startingup
TRANSCRIPT
StartingUP
Liju PillaiCo-Founder & CEO Perfomatix
Who am I ?
1. I am Liju Raj Pillai, CEO and Co-Founder of Perfomatix.2. Born and brought up in Anchal a small town in Kollam dist.3. I am a Mechanical Engineering graduate from TKMCE 2004 .4. Worked for TCS and Infosys for close to 10 years before starting Perfomatix.5. Had the opportunity to work with some of the top Fortune 50 companies.6. My last job was as a Technology Architect at Infosys .
What’s in store
The Perfomatix story .
Can I be an entrepreneur ?
When is the right time to startup ?
Starting while at college .
How to come up with your startup idea ?
Starting up in Kerala .
Raising capital in Kerala .
About Perfomatix
Started Perfomatix on Aug 15 2013 in TVM with 2 of my best friends Harish Mohan (CET Alumni) and Hiran Ram (my classmate from TKM).
We call ourselves a Startup for Startups !!We work on some cool things like IoT , ML/AI , VR, AR etc We are passionate about innovation and solving real world problems.
Perfomatix Story
Started reading about FB , Google , PayPal , FlipKart etc and I thought I could do it.
Had a product idea - ATOM
Worked on it part time .
Got selected to NASSCOM 10K startups .
Became top 25 from 1000+ applicants
Quit our jobs - yay !!!!
Got our chance to pitch the idea to top investors and VCs from India
And then ……..
Perfomatix Story
NOTHING HAPPENED !!
No customer
No funding
No investor
No money
Wife at home
EMI
Perfomatix Story
But we PERSISTED
We started consulting .
Shamelessly called all friends and enemies for leads.
Used all available resources we could get our hands on .
Our first project was logo design and the billing was 75 USD .
Since then …..
Perfomatix Story
Completed 100+ projects
Over 60 clients from across the globe
Head count of 50 and growing ( yes we are hiring )
Offices in 3 countries
One of the fastest growing companies in Technopark
Key Takeaways
Embrace failure.
Learn from it , don’t repeat it .
Persistence prevails when all else fails.
Network and ask for help .
Understood the “Biriyani” phenomenon
Why we failed with ATOM
Put Technology first instead of real world problem.
Did not research about our customer needs.
Ignored what the competition was doing and how.
Confused the customer expectation between US and India.
It was a great idea for the wrong market !!
Can I be an Entrepreneur ?
If I can , definitely you can !
Entrepreneurs are not born they are made !
But before that are you …..
When is the right time to start ?
Now is the best time to start !
Great eco system
Less social “stigma”
Access to tools ,technology and talent
Funding
“The only sure way to fail is not to start “
Starting while at college
Try to intern for a startup to gain experience
Get a good team together , but keep it small
Starting a company with friends has its pros and cons
Go for major startup events , feel the energy
Be ready to move out of Kerala
Find a mentor
Build a MVP of your idea as a project or part time
Startup Ideation
Don’t put technology first
Solve a real problem for a sizable market
Don’t assume people need your product
Know your competition
Good Read
https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-ways-to-think-of-ideas-for-a-startup
Starting up in Kerala
Govt support is better compared to many states but way behind compared to US and Singapore
Lacks proper mentor network
Very poor funding (Angel/VC ) scene
Hard to find good talent willing to take risk to join startups
Raising capital in Kerala
Bad news for companies totally dependent on funding !!
Raising capital is a “full time job”
Very hard to get loan even with collateral from banks.
Programs to know about
KSEDM
KSIDC
KFC
Mudra loan
Kerala Startup Mission
Don’t start a startup if
You hate to work for someone else or hate your current job
Can’t find anything else better to do
Did not get placed or didn’t clear GATE/CAT
You think startups are easy
Become millionaire
You read about FB, Google , Tesla , etc
Bad News
95 % of startups fail on first attempt.
Good News
The chance of success increase exponentially with every passing attempt
“There is nothing in life worse than being ordinary ”
“I am the master of my fate ,I am the captain of my soul “ by William Ernest Henley
Resources
https://news.ycombinator.com/
https://techcrunch.com/
https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-online-resources-blogs-podcasts-articles-etc-on-startups-and-entrepreneurship
http://paulgraham.com/
Contact Me
Twitter : @lijuperfomatix
Email : [email protected]
To know more about Perfomatix :
http://www.perfomatix.com/
Q&A