Tips for Brainstorming Startup Ideas
This is the first article from the list of interviews I am conducting with budding entrepreneurs in India. The purpose is to bring them into light as well as share their learning and findings which may help others who aim to start their own business.
This interview was conducted with Mr. Vikas Kumar, Technical Head and Head of Innovation Department in Velocity Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (www.velsof.com). I have tried to provide you the story in words of Mr. Kumar.
We started our first B2C (business-to-consumer) business with the name Plan My Training (www.planmytraining.com) some 4 months back. This was the first such project thought of at Velocity. Before this, Velocity has been mainly focusing on outsourced work and services in various technologies. Starting Velocity was not as difficult as Plan My Training. Till now we had no exposure to B2C business, but our core team always believed that there is a BIG potential in B2C Business. So the market research started.
The idea: For any business its the most important ingredient. If its right you may succeed, but its wrong, your failure is certain.
Basically, brainstorming startups ideas are the first step towards establishing a company.
It was all Googling and Excelling (MS Excel), and charting to find the market and idea's potential, and finalizing major competitors at various stages. We research for relevant businesses, their business model and markets they are working in. We studied business like there Training Classes (www.training-classes.com ), Higher Studies Abroad (www.higherstudyabroad.org ), Study Places (www.studyplaces.com), Swift Brains (www.swiftbrains.com) and many more. (Since we were looking for an idea in Education Sector most of the businesses we tracked were from this area only).
We analyzed that there is a gap in the Training market, we have tried to fill that gap with Plan My Training.
Since we put everything on paper we could analyze all risks and failures and were prepared. I know entrepreneurial hunch, its good, but at the same time risky too. Calculated risk only pays, else its better to play on slot machines than starting a company.
Assumption is the mother of all screw ups. You cannot know everything about everything, so some assumption would certainly be there, but it is necessary to be well-prepared for the future. It will become easier if you refer to some good case studies because it will give you a clearer and process lined picture of the business.
Continued on the next page
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