A Start-Up Based Learning in the First Term

A start-up based learning in the first term

During the first term, our Marketing Management professor gave us a project work – to setup a business with an initial investment of not more than INR 1250 and to run it successfully using the marketing concepts taught in class.

The class was divided into groups of 5 members each. The first step of starting any business is to identify the needs existing in target market and conduct an initial market research to validate your hypothesis on the scale of need and potential revenue that can be generated.

The groups came up with ideas like selling presentation templates, late night hot soups, sports-wear (dry t-shirts), door delivery of grocery etc. Being in a tier two city with challenging facilities meant that providing for even the elementary desires like fast food proved to be a profitable venture.

My group decided to set-up a venture that can be viewed as a ‘going concern’. We wanted to experience the actual challenges faced by a start-up, by sustaining the business for a longer period of time - not merely viewing it as a project which is limited to first term of MBA. Hence the need to be addressed had to be constant and recurring.

We then came up with the idea of providing clothes ironing services. There was a certain need for ironing the clothes as in our campus we had facilities for washing the clothes but students had to iron their clothes themselves. Life at any IIM is known for its rigour and deadlines. In the midst of things, students do not find time for chores like ironing their clothes. Hence we capitalized on this and went ahead testing our hypothesis by carrying out a market research in our campus. The results from the research confirmed our assumption and we saw a huge opportunity untapped.

We then started to look for potential vendors for ironing. We had to put into use our negotiation skills in setting up the operating terms and conditions with the vendors and finally the most important negotiation of contracting the price. Next step was to give the venture an identity. We named our start up – ‘Radiance’, with the tagline – “Dress to Impress”.

After vendor selection and naming the venture, it was now the time to market our service offering at the campus. We took the traditional approach of mass marketing by installing posters in the hostel campus at strategic locations and also the modern digital approach by promoting the