CASE STUDY ON SHARP EDGE LEARNING INNOVATIVE HIGH TECH ENTREPRENEURS

This case study is for the students of entrepreneurs. I have prepared this case study based on interactions with Mr. Paresh Gupta and team on 18 July 2012. This case study highlights strategies of innovative entrepreneurs in emerging high growth sector. It gives learning on the process of development in start-ups. It should be studied in the perspective of strategic management, marketing management, business plan formulation and entrepreneurship. The author is grateful to Paresh, Arpit and Chirag for their valuable inputs. Author : Trilok Kumar Jain

Jain.tk@gmail.com 7/18/2012

Today I met Paresh Gupta. He along with his five friends started a company to promote digital education. His friends are Arpit Mehta, Chirag Maheshwari,Harshit Gupta, Mohit Agarwal and Sourabh Gupta. These six persons had a dream and they made it happen. Each of these six persons could have opted for a job (infact a few of them left their lucrative jobs), but they decided to do something on their own. They had a passion and this passion drove them to innovative business. They found a huge gap between the expectations and reality so far as technical education is concerned. As most of them are from engineering background, they decided to focus on domain skills. They realized that a lot can be done to impart better training in terms of domain skills and soft skills for engineering students. They launched a company called Sharp Edge - to give an edge to the students. Their endeavour is to sharpen the students coming out of Engineering institutions.

Today they are able to give employment to 60 persons. They admit that these 60 persons could have got higher package elsewhere, but they are working with their team because it is a start-up in an innovative sector. Success of great start up depends on innovative idea, scalability, and its ability to remain exclusive. Their ideas are to give a support system to engineering colleges across the country. They can easily scale their operations across the globe. They have prepared contents which can be used in classrooms. These contents give a better idea about technical concepts. They have used latest technology to craft this content. The content that they have developed, consists of lectures, 2D and 3D images of machines and systems, factories, interactive study material etc. All these contents have been designed under the guidance of experts including professors of BITS Pilani.

This start up is due to an inspiration by an academician. Dr. Maheshwari, former Vice Chancellor of BITS Pilani encouraged and motivated this team to launch this start up. BITS Pilani is providing them infrastructure support and mentoring. Within a short span of 11 months, this group has been able to get over 20 clients. Innovative Idea : The team has weaved their business model around the basic idea of developing students for the future. They have tried to look into the perspective of the employer and found that there are many aspects the employer look for, but probably the students dont have those capabilities. They have therefore created a business model which provides specialized training and guidance to the students in following sectors : 1. Domain skills : specialized training / class room programmes for providing technical training

2. Soft skills training from development of resume to mock interviews to discussions about career from very minute issues to complex issues like career planning 3. Webinars by experts : to guide the students and to motivate the students about their career and future 4. Digital Contents for better education : development of contents and supply of those contents to colleges / students 5. Use of latest technology to create 2D / 3D contents for better visual and better understanding : this content has been developed by experienced software developers under guidance of experts Need and rationale : Following issues give us the reasons for the existence of Sharp Edge : -

1. There is an acute shortage of quality faculty members in engineering colleges across the country 2. There is an acute shortage of good laboratories and equipments for proper display and experimentation 3. Digital classes provide better understanding of technical subjects though audio-visual inputs 4. There is a direct relation between level of domain skills and soft skills among the students and their placement, thus Sharp Edge can ensure better placement support to the students Revenue Model : Sharp Edge sells its contents to the engineering colleges / engineering students. These contents are tailor made as per the syllabus of the engineering college. They depict entire contents of the syllabus through digital mode. Their team gives support to

the engineering college. They also conduct teacher training classes, where they enable teachers to use digital learning media for class room teaching. Education is a growing industry and therefore, there should be a great revenue model ahead. The team is optimistic. They have spent last two years in planning and visualizing the contents and now they are able to develop the contents as per their dreams. They are sure that the contents will offer great value proposition for the colleges and students. They modify and develop the contents as per the requirements / syllabus of individual colleges. They charge for tailor made contents for one year of education. They also charge for giving specialized training for the purpose of placements. Thus these charges reflect a very reasonable amount to be charged from the college / students. They can easily replicate their success in different colleges / universities and spread their wings abroad also. Their business model is scalable and

can be stretched across the globe. At present their costs are mostly manpower costs. They are employing 60 employees who are paid between Rs. 3 lakhs to Rs. 7 lakhs per annum. They have developed three offices / content development centres. One centre is in BITS Pilani and two are in Jaipur one in Malviya Nagar and one in Jawahar Nagar. They are able to save rents and associated costs as they dont have to pay any rent for any of these centres (the two centres in Jaipur are run in their homes and the one in BITS Pilani is supported by BITS in the form of infrastructure, space and mentoring). They are able to have networking with a large number of alumni of BITS Pilani and other eminent experts, who are willing to provide guidance and mentoring through web (through Webinars). Thus they are able to have the best possible guidance and support.

Organisational structure and leadership pattern :

Mr. Gupta and his team is well prepared for the organization of the future. They understand that they are shaping an organization of tomorrow. Knowledge based organizations require different types of structural and leadership variables. Mr. Gupta said that his focus is on building a strong team, which shares the passion of the founders. He told me that in order to develop his company, he has taken a number of initiatives like a flat organization, open organizational culture, mentoring by experts etc. He was able to introduce all these practices because he is an MBA. His masters in business administration helped him in evolving appropriate strategies for a high-tech venture. His understanding of modern business practices enabled him to formulate an innovative business proposition. Marketing and Networking : Sharp Edge has been making news from the beginning. They were awarded as EduStar and were

covered by many websites for their innovative business venture. They were awarded as an innovative start up by many organizations. Their strong team and a strong mentoring team (faculty members and alumni from BITS Pilani) enables them to establish credibility very easily. Success begets success and so they are also able to spread success and increase their clients. Out of six founders, three focus on content development and innovations in product designing, while three focus on marketing, relations with clients, field work and in giving presentations. They travel extensively and give vivid presentations in colleges. They have been able to establish rapport with thousands of students, and academic community at large. Mr. Paresh Gupta (chairman of Sharp Edge) is an MBA and his understanding of modern marketing practices enabled him to serve over 20 clients in a very short span of time. From the beginning they are able to get guidance from thought leaders and

great academicians. They are able to get regular guidance from Dr. L.K. Maheshwari (former, Vice chancellor, BITS Pilani), Mr. Vinay K. Nangia, Dr. Raj K. Gupta, Mr. B.R. Natarajan, Mr. Bikramjeet Gupta Verma, Mr. Arumugam and other eminent thinkers. They are able to establish their identity among academicians through their linkage with BITS Pilani. Awards and Recognition They are reciepient of eINDIA Champion Innovators Awards: Showcasing Emerging Startups and Technology Trends in December 2011. [The eIndia Champion Innovators' Award is an exclusive competition for Technology Startup companies in India. eINDIA 2011 the seventh edition of Indias largest ICT, organised by Department of Science and Technology, Government of Gujarat, and Gujarat Infomatics Limited hosted by the Government of Gujarat was co-organised by Department of

Information Technology, Ministry of Communications & IT and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).] They are also recipient of award of Edustar- 2nd best educational startup company in the country by www.yourstory.in in May 2012.