SUMMARY: MY JOURNEY & LEARNINGS - MGAADI Speaker: Vishy Kuruganti is Co-founder & COO mGaadi.com When: Saturday 7th. February 2015 – 4pm Where: @Lounge47, Defence Colony - Indiranagar, Bangalore Last Week’s - “My Journey & Learnings - mGaadi" shared many personal experiences, thoughts and learnings along the hard and tough journey of entrepreneurship. Here are the Lounge47 key takeaways: 1. 18% of first time entrepreneurs, 20% of second time and 30% of third time entrepreneurs succeed 2. Taking time out to think through your ideas is important. Pick the idea that makes business sense 3. Identify where your weaknesses lie and pick your mentor to help you through 4. Tailor your plans to what the market can bear and also to the culture of the group you are targeting e,g. mGaadi switched from an App to a missed-call process supported by a call center to identify location of autorickshaws 5. Maintaining focus was an early learning for mGaadi. Latching on to the pains and needs of autorickshaw drivers has enabled enrolling 12,000 drivers in the last year 6. The market (even if not Internet-savvy) is keyed in to the existence and value proposition of major players. This implies that the Startup needs to have a strong Value Proposition even while reaching across the digital divide. 7. Believe in the value you bring and the pain point it addresses. Refine as necessary as you execute. www.lounge47.in

1. Vishy Kuruganti
Cofounder

3. Entrepreneurship: when appetite
for risk reaches escape velocity
1. 4 month sabbatical (2006)
2. Co-founded Graspr.com (2007-08)
3. Moved to India in 2008

4. Search for a meaningful enterprise
• Au Revoir Adobe and “hello social enterprises”
• One year sabbatical
– TechSangam.com
• Two recurring themes
– Massive clusters of unorganized workers
– Really hard to ‘escape poverty’

5. The search continues…
• 12 months came to an end…
– 2 half-baked ideas
• But… but… but…
– Extended sabbatical (whew)
• Hit pay dirt in Aug 2012
– Solomon Prakash pitched mGaadi

6. Why I got hooked
1. 5+ million highly disorganized drivers
2. Highly sub-par experience for commuters
3. Location-based tech to the rescue

7. Freedom from Angst

8. Fundraising Status
Oct 2013 Angel (CCD)
Jul 2014
Mar/Apr
2015
Lucky Series A
investor(s)
Current State…
1. 12,000 drivers in Bangalore
2. “Ride Now” and “Book for Later”
3. What next?
– 2 more Tier 1 cities by April
– Cashless

9. Questions?