‘No rocket science’

HYDERABAD: The best way to learn how to run a startup is to run a startup, says Hyderabad’s maverick entrepreneur Arshh Azad. As part of a creator accelerator programme, he is creating an entrepreneurship series with no gyaan or lectures. In a first-of-its-kind project, the city will be home to the world’s first ‘crowd-founded’ startup that will have hundreds of co-founders. He speaks to CE about the idea, execution, challenges, some FAQs and more!

The internet is flooded with courses on how to become an entrepreneur, and how to be successful at it. However, having the experience of taking such courses and then founding his startup, Arshh realised that these courses don’t even come close to reality. “The best way to learn how to run a startup — is to run one and learn from it. Entrepreneurs are not born or made, they just happen; they are just people who can take the risk to start. So, when I was selected to be a part of LinkedIn’s creator accelerator programme, I wanted to use the platform and opportunity to launch this programme,” he shares.

Explaining what the crowd-founded startup is, he says, “Crowd-founded is a learning programme for all aspiring entrepreneurs to become a co-founder or rather crowd-founder in my upcoming startup. They will be involved in every step of the business, from coming up with a name to deciding all vital strategies. Everything will be recorded for everyone else to watch too. So, think of it like a reality show, which is actually real. Every week, towards the start, I will post a video as part of the Road To Startup series. As part of this series, I will focus on the theoretical aspect of learning, where I will talk about an aspect of a startup — one will also learn the basics of every skill needed to be an entrepreneur — from design and tools to excel and project management and reporting.”

Towards the end of the week, Arshh will define the problem statement and people can use the teachings from the Road to Startup series to come up with a good idea for the mentioned problem statement. Everyone will then vote on the best solution and move to the next step. “All of the crowd-founders will come together to make decisions, even on hiring, funding strategies, etc. This will be the first-ever truly democratic private-run startup,” he adds, excitedly.

Most people today, especially youngsters, wish to startup; however, the fear of the unknown is too big to take the first step. “This is an opportunity for such people, who have been wanting to ‘startup’ but never could. At the end of the programme, the participants would be able to understand if entrepreneurship is for them or not and would be surprised to know that it doesn’t take all that much to be an entrepreneur, as long as they have the passion. Upon discovering that entrepreneurship isn’t rocket science, they will be able to take it up full-time and launch their own startup,” he tells CE.

The idea seems to have struck a chord with aspiring entrepreneurs — so far, Arshh has received 100 registrations on the website and the number is only growing by the day. VThe plus of being a part of this programme Arshh says, will be that people will not just know the big learnings, but will also learn from the most minute learnings like, how to handle rebel employees, the design mistakes, etc. “More entrepreneurs is the solution to the problem of rising unemployment rates. This may not just lead to self-employment but also contribute to the number of jobs available,” he signs off. 

 FAQs:
Does one need any qualifications?
No. They could be as young as 13 to be a part of this.
Is there a certification?
Yes, people get an internship/project certification at the end of the programme for participation.
Do you need to pay anything to be a part of this programme?
Nope. Not a single penny.
Will I get paid for being a part of it?
No, this is a learning programme where people gather for combined learning.
Will I get a stock?
The top 5 participants will get a chance to own a small equity in the company, which will be decided at the end-day valuation of the company.