BENGALURU: Two years ago when IIM-Bangalore graduate Sudhindhra T Kumara started his own company instead of opting for a job via campus placement, he faced a lot of struggle.
Inspired by his own experiences, he decided to start a Bangalore Crowd Funding group. He started the group in 2013 on a suggestion from one of his employees.
Sudhindhra says, “I faced many problems when I started off and did not have a place to go for some advice, so I decided to open a platform where aspiring entrepreneurs can vent out and can be mentored. We need an investor who can mentor these aspiring entrepreneurs so that their ideas can be nurtured and modified to invite funding”.
He says that chances of getting funds for the projects are minimal for the new aspirants. Only one in ten may succeed. “There is one person who is trying to do a short film named Odata. He is looking for funds. His budget is `50,000.”
He says that the new aspirants do not know much about the nuances of starting a company.
“They get exhausted at the initial stages itself. They need cash flow to run a company and cannot survive if the firm does not progress. Most fail within three years. Some have issues with their partners after three to five years,” he says.
The non-profit group was created to get investors for the entrepreneurs. Sudhindhra says 85 per cent of the 600 members joined the group to seek funds. They are in the age group 21 to 35 want to work in different projects like filmmaking, animation, IT and IOT. He is now working towards strengthening the group by getting the investors. He adds, “There is an internal team of 25 to invest in the projects of the group. Each member has invested `10, 000 from their pockets so that the people can get funds and go ahead with their project.”
He says an entrepreneur, Ravindra , who has an experience of 55 years in the field will be their mentor and investor once he is back from his Malaysian trip next month.
He faces challenges in organising regular meetups as well. The places where he can organise regularly and accommodate more people are limited.
He is also planning to start an online platform for crowd funding soon.