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Building a Business as a Start Up

With the awe inspiring stories like those of Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs floating around, building a business as a start up can be even more intimidating. Simply because the pressure to succeed is enormous. All those who are looking at starting a business of their own have a lot to take care of. Just pause for a second and have a look at our tips for a successful start up:

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Believe: Quite a few startups don’t work out. Their founders have also founded them with the same hopes and dreams, the same endless hours of planning. So what goes wrong? A start up is run by one, or maybe two people. With such a small setting, it is very easy to lose faith in the dream. Believe in your product and your company wholeheartedly. Just before you start the company, write down why you are starting a company and where you want to be in the next 5 years. This will keep you going in the dire times when all seems lost.

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Do what you love: To believe in your organization and its Big Idea, you have to love it. The kind of passion and dedication that is required to create a successful start up is not easy to come by. You can only feel passion and dedication about something you love. So if designing is your thing, then go all out and start a design house. Build on your forte.

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Create a Business Plan: Although this sounds like a very obvious ‘tip’, a lot of startups out there have started up without an active business plan. A business plan will not only define your products and services, but it will also provide clarity in terms of your business’ philosophy. A lot of startups lose sight of what they actually started out to be. At the beginners level, your resources are spread thin and you cannot afford to meander your way to the top. A business plan is something which will keep you grounded and help you make decisions in the course of time.

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Do your Research: Being an employee in an organization and being the boss is very different. Carry out a detailed research- funds required to run a business of a similar scale, rents of corporate spaces, outsourcing opportunities, money making opportunities, etc. Research is the only thing which will give you a clear picture of being your own boss. It will also bring to your notice the kind of scope your sector has in the current economic situation.

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Ensure Legal Backup: As a startup, we often think that no one is going to mind if we bend the law a little. We tend to look for the by roads, instead of sticking to the obvious route. Legal backup is of extreme importance for your organization. Ensure that your company is registered and that it is functioning out of a corporate space. Once you get employees, ensure that their appointment letters, insurance, probation, etc is taken care of. Look at it this way, if a legal bug were to bite your organization would stand more to lose than it does by taking the necessary legal precautions.

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Choose your co-founders well: If you are looking for a co founder, a partner or an investor, you have to pick well. These people should be reliable when it comes to business. They should be able to support you when you are down instead of pulling you further down. Don’t go into business with a friend, because you generally gel well together. Choose people you respect for their common sense or talent.

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Hire wise and Delegate Smartly: As a start up your aim will be to get more out of less. This applies for people as well. The people you choose to let into your organization, especially in its formative years will affect your organization greatly even in the years to come. Ideally, hire people who would stick around for more than the customary couple of years, people who are drawn to your organization for reasons other money. Hire people who can multitask so that more of your work gets done, with a smaller force. Delegate your work in such a way that it prepares your team for more and more challenges in the future but doesn’t defeat them by its very size.

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Reward your Employees: Your employees are your biggest boon. All the big organizations regularly reward their employees with appraisals or pay hikes. Since as a startup you can generally do neither, reward them smartly. Take them out for drinks for a job well done. Sponsor their food for the nights your team undertakes. More importantly verbally appreciate all the help that they have given you. Keeping your employees satisfied on the long term basis is the goal.

Taking baby steps will eventually lead to a strongly built and properly led organization. Keep your eyes at the horizon where you want to be and keep working to reach it.

  Ateet Sanghavi   Aug 04, 2014   Uncategorized   0 Comment Read More

Technology for startups: Where to draw the line.

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Yes, this is another call you will have to take when you start your dream company. Unfortunately or fortunately, every decision you make at this stage is crucial from the point of view of your finances. Its very important to know exactly how to Not get carried away when spending on technology. Here are a few tips which we think may help you:

Buy only what is required: If you run a design house, for example- only your designers would “need” a Mac. Make sure that you don’t atrocious amounts on the non designers by getting them Macs as well. Be strict when you are deciding what is absolutely required. If your business absolutely cannot function without that technology and you seem to have the money to spare for it- by all means, go ahead.

Phase it out: Instead of buying all your technology at once, it makes sense to phase it out. Buy what you think you need the most first. This helps you keep a tab on your expenses and arrange your expenditure on the basis of the status of your cash flow. If it seems like you will be able to afford the expensive software with next months receipts, hold it till then. Phasing it out will reduce the burden on your company and its finances. Also, it will prevent all your technology for going obsolete at once.

Don’t compare: You probably would have some friends who are also starting out companies of their own. Worse yet, you may have some enemies doing exactly what you are doing. And that guy might have just spent a bomb on some slinky new software which has received reviews in all the tech savvy rags. But is that reason enough for you to spend as much as well? Your cash flow may not be in as good a condition as you think or the software may not be as cool as you think. Just focus on your own requirements and spend accordingly.

Try outsourcing: If the main function of your company is not doing accounts, outsource it to those who do that for their living. Not only do you get the expertise you require, but you will not have to pay the cost of the softwares or the technology for your own organization. Outsourcing will greatly limit the burden which your cashflow feels when it comes to technology.

Try doing it yourself: If you want to manage your company’s website or online ad spends, there are many programs available online which will make it very easy for you to manage these yourself without getting into complicated (read: expensive softwares). If you can manage working out the expenses on a simpler software which doesn’t require to splurge then go ahead and use it.

Try to pick something which will not be obsolete tomorrow: The thing with technology is that if you blink, it becomes obsolete. The next version which comes out is cooler because it can do what the older version did infinitesimally faster. Try to go for a software which you know will not be completely obsolete for at least another couple of years. By then, hopefully you will be in a stronger place financially and buying these softwares wont physically hurt you.

Ask: There’s no shame in asking someone who understands your situation, about the wisdom of purchasing some new technology. As long as the person is not the salesman of the technology, he will probably give you an opinion which you will be able to accept without causing any great damage to your financial vitals.

Be honest with yourself and focus on the bigger picture, you will be able to draw the line.

  Ateet Sanghavi   Jan 23, 2014   Uncategorized   0 Comment Read More

Why Should Corporates go PAPERLESS !

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What does Paperless mean, exactly? First of all, it’s not as drastic as it sounds. It basically means a significant reduction in the usage of paper in your office space and not zero usage of paper. Going paperless is an established trend in the market these days, but those corporate who still use a substantial amount of paper need to make an informed decision. There are many reasons why your organization should consider going paperless but we have narrowed down a few for you:

More Eco Friendly: The most obvious benefit of going paperless is its effect on the environment. If your office manages to do its little part in keeping the environment just a little bit healthier, why not? In the everyday lives of corporate quite a lot of paper gets wasted. A lot of declarations for more judicious use of paper may be made, but truly implementing is far off. If the United States cut office paper use by just 10% it would prevent the emission of 1.6 million tons of greenhouse gases — the equivalent of taking 280,000 cars off the road. (Source: thedailygreen.com)

Saves Space: Imagine if every paper your company ever used was filed away? There wouldn’t be space to house your staff. Comparatively, a few hard disks which are stored as the backup of a server, for example, will effectively reduce the amount of space consumed by the paper. Use the remaining space however you wish!

Easier to share: A lot of corporate these days use a main access server which allows every employee to log on and share data. Authorized personnel are given access to the server which allows you to access the files of your colleague who could perhaps be sitting a couple of floors away. It is the easiest way to share your company’s data among the employees. Even if you were to send the files to the clients email is very easily accessible thanks to the smart phone generation.

Security: If a bunch of papers are filed away from prying eyes with a lock and key, they are still entirely accessible for those who want to access them. Going digital will help you govern who has access to what. You can hide the existence of certain sensitive data and with professional help maintain the secrecy and sensitivity of your information.

Click of a button access: While looking for a document which has been filed away, the resultant time taken and therefore wasted is enormous. By going paperless, read digital, all the information is easily accessible to those who have the authority. A simple click of the button can take you to the document you are looking for. This can be especially useful for those organizations which are very client centric. While dealing with a client, real time service is always a bonus.

Save money: At any level, an organization is always trying to cut costs. Printing, using and wasting paper can be the cause of a hole in your pocket. By going digital you by pass this process. Going digital requires a onetime investment with a minimal upkeep cost which can mostly be managed inside the organization.

Multiple offices same quality: In today’s day, if you are looking to expand your organization or if you already have multiple branches, going digital can be a method of quality control for you. The digital platform will be the same across cities and nations which will keep, at least to a certain extent, the same level of quality.

Operating cost: It has been noticed that paperless offices have more productivity as the technology is easier to use and wastes lesser time. The more time your employees spend actually working, the more the productivity is. Also, the process of handling hard copies is more time consuming- which means you pay your employees more for lesser amount of real work.

Corporate Responsibility: Being a paperless organization can actually win you some bonus points in front of the environmentally fanatic organizations. It can also figure as a corporate responsibility initiative from your organization and maybe help you with your clients.

Less Vulnerable to physical damage: Data which has been stored digitally stands a lesser chance of being lost than hard copies. If an unfortunate event like a fire were to take place in your organization, data worth many years would be instantly wiped out. Case in point, the recent fire at the Mantralaya.

Going paperless is all the rage these days. More than just being a trend, going paperless as an organization entails a certain amount of responsibility as a part of society. And if it helps you in so many ways, why not?

  Ateet Sanghavi   Jan 23, 2014   Uncategorized   0 Comment Read More

Paper Management: Stay Traditional or GO DIGITAL

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Entrepreneurs today are starting to rely more and more on digital platforms to conduct business. Salaries are no longer given using cheques, bills are no longer submitted in hard copies. For an entrepreneur, traditional methods of management are long forgotten. The latest in this trend, is digital paper management.

A business would be keeper of multiple, important papers- legal, business and maybe personal in nature. Traditionally, a business would keep documents filed away, which will go on accumulating over time. Here is why digital paper management may work for you and your organization:

Ease of access: If you convert your documents from hard copies to soft copies and upload them onto a website/ server which lets you store and maintain your documents, you can access your documents at the click of a button. Searching for a document on a portal like this will be much less tedious and time consuming than sifting through a million files.

Negligible risk of loss: With all your documents stored away safely online, you run no risk of losing them. No freak fires, no theft, no using them to mop up your spilt coffee, nothing can take your papers away from you. Online servers may crash you say? Well, with the latest technology that the portals have adopted to dedicate their space to you, the chances of that happening is next to none.

Search Engine Optimization: Believe it or not, saving your documents online will help your company get noticed. The legal documents which are saved online get “indexed” in the world wide web and tend to bring your company higher up in the list of results on search engines.

Key to transparency: By saving your legal and important documents online, you can also choose to share them with your customers and investors. They can then get an closer look into your company’s functioning and details. This may greatly help your company’s image because it shows that you have nothing to hide.

Promotion: You could possibly use these saved documents as a part of your promotion, use them to bring across your brand promise and repeatedly reinforce it. All the people looking at your company online, will then be privy to your brands promise and all that you want to communicate about your brand

Save Paper: Traditional usage of paper leads to wastage. More often than not legal papers are not recycled even after they are way past their usage limit. Also hard copies of legal documents mean photocopies which lead to more and more wastage of paper. While using soft copies of your documents, you can choose to stay away from printed material and go green.

However simple these steps may sound, there are a few things that every entrepreneur must keep in mind before deciding to choose the digital medium for all paper management. For example, some legal documents may not be valid if produced in a soft copy format. When it comes to papers like these it is a good idea to use the soft copy as a backup instead of the main document. Till such a time that the government bodies start recognizing soft copies of legal documents at least. But for all other purposes, digital paper management is the way to go.

  Ateet Sanghavi   Jan 23, 2014   Uncategorized   Comments Off on Paper Management: Stay Traditional or GO DIGITAL Read More

Why do Startups Fail ?

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Many of us dream of being able to quit our jobs, and starting our own line of business. Sometimes we look at our peers running a business and think of a hundred ways we would have done it better. After a sounding from the boss, we sigh and wish for a day when we will be our own boss. Sometimes we think our ideas or inventions will leave the world gaping and awestruck. But when you actually take a step like that, there a lot of things you have to consider. In fact, 9 out of 10 startups in India fail. Here are a few reasons why startups fail:

  • Lack of Planning and Market Research
  • Government Compliance and regulatory: India is ranker 132 by World bank to do business in. Entrepreneurs tend to spend too much time in other things than just doing business.
  • Lack of funds: A startup is an investment like any other. For it to bear fruit, a lot of hard work, time and money is involved. One of the most integral parts is of course, funds. Your savings may see you through a part of the process, but to go all out you will need investors. They may be difficult to find, but if your idea is inspiring and your passion is sound, it will eventually work out.
  • Too much expenditure, too soon: Most entrepreneurs tend to indulge in unnecessary expenses during the crucial stages of their business. You may convince yourself that your business will fail without the new state of the art machine, or that you need a swanky new website to be able to prove to your customers that your business is credible. It is essential to prioritize your expenses- choosing to spend only on the things which will truly add value to your business.
  • Ability to take strategic calls: As a businessman, remember to play on your strengths. If your strength is creating the product and not selling it, then stick to the creation bit. A lot of startups start off with people who are ill equipped to take calls which will strategically enhance their performance. If you find yourself in such a position, choose to consult a specialist. The trick is to recognize that you are in fact, in this position.
  • Legal Considerations: A lot of times a great idea starts off being the most creative thing you have ever thought of. A lot of ideas or inventions, work best in a hypothetical space. A space where the law, the economy and the consumer are not considered. Before you go all out, quit your job and start your own enterprise to create something, pause. Check the feasibility of your product, especially from the legal point of view. If anything can stump your business and your great ideas, it’s the law.
  • Being a One Man Army: Being a startup enterprise comes with a lot of considerations. When you start off, you may feel the need to do everything on your own. Many entrepreneurs try to handle everything on their own. Either they feel that the others are not doing a good job, or they think that they don’t need help from a third party. Being a one man army, is never a good idea. One man is inherently incapable of doing multiple things perfectly. Keeping this in mind, hire staff which is able to multi task and has a strong skill set.
  • Inability to take feedback: As a startup, improvisation is of utmost importance. Your new idea or your new business is not going to work seamlessly. Take time to make peace with that. There can be a number of things which you have missed, which someone else may have caught. Be wide open to feedback. After all you are catering to customers. Turn over everything that is told to you in your mind and pick out the good advice. Then act on it.
  • Poor Marketing: In this day and age, marketing is the back bone of any good business. Considering the various new media and platforms available to us, marketing can be targeted and effectively utilized, even on a small budget. Treat marketing as importantly as you would treat your core idea, don’t dismiss it.
  • Unwilling to take risk.

Establishing a startup is definitely easier said than done. You have to work with really high stakes and give it more than your all. While the statistics are quite demoralizing, there is no reason why your startup will not be the Apple Inc. of tomorrow, provided you do everything right.

  Ateet Sanghavi   Jan 23, 2014   Uncategorized   Comments Off on Why do Startups Fail ? Read More

Incubate your “baby”, to grow it up as a success story!

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You definitely know that we are coming from an Indian society, when discouraging inventions and innovations is in the scenario. What is it that does not allow Indian society to accept new and profitable changes in ventures? What is it that gives rise to a hundred thousand bottlenecks in any and every “new trend” that the new generation aspires to get?

Let’s look at the story from a broader picture!

We do realize that we need to frame our standards on a high note and should get the required quality of life like other first world countries. This is mainly important so that the nation dwellers can earn a much more sustainable income, thereby creating enough social and economic wealth. Fair enough, eh? But are we really doing anything in accomplishing even the path leading to this direction?

The answer is No!

The markets and the business environment are to be blamed. These do not support any kind of freshness in the business – be it practices or even innovative products and process! There is absolutely no support system in place to guarantee the growth of the creativity and innovation that one wants to induce in the form of business. Another obstacle that is always ready to show up on the forefront is the combination of the innovation and entrepreneurship. This is considered as quite a risky combination as it hampers the realization of wealth – on the social and economic note.

What’s the solution for this “play of invention and entrepreneurship” conundrum?

Business Incubation is the finest solution for all of the problems that the Indian start-ups and the markets face. It can best be explained as the support system that is indispensable for helping all the growth oriented, tender and early-stage business risers. This is mainly reflects the conducive business environment that Business incubators create in order to provide that oomph and that excitement and a ray of exaggerated hope amongst the young, creative and growth oriented entrepreneurs. All of the targeted resources and requisites as well as the financial and encouraging capacity are provided by the Business incubators. These are pivotal when it comes to raising the start up from the initial stepping stones till they reach a milestone – which could be in terms of sales revenue or profitability, after which the business incubators may leave the start ups on their own to run.

A lot of profit as well as non- profit organizations work their ways upwards in achieving their goals and sole motives with the help of business incubators. These business incubators act as a boon when it comes to upliftment and furthering of business and other growth interest.

Looking at the westernization that is coming down to India, do we really want to compromise on picking the best brands for ourselves? And all of this, when you know you have the talent and the zest of going entrepreneurial with your exclusive and new ideas? Well, knock knock! You are yet stuck up on the desk of your ‘job’ that pays you an unsatisfactory salary every month! What keeps you from standing up with the faith in yourself and establish your dream? The bottlenecks? For finances and regulations? Or is it labor and infrastructure?

Let’s check on all the requisites:

Academia – Well, the educating spree on starting up, business development, sustainability, profit creation, business expansion, cost efficiency, finances is what business incubation shall be parenting your “innovation infused” small business with.

Financiers – Business Incubation has its main highlight herewith. It is the financial prospects that keep new and creative individuals from setting up their own venture. However, does this actually deserve to be such a hurdle in way of one’s talent and invention oriented project? Thus, this is greatly looked after by the business incubation. However, do we really know what the revenue sources are when it comes to the services from Business incubators? Government subsidies, donor subsidies, royalty, equity, rent as well as fees for services are what make up the “bag of money” for business incubators.

The infrastructure that is indispensable for the organization to function

Stratagem – Intensive strategies for the growth of the business as a macro unit are integrated with the operational support by the business incubators in order to help the growth oriented start ups to trot their way up. It is pivotal to have all of the strategies for planning from base to hiring labor (Human resource management) as well as putting the hierarchy and work structure in place in order to help the firm stand and sustain itself as it makes profits and incurs minimum and affordable expenditure.

Policy makers – It relies in the hands of the worthy business incubators to even mentor the various guidelines, laws, procedures, registrations, legal requirements and more to be fixed in their appropriate slots to cover all the holes that can be dug up in the future by competitors, government and union issue creators etc. However, it is always better to be the “bigger person” in the picture and be safe on all of the policy and legal fronts.

Thus, business incubation is the business model that adheres by all the requisites and connects to all the possible areas, in absense of which the new entrepreneur and his team could be termed as oblivion. Thus, it is extremely important to atone all the areas of knowledge, regulations, finances, risk analysis, disaster management before letting out the tender venture out of the business incubator to face the world, the markets – national and international as well as competition, the whole and sole.

Business Incubation: Setting in the invention prodigies of new age:

Business Incubation is the only slender ray of hope that remains with the growing young entrepreneurs that they can ever be running their idea in reality. Let us see the detailed process:

A potential entrepreneur, who is capable and has the zest to turn his innovative ideas into practical reality and is also donned with the perfect fusion of skills and capabilities, is given the opportunity. Moving on, he shall be called the ‘Nascent entrepreneur’ as he is now involved in setting up the business as an entirety. He then becomes the owner-manager of a new business in about 3 to 3.5 years time. It is then time to be called the owner manager of an established firm post 3.5 years of successful business incubation.

Business incubators then release these established firms with their entrepreneur to work independently and reap enormous profits. However, the exposure and the grilling are all in positives when it comes to taste the sweet cake of success in the real market scenarios!

The training and simulation then ends, for the real world battle of competition then commences!

  Ateet Sanghavi   Jan 23, 2014   Uncategorized   Comments Off on Incubate your “baby”, to grow it up as a success story! Read More

Importance of a Business Plan

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Can you imagine jumping off to the 5th grade without passing through the ABCD of the previous ones? Impossible right? What is the output going to be? Failure! This is definitely not what any or every one of us wants, by just compromising on the time factor. What is essential for each and every success story in the real life and professional world is being able to go up the ladder by taking the first stepping stones in the right direction. It is extremely pivotal for success that one goes up the path of building oneself or one’s business by planning a strong foundation, beforehand.

Business talk, let’s plan or let’s talk, business plan.

It is extremely indispensable to have in place your virtues and values set up in order to bring to light the real motive of setting up your own business. It is extremely essential to go the extra mile and manage preparing a business plan for your venture – be it for a start up, to plan your funds and functioning; or be it an established firm that needs to run more in collaboration and keep track of the various trends. It could also be a business plan for a firm that isn’t doing well for its fortune and thus needs to discover if it should put itself up on sale or merge with an existing company.

Thus, whatever is the scenario, it is important to keep a base plan for executing the picture in the righteous way, yeah? All the resources, the energies, the funds and the strategies can be streamlined only if one has a business plan to follow. It is considered very important to have a set of values in place for steering across and through all the possible bottlenecks that can come across your venture when least expected. For example, a disaster management or the security alarms in place can be saviors and business life savers when it comes to unseen calamities. We need to make sure that we are prepared before hand for any kind of obstacle – be it the competitive rivalry or even managing human resources within the company.

Let’s brief out why we require the business plan:

1) The vision and mission of the organization require to be clear in order to help oneself as well as the others in the organization to achieve the organizational goals and objectives. To streamline one’s personal goals with those of the organization is also an important aspect for each and every resource of the company which shall only be looked at when the plan or the focus of the business is set and clear.

2) Benchmarks and performance standards.

Benchmarks and standards to upgrade the business processes and practices can only be known in order to make the right decisions with the help of a clear and focused business plan. Mid way constructions can be corrected if any discrepancies have occurred in the establishment or functioning.

3) A business plan – The Blue print

A business plan can be very well considered as a blue print when it comes to focusing the intensity of efforts and focus in the needed areas. It can serve as a guide to any and every organization in order to track the opportunities available for prospering and also to treat the threats in the right and orderly manner.

4) Customer – The King!

With a business plan in place we sure get more aware of the various segments that can be targeted to make the potential customer base and also to identify the relevant buying behaviors for increasing the sales revenue.

5) Let’s “turnaround” the company!

A business plan can also help to increase the turnaround of the company who hasn’t been sticking to good margins. It is the plan encompassing the finances and the other resources which require collaboration and coordination to be effective as a team of resources, for organizational goals and profits.

6) Competitor hassles?

No more worries, if you have your strategies in place! So let’s talk about how you can actually strategize the various moves that you might have to make when there is a rundown due to competition. It is only when you have planned your analysis and your problem solving machinery in place, that you will actually be able to make it for the required cut throat competition successfully. Apart from these possibilities, looking at the dangerously competitive scenarios today, it is highly difficult for any firm – especially a start up to take off and sustain in the society.

7) SWOT – That’s what!

Your business plan is the bible that has all of your company secrets induced in a manner that will actually help you to narrate the strengths and weaknesses to yourself as well as the other components of the organization in a way that it is actually considered to be the guide for utilizing the strong points and putting away with the weak points of the company or striving towards converting the weak points in to strong ones and then navigating those towards building a stronger organization. The opportunities may be not be very visible each time, but however, the analysis that goes into finding out profitable ones is only possible if you have planned your business requisites and goals.

Thorough analysis of the opportunities before taking them up is also a criterion that totally depends upon the set values and norms laid down in the business plan. There may however be threats to the organization, which may not be foreseen and thus can create havoc in the functioning. However, if there is the perfect conduct for the factors that can be pivotal in solving the various threats and the problems it can be essentially helpful in putting away the losses and the unseen contingencies. Thus, the business plan can actually serve as a savior.

Thus, to sum it up a business plan is essential and means the bible to any organization – big or small. It is the action plan and the perfect descriptive guide that can help everyone in the organization to be prim and proper with the various objectives and goals of the firm, the marketing strategies, the funding arenas, the protocols, the functioning in each and every managerial field as well as the various stepping stones towards the progress of the firm’s destined profit making!!

  Ateet Sanghavi   Jan 19, 2014   Uncategorized   Comments Off on Importance of a Business Plan Read More

The best medium of funding a start – up!

Startup-Funding

It is “an idea that takes to change your life” and that idea could get you somewhere high up there with the most successful business men and in a position that is quite close to the circle of the top notch stature. However, this idea can be easily formulated into a business plan that you need to work on for setting up your own venture in a smooth manner. Let’s count the processes: Starting from converting your plan into realistic business plans in terms of product / service, customer base, clientele, resources and so on.

Everything said and done, sounds like quite a cake walk. You know what your product is, you know whose going to buy it, you know where to source it from, and you sure know your logistics and other legal implications involved. You also know the co-ordination and other important aspects involved. Now, the only interrogation that interferes! Where is the finance? It is ultimately the money that drives the whole vehicle of a successful business plan. It is the first and the most primary aspect that you need to consider and be sure of before kick starting a venture.

The financial power – It’s all about YOU!

Well it is as simple as a “Ready-Steady-Go!!” when it comes to your heavy pockets and full-to-the-brim bank accounts. If you have enough from your family virtues or you have earned each penny to invest in your venture one day, it is the ultimate and the best source of finance for your upcoming venture then. It is always better to have yourself as the base and the foundation of your own organization when it comes to the finances! Be your own creditor and increase your own role in the company that is again going to serve YOU!

This not only brings about a personal satisfaction and a free mind to work with, but also makes sure that each and every penny that you or your ancestors have earned with sheer blood and sweat induced in it, should be thoroughly justified. It is thus extremely important to be sure of what’s going where and how each monetary resource is being utilized, whether it is being utilized to the fullest of the capacity or no, can it be better treated and like.

When you are self sufficient, there is another indispensable element that is nullified – “The Big Bad Loan Burden” Imagine working on grounds, whereby you don’t owe money to any one! It’s all about the freedom and the availability of the resources that lies with you. Working with a free mind is something that anyone and everyone would wish to do. Thus, if we look at it, most of the start ups are funded from the personal monetary and financial resources rather than filing and applying for the other institutional and non institutional monetary resources in large quantum.

The first option is to always accomplish your goals with the resources that are pre existing because your creditors sure have a better memory than your debtors and you may have to take that slight burden of the “payback” when it comes to being accountable to anybody apart from your own self. Legal implications, deadlines, working with time caps, increased risks of clearing off dues and like could be the bottlenecks that could rise up when it comes to taking loans from banks and other institutions. But does that mean that if you are not “self loaded” that you can’t set up your idea into an independent venture? Definitely not! Everything has its pros and cons and options are what make life easy today!

Equity investment – The ruler of the markets today!

Equity brings in ownership and if you need the capital for putting up your own venture, then why not share the ownership with the people who can help you out on the capital front? In most usual scenarios, one would sell off the shares of the company to the interested investors, for capital funding of the start up. Thus, the shareholders become the part owners in your venture, but the cherry on the cake is that you have your source of capital ready and you also are the major owner of the Company as you do not sell more than 49% of your shares. Hitting two goals with the same shot? Now we are talking!!

After you have pooled the bit from your end – selling the shares of the company (Retaining 51 %) – equity investment, your personal savings and like, it is then time to make a fair and healthy concoction of funding resources. This could mean that you could whole and sole do up your entire venture from the heavy pockets that you have, or you could make up a mixture of equity and debt funding. It is always a better call to have a fusion of both the sides rather than sticking only on personal money or only on loans thereby nullifying the cons of either of the ends.

Introducing: The debt funding story!

What’s your next approach: The bank! Of course, the bank becomes your temple and the creditor your new god! What’s next? There is more accountability and responsibility as you have been entrusted with money from an external source and thus you might have to keep more of a track on what’s going where and why it’s going there! The bank credit does serve as a blessing for all those who are extremely passionate about running their ideas in real business world. Thus, bank loans are another very pivotal option for funding start ups. It could serve as a beneficial medium in terms of increased cautiousness.

Various long term and short term loans are available from varied financial institutions which can sure help fund your venture. Making sure everything is going into the right place and thus fast pacing your business to grow and prosper becomes primary as you are now not only funding, but are also being funded!

Government grants may or may not be possible when it comes to funding your business and thus sticking to the mixture of your personal finance, equity and debt funding shall always serve as the most feasible and viable option for funding your business.

  Ateet Sanghavi   Jan 19, 2014   Uncategorized   0 Comment Read More

What is takes for a DRHP to attract investors!

The DRHP

We build our dream projects by first dreaming about the success and the produce that shall be eventually delivered. But however, there is a lot that goes into first placing the very primary brick to stand strong the very foundation of the venture you aspire to construct. The very first topic that can raise the lines on your forehead would definitely be that of capital interrogation. Where is the money going to come in from? Will it be effectively utilized? Will the returns be good enough? Would the payback be easy? Is the burden of the bank loans going to be too heavy?

These are the usual and the most encountered questions that can trouble even a very ambitious and head strong person. The life juice and the blood of any organization-in-the-making are the finances that shall support its existence as well as encourage its stability and future growth.

The highway to investment!

A red herring prospectus or a DRHP is nothing but the document that is essential for every company to produce and deliver when it comes to marketing the business of one’s firm to the potential and interested investors! Thus preparing the prospectus may be one of the most vital elements as it can be considered as a ticket to enter higher capital investment process for one’s own dream venture. A document compiling aesthetically the goals and the ultimate motives of the organization could serve as the most sort out option for any firm – especially start ups!!

So how can we make a DRHP that would attract investors to shed in their moneyed pockets in your business?

Grab these quick dos in order to make your financial life and upcoming venture more of an upward coaster and less of a roller coaster!!

  • Your first page:  The introductory module for your prospectus requires being extremely efficient in terms of introducing your company and the background specifically. What is the most important step? Mission and vision of your organization. Make sure that this is described well and accurately. Aesthetic defining of the mission and vision of the organization can be half the battle won. Thus, you have to be appropriately unique and goal oriented in framing the vision and the mission of the organization. The page should also contain the details of the organization including location, founding date, website online, annual budget, people served or geography, the summary of the social problem targeted, social impacts, key accomplishments, and goals for a certain period, required financial investment and like.
  • You are sure not there yet, till you haven’t mentioned of how important the financial support that the investors may provide you with, is going to play a great role in the overall development and growth of the organization.
  • Every page that shall continue thereon will serve as an effective and efficient supplement for the all of the important matters laid down in the introductory page of the prospectus. A supplement for providing copious amount of information, true to the knowledge of each and every person concerned, true statistics and all of the information in a neat arrangement of numbers and words shall serve you well if suited with the investor demands.
  • It is a continuous effort by each and every person to chalk out why the investor should invest in your company, but however, make sure that it is not you who is loud, but rather it is the purpose and the future realistic potential that is talking, loud and clear!
  • The chalked out business plan that encompasses the opportunities that shall be grabbed on for immense heights to the business, the problem solving machinery for all the odds, a model of social and economic modification, health indicators of the organization, strategy development and execution for nurturing better growth, financial sustainability and accountability as well as the socio – economic impacts; should be clearly defined and highlighted in the “brief business plan” – The DRHP.
  • Being upright about all of the problems in terms of social or organizational genre that can erupt as a hurdle in the company is important and also, how these problems shall be addressed and settled should also be put across in the red herring prospectus in order to highlight the honesty, capability and the caliber of the organization in terms of sustainability. In the formats of graphic or text, there will have to be clear underlining of all the principles, the protocols and the problem solving mechanisms that shall be resorted to in order to help the organization steer through the competitive business environment of today – nationally and globally.
  • The finances if and when reciprocated by the investors should also be accounted to the investors giving them a fair idea about what’s going where and why it’s going there. The financial structure and the strategies connected to the revenue that you shall administer are very important to be addressed to the investors. A projection of the percentage of the revenue for the succeeding 3 years should also be provided along with that of the current year.
  • The board members, the key personnel as well as the other key staff should also be provided to the investors. Success stories of the firm and its clear potential shall be able to it all for your venture.

On a general note and aspect, it is certain for any investor to invest in a profitable looking project. Thus, the one thing that needs to be made sure of is the ideas to be induced into making the venture and its goals realistic as well as unique. It is very important to set apart one’s own products and services from the rest of the slot striving to make it stand out and appealing to the overall audiences. To be different yet safe on the front of potential sales is extremely important and as important it is to be able to portray this point in the DRHP to the prospective and potential investors. It may be the potential to bring about the bright and clear aspects of one’s business goals which can certainly help to make a difference when it comes to convincing the investors and taking them into confidence about the business’ potential and future positive prosperity.

  Ateet Sanghavi   Jan 19, 2014   Uncategorized   0 Comment Read More