The story of THE START-UP

Having heard a lot about the start-ups, their successes and failures, makes me wonder if we know what a startup is, in real terms? Is start up another name for a normal business? If not so, what differentiates a start-up from an ordinary business?
In simple terms, a start-up is a business establishment with high growth especially disrupting the existing market and having low bootstrapping costs, higher risk and potential (return on investment) as its basics. A start-up ceases to be called so once it attains the stage of profitability or when it is publicly traded in IPO or when it ceases to exist as an independent entity by merger or acquisition.

When did we start using this word “start-up”?
It all started in 1957 in the silicon valley when a dispute arouses between the employees and one of the founders of Shockley semiconductor. The disputed employees departed and formed their own semi-conductor which eventually gained a formidable presence in the sector calling it a start-up. Thus, the founders, one by one, started to leave the company to form their own, finally resulting in a start-up avalanche. This single company gave rise to 65 new companies in a matter of 20 years.

We hear that start-ups either make huge profits in no time or experience an all-time failure. How does this happen?
The success rate in start-ups is very high due to the available resources like immediate funding from the venture capitalists, angel investors etc, government schemes, low investment, casual work environment (focus on work than on the environment), good research etc. Failure of start-ups depend on many reasons like raising too much money too soon, lack of motivation, commitment, focus and passion, Lack of knowledge and good mentorship, an outdated product in the market, lack of funds, to be outcompeted, poor marketing, bad product, bad location, legal hurdles etc.

Technology, the main start-up stream? A boon or bane?
More than 75% of the start-ups in the USA market are intellectual properties. They do not have material possessions but an idea, which would eventually worth millions of dollars. This idea should be protected as it is the biggest asset. This results in the failure of many start-ups as they are tech-based and not product based.

Do you know how the start-ups first emerged in India?
Since the kanishkan era, the Indians involved actively in the trading and business. But the lack of political support, unfavourable laws, rigid policies, lack of research institutions etc over the decades hindered the practice of trade and business in our country. Long after that, Rajiv Gandhi in 1980s liberalised the computer industry followed by NASSCOM in 1988. NASSCOM report of 2017 shows that India has produced more than 5,000 tech start-ups. Most of the successful start-ups aim for healthcare, education inclusion, financial inclusion, clean energy and agriculture. India is now the 3rd largest start-up hub.

Some interesting facts?
* Total tech start-ups will go up to 11,500 by 2020
* 43% of Indian start-ups are tech based
* Dotcom(www) was first introduced in India in 1995
* The biggest ventures took place in 2007-08 like Flipkart, Zomato, Quikr which are now the prime players in the market.
* The first domain in India is rediff.com by Ajit Balakrishnan
* In 1997, ICICI became the first bank to offer internet banking services.

Are you not interested in knowing how our government supports the blooming of start-ups?
1. NASSCOM- National Association of Software and Services Companies aids 10000 start-ups by 2023 in funding, acceleration, enterprise connect and Mentoring.
2. Start-up India scheme- Self and easy certification, Tax exemption for 3 consecutive years for the capital gains and investments, easy winding up of the company in 90 days under insolvency and bankruptcy code, Fast track patent application and IPR protection with 80% rebate etc

So finally, after acquiring so much of the information about the start-up evolution, how to go about pitching your own idea and analysing the success rate?
It will take a minimum of 4 years to analyse the success rate of your idea.  1st year is all about excitement and winning. 2nd year slowly gets you into the realisation mode. The money, debts, work etc seems to be real and practical. This is a stage where you utilise your resources with everything. 3rd year will be about validation of your idea. As a fact, you cannot get a runaway success at this stage. It is the bitter truth. If the company is moderately running without losses, then profit is another couple year away. It is at this stage you decide to go further or bail on the idea. Believe in yourself honestly. 4th year and beyond is when the magic happens. Yayyyyyyyy!!!!