BW 40 Under 40: Entrepreneurs Discuss Their Success Stories

In the BW 40 under 40 achiever summit in Gurugram on the 27th of September, entrepreneurs continued with their success stories. In the series of success mantra to the august gathering of stakeholders from various sections of society, many success stories have come across the audience.

Zeeshan Hayat, founder and CEO, Toppr shared about his role which comprises of various activities that took Toppr to height.

Zeeshan feels that he still has a long way to go before he can say that he has “made it big”. That said, building a company is a huge challenge. He was incredibly happy when Toppr celebrated five years. It was a difficult journey, especially when 90 per cent of startups either shut shop or deviate from their core mission within five years.

Nitin Saluja, founder of Chayos had his own story to share. 

First, it is the only chai café chain that offers total customisation of Chai in over 12,000 combinations. Second, the ability to serve its customers on occasions when they are unable to come to Chaayos café via ‘Chai on demand’ that is Chai delivery service. Chaayos delivers piping hot chai in innovatively designed disposable Kettles that keeps chai hot for up to 90 minutes. Third, Chaayos’ commitment to serve a consistent cup of custom-made chai every single time led Chaayos to develop a chai robot, called the Chai Monk. Monk uses the same ingredients and imitates the same process that is today used to brew chai at Chaayos.

The other thought of success came from Abhishek Bansal, co-founder and CEO of shadowfox. Abhishek has his own ideas and journey to share.

Abhishek, who believes in generating opportunities rather than creating ‘jobs’, has, through his enterprise, already started giving back to the society by generating self-driven employment opportunities for thousands of freelancers working on the Shadowfax platform. He aims to create, through his venture, a million micro-entrepreneurs in India who are able to make a comfortable living by partnering with Shadowfax.

Abhijeet Kumar, co-founding partner of ah! Ventures has done his own part. Apart from relying on successful people to participate in his ventures, he is having his different ideas of success.

Abhijeet says that the right time for approaching an investor is when you need money for expansion. Funding should be ideally raised only to expand the business, not for supporting current operations cost. He would like to invest in a company, where the focus is on robust product development with strong processes and customer service in long run. He believes that Business Model, Team and Traction are the three major points which determine the future of a startup.

While Zacharia, the co-founder and CEO of wooplr mentions that his company is among one of the largest employment generators in the country, the doubling of the company every 3-4 months makes him more optimistic about the future. He strongly believes that in the next 5 years, this number (probably employment generation) would be 1 Million and thus they will impact the country, unlike any other company. He states that the key to growth is being close to the stakeholders of your business, listening to them and understanding their needs and keep building your business accordingly.

Gupta, Managing Director of zirca digital solutions believes that the increase in internet penetration, as well as constant evolution in digital devices, has pushed the digital advertising industry to evolve at an exponential rate. “The digital advertising industry is one of the most rapidly evolving industries due to the very fact that it uses the internet as a medium and digital devices as the destination”.
 
Biyani, Co-founder and CEO of Hector Beverages says that, "With growing aspiration and consumer awareness I see a seminal shift in buying behaviour. E-commerce and modern trade channels are proving to disrupt distribution moat created by incumbent companies. A relevant brand can aspire a much faster adoption today than it could ever before".
 
Nibhrant shah, CEO of Ishprava represents that the luxury real estate sector has been trying to stay true to the values and goals since its inception. Shah believes that it was the laying down of core values and philosophies as the foundation of the company that helped the company grow and evolve in the right way. Furthermore, Shah adds that understanding the real estate market and being aware of how they are disrupting the status quo helps them in their growth.
 
Pandey, Founder and CEO of Parentune, seems optimistic and envisages his firm as a Globally Leading Technology company founded in India, supporting 500mn+ parents around the World by 2023. “We would be among the Top Impact firms globally and would be one of the most valued Changemakers.”
 
Rohit MA, Co-founder and MD of Cloudnine works with the core values of clinical excellence and vigilance of clinical outcome. He added, “We have had the opportunity to also collaborate with many state governments to make a positive impact through training and skill development and it remains an ongoing effort as we now look to establish capable clinical centers through partnerships with local governments and organizations.”

This makes an inspirational journey of disruption that these entrepreneurs have made into the society.