Today’s emerging organizations have knowledge about IP Copyrights but not to the extent where they can take appropriate decisions regarding the protection of their ideas and products. One such example is 'Witworks- a consumer technology company connecting devices in lifestyle spaces’, an Indian startup formed by three students of IIT (Indian Institute of Technology). Though their idea behind the inception was highly appreciable, they lacked the basic knowledge and guidance regarding the protection of IPR. Their first mistake was to launch a product without filing the proper Trademark and IP protection for it. They were so engrossed in developing their product and building the organization that they ignored the most important part of the set up. Later on, during the promotion of their product they realized how they lacked a proper knowledge in regard to their IP and copyright and had no proper planning for the same. This simple ignorance proved to be detrimental for the development of their organization. There are more similar problems which have been faced by the startups in relation to the protection of IPRs including confusion regarding choice of proper protection, lack of research before the launch of idea and products and lack of secrecy before the launch. However, with sound legal guidance from the experts in the IPR field and a well equipped team for tackling the problems related to the IP rights, Witworks has successfully launched two new products taking care of their initial hiccups. Inevitably, it is of utmost importance for the organizations to take expertise legal consultation in the initial stages of business which would prepare them for the future.

The Inventiveness behind Startupwala’s Foundation

When entrepreneurs embark on their unique business idea, their prime focus initially is how to truly start giving shape to the venture. In the midst of numerous things that go into building a startup from scratch, Intellectual Property (IP) is often not their priority. And even if they consider IP protection, it seems too expensive a proposition for a startup to act on. But what entrepreneurs fail to identify with is that assessing IP implications is not just about protecting the work you are doing. It is also to check if someone else has an IP for similar work. Often, there could be others in different parts of the country and globe working on a similar idea, which you may not be even aware of. Sensing IP protection as the need of the hour for start ups and emerging businesses and to deliver innovative and customized business and legal solutions, BMC Consultancy Services (now known as Startupwala), one of India’s first online legal services platform was set up in 2009.

Online Legal Service Bucket at Startupwala:

. Starting (company registration)
. Protecting (IPR services)
. Managing (Legal & ROC filings)
. Growing (ISO, Funding legal support)

“While giving a thought to set up BMC, we realized the crisis was not with the startups but with the whole legal ecosystem. As we stepped our first foot, we realized that the perception about law is that of being a very complex thing which no entrepreneur or startups want to put their hands into and end up not doing the right things at the right time which makes them regret later. Being quick, we soon made up our mind to change the perception of such entrepreneurs and to make law simple so that startups can use law as a helping tool to achieve their entrepreneurial dreams”, explicates Bala Nadar, Founder, Startupwala.com & BMC.

BMC began its journey in an era when Startup scene was shaping up in India. The scenario at that time was different from that of today. The entrepreneurs back then were shy to openly talk about their venture. However, at present, startups are smart enough to make a mark right from their inception. BMC in so doing provides a secure legal environment to help startups operate fearlessly.

Speaking of the other challenges faced by team Startupwala, Bala says, “We were at a challenging yet an interesting situation, where pricing needed to be rock bottom and service to be world class. Making this happen with a bootstrapped and revenue dependent model was a biggest challenge which we successfully decoded. We took one step at a time and focused only on what matters the most to the new age entrepreneurs. The first few clients were our true learning grounds who helped us devise a feedback based service design.