Decoding Entrepreneurship: From Pain Points to Profit | Jyoti Bharadwaj | TEDxDFBEDU

Summary

In this insightful talk, the speaker, Ji Bage, founder of the unsweetened beverage brand 'tfit', shares her entrepreneurial journey and challenges. She emphasizes the importance of identifying a genuine opportunity or purpose, the role of personal life choices, particularly marriage, in business success, and the value of mentorship. Bage advises against seeking funds too early, urging instead to build a product with a clear market fit. She stresses the long-term nature of entrepreneurship, the need to listen to customers, and the importance of maintaining a brand's core values even as it scales.

Takeaways

• 😀 The speaker, Jibage, emphasizes the hardships of entrepreneurship, including long hours, low pay, and the burden of responsibility.
• 🤔 Entrepreneurship is not for everyone, and it's important to understand the personal sacrifices and challenges involved.
• 🔍 There are two types of founders: opportunity spotters and problem solvers, with the latter often having a higher chance of enduring the tough journey due to their strong purpose.
• 🏠 Jibage's personal story of founding T highlights the importance of addressing a personal pain point and the desire to create a healthier option in the market.
• 💡 The importance of creating a niche and sticking to it is underscored, as it helps in building brand identity and consumer loyalty, especially when resources are limited.
• 👫 The choice of life partner is crucial for entrepreneurs, as support at home can significantly impact the success of the business venture.
• 🚫 Raising funds too early can be detrimental; instead, focus on building a product and achieving product-market fit with initial customers.
• 📈 The value of mentorship from those slightly ahead in the entrepreneurial journey, as they can provide relevant and recent insights into common challenges.
• 🎯 Commitment to the long-term vision is essential; entrepreneurship is a marathon, not a sprint, and requires perseverance through tough times.
• 💼 Practical business knowledge, such as understanding cash flow and operations, is more valuable than theoretical knowledge from an MBA.
• 🔄 Entrepreneurs must be adaptable and listen to customer feedback, as the business may evolve into something different from the initial idea, based on customer needs and preferences.
• 💌 Maintaining the brand's core values and identity is vital even as the business scales, to ensure consistency in the customer experience and brand perception.

Q & A

What was the speaker's role at Housing.com?

The speaker was the business head at Housing.com, not a product manager as might have been assumed.

What is the name of the brand the speaker runs?

The speaker runs an unsweetened beverage brand called 'T'.

Why did the speaker start the brand 'T'?

The speaker started 'T' because they come from a diabetic household and struggled to find a good enough beverage that was not packed with sugar.

What is the speaker's view on the hours and pay of starting a startup?

The speaker believes that the hours for a startup are brutal, and the pay is poor for a long time until the business becomes successful.

What are the two kinds of founders the speaker identifies?

The speaker identifies two kinds of founders: those who spot an opportunity in the market and those who have faced a pain point and decide to solve it themselves.

Why does the speaker believe the second kind of founders are more likely to survive the journey of running a business?

The speaker believes the second kind of founders are more likely to survive because their larger purpose in starting the business keeps them going during tough times.

What advice does the speaker give about raising funds for a startup?

The speaker advises against raising funds too soon and suggests building a product and achieving product-market fit with some traction before seeking investment.

What is the importance of choosing the right spouse according to the speaker?

The speaker emphasizes that choosing the right spouse is critical for an entrepreneur because it can significantly impact the success of their business journey.

What is the speaker's perspective on the role of mentors in an entrepreneur's journey?

The speaker suggests that mentors who are a little ahead in the business journey are more beneficial than those who are too far ahead or not in the same field.

What does the speaker suggest is the most important aspect of building a business?

The speaker suggests that understanding how money moves in the business, including cash flow and operations, is crucial for building a successful business.

How does the speaker describe the importance of staying true to the brand's DNA as it scales?

The speaker stresses the importance of maintaining the brand's DNA and signature, such as handwritten letters with orders, even as the business grows to preserve its identity.

What is the speaker's advice on listening to customers for business direction?

The speaker advises entrepreneurs to regularly communicate with their first 500 customers to understand their needs and adjust the business accordingly.

What does the speaker mean when they say 'you are not building the business you think you're in'?

The speaker means that entrepreneurs should be prepared to adapt their business to what the customers want, rather than being rigidly attached to their initial vision.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 Entrepreneurship: Passion and the Pain Points

The speaker, Ji Bage, introduces herself as the founder of a brand called 'def' and a mother of two. She addresses an MBA class, inquiring about their entrepreneurial aspirations and candidly discusses the harsh realities of entrepreneurship, such as long hours, poor pay, and the immense responsibility that comes with it. Ji differentiates between two types of founders: opportunity spotters and those driven by personal pain points. She emphasizes the importance of having a larger purpose to sustain through tough times in business, sharing her own story of founding 'T' due to the lack of healthy beverage options in the market, highlighting the significance of creating a niche and sticking to it.

05:01

🤝 Building a Legacy: The Role of Relationships and Mentorship

Ji Bage stresses the importance of understanding that entrepreneurship is a long-term commitment and not a short sprint. She advises against seeking funds too early, instead advocating for building a prototype with personal resources and gaining initial traction with customers to validate the product-market fit. Ji also discusses the critical role of mentorship, recommending finding mentors who are slightly ahead in the entrepreneurial journey to provide relevant guidance. She warns against the temptation of raising funds without a clear plan and emphasizes the importance of personal life decisions, particularly choosing the right life partner, as it can significantly impact one's entrepreneurial journey.

10:01

🛠 The Entrepreneurial Journey: Learning and Adapting

The speaker shares insights on the long-term nature of building a business, stating that success is not achieved in just a few years and that having a backup plan can be detrimental to creating a lasting legacy. Ji emphasizes the importance of being fully committed to the entrepreneurial journey, learning through experience, and understanding the practical aspects of business such as cash flow and inventory management. She also highlights the value of staying connected with customers, as their feedback can significantly influence the direction of the business, using her own experience with 'tfit' to illustrate how customer preferences shaped the product offerings.

15:03

🌟 Preserving Brand Identity: The Essence of Entrepreneurship

In the final paragraph, Ji Bage discusses the evolution of a business and the importance of maintaining the brand's core identity despite changes in the business model. She advises entrepreneurs to listen to their first 500 customers and adapt to their needs while staying true to the brand's original vision. Ji shares her personal experience of how customer feedback led to changes in product size and the introduction of new product lines. She concludes by emphasizing the importance of keeping the brand's DNA intact as it scales, using the example of her company's continued practice of sending handwritten letters to customers as a reflection of their brand identity.

Keywords

💡Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is an individual who creates a new business, bearing most of the risks and enjoying most of the rewards. In the video, the speaker discusses the challenges and motivations of becoming an entrepreneur, emphasizing the importance of identifying a market opportunity or solving a personal pain point as key drivers.

💡Opportunity

Opportunity refers to a favorable set of circumstances that allows for a business to be successful. The speaker mentions that one type of entrepreneur enters a business by spotting an opportunity in the market where they believe they can make a profit.

💡Pain Point

A pain point is a problem or difficulty that a customer faces and is willing to pay to solve. The speaker describes how entrepreneurs who have personally experienced a pain point are often motivated to start a business to address that specific issue, using their own experience as a foundation for their business idea.

💡Bootstrapped

Bootstrapping refers to starting and growing a business with limited resources and without external funding. The speaker talks about the difficulty of creating a brand from scratch while bootstrapped, which means relying on personal resources and ingenuity to build the business.

💡Product Market Fit

Product Market Fit is the degree to which a product satisfies a market demand and is adopted by customers. The speaker emphasizes the importance of achieving product market fit before scaling a business, as it is a critical validation for a founder and helps in understanding whether the product meets customer needs.

💡Niche

A niche is a specialized segment of the market that has particular preferences or needs. The speaker discusses the importance of finding and sticking to a niche, such as creating an unsweetened beverage brand, to establish a unique position in the market and build customer loyalty.

💡Mentorship

Mentorship is a relationship in which a more experienced person (mentor) guides and supports the development of a less experienced person (mentee). The speaker advises seeking mentorship from individuals who are slightly ahead in the entrepreneurial journey, as they can provide relevant and practical advice.

💡Legacy Brands

Legacy brands are established, well-known brands that have a long history and a strong reputation. The speaker mentions that creating legacy brands is a long-term endeavor that requires patience and perseverance, and it's not something that can be achieved quickly.

💡Fundraising

Fundraising in the context of business refers to the process of acquiring capital from investors. The speaker warns against raising funds too soon, as it can lead to businesses failing due to a lack of direction or misuse of funds, rather than a lack of capital.

💡Customer Feedback

Customer feedback is information received from customers about a company's products or services. The speaker highlights the importance of actively seeking and incorporating customer feedback to adapt and evolve the business to meet customer needs and preferences.

💡Brand DNA

Brand DNA refers to the core values, beliefs, and unique characteristics that define a brand. The speaker emphasizes the importance of maintaining the brand's DNA as the business grows and scales, ensuring that the original vision and identity of the brand are preserved.

Highlights

Introduction of speaker Ji Bage as the business head at Housing.com and founder of an unsweetened beverage brand called T.

The candid admission of the brutal hours and poor pay involved in starting a business.

The importance of having a larger purpose to keep going during tough times in business.

Two types of founders: opportunity spotters and pain-point solvers.

Personal story of Ji Bage starting T due to a need for healthier beverage options in a diabetic household.

The vision of T to be as accessible as a can of cola for customers to have real choice.

Challenges of creating a brand from scratch in the consumer packaged goods industry.

The decision to stay true to the unsweetened niche despite market temptations.

The significance of building a prototype and getting the first few customers for validation.

The importance of choosing the right mentor who is slightly ahead in the entrepreneurial journey.

The long-term commitment required for entrepreneurship and its impact on personal life decisions.

The advice against raising funds too early and the focus on creating product-market fit first.

The value of understanding cash flow and operational aspects of business from personal experience.

The evolution of a business based on customer feedback rather than the founder's initial vision.

The example of changing bottle sizes for T based on customer preferences.

The importance of maintaining brand DNA and signature practices even as the business scales.

The five key takeaways for decoding entrepreneurship: purpose, personal life decisions, product-market fit, long-term commitment, and customer-centric business evolution.

Transcripts

[Music]

so before thank you for the lovely

introduction although I can't quote to

save my life I was the business head at

housing.com and not a product manager um

so my name is ji bage I run in gu first

unsweeten BB brand called def I'm also a

mother to two young boys and uh I see

that this is an MBA class right

how many of you want to become

entrepreneurs when you

graduate honest admission how many of

you have thought that I should do

something of my my own I should have my

own

startup okay so no same person in their

sound logical mind should ever want to

start up because the hours are brutal

the pay is crap sorry for the what

you're poor for a really really really

long time uh until you hit it big if you

hit it big and the buck stops with

you which is not always a good thing if

something goes wrong and which goes

wrong on an everyday basis there 10

things going wrong and everything comes

and stops with you it's not a fun job

yet so many of us want to become

entrepreneur URS why do we want to

become

[Music]

entrepreneurs so I'll record this today

with you and do participate actively

okay so my understanding says that there

are two kinds of Founders or two kinds

of people who who kind of get into

business one who spots an opportunity

who says this looks like a wi space in

the market I feel like this is where I

can make money and then they jump in

they

execute they kill it they make a lot of

money they get out the second kind of

Founders are the ones who have faced a

pain point for a while um like probably

babish sharal Viola maybe he was really

struggling to get a cab for a really

long time um and so they have not been

able to find a good solution for a

problem that's been bugging them for a

long time and then they say fine I will

do it myself those are the kind of

Founders who in my

understanding

survive the difficult arduous journey of

running a business because when times

are low and 90% of the times are tough

times in running a business your larger

purpose on why you started this is what

keeps you going I'll give you a little

example from my own journey I started T

because I come from a diabetic household

I could never find a good enough

beverage or I just stayed away from a

beverage a whenever I would go to a

supermarket I would just stay away from

the bage knowing fully well that there

are drinks only in three categories that

are going to be there either there will

be a host of poas or there will be a

host of energy drinks or quote unquote

fruit based beverages all of them

equally jampacked with

sugar uh it's when I went to Japan that

I UND OD that not only is it possible to

create perfectly flavorful beverage it's

also in order to create a healthy

Society you have to make good products

available as easily you have to make

them accessible as easily as a bad

product is so today if somebody says

what's your dream for tfit like what's

that big moonshot it's not that I want

to be a unicorn it's not that the brand

has to be in 500 uh locations I just

want it to be placed everywhere a can of

KOA is because that's when real choice

is given to the customers that's a

little bit about how I started um it's

not been an easy ride um especially in

cpg uh in consumer package Goods

industry it's very difficult to create a

brand from scratch while you're

bootstrapped but staying true to your

story creating a niche for yourself um

really really helps in our case uh we

stuck by the N of unsweetened we had so

many Temptations to do a mango bed

beverage especially after Shar can if we

had done a mango waste beverage we would

probably see sales of 10x 20x but we

continue to stick with our Niche that we

by choice want to be an unsweetened

beverage brand you will never have sugar

or a kind of a sweetener in our

beverages so creating a niche and

playing the niche helps you to create

stickiness in consumer mind especially

when you're starting out because you

don't have a lot of money to kind of

burn on marketing getting large Holdings

do doing a lot of ATL so this repeated

um sharing of your purpose really helps

etch your brand story in your

customers's

mind second I feel the most critical

thing it's a long game right uh it's

very hard to create Legacy brands in 2

years 3 years 4 years 5 years time so

when you step into it you know that this

is going to be for the Long Haul which

means and nobody want tell you this but

the most important thing for you to

figure out in your personal life is who

will you

marry it's very important for boys but

it is critical for girls if you want to

run a business it's it's going to be

tough so it's very important that the

person you marries you marry is uh on

with your idea he he supports you he

does not get in your way and uh more

than fundraising more than going to a

great business school more than any of

these determinants what will determine

how you will end up will be the person

you marry so please Choose Wisely please

marry wisely um once your personal life

is a little bit uh settled or it's under

control you can really get after the

dream because you have the uh Vision you

have the space you have the focus to

really work on it right once you have an

idea the most U low hanging Temptation

today is to raise

funds that's not a great advice most

businesses die from raising funds too

soon and not knowing what to do with it

than not having enough funds with them

so I would say if you have an idea you

should create something with an idea I

get so I go to these student meetups

quite often and I hear all the time man

I have this great idea should I go raise

an angel investment that's not a great

time at least that's not how I have come

to understand how to build a business if

you have a great idea it tank amounts to

nothing you should

build to a certain scale with that idea

maybe get your first 100 customers maybe

get get your first 10 customers like

finding someone to pay to part with the

money for what it is that you have built

I think that's the single biggest

validation for you as a founder and the

kind of confidence it will give you when

you move forward with your idea with

your product with your vision nothing

else can be that so my suggestion to

anybody who wants to start up is your

first first few customers will really

change the game for

you that will help you understand

product Market fit whether the product

that you launched at the price point

that you launched in the flavors that

you launched did you do a good job of it

or not it's called Product Market fit

and without a decent product Market fit

it's very hard to scale a business even

if you raise funds

you will end up learning nothing you

will end up burning a lot of marketing

money so once you have an idea build a

prototype however weak it is however

jugaru uh it is but it's imperative that

you build a prototype with your own

money with your own skill in the game

with your own time second I would say

get a few mentors and by mentors I don't

mean uh so again this I get a lot can

you introduce me to Mr Ana M or Mr Aman

Gupta those are not the kind of mentors

you want you want mentors who are a

little bit ahead in the journey so let's

say if you're starting out you want

someone to Mentor you who has just

completed successfully 12 months in the

market because he or she has faced the

problems you are facing very recently

someone who has who's a bill who's

running a billion dollar Enterprise has

lost touch with where you are at they

can not be a good

uh help for you with the problems that

you're facing they're too small and too

insignificant for for a for the the kind

of Mentor that you want to go after so

get meaningful mentorship from people

who are just a little bit ahead uh in

the game and that can really really

change what you think was possible right

that can really open up all the Avenues

or the channels that you were not able

to see and Big Time mentors don't have

the time for that so be good on paper

that okay this person is on my board and

this person is a mentor but it

translates to nothing so please get a

good

Mentor third I would

say it's a long game so if you are in it

saying 2 3 years I will do this I'll see

if it works if it doesn't I have a plan

B I'll get back to consulting or

whatever it is you will probably get

back to Consulting is how I have come to

understand about life if you're in it be

in it like if you have a backup or if

you're just toying with the idea then

it's very hard to toy with an idea long

enough for it to be a meaningful Legacy

business it's the chances are very very

small that you will be able to create a

lasting business because you were toying

with the idea and you said if if it

works great if it doesn't I'll get back

to my dad's business or consulting or

whatever other options there are so if

you are in it you stay in it you will

figure out uh if it's not option A it'll

be option b if it's not option C it will

be option D there's so much that you

will learn while you on the job no

amount of NBA can prepare you like all

the concepts that you study I did my NBA

from in School of Business

Hyderabad very little of what I studied

in class actually is useful in business

what's useful in business is

relationships in business what's useful

in business is to understand how cash

moves in the business like uh how much

money should be should you put in the

inventory what should be your payment

cycle what's your receivable cycle so a

lot of understanding you will get if you

closely work on your business yourself

um you know then it's important for you

to understand how money moves in the

entire value chain for you to know where

you will be able to make money where you

will be able to do cost savings and how

business will reach profitability and it

doesn't happen unless you're doing a lot

of the Ops yourself initially so very

little of what uh you study in MBA I

don't know if there are professors

sitting here but uh is what you will

eventually uh use in

business the last thing that I would

want to say is if you're building a

[Music]

business you will very rarely end up

with the business that you started with

and uh a lot of us kind of head butt and

we are very married to the idea that

this is what I wanted to build uh and so

this is what I'm going to

build but most times you are not

building the business You're Building

you're building the business that the

customer wants you to build so it's

imperative that you speak to the first

500 customers and you speak to them very

regularly you try and understand what is

it that clicks about your brand with

them right it may be that they hate your

first product it may be that they hate

your packaging I'll give you an example

when I started tfit I was doing 500 mL

bottles like the idea was it's a very

light beverage uh we wanted to replace

all sugary beverages through the day so

we wanted a big enough packing that

someone could carry it through the day

with them but what I did miss was that

nobody would try out a beverage which

was 500 ml to begin with so my repeats

were very high with the 500 mL product

but my trials were really low because

nobody wanted to park that much money

for a product that they have never tried

before right so so then we listen to our

customers we reduced the bottle size to

300 ML and we suddenly saw the spike in

trials in sales in new customers in

funnel and uh many examples like this um

so so we currently do instant uh Team

premixes the idea didn't come from me

the ideas came from the customers that

they would love to have the unsweetened

experience when they travel and they

can't carry these big bottles abroad or

the liquid bottles so why don't we do

sashes we did some hit and run hidden

trial with the sashes we sent out some

samples and loved it and then we went

into production so and that's not the

business I that's the first five

businesses I thought when I started P

that I would be doing sessions but you

have to keep your ears really close to

the ground and the customer will tell

you what business you were really in and

uh so that's one advice I still talk to

my uh customers every Saturday half an

hour 45 minutes I make calls I still

want to know if the DNA that we started

with have are we losing that somewhere

um or is it the same experience that

they get because as it

brand you are not what you keep talking

about what your brand is you are what

when you leave the room what other

people talk about that's what brand is

right and so it's important to as you

grow then kind of have that DNA and not

lose that in pursuit of growth so we

take tremendous amount of pride that in

every order that we send out and we send

out thousands now like when I started I

was shipping orders I was backing orders

with an intern from my spare room in my

home we used to send out these

handwritten

letters my order size is gone 100 folds

since then we still do handwritten

letters now we have a team of people who

writes those letters by hand but we have

not given that up because that's just

who we are like that's our DNA that's

our signature and we hope to be able to

continue to do that as we scale so there

are some things as a brand that you will

hold very closely to your heart and it's

important to not not lose that in

pursuit of scale that's what defines a

brand as a brand so decoding

entrepreneurships I will sum it up a

little bit one know you why is this an

opportunity that you're after is this a

purpose that's really close to your

heart second decide very carefully on

the person that you would want to marry

um because that will really determine

how your entrepreneurial journey is

going to be third don't go after funds

before you have a product create a

product create a product Market fit have

some semblance of traction that yes I've

made something that somebody is willing

to pay money for know that it will be a

long difficult game most days will be

tough most days where things will not go

your

way but it will turn out fine you will

gain scale if you keep your ears close

to the ground you are not the business

that you think you're in you are in the

business that your customer tells you

you're in so these are the five points I

had um as far as I understand how to

decode entrepreneurship thank you so

much for your time I hope it

this