Students, Now Showcase Their Innovative Technological Ideas To Companies With “GROWVATION”

We all have come across the phrase, “Rome was not built in a day” ample of times in our life. The phrase means that it takes time for great things to happen. This phrase is cent-percent true. But, there is a corollary to this phrase according to me. I say and I quote Helen Keller – “Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” It takes time and a team to do great things. Time doesn’t come into the picture until we have a team. Once we get the right people for the right positions, we can achieve literally anything, reach impeccable heights and success. Our next story is pertaining to the same bonding and teamwork I was talking about. This story is about Mr. Devender Singh Bohra and Mr. Avinderpal Singh and their startup GROWVATION.

The idea of the startup occurred to Mr. Devender when he was in his third year of under graduation. So, first thing first, let’s start with GrowVation.

STUDENTS, NOW SHOWCASE YOUR INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGICAL IDEAS TO COMPANIES WITH “GROWVATION”

GrowVation is a user-friendly app platform for students to showcase their innovative technology ideas using the properly defined framework for companies looking for Interns/employees with analytical and problem-solving abilities and for crowdsourcing new technical and business ideas.

BUT, WHY SHOULD ONE OPT FOR “GROWVATION”?

Among the various problems that GrowVation tackles, there are some key points listed below that makes GrowVation one-stop solution –

• Collaboration: To start any project, we need a team and it is difficult and time taking process to and out the team members with similar vision and complementary skill-set to get things started.
• Innovation in SMEs and big enterprises: Lacking Innovative ideas, latest technology knowledge and young mindsets in SMEs and Big enterprises.
• Biased/ unequal opportunities to students: Students are refrained to the opportunities on the basis of the institute/university. Even universities wants to hire quality people but they can’t visit and explore each university so, students from tier 2 or tier 3 institutes don’t get platform and the opportunity inspite of bringing quality to the table. All the above mentioned problems are global and have a huge active and growing market.

WORKING MODEL OF GROWVATION

GrowVation is an app-based open Innovation Platform where users can explore the latest projects from different tech fields and can showcase theirs to stand out. The users will be ranked on the Leader board under the defined project category on the basis of a highly refined engagement criterion and this leader board will be used by the companies and our hiring partners to shortlist the students for Internship/job opportunities. Additionally, the companies can crowdsource ideas and solutions to their defined technical or business problem statement by organizing open innovation contests.

TECHNOLOGY STACK USED

Team GrowVation uses –

• PHP
• Django
• My SQL
• Java, node.js
• React.js
• Firebase Cloud Messaging

LARGER GOAL OR VISION OF GROWVATION IS…

Mr. Devender Singh Bohra says, “To make GrowVation as a hub for SMEs and Big enterprises for crowd-sourcing ideas and solutions through Open Innovation. I want the platform to be the source of solution to the increasing sustainability problems.”

IDEA OF A STARTUP

Mr. Devender Singh always had a desire for a platform where he could showcase his innovative stuff and where he could add up team members with complementary skill-set to actually implement and bring it to life. He faced obstacles but eventually made it!

It took one long year for the idea to get implemented from scratch. Mr. Devender Singh and Mr. Avinderpal Singh have worked full-time since August 2018. Eventually, people joined and the team was ready.

The startup started full functioning on 1^st September 2019. Currently, it is based in Chandigarh, India. For the first three months, the team is targeting Tricity. Later on, they will expand this throughout India.

BIGGEST COMPETITORS

As they say in Bollywood & Hollywood, the actor in an action film gets due worth only when the villain is as powerful as the actor or even more powerful. This is applicable in the field of business and startups as well, the only difference being, there are no heroes and villains over here, they all are competitors of each other. The work gets due recognized or compared time and again. There are several businesses or startups or even MNCs which are already doing something great in the same field. When we asked Team GrowVation, who their biggest competitors were, they listed the following companies –

• Innoget: Crowdsourcing Ideas; Location: Spain.
• Innocentive: Crowdsourcing Ideas; Location: Greater Boston Area, East Coast, New England.
• LinkedIn: Allow users to build professional connections, post feed and provide opportunities( Job/Internships).

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

Team GrowVation said that they had few key points which make them outstanding as compared to those Business Giants mentioned above –

• User friendly
• No Irrelevant feed
• Highly specific towards projects and innovation
• Close to our primary customers (we provide exclusive college page to the selected institutes)

It is an “Open Innovation Competition” based model. In this model, the GrowVation Team will be organizing an innovation competition in the targeted region and providing students not only the opportunity to win exciting prizes but to connect them with industry experts and SMEs.

EXPANSION PLANS…

The team is planning to target all the engineering institutes of India in a period of 30 months starting from Tricity (first three months). After three years, the team will be targeting and on-boarding International universities and organizing global open innovation contests.

Mr. Devender Singh says, “Open Innovation is the future of the tech industry. In the next 5-7 years, I’m seeing GrowVation as a hub for SMEs and Big enterprises for crowd-sourcing ideas and solutions through Open Innovation. In 25 years, I believe that GrowVation will provide thousands of innovative ideas contributing to build a city on Mars.”

THE JOURNEY TILL NOW…

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step…”

Devender Singh Bohra

Whatever I have perceived so far, I can say that the journey was phenomenal till now. The founders were crystal clear about what they wanted to achieve, the energy was above par, and they got the right people at right time at the right place. The boldest decision they took was leaving their job. They had faith in their idea and will and see today, they were right! As they say, the paths of success have thousands of obstacles. If you don’t come across obstacles every day, probably you are on the wrong path.

“The most challenging part is the lack of awareness in multiple domains and we are working well-taking help from Mentors and Experts from various well know programs like iB Hubs startup School and IIM Bangalore Launchpad Program.”, says Mr. Devender Singh.

Some of the notable achievements of Team GrowVation are-

• Chandigarh Innovation Challenge (Among top 13 startups)
• Times App Search 2019 (1st Prize)
• Udyami 2019

The team is not raising any funds as of now. They say, they will be raising funds only when they achieve a target of at least 50,000 users!

“I’m not successful right now but I’m sure I will be. The definition of success that I understand is doing the one thing that will make you smile every time and for me, the ultimate goal is to abolish starvation at least from India and give a chance to everyone to fight for their life.” – Mr. Devender Singh Bohra

THE MENTORS & SUPPORT SYSTEM

“The role of Mentors has been very vital throughout our Journey. They helped me to envision things in a wider aspect and helped me in refining the business model with time. Brainstorming with the mentors has helped me to better understand the target market and find quality solutions to ensure user satisfaction and growth”, says Mr. Devender Singh.

When asked about his idol, Mr. Devender Singh said that “My Father. He has never told me to work hard or dream big, he just does it and shows me how to hustle and fight for dreams. I have always been supported by family in each of my decision.”

THE UNIQUENESS OF OFFICE CULTURE

“Our team is our strength. At GrowVation, we have great coordination from the very beginning and we tackle every major/minor problem together. We have a team with different skill-set and a common vision. Some words to define our culture are: Innovative, Supportive, Hard-Working, Fearless, Believers”, says Mr. Devender Singh. He adds, “Apart from skills relevant to the position, I’ll go be seeing only two things: Passion to learn and grow and Loyal to the team”.

People, if you think you have relevant skills and have the enthusiasm, kindly connect with Team GrowVation at the earliest.

In the end, I would like to quote a couplet by the legendary Urdu Poet Majrooh Sultanpuri to define this startup and their purpose/goal/vision –