BENGALURU: Bengaluru seems to be the youngest in India’s startup scene, with a quick survey showing most under-25 entrepreneurs from this city. Two years ago, a San Francisco-based research firm reported that the average age of startup founders here is lower — at 28. 5 years — than the average at Silicon Valley — at 36.2 years.It must be fascinating to be young and successful. But the city’s whiz kids say that it is not as breezy as it sounds.
Jonna Venkata Karthik Raja, founder of an online newspaper and magazine app Paperboy, was 19 years old when he went looking for investors. “Paperboy needed a strong financial backing, like every other startup. Since the idea was proposed by me, a graduation student, it took a lot of convincing,” he says, adding that he had to do a lot of research and had to have a strong marketing strategy to bring even peers on board.
“In 2016, when the company was just starting out, many newspaper publications were hesitant to embrace the idea,” he says. “But as of today over 200 newspapers and magazines are on Paperboy.”
Karthik is currently doing his final year graduation at Jain University. “Juggling studies and work also gets a bit exhausting,” he says.
Shreyans Jain, co-founder of Under 25 Club, a platform for young entrepreneurs established four years ago, says, “It is extremely difficult to thrive in an ecosystem where age is an important factor.” Under 25 Club was initiated to debunk the age myth.
As for the founders of Wheelstart, a Bengaluru-based bike rental aggregator, being young worked in their favour. Both Moksha Srivastava and Pranay Shrivastava are 24 years old and they started the company in 2014. Today they have tie-ups with over 160 vendors in 30 cities.
“When investors ask our age, they get really surprised and excited. They look forward to working with us,” says Moksha.
The idea for the startup dawned on Pranay when in college he used to lend his bike to his friend to earn some pocket money. The founders hail from Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh and though they started the startup in Delhi, they are headquartered in Bengaluru. “Bengaluru is a great place to experiment and pool in tech talent,” says Moksha.
However, they do agree that it would have been an advantage if they had work-experience before starting their business in their early 20s. “It would have helped in networking and guidance,” believes Moksha.
The duo’s startup functions mostly with youngsters fresh out of college. Recruiting experienced hands is a challenge, says Paperboy’s Karthik.
“We needed a strong tech and marketing team with seasoned and experienced people on board,” he says. “However, gaining the confidence of these experienced people to join Paperboy, a startup founded and managed by a 20 year old final year graduate, was a bit challenging. It needed a great deal of assurance and convincing.”
Wheelstart’s Moksha says that more than age, her gender caused concern in this male-dominated sector. “When we had founded Wheelstreet, 3 years back, people were very skeptical about my know-how of the industry since it was a bike rental platform and I was a female discussing my ideas about a perceived male dominated industry,” she says. But she forged on, just as she did when she had to present her ideas to “some of the most influential and established businessmen”.
Shreyans says that it is best to start early, if only for the mistakes you would make. “Mistakes add to your experience,” he says, sharing that the first ever Under 25 Start-Up Summit was full house with over thousand participants.