How Chess Inspired My Startup

From Chaos...

The classroom was buzzing with the usual pre-class chaos. The vibe was filled with laughter and chatter. Some students were hastily completing the assignment last minute. It was just another typical day, with everyone in their own world, oblivious to what was about to come. 

Suddenly, the door swung open and Professor Verma entered the room. He walked in with a purposeful stride. Little did we know, his next words would turn our world upside down. 

“Alright, students! Since we are studying the topic of entrepreneurship, you won’t really understand this subject properly, if you don’t really ‘dive’ into it, and by that, I mean, ‘You will have to start your own business!’, then only you will actually learn. Trust me, theory and practical knowledge of this subject are totally different.” Sir announced.

"What? Why?" I thought as murmurs spread across the classroom. The disbelief among us was palpable. "Does he really expect all of us to start a business? This must be a joke." I muttered to my friend sitting next to me.

“Today, think of all the business ideas you can, write them down, and we will discuss them tomorrow,” he continued, undeterred by our reactions.

This was the most unusual assignment I had ever received. I went home and, thought for about 10 minutes, and came up with only one idea: Google! "10 business ideas in the health industry," I searched. Within seconds, I got more than 10 ideas. Genius! I wrote them down immediately. My assignment was done in fifteen minutes. I was so happy!

Just then, I received a text from my friend: “Hey! Where are you hiding? It’s time to beat you up. Send me a blitz challenge.” My unbeaten streak of 46 games against this girl was challenged, again. Despite her losses, she never gave up. Even with just a few pieces left, she always believed she could turn the game around. With her 2-3 pieces, against my army of Queens, she would try to attack my King or she would try for a stalemate when her lone King was fighting against my army. Quite impressive! That day, we played about 5 games. I won all of them. So, the winning streak was 51!

The next day, sir asked everyone to share our business ideas one by one. It seemed like everyone copied it from Google. Because almost everyone’s ideas were somewhat similar. There were hardly any ‘unique’ ideas. Sir was really disappointed by all of us. He gave us a lecture for the next half an hour about how this assignment would only benefit us and not him, why it is important to get out of our comfort zone, and so on. It was clear that he seriously wanted us to start a business. Whether to continue it after our degree was our decision, but to get a degree, we had to at least start it.

Everyone was stressed. My classmates started complaining about how he could expect this from us. We are not business students. This is totally unfair. It is not easy to start a business… and so on. While this conversation was going on in our class, I was seriously thinking about starting a business. Somehow, his lecture motivated me. The way he explained it made it sound interesting. I started recalling our previous lectures, the discussions we had in class, and the way he explained how a start-up is formed. Suddenly, I started developing an interest in it. I decided that I would seriously think about a business idea.

... To Clarity!

I spent the entire evening thinking about different ideas, what problems people are facing regarding their health, and how those problems could be solved. I was totally into this process! I selected 10 ideas and decided to discuss them with Sir.

The next day, during recess, I finished my tiffin earlier and, since the next lecture was after 15 minutes, I decided to play some blitz. But to my surprise, sir arrived 10 minutes earlier. Since I was sitting on the front bench, he noticed that I was playing chess. I frantically put my phone away and we stood up to greet him. During the lecture, he did not mention the assignment. We could feel that he was extremely disappointed in us. But as I had already decided, I met him after the lecture to discuss my ideas.

He was really impressed when he saw that at least one student had taken the assignment seriously. We discussed all the ideas one by one and checked which business idea had the potential. Out of the ten ideas, the idea of ‘Creating nutritional bars for menstruating girls and women’ was selected, given the pain they go through during their periods. This idea seemed relevant and impactful, so I was told to go ahead with it.

While discussing it, what he said stuck in my mind, “Business is like a game of chess. Think carefully before each move and make every move count.” I don’t know if he said that intentionally because he saw me playing chess, but it worked! That was it! When he compared my favorite sport with business, I was totally influenced. I think he may have noticed it as well because, after that, I paid extra attention to whatever he said. I learned something more important: it was not only me who was going to work on this project. I had to find like-minded people who would help build this business with their unique skills.

I went home with a fresh perspective. I was totally occupied with business-related thoughts. I started comparing every aspect of business with a game of chess. The next few days were spent researching the nutritional needs of menstruating girls. I explored some natural pain-relieving ingredients and began imagining the ingredients for the nutritional bar formula. But like in chess, I could not win this game alone. I needed my army of pieces. Every piece has its unique role and no piece is inferior or superior. Keeping this in mind, I had to build a solid team. This is how the hunt for my pieces began.

Setting up the Board: Chess Pieces to Business Leaders

King: The Visionary Leader

As the King, my role was clear - I had to lead and manage the team. I had to ensure that everyone’s vision aligned with mine. A King in chess moves slowly and cautiously, making deliberate moves. Similarly, I needed to carefully plan my steps and maintain the balance. A King is nothing without his army. So, I was set to create my own army.

Rooks: Sara & Khushi - The Steady Executors

The first aim was to see if the nutritional bars I envisioned could be created. I needed someone with good cooking skills and knowledge of food science. After thinking about this, I could think of only two names – Sara & Khushi! They had both completed a course on food processing and preservation. They frequently experimented with unique food combinations. They just knew what ingredients work better in what combinations. They have won several prizes in college food events. Their experiments could help in finding the perfect balance of nutrition and taste. In short, just like rooks, they had to execute the plan meticulously because they had to cover a great distance!

Bishops: Kanchan & Nafisa - The Innovative Thinkers

Once the bars were created, we needed to package them attractively. The delicious nutrition bar needed to be presented in such a way that the customer would be tempted to buy it. Whenever I think about creativity and packaging, only one name comes to mind – Kanchan. Be it packing gifts or designing things, her artistic skills were always on top! But a single bishop has limitations. One bishop could only cover the light squares. What about the dark squares? I needed another bishop to make this pair strong. Kanchan had immense knowledge about designs and packaging but we needed some technical approach to enhance the designs further. This problem was complemented by Nafisa. From creating unique designs to eco-friendly packaging, this bishop pair had the ability to see things from different angles and bring a fresh perspective.

Knights: Alina & Sonal - The Problem Solvers

With the product ready and packaged, the next step was to ensure it was legal and compliant with all regulations. Sonal and Alina were natural problem solvers. Sonal, with her keen interest in legal matters, was fit to handle the legal responsibilities. On the other hand, Alina was popular for thinking outside the box. Her attitude can be explained in one sentence, “Why remove an obstacle when you can simply jump over it?” That’s what knights do! Both of them knew the tricks to jump over obstacles. They knew what was needed for our business and based on that, they made decisions.

Queen: Anisha - The Agile Strategist

In chess, the Queen is the most powerful piece, capable of moving in any direction and adapting to any situation. This role was the most impactful for our business. While the King is the most important, the Queen's versatility makes her indispensable. We needed someone to make strategies for promoting our products, protecting our brand image, and reaching more people. Anisha was the perfect fit. Her excellent communication skills and networking abilities made her the ideal Queen. She knew how to engage people and build meaningful connections, ensuring our product reached a wide audience and established our brand's presence.

Pawns: The Dedicated Contributors

When I compared our business to chess, the primary difference lay in the Pawns - Our dedicated pieces who support throughout the game. In our business game, each team member was going to start as a Pawn, and then advance to our respective roles. Each member was ready to learn and grow through our experiences. We all were willing to advance towards success, support each other, and contribute equally to form our venture. In a way, everyone had a specific role while being a Pawn! This is how the pieces were set and the game began. Together, we spent weeks brainstorming, planning, and refining our product. We conducted surveys to understand our potential customers' needs and preferences. We tested various recipes and sought feedback from friends and family.

Since our business was influenced by chess, it involved opening, middlegame, and endgame.

Game Begins...

Opening:

As our journey began, the first and most important challenge for us was to actually start the business! It is not easy at all. In chess, the opening moves lay the foundation for the game. Similarly, starting our business required careful planning and a strategic approach. Starting without studying would have been a blunder. But how to start? We were confused. By that time, my team knew that our business idea was influenced by chess. While all of them seemed clueless whenever I used to mention anything related to chess, only one person understood what I was saying – Sonal! She was the girl whom I used to beat up in chess. She was the girl who never gave up fighting.

Me: “Come on, think! What can we do? Chess openings – Roy Lopez, Sicilian Defence, Queen’s Gambit… Chess players study these. In our case, what can we do?”

Sonal: “I got it! We need to study how other businesses in our industry started. We need to understand their story, how they went ahead with it, and how they successfully executed everything. We need to study their openings to create our own opening!”

For the next couple of days, each one of us researched different aspects and discussed the information with each other. Everyone was in charge of researching a particular aspect: Rooks-Budget, Knights-Legalities, Bishops-Branding, Queen-Promotion, and King-Competitive analysis. This gave us a better understanding about market.

After all this research, we experimented a lot and our nutritional bars were finally ready. We named them "Period Power Bars". We decided to launch our product within our college. We first offered our products to our classmates. All the girls were excited about the product. Many girls shared their positive experiences, noting how the bars helped them feel more energized and less uncomfortable during their periods. We encouraged our friends and classmates who tried and liked our bars to spread the word. Their words spread quickly, and soon, we received many orders from different departments in the college.

This is how the ‘Openings’ of successful businesses helped us create a strategy for ‘Our’ game. We developed our pieces to get control of our business. By setting the stage for our business, we were heading towards middlegame…

Middlegame:

In chess, the middlegame involves the exchange of pieces, attacking, and defense, with the critical goal of keeping the king safe. Similarly, after launching our business and establishing our brand, we entered our own middlegame, where the real challenges began. The brand was formed, representing the safety of our "king," and now we had to focus on maintaining its image while navigating various challenges. One of the significant challenges we faced was refining the composition of our nutritional bars based on customer feedback. Just as in chess where you adjust your strategy by exchanging pieces and positioning them optimally, we had to adjust our product. Initial feedback indicated that while the bars were effective in reducing menstrual pain, some customers found the taste lacking. We experimented with different ingredients to improve flavor without compromising nutritional value. We had to differentiate our product from competitors and highlight its unique benefits. Our own savings, family, and friends helped us with the financial aspects. Additionally, we had to take certain steps to promote our product. We went to certain gyms and sports academies to talk to different girls and women and promote our product. We engaged with them and addressed their concerns promptly. This was akin to defending our king in chess, making sure our brand’s reputation remained intact.

Endgame:

The endgame is where the final outcome is determined. The endgame for our business was expanding and sustaining our operations. Our brand was established and the product was refined, so the ideal decision was to focus on scaling our business and ensuring its long-term success. As we connected with more and more people, we received many orders. We had to deliver them while maintaining the quality. This is where we struggled a lot. It was beyond our capacity to make so many bars. Our knights came up with a brilliant idea. They suggested that we should ask students from other classes to help us.

Our queen made an announcement, ‘Contribute to our venture, you never know, you might get a chance to represent us in Shark Tank India!’

This was a brilliant tactic by our queen! After hearing about Shark Tank India, a lot of students got attracted to our idea. We received so many requests from students who wanted to help us in some way. We divided duties among all of them. Some helped with making the bars, some with packaging, and others in delivering! This whole process was so overwhelming! Because of their support, we were able to meet our customer’s needs.

The true measure of our success was the impact we had on our customers. We received numerous messages from girls and women thanking us for creating a product that made a difference in their lives. This feedback motivated us to continue improving and expanding our business. We realized that our venture was not just about selling nutritional bars but also about empowering women to take control of their menstrual health.

Game Review

But… a game has to end somewhere. It could be a draw, win or loss… but it has to end! This venture was not the only important thing we were doing at that time. We had so many other assignments, plus our exams were near, making it hard for all of us to continue giving the same time and effort to our venture. At the end of the year, we were given the opportunity to talk about our business journey in front of the class. Summarizing our journey of five months in a 20-minute presentation was filled with so many emotions! We were initially pissed off about the assignment, and five months later, everyone was listening intently. Sir did not speak, but his eyes spoke a lot. This is what he was talking about five months ago: ‘This is for you, not for me’. That typical sentence that every teacher says sounded different when he said it. Everyone was impressed with our work! And most importantly, even we could not believe what we had achieved. Though it was a very small business, it gave us a huge return on investment in the form of learning, experiences, people, and more! Verma Sir's support and guidance were instrumental in our journey.

That day, I was glowing differently. I returned home with a huge smile. Chess was not just a game; it became a way of life for me! Once you pick up chess, it translates into everything you do in life! I lived this sentence during those five months. You don’t have to wait for your army to solve a problem. Sometimes you may have to play the role of all the pieces. You start as a pawn, but you need to develop further to win the battle. There will be days when your role will be of a bishop requiring creativity, sometimes it may be of a knight jumping over problems. You need to be a rook to focus only on your goals straight. If you learn these skills, you will be stronger just like the Queen, and eventually, you will protect yourself in all the storms just like the king.

Wow! I was indulging in this ‘Main character’ moment. I felt like my story was worth a movie, a web series, a book, or maybe all of these! What if people invite me for a TEDx talk to share this experience? What if I make it to the list of '10 motivational business stories of this year'? What if I get an offer to be one of the sharks on Shark Tank India? Oh my god! I realized I had to prepare for everything! I had to stop daydreaming and start writing my success speech.

‘Ting’

I received a message. I was stunned! I thought the news had spread! My college was so impressed that they had already shared my story with some newspapers! Maybe they want to interview me… I should talk professionally. By counting 1…2…3… I opened the message.

“Hey, enough now! Today I am going to win!!! Your winning streak of 51 will be destroyed today!!!! Send me the challenge.”

This story is inspired by true events, although the startup mentioned was never formed, and certain details have been altered for creative purposes.