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Question answered in Quora - I'm in school for Computer Science and I'm thinking about start


It is a great idea to start your business, when you are in school. The earlier you start the earlier you are going to make it. Having said that starting new business is tough, it gets tougher as you get older, because you have lot more responsibilities to fulfill, because you will get into other roles as well, husband, father, responsible head of the family etc.

The best place to start is to identify problems, any problem that people are having in general, it could be a consumer problem or it could be a B2B problem, unfortunately you being a student, you might not have a whole lot of industry expertise, unless you worked part time somewhere while you were a student and learnt some business along the side, because many consumer problems are solved by many technology experts, that have generic technology expertise, the consumer problems don't need a specific industry expertise other than the expertise to develop a solution, where as there are plenty of problems that are still there in the B2B world. And to learn about that problems, you need to spend time in that industry, you need to spend time working alongside users that have the problem, talk to decision makers that would buy that solution, that would even take time to look at the solution you are providing, so that is tough. But if there is any specific area that you might be interested, it might be a good idea to take a look at that space and spend some time.

Once you learn about an existing problem, then thoroughly understand the problem, why the users are having that problem, why no one attempted to solve it, what solutions were tried before and why they failed? Look at every possible angle of the problem and just understand the problem, how the problem originated? What led to this problem? What are some of the things that are changing around this problem, it could be technology or legal things, a new law might have been passed or an industry trend is changing, or a major manufacturer that was supporting the product decided not to support it etc

Once you understand the problem, then come up with a solution, a solution that is easy for end users to adapt to, they can easily transition into, the young users will also easily transition into etc.

Then deploy that solution, then get constant feedback from your users and keep on improving that solution.

Also check out my book Puga Sankara's Supply Chain Blog - that is a must read before spending Hundreds & Thousands of $$$ on your MBA or Masters Degree to get the best ROI or before starting your Entrepreneurial journey.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Puga Sankara is the CEO and Founder of Smart Gladiator. Smart Gladiator is an ATDC Georgia Tech company, Smart Gladiator's award-winning product LoadProof (https://feature.loadproof.com/loadproof) is an Enterprise Photo Documentation System that is enjoying tremendous traction in the Supply Chain Community. LoadProof (https://feature.loadproof.com/loadproof) is a patent pending Centralized Cloud based Enterprise Photo Documentation System for Supply Chain. It is built on the premise that photos and videos are vital documentation serving as compelling proof of important operations performed in the supply chain within and across organizations. These operations may be related to fulfilling customer orders, meeting contractual obligations, or transferring merchandise across different parties taking part in the Supply Chain operations. LoadProof is as important for your organization as an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) which is an enterprise system of record for critical documents such as Purchase Orders, Sales Orders, Contracts between parties etc. that have tremendous legal ramifications, or a WMS (Warehouse Management System), that holds indispensable information related to orders shipment/fulfilment data. Just like Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat have evolved into platforms that enable individuals to showcase how pretty they or their clothes are, LoadProof is a similar Enterprise system of record that holds photos, not so much for show off, but to serve as compelling, unequivocal, thoroughly documented proof, even in the court of law when there is a dispute between organizations while they perform many facets of their functions/operations, as well as for increased visibility and transparency within the Supply Chain. The capabilities of LoadProof are discussed in detail in the next sections of the document below. LoadProof is live in 460+ Sites, 250+ corporates, 13 Countries.There are more testimonials in this link here also https://www.g2.com/products/loadproof/reviews. Learn more here on our YouTube channel,  https://youtube.com/@smartgladiatorloadproof  & also here in LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/smartgladiator/

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