Watch Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairman and MD, Biocon India and Sudhir Sethi, Chairman and MD, IDG Ventures deliver the key note speech during Eximius ’09 at IIM Bangalore on August 15th 2009.

Please note that the video is not complete. The last 15 mins which included the Q&A is not covered. Here are some of the excerpts from the talk.

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw:

- Bangalore is not only the IT capital of India, but is also the Entrepreneurial capital of India and has come a long way since its “retirement” city image.
- Kiran went on to talk about her experiences and challenges as an entrepreneur, and as a woman.
- Today’s entrepreneur faces very different circumstances from Kiran’s early days.
- We must now differentiate ourselves a lot and find a niche, as opposed to having more general ideas back in those days.
- India has a huge opportunity to “create affordably”, focus on innovation with low cost
- Kiran hopes tomorrow’s youth embraces this idea and strives towards entrepreneurship.
- She also had sound advice for budding entrepreneurs, saying that as an entrepreneur you must have a “purpose” that is beyond money
- Kiran’s purpose was to change the role and scope of a scientist in India. She wanted to focus on the business of science.
- Kiran added that once your start-up company achieves critical mass, you must stop being opportunistic and start being strategic.

Sudhir Sethi:

- Sudhir agreed that if money and greed were the primary motivation, then many VC’s would think twice about investing.
- There must be a higher motive, and factors like integrity, references and humility are very important.
- Sudhir also stressed on the importance of building a good team, with a clearly defined leader.
- A leader is somebody who can inspire people who are sometimes more talented than himself, not necessarily someone with grey hair.
- At the same time, it is important to consult or be mentored by someone with experience, at add credibility to your venture.
- Sudhi had some specific advice for the IIM students – he felt that instead of getting tempted by investment banking or consulting jobs’ high salaries and by pressures such as marriage, one should think about entrepreneurship.
- It may not pay well, but these are the greatest years to think about building your own firm, and the best way to train is to join another start-up for a year or so.

Related Posts

  • Watch Eximius ’09 at CWS-2
  • Eximius ’09 is here
  • Panel Discussion: Decoding the MBA Entrepreneur