Devesh Chawla - Every Entrepreneur Is Different, What Makes Them Successful Is The Hard Work And Dedication (Investor, Leader, Founder)

Just finding the solution is not enough, the solution should be very enticing, have should have the potential to create money and solve problems at the same time.

1. Tell us more about your company and your journey.

Chatur Ideas is one of India’s leading start-up enabling platform which has worked with over 1050 start-ups and 1500 + investors from all around the world. It helps a start-up in all possible avenues, from mentoring, to fundraising, to getting their pitch deck, their business plan, marketing, and anything that they might need to scale up their business. 

We also run an Entrepreneurship Program across India, where our trainers help in providing the right path and guidance to the budding entrepreneurs and help them succeed. 

My journey with Chatur Ideas has been very eventful and wonderful with a lot of learning and teaching. 

From zero startups and investors to helping over 1050 start-ups and having a network of over 1500 investors, acquiring a company which was started by IIT-IIM Alumni where we trained over 34,000 entrepreneurs across 125 + cities in 450 colleges and growing that company rapidly, to bagging multiple awards in India and Internationally, this journey has been an interesting ride for us from zero to one.

2. How did you come up with this idea and go about executing it?

About starting Chatur Ideas, back in 2009, I wanted to start something on my own, similar to a famous taxi-hailing application in India. At that time, I was demotivated and discouraged by a lot of people and pushed towards taking up a nice job instead, and I did the same. 

But later in 2013-14, I realized that some people in a similar space are doing exceptionally well, while others, in spite of great potential, are unable to reach their desired goals. This made me think that maybe we lack the right ecosystem where there are mentors, entrepreneurs, and investors together, and that made me think about starting something where I can create the ecosystem. 

At that time, I did not have the courage to start it right away, so I did a lot of ground-work and research to make sure if I am on the right path or not. Once I gained confidence, I left my job and started Chatur Ideas. 

It was a slow and shaky start, and I often thought if I made the right call or not, but we eventually started picking up momentum and received a lot of love and compassion from a lot of start-ups by connecting them to the right investors and mentors. 

Today we have surpassed our own benchmarks in helping startups, and have scaled up rapidly in India, and are expanding our reach overseas.


3. What has been your biggest challenge that you faced and how did you overcome that?

One of the biggest challenges that I personally faced was acceptance. I was not sure if people would accept me, as there were already bigger players in the market, doing things similar to our business idea, and even they were facing tough times. 

I was not sure, being so young, entering an already competitive field, if I would be able to achieve what I wanted and if the market will respond to it in a positive way. To overcome that, I got into and gave my 100%. I stepped out of my comfort zone, spent more than 18 hours a day on the start-up, making sure that I put all the pieces together to get the benefits of the mentors and the investors. 

Eventually, the hard work paid off, people started seeing the sincerity and honesty in my work, often foregoing the revenue in it and thinking of the bigger picture. This is how I overcame this challenge and Chatur Ideas was able to rise up rapidly.


4. What do you think are the most important qualities of a successful entrepreneur?

Every entrepreneur is different, but what makes them successful is the hard work and dedication. When I meet a startup, I ask about only two things, the business plan, and the P.D.F.

P.D.F stands for Perseverance, Discipline, and Focus. For example, Colonel Sanders, the founder of K.F.C. knocked on 1,009 doors before he became successful. That’s perseverance, persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay. Often entrepreneurs use investor money like college pass outs getting their first salary. So, discipline plays a key role for an entrepreneur to be successful. 

The third part is focus, which we have been learning since the era of Mahabharata, how Arjun’s laser-sharp focus made him the best Archer of his time as his focus was only on his aim and nowhere else. 

So according to me, these are the most important qualities for an entrepreneur to be successful.


5. What are some of the most important factors for running a successful business?

Important factors for running a successful business again include Perseverance, Discipline, and Focus i.e. P.D.F. Along with his, an unfair advantage is also very important. Unfair advantage is basically having something that your competitors or your competition cannot easily take over just by money and it makes you stand out a little from the competition.


6. What are your tips for the first time and aspiring entrepreneurs?

My tips to first time and aspiring entrepreneurs includes doing an empathy study and in-depth market survey to figure out and answer one major question, "what problem is an entrepreneur solving?" 

Most of the first time entrepreneurs first find the solution and then look for the problem. This should be the other way around, they should look for the problem first, and then find the solution. 

Just finding the solution is not enough, the solution should be very enticing, have should have the potential to create money and solve problems at the same time. These are the pointers which first time and aspiring entrepreneurs should keep in mind.


7. How start-ups can overcome a hurdle of lack of funds when starting up?

According to me, funding is not everything. I completely disagree with the statement that the funding of a startup determines the success of a startup. Your happy customers, your traction, and your repeat customers are the ones that define your success. 

In fact, a start-up should raise funding only at the time when they are ready to scale up, or else it becomes just like a ventilator, providing you with the necessary money to survive, and the moment the ventilator or the funding is gone, the company collapses. 

You can create a company by piloting at a very small level, and once you think you can scale up, you can raise funds. The start-ups with a lack of funding should bootstrap, raise money from personal sources, and start at a smaller level. 

In cases where the money is needed, there are multiple grants available by the government and some angel investors. But usually, even Angel Investors provide the money only after a start-up as proved its worth and do not invest in a company at the idea stage as everyone has ideas but the execution that matters.


- Devesh Chawla (Strategist, Mentor, Investor, Leader, Consultant, Speaker, Founder - Chatur Ideas)

Devesh Chawla is an ingenious strategist, a mentor, an investor, an efficient leader, a consultant, and a highly sought-after speaker. He is known and highly regarded for his brisk planning and experience in the field of entrepreneurship with great detail and insight into the subject. He is also the founder of Chatur Ideas, one of India’s leading startup enabling platform which helps budding startups and entrepreneurs to grow, scale, and reach their potential.

Devesh Chawla:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devesh-chawla/?originalSubdomain=in
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/devesh.chawla.31
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/devesh_chawla/

Chatur Ideas:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChaturIdeas/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chaturideas/


Interviewed By Tuhina Rana