The value of venturing jointly

1. The value of venturing jointly
Five new-age entrepreneurs on the importance of having co-founders
and the huge advantage of not going it alone

2. Contd…
Kunal Bahl CEO, Snapdeal
At a recent Mumbai event, Bahl revealed he does not know of many companies that
became successful in a short time with a single founder. “It is possible if the person is super
exceptional,“ he says. “At least I never had that faith in my own abilities to the level we
have reached. Also, it's about whom you want to do it with. Rohit and I are best friends
since high school and I never imagined doing anything including starting a business without
him.“
Talking about complementary per sonalities and skills, Bahl says, “If you can get along with
the person and tolerate each other then it's alright. We have a great personal equa tion but
we realised we would have friction around professional decisions about the company. But
we decided we would sort it out. Over a period of time, we both got strong as individuals
and became the entrepreneurs that we are. Even today, if we go into a room, we may have
two different opinions but when we come out, it will be one opinion and it won't matter
whose opinion it was. And that's what the company needs.
“I am very lucky to have that calculation. It stems from a mutual respect for your co-
founder. I don't think I have met a smarter person than Rohit in my life.“

3. Contd…
Sachin Bansal executive chairman, Flipkart
It helps a lot to have two people in the company as partners, believes Bansal.
The reason: there are tough decisions to make. And having a per son who is
as passionate about the business as you are helps. “I am sure Binny (Bansal,
co-founder) also finds it helpful to have me around as a bouncing board for
what he's thinking and I use him for my ideas,“ says Bansal.
He is also pragmatic in his view of having a co-founder.“Things don't always
work out well. There will always be failures and successes. And over there,
having another person around helps a lot,“ he says. “We are also good
friends outside of work. So, we spend a lot of time with families. That way
it's pretty good.“

4. Contd…
Naveen Tewari CEO, InMobi
In a social media post some time ago, Tewari revealed why he was glad the
Bengaluru-based company had four founders. While the four were friends while
studying at IIT Kanpur, Tewari recalls how the “power of four“ kept them going and
prevented them from giving up when their first venture Khoj failed and they
directed it to InMobi, de spite limited resources. “Whenever one of us was on a
downward spiral, the other three used to make him believe in the then seemingly
impossible goal and get going. Challenges like these acted as a litmus test for each
one of us... we had each other's back.“
In his note, Tewari added how being college buddies made them aware of each
other'sec centricities. “Sometimes just for fun we fight like crazy,“ he said. Being
close friends also allowed them to spend downtime with each other. Most of them
lived in the same vicinity and would spend time at each other's homes. “Our wives
and kids have given up all hopes and have joined our madness too,“ he wrote.

5. Contd…
Jaydeep Barman CEO, Faasos
Barmanand Kallol Banerjee went to the same engineering and
management schools (Instead and IIM Lucknow). “We work well
together,“ Barman says. “We fight a lot. I can tell him anything without
worrying about any repercussion and vice versa. The ability to express
our views the way we want is the most important factor to look for in a
co-founder.“
T here was scope for clashes when the two cofounders were taking
decisions on the same thing. To avoid this from happening, Barman
says, “We have divided roles and responsibility.“

6. Contd…
Sanjay Sethi CEO, Shopclues
Sethi is more philosophical in explaining the need for a cofounder. As a general principle,
an individual sometimes is not complete. But teams should always be complete to run an
organisation. In other words, “It's hard for one person to be an expert at everything. Of
course, there are exceptions in the world and that's why it's a general principle,“ he says.
Sethi recalls that when Shopclues began, it had five founding members, all with
complementary skills. Sethi was the operational person, the one who knew how the
marketplace worked. Radhika Ghai Aggarwal, his co-founder, was the marketing person.
Due to certain circumstances, Sethi became the CEO. “I had to take on the task of
fundraising,“ he says. “It was the hardest thing for me to do because I had never done it in
the past. I partnered with Radhika and we did the fundraising aspect of it together.“ He
says without Aggarwal, Shopclues wouldn't have been what it is today. “You are on a
treadmill 24|7,“ Sethi says. “There is no downtime and you need a lot of support, not only
functional but also at a stress management level. But it's also important that the founders
are able to resolve their conf licts. You cannot avoid conflicts, but you should have a
mechanism to resolve them.“

7. Contd…
Having expertise in different areas also helped. Sethi says, “She's
(Aggarwal) not a product technology person, which is what I do. I know
nothing about merchandising and marketing. So we don't interfere (in
each other's work) as we don't have a point of view. We have trust that
whatever the other is doing, is doing it well. So that takes away many
reasons for conflict.“

8. For Details and Appointment contact:-
Parveen Kumar Chadha… THINK TANK
(Founder and C.E.O of Saxbee Consultants & Other-Mother
marketingandcommunicationconsultants.com)
Email :-saxbeeconsultants@gmail.com
Mobile No. +91-9818308353
Address:-First Floor G-20(A), Kirti Nagar, New Delhi India Postal Code-110015