The Startup Story

“An idea can change your life…” this tag line of Idea telecommunication captures well the soul of entrepreneurship. ‘The Startup Story’, an event organized by The Centre for Entrepreneurship Development at FORE School of Mangement proved this point right. An idea, small or big can change your entire course of life, and it did for the three entrepreneurs who visited FORE School of Management on 28th June,2013 to share their success stories with an aim to make the management students taste the flavor of what it takes to become an entrepreneur and have your own set up.

The esteemed panel included Mr. Ankit Mehrotra founder dineout.co.in, Mr. Sahil Bagla, founder Bluegape Lifestyle Pvt. Ltd. and Mr. Ankur Gupta founder, Connectech India.The session was chaired by Ms. Geetika Dayal, Executive director TiE, New Delhi.

The panelists with Ms. Geetika Dayal (Executive Director – TiE) who chaired the session 

Mr. Ankit Mehrotra is the co-founder and CEO of Dineout. Dineout hostswww.dineout.co.in, a table reservation website which enables the customer to book a table, online and through the phone, at their favorite restaurants in town and provides them fantastic discounts for FREE, which they would not be entitled to if they go to the restaurant directly. Mr. Ankit Mehrotra,  a CFA charter holder  with an Engineering degree from  Computers and Telecommunication University of Essex, he has more than 7 years of experience in investment banking and Wealth Management with BNP Paribas in London, where he was managing a portfolio of UHNWI. However, he quit his job and moved back to India in late 2011 to start Dineout. He was awarded the Young Entrepreneur of the year 2012 and the 6^th Indira International Innovation Summit in 2013.

Ankit Mehrotra, Founder - Dineout 

Mr. Sahil Baghla is the co- founder and CEO of Bluegape Lifestyle Pvt. Ltd. Bluegape.com is started with a vision to deliverpersonalized poster that can reflect your attitude to the world. Mr.Baghla is an entrepreneur by character and an IITian by education. He is a senior Undergraduate from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (July 2008-May 2012) and was a visiting student at university of Kansas. He did his internship from Orbis Biosciences and was the Overall Coordinator at the Entrepreneurship Cell, IIT Kanpur. He is a specialist in Team Building, Chemical Engineering, Biomaterials and entrepreneurship.

Mr. Ankur Gupta is the Founder of Connectech India Services. It is a parent company which has companies like Gadget Guru, Rainbow Impex, www.gadgetpotli.com and China Global Trading Enterprise Limited, Honk Kong under its umbrella. He is an astute professional with 4 years’ experience in the areas of Pre-Sales Initiative Marketing and Business Development. Associated with companies like Teleperformance India, Gurgaon, HDFC Bank Ltd, Kotak Securities Ltd, SREI International Securities Ltd, he is adept in developing ‘winning’ demonstration and presentations for key decision makers. A FORE alumni he hass hands on experience in exploring and developing new markets, identifying customers, brand promotion, new product launch and developing growth.

The session chair was Ms. Geetika Dayal who is the executive Director-TiE, New Delhi. Previously she was the proprietor of Magnus consulting for 5 years. She has been associated with TiE since July 2001. She is an expert in area of Entrepreneurship and Team Building.

Each of these entrepreneurs had one thing in common; they all had a novel idea, an unmatched passion and an unending determination. They dared to believe that they would do it. They had to face the opposition of the world and above all the opposition of their families. They said it was the hardest part in the journey of any entrepreneur to convince his family to have a belief in their ideas. It was hard to stop, turn and choose a new path, they said. Fear and disappointed haunted their thoughts now and then. But they never gave up. And now, here they are where no one would have imagined them a few years back. And yes, it all began with a simple, novel, practical yet innovative-idea!