Open Coffee Club Delhi Meeting - July Edition Vol.1

Yesterday, I attended Open Coffee Club Delhi July edition meeting. The meeting saw bunch of aspiring & emerging entrepreneurs sharing their ideas on different issues. The energy level of guys at Cafe Coffee Day was quite encouraging,despite of loud music,which was reduced to some extent after request. I would try to summarize some of the key-points:

1. Office Space for Startups : With rising cost of infrastructure in metros,getting a space for startups is a big problem. Another problem is due to small team-size, since most of the available places start from 600-700 Sq. ft. which can easily accommodate 6-8 people. The cost of such a place may range from anywhere from Rs. 30,000-80,000 depending on location. Let me give you some specifics, Rate in Noida (sec -16) is Rs.50-75 per sq.ft. while in Gurgaon is Rs. 80-120. Even if we take lowest figures i.e. Rs. 30,000 for a team of 2 the cost per seat would be Rs. 15000. The numbers are not at all attractive for any early-stage startups. Now let me tell you some options in NCR (National Capital Region).

a. NSIC, Okhla, New Delhi : They have an incubation center, where you can get a cubicle for 3 @Rs.10,000 with internet connection. They do have shared conference room for meetings. Here your per seat burn-rate would be close to Rs. 3,500. More For specific details you can contact Avinash, Founder of RouteGuru.
b. JSS Noida, Incubation center : They have an incubation center, where you can get a place for 2@Rs. 5,000-6,000 with all supporting infrastructure. Contact : Mr. Raunak Mustaffa
Email:itbi@jssstepnoida.org Tel:91-120-240115 Extn:268
c. The other option is Amity Incubator in Sec-125,Noida. Contact : Apoorv R. Sharma - Tel No. 0120-4659000, 4392243,E-mail : info@aii.amity.edu .
d. CDAC Incubator : The facility is quite good at reasonable cost. They charge something between 20,000-25,000 Rs. for 8-10 people desk-space. All supporting infrastructure is also present there.
The other option is to form a group of 6-8 people from 2-3 emerging startups and share the infrastructure cost. This way your cost per seat may go down to upto Rs. 3500-4000 which is decent. Even people running their businesses in NCR with bigger facilities can think of sharing their infrastrucre on rent. Any takers?

2. Venturing into New Areas: One of the participant was working for UNICEF for last few years. Now after deeper introspection, he realized that he should come back to corporate world. Which areas he should focus on?

a. Leveraging past domain expertise always helps you to grow faster. It was suggested that he should try to explore opportunities where he can leverage his knowledge of not-for-profit sector. There are special initiatives like Driving Simulation School, Training Schools for Security Guards, IITians for ITI, Reach 4 India which can be explored. These initiatives provide right exposure to business & social aspects.
b. He can come-up with some good initiatives which can be pitched within UNICEF or any other organization working in similar areas. The initiative can take him away from purely social-work to business related work.After all the experience which he has gained should be utilized properly.

There are a lot of other points like cost-cutting strategy by hiring right people, e-commerce proliferation,customized application packages for SME's which I would cover in the next blog. After all, its good learning experience when bunch of creative minds sit together.