Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

India has become a hotbed of <keyword id="6362513" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Startups">startups</keyword>, and even as it's a good time to plunge into the entrepreneurial journey, not everything you may need on the way will be at your disposal. 
 
In clear words, there are pertinent skills gaps this industry is facing, and if you want to be sailing smooth, you either figure out ways to get the talent you need by hook or crook, or you create them if they do not exist. 
 
What led to the skills gap in startups 
 
The answer is the nature of jobs and the complexity of the products being created by most startups. A lot of the problems startups are solving today are meant to help the masses and therefore the kind of technology needed for this is unprecedented. 
 <keyword id="208380" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rishi-Das">Rishi Das</keyword>, founder of Hirepro - a company in the recruitment space, tells Business Insider - "On the tech side, if you want 3 lakh dealers and you want 4 lakh shipments, such massive amounts of complexities have been not handled in India before. The kind of tech platform that you have to build to meet these standards is unprecedented. These are fairly new concepts in the Indian background and India lacks the talent." 
 
Moreover, a lot of startups are B2C, so they have lots of emphasis on end user interfaces. They also want to ramp up real fast. 
 
"You are a startup but you want to reach 4 million shipments. On the logistics side, what does that mean - You will obviously go to a Fedex or a Bluedart. Even though they are the best at what they do, most of these companies still have not handled such big numbers. They must have done for documents but not for perishable items or electronics which startups are delivering at home. The speed at which startups want to go, they don’t have people who can handle it." 
 For these reasons, talent is being imported because Indians are not prepared to handle such complexities. Only the tech freaks from countries like the US, Rishi says, have the competency to deal with these issues. Talent, therefore, is getting imported in emerging tech areas. Startups who have the money are pulling in crucial talent from companies like <keyword id="6355629" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Google">Google</keyword> and <keyword id="10387" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Microsoft">Microsoft</keyword>. 
 
At the same time, a lot of times startups are also creating a lot of new roles. “For example, home delivery is a way of life and it has led to Biking becoming a career. Eight years back, no one would have thought that it will become a huge aspect critical to the functioning of startups. Everyone knew driving, but biking was never considered as a career for blue collared folks as it is now, says Rishi. 
 
Rishi concludes – “The skills gap arose as a result of the nature of jobs and complexities involved. Wherever you needed high end talent, that is imported and wherever you need talent at the bottom of the pyramid, you build it.”

A big challenge Startups are facing, and how they are dealing with it

Even as there’s lot of excitement around <keyword id="6362513" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Startups">startups</keyword>, a lot of people who join the new kids on the block drop out of this career too soon. Experts have identified several reasons that are making people opt out and they say the reasons attributed are no less than bizarre. 
 
“There is hardly any clarity” <keyword id="208380" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Rishi-Das">Rishi Das</keyword>, whose company <keyword id="2817401" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="HiRePro">HirePro</keyword> hires talent for various other companies, says startup is all about lack of clarity. When a person decides to pursue a role in a startup, they ought to know what’s coming their way. However, it’s surprising, he says, to see that the uncertainty, lack of predictability, which is very inherent in startups, is often confused with the organization’s incompetence or immaturity. 
Why this happens – “When you work in structured IT companies or come from an FMCG company into a startup, you are used to working in a structured way, something the startup won’t offer. So, at one time you want the excitement of working in a startup, but when you see unflexible timings or having to work outside of your roles, people choose to opt out of it,” says Rishi. 
 
“No Work-life balance” 
In structured companies, they have predictable work life schedule. By the time, employees are in their mid-30s, they have friend circles and families and are used to a certain lifestyle. Howeverm when these people end in startups, they have to sleep in office just to make things happen. 
 
“Not everyone can adapt to meetings happening 11 at night. I have seen people living in the office for a whole week, because let’s face it, it’s a crazy job with crazy goals and if you want to achieve them, it has to come with some sacrifice,” says Rishi. 
 
“Promoters are interfering” 
Like it or not, every promoter is a beast even as they form both the strength as well as weakness of a company. 
 
“Most people who have worked in structured environments are not ready to take the whims and fancies of the promoter. Usually, the senior management faces this challenge. Promoters have different styles of working, they may be micro-managing, they may have their own biases and it can be seen as extremely interfering. When they experience such problems, people get disenchanted and decide to make their way out,” says Rishi.

Bizarre reasons why most employees decide to opt out of their startup jobs

We have already told what expectations we have from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/What-To-Expect-From-Bollywood-In-The-First-Month-Of-2015/articleshow/45509596.cms">Bollywood movies releasing in January 2015</a>. Now is the turn to see what the second month of the year has in store for us. With 5 major releases expected in February 2015, here is a look at the star cast and major credentials of the movies.

What To Expect From Bollywood In February 2015?

Female protagonists are ruling <keyword id="143" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bollywood">Bollywood</keyword> nowadays and we were definitely looking forward to some spectacular showing when Kangana Ranaut-Vir Das-starrer comedy-drama <keyword id="1132893" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Revolver-Rani">Revolver Rani</keyword> and Subhash Ghai-directed <keyword id="2214753" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Kaanchi-The-Unbreakable">Kaanchi: The Unbreakable</keyword>, yet another <keyword id="2097207" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Woman-centric-movie">woman-centric movie</keyword>, were released on April 25. <keyword id="1718118" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Samrat-Co-">Samrat &amp; Co.</keyword>, a whodunit movie directed and co-written by <keyword id="1097593" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Kaushik-Ghatak">Kaushik Ghatak</keyword>, was the third release of the week. 
 Going by the numbers, it was an extremely poor weekend at the <keyword id="827271" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Domestic-Box-Office">domestic box office</keyword> and the Monday business did not look up either, predicting more gloom and doom. After her stellar performance in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Box-Office-Queen-OutshinesGulaab-Gang-Total-Siyapaa-Tanks/articleshow/31848837.cms">Queen</a> (it has netted around Rs 60 crore at home and grossed nearly Rs 93 crore worldwide), Kangana-led Revolver Rani has turned out to be a surprise slow-starter at the <keyword id="25892" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="box-office">box office</keyword> in spite of an intriguing storyline. Sure, it had the best start among the three but netted around Rs 6 crore at home after the first three days in spite of hype and the positive word of mouth. Debut day occupancy was as low as 15% although the movie has hit around 1,500 screens, nearly double the number of <keyword id="6377522" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="queen">Queen</keyword>. 
 
Interestingly, Queen, too, picked up pace pretty late, but managed to nett around Rs 9 crore after the first three days. For Revolver Rani, the crucial Day 4 (Monday, April 28) business was equally dismal and the movie collected around Rs 1.4 crore at home. It has an estimated budget of Rs 24 crore. 
 
However, <keyword id="1417195" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Kaanchi">Kaanchi</keyword>, directed by <keyword id="6354581" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Subhash-Ghai">Subhash Ghai</keyword>, suffered a worse fate. This one looks like a clear <keyword id="2076872" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Box-office-bomb">box office bomb</keyword> and collected a paltry Rs 75 lakh on the opening Friday. Weekend earnings remained extremely disappointing and the romance-cum-revenge drama could only manage Rs 3 crore in the first three days. Monday collections stood at an estimated Rs 1.1 crore. With the budget of the movie projected to be Rs 30 crore-plus, industry experts are already calling it another disastrous outing by Ghai. Kaanchi has opened in 1,150-1,200 theatres at home, but the occupancy was less than 15%, especially at single screens. In fact, Kaanchi is the lowest debut-day grosser among Ghai’s recent flops including Yaadein (Rs 1.6 crore on opening Friday), Kisna (Rs 1.5 crore) and Yuvraaj (Rs 2.9 crore). 
 <keyword id="2218677" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Samrat-and-Co-">Samrat and Co.</keyword>, a <keyword id="25276" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="detective">detective</keyword> thriller starring <keyword id="15130" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Rajeev-Khandelwal">Rajeev Khandelwal</keyword>, <keyword id="110704" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Madalasa-Sharma">Madalasa Sharma</keyword> and <keyword id="1600791" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Gopal-Datt">Gopal Datt</keyword>, hit around 500 screens at home and was immediately declared a flop. First day collections at the domestic box office were an appalling Rs 25 lakh and total earnings in the first three days stood at Rs 1.45 crore, as per trade figures. Interestingly, first Monday (Day 4) collections were better than the opening day, amounting to Rs 60 lakh. But keeping the film’s budget in mind – in the zone of Rs 18 crore or so – this rahasya (mystery) ride won’t be going anywhere in terms of <keyword id="1996031" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Box-office-performance">box office performance</keyword>. 
 
 
 If you are still wondering what has led to the wholesale box office debacle, a close look at all the three flicks may help decode the failures. Directed by <keyword id="2218682" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sai-Kabir-Shrivastav">Sai Kabir Shrivastav</keyword> (he also did the story and the screenplay) Revolver Rani narrates the story of <keyword id="315181" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Alka-Singh">Alka Singh</keyword> (<keyword id="2201" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Kangana-Ranaut">Kangana Ranaut</keyword>), a dacoit-turned-politician in the thick of power game and in love with Bollywood aspirant <keyword id="1555785" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Rohan-Mehra">Rohan Mehra</keyword> (<keyword id="671" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Vir-das">Vir Das</keyword>). Kangana plays the <keyword id="2218683" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Chambal-girl">Chambal girl</keyword> to perfection – raw, raunchy, power-loving and trigger-happy. But one must not write it off as another one of the Bandit Queen saga. The ground realities, the ingrained satire and the layers of turbulence unfold well in the movie, but the story fails at times – losing the smooth flow and meandering during the second half. Overall, it has loads of merit, but it’s hardly a feel-good movie and that could be one of the key reasons behind the slow business pick-up. As <keyword id="122490" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="film-critic">film critic</keyword> Anupama Chopra so rightly said, “If you can enjoy bad people doing bad things, then Revolver Rani will be fun.” 
 
Kaanchi, on the other hand, simply drags on and loses all the suspense of a revenge drama that it later turns out to be. The movie features two newcomers in lead roles, <keyword id="562167" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Kartik-Tiwari">Kartik Tiwari</keyword> (aka <keyword id="2104801" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Kartik-Aaryan">Kartik Aaryan</keyword>) and Hindi movie debutante Indrani Chakraborty (aka Mishti), while the ‘big baddies’ are played by <keyword id="6357910" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Rishi-Kapoor">Rishi Kapoor</keyword> and <keyword id="14672" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mithun-Chakraborty">Mithun Chakraborty</keyword>. The naïve rural beauty Kaanchi fights against power and corruption as her love Binda, her land and her life are at stake. But as is the Bollywood norm, the twists and turns get too filmy to be convincing, the characters become stereotypes and the dialogues are mere lip service. At the end, we are looking at a mere shell instead of a strong script, powerful performances and the ‘gale’ of change. 
 Samrat and Co. does no better in terms of cinematic art. Rajeev Khandelwal (<keyword id="239627" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="private-investigator">private investigator</keyword> Samrat Tilakdhari) lacks the earlier sparkle of Table No. 21. And if you are expecting Rajeev and Gopal (Samrat’s <keyword id="6419345" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="assistant">assistant</keyword> and friend, <keyword id="2218675" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Chakradhar-Pandey">Chakradhar Pandey</keyword>) do a Holmes-Watson act, you could be mightily disappointed. But currently you have a mystery to solve. Try and predict if these three would do well at the domestic box office over the first week. Your guess is as good as ours. 
 
Images: Indiatimes

Box Office: Kangana Fails To Lift Revolver Rani; Kaanchi Lacks Ghai’s Golden Touch

In my various interactions with experts from the startup industry over the years, if there’s one crucial point I have come across time and again, it’s that finding and hiring a great team and instilling a strong company culture from day one is critical for the success of a startup. 
 
But it’s not really that easy to pull together a strong team, in fact it’s a tricky situation every startup reels in during their early stages because they need great talent but it comes at a heavy price, and when everything is running on an inch of a budget, they cannot afford expensive resources. This brings me to that one question I have found plaguing the minds of young aspiring entrepreneurs and that is - how will I build a great team when I am running on a shoe-string budget? One never gets the right answer as they set out. There’s just confusion all around. 
 Everyone who is beginning a company applies permutation and combination, but the fact that 18 out of 20 <keyword id="6362513" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Startups">startups</keyword> fail is testimony to the fact that it’s only the smarter in the race who get it right while others fall out on their way. 
 
“The startup culture is fairly aggressive, and at the same time there is lot of ambiguity for employees because a lot of times what startups are trying to solve are hypotheses. Those who join from structured fields like IT feel the heat more than others,” says Rishi Das. 
 Rishi has played an active role in the area of <keyword id="6359973" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="recruitment">recruitment</keyword> in India for decades through <keyword id="2817401" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="HiRePro">HirePro</keyword>, a recruitment process outsourcing company. He explains to us the hiring culture that has taken shape in the startup industry – “Startups are more centered on founders initially. In the early phase, good talent joins the company only because one of the founders happens to know a resource they need. Others hired for different profiles, are people with average backgrounds who act like extra hands for the startup.” 
 
At this stage, there is a lot of excitement around solving things that have not been done before. Rishi tells us further - “When they raise series A or B funding, there’s a shift from the way things have been working in the company. Because the brand is now becoming more recognized and more money is being pumped in, more professionals of reasonable caliber start joining the company.” 
 
Say for example, in finance function, there were managers before but after funding, senior finance members from renowned companies have joined in. 
 
“At this time, a lot of people who were working with the founders since the beginning days now start working with people who have been hired later, and a healthy conflict ensues where lot of adjustments have to happen because the organization goes through metamorphosis,” says Rishi. 
 As the startup grows further to a size of a <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> or <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword>, functional heads in departments like Finance, HR, Operations, Technology start joining in. Since, this lot comes from very structural environments for a long period of time, they start bringing very significant changes to the company. This leads to a cultural change, work is now more structured, and the environment turns more professional. 
 
Concluding his point, Rishi tells us the inevitable that every startup founder in the country must know and has to undergo – “When startups are mid-sized or small, they have to do everything on their own to gain competitive edge. For instance, Flipkart did logistics in-house but as they are growing e-cards, it may now take off as a different venture. Lots of changes start happening in terms of enhanced processes, systems, policies. Those who adapt fast stay, those who don't move out. A lot of outsourcing happens as the organization becomes mature to work with a set of external partners.” 
 
IT industry has already gone through this to be where it is today, and it took this sector more than a decade to evolve, whereas startups are undergoing the same curve except that they have moved faster, thanks to the money being pumped into the sector. As things are moving, it seems like the Indian startup industry is very much here to stay!

You Searched For "Rishi Das" and got 5 results

A big challenge Startups are facing, and how they are dealing with it

Anushree Singh

Bizarre reasons why most employees decide to opt out of their startup jobs

Anushree Singh

What To Expect From Bollywood In February 2015?

Nandini Sharma

Box Office: Kangana Fails To Lift Revolver Rani; Kaanchi Lacks Ghai’s Golden Touch

Sanghamitra Mandal

This is what really unfolds inside the office of every Startup as it evolves into a Bigger Company

Anushree Singh

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides