Not for money, but for the 'kick' of building something: Rashmi Daga, Founder of FreshMenu

Rashmi Daga    Founder, FreshMenu This is a businesswoman who came from a long line of entrepreneurs. But just pedigree does not guarentee success. Jonathan Ananda writes about Daga’s journey to found

Coming from a family of business people might give you an idea of what it takes to be your own boss, but does it teach you to be a successful one?
For Rashmi Daga, founder of FreshMenu, the answer to that came through a long and involved series of jobs, experiences and even a failed venture.
“I do not think there was any point of time when I thought that I wouldn’t, at some point, start my own business,” recalled the IIM-Ahmedabad graduate. “But I did not jump straight in to entrepreneurship.”
Unlike the plethora of young, impulsive entrepreneurs throwing themselves into the harsh reality of doing business right out of college, Daga chose to take the cautious but measured route.

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“I first started working at a couple of jobs at big multinationals. I did well in the roles I was given. These experiences and knowledge I acquired through these jobs were critical later,” she pointed out.
Daga, did not stop with just getting experience from MNCs but, after she moved to Bengaluru from Delhi, she started working at startups—Bluestone and the now mobilty mainstay, Ola Cabs.
“This was the all important phase. Working at startups and being able to take the pressure and the unpredictable situations you get thrown into is a litmus test,” Daga asserts.
But when Daga finally decided to start off her first venture, all the experience did not prevent it from falling by the wayside. ‘Afday’ was a startup that was built on taking arts and crafts to online customers and was founded in 2011.
“But I think it was much too ahead of its time. That was when there weren’t many customers who shopped online, and artwas such a personal space. I decided to let it go after a while,” she admitted.
But her second venture had none of those problems. “There were some teething issues.
Getting the first chef to sign up was a challenge. It took two months to find one. But once that happened, it has rolled along just fine,” she said.
As for her message to young entrepreneurs... “You need to test out whether you are cut out for entrepreneurship. A good way to see if you can is to work at startups. Because if you can’t take that pressure, you cannot do very well trying to create and build your own business.”

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The New Indian Express
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