I am glad and fortunate to have worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs and startups over the last 10 years and there has been a lot of learning which I have personally gained based on the experience of witnessing the journey of many entrepreneurs from across India and few outside India as well. These learnings & insights are like tool mantras for founders with a combination of attributes as well as parameters to look at startup success.

1. Intersection with your own self is one of the key elements for a successful & long term entrepreneur journey . It is a journey where a founder has to look at his/her self discovery in terms of inner attributes, likings, deep rooted purpose, aspiration as well as skills and desires. A right intersection between self and entrepreneur path brings a spiritual fulfillment and brings about the element of joy and long term success.

2. Another key element for a founder is to identify the right spot or set the right goal post which he/she wants to chase in terms of solving a right problem or innovating right opportunity or filling up a gap or solving or addressing specific need. This right match has to be inline with the entrepreneur’s self and his interest and ability match as well.

3. The aspect of customer empathy plays a very important role for entrepreneur success. When it comes to defining the right kind of a solution which eventually will get validated and would be commercialized ,the pain of the customer, the feeling and empathetic view from a customer perspective is very important for an entrepreneur to understand. This is almost like living the life of a customer and to imagine the right of a solution which becomes an acceptable solution.

4. The right validation for the startup offering is vital. The right solution given to a right set of customers as part of proof of concept or a testing phase is also important. This is where a customer accepts the solution and is able and is ready to pay for it. So unless it is monetization in a real life environment, the validation is incomplete.

5. The other personal characteristics of an entrepreneur like being mindful of his work and integrity in terms of core values and trust are also critical when it comes to building a team or winning your customers’ confidence as well as having a vision for long which can create a brand for the society. The intention, genuinity and purity of the persona of an entrepreneur do matter.

6. Thinking of making a startup sustainable is also vital for long term success where whatever product or service and entrepreneur is trying to create, it has to be business model where it can be monetized, it can be commercialized and it can also scale up to become a bigger solution where it can impact larger and larger customer base. Sustainability thought from both ecology and economy are important.

Overall it’s the right attributes of an entrepreneur combined with a right spot with a mindful execution. I think this is a success mantra for an entrepreneur .The entrepreneur impacts many customer lives for betterment purposes. There is definitely wealth creation and at the end it has a lot of social impact through creating jobs and bringing economic growth for the nation. The spirit of entrepreneurship, spirit of innovation, the spirit of creation needs to be saluted and respected by society. This spirit is also successful no matter if a specific business wins or loses.

About the author

Mr. Deepak Menaria is Founder & CEO of Lemon Ideas. He is a passionate Creator, Executor and brings along multiple creations. He is the chair- Experiential Learning’s at Lemon School of Entrepreneurship (LSE). He brings rich experience in talent management for DIY approach at Lemon School. His avid
love for experimentation and taking offbeat paths filled with ‘crazy’ ideas has been a visible colour in his self –made professional journey.

Before founding Lemon ideas, he co-founded Lambent Technologies (Now GlobalLogic). GlobalLogic
is a Hitachi company now and one of the biggest product engineering companies in the world. He is
diversely educated in Computer Engineering, Management and Psychology. He learned Creativity &
Innovation from IIM Ahmedabad.

Deepak firmly believes in change as the mother of innovation and is on a mission Innovation by
EveryONE! Deepak has mentored, guided, supported around 100+ startups/ideas and 3000+
individuals as part of his personal interest in youth training and mentorship during 25+ years of rich
experience. He loves Adventures, Driving, Music and Philanthropy.

The post Success Mantra for Startup Founders first appeared on Lemon Ideas.

Post Covid, LSE have relaunched its offline programs. Enrolments are open for our Certificate Program on Entrepreneurial leadership & Idea Validation

 The essence of this program is to assist you to have a holistic view of nuances of Entrepreneurship and learn  “How To Start A Startup”. Before  starting up one requires to understand the process of ideation as  every idea may be good but not suitable for you to take it up as a venture. Failure is another challenge which you must learn to accept. Learn from our mentors How to Face Failures.

This program will provide you with tools to develop an entrepreneurial thought process, innovative mindset and give a new approach of finding opportunity in every problem.

 We have selected few articles and videos from our pool to give some insights of what kind of learnings you are going to get at LSE

Do I require formal training? | Business after Corona | 10 Books for Entrepreneurs

Idea to Reality Workshop | Lemon Alumni Funding stories  | Ideation Workshop

This program has been curated by our mentors based on the learnings developed over past 9 years of interaction with various entrepreneurs , startups ,mentors, ecosystem players, customer feedback , Angle investors, Venture Capitalists etc.  Experiential learning is the USP at Lemon and you would enjoy being part of it. The learning experience gets enhanced in the lap of nature with an outdoor adventure camp as a part of the program. These programs are designed to bring out the best leader in you.

Program Outline

The total duration of the Certificate Program in Entrepreneurial Leadership & Idea Validation Program is 1 month.

• Cohort size would be restricted to max 20 participants
• The Program focuses on different aspects of entrepreneur’s journey (Skill building, Management education, Idea to Reality and Real life experience)
• The Program has a three-dimensional approach: Foundation | Do-it-Yourself (DIY) | Finishing
• Combination of Offline (10 days) and Online Modules ( 8 hours)
• Total duration of the course is 108 Hrs
• Residential training bootcamp at Learning campus at Nagpur, Maharashtra
• Experiential learning on leadership skills at Adventure camp site near Nagpur
• Successful candidates to become eligible for the next phase of the Program (Entrepreneurial Management & Venture Creation) & 3 months of extended incubation and “launch your venture” support by Incubation partner Lemon Ideas.
  
• Participation in future Funding Demo days for two years
• Flexibility to Learn while pursuing other engagements
• Provision of livelihood stipends for full-timers under EiR program

Curriculum

LSE’s Entrepreneurial Leadership & Idea Validation program is comprehensive; combining one-on-one business counseling with group theory & practical sessions. The program starts with self-discovery and ideation. All essential management and entrepreneurship teachings including Idea generation, Idea Funnelling, Introduction to Entrepreneurship, Spirituality, Mindful Entrepreneurship, Self-Awareness, Attributes, Leadership skills for Entrepreneur, Managing Risks, Conflict resolution, Team Dynamics, Outbound learning, Problem-Solution Modelling, 6E Model, etc are well addressed in the course.

The curriculum is based on recognized education principles, effectively linking theory and practice, with inputs from international experts, supported by well-known partner organizations.

Learning Tracks

• Spirituality and Discovery
  Self-Awareness; Self-Learning; Self-Exploration; Creative-Thinking; Understanding Psychological Personality; Idea generation; Sources of ideas Psychological Orientation for entrepreneurship; Integration of self and social conscience; Alignment of self with entrepreneurship journey; Self Development Goals; Mindful Entrepreneurship; Ethics and values; Social impact, SDG’s.
• Core Entrepreneurship
  Introduction to Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurship attributes; Risk-taking; Entrepreneurs Mind set; Idea Selection & Validation; Converting Idea to Reality; 6-E measurement; Business Modeling; Metric analysis and tracking; Design Thinking, Innovation & Blue Ocean strategy; Kick-starting your venture.
• Entrepreneurial Leadership
  Leading an Organization ; Finishing Skill building; Effective Communication (Verbal & Writing); Time Management; Team building; Behavioral Soft skills; Outbound / Life-skills camp etc
• Experience Lab
  Experiential Learning; Real Life Immersion; Assignments; Projects; Startup case studies; Building Professional skills; Entrepreneurship in Residence; Entrepreneurship in Shadow.

Eligibility

Anyone over 14 years of age can enroll into LSE programs; man or woman, looking at domestic or overseas business ventures; rural or urban business; LSE offers programs for each of these. The program has no specific prerequisites for education, degree, experience, or marks.
The selection process is simple. Candidates will be admitted based on a Personal Interview. A reference from somebody in the Lemon Ecosystem would be an added advantage for selection. A certificate will be awarded to entrepreneurs on successful completion of the program.

Mentor

The Mentor, Guest Speakers and Facilitators for the Entrepreneurial Leadership and Idea Validation program would be seasoned entrepreneurs, veteran experts, investors and subject matter specialists from India and international ecosystems like Europe, America, Japan and Africa. The Lemon mentor pool has a rich diversity of individuals from various domains and management functions ensuring right experiential input for various entrepreneurs at LSE.

Admission Process

Please write to us at hello@lemonideas.in | or call us on +91-8407911142 and request for the application form. Submit the application form and candidates will be scheduled for a Personal Interview. Details of which would be communicated separately by the program coordinator.

So, what are you waiting for? Apply now and book your seat for the program and enjoy 10 days of fun filled experiential Bootcamp followed by 20 days of online support for an investment of less than Rs 900 per day. Program commences from 6th Jan 2023

About Lemon Ecosystem

Established in 2013, Lemon Ideas (www.lemonideas.in )is on a mission “Innovation by EveryONE” and is working towards empowering talented individuals to convert their Ideas into Reality (Business Ventures). Evolved as a self-sustaining start-up ecosystem for aspiring entrepreneurs, business owners as well as early-stage start-ups for complete end to end support at various stages of their journey including training, mentoring, ideation, validation, launch, execution, growth as well as fundraising. Innopreneurs Startup Contest (www.innopreneurs.in ) is a highly popular yearly contest hosted by Lemon Ideas. It is much more than a conventional B-plan contest. It is an international level platform that encourages individuals/ students/ professionals to bring ideas, innovations to the platter for others to devour. Lemon School of Entrepreneurship- www.lemon-school.com  (LSE) is a unique, new age Gurukul with a vision to support, mentor, and train budding as well as early-stage entrepreneurs. The pedagogy being learning by Doing, Learn through reflections, and real-life experimentation, LSE believes that creation of work portfolio through experiential learning and pre-incubation training is vital for entrepreneurship. Lemon has touched the lives of 10K entrepreneurs over the years.

Visit us at www.lemonideas.in | www.lemon-school.com | www.innopreneurs.in

The post Boot-Camp on Entrepreneurial Leadership & Idea Validation first appeared on Lemon Ideas.

In 2021, we laded up with the 6th edition of Innopreneurs. Innopreneurs, a platform for start-up founders, entrepreneurs, and aspirants to showcase their ideas in action and reap the benefits of validation, networking, mentoring, and funding opportunities today announced the 10 winners of its 6th edition in presence of Chief Guest, His Excellency Lyonpo Loknath Sharma, Minister of Economic Affairs, Bhutan. ‘Innopreneurs was organized for one year, and it’s our 6th edition of Innopreneurs, we have been able to give a stage to over 350 start-ups and entrepreneurs and conducted over 35+ digital rounds. In this 6th edition, we were able to take Innopreneurs to India and 5 other countries around the world and in the process sign over 150 partners. We had over 1000 start-ups registered and over 5000+ entrepreneurs as an audience,’ said Deepak Menaria, Founder and CEO of Lemon Ideas. His Excellency, Lyonpo Loknath Sharma, Minister of Economic Affairs, Bhutan, ‘I want to convey the greetings of his excellency, the king of Bhutan. We would like to have more interaction and partnerships with the Lemon family. You have created a really good ecosystem; we want a similar ecosystem in Bhutan through you. We need mentors and people to aspire to our young entrepreneurs and I see Lemon playing a pivotal role in doing this. Entrepreneurs have to not only look for money but should focus on inner peace. Skilling is important for us. We want your support in that.’ With over thirty regional rounds in the country itself in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Delhi-NCR, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Assam, and Telangana, etc. Innopreneurs was organized in 5+ countries like in Maldives, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka.

Here giving some words of notable personalities, those are playing pivotal roles to make it happen.

“Good to see one more year of Innopreneurs, now spreading across South East Asia. Good work filtering the top 10, I found it worth my time listening to all of them. I am very impressed with the kind of innovations here. I want to see this forum grow into a community that is engaged continuously and has continued learning,” said Nagaraja Prakasam, Angel Impact Investor & Partner – Acumen Fund.

“I was on the Finale Jury, the ideas I witnessed were amazing they have great potential! What impressed me the most is the variety of ideas; it throws light on the effort that has gone into bringing all these ideas here. Lemon has been a very valuable partner for GIZ. We are coming out with programs to include some of the start-ups in the Indo-German connect program.,” Mr. Shankar Kumar (Special Guest), Technical Expert & Advisor at GIZ added.

Vatsal Kanakiya, 100x venture capital, said “This was a wonderful experience. Very innovative ideas for both local and global contexts. I am blown away by the quality of pitching and teams.”

“Lemon’s ecosystem is nurturing. My biggest takeaway was the collaboration spirit. I enjoyed this journey thoroughly and learned a lot from the start-up community,” said Anil Alex, Sales Leader – India & ANZ at Portescap.

“Exciting to see age is just a number (contestant’s age bracket 15 – 58), it doesn’t affect the depth of work. There were many varied fields, but one thing I found common, is the passion among all of them and resilience to achieve the ideas,” said Dr. Charvi Mehta, Technical Expert at GIZ.

“As a competition that was launched by Lemon Ideas in 2014, the platform has evolved from a conventional B-plan contest to a platform capable of transforming the definition of entrepreneurship as a whole. With various partners ranging from Embassies, Incubators, Ecosystem Organizations, Co-working Spaces, Government Departments, Corporates, etc., this year Innopreneurs was able to bring many voices to the table.

“Grand Finale of Startup contest Innopreneurs 2020 scheduled on February 20. Some key facts about this are below.

1. The sixth edition of the annual event organized by Lemon Ideas had more than 1000 participants from India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Maldives.
2. The program over 6 months witnessed more than 500 startup presentations.
3. Partners for this edition included German federal organisation Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), manufacturer Portescap and Bangalore based analytics startup Discover Dollar (winner of 2 nd edition).
4. Prominent sectors include Healthcare, Environment, Energy, Agriculture, Education, E-Commerce, Social Impact among others.
5. More than 60% of teams in the top 100 have a patent dimension in their story.
6. Top 100 startups to get mentoring, a chance to pitch to investors, participate in experiential learning activities and explore collaborations with other startups.

Nagpur: The sixth edition of the annual startup competition Innopreneurs organized by incubator Lemon Ideas has come to an end after taking both the national and international entrepreneurial landscape by a storm for the past several months. The grand finale of the competition will be held on February 20 in the presence of eminent guests including Shri Lyonpo Loknath Sharma, Minister of Economic Affairs, Bhutan, Mr Burak Buyukdemir, Founder, Startup Istanbul among others. Union Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Shri Mahendra Nath Pandey is expected to join the award ceremony.

Innopreneurs 2020 saw registrations of more than 1000 startups not only from India but also from countries like Maldives, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. They were selected through a rigorous exercise that consisted of more than 50 online selection rounds conducted virtually over a period of six months. The eminent panel of Jury and Keynote speakers as part of the finale includes Dr Nagaraja Prakasam- Impact Investor, Vatsal Kanakiya-CTO, 100X.vc, Chintan Bakshi- Startup Oasis, Hemant Gupta- BSE Sammaan CSR, Prajakt Raut- Applyifi, Raghu Cavle- SVP- Infosys, Shankar Kumar from GIZ and Dheeraj Saxena, of Portescap. Founder of Discover Dollar Subrahmanya Rao –winner of 2015 edition would be prominently present too. We believe in turning challenges into opportunities. We believe Lemon into Lemonade. No wonder that many of the participants this year focused on solving the unique set of problems that the COVID 19 pandemic brought into our world. The digital avatar we had to take this year also gave us the opportunity of going international; said LEMON founder Deepak Menaria. He said there were several groundbreaking ideas presented during the competition that he would like to see turn into successful businesses soon. ‘This time, it’s not just the competition, through the Centurion Startup Stage, Lemon School of
Entrepreneurship (LSE) has conducted 100 hours of pre-finale engagement activities for the top 100 startups as part of the larger objective of the platform,’said Innopreneurs CEO Krishnkant Chaturvedi. The participants had readiness boot camp, guest talks/AMAs (Ask Me Anything), mentoring sessions, experiential collaboration activities, pre-finale pitching rounds, exclusive investment rounds, incubation explorations and corporate collaboration exploration. All these activities happened between January 30 and February 19. The top 500 startups will also have the chance to attend a three months long Master Class conducted by experts from LSE under the leadership of Lt Col Saurabh Shah (Retired) Several partner organizations that helped conduct the regional and international rounds include various embassies, incubators, and prominent colleges, co-working spaces, government departments and corporates. Chief among them were German federal agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), manufacturer of miniature motors Portescap and Bangalore based analytics startup Discover Dollar. Notable guests during the various events at Lemon included Shri Anurag Thakur, member of parliament and Shri Devendra Fadnavis, former chief minister of Maharashtra, Mr Hanmant Gaikwad (Founder – BVG) Mr Anil Joshi, Managing Partner of Unicorn India Ventures, Ms Shanti Mohan, Founder and CEO Lets Venture, More than 100 experts, entrepreneurs participated as Jury during various pitching sessions from 20 cities across India & Abroad. Companies like 100x.vc, Aurum Ventures and NextGen Ventures are the exclusive investment panel while others such as Ah! Ventures, Venture Catalysts, Indian Angel Network, FundVice, Faad Network, Chandigarh Angel Network, VDOSH Capital would join the investment rounds too. We would like to pay a notable mention to our lead partners this year. First, we have

1. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) which is an international organisation created for sustainable development with worldwide operations in various parts of their world. GIZ aims at development through the dissemination of new technologies and innovations to promote and strengthen growth.

2. We have Portescap which is a leading manufacturer of miniature motors for performance-critical applications. Through their various innovations in fields ranging from medical devices to aerospace and defence, Portescap has helped bring versatility to Innopreneurs. Our last lead partner is a familiar organization.

3. Discover Dollar. Discover Dollar helps companies identify and resolve overpayments and leakages by analysing data using AI and technology. Discover Dollar has made a name for itself amongst Indian startups have won various international awards.

Overall, our partners and lead partners have greatly contributed to Innopreneurs and its success. Over the course of Innopreneurs 6th edition, we have had various guests come and go. Our guests have devoted hours and hours to helping our entrepreneurs and our community with advice from lived experiences and have crafted speeches and talks to share with our Lemon community. A few examples of notable guests are Mr Anil Joshi, Managing Partner of Unicorn India Ventures, Ms Shanti Mohan, Founder and CEO LetsVenture, Shri Anurag Thakur, member of parliament and Devendra Fadnavis, former chief minister of Maharashtra and many more! Further, To provide the participants, with the best possible experience, Innopreneurs hand-picks their Jury members to ensure the best quality of the examination for its participants. These members all come from esteemed and established positions in companies all around the world. Some members of our jury have been Mandar Akant, the V.P (Trade Forex) HDFC Bank, Kapil Sharma, the Founder, PADHARO, Aditya Shah from TiE Udaipur and various more. In terms of our investment panels, we have two primary types of investment panels for our participants who make it to the last rounds. First, we have exclusive panels with institutions such as 100x.vc, Aurum Ventures, and NextGen Ventures and various experts all across the country and the USAA. Further, we have our generic investment panel with companies such as Ah! Ventures, Venture Catalysts, Indian Angel Network, FundVice, Faad Network, Chandigarh Angel Network, VDOSH Capital. Another unique element of Innopreneurs, our 6th edition is the Centurion Startup Stage. The Centurion Startup Stage program is a programme being conducted over the next 3 weeks during the pre-finale engagement of Innopreneurs Startup Contest (6th Edition) wherein Top 100 startups from India
and other South Asian countries would have access to the following: Readiness Boot Camp (10 Training Sessions), Guest talks/AMAs (Ask Me Anything), On the 18th of February, we will have our long-awaited finale pitching from our Top 25 startups, along with a Panel Discussion titled ‘Post Covid- What drives Entrepreneurs: Problem or Funding’ and on the 19th we will have a roundtable discussion with CEOs. After our finale, we have the coveted Grand Finale on the 20th of February with the Grand Finale Pitching by Top 10 Startups, addresses from our respected guests and the long-awaited award ceremony for our winners. But, Innopreneurs does not stop there. Our post- Grand Finale events entail Incubation Explorations, Corporate Collaboration Explorations, Investment Explorations and Innopreneurs Committed Value (which comprises various handbooks, workshops and resources which are valued at over a lakh in amount) for our Top 500 Startups. We will also be providing them with access to our 3 Month Master-Class on Entrepreneurship along with showcasing our Top 100 Startups Publication and sharing our ‘Startups Stories’ which will feature blogs and videos from the event. All in all, despite the trying and complicated times that COVID-19 has presented not only to Innopreneurs but all struggling entrepreneurs wishing to make their ideas into a livelihood, We hope that Innopreneurs 6th edition has been able to come through strong and provide numerous individuals with life-changing experiences. From the various boot camps and resources to the networking opportunities and the exposure provided at Innopreneurs, we hope that each participant will walk away from this competition with a valuable lesson and a will to continue to grow their ideas into fruition.

Here are the top 10 publications.

1. HVA Chemical Solution Pvt. Ltd.
2. Solnce Green Energy LLP
3. GoWash
4. BMH TRANSMOTION
5. Chezuba
6. Druksell
7. Supply.mv
8. iAudit (Infilytics Private Limited)
9. Agri Yug
10.Hesa Rural

HVA Chemical Solutions Pvt. Ltd. HVA makes solid-fuel from single-use waste plastics through a patented process. With over 40% more Gross Calorific Value (GCV) than wood and higher burning time, This product can generate energy as much as fuelwood in less than 50% of the time and has a shelf life of 10 years. This fuel burns with high-efficiency and thus converting most of the waste plastics to energy and ash. Test report suggests a low amount of CO2 (80% less than fuelwood) is being released, no heavy metals released and no emission of CO, SO2
and NO2 gases. The manufacturability of our product is highly robust and scalable as the fuel shows a low variation in performance for any plant capacity. HVA Chemical Solution got 1st prize. This shows the role of energy in future. The nation with sustainable energy setups will rule the world. The Kardashev scale is a method of measuring a civilization’s level of technological advancement based on the amount of energy it is able to use. The measure was proposed by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Kardashev in 1964. We are a Type-I civilization. We’re not able to fetch energy even from our own solar system completely. So we can say that energy is the future and Saguna Annamalai proved it again.

By

Vaibhav Singh
Hindu College. University of Delhi
New Delhi – 110007
Phone. +91-9455599489

The post Innopreneurs Startup Contest 6th Edition Grand Finale first appeared on Lemon Ideas.

• Winner: Anbarasan V HVA Chemical Solution Pvt. Ltd. Paramakudi, Tamil Nadu
  Early traction startup making solid-fuel from single-use waste plastics through a novel patented process.
• Runner up: Sonam Chophel, Druksell, Thimphu Bhutan
  Largest online marketplace for authentic Bhutanese products made and grown in Bhutan, where customers from around the world can shop, buy, and get their orders delivered at their doorsteps in their own home country.
• 2nd runner up: Tarwadi Yash AvinashSolnce Green Energy Surat, Gujarat
  A stand-alone and decentralized Solar Thermal Desalination Technology, which can convert seawater into mineralized drinkable. Winner of UNDP’s Innovation 4SDGs Challenge

Special Recognition 

• Vamsi Udayagiri, Hesa Rural/ Last Mile Connect Hyderabad, Telangana
  Hesa connecting Rural India Phygitally through their digital platform and 5000+ village lever Hesaathis. They are brand agnostic and help businesses with an end to end access to rural markets.
• Yashwant Budhwani,  Gowash Nagpur, Maharashtra
  E-Scooter Based Smart Washer which washes cars. 6000+ washes in 8 months
• Deepak Kumar: Agri Yug Kharagpur, West Bengal
  They are making farmer’s lives easier by providing services from soil testing to market linkage affordable and accessible. Currently working with 500+farmers

Rest of the top 10

• Raid Shaaz Waleed Supply.mv Male, Maldives
  Online retail platform, creating virtual transparent relationships between buyers and sellers from different sectors and categories. With 150+ leading supplier and all major brands listed only on their platform.
• Ravindra Dekate, BMH Transmotion Nagpur, Maharashtra
  A foldable & portable storage system for agriculture and horticulture produce such as grain without any fumigation, aims to reduce losses. They have presented their new & unique on multiple international platforms.
• Palak Vasa iAudit, Rajkot, Gujarat
  A web-based application that automates Internal Audit processes and helps organisations manage their risk in an accurate, comprehensive, and time-bound manner.
• Sukhendra Rompally Chezuba Hyderabad, Telangana
  A global online volunteering platform facilitating corporate employees and skilled professionals to assist NGOs through skill-based online volunteering. 5,000+ NGOs from 63 countries, 90,000+ registered online volunteers from 100+ countries

Some special mention categories were:

• Youngest Participant

• • Age 15: Yashonetini, SPOD(SHOES PAINTED ON DEMAND) Nagpur, Maharashtra
  • Age 17: Harsh Jha Thrifty AI  Pune, Maharashtra
  • Age 18:Anish Gurjar Millennial Mentor, Gurugram Haryana
  • Age 18: Arjun Pandey Scout Me, New Delhi

• Veteran Participant:
  
  • Age 58: Shriram Mokhasi POWER FACTOR Bangalore, Karnataka
  • Age 57: Ravindra Dekate BMH Transmotion Nagpur, Maharashtra
  • Age 55: Dr Pradeep Kagane SILAZO Nashik, Maharashtra

Teams from the smallest place:

• Trongsa(Bhutan) 19K population Pema C. Gyaltshen, Kingdom Essences
• Khrew(J&K) 22k Population Tahir Nazir, Functional Chicken Nuggets

Best International teams:

• Raid Shaaz Waleed Supply.my Male, Maldives
• Sonam Chophel Druksell Thimphu Bhutan
• Aditi Goyal Learn Infinity Kathmandu, Nepal

All Woman team:

• GAINALOE.PVT.LTD Vyshnavi Srinivas, Ananthapur, Andhra Pradesh
• BIOZYME- Green Technology Industrial Solution Dr Sarika Gupta Tonk Rajasthan 
• MEDGURU DIGITAL LEARNING LLP Trishala Punjabi Ahmedabad, Gujarat

Special Philanthropy mention:

• NitiBodh, Pulkit Prakash, Niti bodh, New Delhi

Team saying no to funding – Offbeat Startup:

• Harsh Lal, Medicfibers, New Delhi

Most breakthrough innovation with 6 Patents:

• Chirag Jain EndureAir Systems Pvt. Ltd.  Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh

The impact is more important than profits for these 2 startups:

• Raman Backyard creators, Madurai, Tamil Nadu
• Sumanth Mudaliar Oneceptual Ahmedabad, Gujarat

Startups promoting Circular Economy:

• Angraj Swami ecowrap, Jaipur Rajasthan
• Ravi Ravariya rcube, Mumbai, Maharashtra
• Dhanush C Gowda, Newspaperwood, Bangalore, Karnataka

Startups that produce Natural products:

• Sunny Rajopadhyaya Chayu, Bagmati Nepal
• Penjor Dorji, Natural pigment, Thimphu, Bhutan
• Pema C. Gyaltshen Kingdom Essences Trongsa, Bhutan

The post Innopreneurs Awardees, Special recognition’s & mentions first appeared on Lemon Ideas.

As an impactful response to COVID-19, there is a need to scale up and pilot innovative measures for battling COVID-19 pandemic over a shorter term. All this requires innovative ideas and mindset, agility, and innovative ability which can be achieved by harnessing potential startups and entrepreneurs in the country. The broader objective would be to enable people’s lives in the new normal emerging in post COVID era. These solutions would help society and benefit people in their day to day life. Though the proposed duration of the project is 11+ months the Lemon team would accelerate the commercialization of innovation for the larger benefit and bring out the desired outcome in 6 months.

The expected outcome of this project would be commercialization support for selected startups that have very promising potential for scale and impact for people to address challenges because of COVID-19 impact. The outcome would be as per milestones of identifying the pipeline and selecting the most suitable ideas innovations for mentoring, thus leading to commercialization and scaling for 2-3 startups. Here are step-by-step proceedings

1. Identification of 15 startups for Cohort
2. Organized 3 training-mentoring session
3. Development of criterion and submitted to GIZ
4. 1 startup has to choose and recommendation for that to GIZ
5. Carbon Hub Pvt. Ltd. got support from GIZ
6. Further case studies of different startups are still going on

The COVID 19 Cohort consists of 15 Startups. These 15 startups are working towards solutions under the following fronts

• Solutions to sanitize objects (20%)
• Solutions to sanitize people (20%)
• Solutions to make better masks (13%)
• Solutions to bring in anti-Viral coatings and Fabrics (13%)
• Misc. solutions (34%)

to decontaminate the air in closed public spaces brings in more secured travel options etc. The geographic diversity of this Cohort is divided into something like given Maharashtra is for 40% followed by Gujrat, Karnataka and Delhi, each for 13%. Rest Orrisa, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan stand for 7% each. Some of the startups of 15 are totally worth to share.

• Carbon Hubs Pvt. Ltd. They are making air purifiers that can capture microorganisms including COVID 19 virus thus making the air safer to breathe. It has a good application in closed public places like offices, hospitals, malls, etc.
• Upcyclabs Creators Pvt. Ltd. The idea is to sanitize your hands compulsorily whenever you touch the doorknob to open the door
• Trip Mungo. With COVID 19 public travel on holidays has become very restricted. They are providing a caravan-based solution of enjoying travel thus reducing the chances of infection and also enjoying a new perspective of travel on wheels.
• Medicfibers Pvt. Ltd. This team has developed a solution which when coated on fabric makes it microbe-proof for 6 months. This is a very good solution for Hotels, Hospitals, etc. where the fabrics are reused by different people.
• Robosan Solutions LLP. They have developed UVC based sanitization box adorned by a 4500 years old Dhokra inspired handmade art Installation.
• Arista Vault. The team has developed various UVC based Shuddhi boxes to cater for sanitization of Mobiles, Jewelry, Vegetables, etc.
• SaniShooter. This team has developed a unique wrist band based sanitiser spraying device to keep the hands of an individual always safe from the COVID 19 virus.
• COVIPROTECT. The plan is to develop a dosage form of AV that a COVID- 19 positive patients can self-administer, either manually, by autoinjector, or with the help of a nonprofessional individual.
• Silaigram. Silaigram is all about women’s empowerment. They are producing Biodegradable masks that protect the user from the COVID-19 virus. The masks are being made by rural women by using patented technology.
• Nanotekt. They have developed a smart anti-microbial coating that gives protection from various microbes including the COVID virus.
• Three Not Robotics Pvt. Ltd. They are developing a UV cage for sanitization of various items.
• Aparoks Tech Private Limited. The all-women team has developed a non-invasive FIR (Far Infrared) band that uses our body’s IR (Infrared) rays and supplement it to increase immunity, improve healing, and reduce blood pressure. It can act as a boon for COVID patients in increasing their immunity.
• Nirog India Pvt. Ltd. Cloud-based integrated platform hosting a pool of services and technology vendors for the fight against COVID 19.
• Invenzee. It is to cater to the problem of sanitizing, they have designed, developed, and put forth an innovative and patented idea of portable and easy to carry ‘Sanitizer dispenser unit’.
• Co Protect. They have developed a mask based on UVC- technology.

Kick start ceremony took place on 15th December for the COVID 19 Cohort by Lemon Ideas in association with GIZ. The ceremony was attended by all the cohort participants in presence of Mr. Shankar Kumar and Ms. Arushi Tangri from GIZ. Mr. Deepak Menaria, Mr. Mukesh Ashar, Lt. Col. Saurabh Shah (Retd), Mr. Girish Raju, Mr. Ashwin Korde, and Ms. Neha Singhania was also present from Lemon Ideas. The session commenced with a welcome note by the host, Lt Col Saurabh Shah (Retired.), VP, BD and Partnerships with Lemon Ideas where in, he described the objective of this Cohort mentoring program and what outcomes should the cohort focus on by the end of the program. He also introduced GIZ and Lemon Ideas to the cohort members. Followed by the welcome address was short introduction by all the 15 Cohort members about their start-up and their ideas. The session was then addressed by Mr. Deepak Menaria, CEO – Lemon Ideas where he spoke about the inception of an idea of running a COVID 19 Campaign around crowdsourcing ideas by Lemon Ideas from Mar 2020 to Jun 2020. He then gave an insight into how this cohort was conceptualized with the help of GIZ and the way forward for all the Cohort teams. Mr. Shankar Kumar, Advisor GIZ gave an insight into his organization GIZ and various projects they have undertaken in past. He also highlighted the Indo- German Startup exchange program which is slated to happen in Feb 2021 and how the teams from this cohort could leverage the same through Lemon. Mr. Mukesh Ashar, Director – LSE thanked GIZ for always supporting team Lemon in all possible manner and encouraging Startups with their initiatives. Following this, the house was opened for Q&A and the session concluded with the closing remarks by the host. In this cohort session, approximately 100 startups were screened where 15 got selected. Jury fixed a parameter first to get 15 gems. The assessment parameters being assessed by Jury for the final selection were something like this.

1. Clarity of Idea and Problem
2. Stage of Start-up
3. Visible ability, knowledge,skills, and experience of the team in executing the business idea
4. Degree of innovation
5. Evidence of Work visible
6. Quickness for Implementation

All the teams were assessed by a qualified jury consisting of 4-5 jury members. The assessment parameters were ranked on an increasing scale of 1 to 4 i.e. 1 stood for poor and 4 stood for excellent. The scores given by each jury were recorded and then an overall score of the team was arrived at by averaging the scores given by all the jury members. This way this Cohort venture got its shape.

By

Vaibhav Singh
Hindu College. University of Delhi
New Delhi – 110007
Phone. +91-9455599489

The post Covid 19 Cohort first appeared on Lemon Ideas.

Now we are working at 3 verticals.

1. Lemon Ideas(Startup Incubation, Mentoring, Consultancy)
2. Lemon School Of Entrepreneurship(New Age Entrepreneurship Gurukul)
3. Innopreneurs(Nationwide Recognized Competition Platform)

Lemon Ideas is working with a motto that is not going to be distorted in its core. We’re living in the age of startups. Youth that was attracted to job securities earlier, is taking a risk and doing startups. He is thinking about the job of others too. Lemon Ideas is just a helping hand to those helping hands. A strong youth force is a country’s greatest asset. And luckily, India is known to have quite a huge number to leverage it for igniting bright minds and boosting innovation. The concern of unemployment can be tackled if as a nation we start focusing on producing jobs rather than merely applying for jobs. So we need to have jobs and ‘Who will create jobs?’ was a question that we thought about and that needs to be answered. Nothing could be better than our own youth creating jobs for many while they hone up their innovative skills and creativity. The major missing component here to showcase the innovation was the lack of proper guidance and encouragement. So there were a few seeding thoughts that went into a kind of a mixer and the mixing element finally came out as Lemon Ideas. The need of the hour is to channelize the energy of people in a meaningful direction. Carvi ng a path out for innovations out of conventional business models and churning out fresh ideas from young minds were amongst the major challenges that demanded positive reorientation in the ways people are trained or the way they are educated. So, Lemon Ideas came into existence to rethink the solutions to the mentioned challenges. It took its baby steps into the un -seeming world of innovations, training workshops and shaping mere ideas into successful ventures. We constantly strived towards helping people pursue their ideas and innovations. So a year apart, we slowly gained recognition as a start-up and venture space from a pure innovation space. Lemon Ideas is on a mission ‘ Innovation By Everyone’ and is striving towards empowering talented individuals to convert their ideas into reality. In more informal words, we are helping them in their Business Ventures. With hundreds of ventures being incubated-mentored and supported, and thousands of entrepreneurs nurtured and trained, Lemon Ideas has become a known name in the startup and entrepreneurship ecosystem over the years. At Lemon Ideas, we believe and follow a unique pedagogy and experimentation approach for real-life entrepreneurs. Lemon offers acceleration and various mentoring programs for startups and seasoned entrepreneurs with innovation and technology as key drivers. Lemon is on a mission to ignite, nurture and support 10K innovators, entrepreneurs and change-makers in 10 years of contribution with a greater focus on building the ecosystem in tier 2 and 3 cities. As we started in 2013 so our statistical target is completing in 2023. We went for a profit model, where the idea was to make everyone a stakeholder in the complete co-creation effort, trainers & team members were stakeholders in the entire organization and the spirit was clear to co-create it.

Lemon School of Entrepreneurship (LSE) is a unique, new age Gurukul with a vision to support, mentor and train budding as well as early-stage entrepreneurs. The pedagogy being ‘Learning by Doing’, Learn through reflections and real-life experimentation, LSE is neither affiliated to any University / Governing Body nor provides any recognized degree or diploma. We believe that the creation of a work portfolio through experiential learning and pre-incubation training is vital for entrepreneurship. We offer
an entrepreneurship training program and business training workshops. We also work with colleges and universities to build robust ‘Innovation and entrepreneurship’ ecosystem (includes pre-Incubation consulting and experiential workshops). Lemon Gurukul is a social initiative by Lemon where we provide mentoring to budding and needy Entrepreneurs. Lemon conducts the ‘Lemon Gurukul Mentoring Sessions’ with the aim to serve aspiring entrepreneurs and early-stage as well as seasoned start-ups. These sessions are open and free for anybody who wants to take benefit of expertise and support from Lemon mentors. Under this program, we conduct a group mentoring session on a regular basis where budding entrepreneurs can come with their queries and our experienced mentors guide them and help them. Entrepreneurs who are facing challenges, who are confused, want to diversify their existing venture or are on look out to bring on innovation through technology would be benefited through the ‘Gurukul’. Lemon Ideas in association with Vidarbha Industries Association (VIA) conducts ‘Lemon Gurukul Helpdesk’ sessions at the Udyog Bhawan in Nagpur every month where mentoring is provided by the best in the field to needy participants. The entire exercise is free of cost as the aim is to promote entrepreneurship. Financial assistance is extended to needy entrepreneurs, exceptional talent and woman entrepreneurs through Scholarships and grants under Gurukul program at LEMON. This financial assistance is towards training, mentoring, incubation as well as taking care of living expenses for entrepreneurs during their initial struggle period.

Innopreneurs is a platform, where we promote and give recognition to the budding and substantial ideas nationwide. India is a country with a huge number of like-minded people to make a change. India has emerged as one the largest developing economies of the world, still, it lacks somewhere in taking the disruptive ideas or concepts to a colossal extent. To bridge this gap, the need of this hour is to promote and support the start-ups for collaboratively rectifying the issues which hinder them from becoming a giant. The immediate need is to hunt for core problems and hunt for right solutions for better tomorrow. INNOPRENEURS is a yearly startup contest hosted by Lemon Ideas. It is much more than a conventional B-plan contest. It is a national level platform that encourages individuals/students/ professionals to bring ideas, innovations to the platter for others to devour and earn mentoring, funding and network support. Since 2014, Innopreneurs has become a prominent platform for entrepreneurs with over 250 registrations received every year.

Now our global footprints are in 9 countries. South Korea, Dubai, Bangladesh, Maldives, Bhutan, Sri Lanka are some countries showing interest in working with us. Young and budding entrepreneurs from these countries are eager to do something for the nation and for the world as well. We also signed 2 MOUs with universities in Uganda. Krishnakant C, the main face of Innopreneurs, told about pre-finale interventions. It is in 6 steps.

1. Mentoring
2. Training
3. Pitching
4. Investment
5. Incubation
6. Power Talks
7. Experiential Collaboration Activity

Krishnakant told us about the journey of Lemon Ideas with all its verticals and then invited everyone in the panel for talk. Deepak Menaria, the CEO of Lemon Ideas, remembered the journey from 2013. He told that please fall in love with the problem that you’re trying to solve. Ms. Shanti Mohan, the co-founder and CEO of Let’s Venture talked about the journey from startups to Investors. She told us that you are standing up because of your product and not because of your connection to investors, you made. And at the central point, it’s always a team. She also told that the advice you get, when you’re asking for money to invest is very different from the advice when you go for the advice. Dr. Charvi Mehta, technical expert and lead analyst at GIZ told that private players are creating environment shift. We’re living in an era of a cultural shift. The shift is from job to entrepreneurship. Mr. Amit Joshi, the managing director of Unicorn India Ventures told us that there is no age for entrepreneurship. He told us about the cultural shift with a very practical example. He told us that when I was in college, there used to be only cultural programs but now there are a lot of portals for entrepreneurial programs. It’s a key part of the annual function, where CEOs meet students and practice ‘give and take’. He told us that nothing can stop you. Funding is just a mean. The need of the hour is to make the product required, and people will buy it. Mr. Anil Alex, the sales leader at Portescap told that validation of the idea in the marketplace is the must and most important. Testing the idea and launching a prototype can be proved golden-egg in long term. He is observing the pitching round in close and told that well-invested situation is good before asking people to invest in your venture. And in the end passion and resilience and the tools that keep kicking the idea into reality. This is how the 6th edition of Centurion Startup Stage got kick-started in a formal way.

By
Vaibhav Singh
Hindu College. University of Delhi
New Delhi – 110007
Phone. +91-9455599489

The post Centurion Startup Stage first appeared on Lemon Ideas.

As a kind gesture, Deepak Menaria sir invited participants to put their thought on this. Rishikesh told us that there must be an intersection work culture but individualism is also important at the same time So that everyone can come up with basic core ideas and values at the table. Varshith added that at least a couple of people in the organization should match our wavelength. It makes things easy to execute. Diversity makes more exposure. Jahnvi advocated diversity. She added that different perspectives provide more opportunities to grab. Murlidhar G is working in a rural area for child and youth empowerment. He told that alignment is important. Shreyas told that he will prefer the people of different skills for his team. He advocated the acknowledgement of little things for a healthy team. Aanchal wants positive and inspiring feedback from teammates. Mayuri wants her teammates to be loyal and truthful. Deepak Sir told that it’s moreover to the entrepreneur that how to change the potential in kinetic energy. But the key is to recruit the right person. It’s the entrepreneur, who can ignite them with his vision.

Deepak Sir moved forward for another and respectively more important dimension of team. The Co-Founder. He told the co-founder as his partner. Just like the husband and wife for the life of the organization. Co-founder is the partner-in-crime. ‘Doobenge Toh Dono. Tarenge Toh Dono.’ Dikki told that finding the co-founder is the recognition of our own weaknesses and searching for the complimentary elements for that. And in startups, motivation and thriving part can be and should be more important than that of the monetary part. Shreyas comically told that relationship with the co-founder is like a long term relationship so we should aware of the background of the person in the chair. Shubh thinks that college is the best place to find a co-founder. Wrong or unfit co-founder for the firm can create a mess in our life, beyond the firm. And fit co-founder reduces our baggage. College is the most fertile land for this. We have plenty of time to find like-minded and resonant people. Shubh told Lemon Ideas the first platform to date with co-founders and to ideas. Deepak sir told colleges a talent farm. A continuous and resonant relation for the entrepreneur to the college is essential. Entrepreneurs should have engaged with college students in the form of internships and projects and so on.

The issue is that many entrepreneurs think that by focusing on a few sections like operations and executions they can take it easy on the rest. However, recent events have shown that the relentless pressure of market forces makes the organization susceptible to breakdown and hit the organization the most where it is weakest. If we are not ready at every link, someone will break the setup. The aviation industry is a perfect example of this. Airlines are thinking that lowering fares and removing full-service options would be translated into higher volumes and increased profits. What they did not reckon with, was the fact that the business landscape in which the airlines operate has changed revolutionary and sometimes brutally with higher fuel costs, operational expenses and the general decline in passengers because of the recession. This meant that despite concentrating on one aspect of the business that they thought was on strong ground, they ignored the weak points in their business models. Here we needed the team that can roam everywhere. One weak point in the whole setup, one ignored mechanism in a setup can shatter the castle, that was built in decades. Here comes the role of the Human Resource Department. This is why I strongly believe that right recruitment is the best asset a company or organization can have.

It’s quite natural that the first thing the leadership team needs to do is find the right people to bring along for the ride. Technology is important, but we need the right people in the right place to make that technology work and support your rapid growth. Often when a company is growing quickly the instinct is to hurry up and get bodies in the door. We shouldn’t let this be our downfall. Having the right team with us during pivotal points of growth is actually the most important factor in our success. When we are looking for new talents and for the right people to the right place, somethings are desperately and brutally needed.

1. Time-management for basic things
2. Holding on to our work culture
3. Incubating Diversity
4. Getting some utility players

‘I don’t have time to interview or to train people.’ This sentence, we can easily hear from our supervisor or from managers. We all know managers are busy and there are lots of things pulling them in different directions. But sometimes we have to go slow down to go faster. This is applicable in many areas but hiring is one of them. We need to take the time to get the right people at the door and to train the best for the company to run faster.

We all know who we are and what our organization stands for. What our employees are like, and what it takes to get the job done in our organization. There are going to be many resumes of highly qualified candidates that pass across our desk, but not all of those people will fit our work culture. I have worked with incredibly talented people that I simply would not bring into a specific company because I know they wouldn’t fit the particular work culture. The worst thing a manager or entrepreneur can do to his amazing organization is, hurry up and just get people in the door when even his gut knows they are not the right fit. In this matter, I must say, our CEO Deepak Menaria sir is a rights fit. He tested the applicants in so many rounds then asked for the work samples as well. This Phenomenon is very common in corporates. Sometimes, a supervisor puts so much of effort and visions on a specific employee and still, things don’t work. This implies that flaw in recruitment.

Diversity matters a lot. A Harvard Business Review Article states ‘A 2015 McKinsey report on 366 public companies found that those in the top quartile for ethnic and racial diversity in management were 35% more likely to have financial returns above their industry mean, and those in the top quartile for gender diversity were 15% more likely to have returns above the industry mean.’ From a business perspective and study after study has proven that diverse teams are more productive and more profitable, exactly what we need in a company experiencing rapid growth. If that’s not enough to convince us, there are an increasing number of studies showing that candidates are looking for diversity when searching for a job or taking admission in B-schools. This is the reason IIMs make sure the diversity on campus. It’s not a thing to just happen but to maintain. HR should ensure there is a diverse pool of candidates for every working position and across the organization, the company should look at every form of diversity i.e. experience level, gender, race, age and environment.

Let’s move from the worst thing an entrepreneur can do to the best thing he can do when hiring for a fast-growing organization. Getting some utility players. In baseball, a utility player is defined as someone who can competently play several positions on the field. These are the people who can wear many hats, and fill multiple roles at one time or at overtimes. Former Indian cricketer Robin Singh made his debut for India back in the year 1989 but played just 2 ODI matches. After a gap of 7 years, he returned to the team and did not take too long to cement his position in the Indian team thanks to his all-round skills. In a career which consisted of 136 ODIs and a solitary Test, Singh came to be known as one of the best fielders in the team. As a left-handed batsman, Robin Singh scored more than 2000 ODI runs at an average of just under 26 and grabbed 69 wickets. Among his most memorable performances was an 82 against Pakistan at Dhaka during the final of a triangular series which helped India chase down a then-record 315. With the ball, he famously picked up a 5-wicket haul against Sri Lanka in the 1999 World Cup. Robin is the best utility player example for Team India as per I recall. Despite being such a useful contributor for Team India in the late 1990s, Robin Singh is hardly remembered for anything apart from his fielding.

When a startup is just starting out, it is brutally crucial to have people like this in our staff to fill multiple roles that will evolve in ways we cannot predict. These team members will give us flexibility as we grow, and it gives them the ability to grow in different ways for their own professional development. It’s a win-win situation.

By

Vaibhav Singh
Hindu College. University of Delhi
New Delhi – 110007
Phone. +91-9455599489

The post Lemon Gupshup : Finding the Right Team first appeared on Lemon Ideas.

There was a total of 13 participants. In the style of Deepak Sir, Deepak sir talked about the city and weather of everyone. He also talked about the crunch of Samosas and then about charred Coffee. First, Deepak sir invited Suhasini madam. She is a scientist and she shared a very practical experience to others. She was talking about the biotechnological boom in the industrial ecosystem. So validation of idea is getting essential day by day. One step without proper planning can push a startup into a wall. After that Diki Sir, the tech assistant of Lemon Ideas shared his thought about the startup. He told about his Travel Startup and problems and opportunities he sees in this industry. After these two thoughts, Deepak Menaria Sir came with a basic and important question. What is Idea?! And he also added the answer that the fundamental of the idea always makes love with the problems and needs. Humans are always sleepy without any problem or need. If they need something or they need to solve any problem then they will start thinking and executing that. Srinivas Sir, a senior fellow of us talked about the revenue aspects of the Idea. Sometimes, without a proper validation, Idea creates a lot hurdles for entrepreneurs.

Deepak Sir made it simple. Grahak Hi Bhagwan Hai. ( Customer is God ). His validation is the must. We all think that our idea is best but sometimes it lands up to bankruptcy. So we have to put all this on customers. His validation is everything and after all, at the end of the day, he is the person who is giving money for the idea. Shreyas told the importance of presentation. He told that packing and presentation of the product is a key part of the startups. Without beautiful packing, the product can be under-rated. Deepak Sir added some points in Shreyas. He enlightened us with his experience that packing and presentation are good but the quality of the product cannot be saturated with any other tantrums. Quality is everything. If quality is the soul then packings and presentations can only stand for fluctuating minds. Vaibhav told about discussing seniors. Discussing seniors and discussing to the incubating schools like ‘LSE’ can be proved beneficial for the startups because there is no option of experience. Nothing can displace it. Abhishek, who is also a hip-hop dancer, shared an interesting story with us. He used to work in a cellphone shop earlier. He told us about selling psychology. If we pick a phone and start praising that then customers with understanding in-promp that seller is fooling him. He will understand the seller have got the task from a particular company. Instead of this, if a customer is entering in the kiosk, then the seller should identify the problem of customer first. What exactly he wants from the phone. Sometimes, its battery durability, sometimes its pixel. Same the mechanism works in validation of the idea.

Although there are multiple different ways to validate an idea, the overall the validation process is quite simple and straightforward: In an early stage, we want to focus on validating our assumptions to make sure the most critical ones for our business are true. For example, we might want to validate our target market and its potential to see if our idea is valuable and appeals to the market we’ve defined. If, however, our assumptions regarding our market and idea are valid, we can start testing our product to learn how all of the elements work in reality.

• Define A Goal
•  Develop a hypothesis
•  Experiment
•  Validate

 
Although each idea is different and all of that cannot be validated with any specific and fix method, but there are some strategies that can be useful for any of the startup because the industry is always the same in somewhere its core.

• Keep the validation process simple
• Involve the right target audience
• Always be systematic
• Learn from others mistakes
• Do not be optimistic bias
• Be ruthless critical in ideas
• Do not be emotional with a certain mechanism

 
As a concluding word, Deepak Sir told us that don’t stick your product on customers. It’s a flop in long run. Chipkana Nahee Hai. We have to understand the need of the customer. We have to be them. We have to have empathy in our hearts for them. This is the way of proper validation. Dhirubhai Ambani took the validation of Chips in his village first. Sir also quoted the revolutionary dialogue of one of the all-time famous Indian movie DDLJ. ‘Someone somewhere is made for you.’ This same law of universe works in this mechanism. We just need to identify that algorithm.

Basically, validation of idea is done to minimize the risk of implementing ideas no one wants or isn’t willing to pay for. The purpose of validation is to make sure our product or business idea has potential and the most critical assumptions regarding our idea are valid. The point is to find the fastest and cheapest way to test our assumptions so that we can decide whether we’re going to proceed with the idea or pivot. What makes validation difficult is that often our assumptions are different from the real challenges. The whole world cannot think in the same way. This validation is actually, how we know about the algorithm of this world. Because there are numbers of different aspects we can validate, the ability to identify the most significant ones requires a systematic approach.

By

VAIBHAV SINGH
Hindu College. University of Delhi
New Delhi – 110007

The post Lemon Gupshup: Validation of a Startup Idea first appeared on Lemon Ideas.

It was a task for us. The basic idea was to use any sort of idea, and gain money with a maximum seed investment of rs.1500  within next 24hrs. So me and my team mates discussed our ideas overnight and we came up with 24 different ideas and after filtering out we finalized one idea which was to provide website service to all the local stores. Our idea was to sell our talent to the local stores and give them a rich personal feel by providing them websites created in free domain along with a personal article from the owner himself/herself so that their customers would feel connected to the owner while they were looking for a particular store category in the local area, which was technically our USP.

So next day in the morning we set out to sell our product to the nearby stores. The initial store owners welcomed us very well, they asked us about what we were doing and why we were doing it. But as the conversations moved forward, we began to realise that the service we were trying to sell them was not actually needed by them. Then after asking about 30 odd stores we realized that none was interested in buying our service even for free. Then we decided to change the approach. So we went to local wholesale markets to try and understand their needs and see if we could provide them our service, but the result there was same as before. We needed to change our service model else no one was going to buy. So we gave our best to itterate and sell our product and said “Even if are not able to sell our product in one day and earn money we will still take some learnings with us by understanding the needs of those local stores and wholsalers”. And with this approach we kept on going till the evening.

The next day we had reflections with Deepak sir. When we did the analysis of all the things that we did during the past 24hrs, we realized what things went wrong, how we failed to emphasize our customers, how easily we could have done the other things from the list instead of sticking  to the same idea. We understood the importance of priority while executing our task in hand without deviating from the main goal. It might have been a failure for us in terms of task, but it was the best learning for us as a team.

Mr. Akshay Gaud

LSE 2018

The post Money Quest first appeared on Lemon Ideas.

Check out this infographic of our impact in the startup ecosystem of central India.

At Lemon Ideas we believe in celebrating small milestones by the act of togetherness and little pampering ourselves with internal events for the incubated startups. This year we had a spectacular Diwali Milan with brilliant performances by the team. A Christmas celebration full of shenanigans. Birthday parties cum cake fights. We made some really good memories.

Now what’s coming next is 2018. The 1^st of January, a date which holds up the significance of the new beginnings, fresh starts, and a few promises of self-development and change. So all we want to say is sit back take a deep breath and give your mind the last flow of thoughts and make some kickass plans and get to the hustle from tomorrow first thing. Wishing you a very happy new year and all the best for the future.

The post The grass is going to be greener tomorrow! first appeared on Lemon Ideas.