IT industry is basically driven by enterprising spirit and ability to take risks. In this industry skill and ability to execute with professional approch are of paramount of importance. There is nothing like a safe job anymore in IT industry. This industry works on a Silicon Valley mentality of hire & fire and Darwin’s principle of ‘Survival of the Fittest’. Perform or Perish is the rule of the game here.

Against this backdrop, experience and prior business background are not so important for starting an enterprise.. A model of Startup busines is very common. Most successful companies such as Microsoft, Oracle, Novel, Citrix and Indian companies such as Wipro, Infosys, Mastek, HCL etc are also entrepreneurial successes.

IT entrepreneurship is driven by innovation. It is not a Zero capital game, but the capital requirements are far smaller than other businesses. You need not have plush office, high capital infrastructure. You can operate out from your bedroom. Mastek, Infosys all started from one bedroom flats. With Technology enabled business model, one can invest lesser in capital frills. There are many eBusiness success stories arising out of India e.g. Flipkart, Zomato etc

But your vision and Business model has to be innovative and customer focussed imparting value to the customer.

Freshers must put in survival capital for 24 months. This mainly includes salaries of essential staff (sales team must earn part of their salaries from revenues), initial setup costs, marketing expenses and cost of building ideas etc.

You can use bank loans to buy physical assets such as computers, furniture and software. But no bank will finance the working capital for a startup IT venture. Most banks will also ask for Surety and Guarantors for the loans.

If your operation is of agency or stock and sale then more capital will be needed. These businesses have to also worry about technology obsolesce. Software product development needs great ideas, design ability and smooth and sleek development. I have seen great products built in areas such as digital healthcare, smart cities etc. There is always scope for new ideas in IT industry. There is nothing like all products built & no more scope for computerisation in IT. Dil Mange eMore is the Mantra in IT.

IT applications is somewhat like music or a piece of art. There is always a room for something better and world class. No one should feel everything best is done and nothing more is remaining. This is where IT entrepreneurs can pitch in.

Personal or own hard earned money is one important resource. There is no replacement to that. Bank finance can be used for buying assets. But all working capital needs such as salaries, marketing, development costs etc need to be raised from equity.

morale of the story is very clear. People with great ideas but 0 capital cannott become entrepreneurs unless they partner with trustworthy rich people who are willing to invest in their risks. A joint venture of your ideas and some angel investor in finance is a working proposition .

There are thousands of examples in India and overseas wherein Middle class professionals have become successful entrepreneurs. This is difficult in capital intensive old economy style businesses. Prior experience as an employee is desired for contacts, marketing innovation etc.

• Hardware & Network maintenance (hot demand from corporates)
• Telecom (Remote Infrastructure Management)
• IT Security solutions and services
• Digital Healthcare (all aspects)
• Sale & Service of Global IT products in India
• Skill Development at all levels
• Bespoke Development jobs in Indian languages
• eGovernance projects as per Digital India Mission
• Analytics , Big Data and Cloud Computing
• Localisation of global products as per Indian conditions

An IT entrepreneur cannot do part-time entrepreneurship. Either you DO IT or DON’T do it. In teaching as a consultant or technical copywriting such possibility may exist. But you cannot build an enterprise on a part time model.