An argument we always hear from those against the idea is that most traits required in an entrepreneur, like passion and determination, can not be taught. Nobody else can teach a person how he can become a visionary. And, they are right. How can such abstract qualities as outside the box thinking, a fire in the belly or a hunger for success be artificially infused in anyone’s personality?

Now, the thing is people naturally having these qualities may lack some others. Good financial planning or resource management, for instance. Sometimes, it may be just the lack of experience that may be undermining an otherwise talented individual to float their own venture. This brings us back to our original question, is there a need for entrepreneurs to undergo any kind of training?

So here’s our answer: If it was not, there wouldn’t be such a big number of MBA institutions across the country. Besides, most of these institutions teach management in a particular area like HR or finance whereas an entrepreneur needs to be well versed with all aspects of running an enterprise.

Entrepreneurship is all about execution more than just imagination. This makes it highly experiential and thus it needs to be learned through experience and not just ‘Gyan’ session inside the classroom. There is no rocket science in management and true for entrepreneurship as well but what matters is picking up learnings from others & past , thus moving fast. Training & Mentoring based on experience of others makes it wiser for newbie entrepreneurs to seek forward to.

Let’s make new mistakes while we learn from others mistakes and make a smart move in highly competitive landscape of business world.

So, the answer is simple, yes there is a need to give entrepreneurship-specific training, even to Indian kids. In fact, that is the very reason and mission with which we launched Lemon School of Entrepreneurship.

— Deepak Menaria , Founder & Chief idea Farmer- LEMON

The post Is there a need for training entrepreneurs? first appeared on Lemon Ideas.

Other than the qualities of the founders, one thing that sets any venture apart is their inspiration or motive for starting up. Today, we decided to categorize entrepreneurs based on the reason they start-up. Let’s have a look at them.

The serial entrepreneur
This maverick entrepreneur has multiple ideas, and works on all of them one after the other. He is also a very good executor of all the ideas he has. He has a proven track record of success, and getting his ideas funded is no big deal for him. This one doesn’t believe in sticking with stop at or stick to one idea but keeps moving on to the next after ensuring the success of the previous one.

The technocrat
Often a nerd himself, this entrepreneur is engaged in a tech-based service or an app that solves a persistent problem. His aim is to digitize certain tasks or areas of life to make things easier for his consumer. This category also includes many emerging fields like gaming, virtual reality and artificial intelligence that are garnering more attention every passing day.

The disrupter
This entrepreneur has a knack for coming up with path-breaking solution to existing problems. This solution disrupts the existing market, either by changing the dynamics of the industry or creating an entirely new category of product or service. His ideas make him a trailblazer of sorts within his industry or segment. Change and disruption are key motivations for this person.

The crusader
This is on a mission to make the world a better place, and bases his start-up idea on achieving this goal as well. In fact, the company is an extension of his larger purpose whether it is for the good of people or the environment. In some cases, it may be a second or parallel career for this entrepreneur who is completely dedicated to the cause he believes in. Empathy with the cause often means that the crusader will stay with the company for its entirety, or till the necessary goal is accomplished.

The copycat
A booming pool of entrepreneurs believe in improving an idea introduced by the disrupter. In many cases, the copycat is able to provide better services than his predecessor. Though he does not have the first mover advantage, he makes up for it with a better sense of market needs, technology, service or marketing.

The unicorn chaser
They are called unicorn start-ups for a reason – there are only so many of them. Yet, this guy is chasing the dream of establishing the next unicorn start-up. For this, he thinks up idea after idea to lead him to the fairy tale ending he seeks.

The big-exit seeker
As the name suggests, this entrepreneur is only seeking an idea that can earn him big bucks through a buyout. He is different from the unicorn chaser in that he is not seeking a billion dollars. Any satisfactorily huge value will do it for him.

The wantepreneur
His reason for getting into entrepreneurship is, “Everybody’s doing it!”. He is that cousin who wants to try out everything just because. He sets up a venture without much expectation or thought put into it.

Whatever the reason for you to venture into entrepreneurship, make sure you know it and work towards that end. In case you need any help with the strategies or planning, you can always get it from our experts at Lemon School of Entrepreneurship.

— Deepak Menaria , Founder & Chief idea Farmer- LEMON

The post What’s your Entrepreneur Type? first appeared on Lemon Ideas.

For every successful start-up, there are 9 others that have failed. There is a reason for this. There are some very common mistakes that cause a start-up to fail. Let’s discuss some of them.

No market for the product/service
Multiple surveys have shown that the most common reason for the failure of start-ups is that their product or service doesn’t really solve an existing problem. Often, founders are so confident about their ideas being revolutionary that they the all-important step of testing the market. Not including the most important component of success, consumer opinion, has led many a start-ups on a path of doom.

Missing Customer Empathy
One thing which matters significantly for entrepreneurs is the understanding of their customers along with the problem/Gap/need that is being addressed by the entrepreneur. A natural tendency among us to jump t solutions and execution makes a shortcut where customer empathy and problem validations takes back seat. This is where the belief becomes blind belief for many entrepreneurs.

Inability to manage funds well
Most entrepreneurs put a lot of stress on getting their idea funded. However, once they have access to the required capital, they don’t use this resource optimally. In most cases, the reason is the founders are specialised in fields like engineering, sales or marketing. Finance is not their strong suite. Despite this, they refuse to take hired help citing cost cutting.

Improper team selection
A company is as good as the people working for it. Many first-time entrepreneurs don’t put enough time and effort into ensuring the right people manning the right positions. It doesn’t just involve getting people who believe in your cause on board, but having people with the right expertise in the team.

Leadership problems
This also includes the founder’s own ability as a leader. The important thing is to delegate the responsibilities to people qualified for the job description. If you are more of an ideator and less of a people’s person, let someone else handle the employees. Perform a SWOT analysis on yourself like you would on any other employee and come up with an honest assessment of yourself. Delegate the jobs you can’t handle to those who can do them well.

Better competitors come along
However revolutionary or disruptive an idea may be, once is in front of the world its very easy to copy. This best of start-ups will give rise to a bunch of copycats. Sometimes, these copied versions can solve the problem so well that the first-mover advantage no longer holds any water for the original company. This can be avoided by ensuring that the company doesn’t become complacent after the first taste of success. There must be continuous market research to know the feedback of the consumers and improvement in the product or service based on it.

Now that you know the common mistakes that lead start-ups to failure, we hope you can steer clear of them. We at Lemon firmly believe that #AnyoneCanStart and what matters is learning from past and others to move fast in a smart way. For any more help you can always depend on our expert mentors at Lemon School of Entrepreneurship.

The post Reasons for the failure of start-ups first appeared on Lemon Ideas.

One sector that has consistently been imbibing these qualities in youngsters is the defence sector. As a bonus, defence personnel are always attuned to thinking about the greater good and solving problems – another important attribute of a good entrepreneur.

More than 10,000 defence personnel seek to retire from their respective force every year. All of them are fit, with the physical and mental acumen that would allow them to take active part in social life. However, many of them find it very difficult to adjust to civilian life, especially in terms of what they do in the post-service years.

Due to the training they receive and qualities they develop over the years, former defence personnel can make excellent entrepreneurs. However, there is still a need for them to take up a few lessons, a kind of reorientation, to help them with the nitty gritties of the entrepreneurial life.

In US, which has one the largest militaries of all countries, more than 49% of veterans from World War II became entrepreneurs after leaving the service, according to a study by Syracuse University. The trend continues well into the present day, with ‘vetrepreneurs’ are working in every capacity in the start-up world, from running incubators to being venture capitalists themselves, even as the government and private parties work towards empowering the former military personnel.

Additionally upon retirement , Defence personnels gets good money as part of various benefits which could become seed money for their venture journey. Also they get regular pension and other life long benefits which certainly take care of their livelihood , hence the risk is not that as high as in other cases. They are most fit to start their journey as entrepreneurs.

Since during service tenure , Defence personnel spend time away from their hometown , it gives a good opportunity for them to identify right need/problem/gap in form of business/social opportunity in their hometown and become local entrepreneurs at grassroot. This also adds to the nation’s benefit of solving core problems of people as well as creating employment avenues for rural and remote places.

We believe that Indian defence personnel can also emulate this model, with a little help and training. It is this belief in our defence personnel that makes Lemon School of Entrepreneurship come up with a special training programme aimed at the ex-servicemen. A well structured and quick course, it aims to equip them with nuances of business and help them pick the right business idea and start their next big career leap.

The post Entrepreneurship, a great option for defence personnel in their second innings first appeared on Lemon Ideas.