Category: Uncategorized

About Speaker-

Sujata Bogawat is Chartered Accountant and MBA with over 16 years of experience in financial management of manufacturing and services industries; including start-ups and not-for-profit companies. She is Senior Partner at Baheti & Somani which is a full-service CA firm headquartered in Pune. Also, she was Director at ADVANTAGE Business Consulting, Pune from Feb 2012 to March 2017.

Lecture –

Under Venture Center Startups 101 Lecture Series, Sujata Bogawat delivered a lecture on ‘Nuts and Bolts of Starting a New Business’ on 01^st July 2017.

The talk was largely focused on legal structure of entity, registration and licenses of entity, business plan, start-up finance, balance sheet, investors perspective of investing in any business and funding.

The lecture begins with a very good quote – “Never go half-hearted if you are in business”. I really liked this line and the way she started her lecture. Then she talked about – who is an entrepreneur?

Once you have an idea and business plan then registering an entity which is very important part. These are the types of legal structure in India –

1. Sole Proprietorship
2. LLP
3. Joint Venture
4. Society/ Trust
5. Partnership Firm
6. One Person Company
7. Public Limited Company
8. Private Limited Company

After registration of entity, compliances are the important part and it leads to fines if fails to do on time. She gave a brief overview of how an investor look at any business plan when we approach them. She said investors don’t have time to go through entire business plan but they do check whether you have done your homework or not and look at Business Model Canvas which give them the overall understanding of business plan.

She talked about customer relationships, balance sheet, how to analyse balance sheet and cash flow statement. Cash is life blood of any business, if a business have cash it will survive. She said you don’t need lot of cash but you need sufficient cash to run operations.

How much Cash do you need?

Start-up Funds = (One-time Start-up costs) + (Monthly costs up to regular sales realization) + (minimum liquidity)

She briefly talked about why you need Co-founding agreement to avoid conflicts in future with your partner and how to build a good team.

 

About the Author:  Pramod Bhurji, BIRAC Social Innovator at Venture Center, Pune

Under start-up 101 lecture series, Shruti Devasthali offered a lecture on Simplifying the term sheet on 8th July, 2017.

The talk began with Shruti explaining the term sheet. A term sheet is a confidential and exclusive document which words the mutual understanding between an investor and entrepreneur. The term sheet post signature by both the parties is a binding document and is a valid for a definite period. However, it is not a legal document.
A term sheet covers:
– Investor details
– Details of the company in which investors are investing
– Details of the instrument against which the investment will be done
Includes: Equity, Preference shares (convertible/non, participating/non, cumulative/non), Convertible debt
– The actual investment details and agreed valuation of the company
Includes: Amount of investment, timing and frequency of investment, valuations at which investments are done (Pre/Post money evaluation), preference share (distribution of dividends based on % of interests), convertible instruments and basis of conversion
– Other terms of investment
Includes: Board seats distribution, Affirmative rights, anti-dilution, exit rights (IPO), Third party sale, promoter buy back), Drag / tag along, right of first refusal/offer, transfer restrictions, founders’ lock-in, lawyers’ fees

According to the speaker an entrepreneur should always do the following before signing a term sheet:
i. Understand the term sheet in depth
ii. Always consult your board of directors, advisers and peers
iii. Only accept the terms which are universally part of the investment agreement
iv. Spend time to understand the terms which are not general and are binding for the company

Author: Monish Deshmukh, BIRAC SIIP Fellow at Venture Center

Under start up 101 Protima Sharma (Founder director of PeopleWiz) offered a lecture on Culture cultivation: crux of start-up business model. The lecture was directed towards how a start up or an budding entrepreneur should implement strong strategies and policies in their respective organisation.
Protima showed a video to begin the talk, the video was about Hotel Taj and how they handled the crisis during the terrorist attack that took place on 26th November 2008. Taj employees instead of abandoning their posts and evacuating to safety stayed back offered the guests protection and safe passages off the hotel during the attack. The escaped/rescued guests returned to their posts in the safe areas in and around hotel and participated and helped in the rescue operations and handling the communications in any way they can. The video set the tone for the talk as the viewers were blown away by the commitment and dedication highlighted in the video.

Following are the key points that were pointed out by Protima in her talk highlighting the key concepts that should be at the heart of the organisational structure.
– The organisation should always have the right attitude, integrity and devotion. If these qualities are kept at the core then the organisation tends to be strong.
– All the new recruits should undergo extensive in house training to have a clear cut understanding of the organisation.
– Every worker should be given an immediate (under 48 hr) reward by the immediate supervisors post appreciation of his work by a customer.
– There is no good or bad culture in a organisation, there is only strong and weak culture. Weak culture can set an organisation back because of the cascading effect it might have on the other processes.
– The best organisations empower their employees, making them independent and autonomous. The employees will make mistakes but if the mistakes are within the limits then letting them sort it out themselves (with the organisational head knowing) helps them have more confidence in the structure of the institution and improves their productivity. Micro-managing can be more destructive than constructive in the long term.
– Always be aware of the strength and weaknesses of yourself and your organisation. This helps in strategising for opportunities and threats that you mind endure.
– Always be sure what you and your organisation want to be remembered for, what legacy you want to create.

Protima highlighted examples like Apple is famous for their design, Dell for their supply chain, Body-shop for environmental protection and Volvo for safety. In addition she added that airbnb has a wow factor which is their values and that is what separates them from the rest.

In summary, Protima said a good culture in an organisation is based on 5 key things.
i. Vision : purpose of the company
ii. Values : guidelines for moving towards this better purpose
iii. Practices : correct practices drive the values
iv. People : core people sharing the same drive
v. Narrative : need to have a unique story to tell

As additional comments, Protima suggested some books that helped her figure out certain crux and crannies of the culture cultivation.

These books are:
i. Responsive Management
ii. Crucial Conversations
iii. Maverick
iv. Reinventing organisation

v. team of teams
vi. The quiet

After visiting the K. K. Nag industries and seeing their application in using the DRDO technology the team was curious to discuss with an expert in the field. The discussion was to be focussed on how sound the technology really is and how substantiated the claims of the technology providers are.

We talked to Dr. Dilip Ranade, an ex-director and scientist at Agharkar Research Institute, Pune and now an independent consultant. His expertise and research areas are in the areas such as anaerobic bacteria and methanogenic archaea, Petroleum biotechnology, Bioenergy and Anaerobic treatment of industrial waste-water. With more than 30 years of research and application level work in the field his inputs were very analytical and valuable.

Following are the highlights of the meeting with Dr. Ranade and SIIP team.
– There are no technologies in India at present which are studied and vetted end to end. The focus of all the technologies is on breaking of the solid or faecal waste into liquid (effluents) and gaseous (Methane) components.
However, a detailed analysis of these components is missing and needs to be conducted and documented.
– A lot more research needs to be done to analyse the ability of the bacterial inoculum on various types of faecal waste and how the inoculum deal with the pathogens (if any) present in the waste.
– A detailed comparative study of all the technologies present in the market need to be carried out scientifically and the reported to the public for a better clarity and understanding of the pros and cons of the respective technologies.
– The lack of study stops the treatment units from putting in a secondary treatment system to deal with the effluent discharge making sure it is harmless to be released in the environment without harm.
– A overall standardisation of the inoculum concentration to be used for the bio-digester is not ideal and an optimal concentration can be used provided enough work has been done.
– A bio-gas digester should have a digestion cycle of at least 60 days, the digesters implemented by municipal corporations have a very small digestion cycle of 20 or so days will not get any desired output and volume of gas generated will be very low.

About the Speaker –

Protima Sharma is Managing Partner at PeopleWiz Consulting Firm. Founded in February 2011, PeopleWiz Consulting is a management consulting firm, dually headquartered in Pune & Singapore, focused on providing Organization Building solutions for growing organizations. She has done MBA in Human Resources from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. After getting a good grounding in HR while working with Thermax & Business Transformation consulting while working with TCS, she founded PeopleWiz.

Below article is extract from the lecture given by Protima Sharma as a part of Startups 101 Lecture Series at Venture Center, Pune.

Lecture:

Why Are Communication Skills Important?

Communication is a most important skill. Communication skills are not only needed in daily personal life, but also required in the profession, workplace and in business. Communication is the heart of every organisation. Everything you do in the workplace results from communication. Reading, writing and listening carefully are the three most important communication skills. Good communication skills require you to being able to listen to others. In our busy, world, sometimes we forget that simple fact.

This video from Big Bang Theory is the best example of poor communication and social skills.

What are Crucial Conversations?

Discussions where stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions run strong. These could be day-to-day occurrences that affect lives, and in many cases, these are pivotal conversations whose results may be extremely significant.

• Opinions vary: You’re talking with your boss about a possible promotion. She thinks you’re not ready; you think you are.
• Stakes are high: You’re in a meeting with four coworkers and you’re trying to pick a new marketing strategy. You’ve got to do something different or your company isn’t going to hit its annual goals.
• Emotions run strong: You have just completed the annual salary revision and given best possible salary raise according to your ability to pay. Your highest paid employee walks in and resigns because he feels the salary raise is poor and unjustified.

Why can’t we handle these conversations?

People generally choose to at least try to handle such situations as well as they can. However most of the times they don’t do very well, for the following reasons:

• Physiologically, human beings are designed to handle stressful situations with fists and feet, more than intelligence and attentiveness.
• Most of such situations spring up unexpectedly, and most of us can come up with only a knee-jerk response to them because of the pressure.

The consequences of either avoiding or messing up these conversations can be severe and can affect all aspects of life – personal and professional.

Protima also talked about how to prepare for Crucial Conversations. She explained 7 ways for it. But most important thing is first find out your style of behaving and talking and ask your friends for feedback.

1. Get Unstuck

Spot the conversations that are keeping you stuck and ask critical questions to yourself: What conversations am I not holding or not holding well? Am I holding the right crucial conversations? Find out your style under stress and then work on your skills to improve.

2. Start with your heart

• Work on me first, Us second. Remember that the only person that you can directly control is yourself.
• Focus on what you really want. When you find yourself moving towards silence or violence, stop and pay attention to your motives
• Refuse the Fool’s Choice. Watch yourself, see if you are telling yourself to choose between peace and harmony, winning and losing.

3. Make it safe

Make it safe, when it is safe you can say anything. Establish mutual purpose and show mutual respect. Say you are sorry when you have done something wrong.

4. Master Your Stories: How to stay in Dialogue when you are angry, scared or hurt

Stories provide our rationale for what’s going on – Why?  Judging! What? We do it without realizing it.

5. STATE your path

Be persuasive not abrasive. Always share your facts because facts are least controversial and gives you safe beginning to start conversations.

6. Explore others path : How to listen

Be curious and listen to others honestly. You can say- “I’d really like to hear your opinion on this”.

7. And finally move to ACTION!!

Suggested Book by Protima –

1. Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High by Al Switzler, Joseph Grenny, and Ron McMillan
2. The High performance Entrepreneur by Subroto Bagchi

      

About the Author:  Pramod Bhurji, BIRAC Social Innovator at Venture Center, Pune