At the TiECon Delhi 2006 today and tomorrow, Canaan Partners will be launching Entrepreneurial Challenge in partnership with TiE. It is an attempt to identify and empower tomorrow’s businesses. It has been my experience that most business plan events end on the day the competition ends. By bringing the right partners in place, we will attempt to provide mentorship and capital support to businesses, and try and make the event finals a starting point rather than a culmination.

We have been fortunate to partner with TiE to leverage their expertise around mentoring companies, and to get a stellar jury in Mr Raman Roy, Mr Pramod Bhasin, Mr Saurabh Srivastava and Mr Mahesh Murthy. We are looking to also bring in other potential financing partners, besides Canaan itself, to ensure that this event can make a difference.

In line with our objectives, we are also looking to attract entrepreneurs for whom the Challenge is not an end goal in itself, but a resource that can help them create tomorrow’s leading businesses. Our selection criteria will include practical considerations around the business, and their ability to take off. We will entertain both startup businesses, and pre-existing businesses which have potential for high growth. Entries are invited through Canaan and TiE New Delhi websites from Nov 1st to Nov 15th.

Update: INSEAD and Evalueserve partner in TiE-Canaan Entrepreneurial Challenge – The winners of the TiE-Canaan Entrepreneurial Challenge will be hosted by Prof Phil Andersen of INSEAD, the leading entrepreneurship school in the world, at their Singapore campus, to have a case workshop on the global potential of their businesses. This brings unparalleled benefits to the entrepreneurs in scaling their businesses with a global perspective. Evalueserve, the leading business research firm, will partner to provide feedback on all submissions in an objective and informed manner.

Update 2: Band of Angels comes in as investor partner – The winners of the TiE-Canaan Entrepreneurial Challenge winners seeking angel investment will get an automatic sponsorship to the Band of Angels, India.

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