Pitfalls of a fledgling venture, Fetakart: in search of a viable business model
Publication date: 23 November 2020
Abstract
Learning outcomes
The learning outcomes include to identify and discuss important personality characteristics of an entrepreneur, to explore the business planning pitfalls that torment many new ventures and to understand key concepts of business model thinking.
Case overview/synopsis
The case is about Fetakart, a one-year old venture, which offered custom designed and printed t-shirts in Gujarat, India. The venture was launched by Himanshu Dhadnekar in 2018. Himanshu was a young first-generation entrepreneur who displayed entrepreneurial characteristics since his school days. Later, he was involved with a few failed startups, worked as an employee in different companies and curated new ventures. Fetakart was born out of another venture, MotivPrints, which sold a large variety of custom designed and high-quality printed products such as visiting cards, office essentials, apparels, packaging and marketing material. At MotivPrints, Himanshu discovered the market for customized t-shirts in India but with very little knowledge of the business model or capabilities of leading players such as Bewakoof.com. The venture started struggling and faced several problems including high cost demands by manufacturers and lack of funding. Where did Fetakart go wrong? Was Fetakart born out of impulse? Did Himanshu have a viable business model for Fetakart?
Complexity academic level
The case can be discussed in the class of entrepreneurship at master’s level. It can also be used in entrepreneurship specialization course and strategic management elective(s) in the second year of post-graduation. The case can be particularly useful for young entrepreneurs associated as incubatees with a business incubator and for an executive development program related to new ventures.
Supplementary materials
Teaching Notes are available for educators only.
Subject code
CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are indebted to Mr Himanshu Dhadnekar, Founder of Fetakart, for sparing his valuable time for the interview and sharing vital information about the firm and the market for the case preparation. The authors are also grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their constructive recommendations.
Citation
Singh, A.S., Shah, M. and Pathak, P. (2020), "Pitfalls of a fledgling venture, Fetakart: in search of a viable business model", , Vol. 10 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/EEMCS-02-2020-0039
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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