It is often very hard to predict exactly which group of high growth potential startups will succeed, so better risk-adjusted returns can be achieved by investing in a portfolio of 30 high quality companies over time
Q. What are the main challenges faced while incubating a start-up?
There are two types of challenges. The first is related to mentoring and guiding the startup and the second is related to the design and nurturing of the ecosystem. As far as mentoring and guiding the startup is concerned it is important to define the duration of the incubation period and the key milestones. Traditional incubation programs today can be long and drawn out, lasting anywhere from 4-12+ months. It is important to define milestones to quickly validate their idea early enough so that decisions can be to more forward or pivot to another direction.
Another critical aspect is providing adequate attention to all incubates. Most incubation programs today work with a cohort size of around 100 startups. This is in part due to the nature of how they generate revenue have to bet on a large number of startups to ensure they see a profitable return. How to balance the costs and profitability with the attention and support required by the incubates is a challenge that needs to be addressed.
The first challenge is ensuring that, the ecosystem has a talent pool of individuals with high level of human capital, which includes both technical and entrepreneurial skills
Second, providing a linkage between domestic and foreign markets, consisting of consumers and businesses who act as customers, should be accessible and large enough for start-ups to be able to sell their products or services.
Thirdly, ensuring access to financial capital, provided by private investors or public funding agencies, enable start-ups to obtain the necessary resources for their founding and growth.
Lastly, creating and providing a network of support services that provide start-ups specialized knowledge. These services are primarily provided by mentors, professional service providers and incubators.
Q. What points do most of the entrepreneurs miss while starting-up?
At times entrepreneurs tend to miss out on important aspects at time which can have a damaging effect on their business.
- Confusing managerial skills with entrepreneurial skills
- Waiting too long to seek next-round funding
- Delaying Hiring Decisions
- Holding on to the reins
- Lacking in agility
Q. What is the ROI for different sector?
There are a variety of considerations that go into analyzing the potential of an early stage investment opportunity. Venture investment can yield very promising returns, but like any other investment, returns are never guaranteed. It is preferable to use a portfolio approach to venture investing. This refers to the strategy taken by investors of investing smaller amounts of capital into a sizable number of startups, rather than putting all of their capital into one or two companies.
It is hard to predict exactly which group of high growth potential startups will succeed, so better risk-adjusted returns can be achieved by investing in a portfolio of 30 high quality companies over time. Many startups fail, and the returns to investors are often dualistic, i.e. either big returns or next to nothing. The portfolio approach gives you a better chance of mitigating the losses generated by the relatively high percentage of failures, with the outsized gains generated by your successful investments, which can practically produce multiple x returns on investment over time.
As far as mentoring and guiding the startup is concerned it is important to define the duration of the incubation period and the key milestones. Traditional incubation programs today can be long and drawn out, lasting anywhere from 4-12+ months.
BSE Institute is a completely industry aligned institute. Hence, our courses are designed, developed and implemented with industry involvement. Our objective is our students who join corporate, should be productive from day one hour one. Hence our courses place a greater emphasis on application of concepts and use of real life case studies.
Q. How is the BSE Institute different from the other B-Schools we have in India?Q. What are the internship opportunities for the students in BSE Institute?
We have a dedicated placement and internship team which is in continuous touch with the industry. Our team works with corporate to design well defined internships where the students work on specific problems. Thus the internship is aligned to what they are learning as a part of their curriculum.