Inspiration can come from Jackfruits!

Factories are associated with production! And that’s exactly what happened at Thought Factory, The Axis Bank innovation Lab on January 10th 2019 between 5 – 7 pm! A huge production of thoughts at Facebook SheLeadsTech meetup. Hearing it from the horses’ mouth about ideas, products and customers and each of their journeys, the amount of learning that all the attendees had was unimaginable(regardless of whether she was an early stage entrepreneur, or a seasoned one or not yet embarked on the journey)……

Gayathri Vasudevan, CEO, LabourNet Services India spoke about "The power of commitment: How to commit to an idea and see it through". The 5 elements that she spoke about were

1.     One must know how to negotiate their spaces. Have your tactics ready to influence. Have your USP clear and concise.

2.     Be very clear about what outcomes you need your idea to generate. She was not talking about the monetary outcomes. There can be many ways and models to reach the desired outcome of the idea. Hence, if the outcome is not being reached, the model will have to be revisited(the idea still remains). The monetary outcomes come by when the idea is at the right place at the right time! A couple of reality checks that she gave

1. Investment will always be an issue. Learn to deal with it
2. Recruiting the right team is important. Many times, your failures help you in recruiting the right team. You should always have a team that compliments you and not one that is your clone. It might be difficult for you to be amongst others who think differently to you but you need to give up your ego and bring in those external talents which you are lacking in

3.     Focus on the culture of the organization that you are building

4.     DON’T GIVE UP – You can have mentors and advisors but each of you has to go through your own journey

5.     On Marketing and advertisements – It’s a myth that the market comes to buy the product because of the spend on marketing. The market is created only because of the idea. An Idea which has execution power, and staying power is the right idea. Marketing needs to be given focus only after the company matures.

There is no such thing called work life balance; Gayathri finds ways to combine the professional work and the tasks on the personal front. As an example, if you do not find the time to have a long conversation with a family member at home, you could take them to the office instead. You can talk to them during the drive to the office and the family member could also engage in some activities in the office, thus feeling a part of what you do!

At work, there are two non negotiables for Gayathri – She calls it CLIENT FIRST and EMPLOYEE TIME. She never misses to take a client call, wherever she is, whenever she gets the call. And she always makes time to engage with the employees as a lot of feedback about how the organization is working comes from them. Also, it’s very important to analyse what’s not working regularly and abandon those aspects.

On how she recruits her team, she had some interesting views. All the candidates who are considered for senior leadership roles are expected to join a daily call that happens every morning for a couple of months before they are given an offer letter. This not only gives the candidates a candid picture of what the organization is going through and what they need to take on when they join, but also gives Gayathri a means to assess their commitment levels. She also finds networking forums as hiring forums!

"What matters most: lessons from an entrepreneur" was an interesting panel discussion between Arpita Ganesh, Founder and CEO, Buttercups and Chaitra Chidanand, Co-founder, Simpl moderated by Tanvi Dubey YourStory. Inspirations can come from anywhere, even from bra fitting and jackfruit vendors! Arpita’s story of how she went for a bra fitting in New York only to realise that Indian women need better Bras led to the founding of Buttercups. Chaitra found the online payment systems in India to be painful when she returned from US. However the manual khatha that the friendly neighbourhood grocery store maintained, and the trust that the jackfruit seller on the road bestowed on Chaitra when she bought the jackfruit and later realized that she did not have the cash to pay for it(and the jackfruit vendor told her to take the fruit and pay it later), triggered the founding of Simpl.

Learnings from their entrepreneurial journey-

Arpita: 1. Networking is essential. Grow your network by Paying it Forward for others.

            2. If something is not working, cut your losses immediately. Don’t be attached!

Chaitra: 1. Don’t take everything on you. Ask for help(Everything is not your fault!). Take feedback(both about yourself and the company). Seek out mentors. Help can come from home and family members.

               2. Don’t operate on a back foot. Assert yourself if something is right.

How does one internalize learnings –

Introspect. Entrepreneurship is a lonely journey. Hence, one has to introspect. If something is making you unhappy, one has to stop doing it.

What are the 3 skills that you have honed in these years –

Chaitra: 1. Know your weaknesses and do not feel bad about it.

                2. Be dogged and determined. The answer lies in the detail

                3. Communicate – Give and receive feedback to the team and all your stakeholders

Arpita:   1. Multi tasking.

               2. Patience - Be it with fund raising or finding the right people

               3. Don’t know how to give up

An evening spent hearing from the stalwarts and internalising the thoughts and learnings!