The Startup Kit. Part I

It’s a darn good time to be an entrepreneur in India – but only if you know whats available to you. I have been coming across a whole lot of resources that are available to an entrepreneur today, that you perhaps are not aware of.

The beauty about growing a startup or an SME is that the right set of tools really can make a whole lot of difference. Here are some tools that are sure to make your day.

Indian SME Toolkit: This is perhaps the holy grail of everything that you ever need. The initiative launched by ICICI, IFC and IBM has a host of templates for everything you need for running a startup or SME. Let me give you an example. There are close to a hundred plus templates on just invoices. Yep, you are going to need that to bill your customer, and when it does happen *fingers crossed* you wouldn’t have to ask around as to what all needs to go into it.

Zoho Apps: This is still the one stop place for most things that you ever need when it comes to tools for CRM, Project management, Collaborative work process, etc etc.

DimDim: I am sure that you notice all those high-flying corporates to be doing videoconferencing, desktop sharing and all those snazzy stuff. DimDim gives it to you at a price you can afford – for free. There were some minor reliability issues when I last tried it, from the revamp of the site and the positioning, I expect that that should be fixed by now.

TeamViewer: If you are collaborating remotely, and want to take over the computer of your counterpart to whiff up a rapid prototype for the UI, or show something, Teamviewer is an option. It pretty much looks like a desktop sharing app, but am hearing good reviews about it. Alternative Option: Citrix GotoMeeting

Weebly: While you are scrambling to put together your team, setup appointments with your auditors, and do those lineup of interviews and run around in unconferences, you probably dont want your website and domain looking dull. Weebly is one quick way to cough up a website which will keep the plate warm, till you have the time to get there.

Basecamp: Project Management, and the first name you ever and only need to utter is Basecamp. ActivCollab is a similar downloadable version which you can host in your own server. FogBugz is another option.

Skype: When it comes to interacting within the team, and at times even with outsiders, Skype wins hands down. Get some of those Skypeout minutes and I am told that the audio quality improves – not sure how much of it is true though.

Google Talk: For times when you dont want to hear the other person’s voice, but just want to touch base on and off, Gtalk is your friend. You dont want to rely on Skype for its messaging – at times the message gets lost in oblivion and comes back.

Financial Planning: I am told that TurboCash – Free Accounting Software (Though all that you need initially are some well done excel workbooks, and Wesabe are good options to look into to setup the financial processes quickly. You might want to run the final list through your local auditor though. Things change so fast in this scene that you dont want to take a chance in being wrong.

Shopify: You need to setup an ecommerce site and the going rate to build one with any freelancing community can be quite high. The even worse part is that you still don’t know whether what you are building will work, and you want to iterate quickly keeping your costs low. Shopify is a step towards that. It seems that most folks there have permanently stuck on to that, since the platform does give you a great commercial feel.

Freshbooks: Do you know the pain of sending invoices to your clients and keeping track of it? Most of all, the time when the lack of professionalism shows is when you are trying to keep that time of your interaction where money is involved as clean as possible. Freshbooks is an awesome tool and service for that. Highly recommended and I’ve gotten a few of my startups on it, and they are loving it. Blinksale is another option.

Campaign Monitor: Most of you guys are on the webspace. Which also mean that you send out a lot of mailers asking people to sign up for stuff. Let me be honest: Most of them look darn ugly that my first impression plummets, never to sign up for that service. Campaign Monitor is one good way to get such snobby customers onboard. Plus, I believe it offers a nice way to track responses.

FaxitNice: For those of you whoever are, or when your customers insist to live in the 90s day and age of faxes.

More to Follow…

Relevant Read:
The Startup Essentials – Part I
The Startup Essentials – Part II
The Startup Essentials – Part III

Credits:
Tools for Bootstrappers – Anjana Vivek
Setting up a Low-cost conference Room – Amit Ranjan

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admin, May 28th 2008 | Posted in india, proto, proto.in, resources, startups

Proto.in Talk: India as a Technology Leader. Possible?

This is the transcription of the talk that Atul Chitnis, The Senior VP of Geodesic, and the man behind FOSS.IN gave during the Fastrack Sessions of Proto.in January Edition ‘08. The tone of voice might have to be imagined, given that its taken from a talk and not a written speech.

Imagine a situation where a technologist is trying to showcase the iPhone. He goes through every step of the features of the phone, the gestures, the various user interface nuances of the device and the audience barely reacts. A little frustrated, the technologist tilts the phone to the side, and the picture aligns itself sideways, and the audience goes wild – almost giving him a standing ovation. We’ve seen this demo before, and we know what all an iPhone can do.

Case in point: Technology alone doesn’t fascinate. How it is packaged, and how it resonates with the audience and customer means a lot more. India lacks in that space, most times.

There are cases where an Indian company genuinely builds a fabulous product, but the case of marketing and positioning the product in the global market seems to be – or atleast is perceived to be – tough that the company starts a subsidiary in the
US and positions the company as a US-based one. That is a big mistake. Positioning yourself in the US is a short-term advantage and you are competing with the players there and in the global market. Acquiring the market here in India, and playing the world market are completely two different things.

In order to position a product in the US and to play the global market, you need to have huge resources in order to market your product. That brings us to our second point, the point that, no product is ever successful or will be able to stand the test of time, unless its first of all successful at home.
Read more…

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admin, May 27th 2008 | Posted in india, proto, proto.in, proto2008fe, startups

Nominations Deadline Reminder, And More.

Hello Everyone,

We’ve been barely vocal about it, but it seems the nominations are coming in hard and fast from all sides this time. We wont be extending the deadline past the 1st of June, since we want to finalize on the finalists and start the mentorship and refining of the pitch, the business plan and link them up with a local mentor who can guide that company from a long term perspective even after Proto.in is long over. That’s the kind of long term partnership, and association we want to be linked with. I am still involved with some of the companies that came to the first ever edition of Proto.in, and looking back, I’ve enjoyed every bit of interaction and there is a joy in being part of a company’s journey, than a moment.

So, just as a reminder, the deadline for Nominations are June 1st. Anyday past that, and I doubt we could accommodate you for this edition. You are gonna have to wait for the next. one. For those of you who had nominated, you will hear of some response from us before June 10th. If you haven’t heard from us by the 15th, feel free to call me at my number 9894101373, and we can figure out if by some dreary mistake your nomination form got misplaced or mislodged somewhere.

Also as a note, I do want to remind you folks that companies that did submit in previous editions of Proto.in and did not get selected can reapply. I am not sure how many folks are aware of this, but there are quite a few companies that had presented in the second and third editions of Proto.in that got rejected in the first edition. We worked with them over time, and once their business and intentions were much more clearer, it makes for a much stronger case. The only thing that I’d like to ensure for the company is that they take the stage at the right time, when they have a strong case for them. So just a reminder, that previously nominated companies can most certainly reapply and we will take a look at it. Infact, we strongly encourage that evolution. But that said, do ensure that compared to the last time, you have progressed and you can count a few good things going for you, so that we wont be wasting time and building frustration rather than glee moments of going places.

The registrations for Attendees are already up and the seats are filling up fast. We’ve priced the entry fees quite appropriately this time so that we can invest into students and those who wouldn’t otherwise be able to make it to startup events. So do make a reservation for your seats fast. You can register here.

The upcoming week would be quite interesting as we announce the topics for the Fastrack Sessions, The lineup of companies, investors, bankers and prominent figures who would be coming for the event this time, the sponsors, the supporting organizations etc etc. There is quite a bit of excitement this time, and it clearly shows. There is a brand new spanking site which is coming up, which should also be up next week. Interesting week ahead. Do stay tuned.

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admin, May 24th 2008 | Posted in india, proto, proto.in, proto2008se, startups, upcoming events

July Edition: Attendee Registrations Open!

I hate to discriminate, but if you really inject me with truth serum and ask me which was my favorite edition of Proto.in, there is a chance that I’d say it was the second edition. It was memorable cause we tried out a whole lot of stuff and all of them just clicked and became runaway successes. Proto.in, July edition, is an inspiration of that. It promises to spin your world into a realm of possibilities that you never thought were possible in the Indian Startup Community.

Nope, this is certainly not the mail where I disclose what all is happening. This is the email where I give you a headstart to register.

So just to recap, the dates are finalized on the 18th and 19th, and the venue is tentatively fixed at IIT Delhi. We still haven’t had a confirmation from them yet, and it seems to be going on as long as the middle east peace process, but It should get solidifed in a day or two and I shall update you on that. In the meantime, the information holds true.

Whether you are a VC, a student, an entrepreneur or a blogger, we aren’t discriminating this time. We’ve brought down the entry fees to Rs. 500 so that everyone could afford. There are a few entrepreneurship related blogs and sites which will be soon announcing some contest to give away entries, so do keep a close eye here to watch out for those.

As of today, and Now, you could logon to the website and register to reserve a seat for you. As usual we do have limited seats and the sheer number of partners and supporters have gone up significantly, so to ensure that I don’t get a call from you at the last minute asking for a seat to spare, I do urge you to go register as soon as possible. You can register here.

Once registered, you should be getting a confirmation mail, which will tell you all that you need to do. It’s quite straight forward.

For those of you who don’t have a credit card handy, and would not be able to make a payment online, we have identified means of disbursing Entry tickets (Same Price) in the cities of Chennai, Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Pune. I will announce the list by the 30th of this month.

With that, Wishing you the best, go ahead register and hope to see you at the event. I am dying to see you all again!

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admin, May 17th 2008 | Posted in india, proto, proto.in, proto2008se, startups

Proto.in ‘08 July Edition. What to Expect.

It’s hard to believe that the core team behind Proto.in has been at it for more than two years now. It was in 2005 that the team came together to figure out what we want to do for the budding entrepreneurial space here in India, and help facilitate the growth of the startup community. We’ve come quite a long way since then.

All that knowledge, experience and interaction has been slowly translating into the finer details that go into the planning for the Proto.in event, and for the continuous interactions that happen over community initiatives like Open Coffee Club, Startup Lunch etc.

So Coming back to the question of what One can Expect out of the upcoming edition of Proto.in. Well for one, we can most certainly use the “bigger and better” theme, as cliched as that phrase is. The Venue for the upcoming edition of Proto.in is finalized in the halls of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, for the dates of 18th and 19th (Friday, Saturday). We are expecting a participating audience of close to 600+ for this edition of Proto.in.

The First day as usual will be the Startup School sessions. We are scraping the technology tracks this time, and focusing purely on the business tracks. I suppose and we agreed that there are plenty of ways to pick up on technology and the such, but very few places where a startup entrepreneur gets to hear, learn and experience the business of bootstrapping. There will be a few big names, but mostly the rule is always the same – Unless they are an entrepreneur, Proto.in offers no exceptions, no matter who they are. You can rest assured that the speakers, and content you hear will be relevant to you – especially if you are a startup founder – than some MBA gyaan right out of the textbook. That’s the standard we’ve set for the startup school sessions and we will continue to deliver on that.

The second day will be the showcase of India’s most promising 20 technology startups. The nominations are already open and the deadlines are on the end of this month. So do hurry and submit your nominations if you are a company which has a product that you are looking to launch to an elite audience, gain market traction, looking for strategic alliances, or looking to plan your exit and gain visibility in the eyes of acquisition and exit partners, then the stage is something to aim for. You MUST have a working prototype, a serious team backing it, and the basic corporate structure (read, Website, brand, identity etc) in place. We have raised the standards quite high that if you are a company in the web space, and do make it to the stage, I would consider you very very very very unique and promising. Do keep that in mind.

Crucial Dates to Follow:

Nominations Open: Now.

Nominations Close: 30th May ‘08

Shortlist Announcement (to companies): 20th June ‘08

Press Conference in Delhi: 11th July ‘08.

Entry Fee per Company (once shortlisted) Rs. 10,000.

Registration for Attendees:

So Let’s say that you are not a company looking to capture the stage, but want to keep a pulse on whats happening in India, network with the top shots who come for an event like this, and want to tap into the startup community here in India, well for starters you are absolutely in the right place. You wont be finding a better place to scout for the best upcoming breed of entrepreneurs anywhere in the country.

So this is the way you could register for the event.

On the eve of May 15th, the registrations for folks who want to attend the event will open. You can directly visit the site, www.proto.in, enter your name and other related information, enter your credit card details via Paypal, and immediately be confirmed with a seat, with your name on it for the big day.

Since we also want to encourage the student and upcoming startup community to participate and dont want the lack of a credit card to hold them up, you will soon see a list of startups in the cities of Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad and Mumbai who will be issuing entry tickets for the event. You could go visit their office, pay the cash and pick up your entry tickets. We will announce these addresses by the end of May.

Dates Regarding Registrations:

Online Registrations: May 15th

City-wide Entry Ticket Outlets: May 31st.

Entry Fee per Attendee: Rs. 500.
keep an eye on this blog, or subscribe to the mailing list for more such updates. We’ll be filling you in on the details as the date closes in.

You can also follow the updates from the team subscribing to the twitter feed at www.twitter.com/protodotin

Looking forward for a culture, mindset and ecosystem, where the startups win!

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admin, May 5th 2008 | Posted in india, proto, proto.in, proto2008se, startups

Online Meet: Summary

Summary:

1. The response has been overwhelming. I didnt expect 60+ people to show up on a less than one week notice. It seems that the chat application we have has a 60people limit and quite a few people didnt make it in. We are gonna have to quickly build for scalability before the next meet.

2. The participation came from all over – Chennai, Coimbatore, Bangalore, Orissa, Calcutta, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Goa etc. Phew!

3. People were quite enthralled with the meet that there were requests to meet once a week. It was decided that we’ll meet once a month to ensure we dont burn out quickly.

4. Delhi OCC will be kickstarting soon. Shivas Gulati is in touch with the OCC Chennai and Bangalore guys for guidance.

5. Mumbai OCC is looking to be revived. Netra touched based with quite a few folks who are going to help her in that regard.

6. The Topics that were covered was quite vast. We started off with asking startups what they thought were some of the issues they faced: The Summary,
@ Deepak: Cost – Infrastructure, office etc.
@ Shivaas: Lack of collaboration with bigger companies.
@ Som: Contacts / networking
@ Hari: Revenue Realization from Customer
@ Deven: Online Startup Directory.
@ Govind: Support Services contacts
@ Rajesh: Mentors
@ Raxit: Finding Co-founder.

You can view the entire, unedited chat transcript here. We’ll be meeting again next Month. Stay tuned to the blog here, or sign up for the mailing list for updates.

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admin, May 4th 2008 | Posted in india, proto, proto.in, startups