Arun Kumar – Marketing and consulting services to non-IIT and non-IIM entrepreneurs and startups

 

Arun Kumar : Founder & CEO, Pnapaao Private Limited

Hi, I am Arun Kumar, the founder and CEO of Pnapaao Private Limited. I am a final-year undergraduate student at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. I have more than three years of experience in the fields of marketing, consulting, and business development with numerous other startup companies.

PNAPAAO and its services

PNAPAAO is an early-stage B2B & B2C startup established in IIT Kanpur that provides consulting and marketing services to students studying in non-IITs and non-IIMs colleges who have entrepreneurial ideas in their minds, and also to early-stage startups that require some specific type of service to help their startup. If someone has the passion and commitment to build upon the idea that they have thought of, then Pnapaao can help them achieve the same. And, those who have good startups but do not have much knowledge about marketing and networking, we will help them through our network. This helps them to boost their startup.

Startup at college days

I have always wanted to make my career in the field of business. I have had startup ideas since the beginning of my college career. I know that for any startup to succeed, one requires guidance and support from mentors, apart from a foolproof plan for executing an idea. College is full of people that have worked on similar ideas or in the same field in the past, so they prove to be helpful.

A good core team for a startup is easily created due to a network of reliable and supportive friends. They help you at all times and contribute according to the startup's needs. The environment matters too, and I am lucky to study at such an eminent institute, which provided me with an incredible entrepreneurial culture.

I didn't want to work in a nine-to-six job under someone else's supervision and, thus, always wanted to start a company of my own. College is the best time to achieve our dreams, and with a strong network of people, I was able to cross every obstacle in my path. And also, it was the safest place to start, as if I had seen a bleak future in my plan, I could have easily shifted my goal and focused on the numerous career opportunities that came my way.

Unicorn companies from India

As we know, India is the home to 100+ unicorn companies, out of which the founders of more than 80% of those unicorn companies have been educated at IITs and IIMs. But what about the other 2nd-tier, 3rd-tier, and 4th-tier colleges, in which more than 90% of Indian students are currently studying? We should feel proud of the fact that India is the country with the 2nd highest number of unicorns after the U.S.A. But here is the catch: with a population of a mere 335 million (25% of that of India), the U.S.A. has 4 times the number of unicorns that India has. This means that we have just utilized 6% of our startup potential. India possibly produces the largest number of "engineers" every year at ~15,00,000 and ~3,00,000 management graduates, but only about 15% or so (~10K from IITs, ~15K from NITs and a few from IIMs) are comparable to the engineers who graduate from the top universities in the world. Thus, if we can be the country with the second highest number of unicorns using only 10% of our students, what if we can use 100% in the next 4-5 years? India will easily overthrow the U.S.A. to become the country with the highest number of unicorns ever.

Pnapaao as a startup consulting company

We provide all the services related to a startup, from formulating the product to the establishment and successful entry of the startup into the market, all in one place. If you have an idea, Pnapaao is the one-step solution to make it into a product. You will get a dedicated team of members with skill sets in all the fields required, such as technology, consulting, product management, marketing, and legal work. So, one does not need to worry about things other than their ideas. This way, you can focus on your idea and execute it in a better manner.

The team and its objectives

Our team consists of highly qualified individuals from reputable institutes such as IITs, IIMs, NITs, and other top colleges in India. They are highly motivated and work with full dedication to help our clients. Each member of the team excels in each field and, at every step in raising a business, will give their best input.

Whatever the requirements of our client are, our team will do its best to fulfil them as soon as possible. Our only objective is to provide our country with great startups in the future.

Unique features of consultation and marketing services

We provide consulting and marketing services such as mentoring, formulating business plans, funding help, legal services, making pitch decks, and getting domain names, website building, and registration licences for their startups. Along with this, we have an established set of Venture Capitalists (VCs) and late-stage startup companies that will provide them with funding and advise them on how to improve their products. Also, many of the companies that we are currently collaborating with provide job/internship opportunities, so our clients have a backup plan as well.

Overall, the services provided are -

1. Shaping the ideas of young entrepreneurs currently studying in college and helping them establish their startups, solving every problem along the way.
2. Helping the young entrepreneurs and early-stage startups get funds by connecting them with our established network of investors.
3. Offer guidance in the fields of product development, legal, technical, and marketing services to the CEOs of newly established startups after helping them establish them and also provide these services to other early-stage startups in need.
4. Collaborating with colleges to make the students aware of the entrepreneurial world, how it works, and how to excel in it—also giving career-related guidance to the students through various seminars and webinars.

Brand to its maximum potential

We know that in today’s world, branding is required, and for that, a company requires funding so that they can avail of marketing services. Most startups don’t have a dependable group of investors, and thus the funding they receive is irregular. So, their market growth remains very slow. Pnapaao helps its clients meet a set group of investors and venture capitalists and evaluate the ideas that they pitch to them. We also have collaborations with many colleges where our clients can pitch their ideas. Pnapaao also provides them with marketing and consulting services and strives to improve their clients' products.