HYDERABAD: Start-ups need to be hungry, scale up and eventually diversify their revenue generating options. This was the biggest take away from the panel discussion The Talk- big Ideas to scale SMEs and start-ups held at Hyderabad on Saturday.
Citing the example Amazon diversifying its revenue generation by starting Amazon web services, the panel of industry experts unanimously agreed that Indian start-up companies will have to diversify to stay relevant. “Differentiate or die,” said A Velumani, chairman of Throckley, while speaking on the topic “Are start-ups in India growing?”.
The industry veteran and the 149th richest man in India said he has been able to add a zero every six years to his profits just by focusing on preventive healthcare. “I focused on preventive care. It’s costly to create a brand that is challenging,” he added.
The one-day talk show had over 17 speakers, all leaders from their industry domains, spoke on a varied number of issues from the best business practices to the ethics behind being a copy cat venture.
The start-ups need to be creators of jobs and wealth, said Navneet S Chugh, managing partner of Chugh. Be it a start-up or any other form of industry, it needs to scale up.
On competition, Vaishali Neotia, chief executive director of Merxius, said, “We should embrace competition. At least with respect to my industry any competition is a validation for this industry.”
An ‘Investors and Experts Strategy’ Session was also held where entrepreneurs raised questions on how revelation market projections are for disruptive technologies.