It was homecoming for Manoj Gupta, an IIM A PGPX alumnus and Co-founder of Craftsvilla.com, when he addressed the students of IIM Ahmedabad as part of the speaker series organized by MBA students of one of India’s top business schools.
Gupta won the students’ hearts when he shared his journey from a geeky engineer to a spirited entrepreneur. A VC turned entrepreneur, who has created a market that didn’t exist before Craftsvilla, Gupta delivered his talk wearing a bright red kurta in a class of grey (business) suits.
As is the story of many ventures, Craftsvilla started on impulse, when Manoj and his wife Monica had gone on a road trip to Kutch and came across beautiful locally made products that caught their attention. That moment of impulse gave birth to a start-up that is now worth $200 million and expanding to Malaysia.
“Magic happens even when you are cash-strapped, and it is this magic that happened with Craftsvilla!” said Gupta. The resource-constrained atmosphere made Craftsvilla master a pure marketplace model where they own no warehouses, no logistics and no inventory. The seller directly ships the product to the buyer under the Craftsvilla brand, which earns a commission out of the purchase.
Poor quality sellers are automatically eliminated from the system, Gupta said, and just like a live example of a demand curve matching supply curve taught in microeconomics, price discovery happens on that platform.
Manoj spoke about the ‘five mantras of entrepreneurship’ that kept him and the business going during the initial tough days:
Like making Ghee (butter), creating a business takes time: Starting a business takes persistence and the belief that some day, something good will happen. With that belief you churn butter till it becomes ghee.
Business models should be simple, like a fan that switches on with the flick of a switch: Complex business models rarely work. For businesses to stand the test of time, the mantra should be to keep it as simple as switching on a fan.
Have a strong foundation like a banyan tree: Before growing too big, businesses should build a strong foundation, on which future growth will be built.
You can’t make Paneer (cheese) or a business without breaking apart: Just as paneer forms when milk breaks apart, facing situations that tear you apart make the entrepreneur’s experience more valuable.
Going through crap is part of growing a Business: No entrepreneur can grow till he folds up his sleeves and wades through tough times.
“Become an entrepreneur — it is a beautiful journey” is the message Gupta left the students with. He urged the students to keep their eyes open as opportunities to grow exist everywhere.