Interview with Ms. Charu Srivastava, Founder of The IP Press

Interview with Ms. Charu Srivastava, Founder of The IP Press


Content :

1. Tell us about yourself
I am an Assistant Professor, at one of the premier Law Schools in the country, UPES School of Law, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India with close to 7 years of academics experience. I graduated in Law from Faculty of Law, Allahabad University and pursued Masters in Business Law from NLSIU, Bangalore. Fortunately, I have had the experience of studying in both traditional as well as National Law School University that shaped my understating of law and society considering diverse perspective.  As a faculty of law, I have taught several subjects including intellectual property law, Law of Contract, Law of Torts, Law of Crimes and have been instrumental in drafting syllabus of various courses and programs.  
I possess keen interest in Intellectual Property Law; attended IP Summer School in Geneva organized by University of Geneva in association with WIPO, presented and published various papers in IP. 
My passion for IP lately led the foundation of THE IP PRESS Blog along with my co-founder Krishnam Goyal, in the year 2020, which primarily focuses on intellectual property related issues. 

 

2. How did the idea for your business come about?
The vision and mission of our venture is not primarily commercial in nature. We founded The IP PRESS with the objective to provide access to information related to global and national IP issues to diverse audience in the form of blog posts, webinars, workshops etc.  

 

3.Can you tell us about your venture THE IP PRESS?
THE IP PRESS is a team of IP-Holics, who started this blog to ensure access to the latest intellectual property (IP) issues for all the IP hopefuls. Our focus is to address IP concerns of stakeholders, students, academicians, researchers, start-ups, etc. and guide them to attain and enforce their IP rights.
We, not only hold expertise in law and IP, but our team of technically-skilled professionals, IP specialists and patent agents gives us a better understanding to deal with technical issues in IP. To focus on national and international issues, we are supported with international IP experts as well. We conduct several webinars/workshops to cater to different set of audience. 

 

4. What are the challenges you faced till date and presently facing?
Any initiative needs to withstand the test of time especially when it relates to educational initiatives. Educating people and making them aware about the emerging issues and challenges in the field of intellectual property rights is not easy since mostly people understand the concept of property in traditional setup. Hence, our focus has been to produce the advanced level content of IP to cater to the professionals wherein our team write on issues that are unresolved as well as basic level content that cater to the nonprofessional without compromising on the quality of the content. 
The biggest challenge is to develop a reading habit amongst the students as well as to instill the interest of IP in young minds. Unquestionably, we all need to understand that IP is the most important asset not only for a business but also for a nation since it contributes noticeably to the GDP of a country. Several reports reveal that IPR intensive industries result in higher revenue, massive job creation, increase of international competitiveness, quality services, and higher wages. Accordingly, our objectives are aligned with the policy objectives of the Government to ensure that we are aware about the relevance of innovation/creation and the related issues. 

 

5.What was your key driving force to become an entrepreneur?
We started with a vision of becoming a knowledge-based startup addressing the issues concerning intellectual property law. THE IP PRESS is an initiative to bring in a different aspect of learning with holistic approach towards intellectual property regime globally. We aim to provide exhaustive content and related services concerning IP at a single platform that caters to global population. 

 

6.How do you build a successful customer base?
Our main motive was not of building any customer base initially but a recognition above all, after this step, any customers or clients are welcome. As of now, we train students with their researching and writing skills and help, them secure internships. 

 

7.How do you market your business, and which tactics have been most successful?
We focus on recent news and incidents related to IP and produce it in the forms of blogs, webinars and workshops. Making our work available on our website as well as presence on social media platforms have made it easy for us and for readers to communicate with each other. 

 

8.What kind of culture exists in your organization, and how did you establish it?
Culture is friendly and respect for all, we enroll and give designations to one who deserve systematically, making it easy to keep the bifurcation of work in place, without effecting anyone’s sentiments.

 

9.How do you generate new ideas?
It is easy to generate ideas from day to day news. Having people from diverse background in the team brings fresh and varied perspective. We are a team of legal as well as non-legal person, which gives us an edge in understanding culmination of law and technology efficiently. 

 

10.How do you define success?
For me success is completing all tasks and keeping a balance in all phases of life. 

 

11.Do you believe there is some sort of pattern or formula to becoming a successful entrepreneur?
I do not believe in any pattern or formula it is just be ambitious, committed and disciplined with your interest and job. 

 

12. What is your favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur?
I enjoy each role and responsibility  I undertake. Being a part of THE IP PRESS have taught me that it is important to have holistic approach to learning. Among other things, ability to contribute for meaningful results, empathy, respect for team members’ opinion, appreciating the deserving, collaborating with other organizations for exploring new areas are a few skills that I have harnessed and recommend for all entrepreneurs. Through THE IP PRESS, I get to interact and network with a varied professionals and students that brings fresh perspective to work. 

 

13.What has been your most satisfying moment in business?
In our short span of existence, the most satisfying moment of all was the first anniversary of THE IP PRESS on 24 April 2021.  The joy of sustaining the venture amid pandemic and seeing it grow is quite satisfying. Remember, sustaining your initiative is the first step towards success. 

 

14.What entrepreneurial tricks have you discovered to keep you focused and productive in your day-to-day busy schedule?
A dedicated coordinated team with clear bifurcation of work is quintessential for smooth functioning of a startup. Weekly review of the work or meetings with the team member leads to more productivity. 

 

15. Who has been your greatest inspiration?
The greatest inspiration for anyone comes from his or her parents. One can observe and learn the qualities from parents in day-to-day life. Their dedication, patience, unconditional support, empathy, teamwork, ability to listen and advice are a few things that can be adapted into your work life. Certainly, in my case too my parents have been my greatest inspiration. 

 

16. Any message for future entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is like nurturing an idea with innovation and see it grow like mighty oaks. Be mindful of your surroundings, identify that one thing that needs attention, and work on it. The most important thing is to enjoy the entire process of building your idea into a working system. Be your own evaluator, set weekly goals and assess whether you have achieved them or not by the end of the week. 

For more details please https://www.theippress.com/

RECENT POSTS

CATEGORIES