"My Story" - R. Sriram @ LDCE

What a session at the end of the EDP by TiE and LAA at Aryabhatta Hall, L.D. College of Engineering.
Never thought in the morning that the session would be such delightful

The session began at 12:50 hrs, due to delay in Mr R. Sriram's flight.
It began with introductory session from Kaushal Mehta, President, TiE. He introduced the audience with the dignitaries, starting with Chirag Mehta, CEO, Icenet. Then coming to Mr. M. N. Patel, Principal, LD College of Engineering, followed by Mr. Anand Patel, Head of LAA, General Manager, Appolo. As well as introduction of Mrs Anu Sutariya, co-ordinator, TiE, Ahmedabad Chapter. The introductory session ended with brief of TiE and the Entrepreneur Development Program started by TiE and LAA at LDCE.

After the introductory session, started "My Story", by R.Sriram, co-founder, Crossword.
Through the session, he told us about how the idea of Crossword came up, how he managed through all the odds, how the Crossword came to Ahmedabad, the idea of book browsing, toilets and cafe at Crossword and also told how to target customers.

He summed up the entire session with the inspirational lines
"Risk more than others think is safe,
Care more than others think is wise,
Dream more than others think is practical,
Expect more than others think is possible."
-Claude T(homas) Bissell

This was followed by some Q&A from the audience which was equally interesting. To one of the question he said that "No one gives degree for failure". Elaborating more he said, one should not be afraid of failures. We should take it positively. Its a degree for knowing what not to do.
In an answer to another question he said he never decided 'what to do if the Crossword project fails". He never thought of Plan B. But he even added that what worked for him may not work for everyone.
To the end of the Q&A he advised one of the budding entrepreneur(who was desperate to enter into a Restaurant Business, but did not have capital) to work in the field he wants to start business in and gain experience in that field. Because only then a person gets insight of the business he wants to start.

The session thus ended. This was followed by a press conference in the TP(Training and Placement) Office!!! Yes!! Even i was surprised. A press conference being held in TP Office. Amazing!!!

After all this, it was time for lunch. All the TiE members were invited to the Amazo, Restaurant near St. Xavier's College, Ahmedabad.
We the EDP students were also invited. It was amazing moment for 6 of us. Having lunch with successful entrepreneurs and the Mr. Sriram too.
After the lunch, Mr. Sriram talked with all of us and gave some ideas about how can one be a successful entrepreneur. He said that entrepreneurship is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. Its a mystery. One has to explore and innovate. He also told about the vision and culture an entrepreneur should have. He also recommended us to read 'Making Breakthrough Innovations Happen' by Porus Munshi Summing up again with those 4 lines the 15 minutes discussion came to an end.
We all dispersed with handshakes and some humorous comments. That was all about some unforgettable moments of the day.
I wish such moments keep coming...