. Even when innovations destroy
the existing industries, for example, Xerox machines destroyed carbon paper industry,
mobile telephony threatens landline/ basic telephony, and net gains accruing to the
economy lend such entrepreneurial actions as commendable as the acts of creative
destruction. Entrepreneurship is creative also in the sense that it involves innovation-
introduction of new products, discovery of new markets and sources of supply of inputs,
technological breakthroughs as well as introduction of newer organisational forms for doing
things better, cheaper, and faster and, in the present context, in a manner that causes the
least harm to the ecology/environment. It is possible that entrepreneurs in developing
countries may not be pioneering/ innovative in introducing path breaking, radical
innovations. They may be the first or second adopters of technologies developed elsewhere.
That does not make their achievement small.

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For imitating technologies from developed world to the indigenous setting is quite
challenging. A lady entrepreneur wanting to introduce thermal pads for industrial heating
faced tremendous reluctance form the owners of chemical and sugar mills despite the
established superiority of her products over the conventional heating of the vessels by burning
of wood/coke or using LPG. Moreover, there is no need to suffer from “it was not invented
here” complex– there is no need to reinvent the wheel. The global electronics major, Sony did
not invent the transistor! It used the transistor to build entertainment products that are world
leaders.

4) Organization of Production: Production, implying creation of form, place, time

personal utility, requires the combined utilization of diverse factors of production, land, labor,
capital and technology. Entrepreneur, in response to a perceived business opportunity
mobilizes these resources into a productive enterprise or firm. It may be pointed out that the
entrepreneur may not be possessing any of these resources; he may just have the ‘idea’ that he
promotes among the resource providers. In an economy with a well-developed financial
system, he has to convince just the funding institutions and with the capital so arranged he
may enter into contracts of supply of equipment, materials, utilities (such as water and
electricity) and technology. What lies at the core of organization of production is the
knowledge about availability and location of the resources as well as the optimum way to
combine them. An entrepreneur needs negotiation skills to raise these in the best interests of
the enterprise. Organization of production also involves product development and
development of the market for the product. Besides, entrepreneur may be required to develop
even the sources of supply of requisite inputs. For example, whether it is a matter of putting
togetheran automobile manufacturing unit or manufacture of burger/pizza, besides cultivating
a market and developing products to suit its tastes and preferences, there would be a need to
develop a pool of suppliers of the diverse components or elements that go into their
manufacture.

5) Risk Taking: As the entrepreneur contracts for an assured supply of the variousinputs for
his project, he incurs the risk of paying them off whether or not the venture succeeds. Thus,
landowner gets the contracted rent, capital providers gets the contracted interest, and the
workforce gets the contracted wages and salaries.

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However, there is no assurance of profit to the entrepreneur. It may be pointed out that the
possibility of absolute ruin may be rare as the entrepreneur does everything within his control
to de-risk the business. For example, he may enter into prior contract with the customers of
his production. So much so that he may just be contract manufacturer or marketer of someone
else’s products! What is generally implied by risk taking is that realized profit may be less
than the expected profit. It is generally believed that entrepreneurs take high risks. Yes,
individuals opting for a career in entrepreneurship take a bigger risk that involved in a career
in employment or practice of a profession as there is no “assured” payoff. (See Box above) In
practice, for example, when a person quits a job to starton his own, he tries to calculate whether
he or she would be able to earn the same level of income or not. To an observer, the risk of
quitting a well-entrenched and promising career seems a “high” risk, but what the person has
taken is a calculatedrisk. The situation is similarly to a motorcyclist in the ‘ring of death’ or a
trapeze artist in circus. While the spectators are in the awe of the high-risk, the artists have
taken a calculated risk given their training, skills, and of course, confidence and daring. It is
said that the entrepreneurs thrive on circumstances where odds favoring and against success
area even, that is 50:50 situations. They are so sure of their capabilities that they convert 50%
chances into 100% success. They avoid situations with higher risks as they hate failure as
anyone would do; they dislike lower risk situations as business ceases to be a game/fun! Risk
as such more than a financial stake, becomes a matter of personal stake, where less than
expected performance causes displeasure and distress. The characteristics of entrepreneurship
discussed as above apply in diverse contexts, so does the usage of the term, viz.,
Agricultural/Rural Entrepreneurship, Industrial entrepreneurship, Techno-preneurship, Net-
preneurship, Green/Environmental or Eco-preneurship, Intra-corporate/firm or Intra-
preneusrhip and Social entrepreneurship. In fact, entrepreneurship has come to be regarded
as a ‘type of behaviors’, whereby one, (i) rather than becoming a part of the problem,
proactively tries to solve it; (ii) usespersonal creativity and intellect to develop innovative
solutions; (iii) thinks beyond resources presently controlled in exploiting the emerging
opportunities or attending to the impending problems; (iv) has the conviction to convince
others of one’s ideas and seek their commitment towards the project; and (v) has the courage
of heart to withstand adversities, persist despite setbacks and be generally optimistic.

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Relations between Entrepreneurship and Management:
Entrepreneurship is about business start-ups and renewals. That is, it appears at thetime of
starting a new business, disappears for some time in the course of stabilizing the venture
as an on-going business and reappears in case there is aneed for introducing changes
in product, market, technology, structure and so on. In fact, it is said that everyone is an
entrepreneur when he actually ‘carries out newcombinations,’ and loses that character as
soon as he has built up his business, when he settles down to running it as other people run
their businesses. In developed countries, the distinction between the entrepreneurial focus
on start-ups and managerial focus on routine is so sharp that it is argued that once the
project has reached a level of maturity, the entrepreneurs must move out and the managers
must come in.
In developing countries, however, the concept of owner-manager seems more apt for
entrepreneurship as the entrepreneur remains attached even to the day-to-day operations
of the venture. In fact, their lacking in managerial skills is often forwarded as the cause of
business failures. Just as managers are expected to play entrepreneurial roles in the times
of need, likewise the entrepreneurs must also demonstrate managerial abilities for the
success of their ventures. Irrespective of whether the entrepreneurs pave way for the
managers or they themselves assume the managerial responsibilities, it is possible to
distinguish between the term’s entrepreneurship and management.

Need for Entrepreneurship:

Every country, whether developed or developing, needs entrepreneurs. Whereas, a
developing country needs entrepreneurs to initiate the process of development, the
developed one needs entrepreneurship to sustain it. In the present Indian context, where on
the one hand, employment opportunities in public sector and large-scale sector are
shrinking, and on the other, vast opportunities arising from globalization are waiting to be
exploited; entrepreneurship can really take India to the heights of becoming a super
economic power. Studies by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, a research programme
involving annual assessment of the national level of entrepreneurial activity across a-
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number of countries show that differences in the levels of entrepreneurial activity account for
the differences in the level of economic growth to the extent of as much as 33%. What is that
the entrepreneurs do to affect economic development? This leads us to a discussion of the
functions of the entrepreneurs in relation to economic development. As the enterprise is the
object of their endeavor, it is also necessary that we examine their functions in relation to the
enterprise as well. Thus, the need for entrepreneurship arises from the functions the
entrepreneurs perform in relation to the process of economic development and in relation to
the business enterprise.

Functions of Entrepreneurs in Relation to Economic development:

You are aware that entrepreneurs “organize” the production process. In the absence this
function, all other resources, namely land, labor and capital would remain idle. They may not
be inventing/discovering the products, their role in commercial exploitation of the
advancements in science and technology via organization of theproductive apparatus makes
the other resources productive and useful. So much so that it is said that in the absence of
entrepreneurial intervention, every plant would remain a weed and every mineral would
remain a rock.
1. Contribution to GDP: Increase in the Gross Domestic Product or GDP is the most
common definition of economic development. You are aware that income is generated in the
process of production. So, entrepreneurs generate income via organisation of production be it
agriculture, manufacturing or services. You are also aware that income generated is distributed
among the factors of production where land gets rent, labour gets wages and salaries, capital
gets interest and the residual income accrues to the entrepreneur in the form of profits. As rent
and interest accrue to those few who have land and capital respectively whereas larger masses
are destined to earn their incomes via wage employment, the biggest contribution of the
entrepreneurship lies in capital formation and generation of employment. This is what we turn
our attention to.
2. Capital Formation: The entrepreneurial decision, in effect, is an investment decision that
augments the productive capacity of the economy and hence resultsin capital formation. In
fact, GDP and capital formation are related to each other via Capital Output Ratio (COR);
more precisely Incremental Capital Output Ratio ICOR) that measures the percentage-
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increase in capital formation required obtaining a percentage increase in GDP. So, if a country
desires to grow @ 10.0 %p.a. and its ICOR is 2.6, then it must ensure capital formation
@ 26.0% p.a.. Entrepreneurs, by investing their own savings and informally mobilising the
savings of their friends and relatives contribute to the process of capital formation. These
informal funding supplements the funds made available by the formal means of raising
resources from banks, financial institutions and capital markets.

3. Generation of Employment: Every new business is a source of employment to people

with different abilities, skills and qualifications. As such entrepreneurship becomes a source
of livelihood to those who do neither have capital to earn intereston nor have the land to
earn rent. In fact, what they earn is not only a livelihood or means of sustenance but also a
lifestyle for themselves and their families as well as personal job satisfaction. As such
entrepreneurs touch the lives of many, directly aswell as indirectly.

4. Generation of Business Opportunities for Others: Every new business creates

opportunities for the suppliers of inputs (this is referred to as backward linkages) and the
marketers of the output (what is referred to as forward linkages). As a pen manufacturer you
would create opportunities for refill manufacturers as well as wholesalers and retailers of
stationery products. These immediate linkages induce further linkages. For example, greater
opportunities for refill manufacturers would mean expansion of business for ink
manufacturers. In general, there are greater opportunities for transporters, advertisers, and,
so on. So, via a chain-reaction, entrepreneurship provides a spur to the level of economic
activity.

5. Improvement in Economic Efficiency: You are aware that efficiency means to have
greater output from the same input. Entrepreneurs improve economic efficiency by, a.
improving processes, reducing wastes, increasing yield, and, b. Bringing about technical
progress, that is, by altering labour-capital ratios. You areaware that if labour is provided
with good implements (capital), its productivity increases.

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6.Increasing the Spectrum and Scope of Economic Activities: Development does not
merely mean ‘more’ and ‘better’ of the existing, it also and more crucially means
diversification of economic activities– across the geographic, sectoral and technological
scope. You are aware that underdeveloped countries are caught in thevicious cycles on the
demand as well as supply side. Entrepreneurs penetrate into and break these cycles, for
example, by organizing and orienting domestic production for exports. Thus, production (and
thereby generation of income) is not constrained by the inadequacy of domestic demand.
(Demand-side Vicious Cycle).In today’s context, you are aware that India is poised to become
a manufacturing hub for the global markets for diverse products. Economic development is
also constrained by the supply-side pressures resulting into absence of capacity to meet the
demand whether domestic or overseas. Entrepreneurs mobilise local and even overseas
resources to augment the productive capacity of a country. Indian Multinational Giants is fast
becoming a reality. Entrepreneurs lead the process of economic development via bringing
about sectoral change. You must be aware thatas the economies grow, percentage of GDP
originating from agriculture decreases and that originating in industry and services sectors
goes up. Entrepreneurs through their decisions to divest from the stale sectors and invest in
green-field sectors bring about a virtual transformation of the economy from ‘underdeveloped’
to an ‘emerging’ and ‘developed’ status.

7. Impact on Local Communities: Entrepreneurship, in its natural habitat, that is, small
business is at a great level. You may see from table on marginalised groups. That small-scale
entrepreneurship enables such marginalised groups as women, SC, ST and OBC to pursue
their economic dreams. As there are no entry barriers interms of educational qualifications,
entrepreneurship is an even more attractive career option for such marginalised groups. Agro
based rural industries and craft- based cottage industries can really catapult local communities
to socio-economic success stories. Local governments do their bit in developing these
entrepreneurship clusters with a view to encouraging inter-firm collaboration and
development of common facilities. Entitled, ‘Entrepreneurship Clusters in India.’In regard
to the development of entrepreneurship for impacting local communities, some corporate-
sector initiatives also deserve a mention. ITC through their ‘e- Chau pal’ and HLL through
their ‘Shakti’ initiatives have sought to mobilise native entrepreneurs for improving a lot of -

47
those lying at the bottom of the economic pyramid.

8. Fostering the Spirit of Exploration, Experimentation and Daring: Economic

development, among other things, requires breaking away from the shackles of traditions and
beliefs that restrict growth. For example, if ‘crossing the seas’ were a taboo, there would not
have been international trade and the resultant economic growth. The established ways of life
need to be challenged and change must be seen as an opportunity to improve rather than
something to be scared of. Entrepreneurs, through their urge to do something new, seeing
change as anopportunity, experimenting with the novel ideas and showing the courage to try
them prepare a fertile ground for persistent economic development. Have you seenthe Hindi
movie ‘Lagan,’ where the protagonist Bhuvan raises a cricket team from the villagers who had
not even seen the game? Don’t the feats of Karasn Bhai of ‘Nirma’ who challenged ‘Surf’
from the mighty Hindustan Lever Limited make you proud of the daring of the entrepreneurs?
Thus, whether one looks at economicdevelopment narrowly in terms of the increase in GDP
or in the wider context of economic, institutional and social change, and entrepreneurship
plays a crucial role. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor studies report a lag of 1-2 years between
entrepreneurial activity and economic development, suggesting that it takes time for the
impact of entrepreneurship on economic development. An important observation needs be
made here. While entrepreneurship leads to economic development, the vice-versa is also true.
That is, economic development also fosters entrepreneurship development. Growing
economies provide a fertile soilfor the flourishing of entrepreneurship, an aspect that we will
take up whilediscussing entrepreneurship development.

Role of Entrepreneur in relation to their Enterprise: Drawing an analogy from

musicology in explaining the role of the entrepreneurs inrelation to their enterprise, one may
say that an entrepreneur is not only thecomposer of the musical score and the conductor of
orchestra but also a one-man band. His roles and functions get much broader in scope in a
developing country context like ours. Entitled ‘Role and Functions of the Entrepreneur in
Relation to his/her enterprise.’ These elements are no sequential as the figure may convey, the
entrepreneur may have to address to all these elements simultaneously. Yet, depending upon
their backgrounds, the individual entrepreneur may prefer oneover the other.

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For example, technicians tend to be over obsessed with the production aspect; those with
marketing background may over emphasize creation of market. Investor type entrepreneurs
may be over concerned with the returns from the project. One should resist the temptation of
looking at the business only from one’s own narrow perspective. Having said this, it is apt that
we provide a brief description of the various issues that may be relevant at each stage.

Opportunity Scouting: Entrepreneurial opportunities have to be actively searchedfor. One

may rely on personal observation, discovery or invention. Personal/professional
contacts/networks and experience or may also help in identifying business opportunities.
Alternatively, one may rely on published reports, surveys and the like. Narayan Reddy of
Virchow Laboratories relied on thepersonal discovery of the molecule during his employment
with a pharmaceutical company. As observation means seeing/hearing/smelling with a
purpose, opportunity spotting presupposes tendency to look at the things and phenomenon
from an entrepreneurial mindset. Most of us have a consumer’s mindset. If we see any object
of desire, may be a pen, laptop, latest model of the mobile phone or somebody eating pizza or
burger, we crave to have the same thing for ourselves. The entrepreneurial mind, on the other
hand starts working out, what would be the market size, where to procure it from and at what
price, will I able to woo the customers from the existing players and how– by selling it cheaper,
by providing more value or by better service and so on. Entrepreneurial opportunities may
also be identified through a process of research of international, domestic, sectoral/ industrial
analysis. For example, post WTO, international trade and investment have become freer of
restrictions. Textile quotas are being phased out, and, there are greater opportunities for textile
and textile made-ups from India. Global outsourcing is on the rise and India offers a huge and
varied pool of technical manpower that makes it a cost-effective destination for in-bound
global outsourcing in manufacturing as well as Information Technology Enabled Services
(ITES). A business opportunity, in the simplest terms, is a packaged business investment
that allows the buyer to begin a business. As observation means seeing/hearing/smelling
with a reason, opportunity spotting presupposes tendency to look at the things and
phenomenon from an entrepreneurial mindset. Most of us have a consumer’s mindset.

49
If we see any object of desire, may be a pen, laptop, latest model of the mobile phone or
somebody eating pizza or burger, we crave to have the same thing for ourselves. The
entrepreneurial mind, on the other hand starts working out, what would be the market size,
where to procure it from and at what price, will I able to woo the customers from the
existing players and how– by selling it cheaper, by providing more value or by better
service and so on.

Entrepreneurial opportunities may also be identified through a process of research of

international, domestic, sectoral/ industrial analysis. For example, post WTO, international
trade and investment have become freer of restrictions. Textile quotas are being phased
out, and, there are greater opportunities for textile and textile made-ups from India.
According to the Small Business Administration, your investigation must be thorough,
analysing the risks and benefits of the opportunity. Review the potential and the pitfalls
inherent in the business to make an informed decision and increase your chances of
success.

Identification of Specific Product Offering: While the environment scan leads to the
discovery of more generalized business opportunities, there is a need to zero in on to a
specific product or service idea. For example, trade liberalization since WTOs has
resulted in export opportunities, but the question is what to export and where? You may
be required to compile a country-product matrix to be able to decide. This way you may
arrive at the product-market combination showing the fastest growing import and from
your point of view export potential. Deciding on the product offering makes the highest
demand on the entrepreneur’s creativity and innovativeness. Yet, in a competitive
environment, it is possible to differentiate your product offering even if the generic
product is the same and serves the same need. Clearly decision on specific product
offering necessitates decisions on who is buying, why, and what are the value
expectations. You will be able to succeed when the value delivered not only meets but
also exceeds customers’ expectations and create a ‘Vow!’ impact. While the
environment inspects leads to the innovation of more comprehensive business –

50
 opportunities, there is a need to zero in on to a specific product or service idea. For
example, trade liberalization since WTOs has resulted in export opportunities, but the
question is what to export and where? You may be required to compile a country-
product matrix to be able to decide. New products and services are the lifeblood of all
businesses. Investing in their development isn’t an optional extra – it is crucial to
business growth and profitability. But embarking on the development process is risky.
It needs considerable planning and organization.

This way you may arrive at the product-market combination showing the fastest
growing import and from your point of view export potential. Deciding on the product
offering makes the highest demand on the entrepreneur’s creativity and innovativeness.
Yet, in a competitive environment, it is possible to differentiate your product offering
even if the generic product is the same and serves the same need. To thoroughly
understand what you’re getting into, perform an extensive market research project to
determine the feasibility of your business. In addition to gleaning statistics of trends
and current customer buying patterns, you need to know who your customers are, where
they are located and what kind of competition exists in your area.

You can extend the lifecycle of a product or service by investing in an “extension strategy”.
You could:

 increase your promotional spending

 introduce minor innovations – perhaps by adding extra features or updating the design
 seek new markets

But ultimately this only delays a product or service’s decline.

Noticeably decision on particular product offering necessitates decisions on who is buying,

why, and what are the value expectations. You will be able to succeed when the value
delivered not only meets but also exceeds customers’ opportunity and create a ‘Vow!’
impact.

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Feasibility Analysis: The product offering idea must be technically feasible, that isit should
be possible with the available technology to convert the idea into a reality. And this should
be possible at a cost that can be covered by the price it willfetch; in other words, the idea must
be economically feasible too. The project cost should be within the resources available and
the resource providers should be reasonably sure of an appropriate return on (profit) and
return of (safety and liquidity) of their investments. That is, the idea must be financially viable
as well. There should be enough sales in the immediate and the prospect of growth in the
foreseeable future; there should be adequate assurance on the commercial viability of the
chosen product offering. Now a day, it is also important to be sure that there aren’t any
environmental and other legal restrictions/necessity of prior approvals for setting up the
business. It is also to be decided as to whether the business will be organised as a proprietary
concern/partnership firm/ company or cooperative entity. Clearly the chosen product offering
must be feasible from the diverseperspectives. You must compile these findings in the form
of a business plan that would have to be submitted to the funding authorities, in the Indian
context, the State Finance Corporation of your area. They may be having a prescribed
proformain which the details of the business plan are required to be furnished and, as such
there may a need to adapt the contents accordingly. An idea about the generic contents of a
business plan may be had from. The business plan may be appraised by the funding institution,
and upon satisfying itself about the desirability of assisting your project and upon the
furnishing of some margin money it may sanction the loan amount. Recall, Narayan Reddy
and his two other associates provided Rs. 8 lakhs and the APSFC contributed Rs. 20 lakhs
toward the overall project cost of Rs. 28 lakhs. Upon the project approval, the entrepreneur
can proceed for project commissioning, that is putting up the factory premises, installing the
equipment, obtaining the supplies of the input materials with a view to starting the
manufacture and marketing the product. As noted earlier too, entrepreneurial functions do not
come to an end with the business start-up. He often looks after its day-to-day operations and
strives for its stability and growth. Entrepreneurial roles and functions clearly seem onerous.
Perhaps that is why many shy away to simpler, softer and safer options of employment and
practice of profession. Entrepreneurial going may be tough; but then that is where the tough
get going! Do not worry if presently you may find yourself short on those competencies,
values and attitudes.

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It is just a matter of making up your mind for a career in entrepreneurship and grooming
yourselves for it. This takes us to the discussion of the process of entrepreneurship
development. A feasibility study allows a business to address where and how it will
operate, its competition, possible hurdles, and the funding needed to begin. The business
plan then provides a framework that sets out a map for following through and executing on
the entrepreneurial vision. By evaluating your management team, assessing the market for
your concept, estimating financial viability, and identifying potential pitfalls, you can make
an informed choice about the achievability of your entrepreneurial endeavor. A feasibility
analysis is largely numbers driven and can be far more in depth than a business plan (discussed
in The Business Plan).

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The process of Entrepreneurship Development:
Entrepreneurship does not emerge spontaneously. Rather it is the outcome of a dynamic
process of interaction between the person and the environment. Ultimately the choice of
entrepreneurship as a career lies with the individual, yethe must see it as a desirable as well
as a feasible option. In this regard, it becomes imperative to look at both the factors in the
environment as well as the factors in the individual as having a nearing on the perception of
desirability and feasibility and thereby entrepreneurship development. One may, therefore,
model the process of entrepreneurship development in terms. In general, capitalist economy
with its emphasis on individual achievement is more suitable for entrepreneurship. Lower
rates of taxation on personal income, lower rates of interest and moderate inflation stimulate
entrepreneurial activity. (Can you think why it is so?) Moderately low external value of
domestic currency or in other words, moderately lower exchange rates, stimulate import
substituting and export promoting entrepreneurship. (Can you rationalise why?). Well-
developed financial system, good infrastructure, helpful bureaucracy all these have a favorable
impact on entrepreneurship. Specially designed and dedicated institutions such as National
Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (visit, niesbud.nic.in),
Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (visit, www.ediindia.org) that conduct
entrepreneurship awareness and entrepreneurship development programmes (EAPs and
EDPs) a further fillip to this activity.

An important enabler or disabler of entrepreneurship is the prevailing socio- cultural

milieu. Those societies that respect individual freedom to choose among occupations,
that encourage the spirit of enquiry, exploration and experimentation, celebrate
individual accomplishment and in general accord important status to the entrepreneurs
are likely to have self-sustaining supply of able and willing men andwomen for taking to
entrepreneurship as a career. Entrepreneurs are likely to have self-sustaining supply of
able and willing men andwomen for taking to entrepreneurship as a career. It is useful to
break the entrepreneurial process into five phases: idea generation, opportunity
evaluation, planning, company formation/launch and growth.

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It is useful to break the entrepreneurial process into five phases: idea generation,
opportunity evaluation, planning, company formation/launch and growth. These phases
are summarized in this table, and the Opportunity Evaluation and Planning steps are
expanded in greater detail below.

1.Idea Generation: every new venture begins with an idea. In our context, we take an
idea to be a description of a need or problem of some constituency coupled with a
concept of a possible solution. (A characterization of this phase is still work in process
on this site.

2. Opportunity Evaluation: this is the step where you ask the question of whether there
is an opportunity worth investing in. Investment is principally capital, whether from
individuals in the company or from outside investors, and the time and energy of a set
of people. But you should also consider other assets such as intellectual property,
personal relationships, physical property, etc.

3. Planning: Once you have decided that an opportunity, you need a plan for how to
capitalize on that opportunity. A plan begins as a fairly simple set of ideas, and then
becomes more complex as the business takes shape. In the planning phase you will
need to create two things: strategy and operating plan.

4. Company formation/launch: Once there is a sufficiently compelling opportunity and a

plan, the entrepreneurial team will go through the process of choosing the right form of
corporate entity and actually creating the venture as a legal entity.

5. Growth: After launch, the company works toward creating its product or service,
generating revenue and moving toward sustainable performance. The emphasis shifts
from planning to execution. At this point, you continue to ask questions but spend more
of your time carrying out your plans.

Although it is natural to think of the early steps as occurring sequentially, they are
actually proceeding in parallel. Even as you begin your evaluation, you are forming at
least a hypothesis of a business strategy. As you test the hypothesis, you are beginning
to execute the first steps of your marketing plan (and possibly also your sales plan).

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The role of the individual in Entrepreneurship Development:
Mr. Narayan Reddy was desirous of starting a small-scale industry and also had a sense of
efficacy or readiness to pursue it given his qualifications, experience and the necessary values,
attitudes and motivation (the opening case does not elaboratethis. We will discuss these at
suitable places). Even you may like to see as to wheredo you find yourself on the desirability
(willingness)-efficacy (ability) matrix, won’t you? As you may see from the matrix figure able
and willing men and women are a “ready” source of entrepreneurship. Such persons leap up
the first opportunity comes their way to be on their own. Recall, Narayan Reddy leapt up the
opportunity as he met the two medicos who had returned from the Gulf. At anypoint of time,
there are many men and women who “want” to set up a business of their own but experience
self-perceived barriers to entrepreneurship. They could behaving a low perception of self-
efficacy either on account of lack of resources (or to be more correct, resourcefulness),
knowledge or know-how, and the skills. Collectively, these are referred to as competencies,
which now we turn our attention to.

Entrepreneurial Competencies:

Every opportunity and successful performance of every role and function has a competence
requirement. It’s true of entrepreneurship as well. Entitled ‘Cash OR KASH?’ The term
‘competence’ refers to a composite of knowledge, skills and a host of psychosocial attributes
(including Attitudes and Motivation that we will be discussing separately) in a person that
mark his/her effectiveness for a task. The phrase ‘composite’ is crucial. For example, the
competence “ability to communicate vision” is much more than proficiency in writing/
speaking skills. It would involve, just to illustrate, vision clarity, understanding the audience
background, interest and readiness, knowledge about the media and choosing the most
appropriate one, attracting attention, delivery, leaving not merely an impression but also an
impact and, assessing effectiveness. So, when the entrepreneur in the television interview
pointed out KASH as the determinants of successful entrepreneurship, he was indeed referring
to the competencies. Competency approach to human resource development in general and
entrepreneurship development in particular was pioneered by David McClelland, a—
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Harvard University psychologist in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. (You will be learning
more on McClelland’s work when we discuss entrepreneurial motivation.)McClelland set out
to define competency variables that could be used in predictingjob performance and that were
not biased by race, gender, or socio-economic factors. As a result, it becomes more important
to learn what a person does rather than who he/she is. That is why management and also
entrepreneurship is better defined as what a manager or an entrepreneur does. Because
competencies can be built via a process of education and development, we may say that
entrepreneurs are made. What are the distinct competencies for entrepreneurship? In this
regard one may refer to the efforts of Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI),
a national resource institution in the area of entrepreneurship education research and
development EDI has identified a set of 15 competencies that contribute toward
entrepreneurial performance and success. These are briefly stated hereunder.

Initiative: Acting out of choice rather than compulsion, taking the lead rather thanwaiting
for others to start. Sees and Acts on Opportunities: A mindset where one istrained to look for
business opportunities from everyday experiences. Recall ‘oranges’ example.

Efficiency Orientation: Concern for conservation of time, money and effort.

Systematic Planning: Breaking up the complex whole into parts, closeexamination of the
parts and inferring about the whole; e.g. simultaneously.

Persistence: A ‘never say die’ attitude, not giving up easily, striving continuously until
success is achieved. Information seeking: Knowing and knowing who knows, consulting
experts, reading relevant material and an overall openness to ideas and information.

Concern for High Quality of Work: Attention to details and observance of established
standards and norms. Commitment to Work Contract: Taking personal pains to complete
a task as scheduled. Attending to production, marketing and financial aspects (parts) of the
overall business strategy (the whole).

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Problem-solving: Observing the symptoms, diagnosing and curing. Self- confidence: Not
being afraid of the risks associated with business and relying on one’s capabilities to
successfully manage these.

Assertiveness: Conveying emphatically one’s vision and convincing others of its value.

Persuasion: Eliciting support of others in the venture.Use of

Influence Strategies: Providing leadership.

Monitoring: Ensuring the progress of the venture as planned.

Concern for Employee Welfare: Believing in employee wellbeing as the key to

competitiveness and success and initiating programmes of employee welfare. You would,
now, be interested in knowing as to how to build these competencies. Knowledge
competencies (what you know regarding facts, technologies, a profession, procedures, a job,
an organisation, etc.) can be developed by, forexample by reading and interacting with people
who know. Skill competencies (what you say or do that results in good or poor performance)
can be acquired by practice, haven’t you heard “practice makes a man perfect”? For example,
‘persuasion,’ and ‘use of influence strategies’ require presentation skills. You may do double
the homework on what you want to say, how you want to say, who your audience is and what
are their backgrounds, what could be the possible questions that may be asked, what would
be their answers and so on. Practice it all over a number of times, may be before mirror or
your friends, so that when you areactually in that situation, you perform well.

Entrepreneurial Motivation:
Men and women who have a perception of self-efficacy and are yet to feel interested in or
motivated by the idea of being on their own comprise a potential, future source of
entrepreneurship. What motivates a person is a question easier asked than answered. Mr.
Narayan Reddy was driven by the desire to utilise his discovery of the molecule as a business
opportunity. In terms of Maslow’s need hierarchy theory, one may say that Mr. Narayan
Reddy was driven by the need for self-actualisation. Since entrepreneurial situation is
characterised by personal accomplishment in competitive situations and involving higher-

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standards of excellence, one often come across reference to ‘need for achievement’ or N-ach
for short as the primary driver of entrepreneurial behavior. See Box entitled ‘How NAch.
Drives Entrepreneurship and Economic Development’.

Need for Achievement (N-Ach.): Need for achievement implies a desire to accomplish
something difficult. To master, manipulate, or organize physical objects, human beings or
ideas. To do this as rapidly and as independently as possible. To overcome obstacles and attain
a high standard. To excel one’s self. Torival and surpass others. To increase self–regard by
successful exercise of talent. Yes, entrepreneurship provides you with the best opportunity for
making the best use of your talents as in employment the 9-5 routine, pressure to adhere to
rulesand regulations, preference for compliance of boss’s instructions over the use of personal
creativity and innovativeness stifles your progress and self-development. You can create a
work environment that suits your abilities and interests. Need for Power (N-Pow): Need for
Power is the concern for influencing people orthe behaviour of others for moving in the chosen
direction and attaining theenvisioned objectives. In common perception, politicians, social
religious leaders Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), Government Bureaucrats/Civil Servants
typify the need for power. Such a perception seems more based on the belief that the source
of power lies in the “position” a person occupies in organisational/societal context. In the same
vein, business ownership too may imply a need for power. Moreover, you would appreciate
that the process of founding a business, one has towin the commitment of capital providers,
suppliers of equipment and materials, theemployees and that of the customers. Power may not
be used to further one’s self- interests alone, it may be also be used to touch the lives of others,
to make a difference. Entrepreneurs driven by this socialised face of the need for power. They
found organisations that are a source of sustenance and self- respect for many. needs.
Entrepreneurs are believed to be low on affiliation, as they are and expectedto be, innovative,
trendsetters and tradition breakers. However, it is not necessary that affiliation should only
interfere with achievement. In certain cultures, family comprises the bedrock on which the
successful careers are built. One works, as if, not for personal gratification but for family.
Desire to Need for Affiliation (N-Aff.): Often you must have heard your parents saying that
whatever they do they do it for their children. If a man thinks about interpersonal relationships,
he has a concern for affiliation.

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It implies, among other things a tendency of the people to conform to the wishes and norms
of those whom they value. Apparently, social activists, environmentalists, teachers, and
doctors and nurses may seem as predominantly driven by these carries on the tradition of
business in the family and the community to which one belongs, may be interpreted as
reflecting need for affiliation as well. In the countries with the colonial past, such as ours, the
first generation of entrepreneurs in Independent India was driven by patriotic fervor and the
desire to rebuild the economy left stagnated by the alien rulers. One can certainly trace some
elements of affiliation motivation in such instances.

Need for Autonomy (N-Aut.): The need for autonomy is a desire for independence and being
responsible and accountable to oneself rather than some external authority for performance. It
is the desire for an opportunity for the fullest expression of one’s abilities. In the context of
entrepreneurship, it is usuallyinterpreted as the determination not to work for someone else.
In most job situations, employees are given little freedom to exercise their discretion in taking
decisions and choosing a course of action so much so that absence of it drivesthem into
starting their own ventures. As such n-pow. becomes more a desire for preserving one’s ethos
rather than the freedom from the boss. Take the example of another Hyderabad based
entrepreneur entitled Entrepreneurship for Preserving Personal Work Ethos). What does the
above discussion mean for entrepreneurship development? It means that for promoting
entrepreneurship it is important tokindle and arouse the right motivation. In the absence
of motivation, even ablemen and women may not take to entrepreneurship. Hence. In every
Entrepreneurship Awareness Programme (EAP) or Entrepreneurship Development
Programme (EDP), there are special sessions on entrepreneurial motivation, besides sessions
on entrepreneurial competencies. You may note that motivation and ability can positively
reinforce each other. Persons having abilities search for the avenues for their expression and
hence are drawn to entrepreneurship. Persons eager to be on their own may strive hard to
acquire the necessary competencies to realise their dreams. How truly one has said that
entrepreneurs are the dreamers who do! In explaining and developing entrepreneurial
motivation, it is important tolearn that different individuals are motivated differently, and
that one may be trying to satisfy more than one need through one’s pursuit. This is an
important observation as economic theory very simply says that the objective of the firm or
that of the entrepreneur is profit maximization.

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Entrepreneurial Values and Attitudes:
While explaining human behavior, one often comes across the terms’ values and attitudes.
Rather than attempting to distinguish between these two terms, it would be sufficient to say
here that taken together, entrepreneurial values and attitudes refer to the behavioral choices’
individuals make for success in entrepreneurship. The word ‘choice’ is important, as there
are alternative ways of behaving too. In entrepreneurship, a host of behavioral tendencies or
orientations have been reported as having a bearing on success. The entrepreneur in ‘Cash or
KASH’ labelled these as ‘Habits’, some researches have called these as policies or strategies.
Be it the decision to make a choice about entrepreneurship as a career, be it the decision to
choose the product line, growth strategy, profit making and social responsibility you would
be required to make choices. The choice that you make may have a tremendous impact on
your performance. What we do here is to profile some of the dimensions relating to starting
and managing a business andthe associated behavioral alternatives, we have considered here
two to keep the things simple. We have highlighted those alternatives that have been
generally observed to be associated with superior performance.
Entrepreneurship for Preserving Personal Work Ethos:
In industries having captive power plants, a day’s downtime can cause a loss of crores of rupees.
While working for a public sector electrical major, an engineer found it really difficult to cope with
the bureaucratic attitude in servicing the customers. It clashed with his personal value, ‘client’s
problems be attended first, paperwork can wait’. He quit the job and started a turbine repairing and
furbishing company. Incidentally, it takes more money to travel or to transport than to repair or
refurbish the turbine. But the downtime is reduced and the clients are happy. Later the company also
diversified into the manufacture of the parts and commissioning of the captive power plants on a
turnkey basis.

How N-Ach. Drives Economic and Entrepreneurship Development:

Credit for investigating and bringing to the fore the role of need for achievement goes to
McClelland, the Harvard professor whom we referred to also in the discussion of competency-
based approach to human resource and entrepreneurship development. He set out to investigate
why some countries are more developed than others He sought to find answer to this question by
examining the propositionthat ‘differences in the level of achievement motivation are
responsible for ‘differences in the level of economic development’. For this he examined the
popular stories and folklore and readers up to primary classes of 39 countries for finding out-

61
whether they focused on personal accomplishment, triumph of human courage and effort
over the circumstances and so on. McClelland’s research upheld the proposition that
differences in the levels of achievement motivation as revealedby the analysis of the stories
and the readers accounted for the differences in the level of economic development. How?
What would be the process? McClelland observed that entrepreneurship becomes the
medium through which the achievement motivation manifests the best and through which
the development takes off.

The Role of Environment in Entrepreneurship Development:

Entrepreneurs bring about economic growth and development, and the latter in turn
provides a fertile soil for the flourishing of entrepreneurship. There certainlyis a mutually
facilitating reciprocity between economic growth and entrepreneurship development.

Business Plan

1. ExecutiveBusiness
Summary Plan

2. Business/industry
1. Executive Summary background
2. Business/industry
3. Product/service background
to be offered
3. Product/service to be offered
4. Market analysis
4. Market analysis
5. Sales and marketing strategy
5. Sales and marketing strategy
6.
6. Production/operations strategy
7. Production/operations
7. Management strategy
8. Management
8. Risk factors
9. Risk
9. Funds factors
required
10. Funds required

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Resource Moblization

Scanning Environment for

Entreprenurial Oppourtunities

Development Of
Product/Services/Idea

Assessment of feasibility of the idea

and the preparation of a business
plan.

Project commissioning and launch.

Review

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Roles and Functions of the Entrepreneur in relation the Enterprise:

Developing Exchange Relationships:

1. Perceiving market opportunities

2. Gaining command over scarce resources

3. Purchasing inputs

4. Marketing of Products and responding to competition

Political Administration:

5. Dealing with public bureaucracy (approvals, concessions, taxes)

6. Managing human relations within the firm

Managing customer and supplier relations.

Management Control:

8. Managing finance

9. Managing production

Technology:
10. Acquiring and overseeing assembly of the factory

11. Industrial engineering (minimizing inputs with a given production process)

12. Upgrading the production process and product quality

13. Introducing new production techniques and product

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 4. GENERAL ANALYSIS

4.1 PESTLE Analysis:

PESTLE analysis is a business measurement tool to assess the overall macro environment of
business. PESTLE is acronym for Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and
Environmental. It is a part of the external analysis while conducting market research, and it
gives an overview of multiple macro-environmental factors before taking business decision.

Political Factors: Political factors are the medium by which Government intervenes the
functioning of an enterprise. Government regulations are evaluated in terms of its capacity to
influence the business environment and markets. The principle issues in this segment are
political stability, tax guidelines, trade regulations, safety regulations, labor laws, and business
laws.

Startups India Action Plan Impact: The action plans suggest law enforcement agencies to
keep off the functioning of startups in the first three years of its operations. But after three
years, companies need to follow the regulations.

Example- Tax exemptions, Self-certifications for 3 years

Economic Factors: These factors include economic growth, interest rates, exchange
rates, and inflation rate. These factors extraordinarily affect how businesses operate and make
decisions.

Startups India Action Plan Impact: There will be an improvement in the ease of doing
business especially for startups which will boost entrepreneurship. There isa corpus fund for
startups at lesser interest rate which will improve the ease of setting up news businesses.

Social Factors: These factors have a great impact on the buying patterns which is an important
determinant for businesses. High trends in social factors affect the demand for a products and
operational mode of enterprises.

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Startups India Action Plan Impact: Startups action plan will change the buying pattern and
behavior of consumers as this action plan is more focused on products and services which will
be driven through new technologies and innovations.

Technological Factors: These factors include technological aspects like R&D activity,
automation, technology incentives and the rate of technological change. These can determine
barriers to entry, minimum efficient production level and influence the outsourcing decisions.

Startups India Action Plan Impact: Though there is not enough space for R&D activity in
the startups action plan. This action plan would be a key contributor to technological aspects
like the rate of technological changes i.e. technology beyond portal and mobile apps; etc.

Legal Factors: This factor includes consumer law, antitrust law, employment law,and health
and safety law. These factors can affect how company operates, cost structure, and market
demand for its products.

Startups India Action Plan Impact: Exemption of startups from labor inspections for the
first 3 years from labor department etc. will definitely boost the business environment.

Environmental Factors: These include ecological and environmental aspects such as

weather, climate change, environmental law etc. which may affect industries such as tourism,
farming, and insurance.

Startups India Action Plan Impact: There is no special mention about in the
announcements. However, the fund allotted through credit guarantee scheme will cover risk
if any occurs.

There are six elements to a PESTLE analysis: Political, Economic, Sociological,

Technological, Legal, and Environmental. PESTLE analysis considers the broad
environmental context that affects the business and the changes that occur in this context.
SWOT analysis then interprets these findings for the business to determine the strengths
and weaknesses, and opportunities and threats.

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How does PESTLE ANALYSIS WORK:

• Identify the scope of the research. It should cover present and possible future scenarios, and
apply to the industry and areas of the world in which the business operates.

• Decide how the information will be collected and by whom. Identify more than one person to
gather data to bring diverse evidence and perspectives.

• Identify appropriate sources of information. You may find areas of PESTLE are a bigger
focus to your industry than others but exploring information for all of them will give you a
bigger view of the external environment.

• Gather the information – you can use the template below.

• Analyse the findings.

• Mark each item in terms of importance in relation to potential risk to the organisation.

• Identify the business options to address the issues.

• Write a discussion document for all stakeholders.

• Disseminate and discuss the findings with stakeholders and decision makers.

• Decide what actions need to be taken, and trends to be monitored.

4.2 Challenges and Opportunities of Start-ups:

Whatever may be the kind of start-up, Indian start-ups face its own set ofchallenges and
some stellar opportunities. The challenges can be classified as:

Culture:

Entrepreneurship and start-ups are only a recent phenomenon in the country. It is only in the
last decade and half that people in the country have moved from being job seekers to job
creators. Doing a start-up is tough and every country sees more failures than success. More
often than not an entrepreneur needs to be prepared to face failures and unprecedented
hardship. However, culturally we are not groomedto fail and failure is frowned upon.
Entrepreneurship thrives on celebrations and a society that fails to appreciate business
failures stifles innovation and creativity even before it can start. A start-up failing has to be
OK as failures often teach an entrepreneur, what to do and what not to do.

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Mentoring:
Doing a start-up is perilous and often a lonely journey. You may have co-founders,but you
may not necessarily possess the business acumen to succeed.Having a brilliant idea is different
from making that idea a business success. For a start-up, itis very important to have mentors
who have been through a similar process of starting or have business experience. A great
mentor is often what separates success from failure by providing valuable inputs. However,
there is no formal mechanism to mentor start-ups in the country. Every mentoring that
happens is on an ad-hoc basis. A start-up that has raised funds can count the investors for
some form of mentoring, but honest, unbiased, good business mentors are far and few in
between. For start-ups finding a good mentor is often an uphill task.

Policies:
Government is the single largest enabler for the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Government's role in
ease of doing business and helping companies start is vital to ensuring success. The latest World
Bank Ease of Doing Business (out of 189 economies) ranks India at an abysmal 142 where
starting a business rank for the country is even lower at 158.It is uncannily difficult to start a
business in India andmyriad laws and regulations means it takes about 30 days to comply
compared to just 9 days in OECD countries. The government’s role has so far been limited to
giving out grants and loans, but without an effective, enabling environment, implementation is
far off the target. In this regard it will be interesting to see the contours of the recently
announced Start-up Fund in this year’s budget. For start- ups to thrive and succeed, the
government has a lot to do and understand the importance of entrepreneurship in
economic development.

Hiring:
The economy has been in a flux and along with the world economy the heady daysof high
growth are long gone. In an uncertain economy where, one is not sureabout demand, for
a start-up, it is particularly difficult to make correct estimates onthe number of employees
needed. This, however, is the minor problem where the biggest issue is about finding skilled
manpower. India’s skilling need is so huge that National Skill Development Corporation
(NSDC) has been mandated to skill 150 million Indians by 2022.

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For a start-up, it is particularly difficult to attract and hire talent and skilled workers. A start-
up often cannot match the salaries drawn at larger companies nor is a job at a start-up seen as
a steady one. This means start- ups face severe hiring challenges and at times have to settle
for the next best option.

Funding:
Capital and access to capital has been a perennial problem for start-ups. While, of late angel
investors, venture capital and private equity have brought succour to some extent, a large
number of start-ups still grapple to raise funds from institutional setup. Funding challenge is
not merely limited to seed rounds, but alsofor vital Series A and B rounds. For a start-up
looking to scale, it is still very hard to raise rounds to scale as the number of investors that
write larger cheques inIndia are very limited in number.

The Opportunities are as follows:

Demographic dividend:
According to the latest UN report India with 356 million 10-24-year-olds have the largest
concentration of youth population despite having a smaller population than China. This augurs
well for the country as right education and healthcare can see the economy soar. Youth is the
driving force behind innovation, creation, and the future leaders of a country. Youth also drives
demand and consumption pattern in acountry. For start-ups youth make up the workforce that
it so desperately needs andgoing forward youth can be a huge talent base for start-ups. Best
suited to address emerging countries’ challenges – India has a unique set of problems that
need innovations to originate out of the country. Problems around its health, education,
infrastructure, sanitation are unique to the country and solutions from western world cannot
solve it. Each problem provides a unique opportunity for start-ups to solve some pressing issue
and at the same time create a business around it. What helps is that most problems around
emerging economies are similar in nature and solutions applicable here can also work in many
countries in Africa and elsewhere. This enables Indian start-ups to acquire an even bigger
scaleand at the same time make a meaningful impact around the world. Large
population:

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For start-ups in the country, it is not essential to go overseas. India, with over a billion people,
present a very large home market for any goods or services. A rising disposable income and
growing aspirations of a mushrooming middle class have meant there is a large appetite for
brands. The large population has also led to a consumer expenditure growth, which has in turn
has propped up supply andproduction. Start-ups that look to service and cater to the large
population in solving a pain point or providing a utility in one of the world’s most important
consumer markets, stand to do well.

High Mobile penetration:

According to latest TRAI figures India's tele-density reached 76.55 percent with a
subscriber base of 95.76 crore. Significantly wireless subscriber base touched
95.76 crore, just shy of 100 crore mark. High mobile penetration in urban and ruralIndia
has reshaped the economy of the country and how goods and services are offered. It has
led to greater efficiencies and increased productivity. It has meant businesses profit
through faster decision making, better logistics and even something like access to bank
accounts. Higher mobile penetration has also led to increased financial inclusion and flow
of credit to the unbanked. Growth in mobilepenetration is transforming the way businesses
and consumers communicate and work. With data enabled mobile phones, the very nature
of start-ups and businesseshave changed. For example, start-ups that develop mobile apps
now have an ever- increasing market to cater to. India is at crossroads where it now has to
cater to the aspirations of a billion people. Existing frameworks can prove to be
inadequateand there is a great need to leverage a billion minds and become a global power.
Start-ups and entrepreneurship are the best way forward in becoming a knowledge
superpower. Ashish Mittal is founder and Chief mentor, Turning Ideas, focused onhelping
multiple start-ups in mobile, social and cloud domain. He was instrumental in starting
Google Enterprise business in India and worked for Microsoft, Oracle and IBM. He is part
of advisory board for multiple higher education Institutes and Government and also guides
students in becoming Industry ready. He also drives charity for underprivileged known
as Turning Life Foundation.
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De-globalization:
Critics will argue that this will be a challenge, however, ever coin has two sides; it is a
challenge for some, and opportunity for the others.
Brexit added fuel to the fire, while the new president of The USA has given early
indications of lower corporate taxes, and destination taxes for US based corporations.
Make in India, is also a part of this de globalized world, where we are promoting to make
in India rather than anywhere else in the world. This is an opportunity for the Indian start-
ups, more importantly, lesser brain drain, companiesabroad will look to hire from India, and
therefore greater talent pool will be availablefor start-ups. India is a more closed economy
as compared to China, and we do have substantial exports to the US, but this will be
unaffected, although de-globalizationcould have adverse-effect on larger corporations who
will scale down operations andbecome more frugal, this would also present opportunities for
start-up companies to fillthe void.
Connectivity:
Indian telecom industry has nearly 100 crore subscribers, mobile connectivity has madeinroads
in the rural and urban population. Government of India’s digital push is going to improve
connectivity and data to the next level. The race to cheapest data has startedand disruption
is certain. The cheap data has helps everyone to get their hands on it,start-ups will have an
easier time to tap into markets, territories and even traditionalbusinesses.

THE STARTUP ECOSYSTEM:

Along with government initiatives, there is a definite movement in start-up arena in India due to
penetration of IT and internet. Many start-ups are coming up in service sector including
education, legal, retail, insurance and health. With customers becoming aware of the benefits
and convenience, the popularity and viability of start-ups is no more a difficult proposition for
an entrepreneur. A number of venture capitalists and angel investors are aggressive and gung-ho
on Indian start-ups as they see lot of potential with few expected to become unicorns (high
valued companies) bringing in good returns. On the contrary, there are examples of few start-ups
that failed and eventually closed their businesses due to various issues and challenges.

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GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES:

Indian government is serious in promoting entrepreneurship at the start up level and has taken
a number of initiatives to ensure appropriate support. In this aspect it is relevant to mention
‘Make in India’ campaign introduced in September’14 to attract foreign investments and
encourage domestic companies to participate in the manufacturing sector. The government
increased the foreign direct investment (FDI) limits for most of the sectors and strengthened
intellectual property rights (IPRs) protection to instill confidence in the startups.In order to
make the country as number one destination for start-ups, Government of India (GoI) has
introduced a new campaign called ‘Standup India’ in 2015 aimed at promoting
entrepreneurship among women and to help start-ups with bank funding. Another
commendable and far reaching initiative is ‘Digital India’ introduced in 2015 to ensure
government services are made available to every citizen through online platform that aims to
connect rural areas by developing their digital infrastructure which translates into a huge
business opportunity for start-ups.

THE STARTUP SCENARIO IN INDIA:

It is to be noted that every year more than 800 technology start-ups are being set up in India. By
2020, it is estimated that around 11,500 tech-start-ups are going to be established with employment
potential of around 250,000 technical people (NASSCOM, 2015). It is admirable to note that India
is amongst the top five countries in the world in terms of start-ups with 10,000+ led by US with
83,000+ comprising 43% tech-based firms with 9% managed by women entrepreneurs. The
number of incubators also has crossed 100 in 2014-15 to give boost to the startup saga (Grant
Thornton, 2015).Sector wise, the distribution of Indian businesses is:

Table: 1 Break-up of Indian Start-up Businesses

Technology Based Non-Technology Based
E-Commerce - 33% Engineering- 17%
B2B - 24% Construction-13%
Internet - 12% Agri- products- 11%
Mobile apps - 10% Textile - 8%
SaaS - 8% Printing & packaging –
8%
Other – 13% Transport & logistics-
6%
Outsourcing & support -
5%
Others-32%
Source: Startups India- An Overview, Grant Thornton, 2015
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 4.3 Challenges faced by Women Entrepreneur:

Conflicts between Work and Domestic Commitment’s: Women's family obligations

also bar them from becoming successful entrepreneurs in both developed and developing
nations. "Having primary responsibility for children, home and older dependent family
members, few women can devote all their time and energies to their business" (Starcher,
1996). Married women entrepreneurs have to make fine balancebetween the business and
their home.

Problems access to finance: Women entrepreneurs are lacking access to finance because
women generally do not have property in their names to use them as a collateral security
for obtaining funds from external source. The bank also considers thewomen as less credit
worthy and discourages the women entrepreneurs. The family members of her have little
confidence in the capability of the women to run the business. Most women business
owners don't get the social support they require to kick start their business from
families, peers, and immediate ecosystems. Lack of mentorship from the business
community is also one of the main challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in
the country
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Lack of family support: This is common issue for every woman in India. Sometimesthe
family may make the women feel guilty of neglecting household duties in her pursuit of
business obligations. Cultural traditions may hold back a woman from venturing into her
own business.
Limited mobility: Unlike men, women modality for travelling from place to place inIndia
is limited due to the various reasons. Women on their own find it difficult to accommodate
in smaller towns even the dual responsibility that the women have to cope with making
business success as well as looking after the home, restrict in theirmobility.

Male Dominated Society: Important barrier to the empowerment of women through

enterprise is the main chauvinist predominant social factor and believes are not conducive
to the blossoming of women entrepreneur. This consideration act as a stumbling block in
their strife for equal status with men in the economic activity.

Indian women give more emphasis to family ties and relationships: Married women
have to make a fine balance between business and family. The business success also
depends on the support the family members extended to women in the business processand
management.

Role Conflict: Entrepreneurship needs a high level of commitment, devotion and

dedication. Women taking on mantle of entrepreneurship suffer from stress and strain
caused by role overload and role conflicts.

Lack of proper Education: The greatest barrier of the entrepreneurial career among
women is the lack of education. In India 60% of women are illiterate and illiteracy is the
major problem of socio-economic backwardness. Lack of information and experience
creates further problems in setting up of business.

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Discrimination in childhood: Right from early childhood, girl child is taught not to be
aggressive. They are discouraged to move out of the family and take up the business. This
attitude of the family members makes women week and passive in approach.

Low need for Success: Need for achievement independence autonomy are the
prerequisites for the success of the entrepreneurship. But women are proud to baskin the
glory of their parents, husband, children etc. Their preconceived notions about the role in
the life inhibit achievement and independence.

Low Risk Bearing Ability: Women in India need a protected life and they are confined
to the four walls of house. They are less educated and economically not self-dependent and
lack the entrepreneurial initiative or training, inferiority complex, unplanned growth etc.
all this reduces the ability of women to bear a risk.

Lack of Self Confidence: Women lack of self confidence in their own abilities which is
partly due to socio cultural environment. Having accepted a subordinate status for long
even at home members of their family do not appear to have total confidence in their
abilities and on their decision making.

Lack of Social and Institutional Support: Most women business owners don't get the
social support they require to kick start their business from families, peers, and immediate
ecosystems. Lack of mentorship from the business community is also one of the main challenges
faced by women entrepreneurs in the country.

Fewer sectors are Women friendly: Despite the policies and measures to promote
gender equality, men still dominate India’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. According to a recent
report, most women-owned businesses in the country operate in low-revenue sectors, while
men control the more profitable sectors like manufacturing, construction, and the like.The
male-centric nature of many industries also forces women entrepreneurs to operate in sectors
that are historically called “women-friendly”, such as education, apparel, and beauty care,
among others.

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 5. FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS &CONCLUSIONS

5.1 Findings:

Many businesses start with a dream, but it takes more than just a dream for them togrow
into successful businesses—including the tenacity to overcome the many challenges facing
start-ups today. Start-ups take time, effort, and energy. Funding is a major concern for
start-ups and small businesses. When the economy tanked, itmade it harder to convince
investors and banks alike to part with the cash that’s essential for growth in the early days
of a business. Credit today is tight, and it’s not clear precisely when it will become more
readily available. Plus, there’s a growing trend of smaller initial investments in early stage
start-ups. Intensifying the challenge of raising funds, major leaps in technology have led
investors to raisethe bar in terms of how much legwork entrepreneurs are expected to
do beforeeven pitching their companies.
5.2 Suggestions:
Solutions for reason of failures:

a) Entrepreneurs should conduct in-depth market researches to understandthe need of

the society and then proceed to the product design phase.

b) Entrepreneurs need to analyse their business idea and think out of thebox. An ideal
example can be the number of start-ups in the ecommerce industry, but rarely anyone
focuses on logistics-based start-up ideas, where the need is.

c) Start-ups should aim to hire those people who share the same zeal tomake the start-
up successful.

d) Entrepreneurs should reach out to multiple venture capitalists and know who is better
aligned towards the goals of start-ups.

e) Business process should involve meetings of the management team and technical teams
on weekly basis to ensure a smooth workflow.

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f) Start-ups should be policy driven and offer same salaries to team members. It should
offer incentives for performance-based work. Doingso will help manage the funding in
an appropriate way.

g) Entrepreneurs can enrol themselves at personality development classes to improve

their soft skills or hire an experienced person for businesscommunication.

h) Entrepreneurs should keep a close watch on the growing demand for their product
and focus on response time and capacity planning.

i) An entrepreneur should keep up with changing market dynamics to see a decline in the
demand for their product and take necessary steps to run the start-up profitably.

To remove the obstacles for Women Entrepreneur:

The basic requirement in development of women entrepreneurship is to make aware the
women regarding her existence, her unique identity and her contribution towards the
economic growth and development of country. The elimination of obstacles for women
entrepreneurship requires a major change in traditional attitudes and mindsets of people in
society rather than being limited to only creation of opportunities for women. Hence, it is
imperative to design programmes that will address to attitudinal changes, training,
supportive services. The basic instinct of entrepreneurship should be tried to be reaped into
the minds of the women from their childhood. This could be achieved by carefully
designing the curriculum that will impart the basic knowledge along with its practical
implication regarding management (financial, legal etc.) of an enterprise. Adopting a
structured skill training package can pave the way for development of women
entrepreneurship. Such programmes can train, motivate and assist the upcoming women
entrepreneurship in achieving their ultimate goals. Various schemes like the World Bank
sponsored programmes can be undertaken for such purposes. The course design should
focus on imparting input on profitability, marketability and practical management lessons.

Besides, there should be consideration in helpingthe women entrepreneurs in balancing

their family life and work life. As a special concern, computer illiterate women can be
trained on Information Technology to take advantage of new technology and automation.

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The initiatives taken from these well-established entrepreneurs for having interaction with
such upcoming women entrepreneurs can be proved to be beneficial in terms of boosting
their morale and confidence. The established and successful women entrepreneurs can act
as advisors for the upcoming women entrepreneurs. It may result in more active
involvement of women entrepreneurs intheir enterprises. Infrastructure set up plays a vital
role for any enterprise. Government can set some priorities for women entrepreneurs for
allocation of industrial plots, sheds and other amenities. However, precautionary measures
should be undertaken to avoid the misuse of such facility by the men in the nameof the
women. Even in todays’ era of modernization the women entrepreneurs depend on males
of their family for marketing activities. This is simply because they lack the skill and
confidence for undertaking such activities. Women development corporations should
come forward to help the women entrepreneurs in arranging frequent exhibitions and
setting up marketing outlets to provide space for the display of products or advertisement
about services made by women. Entrepreneurship isn’t a smooth sail, especially if you are
a woman attempting to make a mark in the male-dominated business world. There are a
lot of challenges and obstacles that women entrepreneurs have to endure. And yet, there
are a few ways in which you can overcome obstacles and ensure success.

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 5.3-Conclusions:

1) Start-ups are the future growth engines of our country and government should do all
it can to foster the growth of entrepreneurship culture in India.

2)Already Facebook, Google and Yahoo have acquired start-ups based in India and the
likes of Flipkart, Inmobi, MuSigma show us that world class companies can have origins
in India also. It just needs a little push in right direction.

3) Government initiatives like the $1.68bn funds for the ‘Make in India’ and the new
company law are a step-in right direction.

“The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you will find new cheese”

-Spencer Johnson

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6.1 Articles

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 6.2 CASE STUDIES:

I. Cheez-burger:

Entrepreneur: Ben Huh, founder of Seattle-based Cheez-burger, which owns the

websites Fail Blog and I Can Has Cheez-burger (home of the LOLcat).

Setup: Huh was a 22-year-old journalism major when he moved to Chicago and founded
software analytics firm Raydium in January 2000. He'd worked at startupsbut didn't have
much experience or a network to raise money easily. Still, he cobbled together $750,000
over two rounds.

"Uh-oh" moment: Eighteen months later, he hit a wall. "You're hopeful to the end, but
we were flat out of money and couldn't meet payroll," he says. Huh tried raising more
money, but the dot-com crash was in full effect, and there was none tobe had. For two
weeks, he says, he could barely leave his room. "These investors had put a fortune on their
faith in me, and you feel like you should have rewarded their faith," he recalls. "You feel
like you can't do another company again."

The way out: Six years passed before Huh decided to buy I Can Haz Cheezburger and
begin building his funny-blog empire. During that time, he came to terms withthe fact that
investors understood the risks, and that Raydium might not have worked even if he'd raised
enough money. He compares the process of starting over to getting back on a bicycle:
"You know how painful it can be, but you do it anyway," he says. "I think you are better
prepared, mentally and financially, but you never know if it's going to be successful. That's
called maturity."

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Success: Huh took over Cheez-burger in September 2007. The blog network now receives
25 million unique visitors and half a billion-page views per month, andhas raised more
than $32 million to jump-start a platform that will allow anyone to create memes. Cheez-
burger boasts 90 employees, a handful of whom star on the Bravo reality TV show
LOLwork.

Take-away: Draw some kind of line between business and personal life, especiallywhen
it comes to finances. Huh mixed his credit cards and ended up shouldering company debt
when Raydium folded. "But once you realize those limits, go for them," he says. "Think
of it as the best education money can't buy."

II)The Muse:

Entrepreneur: Kathryn Minshew, CEO and co-founder of New York-based The Muse,
a career-development platform with original content, interactive job boards and
comprehensive company profiles.

Setup: In December 2010 Minshew quit her job at the Clinton Health Access Initiative to
run Pretty Young Professionals (PYP), a women's networking site she had started with
three co-workers a couple of months before. She bootstrapped the company and guaranteed
a small payroll with personal savings, working as an unpaid CEO and editor in chief. By
spring 2011 she'd managed to attract only 9,000 users. Then, a redesign increased user
to 20,000, and the other members of the founding team began to get more involved

"Uh-oh" moment: The group splintered in half after an argument about how best to run
the company, and the threat of a lawsuit loomed. "We split our equity on a piece of
notebook paper. We didn't have lawyers; I didn't think we needed them," Minshew recalls.
"I spent three weeks alternating between the fetal position andthe whiteboard trying to
figure out how strongly I wanted to fight for the existing company vs. how prepared I was
to strike out and do it over."
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The way out: Minshew decided on a do-over, watching PYP's rebranding from the
sidelines. In September 2011 she launched The Daily Muse (now called The Muse), and
PYP's entire staff, plus another co-founder, joined her. The Huffington Post and
TechCrunch covered the launch; the site drew more visitors in its first month than PYP
had in its best. "The community knew what happened and stood behind us with tweets and
shares," Minshew says. "It was painful, but being forcedto start over was a unique sort of
gift, because having been through a lot together, the team comes out of it with the
confidence that nothing is going to stop us."

In November, she was accepted into the prestigious Y Combinator accelerator program.
She added mobile, local and social media functionality to her platform tolook more like a
"billion-dollar" startup.

Success: She's still out $20,000 in savings, but by the end of 2012 the website had nearly
2 million users in more than 160 countries, increasing at a rate of 30 percentevery month.
The Muse, now with eight employees, has partnerships with 60-plus companies, including
Intel, Sephora, NPR, Pinterest, Twitter and foursquare.

Take-away: In a business partnership, formalize the process and paperwork, and

hire a lawyer who can spot problems you never dreamed would arise--just in case
things get personal. And of course, choose your partners wisely. "It's so important
to find people who share your values and ethics," she says. "There are a lot of things
you can paper over, and having different sets of opinions is valuable, but not when it
comes down to code of conduct."

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 WEBLIOGRAPHY

➢ Sharifi, Omid, PhD Scholar, Aligarh University, Understanding the

challenges faced by start-ups in India-Research Paper.
➢ Study on Women Entrepreneurship in India-
https://www.researchgate.net.

➢ Start-up India-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Start-up India.

➢ Economic Times Website-Challenges and Opportunities
Case Studies-www.entrepreneur.com

BIBLIOGRAPHY

➢ Mascarenhas, Romeo S, Business Planning and Entrepreneurship

Management, Published by-Vipul Prakashan, 2022.
➢ Article-The Economic Times News Paper

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