It’s usually a lot of fun having that first meet, since thats when dreams and aspirations run wild, and this is where the initial expectations and deliverables of the event are set and met. I am sure looking forward to catching up with the folks there, and am even moreso looking forward to the fact of working with a fresh new team with fresh faces, experiences and perspectives.

We are catching up for breakfast at around 10am in South Delhi at Barista Cafe at the The Basant Lok/Priya Cinema complex. The agenda of the meet is to basically meet and greet, and then perhaps run over some of the tasks that we need to cover for the event. Anyone who would like to join and volunteer is most certainly welcome.

Do leave a comment, if you’d like to meet. I’d love to catch up, if you are from the startup scene in Delhi. I most certainly would love to hear of how things are in Delhi, how we could help and change things for the better.

Birds fly. Fishes Swim. Deals Fall through and Startups Fail. This is the natural order of things. The only thing we can do is alleviate the chances of success for a startup by a small degree. We do not, neither can anyone assure anyone of success and failures totally. Heck, the Silicon valley, which is considered to be this rich ecosystem, has its fair share of failures. What are we going to do about that?

“Success is one in a million. There is a very small chance that you could be that one and the obvious choice left is to fail. Are you ready for that?” is what my mentor used to ask me. For the first six and a half months, as I was pursuing him to be my mentor, every single book he gave me was on this amazing idea, great execution which went nowhere and resulted in a failed business. I used to think what was the point he was trying to make there. It was simple. Success in a startup is an anamoly. The natural route is failure. If there is one breed of people who can dare change that, it would be an entrepreneur. Yet there are factors and choices beyond our control which all contribute against it.

I remember talking to some students a few months back and the question kept going back to the concept of failing. How do you mitigate that risk and all that. I thought it was one of the profound and mature audiences that I had dealt with. I don’t even get some of those question at Proto.in, where startups are on a much progressive stage. I am hoping that they already know the answers to that.

Most of the startups that are slowly gaining traction are on an average on their third iteration. Most companies that come to Proto.in themselves are on their second iteration. It’s quite obvious when you talk to them and see how they have evolved their offering based on market interaction. It is that iteration which actually is the strength of a startup. Remember Agile, evolving, and the path towards a “complete” product? It’s all part and parcel of that.

There is this interesting session that happens when you learn how to skate – whether on ice or on inlines. The first thing you learn is how to fall. How to fall gracefully is the next step. If you are afraid of failure, You wouldn’t even move a step ahead. You need to dare, and that’s what entrepreneurship essentially is all about. There is a high level of risk and high level of reward at the end. Not everyone who get a lottery wins, and not everyone who starts up a company also succeeds. I am not sure what is news about it.

As long as you are afraid of falling, you won’t be able to stand up on your feet either. I can assure you that. I’ll leave you with these following words, which we had posted on a high banner for the first edition of Proto.in. Perhaps it needs to be much more visible, perhaps even everyday:

It’s not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or when the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worth cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat. – Theodore Roosevelt

Note: Repost from the Author’s Blog.

While we would eventually want to build a networking platform that we announced during Proto.in January Edition as “Proto.in Online”, we have created a page in Facebook which will serve that purpose while the platform is being built, tested and tried, and as we also narrow down on some of the unique features that we want to put in. Who wants another social networking site anyways, right? That’s the point. The rule always has been, if we are going to ask someone to go even an inch more to do a task, might as well have a strong case as to why and what he/she gets out of it.

Philosophies and thoughts aside, you are all more than welcome to join the Proto.in page at Facebook at the link below. Feel free to interact and start a discussion and pitch your thoughts into one that is up and running. I’d like to keep this as unmoderated as possible, with the premise that everybody agrees to play nice. That said, this is the link to follow:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Protoin/18654630002

Hope to see you there.

Ixigo, one of the travel search engine companies that took the stage in the first edition of Proto.in has closed its round of funding from an Angel group based out of Singapore. It’s been a fabulous journey so far interacting with Aloke frequently as they built their market traction and the fun moments we had when some of their servers had to be expanded because of load and discussing options.

Wishing Ixigo, and the men behind the company, Aloke and Dharmendra a great journey ahead. together.

Similar events in the emerging Indian Ecosystem have announced their shortlist of companies for presentation.

I am very happy to see that Dristi, Pramati and Sloka telecom will be presenting there. Drishti was one of the companies in the first edition of proto, along with Sloka and Pramati was a presenter in the second edition. As they say, if two people agree on it, it must be a fact. I am glad that these companies are getting their much deserved credit.

I am also super glad that we spotted these companies, much earlier and gave them the leeway that they required to survive in this ecosystem. Kudos guys! Keep going.

We have another set of 15 really exciting companies presenting this time. I can’t wait to see what the future holds forthem – surely, great things!

270+ people on both days, more than 25 VC firms, 15 angels, the merger and acquisition heads of some of the biggest corporations, senior executives from small and medium enterprises all over, entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs and veterans who get to rub shoulders learning from each other, the majority of print and publishing media there to cover and quote your visions. Thats’ what you can expect for day after and the day after that.

Update: In all this, I think the key matter that we are asked and have a absolute conviction on is the fact that, there is still a looong way to go and its much too early to pat ourselves in the back. Yep. Thanks Poorna for the reminder.

Proto has grown and amassed the love and support of the community with quite a momentum than I had ever imagined.

We’ve taken the first major step towards creating a unified voice in the startup ecosystem, a sound if you may call it, of startups and the determination for them to win. I really do hope that whenever this tune is heard, the only whisper that the heart beats to is “May the startups win!”

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, The Proto Anthem:

powered by ODEO

For Downloads as a Ringtone, Get the MP3 here.

The Proto.in Anthem will soon be released under the creative commons license.

It’s moments like this that justify and encourage everyone here working behind the scenes at Proto. We do have a good news to convey to the community that has behind us so far.

Rarefind, a company that presented at the second edition of Proto.in ‘07 has been selected to be mentored and for a round of Seed Fund by TiE Bangalore, as per their EAP program. In a day and age where electronic transactions are becoming more and more prevalent, and organizations are looking to enhance productivity, reduce costs and upgrade their operational value by using technological enrichments, Mocodile, the product of Rarefind does come as a leveraging factor to the industry.

I’ll let Ajay Rajasekhar, one of the founders of Rarefind, say the rest:

We have some great news! Mocodile’s business plan has been selected for TiE Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program! We are going to receive seed capital of $150,000 + mentoring + publicity on TiE network!

After participating in 2nd edition of Proto.in the month of July, we have been getting several queries from investors and entrepreneurs. In August we made a presentation to TiE panel, which consisted of 6 venture capitalists. (Most of the panel members were aware of our venture as they had already seen our demo at Proto.in) They saw potential in our venture and selected us from a large number of applicants. The panel members have a keen interest in grooming startups for further funding & growth.

I strongly encourage other entrepreneurs to get their products ready for the next Proto.in.

Here’s wishing Rarefind success, from the entire proto team.

For More Information on the TiE Bangalore EAP Program, Click here >>

I have been realizing that lately there is a lot of activities happening centred around “nurturing creativity” and in aiding product companies. One prime example would be the efforts that NASSCOM is putting towards helping product companies. It is good to see such changes and I am even more keen to see the changes that it brings forth.

This post is to keep you aware of such events, so that you could benefit from it:

NASSCOM’s Innovation Awards 2007 – Call for Nominations

Introduced in 2004 for the first time, the NASSCOM Innovation Awards have grown into a prestigious platform.

The awards recognize organizations that have made innovation a part of their DNA and developed extraordinary and pioneering products and services. Over the past years, the awards have been presented to the winners at the prestigious NASSCOM India Leadership summit held in Mumbai, by none other than former President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.

If you are an emerging company that has chosen to do things differently and thought “out-of-the-box,” to differentiate yourself in the market, this is the platform for you.

URL: http://www.nasscom.in/innovation

The Chennai Fund – Call for Applications

The Chennai Chapter of TiE has members who have put together a fund, which is aimed at very early stage seed investments. The investment size per company could vary all the way from 20 Lakhs and above upto a crore or such (depending on the need of the company). They are calling in for business plans and for those who are looking to raise capital.

For more information, contact George Samson [gs@tiechennai.org], or Raghu Raghagopal [raghu.rajagopal@energeate.com]

PS: Finalists are expected to be TiE Chennai Members.

NASSCOM Product Summit

NASSCOM is conducting a Product Summit on the dates of 19th and 20th of November, 2007. Do keep an eye on their website for more information.

GreyLock Partners India – Startup Advice : Advisory Day a Month

“As you know, we have been evaluating early, growth and late stage venture capital investing opportunities at Greylock India for an year now. Having been entrepreneurs in the past, we realize that several early stage entrepreneurs or first time late stage fund raisers are looking for guidance on several fronts; but there are limited structured platforms or opportunities for these entrepreneurs to interact with an investor in informal, non-”investment pitch” mode.

Towards this, we have started an Advisory day a month program at Greylock to invite qualified entrepreneurs (qualified by trusted sources like yourself; qualified means entrepreneurs or companies you think highly of and/or are your clients/partners etc.) to pose questions they are looking for suggestions/advice on. Ganesh and I will host the sessions from our end”

Greylock is planning to do this on the 3rd or final Friday/Saturday of every month (starting Friday, September 21st). Each company will have a 25 minute slot (with 5 minute buffer time). Meetings can be in person in Bangalore/Mumbai or over the phone. Do get in touch with Ganesh at [ganesh@greylock.com] for more information and to book your timing.

It is good to see Venture Capital Firms taking an active interest in grooming companies.

Out Of the Box Conference

If you have ever seen the TED videos, or had the fortune of being there in person, you would easily grasp what OOB is about. It is about bringing in high-calibre dynamic people who can paint a bigger vision, and share their insights on various topics. From the list of speakers, the theme seems to be circling around Entrepreneurship this time.

The conference is planned to happen in Bangalore, on the dates of 14th and 15th of September. There is a registration process and fee, so do check out the website for more information.

URL: http://www.oobconference.com

Its almost been about three weeks since the dust has started to settle, but in my mind, the memories of the days event still seem to remain fresh – along with it the fatique that had built up for the last four months of preparations and the continuous effort that is still going on in gathering feedback, discussing and debating over them and plotting our next set of actions and aiming at the horizon that we want to go for. Let me talk about a few of those here:

I received news a couple of days back that one of the companies that had presented at Proto.in SE ‘07 has managed to secure funding. Minekey has secured $3mm in funding from NEA-IndoUS as part of their Series A round. The entire team here at Proto are quite proud of this moment, in whichever way we could have contributed and to be part of this. There are a couple of companies that are in serious talks as well, and we will annouce them as the days go ahead.

The Proto videos have finally arrived and they are all in DVD format. There is a team that is working to get the encoding done so that they can go up on the website. We are also just finishing up on the videos of the business and technology tracks that happened on July 21st. They should be ready sometime soon as well. There are some bigger plans with those content. I’ll write about them to you soon.

Proto is expanding. We are very much set to create an ecosystem and not an event. We want to create a platform, not a one day show where we all get together, eat and drink and are merry. We have a hardy task ahead of us in bringing together everything that is crucial to make grassroot and mainstream technology innovations a success story, that we are planning for our next set of activities to carry the momentum.

Chennai in some ways has been the first to annouce its first Open Coffee Club, a weekly get-together for startups and entrepreneurs. Though the initiative doesnt directly come under the umbrella of Proto, it is spearheaded by Siddhartha, whom everyone who was a presenter for Proto this time must be quite aware – as he was heading the hospitality desk. He is leading is and we are very much supportive of initiatives as such. If any such events are happening in any other cities, do let me know and I will be quite glad to make an annoucement either through this mailing list, or through the blog as to the meeting times and such. If you are based out of Chennai and want to be part of the Coffee Club, do mail Sid at sid@proto.in.

The next announcement is pretty much the bigger and best one saved for the last: Proto is putting together an elite set of people, who are prominent and known for their labour and strides in the entrepreneurial community to be part of the advisory panel and to be drenched and involved in taking this momentum forward. These are the first of the many people who will be part of this group:

Ashish Gupta, whose fervent entrepreneurial spirit was quite evident during Proto and inspite his travels, busy schedule and tiring body which finally caught upto him was very much enthused in interacting with everyone. Ashish is someone who has crossed over to the side of the investor community, but he is a rarity among many because of his entrepreneurial background and the experience and perspective he carries along with it. Ashish will be part of the advisory committee of Proto in helping us make some overall decisions in the direction as to where Proto heads.

Next we have Alok Mittal, who is also an entrepreneur-turned-VC. Alok has pretty much been the entrepreneurial wind of the north here in India, being in the midst and spearheading many entrepreneurial initiatives such as Venturewoods, before which there was almost no community to speak of where people could come together. Alok is also the founder of Jobsahead, and has been following the internet movement here in india for quite sometime. He is quite a quality man to talk to about some of these things. Welcome aboard Alok!

We also have Sanjay Anandaram of Jumpstartup who has come aboard in adding to the momentum. I have heard many a things about Sanjay, but everything was quite evident the way he mentored the companies, the passion he carried himself with and the enthusiasm which seemed to spark right out of him during the two days. I am aware of Sanjay being involved with various – actually more than two handsful of entrepreneurial activities, ranging all the way with his involvement with NSRCEL of IIMB, his initiative with VentureKatalyst, an entrepreneurship e-magazine, and has been involved in such initiatives for almost two decades. I am sure we will be drawing from his wisdom and experience to take further on some of the roads that he had already laid in defining this path.

The most recent acceptance and addition has been Laura Parkin, who is part of the Wadhani foundation and is also part of their NEN Global Initiatives. Laura has the experience of an Entrepreneur, a Venture Capitalists, and now the credit of its strong advocacy. NEN is a national network of all the academic institutions here in India who spread the message of Entrepreneurship as a possible option and the support and awareness they have created is quite phenomenal. I had the chance pleasure of meeting her quite recently and what was most impressive with the conviction that she carries (along with her colleage Sujaya – I understood that it must be an NEN commitment) was quite astounding. With more than 100,000 students and new professionals who participate in their overall facilitation of programs, NEN offers a platform that is unmatched to spread the wildfire of Proto and the message of inspiration that new entrepreneurs, and especially the most promising ones that Proto showcases.

Needless to say, this is a very good start to grow the ecosystem here in India. We are in talks with TiE-ISB, TiE Delhi and also with the TiE Chapters in Chennai and Bangalore to actively collaborate on our initiatives and to leverage on the strengths that each of us carry.

We have also had some very interesting requests coming in. So far we have requests from Malaysia (from the team that came in), Singapore, Israel, and even from the Silicon Valley to host an edition of Proto. The momentum that we are riding on, and the inspiration that we are drawing, I doubt that we are too far from crossing the oceans to aggregate these indian entrepreneurs, whichever soil they might be residing at. We’ll keep you posted on the progress of this as the days go by.

I sincerely thank everyone for the kind words of support and encouragement that they’ve been sending in, and do trust in your support and participation in the days ahead.

If you are a company that presented in either this edition or the previous edition of Proto, I would strongly request you to get involved as part of this movement. Proto is very much a responsibility that you must bear, to make it more relevant, successful and far-reaching and I would like for Proto to be community drive (as any movement should be) than a set of team members. If this interests you, do send me an email and I will add you as part of the organizing team so that you could get involved and drive this initiative. I would request more active participation from teams from outside of Chennai, as that is the only way to start thinking about moving this platform across India and around. Be a part of it, own it, define it and drive it!

I look forward to hearing from you.

Some Quotes

“If Proto were a startup, it would be the fastest growing one”, says Rajiv Dingra, the man behind WATblog who keeps a tab on Internet, advertising and technology startups here in India.

“Our belief is fundamentally in this: A strong management team executing a strong business model has the opportunity to create value in a variety of markets. The thing we are concerned about is this momentum – there seems to be a little too much momentum both from the investors’ side and from the promoters’ side. Unfortunately,We are starting to see a lot of strong teams chase poor business models. … there also tremendous business opportunities in business sectors that are emerging, as well as sectors that are considered old and passe” – Atish Babu, Nexus India Capital