The entrepreneur round table was moderated by Mr. V Ravichandar, civic evangelist. During this session, entrepreneurs had the opportunity to pitch their business ideas and receive feedback from some of the experts and community members present. Discussions revolved around the main challenges and achievements each of the participants had faced and the best way for them to move forward keeping in mind ultimate resource utilization and strategies for greatest return on investment.
Collaborations and partnerships were highlighted throughout the discussions. Main avenues of collaboration are detailed below.
Corporate collaboration
- There is a sizeable population of corporate employees that use private vehicles for commuting and pay for parking- this is a potential market for carpooling
- Employer-led incentives for carpooling are also lacking, creating opportunity for entrepreneurs to partner with companies
- Companies that provide corporate transport services (buses/minivans) do not run on full capacity on all routes, and demand from multiple companies within a given employment hub can be bundled for efficiency.
Government collaboration
- With many mobility startups using government data to provide transit information to users, collaboration with concerned agencies and departments of government allows entrepreneurs to provide up-to-date information to their customers.
- Potential exists for entrepreneurs to support public transit agencies in enhancing their services based on user data collected via their mobile applications.
Peer-to-peer collaboration
- Through the discussions, opportunities were identified for different start-ups to form a coalition and form a symbiotic relationship between each other
- Coalitions discussed ranged from partnerships to access open data to sharing pick up and drop off vehicles for specialized mobility services to aid improved resource utilization.
