Saumil Majmudar, Co-founder & MD of EduSports, a Startup providing children with a holistic Physical Education & Sports program at schools. His other ventures are Learn@Home (a computer training venture) and Qsupport (a remote tech support business). Saumil holds an MBA, Marketing & Finance from IIM Bangalore and BTech, Metallurgy from IIT Bombay.
Saumil Majmudar’s session – “My Entrepreneurial Journey – Edusports – Laws of Play” was a crisp articulation in 10 simple laws, inspired by observing children. :
1) You play with whatever you have
2) You choose the game, you make the rules
3) The more you play, the less you get tired
4) The more fluid the game, lesser the captain matters
5) More scars = more fun = more learning
6) The more you play the more you win
7) You need just one big win
8) Respect the heroes don’t copy them
9) Mastery requires practice. Lots of it
10)The game never ends.
Here are the Lounge47 key take aways :
1. Fun: happens when you are a) fully engaged b) connected with the group c) pushed to the limit
2. Passion: a) clarify realm – hobby or work? Apply appropriate rules b) start to play, explore c) passion without investment of time does not sustain d) find purpose
3. Self: a) allow internal churn to settle without force b) results may not be logical c) don’t overvalue knowledge and logic and undervalue intuition d) find an everyday source of positive energy
4. Persistence: a) resolve to stay the course whatever happens b) build both financial and mental stamina
5. Team:a) good teams require less of the captain b) Investors invest in teams
6. Pressure: unecessary deadlines (e.g IPO) force behavior. Free yourself from them
7. Advise: a) question advise no matter who gives it b) establish relevance to your circumstances before acting on it
8. ‘Liability of Origin’: be aware. What you value positively – your degree, experience – may be perceived differently by others
9. Bootstrapping: stages : idea -idea & team – product and/service -users willing to try-customers-profits. The further you are down this axis without investment, the more attractive your startup
10. Funding: a) earlier is a choice, sometimes a necessity b) dilution now is a given. Accept this b) other option, organic growth, can be slow c) investment sometimes demands a directional change, impacting the DNA of the company d) funding can become a surrogate for survival. Beware
11. Strategy: a) build assets not only profit e.g. reputation, customer and vendor relationships, trust b) the ‘winner take it all’ model provides scale but has inherent risk c) profitability before scalability is a more prudent approach d) Define the canvas broad so you have more playground and more degrees of freedom
12. Market: a) you may be ready and blazing to go but the market is not b) the market wave will happen when it happens c) the market does not give a dam which college you went to
13. Failure: a) no scars, no learning b) scars show investors your commitment c) make new mistakes not old d) a cash flow problem is a cash flow problem, nothing more e) one big win erases past failure.
In summary, play to play, not to win. Have fun.
