There are many myths about entrepreneurship and false beliefs that often misguide an aspiring entrepreneur in taking wrong steps. Thus it is necessary to clear such myths and have a clear picture of Entrepreneurship in India.

Widely believed myths about Entrepreneurship in India:

1. A lot of fund is required for a start-up:This is one of the big myths about entrepreneurship in the Indian society. People believe that they require big fund to start a business of their own, even some entrepreneurs in India still run their business on that belief, but in reality they just need about INR 17,00,000/- for a typical business to get going. And most of the funding can be done by various other means.
2. Venture capitalists is the perfect place to go for startup funding: This is true but only in case of a computer or biotech start up. Only about 3,000 companies per year are funded by VCs and just one quarter of those companies are funded in the seed or startup stage. Thus it is unrealistic for Entrepreneurs in India to plan their business model on seed funding by VCs. This myth about Entrepreneurship is the most common mistake a startup makes in the intial fund raising stage.
3. Most business angels are Wealthy:Although the definition of Business Angels says differently but approx. three quarters of the people who offer capital to fund the startups of other people who are not family, friends, co-workers or neighbours don’t meet accreditation requirements. In fact, few of them have a normal annual household income and some even have a negative net worth.
4. Startups in India cannot be financed with debt: This is a big myth about entrepreneurship, in reality, debt is a more common means among Entrepreneurs in India of financing a business than equity. As per the survey of Small Business Finances by the Federal Reserve, almost 53% of the financing of start-ups that are 2 or less years old comes from debt and only 47% comes from equity.
5. Banks doesn’t finance startups:This is  yet another one of the common myths about Entrepreneurship in India. Again a survey by the Federal Reserve data proved that bank is the source for 16% of all the financing provided to companies that are 2 or less year old. Although 16% doesn’t seem that high, it is 3% higher than the funds provided by the next highest source and is higher than other usual sources like friends and family, venture capitalists, business angels, strategic investors and government agencies. But one of the drawbacks of financing by banks is, banks won’t be taking the risks involved in startup business because of the depositor’s protection laws.
6. Entrepreneurs prefer attractive industries for their start-up:In reality, Entrepreneurs in India prefer the opposite. Most entrepreneurs chose the most unprivileged industry for their startup business. This means entrepreneurs prefer industries where failure is a big possibility which would give them the advantage of low competitiveness. Choosing the most booming industry is a big myth about entrepreneurship, since chances of innovation are always in a less preferred industry.
7. A start-up’s growth depends on the Entrepreneur’s quality instead of the industry:The industry in which the entrepreneur decides to start his/her business has a huge effect on the odds that grows. Provided the Entrepreneur is efficient enough to execute an effective business plan, there is nothing about the effects of entrepreneurial talent that has a similar effect on the growth of the business.
8. Most entrepreneurs are successful financially:This is another  one of the widely believed myths about entrepreneurship in India. Although Entrepreneurship creates a lot of wealth, but it is distributed unequally. An owner-managed business in its latter stage creates an average annual profit of INR 27,00,000. Only the top 10% of entrepreneurs earn more than average profit. In general entrepreneurs in India earns less money than they would have earned as a corporate employee.
9. Entrepreneurs take high risks: Entrepreneurs in India undoubtedly take risk as there is always a risk in starting or running your own business. As not all ideas are successful so until and unless one takes risk there won’t be a chance of success. But entrepreneurs learn how to take calculated risk and walk on a very thin line that lies between high risk-high potential return and low risk-low return. They do not gamble or rely on luck to run their business, they carefully calculate every possible outcomes and take necessary steps accordingly.
10. Anyone can start a Start-up:According to a survey there are only 400million entrepreneurs out of 7 billion people in the world. And most people who starts a start-up fail to get one up and running successfully. A person needs to be highly motivated with proper resources to start a business of their own, they have to completely uproot their life and sometimes even move to different country for their business. Event after 7 years of starting a business, only one-third of people have a new company with positive cash flow greater than the salary and expenses of the owner for more than three consecutive months. Although theoretically anyone can become an Entrepreneur, but practically it takes a lot to be a successful Entrepreneur in India.

These are some common myths about entrepreneurship in India, entrepreneurship is a way of empowerment for anyone who is willing to scale up his innovation into a business with the right set of people and skills in his team! We at AnBac Skills run an accelerator program  for aspiring entrepreneurs in India who want to scale up their ideas!