As a venture studio, we have a ‘Launchpad-to-Escape Velocity’ aspiration.
Companies born at Prototyze have a few advantages.
They benefit from offices and infrastructure, centralized business services (financial, legal, recruitment), experienced advice at key stages, the ability to plug into existing processes, and a bridge to an existing network of Clients, Partners, and (if required) Investors.
Mobiefit Apps achieved over a million downloads and had hundreds of thousands of monthly active users.
But we erred in not finding a path to monetization early enough. And worse, we foolishly burnt through too much capital even as we were trying different experiments.
We also discovered that the percentage of people in India who’re motivated and disciplined enough to stick to a fitness program (and consequently to our App) is tiny. Our App did not change the high drop-out rate that gyms and personal trainers have known about for years.
We grappled for product-market fit in TempoGO, but found it after a couple of years. After a few stumbles, our business was happily growing with unit positive economics.
However, we could not grow enough in time to achieve profitability. And were left heart-breakingly short of achieving a scale that would have allowed us to raise growth capital.
An acquisition by a logistics unicorn—planned across months—was nixed by their board on the final day. Leaving TempoGO with an unfortunate finale.
Early-on, we got one strategic move right. Which was to partner with a large consumer ecosystem of potential borrowers that would allow us to lend with minimal costs of acquisition, servicing and collections. An investment by Airtel (allowing exclusive access to its 200+ million customers) seemed to have given us pole position.
However, we faulted in execution. We squandered too much money and too much time to eventually get to the milestones we did. Blunting our competitive edge to raise the next round of capital. Especially in a fintech landscape that was awash with exceptional start-ups.
We’ve built a company that was kick-started with less than Rs 500,000 (<$10,000) yet became profitable in the first year. And has generated over Rs $5 million cumulative revenue. And counting.
We’ve also presided over the burial of a company where we burnt through over $8 million in three years and had less than.
This has taught us a few expensive lessons.
We’ve calculated that the entire infrastructure cost (desk, chair, networking, laptop) of adding one person to one of our companies is under $1,500. Sometimes even under $1,000.
This underlines what we’ve known for years: Our competitive advantage is not infrastructure.
Depending upon the company, our edge is either a technology platform (or project portfolio) and accumulated relationships with clients, partners, and investors.
Whatever way we look at it, our edge is People.
An entrepreneur’s life can be a sub-set of his business. Where every major decision is tailored to the demands of the business. Where you live, how your office looks like, which people you choose to work with or which investors and partners you invite into your life.
Or a venture can be a sub-set of your life. Where the first principles of your life determine the contours of the business.
I first became an entrepreneur when I was about twenty. And my choice has always been the latter.
Supriya Kamat 
24 March, 2021 What is Goa but a vibrant celebration of culture, music, and FOOD? Food, glorious food!
Gourav Jaswal
19 September, 2019 I have more than one friend working over 200 hours a month consistently, yet having the most glorious time of their life.
Gourav Jaswal
12 July, 2019 I have about nineteen cousins in my family that has its roots in Himachal Pradesh. Only two are even in a corporate job. Zero are entrepreneurs.
