A detailed roundup of Feb Startup Saturday, Mumbai Edition

Following the tradition of motivating entrepreneurial zeal across this nation, HeadStart hosted the monthly Startup Saturday this month on 13^th Feb. The event was attended by 75 people who came from various domains, regions and backgrounds to brain storm in yet another superb confluence that we had.

The event started with a lecture delivered by Mr. Mahesh Shetty the Founder of MT Educare. He shared his insights about entrepreneurship and the specific opportunities available in the education sector in India. He discussed how he understood the domain he was about to progress in and how he started Mahesh Tutorial in 1988 with three of his colleagues. MT Educare today has flourished into the largest private classes across the nation and beyond. Mr. Mahesh also shared some special nuggets that would free up any ones entrepreneurial mind from doubts about himself, his industry or competitors. He said the most important aspect to win in education or any other any sector is the way you approach the problem. We will definitely share all the insights that Mr. Mahesh shared with us in a detailed post and/or video later, but a very specific thought is worth a mention. When Mr. Mahesh started Mahesh Tutorials and decided to increase his team, he was called upon by his mentor. He advised him that he is simply making a mistake by compiling a team of faculties, who will later become his competitors by opening their own classes once they know the nitty gritties of the business. To this Mr. Mahesh replied that he is not creating competitors, rather by empowering his team what he sees is 3 new branches of Mahesh Tutorials in near future which will be executed by these three team mates. What happened next is history. Even today the same principles guide his organization of empowered employees called MT Educare!

Next we had a bunch of what we call as “Lightening Pitches”, where upcoming startups showcase their ideology and work that they are doing. This segment is very interesting as it has multiple advantages. The audiences get to know how people are cracking new opportunities across various domains and the difficulties that they overcome, at the same time the entrepreneurs get a host of ideas and advice from the audience, as to how to take things forward. It’s a great Brain Storming platform which attracts every startup who attends the event.

In the Lightening pitches segment we had very good amount of diversity. We had a social entrepreneur Akshay from Ads4Good who presented a medium where website owners and bloggers can help uplift the society by providing an ad space on their websites. What was also interesting was that his client is free to choose the area in which he wants this revenue to be utilized. Next we had Anubhuti from DewInk.com a startup which helps develop a child’s brain with stories that they connect with. After that we had Simi and her team from Meter Down the country’s first Auto-Rickshaw magazine. They discussed how they plan to make revenue while keeping us entertained while we are jammed in the Mumbai Traffic.

Next we had team from Deltecs who showcased their product Drona which is a Mobile Application Authoring tool. It helps organizations create short courses that employees can complete right on their mobiles while they are on the go! We even had friends from i-become.org who discussed how they are trying to bridge the gap between companies and students from various education institutes. The audience too provided great inputs to this team.

Finally an interesting part of the meet was the Open House. Recently added to our agenda, an open house is where everyone gets a chance to discuss and clarify their views on a particular theme. The theme this time was HR and personnel issues that the startup has to face. Where can they get good team members, how can they manage them and experiences by different startups were discussed. If you weren’t there, you seriously missed first hand insights from entrepreneurs themselves!

We ended up with our networking phase. Interacted with new faces, and tried to understand new things. All in all it was a very satisfying event to say the least and personally, I definitely look forward to attending the next Mumbai Startup Saturday event. Up until that time, keep buzzing the Entrepreneurial Spirits!

PS – Just missed one important announcement. On March 12th We will be having the bi-annual HeadStart event along with ITsAP in Hyderabad. It will be a great opportunity if you have a budding startup and a smart place to network. Looking forward to meet all of you there. For details log on to http://conf.headstart.in (If you are a startup, nominate your co now!)

About the Author – Himanshu Chanda is a business blogger and a regular visitor at the Head Start Saturdays. He shares his business insights on BizDharma.com and tweets @himanshuchanda