Business Entrepreneurship for Engineers- A course to look out for at NIT Trichy
When I first saw the WhatsApp forward about BEE, I was intrigued. But I was already in my final year and it was the right time to take the back seat and unwind from the grind that core engineering had put us through in the last couple of years. So I didn’t let the BEE buzz too much(:p).
So it was, in all, just another fleeting thought and nothing more.
A couple of days into an elective that I had opted for that semester, I realized I was getting bored by the minute.
Luckily for me, a second WhatsApp forward about the BEE came up inviting more people into the class. They say that the third time’s the charm. But I decided to give it a shot this time, perhaps the second was my charm.
Today, as I pen this piece, I am grateful to myself for having put my foot forward. I intend to take you through my experience with the course and how effortless(well, not the conventional “effortless”) the journey was.
The course coordinators had organized an orientation meeting to serve as a formal welcome to everyone and an excellent networking dinner at one of the finest hotels in Trichy. I had managed to miss them all because I hadn’t grabbed the opportunity the first time.
In-class lectures
Fast forward a couple of weeks, I was sitting in LH-09, an exclusive classroom in the lecture hall complex of NIT Trichy, one that is usually reserved for special occasions. I realized this was indeed a serious business. I was scared but looked forward to what lay ahead. I was already behind by a week’s worth of classes.
The lectures consisted of basic business and entrepreneurship courses like finance and accounting, economics and HR management. We also had relatively newer concepts like social entrepreneurship, design thinking etc. But the real deal was the fact that our coordinators had hand-picked faculty from around the globe to handle these classes for us.
Each subject was taught by an expert on the matter, who in most cases would be an NITT alumnus. I am not sure if it was intended, but I did feel hopeful about each one of us going big as these alumni had.
Our classes did have a schedule on paper but more often than not, we overshot time. If a class started at 3, we would not have realized time fly until it was 6. After that, however, our exhausted faces would speak for themselves and we would call it a day. I distinctly remember one day when we ran so late that by the time we got out of class at 8 pm, it was raining heavily. The entire class was camping outside the lecture hall complex for a good one hour.
We had thus been introduced to this enticing world of business, management and entrepreneurship through our classes. We were always grouped into teams and made to perform activities that got us involved in our work.
Step-by-step development of the Business Idea
While the classes were progressing in the backdrop, it was time to get our hands dirty. We had to come up with a business idea, which was one of the main objectives of this course and one of the key components of our evaluation.
This process was broken down into chunks of smaller team assignments. We had to stick to one group and work towards furthering the business idea that we come up with.
My team consisted of four really cool people.
I shall get to the small blue logo in a while.
1. Research and ideation for a great startup plan
It was time to don the role of creators and come up with an amazing business idea, one that was relevant. It wasn’t a straight road to the final idea. Surya would come up with an online music store-with one to one coaching idea while Rishi would think of a novelty in the healthcare sector. All the while, we would buy ourselves little treats from our favourite hangout/business corner, CCD.
But come 8.59 PM every day, I would rush to my cycle to get to Opal (NITT girls hostel) before the clock tower struck 9 and all hell broke loose at the Opal security gate.
2. Laundromatix-Click it, Clean it!
After several rounds of coming up with, dissecting, analysing and cancelling many great business plans, realization dawned upon us that washing clothes is a major problem amongst students. We decided to put on our thinking hats and get down to business.
And so came into being Laundromatix, our idea of an aggregator service for laundromats and customers, and the little blue logo of a shirt in a whirlpool. It summed up our main idea really well.
3. OOB- Customer reviews and need analysis
Every week, we had tasks to complete that would eventually add to the big picture of our startup idea. For each of these tasks, we had periodic reviews both by our course coordinators and our peers. It would prepare us for the shark tank pitch, they said. Who knew then that nothing could ever prepare us for the shark tank evaluation!
The idea of Laundromatix grew from a title and logo to an actual plan with operations and revenue generation schemes after what we called OOB (Out Of the Building) sessions spread over a few weeks.
We were put into the rigorous task of exploring our customer segments and archetypes (ooh, fancy business words!) before interviewing them in person.
This was to get us out of our bubbles and obtain some real-world data to analyse the actual need for this startup.
4. Putting it all together on the BMC
The next big thing on the table was the BMC (Business Model Canvas).
It’s a chart with the entire plan for your startup. It contains various sections for you to fill up, bringing some order amidst the chaos.
We put together our BMC in stages. Every customer interview would give us a new perspective, every team meeting would yield a different idea for operations and all of it went to the BMC.
It was so satisfying to finally put months of effort down on the BMC, giving us clear insights into our own idea.
5. The Shark Tank pitch
The day we all dreaded finally did come. For once, more than seeing it as a final exam for the course, we actually wanted to get something out of this more than just marks.
We were to be questioned and cross-questioned by a panel of experts.
To us, on that day, they seemed like hungry lions waiting to down their prey. No wonder this whole thing is called a shark tank.
Bhaskar sir and Shyam sir had said, “You should tell us the story of your idea.”
Every team had a unique way to present their idea. Some enacted a play and others role-played, while some students geared it up like an actual advertisement you see on TVs.
We had a small roleplay planned. I still remember Pragya and I creasing Surya’s pressed formal shirt so he would blend into the role really well (that of a student with laundry woes).
After what seemed like an excruciatingly painful half-hour of questioning and thinking if we had done enough, our shark tank pitch came to an end. It definitely was not what I had expected. In fact, it was way harder with the sharks stumping us with questions we thought we could tackle well.
I would have been disappointed that day if not for Bhaskar sir giving me a smile at the end and telling me,” You tackled the questions really well, it shows you have it in you.”
We had a team dinner that day with the entire class which marked the ending of the course. It was then that I truly felt bittersweet. What an experience it was. I was glad the evaluations were finally over but was sad that the course had gotten over too. We knew something like this was quite rare to come by in the future.
I absolutely enjoyed the journey that BEE took us on. Apart from the enriching experience, I did get to learn many high-end business terms like the BMC, product life cycle, archetypes etc. It was one of the courses in college that offered real-life lessons and insights. In short, BEE brought along with it all the aspects of experiential learning.
It would be a disservice not to thank our dynamic course coordinators, Mr. Baskar Subramaniam and Mr. Shyam Ramamurthy, the entrepreneurs of BEE. Despite living in Chennai, these gentlemen flew in for a couple of days every week to mentor us through the journey with the aim of “giving back” to their alma mater.
I also extend my thanks to Dr. S. Nivethitha from the Department of Management studies.
To my juniors who managed to read on till here, I completely recommend taking this course whenever it comes your way even if you don’t really fancy entrepreneurship. BEE is something you have to experience for yourself at NITT. I hope my journey helps you imagine how yours could be.
