CHENNAI: “Make sure of the product and the market before starting a business,” said Vijay Ullal, CEO & Founder, Victory Ventures at the inaugural lecture of the Leadership Lecture Series: Alumni Speak held at IIT Madras on Wednesday.
During his one hour talk on ‘How to Make Your Mark in a Changing World’, Vijay , an alumini of the Batch of 80, covered various topics which included the transition of technology across the ages and how with each disruption getting shorter, now is the best time to start working with the start-ups which have immense potential for growth rather than start with big companies which are seeing slow growth, he said.
“Make sure your products are good at a system level rather than as an individual component level, if not as a system, look towards the application layer and further look into deeper applications of technology to create a niche market in,” he said. When asked about the debate between growth and sustainability - whether to grow slowly with a big company or grow fast with a start-up he said, “in a nutshell -If you have 1 per cent of the market, it is better to grow like crazy, but if you have more than 30 per cent of the market share-then it is better to look towards sustainability.”
“The thumb rule that most investors including me looking into startups see is whether the founder is confident in the idea that they are selling, Your product has to be so good that it turns the market space around and thirdly approach the market once you have gauged it and made your product ready for the market you are looking to cater to -whether consumers or businesses” he said.