Loading ...What is their role in the entrepreneurship ecosystem in India ? Can angels/VC firms work with incubators ? It looks like at Nirma Labs they have had three batches so far ( I do not know how many entrepreneurs) and so far none have actually made it to the angel/VC stage where they have repaid the incubation loan. The repayment of the incubation loan from the angel/VC round seems a bit odd. A model where the loan converts to equity seems much better. I am just wondering whether the Nirma Labs model can be made more entrepreneur/angel/VC friendly.
I want incubators to work so this is not intended as a criticism. Kudos to Nirma Labs for making their model transparent. If we can have a productive dialog it could help. I have heard about an IIT - Delhi incubator and an NS Raghavan incubator in Bangalore and some government incubators but I do not know their models.
If any of the incubators want to have a dialogue with me I would be happy to engage. I do not have much expertise with incubator models so if there any others who are reading this and have comments they are more than welcome.
There is also one in IITM, named TeNET. They have a fund attached to them named Ventureast and they offer both funding and technical support.
There seems to be something seriously wrong with product companies here in India. most of them are under-funded and can’t expand, and that is required to go out and face the world.
It’s a discussion all by itself.
http://www.leadstep.com/BusinessBlog/2006/06/why_indian_companies_fail_part.html
You can check out the model of IIT Bombay Incubator (http://www.sineiitb.org/). They are always interested in working with angels, though again success rate has been low and it now supports angel funded companies also, I presumed that incubators taken in startups and help them till they get funding!
I’ve done quite a bit of survey on incubators in India for a proprietory initiative.
The startups in IIT-B have basic infrastructure support provided by the Institute and a fair degree of guidance from the faculty and seniors. Mostly the faculty act as mentors. This is a good model so far as it is economic. It suits specific Govt. / Public Sector sponsored projects or those commissioned by individual corporates on a pre-financed basis. So no requirement for working capital and no risks assumed. The assignment gets completed, the mentor and team members split the proceeds ( net of incubator’s charges )and all rights including IPs developed belong to the sponsor. There are a few success stories too.
The flaw that I have found ( from an investor / VC perspective ) in this faculty driven model is that -
(a) the mentors being essentially academics, are not quite state-of-art in terms of hands-on industry knowledge and experience. They work to a current client’s mandate and no further.
(b) The founders being ( previous / current ) students, are often `controlled’ instead of `mentored’ by the faculty with their own dated opinions towards risk. While this acts as a good filter, many creative young minds get demotivated.
(c) Most project teams set the client’s current mandate as the milestone instead of an investor / industry defined time-to-market ;
(d) Founders often desert their project midway and hop on to other lucrative job offers out of listlessness if not frustration, especially since they have little to lose anyway.
(e) Marketing strategies purely dependent on their limited network ( of seniors who are in similar field and willing to help ) for helping them with product rollouts, marketing and early stage customer acquisitions.
While incubators in STPIs like Technopark ( Trivandrum / Kochi ) provide only infrastructure support for which they charge a nominal lease rent. I am not sure whether they seek an equity stake. But the project teams here are essentially people with some experience. They know the business but are very guarded towards equity dilution thro VC participation….even at the cost of scale up capital.
We may have to wait a while to replicate global incubator models. I am working towards one.
ISB also has an incubation cell - http://www.isb.edu/wced/index.html
I have worked with them in limited capacity and they are very helpful
IIIT - The Indian Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore has a good incubator as well. It is in its early stages. We met Mr. S. Sadagopan, who walked us through the institute’s plans.
Given India’s strengths in IT and given that there are many IT knowledge workers, who may not come from a prestigious institution like IIT, IIM, REC or a foreign university, this is a good breeding ground for entrepreneurs.
IDEA: Why not seed IT education institutions like NIIT/Aptech with an entrepreneurship/incubator program?
-Shiva Venkatraman
Sloan Fellow 2006
shivav@sloan.mit.edu
I am new to venturewoods and was recomended by an alumni, Mr. Rahul Barkataky of Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) in Gujarat where i did my post graduation in rural management.
I have been following the discussion on incubators in India and found them full of good information to dig out.
however, i am at a conceptual stage to develop incubator model or mentoring model or watever one can call it for social entrepreneurship in India and to be set up at IRMA. i have gone through some models that are there abroad and seem to work. but most of them are for rural enterprise development.
Factually the socio-economic conditions in india do not offer much scope for rural enterprise promotion in many areas where food security and social security are a question. This calls for social entrepreneurship incubation/mentoring with a different approach.
Can any angel soul come up with some idea and information on the same?
Thanks
Hi,
I am Bindiya Pathak- faculty at K S School of Business Management Ahmedabad Gujarat. I am pursuing research on the role of Incubation centres in Gujarat. I want to know about different incubation centres all across India. WHether they are publicly sponsered or privately or jointly sponsered . Please help me out with this if you have the required information on the topic.
I have been associated with two DST supported Technology Business Incubators one at PSG College of Technology and another at Vellore Institute of Technology. First of all there must be a strong faculty research base as well as resources for research. The Institutions also must have star researchers who could kindle innovation. India also lacks private companies and foundations who work with universities to fund innovation.
I am a part of the state government of Gujarat and are proactively looking at establishing Incubator(s). We could have been late but then, would now at least like to learn from the mistakes of the other models. We are absolutely naive in these matters but would like to leave no stone unturned. Please feel free to send in your comments to ssibtm@gujarat.gov.in
And for those who can collaborate-associate, pl feel free to contact me on the same email id.
Many thanks & regards,
I have been following a company called Indiaco, it makes all other incubators in India look like fools.
i am also not sure if they do incubate anymore, they are now listed on the BSE