Pre-VC Funds for Startups.

There are a lot of discussions with entrepreneurs that I am meeting lately, looking for access to capital, and not much that would involve a typical VC Firm. Most of the time, the need is to build the prototype, ramp up the team and figure out the business model – which is quite early to turn to conventional investors. I thought I’d collate some of the info that I am aware of to help this lot.

If you are a startup that is product focused, there are quite a bit of funds that are floating around for those looking for the sub INR 50,00,000 range, and with some lenient terms and equity distribution.

NRDC, the National Research Development Corporation has called for nominations for their Innovation Award and are giving Rs. 5 lakhs for the finalists. This is not a business plan competition but a way to provide seed grants for companies that are prospective. Do take a look at it and apply. They seem quite liberal with their terms and during my interaction came across as an organization that is keen on fulfilling the gap in the very early stages of a company. For More Information.. They do have a strong bias towards Patentable technology.

LRAMP, The Lemelson Research and Mentoring Program, has access and provides funding for companies that are looking to develop and build on their idea. It could be looked upon as a seed loan (has to be returned eventually). They have a board that approves each of the applications, but the loan is interest-free and is upto INR 25,00,000.

TiE Bangalore EAP Program: The EAP (Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program) of TiE bangalore is devised in such a way that the entrepreneur can find access to money and mentors in the same place. Given the limited pool of mentors, the candidates are filtered and selected, but on ventures that are very promising, there are individual angels within the chapter who have funded them. Rarefind, a Proto.in company, was funded in this similar Manner. Redbus.in is also a company which is in their mentorship programme.

The Chennai Fund: The Chennai fund, is a fund put together for entrepreneurs looking for seed money upto INR 50,00,000. The chartered members of TiE chennai, including Ramaraj (Co-Founder of Sify), KB Chandrasekar, and the likes have pooled in money and do invest on personal capacities on ventures they find to be of interest. This is applicable only to startups based out of Chennai, as of now.

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admin, March 30th 2008 | Posted in proto.in

Proto.in July Edition 08: Nominations Open

Hi Everyone!. We are back in the beginning stages of those exciting times again!

There has been a lot of silent activity happening at our end this time, to make things happen much earlier on, so that we could probably add a bit more value to the startups that are presenting. There are some hard and fast rules that have evolved within the team as to how a company would look like and the qualities that it would possess by the time it takes on the stage in Proto.in. We do have every intention of making sure that those qualities are met – of course we will also enable the means for that to happen.

As you know, the fourth edition of Proto.in, is coming up in July. If you are a startup based out of India and you believe that you have a technology product, and have atleast a team and prototype in place, then you qualify to apply. The screening and shortling of companies this time is going to be much harsher to raise the standard of companies that we showcase, so please help us out by participating only if you atleast the bare minimum criteria that I just spoke about. If you are a startup that posesses the trait of a being a kick-ass startup, we’d like to hear from you. Really!

Proto.in is a technology showcase event which aims to bring together the startup ecosystem together, and throws the spotlight on some of the best startups that are upcoming in the Indian ecosystem. The companies are given a six minute slot during which they present the company, team and demonstrate their product (with a working prototype) to show what their product is. The six minute session is followed by a quick round of questions from the audience, after which they are given a space on the demo floor, where they can meet and interact with the elite audience that attends the event to increase awareness, market traction, forge potential partnerships, validate their markets, and also perhaps raise funds from investors.

The Nominations are open as of Yesterday and will close on May 31. The announcements of the verdict will be done to the companies 15 days after that, during which expect a few skype, IM and telephone calls, and demo walkthroughs to get a better idea of what you do. So if you are nominating, ensure that those days are set aside. If you are one of the shortlisted companies, you will be linked with a mentor and work will begin on how to polish your presentation, and presentability after that till D’day.

As I always do remind folks, Proto.in is a showcase platform for technology startups to help them build value, in terms of partnerships, market validation, acquire customers, interact and announce milestones with the media, maybe attract talent, find a mentor, and maybe also attract the interest of investors. Please make sure that you express clearly what you are looking for. If you are looking for Funding, please go through this blog post [Is your Startup Fundable?] to make sure that you are on track and at the right stage.

That’s about it! Good luck and I look forward to hearing from you.

You can Nominate your startup here.

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admin, March 29th 2008 | Posted in proto.in, upcoming events

Startup Lunch Delhi: And So it begins.

It seems that when it does begin, it does start pouring. Starting with the activities that were going on in Chennai and Bangalore, Mumbai has picked up steam organizing what looks like a very interesting barcamp this weekend. Delhi, which seemed to have been lying a bit dormant is steaming off with a flurry of emails flying to and fro among startup entrepreneurs as they kick off the first Startup Lunch in India.

Delhi, is organizing the first Startup Lunch with 19 candidates, and 12 startups. I think its almost going to be an exact fit, since most of these guys are looking for a person or two. If you are asking when its happening? It’s tomorrow.

They have decided that lunch might be a slightly messy affair and given the smaller size of the audience are meeting for coffee. Here are the details:

Startup Lunch: Delhi-NCR
DateTime: Thursday, 27 March, 6 PM
Location: Cafe Turtle, N-Block Market, Greater Kailash I
Printable Directions: At RouteGuru, enter your source location in ‘My Starting Point’. In ‘My Destination’, enter “Block N” In-or-Near “GK I”.
Cost: Participating start-ups can split the bill.
Estimate: Rs. 100-200/- x NoOfAttendeePersons / NoOfAttendeeStartups

Contact: aditya.k<at>tyroo.com, avinash<at>RouteGuru<dot>com

I really love what they are doing for a couple of reasons. Though the initial template and thought was jotted down, they decided to go with what works for them. And the level of enthusiasm within the thread to get this organized and done has been amazing. I am all the more convinced as to why Delhi would be an amazing platform for Proto.in this july (more on that to follow very soon). What was even more interesting is that one of the startups has decided to put their own tools to work to make directions easier. If eating your own dog food was ever a criteria, these guys ace it!

Kudos guys! This team has all the makings of becoming the epicentre of entrepreneurial activity in Delhi, and its such a pride in being a tiny part of it all. I hope they keep going!

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admin, March 26th 2008 | Posted in proto, proto.in, upcoming events

Startup Lunch: 31 Startups Signed up so far.

Five days since it started we have, 31 Startups. Close to 50 Candidates. Five Cities. This is the response we have with the Startup Lunch so far. And it’s only growing!

I must admit that its a wee bit scary and the feeling of “throwing oneself over the ledge” creeps up everytime you try something new. We are all quite comfortable and can organize an edition of Proto.in from a remote corner, but it takes guts to try something new and come up with solutions for that. I am glad we still do and we signed up to make that happen. The feeling is going to remain with every new initiative, but that’s part of the fun of being entrepreneurial I suppose.

In the last three months since the last edition of Proto.in where we announced that we are going to do something about the talent crunch issue of startups, countless thought processes and discussions have gone on to figure out how to do this. While the positive case scenario was very simple (Startups meet Talent), bringing the right startups and the right talent together and keeping it casual and something that could sustain itself on its own – without being too much of an overhead on the startups – seemed to be the issues. We deliberately started off with something simple, so that we can tackle complications as it happens and adapt to it quickly. So far it seems that we have most of the worst-case scenarios quite well covered.

There are some very nice startups that have signed up, and equally amazing is the quality of people who have signed up. That’s the surprising part about this ordeal.

As of now, this is planned in the cities of Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Mumbai and Delhi. I am getting quite a few calls from folks in Hyderabad who want to join startups. So if any of the startups reading this are in want of people, do edit the wiki page and create the template so that you can take the lead on that.

I believe most of the teams are planning the meet in the first week of April. Will update you all on this as it happens.

For now, the startups are winning. Let them always be.

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admin, March 24th 2008 | Posted in proto, proto.in

Launching Startup Lunch in Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai.

Hi Everyone,

We at Proto.in have been realizing the need for startups who are looking for talent to hire. In most cases, it does seem like there is just a simple need to connect folks with the right people; Startups and the people who are interested in hiring.

I’ve setup a simple template at http://startuplunch.proto.in which should explain the process. It’s quite simple. If you are a startup, put down your name, and the company info. And if you are someone looking to join a startup, jot down your name, meet over lunch and see if your interests match up.

I am very keen to hear of your suggestions. Feel free to create a new wiki/site should you find the need and just link it up to the section under your city so that people can follow.

Let me know.

Vijay

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admin, March 16th 2008 | Posted in upcoming events

Launching the Startup Community, via IRC

I realize lately that I do have most of the folks from the Startup Community on either Gtalk, Skype or some form of IM. But how do these folks interact with one another? That’s a problem that I am still trying to find a solution for.

While at it, I do realize that the Opensource world has relied on the IRC servers, then and now to keep their community together and to enable this free-flow of network, support, and information flowing. For now, we are going to go with the same.

This is to essentially kick-off the IRC Channel for Proto.in.

Here are the details:

Server: irc.freenode.net
Channel: #proto.in

If everything that is said above sounds too much of greek and latin, the wikipedia link would certainly help.

If you are savvy with the technicalities, I do look forward to seeing you there.

Loggedin (on IRC) Via Pigdin,
[Phaedrus]

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admin, March 12th 2008 | Posted in proto, proto.in