Index
- Introduction
- Startups, What are they?
- Types of Startups
- Startups In India
- How to start a startup in India?
- Startup India
Introduction
One of the trendiest words these days is ‘Startup.’ Every person has a game-changer idea in their mind. An idea so unique that they want to establish a business using it. While everyone is fixated over their idea only, very few know how to start a startup. In a country like India, where the population is above a billion, there is fierce competition even in the startup market. One of the main reasons for the big Indian startups is less competition at that time. Now in every college, there is an entrepreneurship club that supports startups. With such fierce competition, let us take a look at how to start a startup company in India.
Startups, what are they?
‘Startup’ was synonym with the term ‘small business,’ although there is a vast difference. While small businesses work on a fixed already decided model which is small scale startups are different from this. Startups operate on prototype models where the change is possible, and the scale changes with time too. Startups grow in the direction of success and can accommodate changes well. So startups are not synonyms with the term small business.
While small businesses have well established financial support, startups, on the other hand, work to get financial aid to get it off the ground. You pitch an idea to a potential funding organization. You do not sell a product you sell an idea to receive funding. If the investor finds the design unique and profitable, they invest in starting the work for the product.
Small businesses are well established they do not invest in something new, it’s all about the scale of the company. Startups start small, but their scale changes according to their growth.
Types of Startup in India
1. Self Employed Startup
You work as a freelancer who operates according to himself. You do not have a boss or scheduled work time. You are your own master. A freelancer who does not have to reply to anyone is known as a self-employed Startup.
2. Small Business Startup
Small ventures by a person where the aim is to earn sufficient to feed the family, instead of high income of significant scalability are called a small business startup. The goal is to survive satisfactorily instead of substantial commercial success.
3. Scalable Startup
The ventures which are born to make it big from the start are called scalable Startup. During the conception of the idea, it is decided that the concept will bring revolution. Some examples are Zomato, Ola, Uber, etc.
4. Buyable Startup
The Startup is created to sell it to some big company. Usually, solutions to existing problems are sold to big companies in the name of buyable startups. The startups are made to buy only because every solution has a price.
5. Social Startups
These startups are not in the business for money; they are in it for social impact. Social Startup is a new category for a startup. It works towards sustainable development goals instead of commercial success. They are all about bringing the change. These types of startups work in the welfare of others.
6. Inside a Company startup
These are company initiative where employees create something new for the company. Google invests in a lot of new ventures and sub-projects inside the company. These help in dealing with the stagnant nature of big companies.
Startups in India
India has one of the biggest startup industries in the world. Let us take a look at some of the success stories.
1. Zomato
Zomato is an Indian startup founded in 2008 by Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah. The app is an online ordering and food delivery application. Zomato does not own restaurants; it works as a mediator between thousands of restaurants and customers. Zomato has been launched internationally and has a business in several foreign countries.
2. Flipkart
Flipkart is a Bengaluru based e-commerce website. The startup was founded by Bansal brothers in 2007. It started as a bookselling website but later expanded to a variety of products. The USA based company Walmart has a 77% share in the company.
3. Ola Cabs
Ola Cabs is an Indian ride-booking and sharing application. It was founded in 2010 in Mumbai but later shifted to Bengaluru. The company has a value of $6.8 billion. It gives a fierce competition to its rival Uber. Ola Cabs expanded its services to auto-rickshaws after a trial done in Bengaluru.
4. Swiggy
It is another online food ordering and delivery application. Swiggy was started as Bundi, a courier pick and drop service, but later became a food delivery application. Swiggy expanded rapidly due to its fast delivery nature and high discounts on food. Sriharsha Majety and Nandan Reddy founded the company in 2013 as ‘Bundi.’
5. PayTM
PayTM is an Indian online payment application based in Noida. PayTM started as a utility bill payment application. Vijay Shekhar Sharma founded it in 2010 in Noida. The company had an initial investment of $2 million. It was used to pay electricity bills, recharge mobile phones, DTH bills, etc. PayTM later became a payment option in Indian railways and Uber. Later the company entered in the online payment sector and pioneered it. After the demonetization use of PayTM saw an exponential rise. PayTM became a verb instead of a noun after demonetization in India. The company is valued at $16 billion. PayTM faces competition from google PAY and BHIM in India.
6. Myntra
Myntra started as a personalized gift ordering application, which later became fashion e-commerce. Myntra was founded in 2007 in Bengaluru. From 2007 to 2010, the application sold customized and personalized mugs, t-shirts as gifts. In 2011 Myntra entered the Fashion market of India, and in 2014 it was acquired by a fellow ecommerce Flipkart.
How to start a startup in India?
Everyone who has ever thought of a startup always had on their mind, How to start ecommerce business in India? How to start a food business in India? How to start a clothing brand in India? The following components are to be taken care of if you want to build a successful startup.
1. Business Plan
Start with a unique idea and a clear vision of your venture’s future. The Business plan should be clear and detailed and followed religiously. The success of a startup initially depends on how clear the founders are about their ideas. Also, the designs need to be flexible; they should be able to accommodate the change in the market and change according to demand. We can observe above tat big startups started as something else and later entered the market with something else. The plan should have a schedule of goals with a time limit to keep you on track all the time.
2. Funding
Secure funding for your project. Pitch the idea to various investors or other startups. Funding depends on your connections, selling skills, and uniqueness of the concept. A new idea, which is a solution to an existing problem has no problem in acquiring funding. Funding can be gathered with the help of relatives. The larger the funding, the higher the chances of success. Massive financing in the initial period helps you invest in the quality of your project. With high quality in the starting, the project is bound to be a success.
3. The team
Select your team carefully. You should build a team that is as enthusiastic as you are about your product. The team should be talented and multitasking. With startups, sometimes we need Jack of all trades because the employees are few. A person who can multitask is an asset to a startup. So select your team carefully, filled with people who love the project as much as you do.
4. Location
Decide a location as your base. Start building space as you develop your product. The place should be well connected and has to be relevant to your product. Most of the startups are based in the metro city because the crowd there is open to a lot of possibilities. Millennials are free to try a new application to compare which one is better. Thus the location of your startup base matters a lot.
5. Marketing
With vigorous competition in our country, to succeed, you need to market your product. Highlight its features, and why it is different, what purpose does it have? Your marketing campaign should answer all these questions. A confused customer will never take an interest in a product. Market your product on digital platforms. Create Instagram pages for your company or product, use print media, and organize seminars about your work.
6. Maintain
Maintain what you have built. Many startups boom at the start but then face low after some time. The reason is not maintaining the same enthusiasm which the team had while developing the product. The quality and performance of your product should be the same as the one promised. Maintain your creation, and you will have a commercial success in the world of startups.
7. Customers
There will be no business without customers. Build a loyal customer base. Put money into research and analysis and get insights on what the latest trends are. Which age group finds your product relevant to them. Focus on the groups which relate to your product. They will turn out to be a loyal customer base in the future.
Startup India
With made in India in mind, our honorable Prime Minister during his speech in Red Fort on 15 August 2015 announced ‘Startup India.’ Not just products, we should create jobs for our youth too. Startup India is an Indian Government initiative to support and guide startups. The initiative has three pillars which are Simplification and Handholding, Funding Support and Incentives and Industry-Academia Partnership and Incubation. The initiative also helps new startups against state restrictions such as land acquirement, licenses, environmental clearances, foreign investment proposals, etc. With this much help, startups get full support of the Government, bringing a sense of relief.
The inauguration was done on 16 January 2016 by former finance minister Mr. Arun Jaitley. The ceremony was attended by startup founders and CEOs of some big companies. The Government has also launched the MUDRA scheme which provides finance with low interest to new entrepreneurs. The program has a financial aid of INR 20000 crores allocated to it. Funding of INR 1000 crore is for women-led startups.
The ministry of Human Resource Development partnered with several IITs and NITs to start startup hubs on their campus so that college students can start early with their ambitions. Softbank based in Japan already has $2 billion into Indian Startups. The Japanese firm wants to increase the investment to $10 billion. Google finances startups that win The Google Launchpad competition. Oracle has also decided to start incubation center for startups in various cities of India.
The Startup India has a website, and you can visit it for more information. The site offers you online courses, research, and analysis reports along with services partnered with the initiative. One should visit the website to get a clear idea about this government program.
