Before success comes in a man’s life, he is sure to encounter temporary defeats, or sometimes even failures. When failure strikes the easiest and most logical way ahead is to quit. However, what people don’t realise is that failures are often the stepping stones for success. And that is exactly what former entrepreneurs Vishwa Vivek Garg and Samir Karande believe in. A recent event saw them come upfront and speak to budding entrepreneurs in the city about their business startups and the mistakes they made on their way, which led to their failures. Organised by TiE Pune, a non-profit global network of entrepreneurs and professionals, it was a first of its kind event in Pune. Called ‘Stories of Entrepreneurs in Exile’, the evening saw Garg and Karande talk about their former businesses, the challenges they faced and the lessons they learnt.

Their story

A science graduate from Lucknow, Garg moved to Pune in 2004. He worked with three companies before launching his own. “It was around this time that I felt, I should be starting a business of my own. In June 2009, my brother and I started an events listing portal called Eventnu,” he says. The start-up was borne out of the ordeal that Garg and his brother faced every time they were to decide what to do over the weekend. “There were hardly any events listing portals except those that catered to movie ticketing then. Ours was a website that listed all the events that were happening during the weekend across cities,” he says. The website also made it possible for people to register and pay online for the events.

Karande, an electronics and telecommunications engineer from Nanded, worked in the US early in his career. After moving to India in 2004, he wanted to turn entrepreneur. The roadblock was the way Pune had changed in the years he was away. He wanted to get acclimatised before taking the plunge. In 2009, he collaborated with a friend to launch MobiPrimo Technologies, which provided mobile products. The start-up won the Red Herring’s Top 100 companies award for Asia region in 2011. But it was soon taken over by PubMatic Inc. In 2012, he started M Sauda. “This venture was different from the previous one. We were the middlemen. We bought in bulk from manufacturers and then sold it to our clients at a discounted rate,” Karande says.

The challenges

Although, Eventnu was run by Garg and his brother, they also worked with consultants and full-time employees. “For the first few years, a start-up company does not make money. My brother and I went without salaries, and we paid the employees with whatever little we earned. Most of the employees we had were rank newcomers and expected high salaries as those provided by Infosys, Wipro, and other software companies,” shares Garg. So, most left their jobs midway. Also, as the website had features like payment gateways, Garg spent from his pocket. “For every transaction that was made, we earned very less compared to the amount we had spent on building the architecture and technology of the website,” he says. When Garg could not reach a break even, he shut shop.

Karande with an experience of a start-up, found it easier to manage M Sauda. “At M Sauda, we had a much more experienced team compared to the previous company. We had a good distinction of roles and responsibilities here as compared to MobiPrimo, where everything was looked after by me and my business partner,” says he. The company had a team of 10, of which six did not take home salaries, two took half of what they should have been paid and two were paid very low salaries. “Everyone who joined us did so because they were passionate it,” says Karande. However, when funds start depleting and the income is not much, passion begins to die. A major challenge that Karande and his team faced was of getting bulk orders. “The bulk orders we got were of 15-30 units, but the manufacturers from whom we bought the products wanted an order of 500-1,000,” he says. Moreover, they had spent five to six months developing and building their own e-commerce platform, which delayed the product launch. And much like Garg, the amount earned by Karande on each transaction was less.

Lessons learnt

One of the lessons that Garg learnt from this was to do a recce. “I had really great ideas but I never ventured out of my room to meet businessmen and entrepreneurs for advice. In short, I didn’t have any mentor. With no experience, advice from seniors would have come handy, and stopped me from making mistakes,” he says. Garg and Karande have learnt that their focus must be more on the business aspect of the product and not on developing the technology. “If your business plan does not fetch you any money, then there is really no point in continuing with it,” they both agree. Garg, who was working as a consultant alongside running his start-up says that it did not allow him to focus on Eventnu. “The day I left that, I could focus more on my business. Focus is necessary,” he says.

Both agree, that the chances for a star-t-up to survive is just 1% and if starting a venture takes a toll on one’s existence, then the risk of starting one, is not worth it. At present, both of them are enjoying a break while they continue to explore opportunities.