Debasis Chakraborty
Co-Founder & COO | Mainstage Incubator
WBAF | GINSEP | Yuvapay | Deuglo | Namakh
Bengaluru, Karnataka
Q1. Please share your inspirational journey?
I come from a small town called Sindri which is located in Jharkhand. My father who is a doctorate in entomology was heading the research division of Hindustan Fertilizer Ltd. My early childhood was spent in the lap of nature, local children, and local games somethings we miss very dearly in large cities. At the age of 6 yrs, I had started a small study centre for the under privileged kids, who were mainly used as free labour during the day by their parents. In retrospect, I feel this is where the seeds of entrepreneurship was sown but stayed dormant till I was 40 yrs..
Q2. What did attract you towards entrepreneurship?
I am an optional entrepreneur. I was quite settled in corporate life but chose to explore this new world. I have always been the ‘unsettler’ kind. If something is too predictable, it becomes mundane for me. Even in my business, I keep on raising the bar or throw new challenges to the team. Sometimes the employees find it very unsettling but I believe that is the only way to keep oneself motivated and fired up.
Q3. You are a Co-Founder and COO of Mainstage Incubator. Please share something about your this venture?
Mainstage Incubator has been founded with the vision of building Innovation Bridges between Developing Geographies with Developed Geographies. We have noticed that startups from the developing nations get stuck in a myopic warp and their marketing efforts get stunted due to lack of proper information. We want to break this barrier. We want to open up the opportunities of the developed world to our own startups.
Q4. How do you handle stress in this fast and competitive life?
I believe stress is a reaction to an incident/event on which either I have no control or lost control. There is one way to handle stress – Detach yourself from the incident and approach it from a third person’s view. It is at this state that solutions start opening up. One of the best ways to facilitate this is to spend some value time with yourself. I do that or atleast 30mins a day…Talk to myself!!
Q5. You are a Co-Founder, Mentor, Advisor, and Director at various ventures. How do you play multiple roles simultaneously in your life?
Playing multiple roles has always been my forte and keeps me out of my comfort zone and increases my learning prowess.
Q6. Many Startups failed in last 5-10 years in India. What are the main reasons according to you as a Startup Expert?
Firstly I donot believe in failures, either there is success or there is learning. Having said so, there are multitude of reasons for start-ups to struggle. .
Top 3 on my chart will be:
- Barking the wrong tree – Trying to solve a problem that does not exist
- Co-Founder Chemistry
- Lack of Ecosystem Support.
Q7. Where do you want to see yourself after 10 years in career?
It is a very difficult question. I never knew I will be here ten years back. So for me to predict the future is going to be impossible especially with the exponential increase in uncertainty.
But, wherever I will be, I will continue to add tangible value to the startup ecosystem.
Q8. You had a great experience in Clothing Industry. Why have you migrated in Incubation segment to help Startups?
Since I am from NIFT, working in the clothing industry was logical. My movement to incubation was a transition which happened over a period of a decade. As I progressed in my career, I realized the need of ecosystems to support the young and started taking concerted steps towards it.
Q9. Which one skill do you like most about yourself?
I can figure things out, however complex the situation is. With the level of unpredictability increasing in our lives, the ability to be agile and flexible is the key to adaptation.
Get more about Debasis Chakraborty @
Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/debasisc/
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/debasis.chakraborty.16
Twitter : https://twitter.com/sendnb
