Story of a Startup – part 2

Next day, armed with our ‘Green-Pop’ idea & never say die approach and enthusiasm, we met S at a coffee shop (CCD). We discussed the idea at length over several cups of coffee. We discussed the target market, pyramid marketing structure to set up the sales chain, sourcing design and in turn starting a pop-art movement in India, identifying and managing vendors, value addition, financial requirements. We were happy that we are on verge of creating something innovative, and with that we decided to meet the following day with some background research on various modalities. Read the full post HERE

Story of a Startup

This is a story of a real time start-up whose genesis began in June 2009. I was bored with monotonous and boring work of being an advisor on tech project consulting for the government, and wanted to experiment. I had past ten years of international experience working in cross-functional roles in various domains [http://www.stratessence.com/team/] , had thought of several ideas for converting into businesses, but was yet to do a formal bootstrapped start-up. It was around this time I had met a brilliant and out-of-box thinker guy who was 8 years younger than I was, already few start-ups old and we used to discuss plenty of ideas over cups of cappuccinos everyday and strategy to convert them into $$$$ earning enterprises. Read the full post HERE

Social Entrepreneurship Quadrant

The Social Entrepreneurship Quadrant desrcibes the orientation of a social entrepreneur. Each of the Quadrant offers a different approach of business and can help an entrepreneur model his/her social enterprise accordingly. Moreover, the Quadrant can also help impact investors, grant making agencies, and several other stakeholders options to consider the form of models before making a decision. Therefore, this Quadrant can also be used as a decision making tool.

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Quadrant I:- This Quad is also known as the Traditional Not for Profit Quadrant. This Quad represents organizations that are driven by social mission and do not make profits. They are not bound by taxation, and still have to raise enough money to meet the expenses. Foundations, Trusts, Societies, Religious institutions, etc., come under this quadrant. They rely on grants, donations and charity money to support their socially driven operations. This quad is also considered the birthplace of modern social enterprise, because the organizations in this quad achieve social goals by design. Social entrepreneurs belonging to this quad, sometimes design their organizations to provide some goods or services for which they can charge a fee, in order to raise money for their operations. Examples from India are CIBART, CTD, and TRIBAC (Tripura).

Quadrant II:- This Quad is also known as the Tipping Point Quadrant. This Quad represents Organizations that are not only driven by social mission but are also profit oriented. The Organizations and Social Entrepreneurs belonging to this quadrant hold the promise for bringing about an economic transformation. Depending on whether their “multiple botton-line” approach to business reaches critical mass in the marketplace, they may tip the scale for how all business performance is measured.  Some examples from India are Bamboo House India GreenFlip , Green Venture Camp.

Quadrant III:- This Quad is also known as the Transient Org Quadrant. This Quad represents Companies, which are market driven, but are not profit oriented. hence, they may be operate for short periods of time. As Dorado says, the motivation for social entrepreneurs is not the creation of a new enterprise, but the creation of a path defined so participants can solve a complex social problem; whether or not the initiate derives profit is irrelevant. Organizations in this quad find support from public and private companies, grants or governmental support. They identify a need in the marketplace; and then use the proceeds from satisfying that need to support a social cause. Examples from India are ThinkChange India ACCESS .

Quadrant IV:- This Quad is also known as the Traditional Biz Quadrant. This Quad repersents the most classical form of businesses, which are profit oriented and market driven. They produce goods and services the marketplace wants and they use the profits they generate to pay investors and taxes as well as to expand and grow. If they fail to generate profits, they cease to function or will be bought by the competition or close. Their startegy to grow is by following the market and change suit as per demand. if and when the marketplace decides that a social issue is worth paying for, the social entrepreneur in this quadrant addresses it by supporting activities that are useful in generating sales because they are considered socially responsible. Usually Companies in this Quadrant, donate part of their profits, build ‘green’ facilities, offer free and/or low cost services to social organizations.  Few examples of such companies from India are Joint Leap Teachnologies , and STRATESSENCE.

Traditional businesses have focussed till now only on profit maximisation, seeking to focus even more narrowly on those chosen set of activities that produces the maximum monetary returns for the owners. The marketplace is their theatre rather than their audition within society. Therefore, their social costs have been mounting. Its important that a new breed of social entrepreneurs emerge to tackle social problems and at the same time bring economic change in the society, with new models of businesses.Which Quadrant do you belong to?

Evaluate Your Startup Idea

For an idea to become a profitable business opportunity, it should be evaluated, both within your current group and experts. I am writing about five major questions to ask while evaluating your business idea, though there can be several more addressing wide array of concerns in order to create a foolproof plan.

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1. Targeted Market Segment

You need to identify important problems of the consumers that your business intends to target, and think about the value they will gain. It is important to focus on customer’s needs rather than the attributes of the product/service planned. The market need has to be carefully assessed. “Is there a market segment that you can target by offering clear and compelling benefits at a price the targeted customer is willing to pay?” The answer to this question will help you identify the market segment you are trying to enter. The segment may be described in terms of demographic, geographic, or lifestyle factors.

2. Business Model

You have to clearly identify how you intend to solve the customer’s problem. This will include a detailed product description and overview of how it is going to be produced and delivered to the target customers. Think about developing and employing superior organizational processes, capabilities and resources as compared to your competitors. Your business model will clearly identify the economic viability and the profitability of your startup.

3. Market Size

Ponder over your market size and share. Think about who will buy your products beyond your family and close friends. You have to figure out a way to convince your target customers to buy your product. Also figure out a way if you can reach out to a different segment of customers at the same time. This will also help you realise the kind of investment you require to run your startup, and then you have to plan for raising finance.

4. Maintaining Niche and Protecting your Business

You will have to constantly think about how are you going to protect your business from other existing businesses in your domain and possible new entrants. There has to be some differentiating strength that gives you an advantage. business strangths can be as varied as low-cost structure, superior and/or innovative product quality, dedicated channel, or proprietary elements such as patents, copyrights etc. Also focus on building relationship within your domain. the number and quality of contacts up and down the value chain is an important determinant of eventual business success.

5. What’s in for you?

The business should make it worth to be you part of it. it should be a startup you are proud running.Any startup that gives you back your money within three years is good. if it can within one year, its brilliant.

Product Strategy

A successful product must connect with the personal values of targeted customers. A product experience includes the expression of the product and the interaction with the product. The three main ingredient of any product are, 

  1.  Usefulness of the product that enhance or ease some activity or process
  2.  The product is easy to use and remains consistent in use throughout its expected life
  3.  Desirability of the product.  

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