Key takeaways from Startup Saturday Pune March 8th 2014 | Womenpreneurs!

It was yet another wonderful Saturday. The theme of the day being ‘Womenterprenuer’. The venue’s distance could do little to hamper the spirit of these women+startup enthusiasts.

That the audience comprised of a number of aspiring entrepreneurs was no surprise, knowing the concept of SSPUNE and the typical statistics of its audience pattern. The session started off with the usual ice breaking intro session.

Here is a quick round up of the sessions:

SPEAKER #1 – Mrs. Anju Bansal, Founder of GEMpro

Mrs. Anju started her entrepreneur journey in Agra with Shoe lays and Buttons shop. Soon it got scaled up to 2 story building with 50 workers. It went on successfully till 20 years. The next venture started GEMpro in 2007. Started with no knowledge of accounting and costing..Gradually learnt every skill and Excellence made magic. Now team of 20 people doing business at best…Truly age is just a number..Mrs. Anju Bansal proved it strongly.

Here are a few highlights from the talk:

1. “Take the first step…Everything else will fall in place”
2. Get funding from personal relationship
3. Have belief in your goals and have clarity
4. Faith and patience will definitely pay off
5. Have strong belief in your business idea and product
6. Consumption Vs Contribution : Whatever we consume we should contribute back
7. Convert problems into challenges…Your life will be Zingalala..

 SPEAKER #2 – Mrs. Pooja Kumar, Founder and CEO of SME Networks Pvt. Ltd.

CA graduate started career journey with ICICI..Her last job was Vice President for SME groups of the bank. Started SME Networks Pvt LTD from home in 2010…with college interns. Now team of 20 spread across Gurgaon, Pune, Kolkata cities.  SMEJOINUP India’s largest services network of 30000+ businesses, is an eco-system with a goal to enable and equip small businesses to avail critical services under one platform.

She also started V-Garage forum, a startup echo system. It helps early startups in strategy, technology, marketing, branding and funding.

Here are a few highlights from the talk:

1. Startup needs patience, persistent and Consistency
2. Get access to mentors. And get help
3. Used linked-in for getting better access to mentors
4. Attend more and more conferences and networking events. Founder should not spend much time in office premises.
5. Email communication should be great
6. Use social media for marketing. Blogging will also help
7. Manage with your own funding. Don’t show desperateness on funding while communicating with investors.

SPEAKER #3 – Mrs. Pranjal Gundesha, Founder of IntelligentPlus

We love listening to stories, don’t we? Mrs. Pranjal started his speech with a story of Ramu..explained how we carry baggage’s(limiting beliefs) from our childhood! This was followed by an inspirational talk on how she made journey with IntelligentPlus.. rise to success. Started the company 2 years ago. Currently 6 members team ..in 3 centers.

Here are a few highlights from the talk:

1. Use social media for marketing. It really works
2. Use Whatsapp..if you can
3. Have strong self-belief

That was followed by a lightning pitch by Shravani Vatti of ardizen.com.  Shravani’s vision is to make unique, meaningful, memorable and usable Paintings that the receiver would value &appreciate for a long time. Good luck Shravani!

The networking session that ensued was a brilliant one, with the 30 + audience getting to know each other and making the professional connections.

By Pavan Kumar Kakunoori

Headstarter, Pune.