On a Fast lane

The second quarter of MBA brought with it its fair share of surprises, a quiz in the very first week and tons of case studies. A pleasant break from all the academics came in the form of the third MILS lecture of the series. It was a pleasure listening to Mr. Mohit Dubey talk about his entrepreneurial journey. Mr. Mohit Dubey, an alumnus of Sainik School Rewa and a management graduate from Goa University, interacted with us,the students of DoMS IITM, on how to start a start-up. Mohit is a successful entrepreneur who co-founded and is currently working as the CEO of Carwale.com, the leading online auto destination. Taking examples from his own life experiences he walked us through the different emotions and high and lows involved in building a company from scratch. Mohit, ‘an entrepreneur by accident’ started off in the domain of telemedicine. Initially he tried his hands at many things, and his first partnership lasted half a day. After that he worked with a software company, during which he was introduced to a leading used car dealership in Mumbai, again, quite by accident. The dealer wanted to get a used-car inventory management software. Mohit convinced them to give him the opportunity. While developing the software, Mohit tried to understand the used cars business inside out and he,along with his team, developed a customized application which later became a standard pr
oduct and was named ‘Trading Cars’. This experience gave him insights into used cars business and he realized that the process of buying used cars was not a smooth and satisfying experience for consumers. This sparked the beginning of Carwale.com. Carwale.com is an inspiring example of how ordinary people, with their combined efforts achieve success. Mohit preached that all that is needed to create a successful venture is a purpose. Everything else just fits if you are willing to go that extra mile or two. He also told that one of the biggest challenges in startups is that of funding. He, from his own experiences, said that getting funding is the most time consuming and difficult task and time invested in raising money is time spent away from real business. Another problem that he faced was that of attracting and retaining the right talent. He advised us to value commitment over competence and always hire people who fit into the culture of the firm. The audience was clinging on to every word of advice he delivered. In all, it was really inspiring to listen to him and I am positive that after this many of us would want to follow his footsteps and start our own startup.

Courtesy
Vaibhav Kapur
Class of 2014

Photo Courtesy:
Vinod Ellamaraju
Class of 2014