The Economic Times (ET) organized a Panel Discussion on “Power of Ideas” India’s largest Entrepreneurship program on 19th September 2015, at Sathya Sai International Center, Bhisham Pitama Marg, New Delhi . The Economic Times hosted the program in association with Jio, the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India and the Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE), IIM Ahmedabad.

The objective of the program was to encourage individuals with a business idea to develop their entrepreneurial dream. . Panel Discussion on Power of Ideas was held in eight cities to guide the aspiring entrepreneurs through startup session and take the first step forward with confidence.

Mr. Nitin Kumar Assistant Professor (ECE), Mr. Sunil Kumar, Assistant Professor (EEE), Mr. Aishwary Sharma, Assistant Professor (CE) & Mr. Ankush Kumar, Assistant Professor (ME) from Dronacharya Group of Institutions, Greater Noida attended the program.

Mr. Navneet Singh (CEO, PepperTap), keynote speaker started the session by his inspiring and motivational speech. He narrated his life story about his voyage from small town in U.P to Merchant Navy office before establishing his own startup and circumstances that led him to where he is now. His grocery delivery chain (PepperTap) was started in 2014 and in just short span he has managed to raise fund of $10 million (Rs-64 crore) from investors including Sequoia Capital and SAIF Partners. According to Mr. Navneet to be a successful entrepreneur one need to be dedicated and have a passion of doing something of his own.

Mr. Harjaap Mann (Managing Director, Proof. of Performance Data Services Pvt. Ltd.) which has MobiKwik and Snapdeal as customers, emphasized that at the early stages of a business, good team matters more than the idea. Startup session platform provided by PoI (Power of Ideas) helped us scale faster, opened doors and helped us look at the future with far more confidence and determination.

Mr. Rajesh Sawhney (Co-founder of Inner Chef and founder of GSF Accelerator) is India's fastest growing food tech platform. InnerChef is an online food discovery and delivery platform that will make the chef in you come alive. Mr. Rajesh Sawhney is also the founder of GSF, India’s leading multi-city Tech-Startup Accelerator for the brightest tech startups in India. GSF provides tech startups mentorship from celebrated digital founders, initial capital and global exposure. At GSF, Mr. Rajesh is architecting the vital building blocks of a nascent early stage startup ecosystem in India.

The Eminent speakers at the panel discussion agreed with the fact that venture capital firms in India has a bias in favor of founders according to age and founders from top professional colleges such as IIT’s and IIMs. Middle age people have high chances of receiving fund in comparison to the young entrepreneur. In India startup business generally don’t reach to global platforms due to current economic policies and huge import/export taxes. This needs to be changed in order to flourish business ideas. The panel commented that at “Power of Ideas” platform, they are looking for business ideas which are based on company models like PaperTab, FlipCart, etc. rather technical product/app based ideas.

The workshop was very helpful for new entrepreneurs in understanding today’s market situation. The event elaborated the difficulties in developing a successful business model and suggested ways to overcome the difficulties.

Some Glimpses: