Proto.in

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.