Goa is buzzing with activity on the of start-up front. In the past two years, the State has seen three major start-up competitions which have attracted participants from age 20 to 52.
Be it the Kaun Banega Udyogpati (KBU) or the two successive Chief Minister’s Start-Up Competitions, the enthusiasm among entrepreneurs has been phenomenal.
However, the issue now is whether all these start-ups, prize winners or otherwise have scaled up? This is a question which the entire State is looking forward to know. In fact, out of the total 220 start-ups, which numbered in early 2016, very few have had the courage and grit to sustain themselves. Seed money, financial support is found to be the biggest hurdle which leads to frustration and ultimately forces them to close down.
Despite having brilliant ideas and good execution on the ground, the initial hand holding, financial support which is required from the government and other agencies is still at large. Expectations are high that the new Start-Up Policy of the government will address these issues. In fact, as of now, majority of the start-ups are dependent on prize money to help them scale up as banks are ‘unwilling’ to take the risk of lending to a company which may not be able to show growth in monetary terms.
Some positive thinking has made young start-ups tough enough to sustain themselves. Winner of the recent CM’s Start-Up Competition, Farheen Sayed of Brushflicks says, “Vision is not directed and does not follow money. I have met many people who want to build great businesses. But the problem is their primary motive is to make money. In my experience and that of countless people, this does not work. Yes, money is important but your business has to have purpose first. You need to answer why it exists. What problem is it solving? Are you passionate about what you do? From where you stand where do you see it going? Vision gets you up in the morning even if there is no customer. Money will follow.”
A new era for entrepreneurs and start-ups has begun in Goa. These competitions are a great way for helping future potential entrepreneurs in creating technologies and business models with a high growth potential.
“The event initiated by Goa government is a great way for Goan start-ups to come into limelight. Under the Start-Up India banner which is going viral nationwide, such events can help start-ups from Goa to get recognised at the national level too. The prize money won from competitions can be put to use effectively while scaling up,” said the Director of Androcid, Prajyot Mainkar.
Many start-ups believe that such competitions help them look into other areas like PR work, marketing etc. “We are technical people and we do not have skills in marketing, sales and PR work. We are very much focused in technology. But when it comes to participating in competitions, we also have in mind the angle of investors and venture capitalists sitting in the crowd and hence we build on those areas too,” said Director of Intellis, Amit Tamba.
He added that, “We do need funds and with exposure in competition we also get an opportunity to meet with venture capitalists. In fact in such contest it is them who come to us rather than us going to them.”
All these start-ups, whether winners or otherwise now have an eye on the new Start-Up Policy which is on the anvil.
