“WELCOME TO THE FGD ... We expect you to read the following and come with some homework on the theme”

Entrepreneurship may mean different things/activities to different persons, as different people have different aspirations/motivations.

· For some, it is lifestyle-oriented, e.g. People making a living out of sea sports may target surfers and scuba divers, few may just offer training to the sports enthusiasts, few may even partner with the Govt. to be life guards.

· Few may understand entrepreneurship as small businesses, usually family owned and managed. They join other members in family to continue the legacy. The modern generation may scale up the business through branching out at multiple places or expanding volume and market reach.

· Some believe in chasing a scalable idea being incubated in innovation ecosystem. It may outsize returns, though attracts all the risk capital.

· Some mean it as something that is designed to be quickly sold, flipped and to build a billion dollar business, often called “serial entrepreneurs”

· Sometimes even large companies foster innovation and spin off a venture to exploit changes in customer tastes, new technologies, legislation, new competitors etc.

· Social startup is categories where entrepreneurs help solve social problems. Individuals work to create technology-enabled solutions for problems like water management, waste disposal, education, and job creation. Though based on social issues, it can still make operating profit. The world is made a better place to live by them.

Startup India is a flagship initiative of the Government of India, to build a strong eco-system for nurturing innovation and Startups in the country. GoI’s action Plan is based on: Simplification and Handholding; Funding Support and Incentives, and Industry-Academia Partnership and Incubation.

Startup entity registration: In India a startup can be registered as: Private Limited Company; Limited Liability Partnership; or Registered Partnership. The entities shall cease to be a “Startup” on completion of seven years from the date of its incorporation/registration; however, in biotechnology sector, the period is up to ten years from the date of incorporation, or at the end of the financial year in which its turnover exceeds Rs 25 crore.

Important Factors: Host of factors that seem important for a budding entrepreneur are: Market Size, growth, price pressure, stage of innovation idea, effects of business cycles, supplier & business partner concentration, existing & potential competitors, ease of entry to & exit from business, scope of merger & acquisition, substitution effect, pace of change in industry, innovation & scalability, technological complexity & upgradability, product diversity & differentiability, intellectual rights protection, profitability & breakeven, cost of capital, meta market synergies, govt. subsidies, social & environmental trends, regulatory compliance, etc. India as a country can be compared with any other country in terms of all factors mentioned above. Thus a budding intelligent entrepreneur assesses such factors on their importance to his/her entrepreneurial plans and the existing strength of these factors in India.

FGD: We have made a shortlisted homogeneous group of 8 - 10 members for a moderated open ended discussion. This discuss would continue for about 60 to 90 minutes. Remember it is NOT debate, or conflict resolution/problem solving session. You are ENCOURAGED to give your well thought neutral opinion. Please maintain a professional and cordial gesture to fellow-participant and make your communication clear, precise and substantive without forming any sub-group within the group. With your permission the process will be RECORDED with an assurance of CONFIDENTIALITY.