Location Based Services - BarCamp Presentation

Barcamp5 at Pune was pretty cool with more than 150+ participants. I presented on Location Aware Services which was well attended. People from Intel, Rediff, Thought Works and other reputed companies heard and debated several issues. My team from Binary Mantra Systems demonstrated one such location based application. The presentation can be seen below:

Location Aware Services

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: location lbs)

BarCamp Pune 5 on 29th November 2008

BarCamp Pune is scheduled on 29th Novemeber 2008 at SICSR (Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies and Research), Atur Centre, Gokhale Cross Road, Model Colony, Pune - 411016. All people who are having right spirit can join. There are no strings attached and offcourse no registration fee. There are more than 20 speakers and more than 250 people as of now. The count may go-up by EoD tomorrow ( since there are more than 8 registrations in last 2 hours only).

BarCamp provides right platform to share, collaborate, network and learn. A lot of people learn about coding, entrepreneurship, IPR or any damn thing in right direction. The motivation of the event is to encourage people to come together - learn and network. A lot of people get into technical discussions while others gel-up for a business gossip. Overall, a good event without any formal structure.

I would be talking about Location Aware Services which are fast catching up in India. A lot of big players like Google, Yahoo etc are already into that space. We at BMS are also looking at this space seriously to offer our services to various clients. From end-users perspective these services would make their lives easier and provide great amount of comfort. A lot of information can be delivered using internet or mobile as a delivery platform. For those in Pune/Mumbai, catch me up during/after session. We would also be giving a demo of one such " Location Aware " application. I would also upload my presentation and discussion after the event, so that everybody can access it.

Learning is Fun@Startups

The best way to solve a problem is to start thinking, exploring and above all...doing. Who knows it better than people at Startups. The people here get some problems at hand..with little or no background knowledge....aggressive deadlines....few people to support and a lot of other limitations. The process remains bumpy with some success and failures. People work, slog, re-work and come-out with flying colors. They learn and get a good feeling by solving a problem at hand.

In my opinion " Journey is more important than source or destination ". It takes a while to get accustomed to such kind of mind-set, but once comfortable...such people can reach greater heights. A lot of work done at startups is more than work..it is new learning every time..entering new arena and conquering it. The satisfaction of doing things by oneself is great. There is no defined route of solving problems at startups...but passion of people help them overcome all barriers. Learning is a lot of fun at startups...so Keep on learning...

My Company - Binary Mantra Systems

It has been quite sometime since I wrote my last blog. I was damn busy with initial phase of my company, Binary Mantra Systems (BMS) - A second generation IT services company with ambitious product plans too. The company is having people with more than 100 man-years of industry experience. We understand and apply quality guidelines, we value IPR & confidentiality. We are way ahead of normal SDLC.....we practice FDLC ( Visit here for more details)

BMS is undertaking projects in Health Care, Education, BFSI, Fashion & Apparel, Telcom & Manufacturing Verticals.

You can contact BMS for any information : info@binarymantrasystems.com

The journey so far is fulfilling, we already got couple of good clients and are in process of getting a lot more in coming months. We already are Microsoft Partner and talking to various companies for partnerships.

Management Gyaan : Leading a Young Team

The face and structure of new generation organisations are fast changing. The
average age of CEOs is dropping and the same is true of employees of new
age companies. In such a scenario, the traditional rules of business need to be
revisited and refined so as to deal effectively with employees, most of whom
are below 25 years of age.

Following points need to be worked upon/observed:

Cultivate an open and dynamic atmosphere
Promote Collaborative work environment
Fun@work
Growth-path
Innovation and creative work


Read the complete article published in "i.t" magazine at : Leading A Young Team

Startup Meetings : Observations

All startups need to hold several meetings to discuss issues like hiring, business development, processes, finance etc. There are some points, which need to be considered to make such meetings more meaningful:

1. Agenda : Always go with clear-cut agenda in mind. Try to list down key points which need to be discussed. This would help all to save time and keep discussion focussed.
2. Notes : Somebody should take notes of meeting. Recording the meeting can also help for future references.
3. Try to involve silent members : Try to hear out viewpoint of people who generally remain silent. The idea of any meeting should be constructive discussion and consensus rather than forced decision-making.
4. Be Rational : Try to evaluate your viewpoint and others viewpoint rationally. If somebody is making a good point on your views, then absorb it and rethink before defending your point.
5. Keep aside egos : Don't let personal ego come during meeting. The objective of meeting should be to discuss and solve problems. Adding additional variables would only complicate things.
6. Make action-items : Once meeting is concluded, tell action-items and circulate a mail along with time lines and desired output.

Fun at Startups

The Startups are good place to meet creative set of people. The option of joining/running a Startup is by choice and not as a substitute of regular job. People do spend countless hours to make every system/project/product a huge success. So, it becomes imperative to create a fun-filled environment which gives a lot of comfort to each employee. People should feel very lively environment within Startups.


Here are some pointers which can make your Startup a fun-filled place:

1. Nominate somebody as CFO ( Don't Confuse..it's Chief Fun Officer). There are few folks who have lot of energy and good sense of humor. They are good at driving discussions and make people feel happy. Try to get these people engaged in more discussions where set-up is quite informal. Let all your employees laugh at small things too. Be it movies, sports, politics, love, news or anything. Don't make informal discussions look very formal. As a Startup founder engage with your employees as much as you can and make them feel at home.

2. Encourage tea/snacks break where people can walk for 15-20 minutes and then come back to work. Let them chat on various issues and refresh their minds. They can talk about boss, work, news , girls/boys and many other things. This would help them to refresh their mind. Just keep in mind the point that " Sitting at desk won't result in productive work". Employee should feel encouraged to work. So Startup owners should make small steps to make environment fun-filled.

3. Try and encourage people to get involved in showing their extra-curricular skills. Make a point to have such events every 6 month. During this time people work together and feel charged to look at professional & personal fronts together. This helps in developing skills for better time-management too. Also you get to know people with varied skills ( music, singing, dancing etc.). Startup owners should also take part actively in some of these events to encourage others to come forward and participate.

4. Startups should organize some outstation trips. These trips helps people to understand their colleagues in better way. These trips should be fun-filled and release all work pressure and people should look forward for such outings and come back with fresh energy.

Startups doesn't boast big offices, big numbers, and big things....They pride key people; their biggest asset. So, make them happy and let them enjoy the workplace.

Interview : CATINDIAONLINE Co-Founder

Recently I chatted with Manish Singh, co-founder of Catindiaonline. He is from IITK (2004 Batch) and started his venture along with Kumar Gaurav,Mayank Goel and Santosh Kumar building CAT testing platform with Analytics engine and patent pending Recommendation engine.Some of the CAT 100 percentile scorers helped them in building this platform.Its a free portal for CAT aspirant www.catindiaonline.com .

The site offers online mock CAT tests + Previous CAT papers + Topic wise Test. This site is very different and has many more features than what one may think of. Its test framework is quite cool and analysis part is something that I bet that you can't find anywhere else. Its best part is in-depth analysis that gives gory details of one's performance - topic wise, difficulty wise, time requirements wise, comparative analysis of performance etc… The analysis will precisely point you out the issues with your preparation.In the end, You will find something called recommendations which will recommend CAT aspirant how he/she should have taken the test to maximize his/her score

1. When did you start and from where?

We have a team of 5 individuals based out in Bangalore, who are totally committed to the project. Two of them are working full time for the portal, whereas rest 3 of us are currently volunteering for it. Going forward at least one more of us is planning to work for www.catindiaonline.com full time. Apart from this, a number of other people have volunteered and made great contributions to the analysis and recommendation framework.

2. A bit more about your background and experience.

The core group of consists of IIT & IIM graduates and students. The two dedicated members of the team as well as three Bangalore based volunteers are all graduates of IIT Kanpur, batch of 2004. Among other volunteers we have 3 graduates from IIMs (A & B). One of these got 100 percentile in CAT 2006. These days a lot of other people have shown interest in working with us. We will keep you updated as and when our team expands.

3. What you want to achieve out of this venture?

We have a two fold aim behind CATIndiaOnline. On one hand, we aim to address some of the problems that CAT aspirants, particularly, working professionals, face today in preparing for CAT. Some of these problems include the following:

• Lack of time to take center based tests: Our tests can be taken from anywhere, anytime
• Inflexibility of paper based tests to adapt to personal preparatory needs: Our tests are customizable by topics/sub-topics, difficulty levels etc.
• Lack of proper analysis and feedback on performance: Topic-wise, difficulty-wise, time-management wise performance analysis and feedback is given by us instantaneously.

On the other hand, when CAT goes online, all mom & pop coaching institutes will require to administer computer based tests. It will be challenge for them to develop the required infrastructure. Students of all these coaching classes will need an alternative and we will help them with our free online test solution.

4. How are you going to take this further and compete with biggies like CL, TIME etc.

At this point of time, we are focusing on an aggressive marketing and branding campaign. A number of country's biggest CAT/MBA forums/portals have shown interest in having tie ups with us. This will give us direct access to a large number of CAT aspirants. Therefore, we are strongly considering these tie-ups. As and when we formally tie up with them, we will let you know about it.

Startup Opportunities

Content Developers

We are looking for someone with good experience of developing content for CAT. Experience can consist in any field related to CAT such as study material development, test paper development or even teaching experience. Although our first preference for those who have experience in test paper development. We are fine with long term as well as short term commitment. In case of long term commitment of a worthwhile candidate we are open to giving him stocks in the company. Pass on this message to anyone who might be interested in this.

E-mail : info@catindiaonline.com

Website : www.catindiaonline.com

Location : Bangalore

Technical Manager

Binary Mantra Systems, Pune based startup looking for entrepreneurial person to join as Technical Manager. The venture is started by people with more than 60 man-years of industry experience and strong academic background.

Position: Technology Partner (.net) to be designated initially as Technical Manager
Experience: Minimum 5+ Years on Microsoft.NET platform
Key Skills: C#, ASP.NET, SQL Server

Role: The Technical Manager will assume the responsibility of leading the product development team. The person must have excellent grasp of .NET technology and its deployment aspects in different scenarios. Evaluation if new technologies will be one of key areas in the initial design phase.

The technical manager will also be working closely with the sales team in Asia-Pacific and the USA. We look at this role as one of the key roles in the organization. The growth prospects are bright and this role can grow upto Director (Engineering).
Responsibilities:

—Architecting the product and deciding the technology road map
—Guiding the team on all technology aspects.
—Interfacing with the customer on technology presentations and consulting.

We are in process of starting the development of a product which will initially be targeted towards customers in Asia Pacific and the USA. This product is being developed to cater to corporate, educational institutions and schools and is into e-learning 2.0 space.

We will be offering a package comprising of sustenance salary, profit sharing in product and services sales and equity.
Location: Pune
Contact : Abhishek at +91 98212 15890 or srivasaa2000@yahoo.com

Development Engineer

Pune based product based startup, looking to build a great team. Looking for following skills -

- Flash / Flex / Action Script AND / OR
- Java / Javascript expert and eager to learn new technologies like Flex
- Audio / Video Technologies (Formats / Streaming / VOD, IPTV) is plus
- Technical expertise in area of audio / video players and / or Adobe technologies will be preferred

Location : Pune
Contac t: prashant.sachdev@gmail.com

OCC Noida : September Edition

The entrepreneurial folks met once again on Sunday, 14th September to discuss various topics related to entrepreneurship, startups and technology. ( OCC Noida folks meet-up every month on 2nd Sunday (12.00 Noon-2.00 PM) at Kaaffia, sec-18, Noida). Here is summary of major points discussed during the meeting :

1. Estimation of Development Time : For any startup estimating right time to develop a product/solution is very critical. Startups developing internal products need to estimate this for defining product road-map in better manner while startups offering services need to decide project cost and delivery time based on these inputs. Bad development-time estimation affects product road-map, customer satisfaction, profitability and company morale. A lot of folks emphasized that development-time estimation betters with experience. You need to burn your fingers to arrive at accurate numbers if you are relatively young. People with good industry experience are better at doing such estimations due to their past experience.

2. Time spent towards Pre-sales : A lot of startups want to get projects pretty fast and hence don't define scope of project clearly and later on run into losses. Startups offering services should invest time to come-out with detailed scope and effort estimates. These would help them to complete project on time giving significant profits. A lot of entrepreneurs felt that it is good strategy to invest some time before closing the deal since anyways one need to spend time to do such estimations later on. Don't rush for a project since with wrong estimates this may turn-out to be bad deal. Spend some time to come-out with numbers close to actual effort.

3. User Generated Information : Why will Indian people generate content on the net giving reviews, tagging locations etc.? People felt that frequency of using a particular service prompts you to give feedback/review. Similarly people using Google Maps actively may tag some non-existing locations for the benefit of others. If you are benefited by any product/service then there are more chances of generating some good information. If you are dis-satisfied with some product/service then there are more chances of write reviews.

Some other areas like Google Voice Search, VAS platforms were also discussed. As usual the coffee and ambiance was pretty good for such meetings. Hope to see more people next time.
There was discussion to club OCC Noida & OCC Delhi to bring more like-minded people under one umbrella. The discussion has been initiated and let's wait for response of group folks.

Building second Layer within Startups

A lot of startups do have good founding team which is capable of building the initial product/service. These people are able to do initial groundwork to bring startup to decent level. But all organizations want to grow with time and founders want to realize their dreams in big-way. So, from here originates the need of second set of key people who can drive organization to new heights. These people are typically either have less exposure than founders or want to gain experience before venturing to start at their own. Typically these people bring experience and freshness and can be very helpful to scale-up operations. Founders should understand the relevance of 2nd layer and act in following manner:

1. Delegating Work : Founders should start delegating work-areas in which they are either not good or they don't have bandwidth to carry it effectively. The 2nd layer of people should be given good amount of flexibility and responsibility with defined objective measures. These people should not ask founders for each small issues. By doing so, founders can focus their energies on core functional areas and other strategic issues.

2. Treating them as partners : Founders should not 2nd layer as employees only, since they can be very critical in scaling-up the business. They should be seen as business partners with reasonable equity participation as per time of entry and level. Even in terms of respect and place within organization they should be treated well.

3. Transparency : Founders should be transparent with 2nd layer, since these people are smart enough to gauge internal happenings. There is no point being secretive with these folks. Anyways, you want to groom them as future managers, hence let them understand good and bad things about the organization. If you have a genuine point and it is conveyed properly, then these guys would understand it in no time. Let them get complete view, rather than pointers.

4. Risk & Rewards : Tell them about risks of negative scenarios, while share rewards when they perform well. Think the way you would treat yourself in positive & negative scenarios. The 2nd layer will stick for longer time, once they start feeling sense of attachment and start sharing company's vision.

Once you are able to build a solid 2nd layer, there is no reason why you can't scale-up.

Best Online PR sources for Indian Startups

Indian Startups which need to gain visibility should use low-cost/free PR sources. These online sources reach out huge number of people at very low cost. Also good PR adds credibility about your company and services. There are some sources which Indian Startups should definitely explore:

1. PR.com : PR.com is a revolutionary Free Press Release Distribution Service where each business also has a full company profile to promote everything about its business. One can submit news and press releases via global online news and press release distribution service with powerful distribution points such as AskJeeves News, Excite News, Topix.net, MSN News etc. Utilizing full Company Profile you can promote your business, post products and services with full descriptions and images, distribute press releases, post job opportunities, and can do many more things. To see some recent Press Releases from India visit

2. IndiaPRWire.com : India PRwire is bringing a truly global platform for news and information distribution emanating from India. The service is a forum through which corporate houses, institutions, government departments, non-government organisations, associations, non-profit organizations and individuals can reach out to the world to tell their story. For the journalists, this becomes a ready resource and ‘reckoner’ for up-to-date, unbiased news and information on developments that have taken place. The India PRwire gamut of services includes PR posting, electronic distribution through PR Flash, targeted distribution, distribution of PR related photographs and documents.

3. Business Wire India : Business Wire India is the definitive platform for corporate news distribution and media monitoring for any company in India. They distribute news across India for leading Indian companies and indeed any company in the world interested in reaching this vibrant market. They are the exclusive India affiliate of Business Wire.
Press releases distributed through their system are immediately published in full text on the leading information systems in India (UNI wire service, IANS wire service, Yahoo! India, Rediff.com, HindustanTimes.com and many others), and are emailed and faxed to their 4500-strong journalist community.

4. PR Log : PRLog is a free online press release service. One can submit press releases at no charge. All of their services are free. Some relevant info is given below:

Online Press Release Submission HTML links in the press release body. Search engine optimized dedicated web page & PDF version. Multiple categories & keywords. Spam protection on your email address. Edit/delete press releases. Free press release account. Press release scheduling.		Press Release Distribution Distribution to Google News. Distribution to numerous search engines. Numerous javascript, html & RSS feeds. Customizable Daily newsletter. Powerful advanced search. Your own Press Room.

5. Open PR : Open PR helps you to publish articles free of cost . They want to give smaller companies the chance to go public with their news at any time. A change to a fee-based service is not planned. openPR was launched in April 2004. openpr.com was relaunched in July 2005. It is run by the journalist Roland K. R. Becker and his team of editors in Schleswig and Hamburg, Germany.

Online PR can help you to get business, investors or just well-wishers.

Web 2.0 Expo : New York Edition

The first Web 2.0 Expo NYC is going to start on 16th September. There would be sessions for developers, designers, media & marketers, and executives.

Web 2.0 Expo is a global annual gathering of technical, design, marketing, and business professionals who are building the next generation web. Web 2.0 Expo features the most innovative and successful Internet industry figures and companies providing attendees with examples of business models, development paradigms, and design strategies to enable mainstream businesses and new arrivals to the Web 2.0 world to take advantage of this new generation of services and opportunities. Web 2.0 Expo is co-produced by TechWeb and O'Reilly Media.

The Web continues to be an engine of economic growth, fueled by a host of new business models, development models, and design patterns that collectively fall under the umbrella of Web 2.0, a term coined at the birth of Web 2.0 Summit (formerly named Web 2.0 Conference), a joint venture between TechWeb and O’Reilly Media.

To meet the increasing demand for Web 2.0 comprehension and skills, and to build a broader Web 2.0 community, TechWeb and O’Reilly Media launched the inaugural Web 2.0 Expo in April 2007 in San Francisco. That event was the first conference and tradeshow for the rapidly growing ranks of designers and developers, product managers, entrepreneurs, VCs, marketers, and business strategists who are embracing the opportunities created by Web 2.0 technologies. Web 2.0 Expo has now expanded to include not only Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, but also Europe, Tokyo, and New York.

Program Information

The program will spotlight experts, leaders, and under-the-radar innovations, and in the spirit of Web 2.0, there will be ample opportunity for attendees to connect, contribute, and collaborate. Web 2.0 Expo is a place for creativity, engineering, and innovation, focusing on four conversations:

• Education: a vetted, cohesive conference program to maximize the sharing of knowledge and expertise around creating the next generation web
• Tradeshow: a traditional tradeshow floor introducing builders of the Web to providers of tools, technology, services and infrastructure
• Networking: a meeting ground fostering face-to-face business development for entrepreneurs, VCs, partnerships and recruitment
• Launch Pad: a platform for notable companies and products to debut

Conference Tracks will Include:

• Landscape & Strategy
• Design & UX
• Development
• Media & Marketing
• 2.0 at Work
• Finance
• Performance & Scaling

Who Should Attend?

Web 2.0 Expo is explicitly designed to address the needs of technical, design, marketing, and business professionals building the next generation web, including:

• Business strategists
• Web and UI designers
• Product managers
• Marketing professionals
• CxOs and IT managers
• Business managers
• Developers in established companies
• Grass roots developers and hackers
• Companies and organizations tracking emerging technologies
• VCs and entrepreneurs

Past Web 2.0 Expo events brought together participants from these--and many more--companies and organizations: Adobe, AOL, American Greetings Interactive, Apple, BA Venture Partners, BP, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Discovery Health Media, Dow Jones & Company, EMC, Experian Interactive, First Round Capital, Great Spirit Ventures, Hitachi, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, IEEE, Intel Corporation, Intuit, Jet Propultion Laboratory, Labrador Ventures, MTV Networks, Magazine Publishers of America, McGill University, Monster Worldwide, Motion Picture Association of America, Nokia, North Bridge Venture Partners, Northrop Grumman Information Technology, RealNetworks, Simon & Schuster, Standard & Poor's, Sun Microsystems, Symbol Technologies, The Heritage Foundation, The Wall Street Journal Online, Turner Broadcastings Systems, University of Richmond, University of Southern California, Walt Disney Internet Group, WhitePages.com.

What Is Web 2.0?

Defining exactly what Web 2.0 means is still an ongoing conversation. Tim O'Reilly attempts to clarify Web 2.0, digging into what it means to view the Web as a platform, and which applications fall squarely under its purview and which do not. Read more here.

TATA NEN Hottest Startups Awards 2008

The TATA NEN Hottest Startups Awards are the first ever people’s choice Awards to recognize the highest-potential startups in India:

• Young Companies with great potential to grow…
• Companies with the ability to change their industries…
• Companies that will create jobs and drive economic growth…

The TATA NEN Hottest Startups Awards are the first Awards designed to engage the Public throughout the process: the Public nominates the companies; information on the nominees is available to all, via a website; and winners are chosen through a combination of Public Voting and Expert Judges’ ratings.

India is witnessing a wave of growth. More individuals are taking the risk, stepping away from the comfort of jobs and institutes, and are starting companies to capitalize on today’s opportunities. The TATA NEN Hottest Startups Awards will provide these entrepreneurs with visibility, and enable them to connect more easily with resources. And by engaging the public, TATA NEN Hottest Startup Awards aims to increase appreciation and support for these future engines of growth.

The TATA NEN Hottest Startups Awards celebrate their entrepreneurial spirit: Dare to try!

Awards competition structure

People are invited to nominate hot startups starting August 2008. Each nomination will be reviewed and rated by two Expert Judges. The number of Public Votes and Experts’ Ratings together determine the 30 shortlisted startups on October 15, 2008. The 30 shortlisted startups then campaign for votes in the final round. Ultimately, the five companies from the shortlist with the most final-round votes become the 5 TATA NEN Hottest Startups 2008 Winners.

Benefits for Winners

The Awards are designed to boost significantly the growth of the short-listed companies, and even more so that of the 5 Winners by providing publicity, business development support and access to funding. The support will be provided by IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, Microsoft, Indian Angel Network, TATA and NEN. Subject to fit, winners will get introduced to angels or VCs; and/or connected to industry experts; and get access to specially designed business training, mentoring, educational programs and incubation support.

Partners & Support Organizations

NEN and TATA have come together to lead this first-of-its-kind effort to showcase and support young high potential startups in India. Major Partners include Seedfund, Helion Ventures and HT Mint. Microsoft, IIM-Ahmedabad and IIM-Bangalore will provide support as Knowledge Partners. In addition, all the entrepreneurial communities of India have come on board as Associate Partners, including TiE, Indian Angel Network, Mumbai Angels, Proto.in, Smart Techie, Open Coffee Club, Kickstart, Pagalguy Startup.in, Webyantra, Cool Avenues, MBA Universe and Business Gyan.

Criteria for Participating Startups

The company must be: 5 or fewer years old; headquartered in India; and a stand-alone venture, not a subsidiary or division of a larger company. In addition, companies should be highly innovative, growing rapidly and have the potential to reshape their industries.

Contact : Kavita Krishnamurthy at kavita@nenglobal.org for more details.

Visit Website here

MoMo Delhi - 6th Meet on 23rd August

The 6th meet of Mobile Monday Delhi is scheduled on 23rd August 2008 at Amity Innovation Incubator, Noida. The theme of this meet is Mobile Advertisement.

Event Venue :
Amity Innovation Incubator
Auditorium, Block F2,
GATE NO. 2,
Amity University Campus,
Sector 125, Noida,
Ph: +91.120.46590000, 4659151


View Larger Map

Event Schedule available here

About MobileMonday

Mobile Monday is a global community of mobile industry visionaries, developers and influentials fostering cooperation and cross-border business development through virtual and live networking events to share ideas, best practices and trends from global markets.

Mobile Monday has the following objectives:

• To encourage innovation within the mobile sector.
• To facilitate networking between small and large companies, and between local and foreign.
• To help local companies effectively participate in international initiatives through the import and export of visions, concepts, technologies, know-how and best practices.
• To present innovative visions, trends, studies and forecasts from the mobile marketplace.
• To facilitate and create partnerships.
• To contribute to the education of the broader public through its publications, online presence and media partnerships.

Mobile Monday is organized by a group of dedicated volunteers from around the world. Originating in Helsinki, Finland, in the year 2000, Mobile Monday has grown into the world’s leading mobile community.

Start-up Tips : Are you a startup employable?

Startups in India are fast picking up and a lot of people are getting into entrepreneurship. These startups need good talent pool with slightly different genes than usual guys/gals preferring big companies. I am giving a check-list to find-out whether you are Startup employable or not:

1. You prefer doing things by yourself than relying on others.
2. Your mind is full of new ideas and you experiment few of them too. You believe in ideas & execution.
3. You are not very particular about your office timings ( I mean you can stay late or come early)
4. You want to become Head-Engineering, VP- Sales, VP - HR pretty fast and that's why want to put extra efforts to learn multiple things within short span of time.
5. You enjoy working in a team and want to learn from others. You want to learn from people outside your company too.
6. You are not very particular about your office, seating space or even space outside. You are much concerned about your work and passion.
7. You don't want to earn fast money. You believe in wealth creation.
8. You don't want to own house, car, and other luxury items very fast.
9. Apart from cash component you realize the power of stocks
10. You enjoy the whole process rather than the input and output.
11. You want to experiment new things and not fearful of making mistakes.
12. You don't blame others for your bad moves. You come forward to accept mistakes and take corrective action.
13. You grow faster and become mature faster than your counterparts at big companies.
14. You respect others and believe in open communication. You don't want to spend time gossiping about people. You like talking about work.
15. You are passionate about your work and discuss your work with your parents or friends.
16. You like attending events which enrich your capabilities.
17. You enjoy sharing your tiffin/lunch with your colleagues.
18. You enjoy Office Maggi at 9.00 PM in the night. Sometimes even you prefer sleeping at office rather than going back to home.
19. You don't mind your salary being credited to your account on 10th day of the month rather than 01st.
20. You don't have too many girl-friends.

Score Inferences

20 : Complete Startup Individual
15-19 : Good Startup Person
10-14 : Formative Startup Person
Below 10 : Startups are cool. I would prefer reading about them.

You can drop me a mail with your score at contact@venturevilla.info for specific discussions.

Startup Tactics : Realizing the power of social networking

A lot of startups put all their energies in developing their products/services. They don't realize the power of social networks which can do wonders for them. Spending good amount of time to make world-class offering is a good move, but you can't do it at the cost of losing the opportunity of being networked. Being active in various forums help you to connect to multiple people with different skill-set and opinions. Ideally one founder of startups should be very active in all networking events. There are some inherent benefits of being part of such events/forums. I am listing here some key benefits :

1. You Learn : The startup founders should be keen to learn new things on daily basis. A lot of people start their venture pretty early and hence don't know a lot of business and/ or engineering aspects. Generally talking to people at good forums helps you to learn from their experiences at no cost. A lot of them are candid enough to share their real experiences giving enough food for thought. One should always try to get engaged with people of diverse skill-set i.e. suppose you are heading sales but start talking to a senior HR person, then ideally you should learn best HR practices, employee motivation, knowledge management etc. The knowledge gained from these forums should be shared among core group members. The whole idea of such events is sharing for growth of the eco-system. Even though a lot of people/companies come for some objectives but still provide good ground for learning new things.

2. You Grow : Being part of such events help you to grow your personal network. Even though internet is fast growing and people are using internet as a medium to grow social and professional network, but still the warmth and relevance of face-to-face meetings is phenomenal. Even a small gesture like bringing a glass of water or offering dinner plate to other participant helps a lot. A lot of places do have informal set-up and starting a conversation is very easy. Don't try to be pushy and aggressive and try to engage in a healthy discussion. If there is a group talking on some topic of your interest, feel free to join and throw your ideas and/or listen to others. The whole process helps you to grow your personal network and spread a word about your company. After developing some rapport and few meetings may come-up for help in some form or the other. You should also be genuinely ready to help others in best possible manner. A lot of times, only the knowledge transfer is more than enough.

3. You Spread : Apart from knowledge sharing and learning, these events bring good amount of people looking for good opportunities/companies. These events provide enough opportunity to spread word about your company and requirements. There may be some technical requirements or sales requirements or funding requirements which can be propagated . Spreading the word helps you to reach out relevant people at almost no cost. A lot of people are updated about your growth, vision and passion. Be passionate and truthful to others. This would help you to get good guidance, right people and visibility. A lot of times such meetings also result in revenue generation, but while attending such event don't keep that objective on the fore-front. It takes time to develop some and generate business.

4. You Brand : Such forums provide enough opportunities to carry out small-scale branding exercise. Try to get involved as a speaker, volunteer, blogger etc. If you get an opportunity to speak, then try to pass-on your company's message without being invasive. Don't make 50 slides about your company, but pass-on the vision and summary about your work. Interested people would try to touch-base after your talk and/or during networking sessions. Even during normal conversations, try to put across your visions in best possible manner. Be active and show high level of energy and enthusiasm. A lot of people would try to relate your startup with your personality. So, being a brand-ambassador spread-out the right message to attract potential customers, partners, investors, employees, vendors etc.

In order to make your venture successful, you need to attend such events. After all success is not so easy; you need to work really hard.

How to Select a Startup Person?

Selecting right person for any startup is very critical. A wrong selection might have significant impact on the growth of company. While selecting any new employee/partner startups should look for following things:

1. Right Mindset : For any startup, understanding the mind-set of prospective employee/partner is very important. They should understand his/her current state of mind and future aspirations. An employee having different future aspirations may not stay with you for long in-turn hurting startup. The people interested in startups generally want to learn new things at fast pace, take higher responsibilities, look for wealth creation rather than faster bucks, possess good time-management skills, show maturity & passion and are quite flexible. The best candidate would show all these qualities in some for or other. Even people scoring moderately on few parameters should be probed further. A person with right mind-set would start shaping your dreams in right manner and would grow exponentially.

2. Financial expectations : People with startup mind-set would prefer to delay their financial gains. They may not look for fancy salaries in the beginning, but would like to have equity participation and/or profit-sharing. The startup guy/gal understands that during initial stage of any venture, utilizing cash optimally is very important. A company spending extravagantly may run out of cash in no-time risking life of employees and company itself.

3. Higher Responsibilities : A Startup person would always emphasize his worth and capability to take higher responsibilities. Before discussing salary and benefits he would like to understand the job-profile, expectations and his participation. A startup person will always look for value addition rather than just compensation.

4. True Reflection of his aspirations/skill-set : A startup person would try to bring-out real aspirations in front of decision makers. He won't try to fool you by saying that he will continue with your organization for life-long, if he doesn't feel like that. Similarly he won't try to project that he knows everything. Being truthful is very important trait of any startup person. This mind-set helps them to be fair with every person directly/indirectly related.

5. Flexible Mind-set : A startup person is always open to new ideas and approaches. He/She look forward for best solutions, even-though initiated by somebody else. He/She is not always dying to get credit for work done, but is more interested in solving a problem in best possible manner. He/She is a good listener and derives out meaningful conclusions.

6. Innovation : A startup person would always think in innovative direction. He/She won't try to solve problems in usual manner. He/She should be open to new approaches and look for multiple options before settling for best one. He/She would try to improve existing processes and methods and talk about the same during initial stage too. His/her motivation is improve the system through creative contribution.

In case you find potential employee good on above-mentioned parameters, then you should definitely look-forward to welcome him/her on-board.

VentureVilla@BlogIT - August Edition

VentureVilla started sharing content with "i.t." Magazine. As a result the first article Five Ways To Hire And Retain Good People At Start-ups got published recently.

i.t. Magazine | INFORMATION. TECHNOLOGY. TODAY. TOMORROW

'i.t.' evolved into a magazine that strives to be the best source of information for those who make strategic technology decisions related to IT itself. Thus the magazine's mission statement now reads, "Research. Identify. Simplify. Technology that matters." The magazine is published for last 17 years having 1,000,00+ monthly circulation.

It's a magazine for those who need to know and those who love to know about, "Information. Technology. Today. Tomorrow."


| Frequency: monthly | Language: English | Download

OCC Noida August Edition : Event Summary

I participated in August edition of OCC Noida today.The event was again full of good discussions and knowledge sharing. I am covering few major points which were discussed there:

1. Project Management & Documentation : A lot of startups focus energies on doing real-stuff i.e. development, testing etc. but tend to forget important supporting functions like time-management, documentation etc. For any startup ( and especially in services arena) tighter project management is very much required. This helps in delivering the output in desired time-frame. Also during planning a project all of us should keep some buffers to take care of unforeseen situations. Even big companies go wrong in estimating the project time-frame and add some buffer beforehand to take care of any externalities. As soon as startup initiate few projects, they should look for structuring it well. A lot of processes like Coding Guidelines, Document Management etc. should be followed from very beginning for reference and re-usability. Document Management helps a lot when any transition happens within organization.

2. Open Sourcing IP Components : For any startup getting visibility at "low or no cost" approach should be followed. Packaging existing open-source IP's helps you to get visibility. For online businesses the usability of such small things is too high. Also from company's side there is not much work to be done. All startups should try to leverage such sources to get visibility and business. A lot of times people who use and benefit from IP components refer to others too.

3. Monetizing Online Business : A lot of online businesses attract significant traffic, but is there any way to monetize it well? Almost all people felt that currently a lot of Indian users don't click on online AD's hence not benefiting online businesses. Also the placement of advertisement makes significant difference. While putting any Ad campaign, businesses should try to use relevant keywords rather than generic terms. Also strategic advertisements should not be looked as something creating negative impression.

4. How does Google Page-Rank helps in monetization : Some people felt that Google Rank helps in better monetization and one should initiate an Ad campaign only after getting good Google Page-rank. But this assumption was challenged by others. People felt that at the end of day, most end-users care about services. They are not much concerned about such rankings. How many times you have seen Google Page-rank for makemytrip or IRCTC website. The most important thing is the convenience user is deriving out of using online businesses. So, one should be much concerned about service offerings rather than Google Page-rank. Even little things like end-user voting would add more value and help end-users in making a judgment about your offerings.

New Investment norms for Venture Capital, Private Equity and Hedge Funds

The government is seriously reviewing current investment norms and may soon release new investment norms for venture capital (VC), private equity (PE) and hedge funds. The idea behind such a move is to make them operationally transparent and create a level-playing field for both the domestic and foreign players.

The discussion with SEBI has already been initiated. The motivation is to promote all sectors rather than few specific sectors like real estate which is attracting huge fund inflows.

Government is considering tax-incentives for organizations investing in high-risk venture areas. The bias between domestic players and foreign players would also be rationalized in the new system. Domestic players need to pay tax for sectors other than 9 identified by the Government while foreign players enjoy tax-benefits for other sectors too.

SEBI will make it mandatory to register VCs and PEs after compiling data about their investments in sectors like real estate, ITeS, education. SNI director TC Nair said that at present the market regulator has no definite source about the exact investments of PEs and VCs.

UK’s Young Design Entrepreneur 2008

The British Council, with support from the Cultural Leadership Programme envisioned UKYDE award.

Entrepreneurs with passion for design and looking for innovative ways to move the UK design industry forward are welcome. People considering international business opportunities and looking forward to build their network should definitely participate. This award would help you to know more about the business of design in India.

To be eligible for the award, you must be aged between 25 and 35, have at least three years of industry experience and be resident in the UK. Applications close at noon on Thursday 14 August 2008.

You can download form

UKYDE is one of nine awards for young creative entrepreneurs that are being developed by the British Council with support from NESTA, the Cultural Leadership Programme, trade associations and professional bodies within the creative sector.

As part of their prize the winner and two runners-up will be invited to take part in a specially designed and tailored tour of the design industry in an emerging market – for the 2008 award this will be India.
The British Council in the UK are working with our colleagues in India and their local industry partners to create an appropriate itinerary to support the breadth of this opportunity. The visit will take place in January/February 2009. Precise dates and details have yet to be confirmed, however the basic details are as follows:

Why India?
The tour will provide a real insight into the industry in one of the world’s fastest developing and most dynamic economies. With a steady 9.2% annual GDP rise, a middle class of a quarter of a billion, and an established design scene growing around leading institutions like the National Institute of Design in Ahmedebad, India’s potential as a market cannot be overlooked. The tour will open the door to India’s design industry, from the National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedebad, India’s equivalent to the Royal College of Art, to the thriving design scenes of Delhi and Mumbai or Bangalore.

What will the tour consist of?
The tour will take the group to Delhi and Ahmedebad. It may also include either Bangalore or Mumbai. The group will meet leading figures from the design industry in India, including members of the British Council network of young design entrepreneurs, and have the chance to learn first hand about how business is done there. The tour will comprise meetings, workshops, talks, and tours – delving into all areas of the design industry: graphic and multimedia, interiors and architecture, industrial and furniture designers, etc. The tour will allow participants to develop their international understanding and skills,and identify potential business opportunities for their company/organisation in the Indian market.

What is included?
• Return economy flights (if you wish to stay on after the tour has ended it may be possible for us – given enough notice – to issue tickets with a later return date. Please note, however, that the awards programme only provides support during the period of the tour, so any additional accommodation or other expenses would be payable by you directly and we are unable to assist in making other bookings outside of the tour programme.)
• Visa – we will cover the cost of the Indian visa, please note however that you must provide the requisite supporting information to allow the visa to be issued.
• Accommodation for duration of tour
• Subsistence at our standard India rates
• All transport within India during tour
• Full tour itinerary organised and looked after by British Council staff throughout

I was wondering can we introduce similar awards for Indian Nationals visiting abroad. What do you say?

NASSCOM Session : Using Online Professional Networking to Get Ahead at Work

As part of NASSCOM Friday's 2.0 (Emerging Companies Forum - Marketing), the 38th session of NCR companies is scheduled on 08th August 2008(Second Friday of the month). The session is Using Online Professional Networking to get ahead at work and the speaker is Ajay Jain, Senior Journalist.

Sites like LinkedIn changed the way professionals interact with one another at a global level, and many are using such platforms to their advantage in many different ways. Not only to find jobs and recruit people as many believe is the most useful application of these networks, but in many ways including: sales and marketing, seeking partners and investors, building a personal brand equity, opening new markets, tapping the collective wisdom of the crowd and more.

This presentation will thus cover all these many ways one can use sites like LinkedIn (with 23 million members globally, and one million in India) to get ahead at work.

Venue : NASSCOM Board Room, International Youth Centre, 2nd Floor, Teen Murti Marg, New Delhi - 110021

Date & Time : Friday, 08th August 2008 5.00 PM - 7.00 PM

Registration : Please do send in your confirmations to Ranjita Kamat at ranjita@nasscom.in along with Name,Designation,Company,City,Mobile,Email,Membership

Event : Raising Venture Funding on 09th August

A must attend for people in and around Delhi to understand issues related to raising venture funding.

10 Type of Startups You Should Never Join

A lot of us get fascinated by Startups and always relate startup with challenging work, open-culture, rewards,innovation and fast growth. But there are startups which somehow are not good to work with due to different reasons. There are some basic ingredients which are very much required for any good startup. I am highligthing 10 type of startups which are not worth exploring ( The idea here is not to criticize startups but to make entrepreneurs/job-seekers aware of various sensitive issues):

1. Sharing " Not our Policy " - Some startups do have this kind of mentality. They think their idea and participation is the foremost and ultimate thing. This mentality is evident right from the beginning. Even during initial interaction these startups keep on asking thousands of question to you. But when you ask few questions,they become annoyed or decline to answer politely. Openness is one of the foremost rule of any business. Any startup is run by a set of people,and gauging their attitude and mind-set is very important. The people with wrong mindset won't share important details like revenues, sales target, available funding, growth-path etc. with you even at very advanced stage. Never-ever think of joining any such Startup. These people won't be fair with you during any stage of your engagement.

2. We all are leaders, but can't pay for your tea : Few startups do have good people as founder members, but they can't take any decision. They look for others before taking final call over any matter. They believe in several rounds of discussion even for very small issues. Most of them don't have guts to face any adverse situation and failure. They believe that group-thinking is always required and hence take huge amount of time to solve petty issues. Successful Startups are known for their responsiveness and agility. The top-management is very fast at taking decisions and always don't require consent of whole group. There are few cheer-leaders who take decisions quickly, keeping in mind internal and external factors. These startups are typically very slow moving and you may not enjoy working there.

3. We are the best, you can't compete : The founder members believe that they are best at doing everything. Anyone joining new will always be second to them. These people never trust others and always believe in doing work by themselves. Any startup which wants to grow faster should get good people and give them quality work. Any good founder should hire people who are smarter than him/her. The growth of any startup lies in the hand of every person associated with them directly or indirectly. Founder members should always groom future leaders within the company. Shared responsibilities and rewards would always help startup to scale-up faster. Any startup which gives less priority to meritocracy should be avoided without giving any second thought.

4. Vision Statement is only for website : You should never join a startup which thinks that Vision Statement is just a statement. If founder members are not visionaries then definitely that is not the right place to work at. The passion of founders should be visible at various forums. They should work towards achieving higher growth and increasing value for every stakeholders. If the management is quite shaky about a lot of things, then you should be cautious.

5. Employees are just resources : You should never join a startup which thinks that employees are just resources to get their work done. For anybody, decision to join a startup is quite difficult and hence startup should provide very healthy environment. Every employee should be given due attention and he should feel priviledged of being part of a great team. There should be sense of belonging and employees should be happy being part of small team.

6. We don't follow any policy : If any startup boasts that they don't follow any internal policies and they are very flexible, then you should become cautious. Lack of policies creates confusion and dissatisfaction at later stages. After crossing very initial stage ( i.e. once team grows more than 10 people) startup should figure out and document internal policies. These policies helps in handling a lot of issues quite easily. Also this helps employees/prospective employees to understand company in better manner. Startup should not create a chaos internally after it gains critical mass.

7. Just work for us, don't Think : A startup which restricts creative freedom should be avoided. Typically a lot of people join startups to learn lot of new things quickly. They also want to try out new things/ideas. Some of them want to own their startup at some point of time. If a startup is not providing enough learning opportunities then that is not the right place. Founders should promote innovation and internal ideas.

8. You should not worry for money : A lot of startups tell their employees that they should not worry for money because the work is pretty good. This justification won't work for long-time and shows lack of validated revenue model. Any good business should make profits and should be shared with employees appropriately. In case company is not in a position to provide cash then it should be suitably compensated by stocks, profit-sharing etc. Any company spreading the message that they will pay less and won't compensate by other means should be avoided. This basically shows greediness of founding members.

9. We are Unprofessionals : You should never join a startup which shows high level of unprofessionalism. They don't value time, their dressing sense is horrible, they don't care about their clients, they don't value commitments etc. These kind of people can't scale-up operations to the next level. In business, after crossing initial stage very high level of professionalism is required by each member.

10. Accumulate money as much you want : If the founding members say that startups mean money and success only, then you should be cautious. If people at top are just showing rosy picture then definitely there is some serious problem. A lot of ventures become unsuccessful, but a falied startup also provides huge learning opportunities.

Venture Capital : Idenizen receives USD 2.25 Mn.

Bangalore based Education-related technology solutions provider Idenizen Smartware has received venture capital funding of $2.25 million (Rs 9 crore) from Vinod Dham-led NEA-IndoUS Ventures, to fund its pan-India growth plans.

The firm has nearly 100 SmartCampus installations under its belt catering directly to thousands of students, teaching and non-teaching staff, and managements of institutes.

Functional areas automated by SmartCampus include department administration, staff profile, staff and student attendance, staff payroll, examinations, library management, accounting, student information systems, and hostel management, among others.(source)

School Management is definitely one area which requires immediate attention with smart technology tools.

Venture Capital : Intel Capital to invest in Yatra, BuzzInTown & Emnet Samsara Media

With an overall strategy to enable innovation, Intel Capital seeks out and invests in promising technology companies worldwide. They will invest $17 million in three Indian companies. The three companies identified for investment are :-

Yatra.com : Online travel portal
BuzzInTown.com : Event-oriented social network
Emnet Samsara Media : An advertising company


The funding for the said investment would come from the $250 million Intel Capital India Technology Fund. The fund has already invested $125 million so far in the country, Mr Sodhani said, adding that apart from investing in technology companies, the fund would also focus on alternate sources of energy.

Further, Intel Capital is also focusing on investment in the WiMax network of the country. They are waiting for the government to speed up the process of spectrum allocation.
--
Intel Capital has a corpus of over $3 billion and its portfolio includes over 400 companies across the world.
Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested more than US$7.5 billion in approximately 1,000 companies in 45 countries. In that timeframe, 168 portfolio companies have gone public on various exchanges around the world and 212 were acquired or participated in a merger. In 2007, Intel Capital invested about US$639 million in 166 deals with approximately 37 percent of funds invested outside the United States.

Intel Capital has made a number of well known investments around the globe. These include Actions Semiconductor, Bellrock Media, Broadcom, CNET, CitrixSystems, Clearwire, Elpida Memory, FPT, India Infoline.com, Inktomi, Insyde Software, Integrant Technologies, Marvell, MySQL, NIIT, PCCW, Red Hat, Rediff.com, Research in Motion, Sasken, SiRF, Smart Technologies, Sohu.com, Techfaith, VA Linux, and WebMD.

Venture Capital : iYogi secured $9.5 Million

Based in Gurgaon,India, iYogi is the first direct to consumer computer support service for millions faced with increasing computing complexity.
iYogi has secured a second-round funding of $9.5 million from a consortium of VCs led by SAP Ventures, a division of the German software major SAP. This is SAP Ventures first investment in India and the fund is close to investing in couple of other IT and ITeS companies in India.
They have a customer base of over 50,000, primarily in the US. Company will use the funding to expand operations in new geographies, to increase execution capability, delivery of new services and to enhance its marketing effort. The company plans to ramp up to 2,000 employees( from current 450)in next couple of years.

It has a unique offshoring model that focuses on providing technical support to individual retail customers (personal offshoring) rather than enterprise customers, mostly done by BPOs.

Proto.in : Snap-Shot of 15 Startups

Startups at Proto's fourth edition at New Delhi (July 18-19, 2008)

view presentation (tags: newdelhi entrepreneurship proto delhi)

Proto.in4 Article 3 : What Venture Capitalists look in You & Your Company?

Indian Stratups require funds to ramp-up their operations and venture into new areas. After acquiring few initial clients and validating revenue model, Indian entrepreneur looks for people who can invest in his/her company.
A Venture Capitalist is always seen as an entity with tons of money, who decides to invest in any company based on expected returns. Quite a few people think that for them money is the foremost thing and they don't care about anything else. The real situation is quite different and there are several other factors which help them to take final decision:-

Chemistry between Startup & VC : Any Venture Capitalist looks for right chemistry between the startup/company and their organization. They try to analyze whether the dynamics between their company and founders is good, average or bad. Most of the times VC decide not to put money in companies with great idea but bad dynamics. They spend enough time with founders to understand their viewpoint and attitude. They want the business to grow and hence don't like founders who want to hold the top position forever. Venture Capitalists typically like people who think of growing the company leaving aside their personal benefits only. The flexibility and agility of founding team to sustain in competitive environment is thoroughly tested by any Venture Capitalist before making any investments.

Business Term-Sheet : Venture Capitalist put money in companies keeping in mind an investment horizon of 3-5 years. The terms and conditions of any engagement is captured in a term-sheet which includes items like Price/Valuation, Type of Security, Liquidation Preference, Liquidation Preference, Dividend, Conversion Rights, Voting Rights, Registration Rights, Board of Directors etc. Negotiating the terms of the agreement is part of establishing a close working relationship with venture capitalist. Most of items of term-sheet are non-negotiable, but there are smart ways to negotiate the right deal. Venture capitalists have a lot of leverage negotiating terms that help them increase ROI simply because they have a firm grasp of the market. Things like liquidity preference (how much money they get out before the founders in a sale), veto rights and other preferred stock privileges can affect the long term economics of a deal substantially.Entrepreneurs generally rely on their attorney and contacts to help them understand the current trends in terms.

Due-Diligence : Venture capitalists do background research to get information about the founders and company. They don't take all your statements on face value. Similarly, the startup should also carry-out due diligence about the venture capitalist. They should see their investment portfolio and talk to few companies to get first hand information. They can also gather information related to experience, term-sheet etc. from different sources. The idea here is go get into a relationship which is mutually compatible and may not see mid-way jitters. After both parties have done due diligence the marriage happens.

VC is not Money-Machine : VC should not be seen as a person who is just throwing away his money to you. He brings a lot of expertise and contacts to help you grow. But at the same time he shouldn't be seen as a person who can solve all of your problems. He will always lend you supporting hand, while you need to be on the fore-front of business. VC is not interested in getting into each and every affair, but to give some strategic inputs and directions at appropriate time.

A VC should be seen as a partner who wants mutually beneficial relationship while giving you enough freedom and liberty.

Proto.in Article2 : When, Why & How to start a business?

Proto.in4 covered various aspects of entrepreneurship. The session by Mahesh Murthy of Seedfund raised several critical points, which need to be seen before starting your own venture.

Novelty of Idea : The idea should have some novelty component. You should not read newspaper one day and think that the idea given in newspaper is worth exploring. If the journalist is publishing the idea in newspaper then either you are too late or idea is worthless to be explored. Try to evaluate the novelty and be a trend-setter. Try to venture into new areas and don't create a buzz about your idea in the initial stages. Evolve the idea and grow it to some level and let others talk about it after sometime. This way you can reach masses without spending a penny.

Right Time to Start : You should not get into entrepreneurship, because your current job is bad. The right time to get into entrepreneurship is when you have great idea which can change the world. You should have firm belief in your idea and should be able to sell the idea to others. If there are not enough takers for idea then definitely there is some serious problem i.e. either you are very bad at putting things and/or the idea is not that great. Don't try to be 20th company of any field. If you want to grow in any particular area, then try to be among first three companies.

How to Start : A lot of us feel that there should be enough market research before starting any business. We look at various reports published by Gartner, McKinsey etc. to see market trends and forecasts. The market research results go haywire many a times. The gut feeling and intuition clubbed with business acumen is very much required by any entrepreneur. Also for radical innovation from where are you going to get Market Research reports. A lot of traders ( quite successful entrepreneurs) from Gujarat & Rajasthan never read any research report and/or do any financial analysis. They just go by their gut feeling and passion to enter into new/existing business areas.

The keywords which holds highest value for entrepreneurship are trend-setter, out-of-the-box thinking, intuition, dedication and passion.

Proto.in Article1 : The Art of Building Internet Business

A lot of businesses start with a small scale-operation and then gradually gain momentum and volume. For first generation entrepreneurs taking a call to pursue a business is even more difficult. The situation was no different for Murugavel Janakiraman - Founder of Bharatmatrimony.com. He started his venture from his bedroom way back in 1997. At that point of time, internet was just picking up and few people were using internet as a medium for discussion and information sharing. During initial stage he developed a forum for discussion and information dissemination.

After sometime he noticed that a lot of people were using such platforms for matrimony purposes. After some thought, he decided to focus on this area and founded Bharatmatrimony.com. During initial stage a lot of people were skeptical to put their photographs and information over the net. Also a lot of people were just hitting the website and not taking any action. In the initial stage they charged Rs. 300 once the marriage is finalized. After some time Bharatmatrimony was made paid service which charged for establishing contact. Slowly the business started picking up and they got several million registered users in no time. In 2006 they raised money to scale up their operations. Currently they have more than 1000 employees and 700+ Bharatmatrimony centers.

The key learning's from the session: -
1. For 1st generation entrepreneurs, everything starts small and then grows gradually based on dedication and business decisions.
2. One should be flexible enough to do mid-way correction. If one strategy is not going well, be ready to try out new things.
3. Be passionate about what you are doing.
4. Be transparent to all stakeholders i.e. employees, partners, customers
5. Don't change your attitude with time as you grow bigger and achieve financial success.
6. Share your wealth with people who shared your dreams and joined you during initial stage of your venture
7. Be ready to take and enjoy risk. You past experience and family background doesn't matter a lot, if you have passion to realize your dreams.

Proto.in summary series

So,the high-energy and spirited semi-annual technology showcase & networking event ended today. The event was quite enriching in terms of gaining & sharing knowledge, meeting-up new people with lot of ideas & dreams and getting a feel of startup issues and probable solution approaches. The idea of the event was learning through engagement. On personal front I also learnt a lot from this event. I would try to capture this event in a series of blogs. I feel I should be done in 7 postings ( But who knows.... I may come up with even double posts).

I am listing here few items which would be covered:
1. The Art of Building Internet Business ( Taking BharatMatrimony.com as an example)
2. When, Why & How to start a business ( Building upon Mahesh Murthy's session)
3. What a Venture Capitalist look for in you & your business?
4. How a Card, Water, T-shirt matters?
5. Selling the dream & executing? ( Building upon Tekriti's talk)
6. Why a start-up should network? Realizing power of networks?
7. Blogging as a tool for creating brand and selling your services.

A lot of ideas and discussion in these postings would help you to start thinking and executing.

Open Coffee Club Posters

OpenCoffee Club : This is an attempt to establish recognized, open and regular meeting places where emerging & aspiring entrepreneurs can meet with investors, marketers, developers (and anyone else who fancies coming along) in a totally informal setting.
The key is a regular place and a regular time - it's not important who comes along, some days it might be no one - just that people know if they want to meet, this is the time and this is the place.



We want to create some density for people -- a few places where people know they can meet or bump into others.Something that can be replicated anywhere else at little or no cost where entrepreneurs can meet and know people might be around for them to talk with.

Venture Capital firms invest $340-M in India during H1 ‘08

According to a study by Venture Intelligence in partnership with the U.S.-India Venture Capital Association.

Amount Invested in H1-2008 by (VC) firms : $340 million ( $158 Mn. during April-June)
Number of Deals : 51 (( 26 during April-June)

Apart from IT other key areas are alternative energy, media, retail and other consumer demand-led sectors.

Top VC Investments in H1 ‘08

1. 20 Mn. in Obopay working in the area of Mobile VAS (Payments by Essar Communications Holdings, Promethean India, Richmond Management, Others
2. 20 Mn. in Sai Advantium working in the area of CRO by MPM Capital
3. 18.5 Mn. in Cleartrip working in the area of Online Services (Travel)by DFJ, others
4. 15 Mn. in Deeya Energy working in the area of Energy Storageby DFJ, BlueRun, NEA, others
5. 15 Mn. in Soham Renewable Energy working in the area of Renewable Energyby D E Shaw
6. 11 Mn. in Jivox working in the area of Online Services (Video Advertising) by Helion Ventures, Opus Capital, others
7. 10 Mn. in Brand Marketing working in the area of Retail (Fashion Brands)by Matrix Partners India
8. 10 Mn. in Emergent Ventures working in the area of Carbon Credit Advisory by IDFC PE
9. 10 Mn. in Gridstone Research working in the area of Enterprise Software
(Stock Market) by Helion Ventures, Maverick Capital, Charles River Ventures
10. 9 Mn in Paymate working in the area of Mobile VAS (Payments) by Mayfield, KPCB, Sherpalo Ventures

Open Coffee Club Noida - July Edition

Yesterday, I attended July edition of Open Coffee Club Noida. The topics of discussion included Machine Learning, Knowledge Management, Differentiation, Open-Source to Guitar Classes. I would capture key discussion points along with my insights:

1. Machine Learning : As defined by Wiki - Machine-Learning is a broad sub field of artificial intelligence, machine learning is concerned with the design and development of algorithms and techniques that allow computers to "learn". The major focus of machine learning research is to extract information from data automatically, by computational and statistical methods. Hence, machine learning is closely related not only to data mining and statistics, but also theoretical computer science.
It was debated that there are still a lot of systems where input and output are known, but we have no/limited knowledge about the process of transformation. It was also said that inferences based on heuristics need to be re-verified at regular intervals and may not translate into predictive modeling.

2. Knowledge Management & Idea Generation : It is imperative for any organization to manage the knowledge available within organization or with other stakeholders in best form. The use of knowledge helps in organization's growth in short & long-run. New ideas should be generated om regular basis to make improvements and expand service/product offerings. Organizations like 3M, Google & Bosch give high emphasis to idea generation and execution. The customer oriented organizations should involve their users to give creative feedback. The ideas which are worthwhile should be implemented by organization to improve offering and customer satisfaction. The whole idea of such initiatives is to involve inside/outside people and take actions accordingly.

3. Open-source : Few participants were apprehensive about participation of people in giving creative feedback. In their opinion, why should somebody invest his/her time to give ideas?. The premise of open-source is shared learning, removing re-work and improving existing processes. A lot of people are interested in making processes/systems better and hence would love to contribute at their own cost. Even simple examples like information sharing with TV/Radio channels and voting for good performers by common man justifies the whole point. Even small incentive programs can be used to get more people involved. A lot of people are interested in contributing at their own cost.

4. Differentiation Strategy : What would be best strategy while developing a product already existing in the market? Should we include too many new features?
A lot of people said that even if you are late-entrant, you should not think of making a product which may be perceived as a different offering. Product differentiation is possible up to a level, after which the other factors like Marketing, End-User Requirements, Environmental factors come into play. So you should look at multiple factors rather than just concentrating on making your product completely different from existing ones.

5. Niche Emerging Business : There are a lot of unexplored business areas in India, one of which being good professional trainers for musical instruments. At some places the people involved are too busy and costly while at some other places the quality of service is poor. There is pressing need of good companies offering such services at reasonable price and with good service quality. Once specific example is of a Guitar Training Company founded by group of IITians which is offering good training at reasonable price. Even in future they can think of extending their services to multiple locations using Franchisee model.

Overall, it was an enriching experience to hear and share good ideas. All like-minded people from different domains should definitely get-together here at no cost ( or at the cost of your own coffee).