A lot of people hold the view that India needs a cash oriented payment mechanism, and that is a very large opportunity. Businessweek has an article on a prepaid cash card — some of the consumer drivers mentioned have a lot of overlap with India. For example, the card gives consumers control over spends (unlike […]
Canaan’s focus in India
Contentsutra did an audio interview with me last week. It encapsulates how we are viewing the India market from a venture perspective. Sahad has summarized it here and there is a full audio file too (if someone can do background noise cancellation on this, it will be great! — if you are hearing this, try […]
National Agriculture Awards
It is nice to see that agriculture in India is getting organized. More details on these awards can be found here. I received an unsolicited mail from the National Agricultural Magazine. I thought it is worth putting this on the site as there may be opportunities for startups around agriculture. 0
Incubators in India
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 […]
Product Management
I was browsing the web to see if there were any templates available for product roadmaps/product management. The 280 group has some . They cost $99 for the roadmap toolkit and $79 for the product management toolkit. There is a free evaluation version. The site also has book recommendations etc. I have not used any […]
Looking for Founding Team Members for my Biometric Startup
Hi, I am in search of young, enthusiastic, talented people who would like to be Founding Team Member in my startup, people who are self motivated….. and want to do something different in life. My project is getting incubated at NirmaLabs, Ahmedabad – A Technology Business Incubator. Contribution is required in core electronics hardware / […]
Morgan Stanley report on Internet and Mobile
http://morganstanley.com/institutional/techresearch/pdfs/Trends040106.pdf (Caution: 7MB+ file) Good report on global state of internet and mobile, challenges and BIG opportunities. Couple of interesting items: 1. The centre of usage on mobile is shifted way far from US — can this be translated into a shift in value creation? 2. The premium mobile market is as big as internet […]
Terra Cycle
You can read the full article on TerraCycle which is billed as one of the coolest startups in USA. To me it illustrates how lead entrepreneurs manage to create buzz , inspire people and run operations on a shoestring. At Terracycle the lead entrepreneur is 23 and has managed to surround himself with talented individuals […]
Startup Culture Report: Delayed due to laptop crash
Folks, I got a good response of people who want my startup culture comparision report: US vs. Japan vs. India. Apologies for the delay in responding and posting it here/replying to your emails. My laptop crashed and I am dealing with IBM support to fix it. Hope to respond to all of you/post it on […]
Naukri IPO filing
Naukri has filed for IPO with Sebi — here’s the filing. Big congratulations to the team for making it happen. Sanjeev has been a diehard believer in the internet and that is what has brought the company to this stage. What I also like is that wealth has been shared generously with the team — […]
Cooking up a Startup
Basement Biotech from Business 2.0 0
Study on risk capital in India
Report on risk capital in India by Rafiq Dossani and Asawari Desai. Bunch of regulatory recommendations, but again goes on to stress that more operational people need to move in the VC business. 0