Start a successful company, ladies!
BENGALURU: While a number of startups have a very high valuation on paper, they still have not broken even just as yet. The path towards making a profitable and scalable start-up is, therefore, a long and arduous journey that needs meticulous planning.
A session on how to run their start-ups was conducted for budding women entrepreneurs of the city as part of a special ‘advanced’ Women’s Day event called ‘Coffee Conversations’ in the city. A panel of three women experts in various fields helmed a session where they advised the entrepreneurs on the do’s and don’ts of their ventures.
Audit, Prepare Reports
Giving her expert advice on the finances of a startup, Sharmila R, an executive from PwC says that startups should use auditing and monthly reports of their finances as a planning tool rather than treat is just as a formality. “Many a times we see that start-ups indiscriminately use money. They move into huge offices, order expensive furniture. Although we do not know what is the use for such things but all this needs to be accounted for,” says Srihari A, director, WiseLane Ventures Pvt Ltd, that organized the program.
“A startup is easy to start but difficult to grow. It is crucial to keep the focus on finance no matter what,” says Sharmila.
Plan for 3 Years
With regards funding, Archana Priyadarshini from Unikorn Ventures explained the various levels of funding from the ‘seed fund’ stage to ‘series A’ stage and so on. She congratulated the women entrepreneurs for dreaming big despite the traditional issues that usually bog down women. “Before starting any venture, one should plan for at least the next 3 years and keep milestones as a way to measure progress,” she advises.
Finally, while finances and funding are important keeping one’s spirit up at the workplace and learning to communicate and deal with people is an essential part of the success of one’s endeavors to run any business according to Jayshree Ashok, founder, Pragya Living and Wisdom Centre. “Although we may be in the technical field and businesses, most of our challenges are related to people,” she says. She highlighted some basic points on how one can boost positivity in one’s endevours by just being ‘mindful’ of one’s work and environment. A number of points such as the need to just “pause, “breathe” can be a great tool to handle stress and pressure he says