10 Takes From Bhavin Turakhia On Tech
A lot many have those teeny-weeny trysts with entrepreneurship at an early age, or might have that one moment of glory but thereafter they are nowhere to be seen. However, that’s not how the success story of the Turakhia brothers unfolds. They did it not just once or twice but many times becoming serial entrepreneurs and that too without any external funding. The world took notice when both the brothers sold their businesses at deals unheard of and making money in the internet domain. Here’s more from one of the Turakhia brother, Bhavin and his takes on tech and entrepreneurship:
1. Find your passion early on: The inception of the company started from my childhood days. I realized my passion in those days. I used to stay confined to computer room.
2. Seek the partner incrime: I was 17 and my brother was 15 when we started the business. We used to dabble in consulting contracts and do networking for people.
3. A family to fall back on: My father had been a major driving force, he used to encourage me. He was very supportive throughout my journey.
4. Build it the bootstrap way: Every few months, we start a new business. We take them to a point where they turn self-sustainable. Most of the investments come from the profits we make from our various businesses.
5. Know in and out of the business: Before I start a company, 8-12 months before that I am in study mode. I know every player, competition, revenue model, various verticals that exist, where are the gaps, what are problems that consumers face. Legal stuff, regulatory, taxation, countries, market size, everything.
6. On being a serial entrepreneur: I don’t have to start everything from scratch. Because I have all the fundamentals in place it gives me support to have multiple startups at one point of time. I built 11 companies.
7. Build value, not valuation: We do not have a single business where we heavily discount our product or we give cash back and money to the customer to use. If I have to give money to my customer to use my product then my product doesn’t have value.
8. Find your customers: Akshay Raheja was my school friend. Some class friends and their dads formed initial clients.
9. Read it to know it: My father invested a lot in books. I had read 30-40 books on programming.
10. Have Fun: There is not much fun in running alone. I know there are other people trying to solve similar problems at the spectrum. Each of our business has reached amongst the top five in the world.
(This article first appeared in the Indian edition of Entrepreneur magazine (September 2016 Issue)
