Finding The Right Co-founders Is The Most Important Step: Pankaj Gogoi
Startup Assam is a startup accelerator that has been supporting and mentoring startups in Assam for several years now. through various networking events, business plan competitions, hackathons and incubation spaces, Startup Assam has been bringing about positive changes in the ecosystem in the state. Rhiddhis Chakravorty, Founder and Editor of Resource Mantra talked to Pankaj Gogoi, the founder of Startup Assam on various issues ranging from the vision of Startup Assam to the advantages and disadvantages faced by startup founders in Assam. Excerpts from the conversation:
Resource Mantra: You have been providing support and mentorship to a number of startups for last several years through the platform called Startup Assam. How has been the journey so far?
Pankaj Gogoi: The journey for startups has been very good so far. It has been a learning experience for me as well. When we started our own ventures in 2012, we faced a lot of challenges. That was a time when we had to work under limited resources. There was the lack of skilled manpower. People were not ready to work in startups. They would rather go for corporate jobs. Some of them would work for some time just to improve their job profiles and then they would leave. Those were challenges we faced and we thought there was the need for a ecosystem change or transformation in the ecosystem so that people were motivated to work for startups. We also learnt that if we catch them early, say for example, at the student level, then Guwahati was a good place to start with. All these factors led us into formation of Startup Assam, the platform that connects startups with mentors, investors, experienced entrepreneurs who can guide them. It was started in 2014-15 initially and it started process driven activities like various programmes for various startup environments, business plan competition, hackathons (at the state and NE level ) etc. so it was developing the startup skill environment among students across the region. Initially it covered engineering colleges and then MBA colleges. So people were getting a taste of working in startups and then they started innovating on their own startups. So it helped grow the startup ecosystem. The ecosystem saw a transformational change from what it was in 2012. So it caused a lot of changes and now we have quite a vibrant startup ecosystem here.
RM: So basically the problems that you faced while establishing your own startups prompted you to start this initiative.
PG: Yes. When a first generation entrepreneur starts his venture, there is usually no one to help. Not even the family. They won’t motivate you to become an entrepreneur. Especially in Assamese community, people do not opt for entrepreneurship. They opt for secure jobs instead of taking risks. It is mostly the people from business communities opting for startups rather than middle class Assamese families. I faced a lot of challenges because of this. Quitting the job and opting for something of my own was not considered ideal by my parents or the society. These things needed to change. We had to work extra. We had no mentor at that time who would help us get access to business propositions or ideas. Those problems needed to be resolved by a professional body. So we established Startup Assam to bridge a gap between startups and mentors and investors.
RM: Since then what are the changes that have taken place in the startup eco-system in Assam or in NE in general.
PG: back in those initial days, taking up jobs was the normal thing to do. But solving problem statements, students or professionals grouping together to start their own startups was a new thing that was getting evolved. For such individuals Startup Assam events provided a platform to meet, interact and exchange ideas which helped them form startups of their own. Mentoring scenario has also improved. Earlier professionals from the corporate world were not so inclined to the startup environment. But when they saw that this kind of events or interactions are going on, they also started to participate. They would exchange ideas and would group together to form startup companies of their own.
RM: As of today, what are the biggest challenges for the startups?
PG: The first thing is of course, if you have an idea you need a co-founder to back up that idea with all of his or her efforts. If you say ‘yes’ he or she needs to say ‘yes’ too. It is more like a husband-wife relationship. That is the first and most important thing for a startup founder to get a suitable co-founder and discuss a roadmap to execute the startup idea. Based on each other’s motivation only the startup will grow. Ideal situation is to have two-three or more co-founders. Sometimes two-three co-founders team up together to form a startup and they prepare a roadmap, a business model. With that business plan they tend to get tractions of their value propositions. If it is a service the revenue can be generated on the go but if it is a product then definitely there will be initial investments for launching the product in the market. If a product or service needs to be launched then the startup will need capital and that is the biggest challenge a startup faces. If the team is more aggressive or innovative then finance is not an issue. Finance can come later. But initially if the plan is robust enough it can break all walls to bring in investors. But the plan has to be a great one. It has to be backed by a great team and a great execution process that emphasizes on getting investors easily. The co-founders have to work on getting investors on board and execute the product or service in the market. It is a good thing to achieve traction of least 1 percent of the market share in initial six months or one year. This increases the possibility of a seed investor. Getting a seed investor for a startup is not easy but if the plan is good enough it is not an issue. These are the areas where incubation centres can support in terms of solving the problems of the startups to target the market. The customer service is also an area that needs to be looked into so that customer retention is good.
RM: As far as Assam is concerned there are a lot of startups now and they have ventured into various sectors. But do you thin k there is any sector which is yet to be explored that need some immediate and serious attention?
PG: Basically the startups in Assam have evolved from engineering colleges and hostel rooms. The craze for startups started in 2014 the Prime Minister launched the Startup India movement. The concept of startups got evolved but these students mostly came from IT backgrounds. So at the initial stage the startup movement was driven by IT people all over India. But the things have changed now. The startups have gone into various research and development activities as well. In the sectors like healthcare a lot of startups have come up. In Assam agriculture sector is the most important sector and has a lot of potentials. Assam and the other parts of NE have great potentials for agricultural items. These items range from pineapples to black rice and bhot jolokia. Various startup companies can be created based on these products. Even the agricultural boards need to set up incubation centres to turn farmers into entrepreneurs. From Assam or NE perspective irrigation is also another sector that can be looked into seriously. NE is known for tourism and many startups have come up in these sectors. Transporations, food processing which falls under agriculture, renewable energy etc. are some of the areas that we need to look into.
RM: In what way can a budding entrepreneur approach and get help from Startup Assam.
PG: Initially we used to prepare business plans for startups. Most of the times startup co-founders would come with a business model but they needed to work on their presentations. For example, what is the problem statement, what is the solution, what is the revenue model, what is the go to market strategy etc. were things they were not familiar with. Over the years, after we organised business plan competitions or hackathons people started thinking in that process. Nowadays people are familiar with these ideas. The initial mentoring process still continues but we have also started initiatives like Brahmapura Region Angel Investors Network to provide seed capital to startups. We conducted mock interviews. We also collaborated with Chennai based LLP for financing and together we evaluated around 60 startups in 2018-19. Out of these 30 startups have gone to the market. We are also working on the problem of getting seed capital for startups.
RM: The Covid-19 crisis has changed a lot of things around the world. We have seen a lot of disadvantages. But what are the advantages, if any, that the new startups can capitalise on?
PG: The Covid situation has impacted the startup sector a lot. Because of the Covid-19 crisis the economy got disrupted. The lockdown in 2020 for four months had slowed down the economy. But startups that had developed apps or ecommerce platforms had stated selling groceries, dairy, medicines etc. during the lockdown. Some of the startups also evolved during the lockdown as many people sitting at home during the lockdown brainstormed and decided to launch their own startups. Different ERP systems also came up during that time. People who were not into online business earlier had opted for online business. This was true for end users as well. In terms of investments, several companies managed to get investments. Among the sectors that were affected adversely were tourism and hotel industry. Many startups had to layoff employees as well and many people working in metros had to come back to their hometowns. This reverse mass migration has also affected the economy. So Covid-19 has both positive and negative effects. One positive aspect is people are more into the online systems now.
