The April 12th Startup Saturday in Navi Mumbai was meant to be a hard-core session on starting up and it was just that! The focus was on Business Planning, Managing Cashflows and being aware of the legalities of starting up. Each speaker was extremely knowledgeable, well established in their domain and very open to the audience, making the session a truly enlightening one. Some quick takeaways for those who missed it!
Mr Sudhir Patel, Co-founder at NurtureTrek highlighted the need for cash flow management with examples of how many large and small firms have failed due to this one factor. He focussed on “Ctrl-C” i.e Credit Control, Cash Discounts, Cost Control, Cibil(Credit) Scores, Compliance Payments, Capital Structure etc. He felt a 13-week cash flow projection was mandatory to managing an entity well and taught how to build, review and maintain it. He reminded the start-ups that Growth sucks up cash and they would do well to keep their eyes on the cash flow of their business.
Ms. Sharanya Ranga, Partner at Universal Legal, who took the stage next covered the entire spectrum of legal concerns that start-ups have starting with entity formation, IP protection, Contracts and even Fund raising. She reviewed the various possible entities, their pros and cons, and how to choose the appropriate one for a business. She listed the various compliances required by a firm under Contract Law, Labour Law and Taxation laws. We received some clarity on the differences between IPs, copyrights, trademarks etc. And finally the important clauses to be kept in mind while entering an agreements especially an investor.
The Lighting Pitch followed this – where Mr. Rakesh Galav from I-infinity.net spoke to us. I-infinity is an Indo-Taiwanese business providing means to centrally control multiple digital display units. Installing an i-infinity unit allows the user to control display units at any location, upload new content centrally and use split screen functionality. The market for the same was discussed with retail and banking seeming to be the focus areas.
Mr Ujwal Langde, partner at E A Patil & Associates conducted a very interesting session on Business Planning. He took us through the Top-down and Bottom-up approach to business planning, capital management and the various parameters that PEs look at while investing (and we would be wise to do likewise). He also shared a wonderful excel explaining the way the Chinese manufacturers using their costing information to price their products. He again emphasises the need for cash flow management and how to build scenarios and use them as inputs in sales negotiations.
The session ended with participants feeling a lot more comfortable with legal and financial concepts and knowledge of how to apply them to their own businesses. Each one had some valuable take-aways and what made it even more special for the Headstart team was all the speaker belonged to Navi Mumbai too!
Each month, Startup Saturday covers a different topic which is of relevance to Startups. In future, we plan to organise workshops to bring together the vibrant entrepreneurial community in Navi Mumbai. Know more about about Startup Saturday Navi Mumbai on Facebook @ Headstart Navi Mumbai and Twitter @ssnavimumbai.
By
Lakshmi, Parteez.com
Headstart Volunteer @ SSNAVI