Anyone aware of a startup mentoring network in India. Not a traditional incubation type of setup, but a place where startups can identify mentors who might be able to guide on various issues. Maybe Venturewoods can take the lead here? Ashwin (vaatsalya.com) 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 […]
Fresh Talent & Startups
I remember having had a discussion with batchmates triggered by an online article in 2005 when i was in my final year at college. The article predicted that big MNCs in India would find it more and more difficult to recruit and/or retain top talent in years to come. This, because of attractive offers from […]
Startup Job Exchange
Alok, With your experience with Jobs Ahead you would be in the best position to see if this blog could help startups connect with people who want to work in startups. For the IIM-A person I got over 10 startups who were interested. In addition an IIM – C person wanted to investigate working in […]
“Investing in India” conference
Here‘s what sounds like an interesting conference: Columbia Business School ‘s South Asian Business Association is pleased to present the Annual Columbia India Business Conference. The Conference will be held on April 14, 2006 at Columbia University in New York City . Sounds like some interesting speakers too: Sam Pitroda, Kanwal Rekhi, and Jagdish Bhagwati, […]
Micro Venture Capital Fund
A venture capital fund with a difference. Quite removed from the world of IT start-ups, Aavishkaar India Micro Venture Capital Fund or Aavishkaar India concerns itself with rural enterprises and grassroots innovations that have the potential to improve the quality of life in the interiors of the country. It hopes to do so by encouraging […]
Investor Ecosystem
I was curious and wanted to know what all transpires within the investor ecosystem. Since SEs wouldnt be of much help in this regard so what better place to ask than VentureWoods. To keep it within the scope of the site, ‘investors’ can be restricted to mean angels and non-corporate VCs. However it would be […]
Thoughts from Bay area
Have been out here in bay area for past few days, and visibly out of action on venturewoods. Everytime I come here a couple of things hit me: 1. The infrastructure for startups to get going is great — right from office space onwards. There are literally hundreds of easy to move in/low lockin options […]
New Seed Funds: Right time, Right Place, Right Model
On Monday (Dec 19), I attended the soft launch of Mentor Partners, a unique technology-focused seed fund, in Bangalore. The firm plans to initially invest $1 million each in 10 product-focused companies in the IT and telecom space: around $500,000 as seed investment or “bridge loan” and the remaining as part of the first round […]
BOA Clarification
I thought it might be useful to post this excerpt from a reply I sent to one person who contacted me as it may help entrepreneurs understand when it makes sense to approach the Band of Angels “Please note that I do not sign NDA’s. The Band of Angels requires executive summaries in a particular […]
Eco knowledge
Both in my last assignment with JobsAhead and current, I travelled the length and breadth of country interacting with a number of wannabe enterpreneurs. One thing that clearly stands out is the lack of awareness (or the lack of) of the enterpreneurial support system available within the country. Lot of exposure has been provided to […]
IIT Mumbai Incubator
SINE — the incubator at IIT Mumbai, seems to have made better progress than a couple of other initiatives I have seen around. The core strength seems to be the ability to merge institutes’ strengths in technology (through students and faculty members) with experience from industry. A fair number of startups seem to involve experienced […]