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Continuous Ground Breaking Innovation Year After Year

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Continuous Ground Breaking Innovation Year After Year

  April 20, 2019
 

The Tandon Group has been inventing, innovating, and finding solutions to problems since its inception. Formed in 1978, the company’s first success was the design and production of the first floppy drive for the IBM PC. By outsourcing and investing in talent overseas, Tandon were able to scale up production while cutting prices, making the floppy drive and affordable PCs more accessible to a wider market. Fueled by a drive for innovation, the Tandon Group became the world’s largest manufacturer of disc drives for PCs and word processors by 1983.

Since then, the Tandon Group has continued to take products and find ways to manufacture them in the most efficient manner possible. They continue to outpace competitors through their understanding of outsourcing and experience in innovation. A more recent success involved decreasing the cost of telecommunication infrastructure products by over 30%. Taking existing technology, and redesigning it to be cheaper and better for the competitive Indian market enabled Tandon’s customers to expand mobile telephony access across the country. This served as a key driving factor to make India the fastest growing cellphone market in the world.

Today, the Tandon Group has a diverse portfolio, creating high impact products in a wide variety of fields. This includes developing and supporting a widespread Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) based urban bicycle-sharing system implemented in cities across the world. Cities are able to reduce traffic congestion while providing a convenient transportation option to its citizens.

Tandon Group companies have been behind developing cutting-edge parking meter technology that enables acceptance of a range of alternate payment options, including credit cards, ATM cards, and mobile phones. This makes it more convenient for residents and increases compliances for cities that deploy them. As with this, and many other products, the Tandon Group drew on its history as an innovator and inventor to find an economically viable solution to a common problem.

Tandon GroupContinuous Ground Breaking Innovation Year After Year

5 Tips to Help Founders Take Compliance Seriously

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5 Tips to Help Founders Take Compliance Seriously

  April 1, 2019
 

While time is a valuable resource that founders often prefer to use for growth, issues of non-compliance can sink that growth in an instant. Today, India has a more business-friendly government policy, but regulations here and worldwide change every day. The challenge for founders is knowing the exact steps to prevent fines, embarrassment, theft, fraud, and even jail. For founders who are serious about compliance, use the following five tips to get started.

Establish Relationships With Regulators

Regulators can provide guidance and help you clarify issues so you can successfully navigate the compliance requirement relevant to your industry. As Manohar Lal Tandon grew Tandon Magnetics, he invested significant time developing relationships with the Indian government to ensure compliance. Importing and exporting rules in India were complex at that time. For example, if the government rejected materials imported from the United States or Europe, no system existed to return those materials. If companies scrapped the materials, the government penalized them.

This was one of many regulatory challenges Manohar spent the majority of his time working with regulators to simplify, even though he would have preferred to spend that time with customers. These challenges extended globally because companies like Hitachi in Japan, for example, are hesitant to partner with Tandon Magnetics because the directors knew the Indian government took a long time to grant permission on such collaborations. Because of Manohar’s relationship with regulators, he secured permission in 45 days. Like Manohar, you may prefer to spend that time with clients, but developing relationships with regulators will pay off in the long run.

  • Assemble a dedicated compliance team. Engage a certified accountant, corporate secretary, and legal counsel to help you assess and address compliance vulnerabilities, formulate a compliance plan, and document key compliance information such as written policies, communication with regulators and even case files.
  • Look beyond financial and legal compliance. Human resources, payroll and IT are just as important as legal and financial compliance for growing startups.
  • Develop a customized compliance plan. Your compliance program need not be expensive but should be tailored to the needs of your business. You can roll out the program over time as long as the program clearly communicates expectations and potential vulnerabilities.
  • Foster a compliance culture. Put the right internal team in place to execute your compliance program so that it informs and ensures daily work and decisions. Founders who take the time to understand the marketplace, business culture, and regulatory environment wherever they do business positions their company to deal effectively with growth and maintain a competitive edge

If you’re a startup founder looking for resources to help you succeed, Tandon Group may be able to help. We’ve provided numerous startups with business advice and funding support for more than 40 years. Contact us today and learn more about how we can support you.

Tandon Group5 Tips to Help Founders Take Compliance Seriously

Fictiv: A Startup Funding Success Story

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Fictiv: A Startup Funding Success Story

  March 1, 2019
 

San Francisco-based Fictiv, a distributed manufacturing company, continues to offer excellent 3D printing, urethane casting, and CNC machining services to companies all across the United States, and venture capitalists are taking notice. Since 2013, Fictiv has been a game-changer for the next generation of great American companies prototyping, manufacturing, testing and redesigning parts. You might call them the “Airbnb” of manufacturing.

Since our last update on the startup’s funding status, Fictiv announced a Series B funding of $15 million dollars to further expand its Virtual Manufacturing Platform.

Over the past year, Fictiv has used venture capital to:

  • Quadruple their worldwide network of manufacturing partners, bringing the number to over 200.
  • Expand manufacturing capabilities to support production volume for CNC, urethane casting, and injection molding.
  • Open new offices in Guangzhou, China to meet customer demands for production parts.

In addition, Fictiv is constantly developing new collaborative tools to drive efficiency into the manufacturing process and give engineers their time back. They recently rolled out their new Workspace app, where hardware teams can collaborate on projects, provide design feedback, resolve issues, and manage file revisions.

Fictiv’s vision from the beginning has been to democratize hardware development, which means improving access to manufacturing while reducing the time it takes to bring products to market. Their extensive customer list now includes Silicon Valley’s top product companies in the automotive, medical robotics, aerospace and consumer electronics markets. Read the full press release and contact Fictiv for a free quote today.

Fictiv: A vision that is catching startup investors’ attention

Tandon Group: Startup Investors with a Vision

At Tandon Group, we know it takes more than a good idea to make a startup succeed — it takes investors with a shared vision. If you have a vision and a startup seeking funding, reach out to us. Tandon Group is always looking for innovative new portfolio companies that need startup capital to grow. While we focus on the EMS, IT, wireless, defense, and consumer industries, we are open to hearing any promising company’s pitch. We hope to hear from you soon!

Tandon GroupFictiv: A Startup Funding Success Story

Quality and Success Through Progressive Workplace Empowerment

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Quality and Success Through Progressive Workplace Empowerment

  February 1, 2019

When we talk with OEM customer prospects about our world-class EMS facilities, the initial feedback we often receive is a wariness about India’s dubious quality standards. This stems from India’s long-held cultural reputation for chalta hai–loosely translated as “it’s okay” or settling for the status quo–often interpreted as inattention to detail. For nearly four decades, the Tandon Group has worked tirelessly to dispel that stereotype, providing top quality products at reasonable costs.

When M.L. Tandon returned to India in 1967 after completing his MBA at Santa Clara University, he spent six years as an engineering manager at IBM India, where he observed firsthand the day-to-day corporate efficiency and flawless quality which positioned “Big Blue” atop the global computer market. When he envisioned eventually starting his own electronics manufacturing company, he knew striving to meet those benchmarks would set his company far ahead of the rest of the pack.

When Tandon’s original Mumbai facility opened for business in 1978, the top priority would be establishing a pervasive company culture that would represent the absolute antithesis of chalta hai. As his workforce rapidly expanded, M.L.’s favorite slogan on the production floor was “Chalta hai, nehi!”–or, chalta hai is not okay! Quality meant constantly trying to improve upon the status quo. And the best way to inspire such continual progress was to instill a sense of empowerment in his workers–that this was more than just a 9-to-5 job, but their company. And the company’s success would reflect favorably upon their character as well.

Do it Differently, Doing It Better: Every Worker Matters

Tandon’s IBM model revered the value of the individual, rejecting the rigid British-inspired corporate structure that dominated most Indian companies. There were no separate lunchrooms for executives, managers, and employees. From the bottom upward, every role was recognized for its contribution to the overall organization.

When a line employee fell short in their tasks, it became their manager’s responsibility to improve communication and clear up misunderstandings rather than “crack the whip” with harsh discipline. M.L. Tandon was among the first top executives of an Indian company to maintain an open-door policy, allowing any employee to share ideas or voice concerns directly to him. Such progressive business practices were far ahead of their time in Indian culture–and they quickly brought about a noticeably different workplace.

True Commitment vs. “On the Clock”

From the Tandon factory, product shipments for international destinations had to be dropped off at the shipper’s facility no later than 4:00 pm every business day. M.L. observed his employees–thanks to their new-found empowerment–began skipping their breaks and lunchtimes in order to meet their daily shipping deadlines. Where other companies would literally drop everything and go home at quitting time, the Tandon workforce’s company pride and strong work ethic focused on doing whatever was necessary to get the job done right. At Tandon, chalta hai became little more than a quaint anachronism.

As the Tandon Group expanded into other electronics manufacturing, including power supplies, motors, and their landmark floppy drives, to their current state-of-the-art EMS facilities at Syrma Technology, M.L. Tandon’s original“Chalta hai, nehi!” philosophy has remained the cornerstone of their success.

Tandon GroupQuality and Success Through Progressive Workplace Empowerment

Portfolio Company Spotlight: Isharya & 3D Printing

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Portfolio Company Spotlight: Isharya & 3D Printing

  January 1, 2019
 

Many people argue that the most beautiful artwork in the world comes out of India. Indian art can trace its origins back over six thousand years and it’s impacted almost every major Eastern religion including Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. Indian artwork is universal because it addresses many different themes of human life. Energy, mindfulness and our place in the universe are all central themes in Indian artwork.

Indian art has been so enduring because it transcends beyond just visuals. It influences other areas of life including entertainment, spirituality, health, fashion, relationships, marriage, school, work, and even jewelry. In fact, “the Indian subcontinent has the longest continuous legacy of jewelry-making in the world, with a history of over 5,000 years.”  Such a long history must mean that humans all over the globe relate to the symbolism conveyed in Indian jewelry. [1]

Reimagining How Indian Jewelry is Made

Isharya, a company Tandon Group invested in, has become a leader in the high-end Indian fashion jewelry market. While Isharya has operated since 2004 and has achieved success, we believe it is poised to make even greater progress with the ongoing development of its 3D printed jewelry collection.

You can see actual 3D printing in action in Isharya’s short demo video here. It’s showcases lasers, gold, artwork, and amazing jewelry. (If you haven’t watched it yet, watch it now! Really, it’s worth it.)

Jewelry is a great candidate for 3D printing because it can lower the cost of production and get popular pieces into the hands of everyday people. In the near future, people will be able to replicate designs they love with cheaper material constituents and, therefore, be able to afford them.

Answering the Critics

While some people worry that the overall quality of jewelry might decline, there’s no need to worry. 3D printing has come a long way in the last 10 years. It’s now finally possible to create intricate, precise and beautiful pieces of jewelry from a wide variety of materials.

Indian traditionalists may argue that handcrafting jewelry is the right way to go but there are many limitations to what is physically possible. For one, the amount of time it takes to handmake jewelry means that prices must be inherently higher. Secondly, the complex job of soldering and joining pieces is no longer an issue with 3D printing.

Isharya’s founders Radhika and Gauri Tandon say that, after learning how the printing process works and comparing handmade to 3D printed jewelry, most people are amazed and appreciate it.  The artwork is no less beautiful and, in many cases, it’s greatly enhanced by the new capabilities.

A New Market for 3D Printing

While 3D printing is widely accepted in the western world, consumers in India are still becoming accustomed to it. Right now there’s a golden opportunity to expand Indian production by adopting 3D printing methods and using them to share Indian artwork and culture with the rest of the world. Isharya is doing exactly that and we are fully convinced that they will be even more successful in the future.

If you’d like to explore the different pieces Isharya has to offer then you can check out their website here.

If you’d like to become one of Tandon Group’s spotlight companies in the future, contact us.  We are always interested in finding and meeting innovative startup founders. Reach out and let’s see if we can build something amazing together!

Tandon GroupPortfolio Company Spotlight: Isharya & 3D Printing

Portfolio Company Spotlight: Fictiv

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Portfolio Company Spotlight: Fictiv

  December 1, 2018
 

Reinventing How Hardware Is Built

Fictiv is a distributed manufacturing company based in San Francisco, California. What exactly is distributed manufacturing? According to Wikipedia,”Distributed manufacturing, also known as distributed production, cloud producing and local manufacturing, is a form of decentralized manufacturing practiced by enterprises using a network of geographically dispersed manufacturing facilities that are coordinated using information technology.” Basically, it’s resourceful manufacturing.

Fictiv offers 3D printing, urethane casting and CNC machining services to companies all across the United States. One major benefit of distributed manufacturing is the fact that you can get machined parts in as little as a few hours/days as opposed to waiting weeks/months for overseas manufacturers.

Fictiv works wonderfully for smaller organizations because without the purchasing power of a large corporation its nearly impossible to find affordable manufacturers (or manufacturers that are willing to work on your project at all). By creating one of the strongest network of distributed manufacturers in America, Fictiv is able to offer its service to not only large enterprises but to startups and small/medium-sized businesses as well.

Fictiv is poised to help create the next generation of great American companies. New companies can now rapidly prototype, test and redesign parts for virtually unlimited products. If you’re a startup looking to manufacturer physical products, check out Fictiv today. It’s easy to get a free quote and you have nothing to lose. The cost of manufacturing your dream product may be less than you think.

Meet The Founders

Dave Evans

“As the co-founder and CEO of Fictiv, Dave Evans has been working to democratize manufacturing and give people better access to tools for building hardware. Whether you’re creating an automated food dispenser for your four-legged pal or making airfoils to send humans to Mars, Dave believes everyone should be empowered to build better hardware.” – LinkedIn

Nathan Evans

“Nate Evans is a designer, artist, and entrepreneur. As co-founder and Chief Experience Officer (CXO) at Fictiv he’s responsible for motivating and helping a talented team of creatives working to democratize manufacturing. When he’s not in a design review, kickoff meeting, or flipping pancakes for the team, you can find him backpacking with friends and studying the landscape for the perfect black and white shot with his film cameras.” – LinkedIn

If you’re a startup founder and you’d like to become one of Tandon Group’s investment portfolio companies, reach out to us. Tandon Group is always looking for innovative new companies that need capital to grow. While we focus on the EMS, IT, wireless, defense and consumer industries, we are open to hearing any promising company’s pitch. We hope to hear from you soon!

Tandon GroupPortfolio Company Spotlight: Fictiv

Portfolio Company Spotlight: Kin

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Portfolio Company Spotlight: Kin

  November 1, 2018
 

Home and property insurance has become increasingly complicated over the last few decades, which has led to abysmal consumer satisfaction ratings. In 1928, a home insurance policy was 3 pages. Today, it can be closer to 60 pages. Facts like that make it easy to see why the insurance industry has consumer satisfaction ratings similar to the U.S. Congress.

Simplifying Home Insurance By Making It More Accessible

Kin.com was formed to revolutionize home insurance and fix many of these issues. Offering new solutions in the insurance industry is hard because of legal “red tape” but it looks like Kin is well on its way to revolutionizing the entire industry. Recent natural disasters like Hurricane Harvey have proven that homeowners need the correct coverage now more than ever. Countless people needed flood coverage when they didn’t have it. Kin’s AI platform learns from tragedies like this so that people in vulnerable areas get the coverage they need. No other platform offers forward-looking protection like this.

According to Sean Harper, CEO of Kin, “94% of homeowners insurance is still sold through local brokers and agents but only 24% of people under the age of 40 actually want to buy that way, and these are the people who are now buying the most houses.” If Kin can follow through on its goals, and with its $4 million fundraising in 2017, property insurance could be changed for the better.

Key Advantages Of Using Kin.com

  • Artificial intelligence: Large amounts of historical data are available to homeowners but individual insurance agents simply aren’t capable of processing everything that’s out there. That’s where AI comes in. Kin’s AI platform crunches more data than any agent ever could, saving consumers the most money possible.
  • Cost savings: Kin has no costly agents spread throughout the country. Kin’s technology and in-house support staff make quoting, buying, and filing insurance claims a breeze. You can typically save 15-20% on your policy by simply saving on agent commissions.
  • Simplicity: Instead of studying a 50+ page insurance policy, Kin wants your coverage to be straightforward and understandable. With just an address, Kin can give you an accurate quote with no obligation.
  • Time savings: There’s no need to spend 20 or 30 minutes on the phone with an insurance agent. Using Kin, you can get a quote in only two clicks. By using readily available data online, through satellites, and real estate platforms like the MLS, Kin eliminates the need for consumers to fill out long, boring questionnaires.
  • Zero Hassles: If you’ve ever had your phone blown up by insurance salesman, you understand the frustration being on a call list can bring. Kin has done away with traditional call-center style selling and instead, actually helps its customers protect their property. With Kin, you never get trapped in an endless call list ever again.

Kin is currently available in Florida and Texas with more states on the way. You can check out Kin’s blog and learn about policies, see real world examples, and gain clarity and peace of mind knowing exactly what your policy covers.

Meet the Founders, Sean, Lucas & Sebastian

Sean Harper: Sean is the current CEO at Kin Insurance. Sean attended The University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, where he received his MBA. Before co-founding Kin, Sean started Feefighters, which was acquired by Groupon. – LinkedIn

Lucas Ward: Lucas is Kin’s CTO. He also attended the University of Chicago where he received a B.S. in Physics. “Lucas is a proven technology leader. As CTO of Fundspire he created a disruptive and innovative product in the Financial industry from the ground up.” – LinkedIn

Sebastian Villarreal: Sebastian leads product at Kin. He graduated from University of Chicago with a B.S. in Physics. “I’ve been a founder with one exit, a CEO, and a product manager. I like to build useful, simple, and beautiful products.” – LinkedIn

If you’re a startup founder and you’d like to become one of Tandon Group’s investment portfolio companies, reach out to us. Tandon Group is always looking for innovative new companies that need capital to grow. While we focus on consumer, EMS, healthcare, IT, defense, and wireless industries, we’re open to hearing any promising company pitch. We’d love to be your partner for the road ahead.

Tandon GroupPortfolio Company Spotlight: Kin

Portfolio Company Spotlight: Connected Yard

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Portfolio Company Spotlight: Connected Yard

  October 1, 2018
 

Imagine your pool notifies you when it needs to be cleaned, chemicals need to be added, or the temperature needs to be adjusted. It then automatically regulates itself, schedules a pool cleaning service and orders the needed chemicals – all saving you time and money on maintenance. Imagine beautiful green grass year-round, lower water bills and perfectly timed mowings. Now your lawn only waters itself when it needs it, thanks to smart sensors and rain data. Dead grass and over watering are a thing of the past. Imagine your entire yard – connected. That’s exactly what ConnectedYard is working on.

Reinventing Outdoor Home Care

ConnectedYard is the parent company to an innovative brand called pHin. pHin is reinventing pool and hot tub care with a Bluetooth-smart and WiFi-enabled sensor, a mobile app and pre-measured chemicals that take away any guesswork on the part of the owner. Their product works with all types of pools and has streamlined pool care for any and everybody.

Any homeowner knows home pools can get very gross when left unattended. Never before has it been so easy to get detailed reports of your pool or hot tub’s water chemistry. ConnectedYard’s award-winning technology is completely turn-key.

ConnectedYard’s ultimate vision is to transform how the modern outdoor home environment is maintained. Between pool care, lawn care, home exteriors, and lighting, ConnectedYard isn’t just building cool apps. They’re building amazing hardware too! pHin is the first product in a line of many that will transform your home forever. If you’d like to order your own pHin device go to www.phin.co and purchase yours today!

Meet The Founders, Justin & Mark

Justin Miller is the co-founder and CEO of ConnectedYard Inc., the makers of pHin. Justin is the former CEO of Plaxo Inc and President and founder of the Comcast Innovation Center in Silicon Valley. With experience in product development/management and user experience at eBay, both in the US and in Europe, Justin also led human interface designs at Apple, designing the desktop and networking user experience for macOS. Justin has an MA in Human-Computer Interaction from Rice University and a BA in Psychology from Rutgers University. – LinkedIn

Mark Janes is the co-founder and COO of ConnectedYard Inc., the makers of pHin.
Mark is a leader in the interactive media, start-up, and tech industries. He has a proven track record of successfully building companies, launching products internationally, and managing the operations, sales and marketing teams of a wide range of successful companies. Mark has an MA in Interactive Media from Southampton University, UK. – LinkedIn

If you’re a startup founder and you’re interested in becoming one of Tandon Group’s investment portfolio companies, reach out to us. We’re always looking for innovative new companies that need capital to grow. We hope to hear from you soon!

Tandon GroupPortfolio Company Spotlight: Connected Yard

Why Founders Should Focus on People Just as Much as Technology

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Why Founders Should Focus on People Just as Much as Technology

  September 1, 2018
 

Tandon Magnetics used to host an annual exhibition featuring art created by employees. One year, a female employee made a picture of a sick man lying on a cot. He was surrounded by three children sitting on the floor with an empty platter. The words on the picture said “I wish I had a son,” implying that a son could probably earn some money by doing odd jobs. The employee displayed another picture next to it that showed the man and children happy and with plenty of food. The words on the second picture said: “I don’t need a son because my daughter works at Tandon.”

Tandon became the largest employer of women in India’s tech sector from 1984 to 2000 after the founder, M.L. Tandon, lobbied the Indian High Court to allow women in the technology industry the right to work at night. He says that seeing his employee’s artwork and knowing that his companies have been able to change people’s lives deeply impacts him to this day.

Respect Every Employee

“Respect for the individual” has been the cornerstone of Tandon since its origins. It’s a philosophy M.L. Tandon adopted from his time with IBM and implemented when Tandon Magnetics opened its first plant in the 1970s. This simple idea was uncommon in India at the time. With the British system in India, workers were treated differently than managers. For example, some companies had three canteens: one for workers, one for managers, and one for directors. Tandon has always had an open-door policy where any employee with any problem could speak directly with him and get his help.

“I learned from IBM that no matter how big or small the job is, the individual is important because she’s making her contribution,” Tandon says. “It’s not what your job is, it’s how you do your job.”

Communication and Collaboration

“For me, quality means continuous improvement and the best way to accomplish that is to instill a sense of empowerment and respect at all levels,” he says. “I want my workers to feel like Tandon is just as much their company as it’s mine.”

For today’s startup founders, social innovation isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s a key marker of success. Developing technology is no longer enough in today’s marketplace. The founders who foster communication, collaboration, and respect for individuals, in addition to creating technical innovations that improve people’s lives, are the ones whose companies will have the greatest potential to grow.

Tandon GroupWhy Founders Should Focus on People Just as Much as Technology

Top 6 Quotes from Indian Entrepreneurs

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Top 6 Quotes from Indian Entrepreneurs

  September 1, 2018
 

Advice and wisdom from entrepreneurs who’ve accomplished what you want to accomplish can be invaluable. Their experience can help you avoid major pitfalls and mistakes most young entrepreneurs make. One of the entrepreneurs on this list is actually a founder that we’ve invested in at the Tandon group. We can vouch for the fact that his advice is sound, and necessary, to build a successful startup.

Here are our top 6 quotes from Indian entrepreneurs on how to be successful in starting a company:

 “If you fully accept the worst that can ever happen in your journey, fear won’t ever be an obstacle in starting-up.” – Kunal Shah, FreeCharge

Freecharge is actually a company we invested in (a co-founder of the company is also an owner of Tandan Group). You can see their profile on our business page. Kunal Shah gives us an insightful piece of wisdom with his words about accepting fear. Every entrepreneur that we have ever worked with experiences fear on some level. The highest-performing entrepreneurs accept that fear and don’t let it hinder their performance. In business, as in life, fear means you are pushing the boundaries of your comfort zone. As the popular saying goes, “if you want to accomplish something you’ve never done before, you have to start doing things you’ve never done before.” Doing new and unfamiliar things is almost certain to bring fear.

“Ideas are no one’s monopoly. Think big, think fast, think ahead.” – Dhirubhai Ambani, Reliance Industries

It’s important to remember that ideas are unlimited. No matter who you are, where you come from, or what you’ve done before in business, anyone can come up with the next breakthrough idea. Where you separate yourself and become a true entrepreneur, is when you execute on those big ideas. If you’re stuck in the “idea phase,” you need to first realize that all great ideas are thought up by people no smarter than yourself. Everyone (even you) has their own area of expertise and that is where you want to focus your efforts on finding your next startup idea.

“The trench is as much a part of growth and expansion as the peak is. Hitting the bottom before you succeed is almost a rite of passage.” – Dr. Ashwin Naik, Vaatsalya Healthcare

In our experience, there are virtually no entrepreneurs who achieved success who, at one point, did not narrowly avoid failure. Tesla, Freecharge, Virgin Group, Airbnb, Uber, and almost every great startup you’ve heard of, didn’t know for sure if they were going to make it or not. Pushing through periods of uncertainty and potential failure are always going to be necessary if you want to reach success. Most people quit at the first sign of potential failure. You should view this as a good thing because this is where you can separate yourself from the 99% of other “wantrepreneurs” who give up when it gets hard. If you can make it through this, you will almost certainly meet with success.

“Don’t be a jerk. Even if you are brilliant, don’t be a brilliant jerk.” – Girish Mathrubootham, Freshdesk

Many startup founders get infatuated when hearing stories about founders like Steve Jobs. It’s no secret that many people viewed him as an inconsiderate leader. We agree that in order to start and build a company you have to be steadfast in your beliefs but there’s a fine line between being certain about your decisions and being a jerk to the people around you. Sometimes you’ll need to be forceful and convince people to follow your vision but other times you need to know how to be compassionate and see problems from other people’s point-of-view. Being a leader is always a delicate balance between keeping your team cohesive and leading them toward your vision.

“You cannot get into business for the fashion of it.” – Azim Premji, Wipro

It’s no secret that in this day-and-age being an entrepreneur is popular. What most people fail to realize is that, behind the popularity and fan fair entrepreneurs receive, there are hours, weeks, months and years of hard work that no one sees or appreciates. Most entrepreneurs forgo security and comfort to build their dream. Everyone likes to celebrate a successful entrepreneur (after they’ve “made it”) but rarely do they think about the hardships that preceded the success.

“Stay focused on effectively solving customer’s problems. The money will come.” – Nikesh Arora, SoftBank

If you read our blog post on the most common issues we see in startups today you’ll notice that the most common issue we see is companies that don’t solve a problem or address a real need. Nikesh Arora was the highest-paid executive in the world at SoftBank Corp so if there’s anybody we want to listen to about making money, it might be him. Our experience mirrors his quote because all of our successful investments were centered around companies that solved a real problem.

If you’re a startup founder looking for funding, the Tandon Group might be a great partner. As we’ve said in this post, we’ve helped startups go from initial founding to hundreds of millions of dollars in valuation.  We’d love to help your startup be the next big success. If you want to set up an investment meeting, please contact us on our website. We look forward to being your partner for the road ahead.

Tandon GroupTop 6 Quotes from Indian Entrepreneurs