Start-up ecosystem in Goa still evolving: Prashant

D S Prashant has been an entrepreneurship trainer and incubation manager for over fifteen years. He is a member of Goa State Innovation Council and is the Governing Body member of the Indian STEP and Incubators Association. VIKANT SAHAY talked to him to gauge what progress Goa has made with the start-up ecosystem

HERALD: What is the start-up scenario in Goa like?

D S PRASHANT: It is exciting times for start-ups in the country. We have become the second largest start-up nation in the world wherein more than 70 percent of the start-ups are promoted by founders less than 35 years of age. Goa is not an exception. The start-ups are getting the right support and eyeballs. The three key players in the ecosystem, the government, the industry and the media have accepted the role of technology and IP driven enterprises as a game changer for the economic development of the nation. Personally for me it has been a privilege to be part of the start-up fraternity. Goa has some of the most fantastic support system to be offered to start-ups. No doubt you will find start-ups relocating to Goa to start their journey. Goa is also seeing a spike in the new incubators and co-working spaces which augers well for the start-up scene and the ecosystem.

HERALD: Which is the sunrise industry for start-ups?

DSP: The advanced forms of ITES, Artificial Intelligence, IoT products, Automation, Robotics are definitely some of the potential areas. It’s getting a bit congested now but it offers ample opportunities for the talented. Start-ups in the area of clean tech, waste management, energy conservation, water, healthcare and social impact will do well in the near future. Start-ups planning to get into app development and aggregation will find it challenging unless they have disruptive business models. I am seeing a number of aggregators and e-commerce start-ups starting and shutting on a regular basis. Identifying the pain point and building a value proposition around it with an IP is the safest bet for the startup across industries.

HERALD: How easy is it to establish a start-up in Goa?

DSP: ‘Start-up’ is a process of establishing a technology based initiative having a structured business model which can be scaled. What one requires at this stage of the business is an idea, the core team to build on this idea, early adopters who could give a feedback after using the prototype, a sounding board of the right advisors and the development of an astute plan forward. Till this point everything is great in Goa. Beyond this, to raise funds, to build an execution team and to scale is a call made by the founder team. I have had mixed experiences wherein start-ups have shifted their headquarters to Goa and also early stage start-ups have moved to metropolis for scale after starting from Goa. For start-ups a conducive environment plays an important role and we in Goa have the privilege of a number of factors which are conducive for start-ups. 

HERALD: How strong is the ecosystem in Goa?

DSP: The ecosystem is still at an evolving stage. We have had a handful of great stories coming out of Goa but not those unicorns who could make a huge impact in the ecosystem. Building an ecosystem is a long drawn process. The planning has to be fabulous and support has to be sustained over a period of time. The ease of access to resources is one of the important responsibilities of the ecosystem. Routing the demography towards the wanted or expected outcome is the other role of the ecosystem. Goa has evolved the right basket of information providers and resources over a period of time. This has been appreciated by many successful and not very successful startups.  

HERALD: What needs to be done to scale the start-up movement in the State?

DSP: The ecosystem to support the start-ups at the different stages should be strengthened. The first and top tier being the early stage start-ups who have a proof of concept and are looking to scale. This could also be spinoffs from existing industries. The second mid level tier being the start-ups who are at the ideation stage and are experimenting different ways to convert their idea into a start-up. The third and bottom stage includes students at the pre-ideation stage who are not able to conceive that their ideas as solutions to various challenges and issues could become opportunities for innovative business enterprise.

Focus on the three tiers of startups who are playing at the different level is already in place. Various agencies and organizations including government, industry and academia are collaborating on the nuts and bolts to put the pieces together. We should be able to see the activities linked to the three tiers being rolled out very soon.

HERALD: What’s the role of an incubator? Is it necessary for start-ups to go to an incubator?

DSP: It is not mandatory to go through an incubation process if the startup has a great IP based product or service with a demand from the market. They can take help from a mentor and get started with their company.

An incubator offers high class infrastructure coupled with an integrated package of business support services at moderate costs which enables the start-ups to start their venture at comparatively lower initial investment. Incubators also assists the tenant companies by offering critical support service like Intellectual Property registration support, Business training and advisory, Peer learning opportunities so as to minimize the chances of failure and improve survival prospects. Various studies report the survival rate of the incubatees (startups within the incubator) is more than 50% wherein the general success rate of startups is around 10%. In addition the networking support, incubators help the startups to establish credibility and also reduce cycle time to develop marketable products and services. A critical benefit of being in an incubator is the investment made by incubator in their startups for a small stake at an early stage when it is difficult to attract investors.