The document summarizes the operations of Gossip n' Bite (GnB), a student-run restaurant at the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM-L). GnB was started in 2009 to meet the food needs of the growing student population. Each year, ownership and management of GnB is transferred to a new batch of students through a bidding process. The restaurant innovates by regularly introducing new menu items based on customer feedback. It serves around 600 students daily and generates average monthly sales of around 3 lakh rupees. During summer months when classes are closed, GnB has to shut down as workers return to their hometowns. The document also provides tips for starting a successful startup, including validating

1. A.ROBERT MARIA VINCENT
Head - CDP

2. Sailing in the STORM
Indian perspective of
Entrepreneurship :
Dependency syndrome
Everyone to think about
being an Entrepreneur

3. Still the success of Indian
Entrepreneurs – a live one
• At IIM-L, students get to run restaurants and
become entrepreneurs for a year

4. • Yes, entrepreneurship can be taught in a
classroom with four walls and a black board.
But it is best learnt on the ground and at The
Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow,
(IIM-L) students get to become entrepreneurs
for a year.

5. • Two of IIM-L's most famous eating joints are
run by students on a commercial basis - which
means that they not only learn to run an
enterprise of sorts but also make some good
money.

6. • Just Tea has had its share of media glory but
not everything is known about Gossip n' Bite.
While Just Tea began operations in 2010,
Gossip n' Bite (GnB) came into existence a
year earlier.

7. Gossip n' Bite
• Ahmad Arsalan, a student, connected with
GnB till two months ago. “Before GnB came
up, there was a mess and a mini hotel called
Fauji Dhaba which drummed up fine food.
However, with the student population rising
(from 30 in 1992 to 880 in 2012) and food
tastes turning choosier, there felt a need to
eat something more delectable.”

8. The begin……ing
• And so GnB came into being in 2009. It began with a
bang – with parathas and mini meals served 24x7.
Within days, it became quite the hot spot in the
campus and students began patronizing it more than
the other eating places.
• “However, the group of students who ran the
restaurant the first year had a question to answer.
Who would run the restaurant after they passed out,”
says Saurabh Mehta, also connected to GnB last year.

9. UNIQUENESS at GnB
• That is when the idea struck. Why not sell the
restaurant to the next batch of students? A
bidding process was put in place and the
control of GnB was transferred to the next
batch and this tradition continues even today.
• And so, every year in the month of February,
the restaurant is bid for and the ownership
gets reassigned to another group of students.

10. • The new owners run the shop for 1 year and
also get to keep the operating profit of the
year. Financial statements are provided to the
bidders every year to help them value the shop
and decide their bid.
• The average monthly sale of GnB is
approximately Rs 3 lakhs and the profit margin
around 20%-25%. Working capital
requirements are funded by the current owners
of GnB and sales to students are made
primarily on credit.

11. Its not BIG FISH eating small fish
• student who ran GnB, says that the restaurant
positions itself on 'innovation and quality' and
has the maximum number of product
categories. “We launch 2 new products every
month on an average. Proper trials and
customer feedback is taken before launching
the products
INNOVATION INTRODUCES
SUCCESS

12. • In 2012, GnB launched some 30 new products
of which 90% were successful in the market
and were retained as permanent products.
GnB is also patronised by faculty and on an
average some 600 students eat there everyday

13. MOURNING MONTHS
• The workers did have a lament though. The
summer months, when classes are closed and
the campus is devoid of students, they have to
close shop and return to their native towns. “I
try to put up some small eating stall back
home and also help in the fields but those
months are thanda for us,” said one of the
chefs.

14. How to start a START UP AND BE SUCCESSFUL
SOME USEFUL TIPS

15. • For a startup, too many things can go wrong,
and while there are many books you can read
on startups, they don't really give you the
actual steps you need to create a solid startup.

16. 1. Validating your problem, to see if the problem is shared by a
big enough market and that it's a real problem.
2. Validate your solution, which is your product, is a real
solution for the problem.
3. Build your MVP (minimum viable product) - creating a
converting landing page, creating the key features/pages, etc
4. When you have your MVP, you have to test it with a small
handful of early adopters and validate it (on a micro scale).
You get the early adopters by doing some minor growth
hacking.

17. 5. Monitor your users' behavior to validate your MVP.
Interview them. Get feedback on your startup.
6. Once you think you have a working MVP where users are
converting and they are completing the key activities, you
move on to launch it to the greater public to grow on a
macro level.
7. You then use different growth methods like content
marketing, SEO, and growth hacking to get more users.
8. You build referral features to build organic user signups.
9. Repeat steps 5 to 8 and keep expanding on your core
features.

18. THANK YOU