What Does Startup Mean to You?

As we celebrate the National Startup Day on 16th Jan, Monday, we asked founders from the community about what does startup mean to them, things they wish they knew before starting up and few more questions.

Megha Verma, Founder, Growth Iris

Growth Iris is a digital marketing agency that works with B2B/SaaS companies, helping them with Founders' branding, GTM strategy building, content strategies and lead generation.

What does Startup mean to Megha?

For me, a startup means meeting with the brightest people and pushing boundaries to create something new and exciting. What startups do is take an idea and turn it into a reality, as well as bridge the gap between the problem and its solution.

What's 'Why' of building the venture?

I spent the last 5+ years in the SaaS industry helping multiple SaaS startups. Hence, my “why” remains the same, continue this journey under the name Growth Iris to help most SaaS companies succeed.

Which are the things you wish you knew when you were starting up?

The number of resources that exist today, built by the creator's economy, I wish this existed about ten years ago.

Favourites

Books: The Intelligent Investor, Shoe Dog, Zero to One.
Podcasts: Smart Passive Income, The Mel Robbins Podcast
Movies: The Social Network, The Wolf of Wall street
Founders : Steve Jobs, Pat Flynn, Amy Porterfield
Tech Tools: LinkedIn, Google Doc/sheet, Slack, Asana

Deepak Kumar, Founder, Scrollme.today

I'm building Scrollme.today to Bring everything you create on the internet in one place. All your Facebook and Instagram posts, tweets, YouTube videos, Dribbble shots, Spotify Podcasts, Blogs, and Newsletters.

I'm no longer bootstrapped. I raised pre-seed after 5 years of fighting it alone, haha. I have close to a thousand creators on the waitlist, and those who already use it love it.

It's like a personalized BuzzFeed page that's just about you.

What does Startup mean to Deepak?

It means a lot. It's not just the name of a company; it's where I get to be myself, do what I love, and make the world better for everyone else by doing it.

And it means knowing that no matter how hard things get, or how much money you make/lose/spend on things like rent and food, or whether or not your startup will succeed—and that's OK!—you have to continue to do it.

What's 'Why' of building the venture?

I am an entrepreneur because I think my life's purpose is to create something.

I believe every person has a purpose, and it's to create something—whether it be a business, product, or service that helps another person feel better about themselves.

Which are the things you wish you knew when you were starting up?

I wish I knew that it's not easy like what you see in the movies. I started building start-ups when I was in my early 20's. Pain is easier said than experienced. Time somehow goes really slow when you're going through a difficult time, and the moments to celebrate don't last long.

I wish I knew that starting a new company isn't just about building a product or service, but also about building relationships with people who are going to use it.

I wish I knew that the heart of your company is not the technology behind it, but rather the people who will use it and how they interact with each other.

Favourites

Book: Anything you want by Derek Sivers
Podcast: Lenny's Podcast
Movie: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Founder(s): Steve Jobs, Arvid Kahl, Jason Fried,
Tech Tool/Platform: Of course, the one I built. Besides that, cal.com, beehiiv.com

Udit Goenka, Founder, PitchGround & FirstSales.io

PitchGround.com - Is a SaaS Marketplace helping SaaS companies to reach from 0-5000 users globally without losing equity. While for the small businesses, they can grab software for as low as $49.

Firstsales.io - Is an email outreach tool to fill your pipeline with hot leads. The tool primarily focuses to help SaaS, Agencies and SMBs to grow online.

What does Startup mean to Udit?

Startup is an opportunity to solve problem which has renamed unsolved for many years by experienced folks who wants to move fast while remaining lean.

What's 'Why' of building the venture?

Because my previous startup failed and 92% of the SaaS Companies fail with majority due to lack of sales, so we built a SalesTech company to solve the problem of sales.

Which are the things you wish you knew when you were starting up?

I wish I knew how to build a SaaS better during my early stage, so I wouldn’t have failed with my last venture.

Favorites:

Book - Predictable Revenue & Delivering Happiness
Movie - Wolf of Wall Street

Rutvij Dasadia, Founder, Booz Mobility

Booz Mobility is a transportation technology startup focused on providing mobility solutions for gated premises.

What does Startup mean to Rutvij?

Visualising failures and winnings

What's 'Why' of building the venture?

There is an indefinite course, there is no particular way but I think the goal setting will guide me.

Which are the things you wish you knew when you were starting up?

A bit of Finance

Favourites

Book: YOU by Mishri Parekh, Movie: Super 30, All of Priyadarshan’s comedies
Founders: Travis (Uber), Kavin (Hike), Sridhar (Zoho)
Tech Tool(s): Wix, Github, Human Brain 🧠

Anupama Panchal & Yash Shah , Co-Founders, Clientjoy

Clientjoy helps 4K Agencies and 9K Freelancers from 90+ Countries Grow their Business and Manage their Clients.

What does Startup mean to you?

Its a part of my identity now! It's not Yash Shah; it's Yash from Clientjoy.

What's 'Why' of building the venture?

We ourselves faced this problem for half a decade. After 6 months of looking for the right solution and not finding one, we started building it.

Which are the things you wish you knew when you were starting up?

That it's harder than it seems, that its more addictive than one thinks and that assumptions are the mother of all fuck ups.

Favourites

Book: Hard thing about hard things
Podcast: General - Joe Rogan; Entrepreneurship - The Barber Shop
Movie: The Founder
Founder(s) You Look Up to: Nitin Kamath of Zerodha
Tech Tool/Platform: Notion, Airtable

Utpal Vaishnav, Founder & CEO, Upsquare

Upsquare is a global holding company for independent and integrated tech startups & businesses.

What does Startup mean to Utpal?

An extension of my life.

What's 'Why' of building the venture?

To discover my voice and enable others to find theirs.

Which are the things you wish you knew when you were starting up?

Doing > Planning > Knowing

Favourites

Book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Podcast: Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman
Movie: The Matrix (1999)
Founder(s) You Look Up to: Dhirubhai Ambani, Steve Jobs
Tech Tool/Platform: Tech is a great servant but a terrible master :)

Vikas Mundhra, Co-Founder, MagentaBI

Magenta BI is a One-Click MIS Reporting tool for SMEs by extracting data from Tally, Busy, SAP B1 etc. It helps them with ready insights across Sales, Purchase, Inventory and Payment. We have customers across 15+ industries across India.

What does Startup mean to Vikas?

After 17 years of doing business, we have taken the largest bet of our career. Magenta is the only thing we drink, eat and sleep.

What's 'Why' of building the venture?

It was out own struggle on excel sheet and our observation that SMEs are also not getting ready analytics to grow their business.

Which are the things you wish you knew when you were starting up?

Marketing needs to be started from Day 0. And verification of assumptions by doing iterations and learning from it quickly.

Favourites

Book: Mom's Test
Podcast: How to get rich by Naval
Movie: Lagaan
Founder: Nithin Kamath
Tech Tool/Platform: Community platforms like eChai.

Hunny Bhagchandani, Founder, Torch It

Torch It is a Government of India aided Social Startup working towards the empowerment of the People with Disabilities by developing and partnering for most effective and affordable tech based Assistive solutions which can help them lead more independent and fulfilled lives.

What does Startup mean to Hunny?

In general, It means new innovation, new business model, new energy, bright future, young minds (not about their age), lot n lots of learnings!

For me, Torchit (my startup) is feeling! it gives me a new energy to fight against all odds, it is fun rollercoaster journey.

What's 'Why' of building the venture?

Bringing bright light to the Person with Disabilities lives - I closely faced their struggles, pains; so wanted to build that helps them to improve their lifestyle and find new opportunities.

Which are the things you wish you knew when you were starting up?

For me, how to work with the team, being an early entrepreneur, I used to do all the thing. Work allocation would boost our speed of innovation and business both. Slowly learning!!

Favourites

Book: The Invincible Company
Podcast: Masters of Scale
Movie: Guru
Founder(s) : Prateek Maheshwari
Tech Tool/Platform: Community platforms like eChai, FICCI, CII, Startup Events

Niraj Harlalka, Co-Founder, Eduberance

Eduberance is an online career assistance and learning platform. We assist students from Grades 7th to 12th to explore, realise and achieve their true potential.

What does Startup mean to Niraj?

Startup is an organization that provides value with innovation to a large number of beneficiaries.

What's 'Why' of building the venture?

We have found our IKIGAI and it is in assisting students find their IKIGAI.

Which are the things you wish you knew when you were starting up?

Sometimes it may be difficult to convince kids to take medicines which is good for their own health.

Favourites:

Book: Rich Dad Poor Dad
Podcast: Mckinsey
Movie: 3 Idiots
Founder(s): Steve Jobs, Raveendran Byju
Tech Tool/Platform: Byju, Google Analytics, Medium

Ritwik Joshi, Co-Founder, Botsythesis

Botsynthesis - Technology to automate Virtual Avatar Creation for Metaverse.

What does Startup mean to Ritwik?

My startup means everything to me. It's equivalent to 1000+ sleepless nights, 5000+ coffees, a dozen+ declined job offers, and infinite support from the community.

What's 'Why' of building the venture?

I want to change the world by levaraging the power of Aritificial Intelligence.

Which are the things you wish you knew when you were starting up?

The problem is not what you think it is, the problem is what the customer thinks.

Favourites

Book: Elephants and Cheetahs: The beauty of operations
Podcast: Figuring out with Raj Shamani
Movie: TVF Pitchers
Founder(s) You Look Up to: Nitin Kamath and Kunal Shah
Tech Tool/Platform: IBM Watson

Swati Panjwani & Jitendra Lakhwani, Co-Founders, Matras2Success

Mantras2Success is an End-to-End HR Consulting Firm providing Recruitment / Head Hunting, HR Consulting services across India, the UK, USA & Canada.

What does Startup mean to you?

Our vision is to solve the career-related problems of all working professionals across the globe. So my startup is a means to fulfill that vision.

What's 'Why' of building the venture?

I firmly believe in bootstrapping a business. We are a completely Bootstrapped business. Also, the venture took shape because of my own experiences and the problems that I faced in my own career hence I feel that I am genuinely solving a problem statement.

Which are the things you wish you knew when you were starting up?

I feel I should have been more knowledgable about Financial Management and practical problems of the real world. There is too much difference between theory & practical.

Favourites

Book: Atomic Habits by James Clear, The Power of your subconscious mind by Joseph Murphy
Podcast: Masters of Scale by Reid Hoffman & The Indian Dream Podcast by Sahil Khandwala & Siddarth Betala
Movie: October Sky, The Social Network, Silicon Valley
Founders: Sanjeev Bikchandani - info edge, Ajeet Isaac - Quess Corp
Tech Tool/Platform: Zoho Suite, Hubspot, Calendly, Google Suite, Linkedin

Bhavik Makwana, Founder, ZenDevX

ZenDevX is No-Code Development Platform for Developers to build Web-App without writing a single line of code and finally generate source code.

What does Startup mean to you?

As a Core Developer and passionate Product Designer, I always enjoy being a Startup guy.

What's 'Why' of building the venture?

There is only one process that takes up most of Software Development time, and that's why ZenDevX exists.

Which are the things you wish you knew when you were starting up?

I would have had an easier time if I had followed - Hiring of Second level and Pre-planning of GTM.

Favourites

Book: 48 Laws of Power
Movie: The Entrepreneur

Gaurav Modi, Co-Founder, Braavoking

Braavoking is into Men’s grooming category with the aim of Redefining the Masculinity and curating products with the use of Natural ingredients and convenient to use and care along. We are growing more than 150% month on month since last 4 months and would touch 25 lacs MRR by March’2023.

What does Startup mean to you?

Startup means 24*7 work, building platforms and let everyone to perform because at the end it’s a team that wins.

What's 'Why' of building the venture?

Since childhood love towards Brand was always on top and during MBA got campus placed and started journey with Coca-Cola and decade spent with Coca-Cola, Mondelez, Mattel, Pidilite and Fast&up India.

But during First Lockdown when we got some time to look into and I found that Brand love is there but that love was not for only working for brands but for Building my own brand as well. And then the journey begins.

Which are the things you wish you knew when you were starting up?

Startup is not all about I don’t want anyone on my head so I don’t want to do a job and that’s why I want to start my something own.

Entrepreneurship is solo journey.

Every decision you take can impact many people.

Idea is one thing and remember EXECUTION is the thing which can build a company.

Nobody is your competitor in your early stage, You are the only one who can take this up and down as well.

Favourites