In 2010, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, India, had been working for several months on an initiative to catalyze cleantech start-ups in India. This required multi-point intervention, including mentoring, acceleration, and funding. Substantially funded by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), this policy experiment aimed to address both market and government failures in developing countries like India by unlocking venture capital to clean-energy start-ups. As the project required CIIE to raise additional funding from other sources and there had so far been no venture capital funding of clean energy projects in India, the CEO wondered who he could approach for such funding, how to approach them, and how to structure the resulting fund to ensure the greatest potential support for innovative cleantech solutions.

In 2010, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, India, had been working for several months on an initiative to catalyze cleantech start-ups in India. This required multi-point intervention, including mentoring, acceleration, and funding. Substantially funded by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), this policy experiment aimed to address both market and government failures in developing countries like India by unlocking venture capital to clean-energy start-ups. As the project required CIIE to raise additional funding from other sources and there had so far been no venture capital funding of clean energy projects in India, the CEO wondered who he could approach for such funding, how to approach them, and how to structure the resulting fund to ensure the greatest potential support for innovative cleantech solutions.

ReMaterials was started in 2012 by Hasit Ganatra, when he realised the potential of an alternate product that could cater to the current needs of people living in slums. Slums are characterised by inadequate facilities, one of which is durable housing. Ganatra observed that metal sheets were the most commonly used roofing material in slums and the household had to adjust with leaky roofs in monsoons, high temperatures in summer and very little ventilation throughout the year. The residents of such houses were unable to pay for a concrete roof which was the only other option available in the market. Instead, they found it more affordable to undertake yearly repairs. Ganatra felt the need for an alternate roofing solution keeping affordability in mind. To achieve this, he experimented with industrial and agricultural waste for almost a year and came up with a roofing panel made from waste cardboard, which he called 'Modroof.' The price of Modroof is almost half that of the concrete roof and it can last for about 20 years. In 2015, ReMaterials partnered with microfinance institutions, which offered housing loans for the underprivileged, to boost sales. In the beginning of 2017, ReMaterials aimed to achieve 500 installations by the year end to become profitable, but it was able to complete only 100 installations by the end of December 2017. Envisaged as a social enterprise, the dilemma before Ganatra was how to go about making ReMaterials profitable while keeping specific core areas in sight. There were multiple options available to him but he did not want to compromise on his vision or lose the freedom to experiment.

Kaleidofin was co-founded in 2017 by Puneet Gupta and Sucharita Mukherjee; former CFO and CEO of IFMR (Institute for Financial Management and Research) Holdings Pvt Ltd. As part of their roles at IFMR, Gupta and Mukherjee focused on designing products and developing technology to push for financial inclusion. In their field interactions, the co-founders had an epiphany of the challenges faced by people while trying to save towards important life goals. They saw an opportunity in the large segment of financially under-served people in India and quit their jobs to start Kaleidofin. Kaleidofin was conceptualised as a digital platform that offers customised financial solutions to help customers meet their life goals. The start-up partnered with mutual fund companies for solutions on one hand and network partners (NGOs, microfinance organizations, cooperative banks) on the other for access to their existing customers. Kaleidofin grew from 50 customers in January 2018 to 15,000 customers by March 2019. Aiming to grow to 1 million customers in the next 30 months Kaleidofin faces a dilemma about its future course. The start-up could continue to grow by expanding its current target segment which is the low-income households and preserve its vision at the risk of increasing costs. The second option would be to look at other potential target segments, such as, middle-income households and risk diluting their vision. The case study highlights the unique customer-centric model of Kaleidofin and the need for start-ups to understand the value proposition of their products/services.

Eko India Financial Services Pvt. Ltd. started in 2007 as a business correspondent (BC) for banks, providing account-opening and cash-in/cash-out (CICO) services for non/underbanked Indian customers. Brothers Abhishek and Abhinav Sinha co-founded Eko. Over the years, responding to multiple opportunities that presented themselves and changing regulations, Eko developed a domestic money transfer solution through its prepaid payment instrument (PPI) licence (acquired in 2015) and BC partnerships. Eko targeted low- and middle-income (LMI) customers, who entirely operated in the cash economy and offered them its network of small retail outlets to help them remit cash digitally over its mobile platform. In 2016, Eko monetised its technology assets and opened its platform for entrepreneurs in the domestic money transfer business. At the end of the FY18, Eko had 63 employees and a topline of over INR 400 million. This case highlights the journey of a startup operating in a changing Indian business and regulatory environment. The co-founders naturally effectuate to successfully overcome these challenges of an uncertain environment to create a stable and growing organisation. Innovations in technology, people processes, and the ability to adapt and learn are some of the highlights of Eko's journey. The future steps on a growth path for the organisation are chiefly the dilemmas facing the co-founders.

BotGo was started in 2007 by Ravi Panchal, an engineer, after he lost motivation to continue at a managerial role at his job. A hands-on technical person, Panchal was inspired to create an underwater tank-cleaning robot. He started BotGo by bootstrapping it with his savings and roped in his friends for key positions in the company. He also started workshops for robotics education in colleges in order to sustain the company; he called this initiative BotLearn. In 2009, BotGo was incubated and Panchal started franchises for BotLearn as part of his growth plans. This led to a crisis within the company, escalating to a point where Panchal was forced to consider options. This case highlights the importance of a product-to-market fit and examines the decision to franchise in view of the case facts. The case also points towards the mistakes in crisis management, with particular emphasis on channel management. Towards the end of the case, Panchal is faced with a dilemma on whether to continue with the franchises or close them down. The dilemma is further accentuated since Panchal's decision would ultimately affect the growth of BotGo as well as directly challenge his intention to franchise.

Ujwal Kalra founded Memorable Shaadi in 2014 while awaiting admission to the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. The startup offered services connecting clients and vendors in the Indian wedding industry. The case elaborates Ujwal's journey as an entrepreneur and the choices he made including hiring a co-founder and working remotely while pursuing an MBA. Ujwal now faces a dilemma: should he accept a plush consulting job through campus placement or go back and scale the firm? Memorable Shaadi highlights the classic dilemma facing entrepreneurs and the choices they need to exercise at different phases of their venture.

In the dynamic online travel industry, the founders of mygola.com (mygola) needed to decide on the company’s future growth trajectory. The online travel industry was booming, but online travel planning was at a relatively nascent stage. In the travel-planning space, mygola’s initial service offering had been well received but the need to scale up was pressing. The existing product leveraged technological efficiencies and human judgment to provide customized answers for users’ travel queries. The new product, on the other hand, could change mygola’s way of doing business going forward. Though it was untested, it had the potential to put mygola on a higher growth path. The choice of product would mean that mygola would have to make a host of other decisions regarding the business. The decisions that the co-founders had to make could very well turn out to be the most important in mygola’s growth story.

In the dynamic online travel industry, the founders of mygola.com (mygola) needed to decide on the company's future growth trajectory. The online travel industry was booming, but online travel planning was at a relatively nascent stage. In the travel-planning space, mygola's initial service offering had been well received but the need to scale up was pressing. The existing product leveraged technological efficiencies and human judgment to provide customized answers for users' travel queries. The new product, on the other hand, could change mygola's way of doing business going forward. Though it was untested, it had the potential to put mygola on a higher growth path. The choice of product would mean that mygola would have to make a host of other decisions regarding the business. The decisions that the co-founders had to make could very well turn out to be the most important in mygola's growth story.