Entrepreneurs Face The Grind As Real Questions Get AnsweredThe panelists made sure the entrepreneurs were made to deal with the good, bad and ugly side of the industry.

While the word "start-up' is a new-age terminology that has become unanimously popular amongst the millennial generation, the basic pain points of starting up any type of business continues to remain the same. Business owners of 13 start-ups presented their pitches before an esteemed set of panelists at the "Mega Session of Startups 101', conducted by Entrepreneur at Hyderabad on March 11, in association with Franchise India.

The esteemed jury consisted of Subbaraju Pericheria – Founder and CEO, Cross Borders, Rajeev Menon – Partner, Anthill Ventures, Dr. Lakshminarayana Yeluri – MD, Impel Ventures, Viiveck Verma - Coach, Mentor, Co-founder, DiSRUPPt Thinking LLP, Vijay Bawra – Regional Head-Telengana Region and Andhra, NASSCOM, 10,000 Startups and Subrata Kar – Investor and Member at 50K Ventures and AVP – Infosys. Some real questions dealt The start-up ecosystem is seeing mixed-bag successes and the panelists made sure the entrepreneurs were made to deal with the good, bad and ugly side of the industry.

HERE ARE SOME OF THE BASIC POINTS TOUCHED BY THE PANELISTS:

Whatis your Customer acquisition cost?

Investors and mentors grilled entrepreneurs about their exact cost calculation to acquire one customer. This comes at a time when bigger unicorns are at the receiving end of some serious criticism on over splurging funds to get customers.

Who are your competitors?

The panel members were keen on knowing whether the participants were aware of similar business models in the market – both international and local. This went on to prove the amount of research done by them.

Why do you need the fund?

Money will not come easy to entrepreneurs in 2017, and this became evident as entrepreneurs were grilled around their spending strategies. The panel members were curious to know how entrepreneurs intend to structure their balance sheets going forward.

The Winning "Tea'm

Organic Trends Inc is a Hyderabad based start-up run by Vijay Ramaraju. The founder was earlier associated with India's leading financial companies like ICICI, BAJAJ ALLIANZ, TATA AIG and RELIANCE and served at senior level positions in those companies successfully. Presenting at the kickoff, Ramaraju said that his company is creating a niche, by introducing a non-tech product in an ecosystem filled with technology start-ups.

“渴望促进健康生活促使我come up with this product," he said. Instagreen is the company's kick side project. Instagreen Tea is a unique concept of packing fresh organic green tea leaves inside a cup with an infusion layer shielding them. It is an aesthetically designed packaged cup that comes at an affordable price.

(This article was first published in the April issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. To subscribe, clickhere)