Start-ups need a sustainable model, says Nilekani

Nilekani while mentoring a host of companies is also doing select strategic investments in few of them

Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani on Wednesday said it was important for young entrepreneurs to learn to deal with adversities rather than looking only at profits.

Start-up founders should have a model and strategy to ensure sustainability, said the former chief of the Unique Identification Authority of India on the sidelines of the launch of one of his investee companies, 4TiGO. “There are business cycles. All of us have seen ups and downs in business and there will be failures. It is important to get up after a failure and make a fresh start.”

The start-up, which provides a cloud-based marketplace for stakeholders of the logistics industry, has started operations in six states for now with a focus on the trucking industry.

The company is mostly focussed on the southern states but wants to spread out in 12-18 months.

“With around 4.5 million trucks operating and nine million truck drivers depending on this industry, the trucking industry is an important contributor to economic growth. But the sector is largely unorganised. And 4TiGO is trying to organise it though its platform.”

Nilekani, like most other co-founders and former senior colleagues at Infosys, is active in the start-up space in the country. He is mentoring a host of companies and also doing select strategic investments in some.

4TiGO is a brainchild of former senior executives of Headstrong Vivek Malhotra and Anjani Mandal and has received funding from Accel Partners, too.