Tag Archive for 'proto'

Last and Final Call for Proto.in July Edition ‘08.

Published by Vijay Anand on June 1, 2008 in Ecosystem and News/ Events.
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (4 votes, average: 2.75 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...
 0 Comments

The Nominations for this edition of Proto.in seems like they all came in in a flurry in the last couple of weeks in quite a bit of speed. We have close to 80 Nominations and some very fabulously interesting companies - there are 12 that I am personally handpicking after a lot of debate and deliberation.

For one, it seems like this season is a fabulous time for startups. I am seeing a lot of activity, an splurge in the number of new startups, and some very cool ideas. I am still not seeing the kind of diversity that I’d like to see with more companies from the Semiconductor, Cleantech, Consumer Hardware, Manufacturing etc Participating, but that what we are going to be doing for the next couple of days. If You are a company in that space, dont feel shy - we do not reject companies that aren’t exactly in the IT/ITeS space - and do nominate.

I strongly believe that the next sectoral growth is pretty much in the non-IT space for us. And those companies very much need the exposure.

To Keep it short, the link to nominate your company is here, and for those who have nominated, good luck. You’ll be hearing from us shortly.

As for the others, the registrations are open. Seats are limited. So so sign up if you are planning to attend. The theme of topics for this edition’s Fastrack Sessions are on “How To Sell!”. There is quite a bit of gyan floating around for a startup as to how to go pitch to an investor and raise money. But if you ask a startup how to position themselves in the market, how they should budget for marketing, how to build trust and credibility in the market to sell to enterprise customers, when would free come to bite you back, etc etc, It seems that there are very few people who can answer those questions. We are hoping that with the sessions on the first day, we can clear some of those misty doubts in that area.

Hope to see you there!

Startups Exploited: An Open Letter.

Published by Vijay Anand on May 6, 2008 in Ecosystem.
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (12 votes, average: 3.58 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...
 0 Comments

This might be very personal, but I doubt it can be avoided. For the past two years, there has been a lot of time, commitment, travel, stress, energy, and personal money that has gone into a really ridiculous goal - one of creating a culture of oneness, open communication and one where startups stand a chance to win. The mission does go on, and I strongly believe that the journey lies ahead for a few more years, before we can step back and let things slide on its own.

But this is not about what I am doing. This is about what is happening.

They say, that what is nice from far is far from nice. Once you get into the ground, roll up your sleeves and start digging, you start to smell the intentions of a lot of well-to-do people, which kinda make you wonder a lot of things. This post is one of warning for the startup community to take heed from, so that you don’t allow yourself to be exploited mercilessly, by any means.
Continue reading ‘Startups Exploited: An Open Letter.’

Meeting Online this Saturday [Today] @ 3PM

Published by Vijay Anand on May 3, 2008 in Ecosystem.
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (2 votes, average: 3 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...
 4 Comments

Compared to how things were a few years back, the Startup Community has come together in such a fabulous way. We have OpenCoffee Club meets, Startup Lunches, Startup Saturdays, Mobile Mondays, Barcamps, Ideacamps etc, etc, and the plethora of other activities that organizations such as TiE, NEN, NASSCOM, etc are providing to benefit this same target audience.

All that said, we understand that most of these benefits are enjoyed by those who live in the major cities, and in most cases in the cities down south. There hasnt been much activities going on in cities such as Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkatta, Ahmedabad or any where in Kerala to bring the community together and to share, ask questions, and receive support from one another.

In an attempt to bridge that, we are hosting an online meet this Saturday [today] at 3pm at http://chat.proto.in. Most of you would know how to login, and the process is quite simple. Visit the URL, enter a nickname and you could join in.

If you would be participating, do post a comment to this post, and feel free to ask any questions if you do have any. You are also more than welcome to invite your friends, should they be interested, and ask them to join.

I look forward to seeing you there, if Possible.

PS: The Client is tested to work on an Iphone, and quite beautifully. Also if your phone as an IRC client, you could participate, on the move.

The Startups Are Hiring.

Published by Vijay Anand on December 26, 2007 in Ecosystem and Musings.
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (5 votes, average: 2.6 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...
 20 Comments

Did you know that the best job for a fresher is in a startup? Well, it is.
Did you know that the best job for a growing professional or someone who loves challenges, is in a startup? Well, it is.

One of the biggest problems that startups have is in hiring people. During the last OpenCoffeeClub meet that we had here in Chennai, this was pretty much the topic, and after all the questions and answers that were debated upon, and the discussion that goes on in the forum, we have been working on it. It is a very solvable problem, just needs the right partners in place to make it happen and Proto.in has just that - all the right partners you need.

There are essentially three elements, to this problem:

1. Students are not even aware that startups are an option.
2. Startups don’t have the medium to gather mass. Most of them require one or two people, compared to the 800 people that TCS requires. End result, no placement office is all that very keen on small numbers.
3. Students need training on development platforms that make sense for startups.

Point #3 is actually a very nice business proposition. Imagine a centre like Aptech or NIIT which trains people on Python, Ruby, AJAX etc, on project (read hands-on) mode. The business can possibly make money by developing projects for smaller clients, and the very projects could also serve as assignments for the students to practice and nurture their programming talents on. As long as the centre delivers quality programmers, the startups will keep pounding to have more human resources from them, and the cycle will go on.

When I spoke about this to someone, the first thing she mentioned was, get me a centre to do this in Chennai and lets work out a franchisee model to spawn this across to various cities. I don’t see a reason why it wouldn’t work. It has all the necessary ingredients to make it work. NIIT and centres such as that, should definitely look into such options.

As for #1 and #2, I have been suggesting within the Open coffee club group in Chennai towards forming a group within the startup community so that they can be tackled. There is a large scale solution of this that we are working on, which we will be unveiling during Proto (in January) and will be on fullswing starting february.

Excited? You should be. The Ecosystem is one step closer to being efficient.

I will make a more elaborate post with all the fine details on this regard, as we draw closer to unveiling this. Hold your breathe for a month.

This Post is a re-post from the Author’s Blog.

Proto.in January Edition: Nominations Open

Published by Vijay Anand on November 27, 2007 in News/ Events.
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (6 votes, average: 4.17 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...
 14 Comments

Proto Logo
Ladies and Gentlemen,

The finally awaited moment is here - well, atleast the first of it. The nominations are open for companies that do want to submit their products for evaluation, out of which 20 companies will present before an esteemed audience - the creme de la crop, the movers and the shakers of the IT industry from and around India on the dates of January 18th and 19th 2008 in Chennai, India.

If you are a company that wants to make a nomination, head to the website at http://www.proto.in and click on the nominate link, on the right hand side, enter the details and hit submit. A copy of the nomination form will be mailed to you. But should you require a copy, in case, do write to me and someone from the Proto.in team will be sure to respond to you at the earliest.

As always, there is an entry fee attached to this. But you wont have to make a payment till you are confirmed to one of the 20 finalists who will be taking on the stage.That said, we also do request you to kindly make an evaluation of the product yourself, and with your peers and only submit products that are complete and ready for demonstration so as to not take the time of the organizers or have any disappointments. There is nothing that i would hate to see than for your team and company not being able to make an impact because of an unpolished demo or product which isnt able to convey the solution that you have built with such commitment.

If you do have any queries on this regard, do let me know and in the meantime, I strongly encourage you to take a visit to the site, and cruise around so that you get a good understanding of what Proto.in is about and what we are hoping that you will benefit from.

I would also, at this time, like to clarify that entering into Proto, and showcasing your product as one of the 20 might not be the only criteria for funding, as much as that is one of the activities that happens around the stage. Investor firms might decide to sit back and watch as you evolve from that snapshot on the stage to a few months before they decide to make a deal, depending on the growth that you are showing. I wanted to make sure that expectations are set right in terms of those who would be nominating.

Of the crowd that attends Proto.in, there are segments of people from the VC and Angel Investment Community, Heads of Mergers and Acquisitions, Our Friends from the Media (Print and broadcast), Executives from Large corporates and SMEs who are exploring partnerships, Professionals who are looking for prospective companies to be a part of, and pool of bloggers looking to get a glimpse of the next big thing to happen out of this region. We can assure you that it is the liveliest gathering of all your well-wishers from the ecosystem, if you are to be an entrepeneur.

There are a few other invited guests from the Industry who are to visit us this edition, from abroad and the names are yet to be revealed. We will disclose them as the days close in, so that the excitement still remains.

Thanks again for your attention and time, and I look forward to seeing you at the event. Good luck and Be in touch.

Regards,
Vijay Anand
Key Organizer - Proto.in