The event that kick-started my entrepreneurial journey
And then it was time for me to go up the stage to speak! With every forward step, my heart was beating a little faster and my thoughts were going wilder. The last time I was on the stage was in my eighth standard to recite the morning news in the assembly which didn’t go very well. In front of an audience which varied from teenagers to 50-year olds, I, as a 19-year-old stood and tried speaking, but my voice wasn’t coming out of my vocal cords. After a moment of silence within, I tried a little harder and started off with shaky legs and jumbled words.
Well, are you wondering, what stage I am talking about and how I reached there? Let me take you along, as I will tell you a little about the backstory.
How did it start?
It’s June of 2014 and I am back at home in Guwahati for 3 months long summer break after completing my first year of college (Yes! We used to have 3 long months of break). The entrepreneurial wave had struck India, and there were stories of funding everywhere. I along with a couple of friends were looking to start a company to help the early staged founders, though we had never done a startup earlier (the irony?). While discussing this idea in-depth with a few others in a cafe, a random person walked towards us and introduced himself as Hamad, a founder of a media company and a student of IIM Shillong. He was interested to join the conversation as he overheard and observed us discussing entrepreneurship.
So along with him, over the next hour, we discussed the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India and decided to conduct our own event to kick start the ecosystem in Guwahati. Therein, a question arose – I had only a week before my college resume in Jodhpur. Would it be possible to conduct one? However, we jumped to execution on the condition that if we get the money to organise this in the next 3 days, we’ll go ahead else we’ll drop the idea. The doubts in our head
- Who would give us the money?
- Where would we conduct the event?
- Who would take the workshop?
- How would we attract people?
Getting the money
Hamad in the initial discussions mentioned about a government body that ran entrepreneurial events in Assam called BYST. So, the next day I along with Sunit (my co-organiser and friend since primary school) headed to their office. Without a meeting set-up and barely any preparation we knocked on their door.
Our IIT tag helped us get a 5-minute meeting with the head. He asked us to come up with a plan, a poster and a budget to be considered. Within a couple of hours, we came back with a plan on how to get an audience of fifty, how and who will conduct the workshop, a poster and a budget of 25 thousand rupees, that’s how motivated and excited we were. That was more than the average audience they get in their events and the budget was ridiculously low for them (it seemed like). Without much persuasion, they agreed to fund us.
The venue
Given that we were going forward with a very limited budget, we couldn’t have a fancy venue. We reached out to different coaching institutes, hotels and cafes. This is how we met Dinesh from Edugenie, who ended up hosting the event at the end. Anyways, back to the point, we did not like any of the places we were seeing and without a fixed location, we couldn’t start marketing and printing posters. We were scratching our heads in confusion. Suddenly, received a call from our family friend who agreed to give us a place in their hotel for a throw-away price.
Getting people
To ensure we have at least 50 people attending the event, we printed posters and put them in the middle of the street, inside the cafes, colleges and wherever we could. We also created a Facebook page and started promoting there. It was 30hrs to the event and we had merely 15 registrations that too from friends and family. As a last push, we started randomly going to coaching centres to give a quick pitch after the teacher left the class. We reached out to different college student bodies, our friends’ friends, and doing everything to promote it on social media.
With about 18 hours to the event, all of a sudden our phones started to ring non stop. Miracle? In a couple of hours, we had 40 paid registrations and approximately 15 who wanted to pay at the venue. We still do not know which medium worked, something just worked.
Final preparations
We wanted to be “professional”, so we made conference kits (also added a chocolate in there) for everyone with Let’s Startup branding. We invited speakers, printed banners, and finalised the event schedule. Moreover, we also convinced the media to cover the event. Made sure registration process was smooth. And importantly, ensured we were within our budget. Since we had Dinesh on board to mentor us and also host the event, that eased out a lot for us.
Amongst all these management, we received a message that the speaker who was going to conduct the business plan workshop had backed off. So, as the organiser and having recently attended a workshop on the same topic in Hyderabad, I had to step-up. Overnight, I prepared a presentation and mentally arranged myself to go up on the stage. It took hell a lot of effort as I had a fear of public speaking.
The day
I could hardly sleep the night before, with every possibility running – if only 5 people turn up, I mess up the workshop, people leave in between, our sponsors end up not giving money and so on. In the morning, I woke up early, got ready and rushed to the venue with all the stationery and kits. We had a few volunteers to help with registration and photography. We ran through the entire process with them, made sure the projector and mics were working, the speakers were coming, the chair arrangement was done, the food was ready, etc.
Fingers crossed and with the hope that people would make it to the workshop, we sat on the chair to relax our nerves. Gradually people flowed in. We crossed 30, then 40 and then the cut-off number 50, but it did not stop there. It went up to 70 and that was the maximum chairs we could crunch in that room. A few even agreed to stand and attend the program. Crazyy!! My adrenaline was at a peak. The event started. We were running late. However, without hassle, we had talks by entrepreneurs, my shaky workshop on business plans, and a hands-on business plan writing and pitching competition.
From class 11 students to seasonal entrepreneurs to traditional businessmen, the room was pumped with experience and energy. As I went up to give the final vote of thanks I felt way more confident and the crowd always responded with a huge cheer. That moment had changed me and my confidence level for the time to come!
After event
The government was so happy that they handed over the cash immediately after the event which is a rare thing. I met a few amazing people who mentored me in my journey ahead. Moreover, I made strong contacts with people whom I still meet and brainstorm with every time I am in Guwahati. The event was covered in over ten newspapers and media houses, thanks to Hamad. Above all, this was the push and self-belief I needed in my journey. This one week’s preparation and the success motivated me to work harder to build something of my own.
Down the years, ended up creating (and selling) an online incubation portal, Startify, founding the entrepreneurship cell at IIT Jodhpur, speaking and conducting workshops in different conferences including TEDx, IIT and at NIFT and actively working to have a community running in Jodhpur and Guwahati.
Learning – The biggest learnings in life happens when you create not when you consume.
