Abstract:
This project report is a thorough and elaborate critique of the go to market (GTM) strategy of Shera Startup, a proposed student friendly asset management and startup enablement platform that is envisioned to spur the spirit of entrepreneurship within the university environment in Bangladesh. It is initially pilot-tested in the Daffodil International University (DIU) and is expected to positively transform the lives of students by collaborating with co-founder matchmaking, investor connectivity, expertise advisory, consultation booking, and virtual business decision-making in a single digital environment. The study examines some of the major challenges facing student entrepreneurs including inadequate access to funding, inadequate access to mentoring, issues in team development and absence of real business experience. To fill in such gaps, the proposed platform will enable the students to assume the role of decision-makers in topics such as pricing, marketing, production, finance, and human resources by a business simulation module thus demonstrating to them how such decisions will impact the aspects of profitability, market share, and customer satisfaction in a risk-free context. The report applies the prism of the entrepreneurship theories and market analysis tools to investigate the opportunities of the platform, its target market, competition, and growth opportunities. In addition, it is supported by secondary data of government-supported programs, such as Startup Bangladesh Limited and the ICT Division, as well as the visible shifts in the Bangladeshi startup economy, which all collide with the need in the market. The three core components of the GTM strategy are a freemium pricing model, a digital-first distribution strategy and an approach of embedding pilots in the university. The results show that the suggested platform can generate economic and social value through encouraging student entrepreneurship, enhancing the rate of survival of the start-ups, and leading to the long-term innovation-based growth of Bangladesh. The project concludes that Shera Startup stands a chance to grow into a scalable national platform that helps in closing the gap between academic learning and the real-life entrepreneurial practice.
