Once upon a dream - founder stories of grit, wit and wisdom

"I cared so much for my business that I invested my college fees in it. Because of this, my father stopped talking to me."

"We are building for customers and not chasing investors. Because we know that investors will come once we have a large number of customers."

"We don't have to build our own delivery network; we can easily leverage the existing e-commerce player's delivery network at a tiny fraction of the cost."

It was fun to listen to so many nuggets of wisdom while talking to a group of young, ambitious founders from Xartup Fellowship.

Over the weekend, I had the chance to meet amazing founders from the Xartup Fellowship Program in Powai, Mumbai. They have helped more than 2200 founders and next cohort starts in October. More details are available here - Xartup October Cohort.

These young folks, mostly in their mid-20s, are diving headfirst into some cool startup ideas.

Here are some interesting businesses they are building

Why should you struggle with your tailor with repeated visits and measurements?

Saurabh is building Taylor Cafe, where you can get all your tailoring services delivered to your doorstep. No more waiting at the tailor's shop or repeated measurements.

Why should bike riders suffer in the scorching heat in tropical climate?

Vikram is creating a jacket that can give you a refreshing AC-like effect while you ride your bike.

Why settle for stale and pricey poultry in not-so-hygienic conditions as sold in corner shops?

Anuj wants to create a direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand that offers fresh, top-quality meat delivered to your door, all at a much better price than the alternatives.

Why waste time at the checkout counter in a megastore like D-Mart?

Aditya is working on a solution that uses computer vision so you don't have to manually tally up your cart, saving loads of time and effort.

Why should anyone suffer from mental health issues?

Nabiulla is building a platform where everyone can access well-trained mental health counsellors. He's already built a credible brand in the personal care space.

Shruti is creating a student-centred platform to connect students with tutors, among many other intriguing ideas.

The "hustle culture" and "Never Say Never" attitude were evident in all our conversations.

One founder is cleverly using an existing e-commerce player's delivery network to reach their target audience at a fraction of the cost. Another used his college fees to invest in his business and ended up getting disowned by his family. Yet another founder plans to leverage a large retail player's network to reach a wider audience.

They're not fretting about "AI taking away jobs" because they're focused on building and creating jobs.

On the flip side, some are keen on raising funds even before nailing the product-market fit or being fully investor-ready. Can't blame them for their enthusiasm.

Spending time with these high-energy and ambitious founders has been incredibly rewarding.

Have learned so much, from ideation to understanding consumers, and from ambition to risk-taking, courage, and persistence. Sometimes, they also push the limits of insanity and naivety.

"I knew that if I failed, I wouldn't regret that. But I knew the one thing I might regret is not trying." – Jeff Bezos, Amazon.

Well, the future looks bright for the land of unicorns!