We have been trying to unearth startups brewing in colleges across India and across the world.
In our quest, we came across String Theory – a college startup which provides on-campus service for apparel & article needs (both designing & doorstep-supply), ranging from college tee-shirts, batch tee-shirts, daily sweats, mugs to complete apparel & printing solutions for college fests & other meets.
The founders of String Theory, Piyush Poddar and Ankit Gupta are both 3rd year students of RVCE, Bangalore. We had a small chat with Piyush. Here’s a part of it:
Why entrepreneurship? Walk us through the inception phase of the startup, how it all began.
Descending from an entrepreneurial bent lineage, I’ve always believed, ‘the best person you could ever work for is yourself.’
Our eco-system seems to have been tailor made to get us through the four years in complete discipline (Read: 85% attendance, no cell phones, 5 minutes too late for a class means 55 minutes too early for the next) & right into a suit (if we are not mass recruited i.e.) at a suave office some place uptown where we could be an ideal employee under a nagging employer who would pay us (hopefully) a decent salary for our services.
I found this bargain to be uncomforting & decided to pursue something of my own.
That’s quite insightful, so how did you reason out your move?
I practically & carefully, weighed the pros & the cons of starting up against playing by the rules:
Pros
- I would be putting theory to practice thereby making college the learning experience it ought to be.
- It would make it so much more easier for me to get into an Ivy league institution for that famed course in business. Yes, entrepreneurs are respected world over!
- Even if in course of time, I decide to switch lanes & take up a job, the grilling I would under go while starting up will always come handy & it would anyway do wonders for my resume.
- It’d supplement my pocket money, & most importantly, it will instill in me the confidence & spirit of a self made man.
Cons
- I would have to put in much effort that would take away all the extra time I have which could rather be utilised, let’s just say, in a more amusing & spirited way. Though, in time I realised that it was just the contrary & the last few months that we have worked on String Theory, have been the most vibrant, cheerful & rewarding times.
Tell us about your founding team, how you came together and decided this is what you would like to work on?
Fortunately, I wasn’t the only one battling with the above mentioned emotions. Discussing it aloud with my friends, I ,Piyush and Ankit with the String Theory Merchandise
found the perfect comrade in my friend Ankit.
String Theory as a concept hit us while we were sitting making inconsequential conversation over coffee. It miraculously checked into all the parameters that we had laid down in our minds for it to be a viable start-up, the most important of them being scalability.
The first few months were onerous but eventful, working on the necessities, making the business plan (most important), identifying sources of revenue, obtaining permissions, carrying out negotiations, beating out deals, etc. We had never worked so hard, every new keynote, every new thought, every new campaign, every new print ad, all of it was carefully prepared & the joy of it all coming to life is beyond words.
Who all are your clients at the moment? Any turnover figures you’d like to share.
We have added to our list of distinguished clientele, (besides RVCE) the likes of IIT Roorkee, IIIT Hyderabad, MSRIT Bangalore, and BIT Bangalore.
Number wise, we have had a turnover of over 1.5 lacs (in just 60 odd days), but the more valuable yet undermined are the intangible benefits that we have derived from it – a heavily bolstered confidence, towering respect in the circles, amazing networking opportunities & an exceptional learning experience.
Was there support from your college especially the authorities and management ?
Contrary to our conviction, the top brass of our college management now supports us extensively at all levels.
What is your future plan?
In the dynamic times we live in, future plans are ever-changing with new possibilities opening up every day hence we at String Theory make short term plans and strive hard to achieve it.
Our short term plan as it stands :-
- Have active ground operations in 4 institutions by the end of this year & increase it to a strong 10 in a years time from now.
- Deliver on our promise of end-to-end colligating solutions by increasing our product range at our client institutions.
- Developing the E-Commerce side of our business so that the alumnus of institutions can avail are offerings no matter where they are put up.
- Perfect our supply chain for an improved customer experience.
Tips for other college startups
Have a definite aim & vision for your startup, chart out the path towards achieving them with timelines & strive hard to keep up with them.
A big challenge that every college startup faces is to balance both work & academics in the limited time one gets, failing which both aspects suffer & opportunities are lost. Every opportunity lost can make a world of difference to your business. I would advice them to address this challenge by working towards forming a strong team & structuring it well from day 1 so that responsibilities are well distributed & business does not suffer due to academics & vice versa.
There are various bodies (eg. National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN)) which have a vast pool of resources & are dedicated towards supporting & facilitating student Entrepreneurs. They hold regular workshops which polish you & help you develop a sustainable business model, attending them is a tremendous value add (it was for us).
We think having a college startup is an experience totally different and helps one to realise the different dimensions in life. It also helps one to get a head start and have real life experiences in many fields. And, if you’re really lucky like Zuckerberg, you may be onto the game of your life.
Why should you start up in college? The best answer as Piyush puts it is:
It’s better to own the race course than be a race horse.
