You have an idea and it is with passion that you start something. But how do you take it forward.....How do you get it done? How do you translate your idea into reality? How do you inspire your team to have the same passion and get things done on time and well. The panelist have some answers and suggestions...

The panelists:

Prakash Gurbuxani,
Founder and CEO of QVC realty

Ravi Narayan
Managing Director, Mentor Partners

BS RAO
Exec Vice President, FranklinCovey, South Asia,

Excerpts from the Q & A session :

Q: One of the panelists said that ‘the business does not need a Differentiator' and another spoke of the need for ‘Core competency', why the difference?

Prakash: When you start a business, you give whatever SPIN the VC wants. Usually VCs have a checklist, each VC you approach asks you for a value proposition and a differentiator. Ultimately what you need is the ability to compete in the marketplace, whether it comes through better Value Proposition, better execution or through differentiation.

Ravi: In India we have the power of millions, if there is a product or service which is servicing some 20 million customers, there is still a coupe of million who are not serviced. Look at your competitors and learn, look for gaps in the service or product that you can fill with your product or service. Sometimes it's not really the differentiation we look for, if you are able to provide value to customers and be able to create a business from it, that's what a VC looks for. As investors we look for assured returns. If we see the ability of the team to execute, that in itself can be the differentiator.

Q: Do VCs look for a differentiator in a business as it will be successful, for example a restaurant need not be different, but it can still be fairly successful due to the location?

Ravi: Whether it's the geography or the way you execute your business, or your team, whichever it is what gives you the differentiator then so be it. It does not have to be the story that is different.

Q: Which segment is more adaptable for today's entrepreneurship, is it Knowledge Based industry or IP and Product designs or the Basic needs of people? Is the opportunity global or local?

Prakash: Opportunities are everywhere, it depends on what you want to focus on, what your strengths are, what your skills are, what you want to bring to the table, each of the segment you spoke about have opportunities.

Ravi: At the end of the day, it depends on your capability and the kind of team you have. Opportunities are everywhere. Some may be incremental others may be paradigm shift ideas. If you execute specially in mature markets like US and Europe you are bound to get the results you want.

Q: What made the difference in the performance of the FMCG Company you trained? What was the strategy adopted?

B S Rao: The FMCG company we are talking about is a great company, we realized that the challenges were few internal issues, insufficient understanding of market needs and Alignment of the Team. We did a ‘Execution survey' with the Northern team, and learnt that , people did not know the top priorities of the organization, the procurement team did not know what the Sales team was doing and Sales did not understand market requirement. Each department worked in isolation in different directions.

We shared our learning in the CEO meet and explained them the challenges, they were 50% in agreement, and our tool gave us comfort that our belief was correct, but we needed to validate it.

We started working with the Northern team, and in 2 quarters we made a difference to the organization. We identified the top priorities, sensitized the whole team, including the delivery team and trained the frontline. Now even if a distributor asks what is happening, the sales team explains the new product line being launched or the profits the company makes and this brought about comfort to the channel partner and in turn to the consumer.

Q: You have been involved in completely different spaces, first IT and now Realty how do you get into the space?

Prakash : We sold our BPO Company in 2003 and as per the contract I continued with them for another 2 years, at this time I was looking at new opportunities. Around that time, FDI regulations had just opened up for investment in Real Estate. At this time real estate was a disorganized industry and did not attract B School talent. Most of the companies were family owned and there were several other issues which made it a very complex business, for scale. When other sectors opened up in the country for Insurance, Telecom, the opportunity for real estate was huge and I wanted to get in.

Q: How to raise funds for Non patented or Non IP based ventures?

Ravi: There are many early stage funds that fund service companies for example Erasmic, Seed Fund are some of the Investors and there are several others. Usually larger VCs do a gambit of companies, they don't hone in on IP based companies alone.

Q: We have heard about goal setting and clarity of mind etc. as a youngster it is difficult to have clarity on goals, we don't even know what future has in store for us. Mr.Rao spoke about bridging the gap, if I don't know where I'm going how do I do it?

Prakash: Goal setting for a start up is probably just to ‘Start Up'. If all you need is an office space, recruit a team of 3 people and some Capital to start your business, then that itself is a goal. May be it is a good enough goal to set a target of acquiring 5 lakh business in the first year.

Balaji: Businessgyan has an article of Dr. Saras Saraswati called "Effectuation", in the article she says that the ‘Expert Entrepreneurs' mindset is a little different from that of a Manager. An entrepreneur sets his goals based on his resources, internal knowledge and his network, after a year all these 3 things would have changed and hence the goal too would have changed. The Goalpost is not permanent, it keeps evolving.

Ravi:Look at it from a different view, you don't necessarily have to start a company, need not set a goal and make it happen. There is a certain time in your life and career, when you feel that there is something very interesting and powerful and worth taking the risk for, that's when you make the leap. If things change along the way then you change along with it, but the fact is that the source of energy is within you.

They were  speaking at a Panel Discussion organized by Businessgyan and TASMAC  on the topic ‘ Getting it done'.  

Compiled by Ms. Mangal D Karnad for Businessgyan.

Issue BG88 July 08

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