Proto.in

Update:

Venue: Vishwa Yuva Kendra (International Youth Centre),

Circular Road, Chanakyapuri,

New Delhi- 110 021

(Ph: 011 23013631)

Nearest landmark – ask for Chanakayapuri Police Station (the center is right opposite it)

We just wanted to let you know that we will be in Delhi this Saturday (30 June) for a meeting with some of the stakeholders of the event – including startups, investors, folks from the media.

The agenda is to present Proto, the vision, the roadmap and the opportunities and values that startups can derive out of this ecosystem.

If you are interested to meet up, update your name under the appropriate Section in the wiki

Wiki: http://proto-roadshow.pbwiki.com/Delhi_Roadshow

We’ve been having an overwhelming response of people registering to attend the event that we will be closing registrations on the 27th of this month (Two days from now).

Those who do want to register are kindly asked to register beforehand, as there are only limited seats available – 50 to be exact.

Though it has been much less than a year since the previous edition of Proto, the amount of feedback that we’ve received and the support that those from the startup and technology product ecosystem have shown us, has been phenomenal. I would like to start by saying Thank you.

We have in many ways, taken the way of the startup in building the Proto platform – closely listening to those who benefit, affect, influence and look up to it. The result is a mix of some interesting and ground-breaking mix of ideas, technology and networking practices put to work.

We hope you would enjoy and benefit from this platform and ecosystem, as much as we’ve worked hard in bringing it together for you. As always, we will look forward to hearing for your feedback and for your support.

The Agenda:

DAY ONE: SATURDAY JULY 21ST, 2007:
Venue: IC & SR, IIT- Madras
Open to: All Participants [Investors, Business and Industry Analysts, Technologists, Startups, Media]

8:00am – 11:00am: Registration ‘n Check-in

9:00am – 11:00am : FASTRACK EVOLUTION – Two Tracks with Four Sessions Each

11:00am – 12:00pm : Networking with Unlimited coffee and Snacks

12:00pm – 1:30pm: FASTRACK EVOLUTION : Two Parallel Tracks with Three sessions Each

1:30pm – 3:00pm : Lunch and Networking

3:00pm – 5:00pm : Unconference-style Interactive Sessions

5:00pm: End of Day one

6:00 – 10:00pm: Networking Dinner**
Open to: By Invitation only. For Presenting Companies, Investors and Invited Guests
Venue: See Invitation card.

DAY TWO: SUNDAY JULY 22ST, 2007:
Venue: IC & SR, IIT- Madras
Open to: All Participants [Investors, Business and Industry Analysts, Technologists, Startups, Media]

8:00am – 9:30am : Registration ‘n Check-in
9:00am – 2:30pm : The Main Event: Proto’s Top 25 Asian Technology Startup Companies
2:30pm – 5:30pm : Lunch and Networking
5:30pm : End of Day two

So the Nominations are closed – except a few exceptional cases of overseas entries and everyone is curious as to how the companies are looking like. Well, I have to say they are very interesting. There certainly is a fair bit of evolution and maturity in the companies, the business models and “edge blurring” happening, as models dissect across different categories.

That doesnt help me at all. I am trying to figure out a different way to segment these companies now, before the big day – something that I will be busy with for the next few weeks to come.

I will, in the next few days, put up another segmentation on the basis of the customers that these companies are targetting which should give a different perspective and insight into things. There are some interesting things going on with that as well.

I would certainly not want to kill the excitement by revealing too much about the nature of these companies and which market segment seems to be evolving at the fastest. But from the broad nature of categories and the pie size, a sharp eye can most certainly pick out the winner from here.

The Second day was primarily full of meeting with individuals from the Media, the Investor Community and also with TiE Bangalore to come with concrete plans to move forward. We also had a meeting with Dolphin Advisory to touch base with them, as they are one of the sponsors of this edition of Proto

The Highlight of the day was in sitting down to come up with the event flow and first draft of the agenda for the upcoming edition of proto. Trust me when I say that we have found a way to incorporate every need that was raised by companies on the previous meeting that we had in IIM Bangalore. The Agenda looks very good. Once it is internally finalized, it will be up on the site for everyone to see.

Proto.in SE ‘07 is a two day event – for all its participants. While there are specifically focused sessions for the companies that are participating, we have come up with sessions that run parallely that are on topics such as “startup essentials 101″, “Corporate law” “How to Pitch to a VC” and also a track that is sheer delight for the technologist – a barcamp-like session that has unstructured sessions for people to explore different ideas, share perspectives and even mashup a few cool things if possible. There are also corporates who will be giving a short brief on the different platforms that they offer, which might be helpful for the same – with an earnest ear open to listen to the feedbacks and to integrate them into the scheme of things.

Technology can enable a lot of things. Here we are going to put it to work for networking. If you were not happy with the networking, or with the amount of time allocated towards it last time, you will be surprised and blown away by the efforts that have gone into it this time. Come prepared, bracing yourselves!

It was already a very productive day, and we are just down with meeting one.

We also met with a few folks from the Investor community who care about entrepreneurs more than most are aware of. Right from the Investors mouth, what we heard were things which we thought a VC would never utter: “We should educate the companies in terms of which clauses they should avoid and which they need to learn to live with, cause in the long run the ecosystem will really benefit and so will we”.

One of the things that we have in plans is to come up with a concrete set of plans to enable just that. We have folks from Law firms who have already volunteered to help create this awareness and are working on materials that companies could freely use. They will be distributed during the event.

I can already see most of the startups benefiting greatly out of these sessions. It is one of the most productive things that has come out of our interactions with the end-users themselves.

TiE Bangalore is officially partnered with Proto. There is a special invite to charter members across the country asking them to participate and get involved. Hats off to the Bangalore chapter for the support and enthusiasm they are showing in redefining the startup ecosystem and are very keen on improving what we have. Their open ears, keen interest and open mind was nothing short of impressive. Hats off to you guys!

Gentlemen, at the end of the roadshow at Bangalore, we seem to be having one heck of an event coming ahead! Next Stop Hyderabad.

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