Founders of some of the country’s digital media and technology companies said during an interaction session at the Ficci-Frames that dedication and patience were the most vital factors to succeed in entrepreneurship.
Parikshit Dar, founder of bookmyshow; Samir Bangara, co-founder and managing director of Qyuki Digital Media;Ramki Sankar-narayanan, founder and CEO of Prime Focus Technologies; and Anshulika Dubey, co-founder of Wishberry.in, spoke about the challenges they faced while building their companies.
They stressed convincing investors and fund-raising as concerns which vexed entrepreneurs. Samir Bangara said that while personally connecting with potential investors by talking to them helped in convincing them, entrepreneurs should also be dedicated to their projects.
“If I say I’m going to try the project for a year and back out if it doesn’t work out, I will scare the investor away,” he added.
Addressing the same issue, Anshulika Dubey, who runs a crowdfunding website for creative artistes called Wishberry.in, said that entrepreneurs should not approach investors if they were not sure about the exact amount they need and how much stake they wanted to give. She added that it was better to go to investors with a story about your project and not a business plan.
Dubey asked the audience to use social media to attract funds, clients and fans. Dubey added that it had taken most of them at least three years to procure funds and that is what an entrepreneur should be ready for, apart from having a bare minimal expenditure.
Parikshit Dar said that though the company was started in 1991, the brand was launched in 2007. He said in addition to the project being a tough one, they found it hard to generate revenue. He said they were able to succeed because they knew they wanted to be entrepreneurs in the long run and wanted to give it a shot.
