1.
THE REAR VIEW MIRROR
A Tale of Entrepreneurial Success by Learning from Failure.
By Akash Deep Choudhary
Co-founder and CEO, Travart International

2.
About the speaker and TRAVART
Name: Akash Deep Choudary
StartUp: TRAVART
Industry: International Travel and Tourism
Designation: Co-founder and CEO
Startup Experience: 3+ years
Travart, an experiential travel company which, after a successful proof of
concept has undertaken the mammoth task of re-branding India as a preferred
global travel destination despite all the obvious and not-so-obvious speed
bumps and challenges, is proud of being one of the few startups that are able
to attain profitability while being bootstrapped by its founders and is currently
under rapid growth, with a target revenue of US$ 1 million in the current
financial year.

3.
TODAY’S TALK COVERS
1. My experience from a failed startup to a successful one:
a) Failure in StartUps: Something no-one really talks about
b) Third year of MBA: Learning on the go.
2. Are you sure you want to be a founder?
3. What it really is like to StartUp and keep going?
4. Don’t need Investment ? Think Again.
5. Do’s and Don’ts of StartUps from personal experience

4.
Fall in love with making mistakes...
• Failures and mistakes are integral to the entrepreneurial
learning curve
• Your attitude towards it will determine your destiny
• Embrace the ‘Scrap and Double Down’ concept

5.
MBA ‘3rd year’... What???
Gedit: The startup
• All the wrong reasons to start up
• The founding team: Formation, Motivation, Communication and
Equity
• Put everything on paper.
• Being a perfectionist in a startup isn't a great idea
•Your business model: If its too good to be true, it probably isn’t.
•The soup of negativity is too sour
•Go out or Get out. Sales cure all
• What you say you can do v/s What you actually can do

6.
Are you sure you want to be a founder?
• What’s your WHY?
• Are you a freelancer calling yourself a founder?
• What’s your exit strategy? If you have one, don’t bother starting
up.

7.
Two of the best and worst reasons to Start Up:
1. Nobody has done it
2. Everybody is doing it
USP: What’s yours?

8.
1. The courting period
2. Incorporation
3. Honeymoon Period
4. First issues
5. First fire-fight
6. Trimming the business model
7. Pivot?
8. New issues
9. Resource crunch
10.Tears
11.Capital Crunch
12.More Tears
13.Helplessness
14.Hope
15.Breakthrough
16.Tears of joy
Reality Check
Initial Enthusiasm
Reality Check
Crunch
The light at the end
of the tunnel

9.
Expectation v/s Reality

10.
The two holy lines of a startup
Dreamland
Understanding Earn and Burn

11.
Don’t need investment? Seriously??
•Scalability and Competition:
StartUps that really want to make it, definitely need funding.
• Naysayers are sitting in the wrong room
ALWAYS BE RAISING
• Raising investment isn’t a cake walk
• Building relationships
• Raising when you need it
‘Investment or investor interest does not equal proof of concept in market.
Investors place bets in a portfolio of companies, but you have only one life.’
Investment ≠ Proof of concept

12.
How past lessons helped us succeed at Travart
Thanks to past experiences, Travart now has:
• Ultimate FOUNDING TEAM harmony
Mutual Respect
True Complementarily
Equal share in effort and reward
Extremely strong communication
• Clarity of Vision
• Obtained proof of concept from market
• Efficiency with Scrap and Double Down approach
• Dramatic control over cash burn
• Not waiting for perfection and strict adherence to set timelines
• Designed to scale
• Real expectations = Less disappointments
• Embraced mentorship
• Clear understanding of Investment dynamics and always raising
•No urge to romanticize over tech or design.

13.
Startup Do’s and Don’ts from personal experience
DOs
• Have an internal locus of control
• Have scientific temper
• Who decides what: Designate responsibilities according to expertise
• Talk like you’re dating
• Split equity evenly and get a vesting agreement with a cliff
• Pay money to save time
• Put the money in an FD-OD Account
• Stay Positive
• Plan to disrupt, build to scale
• Let those servers crash
• Work hard, play hard
• Focus on the core business and delegate the rest
• Share your idea with the world and welcome feedback
• Understand your target audience and put a face to it

14.
• Don’t take just the first person that comes along as a co-founder
• Don’t work with your best friend. Never.
• Don’t hold things back from your co-founders
•Don’t kill everyone’s vibe. Positivity drives a startup
• Say no to Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V
•Don’t waste time planning everything more than 6-12 months ahead. Pivots
will happen.
• Don’t compare yourself with others. Ever.
• Don’t try to be everything to everyone
• Don’t try to be a tech company if you aren’t one.
• Don’t procrastinate in the name of strategising
• Don’t focus on an economically small niche
• Never use direct multiplication or geometric progression factor in your
financial projections. It never works out.
• Don’t base your assumptions on early adopters. 5:95 rule
• Never involve family into any aspect of business
• Never rely on a verbal agreement
•Don’t be evil.
DON’Ts
Startup Do’s and Don’ts from personal experience

15.
Thank you
Akash Deep Choudhary
Co-founder and CEO
Travart International
akash@travart.in
@AkashDChoudhary
/ TRAVARTofficial