Union Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the Edtech firm Byju’s tried to grow too fast undermining corporate discipline and young entrepreneurs should learn from such mistakes.
Speaking at the Mumbai Tech Week organised by Tech Entrepreneurs Association of Mumbai, the Minister said, “It was a company that tried to grow too fast, without creating the rigour and corporate discipline that a growth company like that should have at a time when money was flowing and equity was cheap… Eventually, that cycle always turns.”
“So if you are not smart at that time and don’t learn from those who came before you, you will make mistakes and I think, Byju’s is that mistake,” he added.
The MoS also talked about the government’s stance on the gaming sector, and said that it is a crucial segment of the economy that requires encouragement and support.
“I’m a big bullish supporter of the gaming sector. It is just so mixed up in terms of perception with all the other bad actors in that segment of real money, which are betting and money laundering. So we are progressively going down a road of creating a framework to allow safe infrastructure and permissible gaming. I would request entrepreneurs to keep faith,” he said.
Citing example of cab aggregator Ola, he said such companies were building in a new industry and are expected to counter challenges and pushback.
“All four examples that were mentioned are extremely human sorts of problems,” he said. The minister added that entrepreneurs make mistakes and it is a natural course of building a business.
“There is a thing about discipline that some people instinctively get and some people need to take a couple of losses to understand. These issues should not necessarily be understood as something that defines entrepreneurship,” Chandrasekhar added.