• Investing versus creating an environment to invest: Government spending at such massive scale has been shown to be inefficient over and over again. What are the incentives that the government can create to attract private investment in this sector? The initiative around Common Service Centers is an interesting one - what will it take for that initiative to include backend infrastructure in addition to just the centers?
• Access versus ownership: The big success story around access is the PCO. That was 20 years back - that story has been substituted by the mobile revolution, which is a story centered around ownership. Ownership creates a level of value that can not be matched by access alone. What are the incentives and policy initiatives to encourage ownership? Incentives on broadband, on ownership of laptops/desktops, applications? Broadband access targets at every district level?
• Rural versus inclusive: The exclusive focus on rural areas is surprising. The state of broadband access in urban areas is dismal, and perhaps represents the bigger bang for the buck. Why are such initiatives confined to rural areas? What will it take to make these initiatives inclusive?

There are several recommendations that the industry has put out around solving these issues - I am no expert at that. I also welcome this initiative, rather than not doing anything. However, having seen what all of us have in the mobile world, it seems like a huge loss of opportunity to not address this issue with greater force.

Innovators stand to win awesome cash awards, named prizes and access an exclusive ecosystem of mentoring, business support and funding opportunities.

Participate in the Challenge if you are working on an innovation that could change the world.

Register as a Mentor if you want to share your expertise/wisdom with early stage innovators. Thank you for your support.

• Focus on Business – Over the last three years, we all have seen great products not going anywhere. Some of the companies who became the next hype, are now figuring out the survival route.
  Ofcourse, that’s how startups evolve, but if one does not focuses on business (rather, dhandha),  your kickass product will not go anywhere. And that’s easier said than done. It’s time we bring in these business/dhandha companies and have them share their experience/insights.
• Serious entrepreneurs have stopped attending startup events in India. Serious entrepreneurs who care about their business are happily building their business and have stopped being part of the hype events.

At UnPluggd, we are bringing in startups who managed to build substantial business (they are not a startup anymore, but are small business) and have them share their insights/experience with the audience.

More details @ UnPluGGd website.

Snapshot:

Date: March 6^th, 2010 [9 AM – 6 PM]

Audience: Angels, VCs and Entrepreneurs.

Venue: Bangalore.

URL: http://unpluggd.org

For any info, please feel free to email me [ashish at pluggd.in],

We have limited seats available and if you are interested, please grab your ticket now.

The Morpheus (previously known as, Morpheus Venture Partners) is one such initiative. The Morpheus is a business accelerator and we work with companies at idea / early stage. Thus far in our Business Acceleration Program, we were investing only sweat capital. We did 20 deals in that model and have worked with a group of exciting startups.

Based on our work with these 20 companies we have raised a small corpus and will start investing INR 5 Lakhs (approx. USD 10,000) as financial capital, beginning with Batch 4 in Mar 2010. We believe that our Business Acceleration Program along with the investment could give enough momentum for startups to take off. However, we may not be the right partners for folks who are looking only for funding.

Click here to read the complete announcement on our blog. Last date to apply for the upcoming batch is March 10, 2010.

We need a billion entrepreneurs. One of the things we discuss often in forums of young IITians like me is the idea that we must act on an issue if we are able to act, as the capability for action is a responsibility.

One Billion Minds is not a VC firm and I am not an Angel Investor. But when I spoke to some of you who wrote to me, I realize there is a need for a tier of support specially designed for early stage innovators. This tier is not about funding. It is more about helping them because we can. We brainstormed about young entrepreneurs like Bharat and senior executives like Sameer to come together in a group and help early stage innovators in small, simple ways without looking at returns at the start and in the typical way.

I have now spoken with a few friends while in Delhi and Bangalore and we are putting together DreamCatchers - a fraternity of entrepreneurs who would help early stage innovators with mentoring, access to funding and more importantly, a pilot client, working within and beyond the DreamCatchers network.

What is an early stage innovator? A simple qualification - a team that can change the way we work or live and is less than one year old as an entity.

Some of us are meeting early stage innovators in Bangalore between March 1 - 5. If you are one with a dream in your eyes email me: sanjukt.saha@onebillionminds.com

If you are an entrepreneur or senior executive and wish to join us and have fun, write to me and let us start a fire. Remember, make your money elsewhere!

Thoughts?

Transitioning to a cleantech economy means creating an entirely new entrepreneurial ecosystem. TiE Bangalore, CIIE and New Ventures India collaborated in hosting the Cleantech Mentoring Workshop in Bangalore, India’s original entrepreneurial city.

The workshop focused on helping entrepreneurs starting greentech companies connect with seasoned entrepreneurs who have invested in and built (mainly IT and consumer) companies and professionals who are getting excited about opportunities in start ups in this sector.

The first take away of the workshop was this: Innovative ideas in the greentech sector are around. The organizers had been careful in screening businesses that showed substantial traction and even then there were 17 companies who presented their business ideas to an audience of seasoned mentors and experienced professionals. The key sectors covered were renewable energy (solar thermal & PV biomass), energy efficiency, recycling, organic farming, water, micro hydro and green building materials.

Most gratifying, however, was the participation of professionals willing to help out greentech entrepreneurs. I counted more than 20 of them who came up to stage and introduced themselves. Given that it was Bangalore, there were several “start up” consultants who provided services around finance, accounts, IP and marketing and who had lots of experience in working with start ups. There was also one person who provided power point presentation training. But there was also participation from folks working in Wipro, IBM and Infosys who had come to understand how their companies and they themselves could plug into an emerging business. And then there were folks from India’s premier institutions – ISB and IIMs – who had come there just to volunteer their services to anybody who needed them.

And of course there were the investors and mentors Bangalore is so famous for. There was Mohanjit Jolly, Pavan Krishnamurthy and Anand Daniel, who has just joined the community. But there were others equally passionate about start ups: Murlidhar of Merittrac, Sathya of Collbrant, Nandini Vaidyanathan of Start ups, Rajeev Goswami of Shore Consulting, Pavan Soni of Wipro and “Kimi” Krishnaraj, who was already involved in mentoring one of the companies that presented.

Click here for more details

It looks like there is a momentum to build green businesses in Bangalore. But we have to do this city by Indian city. If you are a green business owner or an aspiring green professional please do send an email to sanjoy.sanyal@regainparadise.org and you can participate in one of the New Ventures India workshops.

The Latest Trends in Cloud Computing: An Operators and Investors Perspective

This event showcases some of the latest trends in cloud computing and looks at some of the successful business models and companies in this emerging technology area. The panel will be composed of successful venture investors from the Indian venture capital industry as well as technology executives from companies in India that are succeeding in this space. There has been strong investment activity in this sector from leading venture capital firms, both in India as well as brand name firms in the US and Europe.

Details here - http://ibfmedia.com/cc2010.php

If there’s one thing, that’s come to the fore during our selection process - it’s that innovation in India is certainly alive and well. Start-ups from sectors as diverse as Solar Power, Logistics, Robotics, Clean Technology and Mobile will take the stage in what I can promise you will be a power packed showcase. For the first time, through our collaboration with both Intellecap and NEN, we will have start-ups from both the Social Sector and a Student Start-up as part of the showcase. ‘Out of this Planet’ does sound like a cliche, but this time around we actually have India’s first Space company which will take the stage at the event. Enough said - register your tickets for the best start-up event in India.

Here is quick brief on what you can look forward to:

9:30 AM to 10:00 AM     In Conversation with Pradeep Gupta, Founder Cybermedia Group

A start-up from the Media sector discusses the challenges of scaling up a Media Company. Pradeep Gupta discusses his story.

10:00 AM to 10:30 AM    In Conversation with Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder, Naukri.com

An Internet start-up takes the stage and brings out Sanjeev Bikhchandani’s story in building Naukri.com

10:45 AM to 2:15 PM    Proto.in Showcase

15 of India’s hottest start-ups take the stage, each have 6 mins each to showcase their product to the audience present. This will followed by a round of Q&A

2:15 PM to 3 PM        Lunch Break

3 PM to 4:45 PM       Special Screening of Movie ‘Pirates of the Silicon Valley’

5:00 PM to 5:30 PM   Devil’s Advocate

Legal Counsel Shantanu Surpure of Sandhill Advisory takes on a panel of Venture Capitalists and provides clarity on some of the blackholes in the Fund Raising Process

5:30 PM to 6:00 PM    Angels and Demons  - A Review of the Angel Investor Pitch

The Angels in a panel discussion - where they iron out the demons in the Business Plan Pitch held earlier.

Parallel Sessions:

All start-ups attending the event have the opportunity of getting mentored by Sequoia Capital, 1 on 1 for a period 15 mins each. 15 deserving start-ups from the audience will be chosen for this special session.

3:00 PM to 4:00 PM     Meet the Airtel Innovation Fund

The Bharti Airtel Innovation Fund will be conducting a session for start-ups across such sectors such as Mobile, Internet, VAS and Software. Start-ups will have the opportunity to meet with the fund and discuss their goals and objectives.

3:00 PM to 4:00 PM    Angel Pitch to the Indian Angel Network

8 start-ups chosen by the Indian Angel Network will get an opportunity to make a Business Plan Pitch for Funding. Indian Angel Network will choose 1 start-up which will be given mentoring over the next 6 months till it is fund raising ready.

3:00 PM to 6:00 PM     Demo Pit

Start-ups will showcase their demos in the demo pit - and engage and interact with the audience on their growth plans and opportunities for collaboration.

For all those present at the event, we also have a special Innovation Jam which will be telecast on the ‘Starting Up’ show on ET NOW. Clearly, your opportunity to join the fun.

Tickets are running out quick - and before they run out (like they did in our last edition in Pune), we recommend you log on and register on http://register.proto.in

Look forward to seeing you at the event.

Regards,

Team Proto.in