Proto.in

Proto.in SE ‘07 is over. I can’t believe it is, but yep it is. The amount of work that has gone into it, and the way it flowed and the smiles on everyones faces as they networked, talked, and discussed about things was simply fabulous.

It was fantastic to see the involvement from the investor community, quite actively participating in advising, mentoring and instructing the companies as to how to move forward, was a matter that was close to the heart.

It will take a few days to feel the impact of what this edition has accomplished. The day ended on a very good note as I heard news of one of the previous Proto Aluminus close to inking the deal with some investors and also acquiring some clients. It is certainly a moment when the proto story really takes shape.

There are plenty of blog posts across the blogosphere which talk about the companies and their perspectives and all that, so I will skip that part for now. But we will be updating very soon on a detailed analysis of each of these companies – once i do get to recover a bit from my fatique.

Overall, a very impressive end, defining a new beginning of great things to come.

Day one has been simply fantastic. Everybody keeps talking about the “buzz” thats going around – the vibe that gets out loose when entrepreneurs are around and get excited meeting other people. It certainly has been an eventful day.

The Business Tracks were quite jampacked today. The technology tracks were equally well received with sessions from Adobe on AIR and other technology related sessions.

The best part is the turn out of VCs. I counted about 18 VCs, and the rest are all landing in chennai tomorrow. I atleast can think of three guys who just landed and will be turning up for the event.

The Mentorship sessions have certainly been fairly simple this time, since the companies do seem quite mature in terms of what is expected of them and what they want to present. It is good to see such progress.

In any case, I am quite tired and am heading for some rest, but will update this at the earliest. See you tomorrow.

Hello Everyone.

We have barely five more days left before the big day unveils. As you can imagine, things are coming together quite nicely and the support and enthusiasm that the entire team here at Proto has been phenomenal. There is a lot of credit that goes to the team, more than the voice behind these emails usually – as is always the case.

You will find here the detailed agenda for the two days of Proto. If you are a company that is presenting, please be aware that on the first day, there are mentoring sessions that are scheduled for you. So do stay in touch with the organizers, so that we don’t have to deploy search dogs to find you out of the crowd – Yep, We are expecting roughly about 375 – 400 people to be there at the venue.

If you are coming from out of town, and are a startup bootstrapping and hence finding it hard to get an accommodation during the trip to Chennai, I would recommend www.extrabed.in , or couchsurfing.com. It is also a great way to meet outgoing and friendly people from the city, so that perhaps you will take back more than the experience of Proto, along with the experience of the city as well. If you do need any help in this regard – with extrabed.in or, couchsurfing.com, do get in touch with Kiruba Shankar at kiruba@proto.in.

The Venue – The Indian Institute of Technology – is about 6kms from the Airport. So if you are checking into a hotel, anything that is relatively close to the airport would be good. I will send out an email on Thursday with key information that people from out of town might require – such as contact numbers, directions and such, so that no one gets lost on our account.

So, here it is ladies and gentlemen. The D-day is closing in and this coming weekend, we have 23 companies lined up to make their case. We wish them the best, and everyone participating a safe journey.

I look forward to meeting you there.

PS: There is an article on Proto in today’s edition of HT Mint. Online Version here

There have been a lot of folks requesting from Chennai as to if we would get a chance to meet. Well, here is one.

We are meeting today in TiE Chennai, and making a presentation to the members of TiE and also for those who are willing to participate. I do realize that this is a bit of a last minute notice, for which I do have my regrets. Here are the details of the event, if you would like to meet:

When: 16th July 2007 (Today)

Venue: “St. Mary’s”

Rain Tree, 20 St. Mary’s Rd, Raja Annamalaipuram,

Ch 28 Tel.: 42252525

Registration:

6.30 Pm to 7.00 Pm

For those attending on behalf of Proto, and not a member of TiE, there is a special entry fee of Rs. 300 (dinner included). Do arrive at the venue before 6:30 to avail of that.

I Hope to See you There.

Alright, Lets see. We have about 100 people on the waiting list and we are an absolute sold-out event. We have about 50 of the top investors, technologists and industrialists attending the event and from the shortlist of companies, it does seem like we’ve gone up several notches and are growing.

Here’s a chance to get in, in case you don’t have a pass yet.

We are planning to give away a bloggers pass for one. Yep, just one.

The blogger that makes a post about Proto (getting the details right will get brownie points), and can do a curtain raiser summarizing all the posts that have followed up in this blog up until now, and gets to be picked will get a free pass to enter Proto and will be given a badge stating to be the blogger for Proto.

Now the terms and conditions:

1. Your blog should have atleast 75 25 regular readers
2. You should be posting atleast one blog post a week
3. You should be covering on topics related to technology and entrepreneurship.
4. The Post has to be tagged “proto.in”

If you do qualify, then head out… Make a post, submit the link as a comment to this post and we’ll get back to your blog to read what you got to say about us. Entries close on July 15th20, 2007.

The D-Day is closing in on us and we are wrapping the final set of details with our sponsors. We’d like to make some proud annoucements about the partners who have decided to stand by us and support this initiative.

First off, following Dolphin Advisory, we have a company that is pretty much known to be the de-facto for creativity and web design platforms. The company behind the likes of Photoshop, Flash, and the upcoming Flex and Apollo Platforms.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are proud to announce Adobe Systems as one of the proud sponsors of Proto. Adobe has come forward to support the startup community here in India and are very keen to work with the grassroot level companies. Their questions have always been “How can we get in touch with these companies to listen, understand and serve their needs”. We salute their dedication and determination, and to the team that is lead by Rajiv is showing. We do wish them success, as we walk this journey together in helping startups with whatever support that is required.

We once again thank Adobe systems for partnering with us. Adobe will be hosting a session on building Rich Internet Applications on July 21st (Saturday) during the technology track. So those who are interested in anything related to the web, we do ask you to brace yourselves to a whole new world of user experience that can be created on the web.

Next we have a company that is very much our own; A company that was born and bred to cater to the Indian market segment with absolute conviction and even cross the borders to compete globally. Ladies and Gentlemen, we welcome TVS Electronics to the stage of partners. The strength and support that Gopal and his team have been showing Proto, simply cannot be thanked for in words. We do give our sincere thanks to the company for their dedication and support for such a platform in India.

While we are at the topic of partners, there are plenty of good news about the event. For one, we are maxed out in Capacity. We do have a few seats that are opening up, as we finalize on the participant confirmation – depending on the payments, but we are doing this on a case to case basis. If you could answer the question, “How do you contribute or derive value out of the startup ecosystem?” with a convincing answer, you are sure to find a seat somehow within the limits of availability. In other words, we are very keen on making sure that those who can surely help these companies are not left out, at the sametime, we would like to have an entry barrier to spectators.

We have also been given a lot of support lately by the team at the India Brand Equity Foundation. We will be working out the details with them and following it up, but it is quite encouraging at the recognition that this platform is attaining.

It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch for us, when we say that the next edition of Proto is planned in a venue with atleast a capacity of about 800 people. Infact, that is the point that has been driven across as we are struggling to accommodate all the requests that we have been receiving. We will also be announcing the venue at which the next edition of Proto (during the third week of January 2008 – 19th and 20th) will be held before the end of the event this time.

If you have not heard it already, do make sure that you are at the venue on Saturday Morn at 9am. There are some very fantastic sessions that are lined up by some very well known speakers and entrepreneurs who will be sharing out of their experience, with some of the most crucial and valuable lessons that a startup would require. Do make sure you are there for those sessions, and also can be present for the sunday event where all the companies will be presenting. The lot this time looks extremely promising of the future that we are racing to create.

Without announcing too much, that’s as much as I could share for now. Will keep you posted as the days roll by. I do look forward to seeing you on Saturday!