From zeal to appeal: inspiring stories of 20 Indian innovators

Editor-Himansu Sekhar Samal

India needs much more creative thinking and effective innovation to solve its numerous problems and tap global opportunity; indeed, the problems faced by entrepreneurs in India are often much greater than in mature economies.

The 210-page book ‘Indian Innovators: 20 Brilliant Thinkers Who Are Changing India’ by Akshat Agrawal presents a new facet of India – innovators who refuse to accept defeat and are hell-bent on proving the country’s potential.
The 20 stories cover a wide range of innovation, from nanotechnology and augmented reality to road construction materials and sanitary pad machines. Each chapter ends with advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, and an appendix provides resources on the patenting process. The book makes for an absorbing read, full of the ups and downs of the founders’ journeys.
Here are my key takeaways on the innovator profiles and messages; see also my reviews of the related books ‘Recasting India’ by Hindol Sengupta, ‘Young Turks’ by Shereen Bhan and Syna Dehnugara, and ‘Arise, Awake’ by Rashmi Bansal.
Anirudh Sharma has created a haptic shoe for the visually impaired. He was a ‘troublemaker’ and tinkerer in childhood, and moved from Delhi to Rajashtan to study at RTU Bikaner. His team of fellow students won competitions at BITS Pilani, and he worked at the Google Summer of Code programme. Sharma had a good mentor at his job with HP Labs in Bangalore, when he hit upon the idea of haptic sensors in shoes to aid the visually impaired. The shoe works with a smartphone app to guide users, and has been tested at the LV Prasad Eye Institute. Sharma has set up his own company, Ducere, to work on commercialising the haptic shoe.

Hemanth Satyanarayana has developed augmented reality-based virtual trial rooms for consumers to try out clothes digitally. He graduated from IIT Madras and SUNY Buffalo, where he worked with a startup on training simulators. He returned to India and worked on laparoscopic simulators as well as gesture-based gaming, and then hit upon his AR idea when he noticed how difficult it was for women to choose and try out saris in stores. He has formed the company Imaginate to develop the TrialAR solution, and has won awards from NASSCOM and MIT.
Mrinmayee Bhushan has developed a nanotechnology-based herbal hair removal cream. She has an MS in microbiology, and worked at the National Toxicology Centre in Pune. She founded the company Mindfarm Nanotech, and has filed patents for her products. Her company won a Technopreneur Promotion Program (TEPP) grant from India’s Department of Science and Technology for her product, called Romantaque.
Shyam Vasudev Rao, a graduate of IISc Bangalore, has developed a preventive eye care device. He worked in Ericsson and Philips, and then set up his own company, Forus Healthcare. The company’s affordable eye screening devices like 3Nethra help tackle preventive blindness in India. India has the highest number of visually impaired people in the world (15 million out of a total 40 million). The company has received investments from Accel Partners and IDG Ventures, and is working on a range of pediatric devices.
Mansukhbhai Prajapati is the inventor of the MittiCool Refrigerator. Born in Gujarat, his marriage was fixed at the age of seven. He worked in tile factories and sweet shops, and at 22 he married the woman he was betrothed to. He entered the clay pottery business, with clay tawas and colourful pots. In the aftermath of the Gujarat earthquake, he turned his attention to making cost-effective clay refrigerators, and caught the attention of the Honeybee Network and Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network (GIAN). He is now working on MittiCool cookers, hot cases and non-stick pans, with design inputs from NID.
Nelvin Joseph has developed SPARA, an artificial intelligence-based power saver for computers and electronic devices. He was absorbed in books and computers right from his school days, and become more interested in games than coursework during his college days in Kerala. He hit upon the idea of remote device management, and started a company called Artin Dynamics. Incubated at Technopark, the startup received funding from a Middle East investor, and aims at reducing electricity wastage which can be as high as three per cent of the total operating costs for some companies.
Nitin Joshi is working on non-intravenous chemotherapy solutions. He has a PhD in biomedical engineering from IIT Bombay and is now at Harvard. He worked on nano-particles capable of delivering drugs for different kinds of diseases such as cancer, which accounts for eight million deaths each year. India is home to three million cancer patients, which includes a large proportion of rural women.
Prateek Bumb and Aniruddha Sharma have developed technology for removal of carbon dioxide from emissions of industrial plants such as power, cement, steel and bottling. They met at IIT Kharagpur and won a prize at the IIT Bombay Ideas business plan competition. With mentorship and seed capital, they formed Carbon Clean Solutions and now have clients in the US and Europe as well.
Priyanka Sharma has developed an ultra low-cost immuno-sensor biochip for detecting environmental pollutants. She grew up in Punjab and was moved by the sight of farmers working with dangerous pesticides. She decided to develop an inexpensive, portable device for quick detection of pesticide levels in soil. She has published papers on the topic, filed for patents, and won awards from Agilent, CII and DST.
Sachidanand Swami founded the company Invoxel to develop interactive touch surfaces, which can include tables and walls and not just tablet devices. He graduated from IIT Delhi and worked on a project at University of Denmark. He worked on surface solutions for sectors like real estate and automtive, and has filed five patents.
Sriram Kannan has developed location tracking solutions which work independently of GPS. He graduated from IISc and worked at TI in Japan. He stumbled upon the need for mobile tracking solutions due to the unpredictable times of train stops at night in Whitefield near Bangalore, when he would have to pick up his visiting father. He developed his solution called Verayu based on cell clustering technology, raised venture funding, and markets the LaaS (location as a service) offering to clients such as fleet management firms.
Abhijeet Joshi has developed implantable biosensors for diabetes monitoring. He studied at University of Mumbai and NIPER, and finished his PhD in biomedical engineering from IIT Bombay. The company Intellectual Ventures helped him with the patenting process. Joshi hopes to tackle the diabetes problem in India; India is the diabetes capital of the planet with 55 million patients out of 250 million worldwide (11 per cent of India’s urban population is diabetic).
Ganesh and Pragyanandesh are the founders of VORWIS (Virtual Object in Real World, Interaction and Sharing), an imaging platform based on VRD (Virtual Retina Display). They met at IIT and became active in the electronics club. They won college festival awards for projects like digital diaries and smart meter monitoring. They were later inspired by Pranav Mistry’s work on SixthSense gesture interfaces, and are now working with VRD vendors on their project.
Ahmed Khan is the founder of KK Plastic Waste Management, which develops road construction materials using plastic waste. He grew up in Mandya, near Bangalore, and worked in the plastics industry. Realising that plastic did have advantages as a packing material but also challenges in recycling practices, he developed a mix of bitumen and molten plastic waste which could be used in road construction. The solution has proven to be long-lasting and durable, but government officials drag their feet on its widespread adoption for a number of reasons. He is also working on a mix of wood shavings and plastic waste as furniture material, after a number of tests. “Take failure as an opportunity to make a new, more intelligent start,” advises Khan.
Pratik Mahapatra, Anurag Kyal, Snehasis Patra and Subham Debnath have formed Team Papyrus Efficiencia, a company developing environment-friendly paper. Graduates of KIIT (Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology), the students hit upon the idea during a project to manage the weeds on Chilika Lake. The weed’s high cellulose content made it good for B2B and B2C paper products. The team’s products have won a range of awards and they were invited to join the Stanford Global Innovation Programme as well.
Shantanu Pathak, Swapnil Kokade, Vaibhav Tidke, Shital Somani, Shital Munde and Aditya Kulkarni formed a people-centred technology collective called Science for Society. It has developed tools such as the CareMother testing kit and platform for pregnancy care. India has the world’s highest rate of pregnancy-related deaths – 150 mothers die every day. Shantanu Pathak was from Lokmanya Tilak College of Engineering in Navi Mumbai, and his colleagues scattered around the world after graduation. They re-grouped to develop CareMother, which is now being used by a number of hospitals and NGOs. Other offerings include CareChild, an m-health solution to prevent early childhood deaths (India unfortunately has the world’s largest number of deaths of children below five years of age).
Chinmay Deodhar has developed a dual-purpose laparoscopic surgery instrument. He studied engineering design and automotive engineering at IIT Madras, and his entrepreneurial flair showed when he developed and sold a GRE vocabulary app called QuickWord for Rs. 1.5 lakh to the coaching class Dilip Oak’s Academy. A stint on precision robotics at PARI in Pune led him to the idea of combining a grasper and scissors for surgery, and he make a trip to Germany to find customers in the town Tuttlingen, which makes 50 per cent of the world’s surgical instruments. He then found a product partner in California-based Intuitive Surgical, thanks to Stanford leads. Deodhar is now working on birth asphyxia solutions, and has sponsored a fund at IIT Madras to support innovators in their roller coaster journey. “It is important to experience rejection because without it, success would never seem as sweet,” says Deodhar.
Arunachalam Muruganantham, sometimes referred to as ‘The Menstrual Man,’ has developed a low-cost sanitary pad making machine. He was born in a village near Coimbatore, and worked on welding and grill designs. After marriage, he discovered through his wife the problems that women in India face with regard to menstruation – just two per cent of menstruating women in rural India use sanitary napkins, and they face many social taboos and stigmas. Over a number of years, he experimented on a range of cotton fibre solutions, despite facing strong social disapproval from his own family. Eventually he won the IIT Madras award for Best Social Innovation of the Year, and started Jayashree Industries to make the machines which are now sold in other developing countries as well.
Deepak Ravindran is the founder of Innoz, which offers offline Internet on mobile phones. During his LBSCE college days in Kerala he stumbled upon the idea of SMS-based queries of the Internet. His project was mentioned in a local newspaper, and he was supported by Technopark Incubator and IIM Ahmedabad iAccelerator. The product was branded SMS Gyaan via an Airtel partnership, and also marketed to other operators. Innoz received funding from Infosys CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan and Mahesh Murthy’s Seed Fund, and services millions of queries a month. Innoz also helped set up Startup Village in Kochi. Ironically, Innoz is now the largest recruiter for the college from where its founders did not graduate. Storytelling has been a useful marketing tool for the startup. “Consider yourself a storyteller,” advises Ravindran.
Ankit Mehta, Vipul Joshi, Ashish Bhat, Amardeep Singh and Rahul Singh are the co-founders of IdeaForge, which makes the Netra UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle). They met at IIT Bombay and took part in the robotics competition Yantriki. They represented India at Robocon 2005 in Beijing. Ankit worked at a consulting firm for six months, saved enough money, and quit to form IdeaForge with the help of IIT Bombay’s Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (see YourStory profile of SINE here). They worked on products like a mechanical charger, and then developed drones for DRDO. Netra received publicity in the movie ‘3 Idiots,’ and then was used for crowd management in Ahmedabad and Mumbai as well as rescue operations in the Uttarakhand floods (where it located 190 trapped survivors).
Advice for aspiring innovators
Each chapter ends with a paragraph or page of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs; here are some samplings of the success tips (see also my reviews of the books ‘Make Your Mark’ by Jocelyn Glei and ‘Entrepreneurial StrengthsFinder’ by Jim Clifton and Sangeeta Bharadwaj Badal).
Prepare yourself mentally, physically and emotionally for the innovation journey. Expose yourself to a diverse range of fields to get as many different perspectives as possible. College is a great time for experimentation when the risk of loss is low. If you are nervous about financial stability, work part-time on your innovation till it matures. But if you are talented and motivated you will anyway be able to get a job later, so it may be better to pursue your innovation fulltime.
Be prepared for the uncertainties of the innovation journey, including harsh realities and unexpected surprises. Learn how to manage your material wants and focus on your creative pursuit. Learn how to treat failures as a learning experience and not a cause for disappointment. Learn about your own strengths and weaknesses, and be willing to change your product and focus based on the journey. Get feedback from others about your ideas to overcome your biases, but stay away from the naysayers and doubters who will offer nothing but negativity.
Be patient during the potentially long wait for market acceptance even after your product is ready; success sometimes comes after the very last minute. At the same, enjoy the process and journey of your innovation as well, and celebrate the small wins. Test your product early enough with customers, don’t keep it in stealth mode for too long, and never compromise on quality. Develop a convincing story to pitch your product to customers and investors. Understand your customers, and build a team with complementary skills.
If you want to do serious academic research, choose your host institution and guide carefully. Spend a lot of time and energy understanding the patenting process; hire a good patent lawyer or find good resources at technology institutes. Do thorough market research to understand the scope and power of your patent.  For innovators pitching to Indian companies, the irony is that many of them will accept your product only if it first receives approval from Western companies.
As for social entrepreneurs, aim for simplicity in what you do. Help others make money and you will make money yourself too. When you are on the right track, people will help you and do good. And finally, take your chances and leap into your destiny!
About the author of the book: Akshat Agarwal holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from IIT-Delhi and an MBA from the University of Oklahoma. During his IIT days, he was engaged in the design and fabrication of an artificial knee joint for above-the-knee amputees. Akshat is currently a Director at Alpha Beta Classes, a startup that aims to improve access to quality education in India

7 inspiring rags to riches stories of entrepreneur

Editor-Himansu Sekhar Samal ,april 09 2016

This is one genre of stories that has enjoyed an ever-lasting appeal: rags to riches tales. Stories of heroic struggle against odds, survival and eventual triumph have always inspired people, given them hope, courage to fight, and egged them on to persevere. Here, YourStory brings 7 such fabulous stories from around the world, which we believe, would ignite your never-say-die spirit and inspire you to become all that you can be.
1. The steel tycoon who grew up in a one-room weaver’s cottage: Andrew Carnegie
 
This American industrialist, the founder of Carnegie Steel – a company that produced more steel than all of Great Britain at one point – was born to a poor handloom weaver in Scotland.
He grew up in poverty, living in a one-room house, often sleeping to “forget the misery of hunger”. To fight starvation, his family migrated to the US.  His first job was at age 13 as a bobbin boy, changing spools of thread in a cotton mill 12 hours a day, 6 days a week in a Pittsburgh cotton factory. In his spare time, he would read works of Robert Burns and historical Scottish heroes like Robert the Bruce, William Wallace, and Rob Roy. His next job was as a telegraph messenger boy. A true entrepreneur, he was a hardworker, and soon was promoted as an operator. Colonel James Anderson, who opened his personal library of 400 volumes to working boys each Saturday night, gave a good boost to Carnegie’s education and passion for reading. He did a series of railroad jobs. There, he learnt about the industry and business in general. It was during this stint that he began making investments in steel and oil companies that earned him huge returns. By 1889, Carnegie Steel Corporation was the largest of its kind in the world. He went on to become become the richest man in the world.
Known as one of “builders” of  America who helped shape the nation, in 1901, he sold Carnegie Steel to JP Morgan for $480 million and became a philanthropist. He donated millions to the New York Public Library, established the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, which is now known as Carnegie-Mellon University, created the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and formed the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Remember, the journey began in a one-room weaver’s cottage in Dunfermline.
2. The retail giant who had to milk cows, deliver newspapers: Samuel Walton
 
This American entrepreneur who built a small grocery store into the giant Walmart supermarket chain, amassing a fortune of over $23 billion, grew up during the Great Depression.
He had numerous chores to help make financial ends meet for his family as was common at the time. He milked the family cow, bottled the surplus, and drove it to customers. Afterwards, he would deliver Columbia Daily Tribune newspapers on a paper route. In addition, he also sold magazine subscriptions. During his college, he worked various odd jobs, including waiting tables in exchange for meals. After graduation, he joined the US Army during the World War II. After the war, he left the military and started managing a variety store at the age of 26.
He took a loan to buy his first store, and thanks to simple innovations in business, he soon bought his second store. Within 3 years, his sales volume grew to $225,000. The first true Wal-Mart opened on July 2, 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas. The rest is history. Forbes ranked Sam Walton as the richest person in the United States from 1982 to 1988. At the time of his death in 1992, he had 1,960 Wal-Mart stores, employed 380,000 people and clocked annual sales of about $50 billion.
3. The Queen of all media who was raped at age 9: Oprah Winfrey
 
Best known for her multi-award-winning talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show — the highest-rated program of its kind in history — Oprah Winfrey is dubbed as the ‘Queen of all media’ and ranked as the richest African-American of the 20th century.
She was born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a teenage single mother. She was later raised in an inner-city Milwaukee neighborhood. She has often spoken about the hardships she experienced during childhood, saying she was raped at age 9 and at 13, after suffering years of abuse, she ran away from home. She became pregnant at 14. Her son, she said, died in infancy. While in high school, she landed a job in radio and began co-anchoring the local evening news at the age of 19. She got transferred to the daytime-talk-show arena because of her emotional ad-lib delivery.
She became a millionaire at age 32 when her talk show went national. She is credited with creating a more intimate confessional form of media communication. Forbes’ international rich list has listed her as the world’s only black billionaire from 2004 to 2006 and as the first black woman billionaire in world history. As of 2014, she has a net worth in excess of 2.9 billion dollars and has overtaken former eBay CEO Meg Whitman as the richest self-made woman in America.
4. The CEO of Oracle who was born to an unwed Jewish mom: Larry Ellison
 
Larry Ellison was born in New York City to an unwed Jewish mother. His father was an Italian American US Air Force pilot. According to Wikipedia, Ellison contracted pneumonia when he was  nine months old and his mother gave him to her aunt and uncle for adoption. His adoptive mother was warm and loving, while his adoptive father was unsupportive and distant.
He was a bright but inattentive student. He left the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign after his second year without taking his final exams because his adoptive mother had just died. Later, he attended the University of Chicago for one term, where he first encountered computer design. In 1966, aged 22, he moved to northern California.
In 1977, he founded Software Development Laboratories (SDL) with two partners and an investment of $2,000. In 1982, the company became Oracle Systems Corporation after its flagship product, the Oracle database. Currently, Ellison owns stakes in Salesforce.com, NetSuite, Quark Biotechnology Inc. and Astex Pharmaceuticals. In September 2011, Ellison was listed on the Forbes List of Billionaires as the fifth richest man in the world. Ellison is still the third richest American, with a net worth of about $36.5 billion.
5. The richest man in Asia who had to quit school at 15: Li Ka-shing
 
This Hong Kong business magnate, investor, and philanthropist is the richest person in Asia, with a net worth of $31.9 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as of April 16,2014.
He was born in Guangdong province, China. After his father’s death, he was forced to leave school to support his family before he turned 15.  He found work at a plastics trading company where he laboured 16 hours a day. After years of back-breaking work, he was able to start his own company, Cheung Kong Industries.
According to a Harvard Business School article:

“From his humble beginnings in China as a teacher’s son, a refugee, and later as a salesman, Li provides a lesson in integrity and adaptability. Through hard work, and a reputation for remaining true to his internal moral compass, he was able to build a business empire that includes: banking, construction, real estate, plastics, cellular phones, satellite television, cement production, retail outlets (pharmacies and supermarkets), hotels, domestic transportation (sky train), airports, electric power, steel production, ports, and shipping.”

Today, Li’s businesses cover almost every facet of life in Hong Kong, from electricity to telecommunications, from real estate to retail, from shipping to the Internet. The Cheung Kong Group operates in 55 countries and employs over 260,000 staff worldwide.
6. The poor Ukrainian immigrant who became a Silicon Valley mogul: Jan Koum

Image credit: http://yesstory07.blogspot.in/.com

When Facebook announced that it was buying mobile messaging startup WhatsApp for $19 billion in February 2014, that caused quite a stir. Jan Koum, the startup’s cofounder became the most talked about entrepreneur overnight. Media reported that the WhatsApp floored Mark Zuckerberg so much that the record offer was made so that the two could become “friends.”A true rags to riches hero, Koum was born and raised in a village on the outskirts of Kiev, Ukraine, as the only child of a housewife and a construction labourer. Forbes reported that his house has no hot water, and his parents feared that their phone was tapped by the State and so rarely talked on it. He immigrated to California with his mother when he was 16. He used to sweep the floor of a grocery store and stood in line to collect food stamps. By 18, he was an expert computer hacker.
In 1997, Koum was hired by Yahoo as an infrastructure engineer, shortly after he met Brian Acton while working at Ernst & Young as a security tester. In January 2009, Koum bought an iPhone and realized that it would spawn a whole new industry of apps. On his birthday, February 24, 2009, he incorporated WhatsApp Inc. in California.
7. The polyester prince who sold bhajia at village fairs: Dhirubhai Ambani
 
India too has its share of rags to riches heroes. And Dhirubhai Ambani is one of the best knowm among them. This founder of Reliance Industries was one of the three sons of Hirachandbhai, a school teacher, and Jamanaben. He also had two sisters. An anecdote from his childhood is that he once bought a tin of groundnut oil on credit from a local wholesaler and sold the oil in retail on the roadside. He earned a few rupees as profit from this transaction. Apparently, during weekends when his school was closed, he used to set up bhajia stalls at village fairs to make ends meet at home.
According to R-ADAG, when he was 17, he went to Aden (now Yemen) in search of opportunity, and worked as a dispatch clerk for A. Besse. That was in 1949. A couple of years later, the company became a distributor for Shell products and Dhirubhai was promoted to manage the company’s oil-filling station at the port of Aden. It was here that he dreamed of setting up and owning a refinery, which he later realized with his petrochemicals venture. After returning to India, he started his first textile mill in Ahmednagar. Though his businesses were a huge success, there were also issues regarding Ambani’s control over stock exchange. His detractors accused him of illegal or unethical transactions and acts but an investigation by the RBI did not find any evidence of it. By 2007, the combined fortune of the Ambani family stood at $60 billion, making Ambani’s the second richest family in the world.
Who among these 7 entrepreneurs inspires you most? And tell us about other inspiring entrepreneurs you admire.
You will love this info graphic from Funders and Founders on “From Zero To Billionaire – Self Made Billionaire Paths”

Success Story of an Indian College Drop Out

Editor-Himansu Sekhar Samal

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In India, college drop outs are not looked upon favorably. You can try telling the stories of super heroes like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates all you want, parents will go, “Um hmm, Um hmm, now go study for your IIT exams.” If you say you want to be an entrepreneur instead, you will get a whack, a spank, an outburst and any number of other unappetizing reactions.
Senthil Nayagam, co-founder of RailsFactory, a premier Ruby on Rails application development company, is the epitome of the new 21st century Indian entrepreneur – a college drop out.  In 1999, having started his first business, an Internet center, to mediocre success, Senthil taught himself an assortment of other skills such as troubleshooting, Linux and eventually Perl, php, python and mysql, to help supplement his income and support his family.
Not disheartened by his first relatively failed business attempt, Senthil moved to Bangalore in 2004 to try his hand at a software career.  It was then that he discovered the potential of Ruby and Ruby on Rails to explode onto the software scene.  It was also here that Senthil met Dinesh Kumar, who shared Senthil’s passion for business.  Two years later and with the help of his newfound friend and co-founder, Dinesh, RailsFactory was born.
Think of RailsFactory as your extended team, or in the spirit of NBA playoff season, your 6th man on the court, designated to accelerate your current development by hiring additional developers to meet your company’s tight deadlines.
RailsFactory focuses on consulting and delivering cutting edge Ruby flavored solutions to its global customers.  In the last seven years they have gained over 150 employees, completed over 200 projects and over the past five years they have maintained an enviable 100% year-over-year growth.
And RailsFactory can deliver these solutions without putting a hole in your pocket, too.  While big tech companies in the Silicon Valley are “acqhiring” most large US Ruby consulting firms (i.e. Groupon acqhiring Obtiva), which keeps rates high for their services, RailsFactory remains a volume player with the freedom to work with both small startups and enterprise businesses.
RailsFactory does this by utilizing two different billing options; fixed price and the elastic staffing model, both designed to provide the most bang for your buck.  The fixed price option is geared toward start ups and small companies that need additional short term help developing a specific product, whereas elastic staffing gives businesses the opportunity to hire their own team of Ruby developers to work side by side with their staff for as long as they are needed.
Whether a company needs iPhone or Android apps, complete eCommerce solutions, or even long term partnership for IT projects, RailsFactory can deliver quality, cost-efficient services with minimal turnaround time.  Their expertise in Ruby on Rails and adoption of strictly agile development principles makes RailsFactory one of the premier end-to-end RoR (Ruby on Rails) solutions development companies.
Although RoR was practically unknown in 2006, now all major companies in India, such as TCS, Infy and HCL, as well as companies around the world like Amazon, Cisco, NASA, BBC have dedicated teams to work on their RoR.  With the RoR demand dramatically increasing and the availability of RoR resources much slimmer than the resources for, say, Java, or .net, RailsFactory has an unparalleled advantage in the market.
In fact, the Ruby programming language is now being used in more ways than ever before. Whereas Ruby is gaining in popularity with companies such as global code sharing fulcrum, github, which is built on it, a language like Java is now only more useful as the JVM than the language itself.  Plus, there is Jruby, a Ruby implementation in Java, which allows for the combination of Java’s good parts with the greatness of Ruby.  Software synthesis at its finest.
So how did RailsFactory, originating in the humble region of Chennai, India, grow to become a global player in RoR solutions?  With determination, creative problem solving and the desire for solidarity amongst fellow Chennai based software techies.
Chennai is a close knit region that has received major visibility and funding over the last two years, but back in 2006, when RailsFactory began, there were no role models or mentors to turn to for guidance. So Senthil took it upon himself to create his own network within Chennai’s software ecosystem so that he could ask crucial questions regarding RailsFactory’s growth spurts.
Transforming from a self proclaimed “lone wolf” to an inspiring leader in software services was no easy feat for Senthil, but with power comes great responsibility and he hasn’t shied away from moving his company forward with authority.
Senthil’s keen eye for identifying and capitalizing on growing industry trends has helped RailsFactory stay afloat during this age of ever evolving technological capabilities, one trend of which is particularly important; polyglot programming.
Polyglot programming allows for developers to combine the most advantageous aspects of any programming language so that they can use the best tool for the technology being produced.  For example, end users on a mobile phone or browser don’t give a hoot what technologies are used in the server; they just want a fast, responsive service, am I right?
And although RailsFactory prefers Ruby, what is best for the customer comes first.  RailsFactory uses other languages and components built on these other languages all the time, ensuring customer satisfaction regardless of programming language prejudices.
Gee, if only every company had our best interests in mind instead of forcibly trying to sell a label to us lowly consumers.
But the reality is this; with more companies turning to polyglot programming, as well as the addition of yearly UI paradigm changes causing many startups to desire mobile play along with their web app rewrites, and on top of THAT start ups are exploring new ways to monetize using big data, a software service and consulting specialist like Senthil must keep pace in order to continue enjoying success and growth.
And this is where Senthil’s inherent curiosity, passion for all things software and desire to transcend conventional industry limitations separates him from the pack.
Senthil and Dinesh have made RailsFactory a prototype for what they call “Centers of Excellence.”  They have started developing new business units in the form of independent COE’s for various technologies and they operate under the umbrella firm, Sedin Technologies, Pvt. Ltd.
As of now, Sedin Technologies has RailsFactory, MobileTechFactory and PHPFactory, each dedicated exclusively to help clients manage the global convergence of software, mobile applications, Web applications, big data and cloud services.
So what’s next for RailsFactory?
Naturally, they want to be the world’s largest RoR development company in the world.
With over 150 developers growing and counting, an office in Chennai and the Silicon Valley, RailsFactory is determined to set up operations in every global region that brings in more than ten percent revenue.  That leaves Senthil contemplating a physical presence in Australia, the UK, as well as other additional locations in India for starters.
Not too shabby for a guy who dropped out of college, flopped on his first start up venture and got fired from his job in Bangalore in 2004.
Moral of the story: India needs to start thinking outside of the box and let its youth take more chances, fail more often and chart their own courses.

How This Founder Created Her Own Way TO Success 

Editor-Himansu Sekhar Samal

Image credit: Entrepreneur India

April 4, 2016 “Seventeen years ago, I being a middle-class girl left India with a scholarship to study at Cambridge. At that point, I thought I would build a business of my own. Three years ago, I came back to India and when I told my mother that I am going to start a business in India she said a single word in Bengali which most of you would understand: sarvanash. Modi ji I personally thank you for making a middle class person like me to dream more with this one event.
And today our dreams are a reality. I did it in London for 17 years being a part of three very large consumer technology businesses that I had built. I would encourage every woman in this country to stand up and dream. When you get up you not only dream for yourself, but like Limeroad you create thousands of start-ups. With this, you help tons and millions of startups.
We have enabled women to build stores from their bedrooms with 60 seconds on their mobile phones. You can build the next million woman entrepreneurs,” shared Suchi Mukherjee at the Startup India event. Passionate about building consumer technology products that touch the lives of millions of users, she has helped drive growth at three successful international online platforms – Skype, eBay and Gumtree.
Starting from the early years in finance, where she was a part of teams that designed India’s first special purpose financing vehicle, and then the world’s largest aviation insurance company via a transatlantic merger, she has had an illustrious career.
She subsequently led the restructuring of 1,300 people in 13 functional teams at NTL (now Virgin Media), UK’s largest cable company, and at Skype, as a part of the Executive Management, sheran global product prioritization, design, marketing and support operations through multiple CEO changes and the biggest product upgrade since launch.
LimeRoad.com is a venture she conceived after the birth of her second child, while snatching a few minutes of me-time flipping through a magazine. Nothing, she felt, gave unhindered access to a rich breadth of product across South-East Asia, in an interface that was as easy as flipping a magazine. Thus grew the idea of the platform, the proposition and the interface.
Driving for lasting impact has been a core theme for her. She is a Cambridge Commonwealth Scholar and has an MSc in Finance and Economics from the London School of Economics where she was a British Chevening Scholar.

How 22-year-old Saman Pahwa achieved Rs 34 lakh revenue with his one-year-old startup

Editor-Himansu sekhar samal

Age has become just a number in the startup world. And it is quite evident in the Forbes’ List of Achievers that comprises 45 Indian entrepreneurs under the age of 30. This is a story of 22-year-old Delhi-based Saman Pahwa, who despite the disapproval of his parents, chose to be an entrepreneur.

While still a student at Delhi’s Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce, Saman realised that the gift market is limited to Hallmark, Archie’s, and small gift shops with boring gifts.

His startup, Handmade Junction, founded in April 2015, allows users to order personalised, handmade and custom gifts online and have it delivered to their doorsteps.

Handmade Junction initially sold their products online through their Facebook page. Moreover, putting up stalls at across Delhi University was another option to expand their customer base. The positive reviews and reactions towards the products strengthened Saman’s determination to take Handmade Junction to the next level. Saman Pahwa and Simran Jeet Singh
A fresh start

Saman quit his MNC job in Gurgaon to follow his passion for Handmade Junction. Because of the dearth of technology expertise, Saman decided to run the Handmade Junction Website on e-commerce platform Zepo. Zepo allows businesses to setup stores online and offers everything from integrated payment gateways to marketing support. FedEx has tied up to offer logistic support to all the online stores.

Saman’s brother Simran Jeet Singh (28) joined the business in April 2015 and they have invested Rs 1 lakh as seed capital. Simran, who also works in a FMCG company in Gurgaon, looks after the Digital Marketing, SEO, and New Product Ideas at Handmade Junction.
A journey towards the junction

The product range of Handmade Junction includes photo lamps, unique LED Collage (which contains more than 200 pictures), customised inside cover of dairy milk silk, temptation box with vodka and unique scroll card. The products are priced between Rs 300 and 3,900, and Handmade Junction gains a margin of 35–40 per cent.

Customers are asked to email customised messages and images once they place an order on the website. Moreover, the team also interacts with the customers to understand their requirements and designs. Once the product is prepared, a draft is shared with the customer and the products are only delivered after they receive a confirmation from the customer.


We have in-house carpenter who make wooden base for our lamps. We also import acrylic pipes from China and we have tied-up with a Canon franchisee store for printing,” says Saman.

The startup has tied up with seven to eight vendors based out of Delhi-NCR to procure the materials. And for Digital Printing and Laser Engraving, they have two more vendors.

Handmade Junction has a team of five people, including the Saman and Simran. Kritika Arora looks after the designing of the products, Ram Chander is for packaging, and Sunil Kumar takes care of the local delivery of the products.

The products of Handmade Junction are also sold via Giveter, GiftingNation, Giftsvilla, Craftsvilla and Shoppo App, which generates 3.6 per cent of the total number of sales.
Number of deliveries

Handmade Junction has delivered more than 4,000 orders in the last one and half year. The website currently sees 8,000 to 9,000 unique visitors per month. Handmade Junction is growing at a rate of 10 per cent month-on-month in terms of revenue. This fiscal year, it has achieved a revenue of Rs 34 lakhs annually. Apart from Delhi, the platform also witness customers from Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.
A glimpse of the market

According to a report by Technopak, the gifting market in India is estimated to be $40 to 42 billion with a handful of players (which comprises corporate gifting and personal gifting) witnessing the annual growth in the range of 20–40 per cent. Flaberry.com, RednBrown, BuddyGifting, PictureBite, Indibni are few of them who are in the tug of war to stay ahead of the competition in the personalised gifting space.

Handmade Junction aims to reach one lakh visitors per month and expand their product range with microcontroller-based personalised gifts, unique gifts for kids and parents in a couple of years. Being a new baby in the personalised gifting space, the startup managed to stay profitable in terms of unit economics. The startup is in talks with some of the investors and is likely to be part of an Incubator programme. Handmade Junction app, which will be launched soon, will add credibility to the growth trajectory, where users can send requests by sharing images via Pinterest, Instagram, Etsy, and more.

With Rs.10,000, this entrepreneur went on to build India’s largest power solutions company Su-Kam 

Editor - Himansu sekhar samal

“My aim in class 12 was to become a doctor,” says Kunwer Sachdeva, popularly known as the ‘Inverter man of India’. From selling pens and stationery, working in the sales department of a communication company to revolutionising the inverter industry in India, Kunwer Sachdeva’s entrepreneurial journey has been long and diverse.
Hailing from a typical humble middle-class Punjabi family in Delhi, Kunwer’s childhood was spent in a small home with his parents and two brothers. His father was a clerk in the Indian Railways and mother was a housewife. While Kunwer completed his primary education at a private school, he was later shifted to a government school due to lack of resources.
While he cleared his medical entrance exam, he got only 49 per cent of the required 50 per cent in the board exams. “So I repeated my class 12th from another government school and topped my school in the intermediate examination but could not clear the medical entrance this time around,” says Kunwer.
Ironically, he adds that he got admission in engineering, but he wasn’t interested in the course. Little did Kunwer know that he would find his calling in the engineering field. He ended up in Hindu college in the Statistical Honours course. While he wasn’t interested in the course, Kunwer went on to become rather popular in organising events

Learning the ropes

It was during his college years that Kunwer got into the habit of reading, which helped him later when he would establish the inverter business. It was during this time that Kunwer, along with his brother, began selling pens and other stationery. “Selling pens was not a matter of choice for me but it was rather a need. My brother started a small pen business after his class 12 and I helped him while I was studying. After finishing college I worked with him full-time,” he adds.
After finishing his higher education in law from Delhi University, Kunwer landed his first and last job at a cable communication company in the sales department.
“My first job at the cable communications company made me realize the potential of this business at that time (1988) in India so I decided to quit the job and start a cable business in Delhi which I named Su-Kam Communication Systems,” adds Kunwer.
While he was good at sales, he did not know anything about manufacturing, installation process, and the technology behind it. He started with installations of CATV and MATV systems in hotels and multi-storey buildings. He says that he was conned by many people as he was unaware of the nitty-gritties of the installation process.
After being bitten several times, Kunwer learnt his lesson and started going with people and began installing the equipment with them. This not only gave him hands-on experience, it also helped him learn more about the process and equipment.

Kunwer Sachdeva

“Reading came to my rescue here as it helped me clear my concepts and also upgrade my knowledge. I then started building my team by training them myself,” adds Kunwer. He says that he was lucky as the cable TV business became a necessity for every home. The demand therefore grew exponentially and by then Kunwer had gained enough knowledge about it.
He adds that it gave him the opportunity to manufacture cable TV equipment like directional couplers, amplifiers, and modulators. “My biggest investment at the time was a spectrum analyzer, an investment to better the quality and technology of my products, as I believe in improvising technology and products,” adds Kunwer.

Pivoting from an established industry to a non-existent sector

The shift to inverters happened by chance. The cable TV business was going pretty well for Kunwer, but the constantly faulty inverter at his home made him think more about the power backup industry in India. “My home inverter frequently broke down and we had to call the electrician every time. One day I got so frustrated that I decided to open it up and look for the problem. I found a sub-standard PCB board. I took that to my R & D team at Su-Kam cable TV business and asked them to analyze it,” says Kunwer.
Soon the team spent good amount of time looking at the quality of the inverters present in the market during the 90s. Kunwer adds that they were shocked to find that all those inverters were built with bad quality parts backed by nearly no technology. This got him thinking and he took it upon himself to understanding the technology. For this he even called for inverters from Canada (those products were not for home application) to look at the working of a sophisticated product.
“After initial experiments we decided to manufacture inverters as well, which led to the launch of Su-Kam Power Systems in 1998. On the other side, the cable TV business was booming as I had built a recognised brand in the industry but two years down the line I decided to discontinue manufacturing cable TV equipment, as I could foresee a bright future in inverter industry,” adds Kunwer.
The entire team moved from the cable TV business to Su-Kam Power Systems where they started to make inverters/UPS. While in the beginning the team started with direct sales, they soon realised that this would stunt the growth of the organisation. Thus, they decided to establish a network of dealers and distributors.

Innovation and convincing people

Initially, Kunwer says, it was difficult to convince people of the advanced technology, as Su-Kam’s inverters were one-fourth the size of existing ones and way advanced in technology and looks. However, people were drawn to my product as they saw its performance and joined Su-Kam by becoming distributors.
“I was able to lead the industry from then on as I continuously innovated and kept up with the requirement of the people. For example, my initial products replaced the need for generators in homes, then went on to innovate products that could run air conditioners and then for industrial requirement,” adds Kunwer.
By 2000, Su-Kam became the first company in the world to make plastic-body inverters. Kunwer got this idea when he heard that a child had suffered an electric shock because of the inverter. This led him to think of making inverters as safe as possible because they became a part of people’s houses. However, there was no plastic in the market that could withstand the high temperatures of inverters.
Soon Kunwer convinced the then GE plastics to create a special plastic material for Su-Kam’s inverters. Their first plastic-body inverter, Chic, was declared innovation of the decade.Two years later, the team made India’s first sine wave inverter eliminating the buzzing sound from fans and lights caused by square wave inverters and Su-Kam became the market leader. “Innovation and technology have always been our USP,” says Kunwer.

People and funds – the consistent challenge of startups since the 90s

While with Su-Kam, Kunwer and his team kept mastering technology. The biggest challenge he faced was getting the right people onboard.

During that time it was hard for startups to hire good professionals because very few people would leave secured jobs in big companies to work for a startup. I remember, initially, starting with a team of five. One member of our staff was also a part-time plumber,” says Kunwer.

 The next big challenge was managing people; his experiences had taught Kunwer human resource skills. This helped him get more technologically trained people, retain them and make them work in a team. He says that dealing with the mindset that it cannot be done was the most difficult, as innovating new products meant a lot of experimentation and continuing with efforts despite failures.
Aligning the motivation of the team with his, proved to be a challenge at times. Though Kunwer could visualize the product to the engineers it seemed impossible. “As we started getting big and successful we found good people, and now I take pride in saying that Su-Kam is full of experts. People are now quitting jobs in foreign countries (such as the UK and the US) and long term careers in the government to join Su-Kam,” adds Kunwer.
Like any other startup, Su-Kam had difficulty in getting funds. This was more difficult in the 90s. Kunwer says he was a ‘nobody’ – he didn’t have properties to mortgage, rich parents or big contacts. He learnt from the start to raise funds on his own. Kunwer borrowed from his friends and extended family.
“There were situations where I was unable to pay back on the designated date but I never tried to run away from it and faced my lenders and requested for an extension, which I always tried to meet. I learnt that it is more important to strengthen the trust of your lenders in you by making them aware of the situation rather than escaping contact with them. In 2006, Reliance Power fund invested in my company, which was a joint venture between Temasek and Ambani group,” says Kunwer

---

The journey so far

Kunwar says: “If I had to define my journey with Su-Kam in two words, those would be ‘great’ and ‘incredible’. I cannot tell you how many times I have learned and un-learned the principles of management, ways to work with people and principles of life. Mastering un-learning is more difficult than mastering learning. Often you get so attached to your ideas and opinions that you turn blind to the reality. But if you run a company like Su-Kam, which is spread across 90 countries in the world, then you have to accept that you could be wrong. You have to come out of your comfort zone and learn things differently.”

Kunwer Sachdeva

Kunwer believes that becoming an entrepreneur has possibly been the best decision of his life. He says that for a self-made entrepreneur, every day is a new day full of challenges and rewards. He adds that it is fun to solve problems to make decisions at lighting speed.
He says,

At some point you stop caring about the money – whether you earn or not – experiences becomes more precious. You get to develop people skills. I am neither an engineer nor an MBA but I can get work done from everyone – be it a gardener, IITian or an MBA from London. If you stay in the game for long-term, as an entrepreneur you would see things evolving in front of you and it is wonderful. I have worked with three generations. From typewriters to tablets – I have seen it all.”

Kunwer is now looking at bringing in a ‘solar revolution in India.’ His vision for the future is to see each and every house in India running on solar power in some way or the other. He believes that India is soon going to become the biggest market in the world for solar energy. Kunwer is also mentoring startups. He says that Indians have always been innovative and it’s good to see the world recognising it.

It was a distant dream when I started. I want to nurture young entrepreneurs in India,” says Kunwer.

Kunwer has also invested in a startup based in Hyderabad that makes solar LED lights.

This 23-year-old tricked fate to build a Rs 50-crore company, Bollant Industries

Editir -Himansu sekhar samal

When he was born, neighbours in the village suggested that his parents smother him. It was better than the pain they would have to go through their lifetime, some said. He is a “useless” baby without eyes… being born blind is a sin, others added.

Srikanth Bolla. (Pic courtesy INKTalks)

Twenty-three years later, Srikanth Bolla is standing tall living by his conviction that if the “world looks at me and says, ‘Srikanth, you can do nothing,’ I look back at the world and say I can do anything.”

Srikanth is the CEO of Hyderabad-based Bollant Industries, an organisation that employs uneducated and disabled employees to manufacture eco-friendly, disposable consumer packaging solutions, which is worth Rs 50 crores.
He considers himself the luckiest man alive, not because he is now a millionaire, but because his uneducated parents, who earned Rs 20,000 a year, did not heed any of the ‘advice’ they received and raised him with love and affection. “They are the richest people I know,” says Srikanth.

Underdog success story

What is it about stories like Srikanth’s that so inspire and fill one with hope? Could it be the multiple zeroes after a dollar sign or the belief that you and I can achieve similar success if we set our minds and hearts to it? Underdog success stories touch a raw nerve. After all, everyone faces adversity, they dream, and they work hard. It is another matter that only a few cross the threshold of limits set by society.

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In Srikanth’s case, it is his sheer tenacity that shines through the dark clouds of his misfortune. Being born blind was just one part of the story. He was also born poor. And you know what that means in a society like ours.
In school, he was pushed to the back bench and not allowed to play. The little village school had no way of knowing what inclusion meant. When he wanted to take up science after his class X, he was denied the option because of his disability. All of 18, Srikanth not only fought the system but went on to become the first international blind student to be admitted to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US.

As author Paulo Coelho says, “We warriors of light must be prepared to have patience in difficult times and to know the Universe is conspiring in our favour, even though we may not understand how.”

Today, Srikanth has four production plants, one each in Hubli (Karnataka) and Nizamabad (Telangana), and two in Hyderabad (Telangana). Another plant, which will be one hundred percent solar operated, is coming up in Sri City, an integrated business city in Andhra Pradesh, 55 kms from Chennai.
Angel investor Ravi Mantha, who met Srikanth about two years ago, was so impressed with his business acumen and vision for his company that he not only decided to mentor him but also invested in Srikanth’s company.

“It was a small, tin-roof shack in an industrial area near Hyderabad. There were eight employees and three machines under the shed. I expected him to talk about how he wanted to make a social impact, but was surprised by the business clarity and technical knowhow in someone so young,” Ravi says.

They are raising $2-million (around Rs 13 crores) in funding and have already raised Rs 9 crores. According to Ravi, his personal goal is to “take the company to IPO.” A vision to build a sustainable company with a workforce comprising 70 percent people with disability is no mean task. “Srikanth’s vision is inbuilt in the company. It is not just a lip service to CSR,” adds Ravi.

Isolation a big curse

“The isolation of differently-abled people starts at birth,” Srikanth said in his first public speech on the INKTalks stage in Mumbai last month. According to him,

“Compassion is a way of showing someone to live; to give someone an opportunity to thrive and make them rich. Richness does not come from money, it comes from happiness.”

When Srikanth was growing up, his father, a farmer, would take him to the fields but the little boy couldn’t be of any help. His father then decided that he might as well study. “In my parent’s entrepreneurship model, I was a failure. In entrepreneurship, we have a lean business model where we evaluate an enterprise and say how quickly it fails.” Since the nearest school in his village was five kms away, he had to make his way there mostly on foot. He did this for two years. “No one acknowledged my presence. I was put in the last bench. I could not participate in the PT class. That was the time in my life I thought I was the poorest child in the world. It was not because of lack of money but because of loneliness.”

Areca plant used to make eco-friendly plates (for representation purpose only). Image: Shutterstock

When his father realised that the child was not learning anything, he admitted Srikanth to a special needs school in Hyderabad. The boy thrived in the compassion he was shown there. He not only learnt to play chess and cricket but excelled in them. He topped his class, even embracing an opportunity to work with late President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam in the Lead India project.
But none of this mattered much because Srikanth was denied admission to the science stream in class XI. He cleared the Andhra Pradesh class X state board exams with over 90 percent marks, but the board said he could only take Arts subjects after that. “Was it because I was born blind? No. I was made blind by the perceptions of the people.” Having been denied the opportunity, Srikanth decided to fight for it. “I sued the government and fought for six months. In the end, I got a government order that said I could take the science subjects but at my ‘own risk’. ”
Thus not ‘risking’ anything to chance, Srikanth did whatever he could to prove them wrong. He got all the textbooks converted to audio books, worked day and night to complete the course and managed to secure 98 percent in the XII board exams.

Fortune favours the brave

Sometimes, life mimics a steeplechase. Especially when it comes to those it has big plans for. It did not give Srikanth enough time to bask in his victory when it threw another spanner in the works. He applied for IIT, BITSPilani, and other top engineering colleges, but did not get a hall ticket. Instead,

“I got a letter saying ‘you are blind, hence you are not allowed to apply for competitive exams.’ If IIT did not want me, I did not want IIT either. How long can you fight?”

He chose his battles carefully and did his homework searching the Internet to find the best engineering programme for someone like himself. He applied to schools in the US and got into the top four – MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon. He went to MIT (with a scholarship) as the first international blind student in the school’s history.
It wasn’t easy adjusting to life there, but by and by he started to do well. Towards the end of his bachelor’s course when the ‘what next’ question came up, it brought him back to where he had started.

“Many questions bothered me. Why should a disabled child be pushed to the back row in the class? Why should the 10 percent of the disabled population of India be left out of the Indian economy? Why can’t they make a living like everyone else with dignity?”

He decided to give up the ‘golden’ opportunity in corporate America and came back to India in search of answers to his questions. He set up a support service platform to rehabilitate, nurture and integrate differently-abled people in society. “We helped about 3000 students in acquiring an education and vocational rehabilitation. But then I thought what about their employment? So I built this company and now employ 150 differently-abled people.”

Good always rebounds

Entrepreneur bravehearts like the warriors of Paulo Coelho always find one unflinching support, an anchor to keep them afloat. In Srikanth’s case, it is his Co-founder Swarnalatha. “She was his special needs teacher in school. She has been his mentor and guide through all these years. She trains all the employees with disabilities at Bollant thereby creating a strong community where they feel valued,” says Ravi, adding, “Srikanth is a true source of my inspiration. He is not only my young friend and protégé but is also my mentor who teaches me daily that anything is possible if you set your mind to it.”
The boy who was born blind is today showing many the path to real happiness. He says his three most important life lessons are:

“Show compassion and make people rich. Include people in your life and remove loneliness, and lastly, do something good; it will come back to you.”

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Inspiring stories of India's top Internet entrepreneurs

Editor-Himansu sekhar samal

 

Image: Kunal Bahl, co-founder and CEO of Snapdeal with Ratan Tata. Photograph: Courtesy, Kunal Bahl/Twitter

Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal
Snapdeal  
Despite having changed their business model nearly half-a-dozen times during the early days, Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal have managed to establish Snapdeal among the top three e-commerce players in India.
In 2014, Snapdeal was valued at over $1.8 billion. According to filings with the Registrar of Companies, Bahl and Bansal own around 8.5 per cent in the e-commerce company, putting their stake at around $145 million.
The single largest shareholder in Snapdeal is SoftBank Group with a 33 per cent stake. Snapdeal has so far raised $1.1 billion from 16 investors. 
Bahl and Bansal have not stopped at creating wealth in their own venture, but have also been active angel investors in Indian startups, having invested in Delhi-based Gigstart.com (a marketplace for entertainers and party planners), apparel start-up Bewakoof, travel community Tripoto and Mumbai-based food ordering app Tiny Owl. 
While in an earlier interview with this newspaper, Bahl had said that most of the wealth for him and his partner will be created by Snapdeal, their decision to mentor and engage with younger entrepreneurs has led to their being described as “brave entrepreneurs”. 

Image: Flipkart founders Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal. Photographs courtesy: Flipkart.

Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal
Flipkart 
In just seven years of starting from scratch, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, co-founders of India’s e-commerce posterboy Flipkart, have outgrown the financial success of several iconic Indian businessmen.
It didn’t take decades for the duo, who are unrelated to each other, to cross a combined net worth of $1 billion, like it had for technology stalwarts like N R Narayana Murthy and Nandan Nilekani, both of Infosys. 
At the time of raising $1-billion last year, the Bansals’ combined stake of around 15 per cent in Flipkart was valued at Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion).
Murthy, along with his family, had a net worth of around Rs 8,500 crore (Rs 85 billion) at the time, while Nilekani and his family’s worth stood at around Rs 6,500 crore (Rs 65 billion). 
The story of how the two men started with just two laptops and grew to its current size is inspirational.
They were not only able to ride India’s robust consumption story, but also earned the investors’ willingness to place their bets on their company. In 2014, this resulted in Flipkart raising close to $2 billion.

Image: Deepinder Goyal, founder of Zomato. Photograph: Courtesy, Zomato .

Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah
Zomato 
They didn’t choose the route of big fund-raising like their Indian peers in the consumer Internet space, but Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah are clearly focused on establishing their seven-year-old company, Zomato, as a global leader in the online restaurant search business.
Currently valued at around $700 million, experts estimate that Zomato is all set to enter the billion-dollar club in 2015, setting the stage for the founding duo’s combined net worth to touch a billion dollars over the next few years. 
The two former Bain & Co executives have taken the Gurgaon-headquartered Zomato, which began in Goyal’s bedroom, to its current status through global acquisitions, buying out companies in the US, Turkey, Italy, New Zealand, Poland, Slovakia and Czech Republic. 
In six funding rounds, Zomato has raised $113.8 million from three investors, most of it coming from online classifieds and e-commerce company Info Edge, with venture capital funds Sequoia Capital and Vy Capital participating in later rounds. 

Image: Actress Gul Panag hands over the keys to an OlaCabs driver, in the presence of the company's co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal. Photograph: Courtesy, Facebook/ Ola .

Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati
Ola 
If sources are to be believed, the valuation of mobile app-based taxi aggregator Ola (formerly OlaCabs) doubled in the first six months of 2014.
That would put the Bengaluru-headquartered company, started by Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay alumni Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, among the fastest growing technology startups in the country. 
While Aggarwal and Bhati have kept a low profile, their venture was in the limelight when it entered the $1-billion valuation club late in 2014, just three years after its inception.
In addition, Ola attracted funding of $210 million from Japan’s richest man, Masayoshi Son, the chairman of telecom and media group SoftBank Corp. Ola has so far raised $276.8 million from nine investors. 
Aggarwal and Bhati, both in their late-20s, have not only created landmarks in terms of valuation, but also set records in terms of growing their business: Ola entered nine new cities in a span of 45 days between October and November last year.
The company now has a presence in over 67 cities, and has an ambitious plan to expand to 100 cities by the end of 2015.
Aggarwal’s dedication towards his idea reflects in the fact that along with his wife, he has pledged never to buy a personal vehicle and always use Ola for transportation.
Besides, they are already known for their philanthrophy.
In 2014, Aggarwal accepted the “ice-bucket challenge” from Vikas Malpani, co-founder of Commonfloor, and Kunal Bahl of Snapdeal, and donated an undisclosed amount to the Akshaya Patra Foundation, which provides mid-day meals to 1.4 million children every day.

 

Naveen Tewari, Mohit Saxena, Abhay Singhal and Amit Gupta
InMobi 
On February 11, InMobi announced that it had become the first mobile advertising company to reach over one billion unique mobile devices.
“To put that in perspective, it is as big as India’s population,” said an excited company spokesperson.
“Or for that matter, remember Facebook has over a billion mobile users on its network.” Working in the enterprise segment, which attracts far lesser attention than consumer Internet companies, the four founders of InMobi — Naveen Tewari (see left), Mohit Saxena, Abhay Singhal, and Amit Gupta — have slowly but steadily built a business that is today a big competitor for Google. 
Often referred to as “the next Infosys”, InMobi was founded in 2007 by the four Indian Institute of Technology alumni.
It is among the top three mobile advertising firms globally and has business across nearly 200 countries, with revenue estimated at $200 million for 2013.
According to sources, InMobi clocked revenue growth of over 40 per cent over the last six months and is currently valued between $2.5 billion and $3.0 billion.
While there is no clarity on the stakes held by the founding quartet, an industry insider says, “SoftBank owns one-third of In-Mobi, but the founders also have a substantial share.”

http://yesstory07.blogspot.in/2016/04/top-5-inspirational-short-stories-by.html#links

1. Everyone Has a Story in Life

A 24 year old boy seeing out from the train’s window shouted…

“Dad, look the trees are going behind!”

Dad smiled and a young couple sitting nearby, looked at the 24 year old’s childish behavior with pity, suddenly he again exclaimed…

“Dad, look the clouds are running with us!”

The couple couldn’t resist and said to the old man…

“Why don’t you take your son to a good doctor?”The old man smiled and said…“I did and we are just coming from the hospital, my son was blind from birth, he just got his eyes today.

Every single person on the planet has a story. Don’t judge people before you truly know them. The truth might surprise you.

2. Shake off Your Problems

A man's favorite donkey falls into a deep precipice; He can't pull it out no matter how hard he tries; He therefore decides to bury it alive.

Soil is poured onto the donkey from above. The donkey feels the load, shakes it off, and steps on it; More soil is poured.

It shakes it off and steps up; The more the load was poured, the higher it rose; By noon, the donkey was grazing in green pastures.

After much shaking off (of problems) And stepping up (learning from them), One will graze in GREEN PASTURES.

3. The Elephant Rope

As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?

Failure is part of learning; we should never give up the struggle in life.

4. Potatoes, Eggs, and Coffee Beans

Once upon a time a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she didn’t know how she was going to make it. She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed.

Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot, and ground coffee beans in the third pot.

He then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter. The daughter, moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing.

After twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl.

He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup. Turning to her he asked. “Daughter, what do you see?”

“Potatoes, eggs, and coffee,” she hastily replied.

“Look closer,” he said, “and touch the potatoes.” She did and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. Its rich aroma brought a smile to her face.

“Father, what does this mean?” she asked.

He then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and coffee beans had each faced the same adversity– the boiling water.

However, each one reacted differently.

The potato went in strong, hard, and unrelenting, but in boiling water, it became soft and weak.

The egg was fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting its liquid interior until it was put in the boiling water. Then the inside of the egg became hard.

However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new.

“Which are you,” he asked his daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean? “

Moral:In life, things happen around us, things happen to us, but the only thing that truly matters is what happens within us.

Which one are you?

5. A Dish of Ice Cream

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10 year old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him.

“How much is an ice cream sundae?”

“50 cents,” replied the waitress.

The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied a number of coins in it.

“How much is a dish of plain ice cream?” he inquired. Some people were now waiting for a table and the waitress was a bit impatient.

“35 cents,” she said brusquely.

The little boy again counted the coins. “I’ll have the plain ice cream,” he said.

The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and departed.

When the waitress came back, she began wiping down the table and then swallowed hard at what she saw.

There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were 15 cents – her tip.