Unconventional Startups- What and How!

Innovative business models are changing the world as we know it. Airbnb is the biggest accommodation provider worldwide wide without owning a single room, Uber is the biggest cab company without owning a single cab and Alibaba is the biggest retailer with no stock at all. All of them have come up with new business models to deliver, create and capture value and many others to follow.

Headstart Network Delhi, with its Startup Saturday initiative, organized an event for November 2018 edition, by bringing experts to share their idiosyncratic perspective regarding the opportunities and challenges in the Unconventional space. Our speakers brought their diverse range of experiences to the table and everybody had something unique to offer for others.

Unconventional Startup: Cashify

The event commenced with our first speaker Mr Nakul Kumar, co-founder and COO of Cashify, an online platform that provides customers with the best price for their old/used gadgets. He pragmatically mentioned the real-life realities of the startup culture and the hardcore struggle for the aspiring entrepreneurs for unconventional startups. He also focussed on the importance of market knowledge before setting up an unusual idea.

“Keep evolving and don’t worry about the failure, every failure has the potential to keep you moving and achieving,” his mantra was clear. He also talked about the idea behind Cashify, which went on the ground after so many failed startups. He narrated the journey of his company from the beginning until the first taste of success and how the team pivoted from the selling company to the buying company.

Cashify is now an e-commerce website to sell used laptops, mobile phones, TV, gaming consoles, iMac, and. Its mission is to transform the way people sell their old gadgets online. The platform helps to unlock the highest price for the old gadget with the least amount of effort. Through the localized network of professional buyers across the country, the company makes sure users are able to sell their old or used gadgets in the fastest and convenient possible way at the same time undergoing the finest customer experience.

Cashify’s model is beneficial for the people who don’t want to spend on the released price of the utility product at an initial stage. Through a platform, these users at least can get the second-hand product and experience the service and features on a much affordable rate.

Unconventional Startup: MOBYCY

Our next speaker Mr Akash Gupta, founder and CEO of MOBYCY, India’s 1st dockless bicycle sharing app. He started his speech with a lot of enthusiasm about an entrepreneur’s journey of leaps and bounds. He focused on the first few crucial steps for an entrepreneur to be and advised not to take them lightly. The initial phase comes up with a lot of networking and unwraps plethora of learning during the process. He said, “without direction, life goes on and probably people may not be happy in doing so. So, it’s important to have some administration in the startup culture by conversing with the right industry people”

He also elaborated the concept of mobility and the venture Mobycy.
Relaying on the due diligence and the right fit of the product factor as per the market scenario in the Indian Culture. Talking about his venture, he says primary research and supplementary knowledge played a key role in the idea at Mobycy and helped him to leap out in the market.

Akash also emphasized the role of the right team. He says, sometimes outsourcing is better than having a bunch of people usually not required at the beginning.

To bring the disruption in the market which is still developing is a great idea but disruption also needs the right knowledge and people to support it. Mobycy has brought the transition in the old mentality by launching quick short commute, supporting green tech, anti-pollution structure, with fitness mantra which is reducing the big hassle of traffic.

Lightning Pitch:  Panaesha Capital Pte. LTD.

Afterwards, Headstart Delhi provided an amazing opportunity to put forward an exhilarating pitch to one of the blockchain startups. Panaesha Capital is a Singapore based Fintech startup team of expert professionals that was formed in mid-2017. It has offices in almost 7 countries and is already expanding to another 20 countries including Europe and the Asia Pacific. Panaesha Capital seeks to release a line of products that will expand the boundaries of investment possibilities and will encourage regulators to recognize blockchain tools like the new reality and the promising future of traditional financial markets.’

The Unconventional Panel Discussion

The event ensued much more excitement during a  panel discussion. The panel consisted of our keynote speaker Mr Akshay Verma, Mr Mudit Vijayvergiya and Mr Utkarsh Kawatra.

The key takeaways from this discussion are as follows:

  • Sometimes apart from an idea, the strong conviction is very important.
  • Convincing people with right product approach plays a crucial role to sort the customers and the investor simultaneously.
  • Creating community and the database in return that we get plays an important role to make the users understand the product and use it.
  • Right database plays a credible role (instead of random).

About Headstart:

Since our inception in 2007, we have built a grassroots level ecosystem in 23 Indian cities and organised over 1000 startup events focused on networking, mentoring, hiring and fundraising. Our work has played a role in getting over 10,000 new ventures off the ground. Some of the young startups that made their early stage demos on our platform are now unicorns. Cumulatively all these companies have created over 20 Lakh jobs and added over 148,000 Crores to the Indian economy. You’d be surprised to know, Headstart is almost entirely run by passionate volunteers. We have a bold vision for India, and as empowered citizens we do whatever little we can do, to further it.

Also visit our social media page for future events: http://headstart.in/chapter/delhi

Check out photos of the event on our facebook page.

Contributed by Madhu Bansal
Volunteer- Headstart Delhi