Failures inspired this Nasscom Executive to set up one of the country’s most successful start-up platform

Failing to establish his own start-up inspired Rajat Tandon to set up a platform to connect with start-ups, nurture them, and give them a physical warehouse and to get investors and mentors on board. The Vice President of 10,000 Start-ups, a Nasscom initiative has now successfully impacted 1350 start-ups and got 50 fully funded, set up 10 warehouses across 22 cities in 3 years.

“Nasscom delivers what the industry needs. It was time for the new wave of the industry. The whole objective was to help 10,000 startups to be successful by 2023,” he said.

The program ran four Konnect phases so far and has recently launched the fifth phase which is the biggest Konnect to date. In its last four phases, a total of 11,000 startups applied, 1,100 shortlisted and 500 have been impacted by way of funding, acceleration and mentoring. Some of their impacted startups include SmartVizX, Lazylad, EnglishDost, Flutura, SeekSherpa, Faircent, Hiree, Sliderule, Vidgyor, CustomerXPS to name a few.

Talking about his own venture that he had tried to nurture for two years before giving up, he said payments collection is always the issue.

When one starts, they try to solve a problem. They need that initial support. Mentorship is one of the biggest challenges, he added.

“Nurture up, build something, build across an incubation centre and get a mentor on board. Angel investors will come onboard easily,” advised Rajat.

To enable efficient market access, the Nasscom 10,000 start-up program has introduced a series of new initiatives in partnership with Industry leaders; Google, Microsoft, IBM and Amazon Web Services. InnoTrek, an initiative under the programme, gives the brightest tech start-ups a chance to go to Silicon Valley, get access to global VCs and connect with some of the biggest tech giants of the world. It also has Konnect Sessions; Funding, Acceleration, Mentoring and Enterprise connects (F.A.M.E) is their Impact measurement framework.

Next important thing is one should get the basics right.

“If you are a food delivering startup, get the basics of the delivery system right,” he explained.

One also needs to look for complimentary skills. If one is good in developing, another person should be proficient in handling accounts and business.

“And, if you do not have the skills, get the skills. Work for startup.”

For this there is Start-up Warehouse to create a micro-ecosystem where start-ups and entrepreneurs can work together and share their learning and best practices with each other. This also has a virtual platform where corporate can connect with start-ups.

The person should have the attitude.

Women entrepreneurs are not neglected. Readying women for entrepreneurship is an initiative where Nasscom’s 10,000 Start-up program partnered with Black Box Connect to build a conducive landscape for women entrepreneurs in India.

(Image credits: indiatimes)