Sushil Shelke, Founder, S4 Foods

“We have developed a rhizome technology that cuts down time and cost of drying food products. Earlier we thought we should sell the technology and machines we have developed to the farmers. But that was capex-heavy. It would cost the farmer about Rs. 1.1 Cr. This was an impediment to our sales. But our Nurture mentor Anand Chordia advised us to offer our technology as a service. This will make it affordable, and for us, it will help overcome the high Capex barrier to sales. We are now looking into implementing this.”

Abhishek Jakkannavar, Founder, BrightBee

“I think the most significant piece of advice we got from our mentors was on two things. One is we were shown the importance of keeping the customer first. To always think of how you can offer more and more to your customer. And the second thing is ethics. Ravi Nigam told us that we are an extension of our company. What you do is what your company is. Honesty in all our dealings and transparency is vital. He gave us the example of how his company was asked for a kickback for a very large order. But instead of giving in they went on to complain to the boss even if it meant losing the business. And I too follow these principles. We are very clear about our dealing with our coaches as well as with our employees. In fact, my bank password is known to all our employees. This builds trust, it builds your brand which is so vital to any start-up.”

Harish Zambani, Founder, Hixaa Technologies

“We develop automation software for primarily the cement and power industries. We collect data, do analysis and then offer automation services. Our mentors, first off, showed us how to negotiate. Negotiation skills are very vital to any business. Also, they expanded our vision. They asked us why are we limiting ourselves to just one plant of ACC? Why not offer to all their plants? Also, after we do this, we should move to other industries such as Oil and Gas, Steel etc, And this is what we are doing.”

Nadeem Khan, Founder, Mineral Drop

“We are a direct-to-consumer water purifier brand. Our mentors advised us to expand, to grow my business by expanding my team and seek funds.”

Khushal Katara, Founder, Get and Give Services

Get and Give Services offers hyperlocal delivery services to local businesses. “We got in-depth advice on our internal strategies like hiring people, operations, and sales. Scalability was an issue and we had some issues with our technology that we are now working on. That should be done in 10 days’ time. Our mentors helped us see our business issues clearly.”

Sumeet Mahendra, Founder, RTIwala

“Before we joined Nurture all our energies were focused on building a great RTI Bot. We spent six months building our bot and we thought that after we had built what we thought was the perfect bot, we would go into the market. Most founders I think get trapped in this, thinking that they should put their best foot forward. But my mentors at TiE showed me my mistake. They asked us to build a minimalistic product that could be scalable. So, we scrapped our earlier product and got a new team to build this new one. They also told us to just get into the market, get traction and then feedback, so that we knew where we stood. And this is what we are doing.”