As part of our endeavour to bring compelling stories from the start-up ecosystem, we invited yet another passionate entrepreneur, Nipun Grover, for an interview with us to understand more about his interesting entrepreneurial journey so far. Nipun is the Co-founder of Finbrains, which is a leading one-stop solution for all the finance and compliance of your business. Let’s learn more!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Nipun:
Tell us a little bit about yourself (background) and your journey as an entrepreneur, please;
I am a Chartered Accountant with 9 years of experience in heading corporate finance of a number of startups, to name a few, Mobikwik, Aircel Smart Money, Cardpe etc. I have been involved in a number of investment rounds in all these startups. Since, me and my co-founder (Sankalp Arora) who has also headed corporate finance of startups like TrulyMadly, LBB(Little Black Book) etc, we realized that there is a lack of good service providers in Startup ecosystem who understands and address the needs of startups and SME’s. That was the time when we both came together to start FINBRAINS.
FinBrains was launched in March 2019 after an exhaustive study on the needs of startups and SME’s.
The Journey so far has been quite thrilling and full of learning at the same time. There are even more problems to solve in this domain than we thought of. Today, there are a lot of startups coming up with Technology involvement which makes the traditional method of maintaining finances and compliances obsolete.
With respect to traction, FinBrains have worked with 60+ startups and SME’s in the first year of launch which makes our belief more strong that there was actually a need of upgrading system and manner of maintaining finances and compliances for startups and SME’s
Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a job?
Growing up, you are always told to study hard and get a good degree which will land you in a good job and in turn a good life. This is the mentality that some of us absorbed growing up.
For some people, this belief is hard to throw away because it has been their belief since childhood.
However, for some, this belief is changing. People today want to own their time and make their own decisions instead of just following orders. Nobody today wants to be a soldier but a Warrior. It was same for me. Also, I find an abundance of opportunities for income generation in Entrepreneurship than Job. Yes obviously the risk involved is high, but I was ready to take that risk. I find Entrepreneurship to be more satisfying mentally than a Job.
What challenges/obstacles did you face in your journey so far?
Every business has risks. Our risks were associated with educating the startups with the importance of proper accounting and compliances which defines the startups in the long run.
Usually, Startups and SME’s are exposed to traditional methods of accounting wherein they don’t get proper reports to see the actual picture of business if they are actually making money or not if they are spending within the limits etc.
If their Book Keeping is up to date, they are more than happy thinking the job of the finance team is done. However, it is when they go to investors and there is due diligence to be done, that is the time they feel they should have taken finance and compliance more seriously. So educating the startup’s and SME’s have been the biggest challenge for us.
What comes first for you – money or emotions?
I am an emotional person. I Believe, business needs to have emotions, not personal, obviously, but business ones like concern for quality deliverables, client satisfaction, targets & roadmaps, you planned & how you will achieve it, etc. Money is obviously the priority because the essence of business is lost if it is not generating the money in the economy but I believe if your value creation process is right for others, the money will automatically come as an outcome of it.
How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
I am not someone who would say “I eat stress for breakfast”. Yes, there is a lot of pressure and stress, being a co-founder of Service Startup where the percentage of personal involvement is high. The only way I keep my stress levels low is by being Positive, having an assertive rather than aggressive approach at my office. See being a co-founder, we need to accept certain events which we cannot control. The earlier we accept these events, lesser would be the stress we go through.
What is one strategy that you believe has helped you grow as a startup?
Since me and my co-founder knew what the pain points of startups and SME’s are, after working so closely in the startup ecosystem for about 9 years, we conducted various seminars which were only targeted at educating the entrepreneurs about the importance of having their finance and compliance process in good shape. Over these years, we have realized that this is going to be a continuous process and is not a One Time Effort. Every business is unique and has to be studied before proper Management Reporting. So at FinBrains, initially we conduct a couple of meetings with all the stakeholders before entering into any arrangement to clearly define their problems so that we can come up with the best possible solutions. So, “being amongst our customers” is one strategy which has helped us grow as a Startup.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
According to me, the only key to success for a Startup is to adopt Incremental Innovation and Radical Innovation techniques in their startup whether it is a product or service. You need to improve the existing services or products which are available in the market along with creating new products and services which people actually want.
What advice would you give to someone starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?
For all the aspiring Entrepreneurs, Are you “Making People Want Something or are you Making Something That People Want”? That should be the first question which you answer before getting into any venture. Proper Market study of the domain you are entering is something which would define your business in the Market.
Starting a business without adequate knowledge of the domain is more hazardous than starting a bit late.
However, I have always been the follower of the quote “try and try until you succeed” but only after having proper guidance and knowledge. I would also like to highlight to have a Domain-specific Mentor if you are entering entrepreneurship. This would definitely give you added advantage of the experience which the mentor would bring in. This would be more valuable than anything else.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
