Charan Lakkaraju, 29, is synonymous for aggression, patience, knowledge, skills, hard work, and perseverance but, what defines him best is zeal and ever-lasting enthusiasm. His constant love for learning new things and experimenting with his skill set opened various avenues for him.
During graduation, he started a student organisation STED (Student Triggering Engineering Development) to facilitate workshops. His zeal for meeting new people and innovating and an everlasting thirst for connecting students and helping them excel and drove him to start stuMagz, an online platform that emerged as a Digital Campus Ecosystem that brings all the students and colleges together. With his brainchild steadily benefiting many students over the last couple of years, he considers every beneficiary a stakeholder.
Q. How did the idea come up?
I have studied in a tier two engineering college which made me realize the need to create a platform which helps people to showcase their talents. Also students would benefit immensely if there is a proper Digital Network facility in colleges. Lack of such a platform is what I realized in my years of working with students and that’s where the idea was born. Also, there is no inter connectivity between different colleges and universities. Through a Digital Campus Ecosystem, students as well as colleges can share stories, post events and projects to connect, collaborate and be a part of highly influential cult.
Q. Tell us about the challenges you faced?
To make people understand the need and importance for a digital campus ecosystem was tough in my journey. I had lots of mentors. In most of the cases, your customers are your mentors as they teach you what they need.
Q. What are the different services offered by you to customers? How is your Start-up unique or different from others?
Stumagz is a Digital Transformation Cloud Suite for any college or a university. It comprises Digital Magazine, Event Ticketing platform, Communication platform, Internships dashboard, Alumni network and Innovation repository.
Q. What is your advice to budding entrepreneurs?
To have patience and perseverance.
Q. Studies showed that 90 percent of Start-ups fail within five years, with lack of innovation being the main reason. Can you share your thoughts on this key indicator?
One needs to keep innovating and one needs to understand the need of customers.
