Workshop for hardware founders as part of Velocity – Kotak BizLabs Accelerator Programme

As part of Velocity – Kotak BizLabs Accelerator Programme, a CSR initiative by Kotak Mahindra Bank, NSRCEL hosted a workshop for hardware founders, in Coimbatore. The workshop aimed at addressing what it really takes to move from a working prototype to a market-ready product.

Through this conversation, hardware founders explored insights on the journey beyond building the technology and learnt why customer validation must come before product development.

The session covered few key lessons, including, the need to start with the problem, not the technology and validate a real customer need before building; to understand the customer and identify the user, buyer, pain point, alternatives, and urgency; to focus on customer discovery as well as ask open-ended questions and listen before pitching, and to validate before building and test assumptions with real customers through experiments and MVPs.

The valuable lesson learnt was – the path from prototype to market is not just about making the technology work. It is about proving that it solves a real problem, for the right customer, in a way they are willing to pay for.

The applications for Velocity – Kotak BizLabs are currently open. To learn more and apply, please visit: https://nsrcel.org/velocity/