KOCHI: Hundreds of young entrepreneurs received loads of expert tips on how to turn their start-up ventures into success stories at the IEDC Summit 2017 organised by the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) at Angamaly on Saturday.
In his lecture on the title of his book Failing to Succeed, The Story of India’s first e-commerce Company, Vaitheeswaran K., who co-founded the country’s first e-commerce firm, said all start-ups had to go on an uphill journey, and that it was imperative to learn from failures.
“Ninety-nine per cent of start-ups fail. Identifying problems and finding solutions should be the aim of any start-up. An entrepreneur should always look out for nuances,” he suggested.
Advising aspiring entrepreneurs to focus on problem-solving at every stage of the venture, start-up founders said youngsters should not feel constrained by the products or resources and, instead, focus on overcoming failures.
A nonfactor
Varun Chandran, who owns Corporate 360, said it was a misconception that business happened only in IT parks.
“Place is a nonfactor as far as the success of your company is concerned, and that is the biggest opportunity for all aspiring start-up founders,” he said at a panel discussion on ‘Identify the problem, explore the opportunity, build your enterprise / start-up’ organised as part of the event.
John Kuriakose, founder of DentCare Dental Labs, pointed out that passion was the sole ingredient needed for creating a success story. Deepu S. Nath, managing director of Faya, said Artificial Intelligence (AI) had opened up a world of exciting opportunities to young entrepreneurs.
Tech for future
“AI is making many things possible, which were considered impossible five years ago. It is the technology of the future, and youngsters should tap its immense possibilities to create wonders,” he said.
James Joseph of Jackfruit 365 and Chaipaani founder Shruti Chaturvedi also shared their success stories. Representatives of around 200 Innovation Entrepreneurship Development Centres (IEDCs) functioning at engineering, technical, management, and arts and science colleges attended.
More than 50 prototypes and products were displayed on the occasion.