“You absolutely do not have to give away something great for free,” said Michael Dearing, a former eBay executive who is a teacher of the Launch Pad class. “If you build something great, people will pay you for it.”

It’s great how small things turn big in a short span of time. If we rewind few months back we’ll see how a simple college project turned out to be a goldmine for these two young college graduates. Ankit Gupta and Akshay Kothari were super excited as they would be one of the first few people to lay their hands one of the sought after products of Apple-the iPad. But little did they know that two months later they would be famous; on New York Times, NBC’s Evening News and TechCrunch a powerful technology blog. After their purchase, they had developed software as a part of their college project that aggregates news from various sources. It became a huge success and they were living a dream. Sitting on a goldmine with most companies trying to figure out how to do so, their start has been enviable. While 30,000 iPad users have downloaded their app so far, there are two million users out there. There are soon launching this same application on the iPhone which has an estimated user list of 3 billion people worldwide making this application one of the most successful applications. They have won not only attention but also huge sums of money. A true success!

Kothari is from Ahmedabad, while Gupta is a genius from IIT Bombay. At Standford while studying they got accepted to a programme called “Launch Pad”. The idea of Launch Pad was simple: build a product and launch a company in three months. While they got iPad which was truly enriching for people in love with technology, they discovered that news consumption experience had left them frustrated. So they ventured out to make an application in order to solve their ongoing frustration; which led them to start their college product. So they went about building their product which was difficult at start as many advisors from the Silicon valley told them to “try something else”. But they were not going to be put off by criticisms. “Basically, I think once you set out to do something, you must put your whole heart into it,” Kothari says. It was a great experience. They started to solve this problem and build up a whole new application which would later on shake up the entire technological world. “On day 1, people were like, ‘this is awful’,” Kothari says. By day 5, testers were asking if the app came bundled with the iPad. “Then we knew we were on to something,” he says. It was hard work, they researched, they tried, they tested and they perfected it.

Then came the issue of marketing. “We feel it’s the key. Most engineers think if they build an awesome product it will sell itself. We knew that approach was not going to work in a crowded app marketplace,” Kothari says. They uploaded videos on YouTube attracting attention and finally TechCrunch a powerful Silicon valley Blog reviewed it which went on the top of the list and hasn’t moved ever since. “We have been incredibly fortunate to be in an environment that encourages entrepreneurs,” Kothari says. The lessons they learnt not only taught them to become a tech designer but also taught them entrepreneurship.

“So many of our really smart friends in India opt for some stupid job in a bank after they graduate because of the comfort of a salary. Both of us passionately believe that young people should set out to do something on their own, and if our little success inspires anybody out there, that will be our biggest reward,” Kothari says, with heartfelt sincerity that didn’t seem to care if he was sounding a bit clichéd. Cliched or not we thoroughly like this duo. Small business ideas can be really rewarding if you believe in it, so keep your mind open to everything; you never know what’s next. Here is a toast to the success of these two talented Indian boys. Well, they have truly made us proud!

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Kartik Raichura

Today, Kartik Raichura needs no introduction to the conscious, all- knowing breed of youngsters vying to make the best out of their careers by making a mark in the field of management education. It was the concern to bring about a change in the life of a student who nurses the wish of pursuing MBA that pushed Karthik to provide a common platform to all the students regardless of their educational background and their existing knowledge about the much – in – demand management education.

With a modest beginning to the massive popularity gained on a consistent basis, Kartik has pulled out all stops to make sure nothing deters the big plans in place for the website.

1. What made you go the ’less travelled’ way rather than taking up the routine 9 – 5 job?
Taking up entrepreneurship wasn’t a conscious decision. I was very confused about what I wanted to do, but was equally sure-footed about what I won’t do. Working at a company doing mundane jobs that do not make a difference to anyone is something I clearly detested. On the contrary, I enjoyed this small venture that I has started, it seemed to make a difference to students, changed the way BMS students pursued education and was doing well in the MBA space, too. It was only logical to work on something that interests you.

2. Challenges are a part of an entrepreneur’s journey. In your case, what were they and how did you cope with them?
Management Paradise (MP) has been in existence since November 2004 when I was still a student in SYBMS. I had a strong urge to do something big, to change the way things worked and to better the education system. With this in mind I founded MP, which flourished with the help of many like-minded people. However, we faced a lot of problems initially because it was difficult to make professors, who were not tech-savvy, understand that web is all about sharing information. A few even spread unfavourable opinions about the forum in the beginning, but the same people asked me to refer them students for coaching classes after the forum showed signs of success. The forum is still misunderstood by many as a place where project reports can be copy-pasted, but most of the members know that it provides an ocean of information and is a double-edged sword that can be used either ways.

Getting people when we were not making enough monetary gains to pay them but still expecting the same of amount of commitment and passion was another challenge. But I am lucky to have found people who like gems and have stood with me like pillars.

The initial months were very arduous. I was only 19 then and we only had one computer for our venture. Moreover, it required a lot of manual work through telephonic Internet connection, which was very expensive in those days. But it’s all paying up now. What started with less than 10 hits a day is now running with over 10 thousand people visiting the site every day and over a million page views every month.

3. What are the most important virtues required in an entrepreneur to become successful?
So, there are no set mantras that work for everyone. Just like Philip Kotlers marketing mantras work on a general level but not necessarily in a niche. For me patience and the naiveness of everything is possible has worked well. Its said that want to do something you should have done extensive research and on the other hand, its also said that by the time you have done an extensive research you would miss the market. What has worked for me is gut feel and plunging in the market with self confidence.

4. What is your success mantra?
Self belief is my success mantra. Your customer may not know what he wants, you need to innovate and come up with features that are path breaking. If you are sure of your value proposition, your customers will love it sooner or later.

5. Did you, at any point, feel like it was not worth the effort?
Quitting was never an option. But honestly, I did think of taking up a regular job many a time during a years’ gap between my graduation and MBA. I even applied to a few companies but they also believed I was meant for business. May be I was aiming at the wrong companies but a BMS graduate did not have many job options back in 2005. Now, I’m thankful to those who rejected me; it has got me this far.

6. What keeps you going?
The passion to reinvent management education and helping people keeps me on my toes. For instance, our BMS exam results were due and got delayed because of riots in Mumbai. I, along with a friend Pratik Mehta, went to Kalina University where the results were put up. We manually typed the whole list of over 5,000 students and delivered it online. We got innumerable calls thanking us for our efforts. It’s the joy of making a difference to a student’s life that drives me.

7. What is your business model like? Elaborate.
Everything that touches management education is our kingdom. We cater to BMS, BBI, BAF and MBA students to handhold them in their journey from being a Bachelor in management to obtaining a Masters degree. We bridge the gap between education that an IIM student receives and one that is imparted to St Francis MBA through research dissemination. With over 1,80,000 members, MP is revolutionizing management education on all fronts.

MP helps students in their research reports. If a person is confused about what he should include in his report on “Venture Capital”, he can log on to MP website and place a request. We then provide help on the subject and person has to post the report on the forum once his project is completed. Another student working on similar project can use this same report as a reference point. Our TG started from BMS and we expanded into MBA. After knowing that the market for Banking and Insurance has become lucrative, we spearheaded into it and now we are weighing our options with BAF and BMM courses as well.

8. How can the entrepreneurial drive be nurtured among the youth, as a tool towards economic development?
Follow the western model, glamorize entrepreneurship and celebrate failures as a stepping stone to success. Media is largely responsible for change movements and if they can help youth get over the fear of failure and failed enterprises, it can boost the entrepreneurial drive.

9. How can one overcome the various problems faced by a budding entrepreneur?
Developing a network of entrepreneurs and like- minded individuals is a must. Your network will help you sail through thick and thin.

10. How do you maintain an edge over competitors?
Believe there are no competitors. You are unique and so are people in the same business. People can be in the same business but have different core competencies. Take time to discover your core competency and strive for excellence in it, you will not have any competitors.

11. How do you see your firm after 5 years?
I vision it to do what it does best, empower students and professionals in multiple ways across verticals.

12. How do you manage to take accurate decisions and avoid mistakes during the course of running your business?
Experiment, commit mistakes and learn. There’s always a learning cost that you have to pay before any major decisions. Just ensure you do not repeat it.

13. Do you regret any decisions of the past?
No, there will always be things you expect you shouldn’t have done, but if not for those you wouldn’t be where you are today as each step is a learning experience and you don’t regret on your learnings.

14. What is the future of entrepreneurship as seen by you?
Entrepreneurship is what entrepreneurship does. Its infectious and absorbing. I dont know frankly how else to put this except to say the future is entrepreneurship.

15. Any advice for the new generation of entrepreneurs?
Believe in yourself. If the world calls you crazy, be happy. If you are a dreamer, live the dream. You are different and only different people make a difference in this world.

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