The word ‘startup’ typically evokes images of young entrepreneurs brimming with adolescent enthusiasm intent on creating radically different businesses.But the bunch of entrepreneurs that ET features in this article are not your Average Startup Joes. They are actually experienced professionals who once held very senior positions in companies. They are in their 40s and 50s. They had a cushy job, a fat pay package. They were close to retirement, at least in the Indian context. They were about to slog into a vast topography of uncertainty and difficulties. Yet, they would not have it any other way. Why?Some did it for the thrill of the challenge. Others took the plunge for being their own boss. The sheer love of entrepreneurship is another big draw. By doing so, they say they are living their dreams.Of course, they were tempted by the times we live that are conditioned to promote entrepreneurship. The number of startup incubators and angel investors in India are increasing by the day. India ranks third globally in the number of startups after the US and the UK, with more than 4,200 new enterprises being launched every year.These apart, the ability to take financial risk is easier for these entrepreneurs because they face little financial liabilities thanks to a lucrative career and investors would be happy to back their rich experience.“We have been far more fortunate than our earlier generation; we are all beneficiaries of liberalisation and business opportunities,” says Prabhu Karthikeyan, 43, CEO and MD of Athena Life Sciences.Damodar Mall, CEO, Reliance Retail, says these are all individuals who have been successful in their first innings. “They have all reached senior levels in their fields and now have a conviction that the Indian consumer is ready for offers than address a local insight. They are tapping new opportunities and niches that big corporates hesitate to bet on,” he says.It is not that alone. K Radhakrishnan , founder of grocery website Grocer Max, says entrepreneurship is like falling in love. “It cannot be forced or orchestrated”.55PREVIOUS ROLE: J&J, Coca-Cola and consultancyCURRENT ROLE: Founder of FingerLix PASSION: Consumer insightsLAUNCH OF COMPANY: May 2016While consulting for startups such as Hector Beverages, Sripad Nadkarni realised that he was keen to create what he calls ‘a definitive impact in the area I love the most — the business of brands”.FingerLix was born out of this desire. The venture offers fresh ready-to-cook offerings such as parathas curries and pastas.Nadkarni, who also doubles as an angel investor in Paper Boat and Epigamia Greek Yogurt, two other startups in the food and beverages business, also saw that as a mentor the promoters of these startups were enjoying creating a business. “I noticed that Neeraj Kakkar (founder of Hector Beverages) and Rohan Mirchandani (founder of Hokey Pokey ice-cream) were having just too much fun. It almost seemed unfair,” he says.Nadkarni also had had enough of consulting, which he says is dishing out advice. “To be on the ground and be proactive to what the consumer wants was far more fun and challenging.”Investors are taking notice of his venture. Santosh Desai, CEO of Future Brands, is an angel investor in this business. Nadkarni says FingerLix is his toughest role yet. “Creating a business and a brand from scratch, managing forecasting and inventory in the fresh food category, getting the best possible team on board, raising each new round of financing and keeping the consumer at the centre — it’s challenging and exhilarating.”He has also been lucky to have an equally strong financial support in his wife. “She is a banker and hence financial security was not an issue.”58PREVIOUS ROLE: Head KB’s Fairprice and CEO Reliance FreshCURRENT ROLE: Co founder, GrocerMax . PASSION: RetailLAUNCH OF COMPANY: June 2015K Radhakrishnan says he is banking on his three-decade experience in the retail industry to make his e-grocery website a success. Radhakrishnan previously headed Future Group’s convenience store chain KB’s Fairprice and Reliance Retail, a unit of Mukesh Ambani’s RIL. For his venture, he has partnered Gaurav Juneja, the former India executive director of French investment bank Bryan, Garnier & Co.Radhakrishnan says he will try to control the inventory — just like BigBasket, another e-commerce platform that is doing well — with a hybrid model that will host a marketplace and work with distributors and wholesalers. But it is a tough market where many bigger, older rivals are struggling. “It is loads of hard work and demanding,” he says.Grocermax is not expanding rapidly, learning from the mistakes made by the rest. It is currently operational only in Gurgaon. The company is looking to cover all of Delhi-NCR in the next three months and then enter Bengaluru.Grocermax is also talking to PE investors and strategic players to raise further money to fund its expansion.Radhakrishnan says it makes sense to be an entrepreneur early in life so that mistakes can be made and alternatives looked at or closer to retirement when loans are repaid and children’s education taken care of. He chose the latter.53PREVIOUS ROLE: MD, Equifax Credit BureauCURRENT ROLE: Founder, SME CornerLAUNCH OF COMPANY: January 2015 Samir Bhatia is not new to starting companies from scratch. He was involved with building two businesses in the past. After leaving Citibank, he was one of the four founding members of HDFC Bank.He later built Equifax Credit Bureau for the American company in India. A veteran banker with 28 years of experience, Bhatia decided to start his own venture. SME Corner is a market place platform which brings the lenders and borrowers to a meeting point. This allows retail, small and medium business owners from borrowing loans from Rs 10 lakh to a crore on a digitalised loan platform by paying lesser commission.The retail, small and medium business owners had to pay large commissions to direct sales agents, brokers and other intermediaries to avail loan from lenders. Bhatia’s firm will generate an algorithm-based credit score and helps lenders to lend money. The fintech market is forecasted to touch $2.4 billion by 2020 from $1.2 billion now.Bhatia says he went door to door to meet 400 small businessmen to understand their needs and challenges. ‘’After signing cheques for crores in banks to many clients, I may have to sign cheques for Rs 10,000 as well as spend longer working hours unlike a morning to evening schedule in a bank.’’ But he says he finds that more satisfying. “It may be true that the entrepreneurs may have both experience and financial muscle, but one has to be humble to succeed.”43PREVIOUS ROLE: Country head, retail assets and banking strategy, BarclaysCURRENT ROLE: Founder, Vastu Home FinanceLAUNCH OF COMPANY: July 2015It was in one of his travels to the interiors of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala and Tamil Nadu in 2014 that Sandeep Menon noticed that few people took loans in the Rs 2 -5 lakh category from established lenders. Instead they relied on local money lenders, who charged exorbitant interest rates. Menon, who had been on a break after leaving his cushy job at a multinational banks, saw this was an opportunity to launch a startup in the finance segment.He was encouraged by the fact that he had little debt, had his own house and reasonable savings from his two decades of holding senior positions with various local and overseas lenders from Barclays to Standard Chartered Bank to GE Capital. His wife, employed with a large telecom company, was able to manage his children’s education.A year later, he teamed up with his former colleague Sujay Patil, mentor PH Ravikumar, his former bosses such as Pramod Bhasin, Samir Bhatia and Vikram Gandhi to start a digital technology backed company that would lend to small and medium companies. PE fund Multiples has committed a capital of Rs 400 crore for the venture.“I wanted build a sustainable, long term institution backed by credible investors,’’ says Menon who is a lawyer. Vastu has by now loaned Rs 800 crore to small and medium businesses.45PREVIOUS ROLE: Fundraiser at Reliance private equityCURRENT ROLE: Founder, Daily RotiPASSION: Food anthropologyLAUNCH OF COMPANY: January 2016 Amrita Sabnavis quit her job as a senior investor relations executive with Reliance Private Equity in December 2015 to bootstrap an entrepreneurial venture in the ready-to-cook segment. So far it has been quite a ride, she says. ‘’This is all very new,’’ says Sabnavis, a former banker who dabbled in micro-finance before joining the PE fund.Sabnavis says it was her interest in the anthropology of food that fuelled her venture. That apart, she also picked a business that was the hardest she could find. The ready-to-cook segment is yet to take off in India and investors are yet to show an interest. Yet, she went ahead. “I wanted a real challenge.”Sabnavis is funding the venture herself using her gratuity and PF money. She says she will sustain the business by herself as long as she can.So far Sabnavis has spent time understanding what works with the consumer in the context of food and its preparation. Availability when the consumer wants food is key.“The fresh foods space is a minefield because of the distribution challenges for perishable products.” A long distance runner, Amrita understands that endurance is everything. “Execution is a huge challenge, and this learning is proving to be better than a Harvard education,” she says.