Founders Talk Series II

Ideas are dime a dozen. If you Google 'Startup Ideas', you are likely to get pages and pages of business ideas. The difference between an idea and a thriving business is execution. In this session, Dr. Bharat Damani will share frameworks and experience of converting an idea into a product or service. Join us to learn how you could build strong execution skills to turn your startup aspirations to reality.

Family businesses are the backbone of our economy. Over the last few decades, family businesses in India have grown in size and their socio-economic impact. However, the challenge that many family businesses now face is survival across generations. Join this session to learn how some of the best family businesses around the world have successfully transitioned across generations while growing their businesses.

Given today’s economic and social challenges, educating interculturally competent leaders who understand self and context is critical, but if we can combine global education with learning that promotes an entrepreneurial mindset we can empower the next generation of problem-solvers who can meet the grand challenges of the 21st century through thoughtful action.

Amir will also share what makes Babson unique and how students from FLAME University can benefit from the Babson Build program.

"There are good business ideas and bad business ideas. We’ve all had both! What separates good from bad depends on various factors. In this session you can use the frameworks to evaluate if your idea is a real business opportunity and how to capture the opportunity through quick but strong execution.

Have questions? Join us for this session and get them clarified."

Early days of a startup means doing everything yourself as a founder - be it product development, sales or raising funding. In this session, Dr. Dwarika will share frameworks to develop the go-to-market strategy for startups in its early days. How do you identify and pursue customer acquisition channels? How do you put together a plan with a small budget and limited resources? Join us for this powerpacked session.

FLAME University is the pioneer of liberal education in India with strong undergrad programs and experiential postgraduate programs such as the one-year PGPEI. Join us in this session with Dr. Sharma to learn about life as a student at FLAME University. He will share an overview of the student activities, approach to learning, world-class infrastructure and sports facilities, and answer any questions that you may have.

Covid-19 crisis has exposed some of the biggest leadership failures of our time. Join us for this session to learn about some of the leadership lessons and best practices followed by top leaders around the world, and why strong leadership matters for the years to come. Dr. Dishan will also share key takeaways on how you can become an effective leader and more.

Yourstory has been critical to the growth of the Indian startup ecosystem. By giving visibility to upcoming founders and emerging startups, Yourstory has changed the way Indians view young and old, men and women, traditional and tech entrepreneurs. In this session, Ezhilan will share how Yourstory supports startups across India and the globe and how startups can approach them to share their stories.

Wadhwani Foundation, a billion dollar foundation with a global impact, is creating a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem at academic institutions/incubators across India to support early stage founders and create high potential ventures. In this session, Ankit will share some student entrepreneur stories and various offerings that Wadhwani Foundation has for early stage ventures.

Pune is home to numerous founders who’ve built products and services serving global customers. Pune, known as ‘Oxford of the East’, has a number of top schools creating a strong talent pipeline for the country. Ajay, one of the top entrepreneurs of Pune, will share what it takes to build a world class product from Pune and India for the world. He will delve into the process of product development and how to convert that product into a thriving business. Don’t miss this session!

Most small and medium scale businesses in India experienced temporary or permanent changes due to Covid-19. Raman brings decades of experience with MSMEs and family businesses who transformed themselves successfully. In this session, Raman will provide an overview of how the next-generation is building on the foundation of family businesses and what it takes to succeed.

An insight into the thought process of an investor while evaluating investment opportunities. Narayanan will share why an investor invests in a startup while not expressing an interest in another. He will also share an overview of how the venture capital fund thesis is important and why a particular startup gets funded by a specific investor and not others.

Join in if you are looking to raise funds for your startup in the near future or looking to learn Fundraising 101 from one of the top investors in India.