Hi Friends, Happy to share one chapter of my latest book, Entrepreneur to Market Creator. All of our lives we have been taught business is all about understanding customer pain points and creating products or services to solve them. I think otherwise! Business is all about creating MARKETS! Business is all about going beyond the needs/gaps and creating something which the customer wouldn't have imagined. Henry Ford had said, "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses." When you create markets, they remain loyal to you. It's very difficult for your competitors to copy & paste your approach. When you create markets, you don't belong to markets, but markets belong to you. Just think about it! Please read the chapter and share your feedback. Look forward to hearing from you. Happy Reading!

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Entrepreneur
To
Market Creator
SAURABH LEEKHA

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DEDICATED TO
MY LATE FATHER

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INTRODUCTION
If you are an entrepreneur or plan to take up
entrepreneurship, this book will be worth your time.
This much I can promise!
What is that X-factor that makes entrepreneurs
successful? Looking for answers to this, I set out to
write this book. The journeys of entrepreneurs are most
often evolving narratives that are defining and resetting
economies around the world. Entrepreneurship is thus
aggressively promoted by world economies, including
India, to boost growth and job opportunities. However,
over 90% of startups fail due to lack of resources and
undirected guidance.
This book is an attempt to explore, validate, and
unlock the mantra of entrepreneurial success. The
mantra that becomes a guiding force for entrepreneurs
to create innovative businesses that solve huge pain
points and provide a constant value quotient to the
customers. When entrepreneurs solve huge pain points,
they create a huge impact on the marketplace. The
market either gets transformed into a new entity or
breaks down into segments.
We can thus conclude: the level of impact on the
market defines entrepreneurial success. An
entrepreneur who either transforms the market or
creates a new segment for his offering is successful.
Let’s call these entrepreneurs as Market Creators.

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I wanted to present deep insights that inspire
action. If people don’t get motivated to act, then I think
one has written – NOTHING. I approached Market
Creators who were pioneers in their respective areas to
seek their practical views. The purpose was to
substantiate my insights with on-the-ground realities. I
wanted to touch upon different segments and was lucky
to receive affirmations from people working across
multiple/unrelated sectors such as food retailing, sales
outsourcing, e-commerce, television broadcasting,
consumer healthcare, and telecom. A diversified range
of industries would give my readers a perspective that
can relate to many industries. That is not an industry-
specific view.
Apart from the success stories, I wanted to capture
the challenges faced by the Market Creators in
building their startups. In this book, not only do they
talk about their success but also the grind, the failures,
and despite that, what makes them tick? You can see
the hard time they’ve gone through to realize their
dreams.
Sundeep Holani wore the same suit, bought for his
IIM Calcutta placement, for two years after he started.
Brij Mahendru used to fight with his elder brother to
ride the only cycle between them. Nitin Saluja went
shopping five years after he set up Chaayos. Sagar
Daryani got his hands dirty at his Wow Momo stores.
These are inspiring stories. One because of their
sheer dedication and hard work. Two, they don’t come

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from affluent backgrounds, yet they created milestones
and success stories for others to follow.
The T3EC Success Mantra described in this book
covers the entire ecosystem of students, academicians,
entrepreneurs and investors. The T3EC Success Mantra
helps an entrepreneur to transform into a Market
Creator. The mantra guides to take forward the
subject from the point where other books end. How to
build an ahead-of-the-curve organization which earns
sustainable profits and continues to surprise its
customers with a wow?
Success or failure is the repetition of tasks
and attitudes. People who follow the right direction,
remain focused, and positive despite hurdles, make it.
I strongly believe the practical insights presented in the
book would empower budding entrepreneurs to become
Market Creators. They will move forward in
transforming their innovative ideas into scalable, self-
sustainable, and profitable business entities.

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CHAPTER
STRATEGIC MARKET
CREATION: WHEN
ADVENTURE AND
IMAGINATION MEET
CREATIVITY

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Imagine, when you say this word, the thinking cells in
your brain align together to create a picture. Albert
Einstein had said, "The true sense of intelligence is not
knowledge but imagination." When adventure and
imagination meet creativity, you create ideas for the
future. Ideas for the future should solve huge problems
and scale on their own. They should expand the market
rather than limiting or killing it altogether. Today, the
market is becoming a place for supremacy. It does not
even pay to become number 2 forget number 3 or the
following.
The things that will affect the world should be the
backdrop of market creation. When you are building a
venture, do not think of something which will last for
the next 5 or 10 years. You should attempt to create
something which lasts a lifetime, maybe beyond. This
way, you will create something for the future.
Market creation requires a different set of thinking.
You need to forego the mindset—what are my
competitors offering? A mere extension of the product
or improvisation in the business model will last till
someone else comes with an upgraded version. You
should have a futuristic strategic imagination which
merges with innovation and business model to create
markets of the future.
Taxi Stands dominated the taxi market in India
until the early 2000s. In the year 2010, Delhi was
preparing for one of the biggest events in the city,
Common Wealth Games. The administration introduced

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15,000 radio cabs to handle the rise in demand. These
cabs were allowed to operate even after the games were
over. Although costlier than the traditional black-yellow
taxis, radio cabs offered much better service in terms of
on-time pick-up, call centers, better cars, and a one-
way charge. The taxi stands did not have the service
levels to match the cab operators and lacked a common
support system.
In spite of better service, the demand for radio cab
did not match the scale of the operations, which forced
these companies to retort to aggressive pricing to lure
customers. The aggression impacted the taxi stands.
They lost business at a fast pace. Radio cabs made
inroads and pushed taxi stands out of business.
Mobile-application-based taxi services brought a
massive impact on the radio taxis, the way they had
impacted the taxi stands. These app-based cab
companies like their predecessors retorted to aggressive
pricing, which resulted in radio cabs losing out.
Whenever you create businesses where the
significant differentiation is the price, you would not
create a market but limit it.
BUILDING A SELF-SUSTAINABLE, SCALABLE
BUSINESS MODEL
I met an entrepreneur who said it is impossible to
build a self-sustainable, scalable business model. As
per him, the business requires a lot of investment and
energy to take it to the next level. I feel a self-
sustainable, scalable business model is a reality. All

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boot-strapped ventures which made it big are a
testimony to the same.
See the below diagram which shows the journey of an
idea to become a big impact on the market. All the
elements of the model play a vital role to reach the goal.
IDEA
A great startup gives immense importance to the
idea. It is the idea that sows the seed of transformation
in the market. The idea is the soul of the business which
lives its full life with the startup. We can gauge the
strength of the idea from the fact that even if an
innovative startup fails, the consumers still remember
the unique idea.
The majority of times, consumers are not aware of
their future requirements. It is the responsibility of the
Idea
Solve Huge
Problems
Critical
Mass
Preparation
Growth
Spread
Adoption
ExperimentationFriendly Customer/
Earliest Adopter
Success
Stories

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entrepreneurs and marketers to imagine future trends
and design products suiting customer needs or wants.
Startups should work on the ideas, which are:
- Unique yet practical
- Impactful yet scalable
- Massive yet self-sustainable
- Profitable yet solve huge problems
The idea may be innovative and scalable but will
grow on its own if we build it around the gaps prevalent
in the market. There is a big difference when you push
to make the idea big, or it grows on its own. The impact
made by the idea in the market defines its success. An
excellent example is the success of e-commerce.
America pioneered e-commerce, and then the world,
including India, ordered online. Customers were wary
of the online model. They said, if you cannot feel the
product, then you cannot buy it. Reality is different
today. People buy from a sewing needle to homes online.
The entrepreneur may require external help when
he is experimenting with new ideas. Here he should take
advice from a qualified expert who also has skin in the
game. Most times, entrepreneurs, for lack of experience,
use consultants who have limited exposure. Often, they
suggest bookish and impractical solutions that are hard
to implement. It is always better to take help from
people with the pertinent background who are eager to
be a part of the initiative.
SOLVING THE HUGE PROBLEM
Once you have built upon the idea by involving the
various stakeholders, such as industry experts,

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customers, technical & financial resources, then you
should build a prototype for testing it in a practical
scenario. At this juncture, you would need help from
your peers in the industry to test the prototype in actual
conditions. Do not move forward unless you have
incorporated the received feedback.
A prototype is not a full-blown or full-featured
product. It is a sneak peek view of the product for
customers to understand your capability. The prototype
is a confidence-building measure for the Market
Creator, customer, and even the investor. The
maximum number of investment happen after the
prototype has been created and initial tractions have
taken place.
The prototype is the gateway to your success. If you
have built a successful prototype and the business
model looks profitable, then you have arrived. Now it is
the matter of critical mass and scalability.
CRITICAL MASS
Critical mass is the stage when early adopters are
ready to buy your services at a price point. The price
may be premium as you do not have quantities to
support. You should never use discounting to acquire
customers at this point. They should be able to see
value in the offering. If they do not see any value at this
point, then they will not see it later as well. It is a
confidence-building point. It should become crystal
clear at this moment that if I become affordable in the
future, my numbers will grow.

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Early adopters are anywhere between 5 and 15
percent of the total market. The earliest adopters (let us
call them advanced adopters) are those who are ready
to buy an innovative product even in its design or
prototype stage. They would be less than 1 percent of
the market. Advanced adopters are looking for solutions
that can excite and charm them. They know the
shortcomings associated with products at this stage but
still want to go with them because of the novelty and
innovation.
Where will you find the “advanced adopters?” You
will not find them in malls or retail stores. In B2B, they
will not be sitting in the corner offices. The advanced
adopters are the explorers; they are the change leaders.
You will find them in exhibitions, conferences,
seminars, and investor's meet. They are often the
moderators or speakers at these places, leading and
propagating the change.
I had already met 8–10 entrepreneurs and thought
leaders by the time I reached midway writing this book.
I felt the need to meet one or two entrepreneurs who
were experts in certain areas. A large annual IT
exhibition was progressing at Pragati Maidan, New
Delhi. This exhibition attracted delegates and visitors
not only from India but also from overseas. I
handpicked a few discussions and sat through them. I
liked two speakers and approached them for an
interview. To my surprise, both of them agreed.
PREPARATION
Preparation is for building a systematic growth. I
have seen many entrepreneurs taking the responsibility

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of promoting the product on themselves. They do not
form a proper sales & marketing team for taking the
product to the next level. Even if they form a team, they
do not pass on the responsibilities to the managers. It
is natural as the entrepreneur feels the sales team will
not do justice to the job. It leads to confusion and lack
of direction. The entrepreneur loses the opportunity to
build the next billion-dollar organization at this
juncture.
The initial acquired “marquee customers” play an
essential role in the preparation phase. They build your
brand value and trust. Your attention should be on
building an initial base of these delighted customers.
Whenever a potential customer calls them for a
reference check, they should exhibit excitement for your
product or services. These customers will become your
"torchbearers." Your next lot of customer size would be
bigger, revenues higher, and area of operation extensive
provided you continue to bring the "wow" in these
customer’s lives.
The next time you go on a sales call, give the
reference of your marquee customers. Talk about the
challenges faced by them and how you helped them to
make their lives easier. Narrate this story with absolute
confidence and passion. Your communication must
reflect what they would lose if they do not take you on-
board.
GROWTH
The growth phase represents the time when the
product or services become a way of life for the

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customers. They see a definitive differentiation and
value addition which competition does not offer.
SPREAD ADOPTION
Spreading adoption could be straight forward or
complicated. If you have already built a market for your
product, then adoption becomes much more
manageable. A great product that solves huge problems
and gives value for money needs no market creation.
The timing as we discussed could be anybody’s guess.
It is difficult to predict whether your product or service
will attract mass adoption in a few weeks, months, or
even years.
In a nutshell:
- Do not just try to match the competition or better
them. Develop a holistic approach to the market.
- Do not take decisions that restrict you based on
one specific territory as your competitors from
other regions may hit you unaware in no time.
- Understand the real gaps in the market. Think
around the same and develop products or
services that provide huge value to the
customers.
- Test market the new product. Get the initial
marquee customers.
- Spread adoption to other segments.
*************************************************************
It’s all programmed, gifted. It’s in your DNA.
INTERVIEW BRIJ MAHENDRU - FOUNDER
FUNCTIONAPPS & CO-FOUNDER mCARBON

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Me: Please tell me about your background?
Brij: I always had this belief that I can do something
in life. Nobody inspired me to become an entrepreneur. I
wanted to do something in technology and independently
implement my ideas.
I belong to a simple middle-class family. My parents
brought me up in a reasonably disciplined environment
where education was important, but there was no strict
time table to follow. My father, who was working with
BHEL, always kept an eye on our friends. He wanted us
to be sincere such that there were no complaints from the
school.
I did not even have a bicycle of my own. It belonged
to my elder brother with whom I fought to get my turn. I
cannot say whether my modest upbringing pushed me to
embrace entrepreneurship, but I was always inclined to
do something in the technical field. I did not have funds
to start on my own. This dream of doing something on my
own remained a dream. I worked for almost 20 years
with government and private technology players. I felt
the need to learn business management to transform
myself into an entrepreneur. Bharti Group allowed me to
lead the business function. In 3–4 years, I developed the
requisite skill-set in the technology and business to start
on my own.
I had modest savings of 8–10 lacs when I started.
Despite two teenaged kids, I had no fear in my mind to
startup. I told my wife that will take up a job if this fails.
This was to comfort her. I had decided to never go back.
I was almost sure, I will succeed.

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Me: Your views on entrepreneurship?
Brij: Entrepreneurship is a way of life. It’s in your
nature. I think when an entrepreneur is doing some
personal work or something related to the household, he
will exhibit the same passion as at the workplace. It does
not matter whether you are the founder or owner of the
company. It’s a status on the paper; entrepreneurship is
in the thoughts not in the status.
You cannot differentiate working for self or any other
organization. It’s not the money but the goals which drive
you. The way I was driving business in mCarbon or
Bharti is the same. The way I enjoy the freedom in
creating new products in Functionapps was the case
with Bharti or functional independence in the case of C-
DOT.
Entrepreneurship does not run on instinct. A
systematic and planned approach should be followed by
an entrepreneur. He must be able to answer the following
questions with no ambiguities:
• What are you doing?
• What resources do you need for the operations?
• What is your market?
• What are your capabilities?
The acquisition of "marquee customers" in the B2B
segment is critical. I took the responsibility of adding
these customers on my shoulders in both of my ventures
mCarbon and Functionapps. You need to act as a product
manager and also the sales guy. A win here or a loss
there does not affect me as I fix the milestones with
enough flexibility. For me, adding a single customer is

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like augmenting the plan, but it cannot be a plan. Once
you have designed a product based on the gaps, then it
will be a success in the market. You need not worry as
the customer will sign up because of the value offered. I
would be very disappointed to be at 20 percent of
achievement against the plan if the product was stable,
and the plan had enough room for variations.
Me: Funding?
Brij: Plan seed fund for a minimum of 18 to 24 months
of operations. You should have the capability and
resources to add even more. The analogy of startup at
this stage could be with an aircraft taking off the runway.
If the runway is short, how can the aircraft take off? The
seed fund helps make this airstrip longer. It allows you
to take off to the next level.
Start your venture if you have adequate funds for a
minimum of 24 months. Several entrepreneurs wake up
when they have used 70–80 percent of the seed fund. It
puts them under tremendous pressure to raise the next
funding. They are not able to raise the next level of
funding which often leads to failure.
An entrepreneur should plan a milestone at every
20% utilization of funding. These milestones should talk
of critical business parameters of revenue generation,
customer acquisition, territory expansion, profitability,
and so on. He should compare his actual performance
vis-à-vis the milestone, to plan his next course of action.
The milestone could even be the product release with zero
revenue and no customer acquisition but have a strong
background to it.

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My first venture mCarbon was not a product
company; it is a VAS player in the telecom space. We
thought the fund raised was sufficient for 18 months of
operation. The Call Management Platform we were
building was ahead of the time, and customers were not
coming in. I noticed after the 5–6 months of operations
that we are burning cash more than the run rate planned.
We had generated revenue, but it was not sizable and
definite. I tried to put control measures, but we had
already committed a large amount of money for staff
costs, travel, and other expenses. The situation did not
come under control, and we had to rush in for our next
round of funding within the first year, sooner than the
planned. One of my friends working with a venture
capitalist offered us the fund. The situation was
alarming, so I had to agree to the terms of the VC. We
had to shell out more equity. Had we planned better, the
situation would not have arisen.
The learning from experience was to prepare a
business plan. It reflects basic things like revenue
generation, financial, and manpower resources. I urge
budding entrepreneurs to do this exercise. Let’s talk
about two points A and B. A is where you stand today
and B is where you want to reach. You also draw a line
from point A to B, meaning the path you will take. You
may not follow the same way, it may be zig-zag, but you
would reach point B one day.
An entrepreneur must be clear what does he intend
to with the product; else it is a fail case from day one. A
lot of products fail as entrepreneurs design the product
in excitement without even checking whether it is serving
any great need. They do not do the required analysis of

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the market requirement, the need of the customer, or the
gap available to fulfill. It is important to remember that
product design comes later; first is the gap you will serve.
Me: Please elaborate.
Brij: The concept of analytics came to my mind as I
had faced the challenges while working in the telecom
field for over 20 years. There was a vacuum, a huge gap
that I had identified in the telecom operations. I felt
excited with the thought if I can fill this gap, then my
product will be a great hit.
Building an idea into a product comes naturally to
me. I do not ask a customer or my friend for feedback on
the product in the conceptualization stage. I feel they may
not give it the required attention and importance. The first
step is to make a viable version of the product and then
convince a customer to deploy it. The feedback received
from the customer who has deployed the product is far
more relevant and insightful.
I have written many ideas that caught my attention
over a period. What drives me is the thought, whether the
idea can take the shape of a product. Can the product
attract masses? Will the customer appreciate it? The
answer to these questions gives me a real kick. I look
forward to the moment when a customer acknowledges
the thought behind the product and says, "Wow, I want
to use this product."
It is common sense to deploy the first release of the
product or prototype on friendly customer premises. It
will test your product under practical circumstances on

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his network. You must try to engage the customer in this
exercise such that you get first-hand feedback and
become aware of the practical gaps to be fulfilled. You
may offer your product for free or at a highly discounted
price to the customer to make the deal win-win.
Me: How do you do ideation?
Brij: Ideation comes naturally to me. It is essential to
work on your strengths, sniff the gaps available in the
market, and highlight the value of your product. Strategic
(flagship) products are for the long term; the focus should
always be on them. You can work on very few quick buck
opportunities to run the show, but it never should be the
focus area. People who get emotional for these
opportunities compromise on the strategy. They are not
passionate about their ideation and lose in the long term.
Me: Views on risk?
Brij: When you define things well, there is no risk. If
you are confident about your product, clear on the market
you want to serve and have the required capabilities to
fulfill the gaps, then there is no risk.
I have not been under fear for any of my ventures. I
always prepare well in advance. An entrepreneur cannot
be a gambler. He has to be sure of what he’s doing. Once
he knows what he is doing, playing on his pitch and with
full strength, then where is the risk? Entrepreneurs in life
are bold, but they always take calculated risks and are
well prepared to handle them.
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MARKET CREATION: FROM RIGHT TO LEFT
Does shifting the gear from right to left change the
fortune? If you are Royal Enfield in India, then the
answer is a Big Yes!
Royal Enfield (RE), popularly known as bullet
motorcycle, signifies power. One due to its higher engine
capacity of 350 cc and more and two because of its
association with people in power. Army, police, and even
goons prided riding a bullet motorcycle. The first lot of
bikes delivered in the year 1955 was for the Indian
defense forces involved in patrolling duty on the border.
The founding company—Enfield Cycle Company,
founded in 1893—had started as a weapons
manufacturer. "Made like a Gun", the 1990s motto, also
echoed the same sentiment.
Bullet survived until the 1990s, but after that, its
sales numbers took a hit. The onslaught of performance
bikes and drying up of orders from the government
agencies affected its sales performance. The motorcycle
had diehard fans, but the younger generation was not
crazy about it. It was bulky, and also had quality-
related issues. The icon was losing the sheen, and the
management even pondered over closing or selling the
business. The company led by young CEO Siddhartha
Lal took aggressive measures to take the bike to a more
significant customer base. They worked on the product,
market, and distribution to strike the right chord with
its target segment.
Worldwide, motorcycles have their gear on the right-
hand side, whereas all the new entrants in India, such

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as Hero Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, and Bajaj, had the
gears on the left. The new generation motorcycle
enthusiast was not comfortable with the right-side gear
on a RE motorcycle. RE wanted to tap this generation
of riders and wanted them as its customers. However,
one of the major stumbling blocks was the gear position.
The decision to change the gear position was difficult.
RE diehard fans wanted it in the original place. The
company took the gamble around the year 2007 and
changed the gear from right to left. There was a furor
among the RE fans, but this proved to be the first
inflection point from where the company managed a
comeback. RE now could become a part of the
consideration for the new-gen motorcycle buyers.
The second inflection point was when RE increased
its dealer base. From 200 odd dealers in 2012, it grew
it to 600 dealers by the year 2016 and even further in
the coming years. Large cities, such as Delhi and
Bangalore, which earlier had a handful of stores, now
have them across the length and breadth of the city. The
other change RE brought at these stores in 2014 was
retail psychology. The Royal Enfield team went for a
branding workshop where the task was to forge an
identity of the brand, its appeal to the customers, and
transition from an auto dealer to a retailer. RE stores
across the globe went in for a makeover for brand,
ambience, and staff. The stores started stocking
accessories and apparel.
Royal Enfield worked to bring cultural change
among the retail staff. They wanted to promote the RE
riding experience to the customers. The company
undertook an internal project involving ten stores in

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India to form the right culture among the retail staff.
The first step to build the culture was hiring riders and
RE motorcycle enthusiasts as the retail salesperson in
the stores. Skillset desired was the right attitude and
his knowledge about Royal Enfield. The new sales guy
was a RE enthusiast who could engage the customer in
a continuous dialogue. He would help the customer set
up community rides and connect with him for the entire
lifecycle. The numbers moved northward: the annual
motorcycle sales in 2010–11 were 50,000; whereas
“Month March 2016” sales were 50,000 motorcycles.
The growth was 12 times in 5 years.
Connect plays a vital role in market creation. It is
not the awe factor but the way people relate with you.
When your target segment starts associating with the
product, you create markets exclusive to you.

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Entrepreneur to Market Creator
Available Amazon
India Book Link:
https://amzn.to/2VgiRdK
US Book Link:
https://amzn.to/3glKE4u

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