The Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) of Sri Aurobindo College of Commerce and Management, Ludhiana in collaboration with Young Entrepreneur Network (YEN) organized a session on ‘Demystifying startup ecosystem and angel investing’ for the students of B.com final year on 10th March, 2023. Principal Prof. Dr. Vishal Kumar formally welcomed the guest speaker, Mr. Nikhil Jain, Co-Founder, Beej Network. The resource person defined Entrepreneurship as “Antra-Prerna-Ship” and inspired the students about building their own startups. He showcased aircraft pictures of 2009 and drone picture of 2019 to display the disruption of technology. He also familiarised the students with the AI-chat GPT. Further, information was given about the UPI payment system and Fintech transformation. The students were astounded to know that only 35 crore people perform online transactions across India and out of that 18.5 crore people do online shopping which reveals that internet penetration is still low in India. He acquainted the students about the life cycle of startups which goes as-Ideation-Validation-Early Traction-Exit stage, where the fittest one survives. Students were informed about the role of startups to pass through VUCA world and the criteria for DPIIT startup recognition. The requirements for the startup were listed as- MVP, Clarity of current market opportunity, product-market fit, plan for a Moat etc. Next, the speaker revealed about the 3J’s which dealt with Passion, Curiosity and Perseverance, which are the necessities for raising a startup. He also motivated the students to embrace the failures if they occur by giving the example of Silicon Valley startups. Further, he communicated the various Do’s and Don’ts in startups. At the end, the queries raised by the students were addressed by the speaker. On the whole, the session was very fruitful for the students and the great wisdom of Mr. Jain helped the students to gain knowledge to innovate and build their own startups. Worthy Principal Prof. (Dr) Vishal Kumar also motivated the students to think out of the box and innovate for a bright future.
