Entrepreneurship – Mukund Krishan – Tech Entrepreneur | Investor

The average life span of companies in the S&P 500 is just 20 years today, which means only 43% of those companies that existed in 1995 are left standing now. If this trend continues, 75 percent of the S&P 500 firms today will be replaced by new ones by 2027.

How to be the disruptor?

The new generation of entrepreneurs can achieve better and faster revenue growth if their business has higher engagement levels with digital technologies. Data, artificial intelligence and predictive analytics can assist today’s enterprises to make more balanced and informed decisions than just relying on past experiences and gut feel.
Businesses need to use digital platforms in novel ways to create new revenue streams, and to improve social and business interactions. Data-driven decisions can be the foundation to create a company of substance. Enterprises can leverage the huge consumer data created every day to innovate or to offer personalized services to their customers.

Disruption in the personal transportation space:

How do you think an India based start-up could beat a giant like Uber? True, there were other businesses that tried to attack the same problems that typical consumers faced daily. In fact, much before Ola and Uber, Meru Cabs introduced a service to overcome poor taxi service in India. It did not turn out to be a profitable business, as they owned a fleet of cars. This was the flaw in their business model – it was asset-heavy.

Ola, introduced for the first time in India, the concept of driver-entrepreneurs. Their strategy was to offer transportation as a service. Ola stands apart as they give the riders the choice of size and comfort – cars, shuttle services and auto-rickshaws. They offered training to drivers to use the app and helped them make a good income with a branded company. Operating across 100 cities with 550,000 drivers, this Indian start-up enjoys a dominant market share in India’s $12 billion taxi market. Uber and Ola were successful because they created a platform – an interactive app. Besides offering an efficient mode of transport, they optimized logistics and followed demand balance principle. Addressing another key priority to increase market reach, Ola launched a new offering – the progressive web app at the Google’s I/O Developers’ conference in San Francisco. This app will consume less data compared to a native app, aimed to expand its reach to more customers and driver partners in rural India, with low-end smartphones and slow internet connection.

Disruption in the job search space:

In 2015, Stéphanie Delestre won the Accelerating Tech Entrepreneurs award from EY for her online jobsite Qapa. What difference did she make?

She questioned the traditional system and designed an online jobsite, which can be easily replicated in any other country. For the first time in the recruitment space, big data was used. Her argument was that blue collar jobseekers did not require to make a resume, then why make them go through this turmoil. Her site used matching algorithm to search a candidate’s information and find the right job based on various criteria, in real-time. Employers saved money by posting free ads, and had to pay only when they successfully found someone to fill the job.

Disruption Lessons for entrepreneurs:

Steven Krupp and Paul Schoemaker, authors of ‘Winning the Long Game’, affirm that successful businesses “need to integrate, build, and reconfigure competencies in order to succeed in rapidly changing environments.” The brands that once enjoyed monopoly are forced to squeeze their profit margin, keep pace with the changes around, alter their business model, modify internal work culture, and if required implement, new technologies to exist and maintain its position as market leader.

As developing new products and technologies is not a viable option for all, partnering with startups or acquiring them is the ongoing trend. For instance, Whole Foods Markets Inc. a specialized organic and natural food grocery store struck a five-year deal with Instacart, an on-demand grocery delivery partner. In 2014 when they had this deal, Whole Foods had 440 stores across the US but their sales were dipping. After closing down a few stores, and embracing the online route, they have begun making profits again.

Are you a disruptor?

Today, more than ever before, customers want their solutions to be addressed fast and in the most convenient way possible. Business models that flex or meet the changing expectations of the consumers are going to be the winners.
Newer revenue streams, digital platforms, and automation apps are disrupting almost every industry, driving the scale, growth and operation of businesses. This situation brings both risk and opportunity. You can either be the disruptor who shake things up in your sector or be the one who is disrupted.