The Startup Blog

web 2.0: another bubble????

2007-05-12T17:56:00.000+05:30

I remember the earlier days of bubble, when i used to see adds of internet companies, ironically in televisions... Now i am seeing that again(yahoo,rediff... to name a few) and was wondering, is this leading to another bubble.....

After giving it a thought for some time....

Though many web 2.0 startups are more cautious, and the vc's arent giving crazy valuations many of these companies, but the companies which survived the first bubble, are increasingly advertising in other mediums so as to increase their user base. Most of these companies rely on advertising heavily for their revenues....
I dont know whether this is a good or a bad sign or another bubble in the making, but i know this much as did the people in the first bubble, that internet has a lot of potential and is the future.....
And i dont think this will stop me or any of us from pursuing our dreams......

Just Thinking Aloud........

2007-04-19T00:47:00.000+05:30

I saw my friend bhasker edit some of his files in his desktop, and then was pushing the files to his webserver hosted at godaddy. Then something struck me, if the person having this hosting account is given an online editor, that would make things very simple. And if that has versioning buit-in, that will be of great help to anyone using the service. But can such a tool be sold to the users seperately, as they already have a editor and versioning system in their desktops. But even if this tool could be sold to these service providers who already use tools like cpanel, the integration with these providers will require different specs. But those could be solved, and integrated smoothly. Now lets assume all the other problems are somehow solved.
Now to one of several important questions needs to get answered.
What will the features of this product be?
IDE based or a simple but powerful editor like, simple and easy to use with drag-drop interface.
How to update the product?
If the product needs updates then it has to be either pushed to the hosting service provider or pulled from our server, which has many integrations problems. The other alternative will be to host everything we need in our servers.

If we have a versioning system(optional) in place along with the editor. With the use of versioning system, there will be a need to store these versions which cant be stored in globally accessible site. It has to be stored in some other place, which could be hosted by us and we could charge the user based on subscription/space. If we are using the versioning space to sell, then we need not even charge the isp guys as this becomes a way for advertising and promoting the versioning service. In that case the whole business model changes, from a product to a hosting service.

Could this product be sold to corprates....
For corprates thier spend on IT and maintenance will get reduced, and their employees could access the site anywhere and do the development. For them we can give a appliance which takes care of everything. Updates and maintenance could be done based on subscription. But for making the corprates to switch from the existing system to this new system will be a bit difficult. The most difficult part would be to convince the developers to use the product as they are already used to their environment, and they are well known for not accepting change in their environment.

Tags |- sun | pvs
| startup idea | project smoked chicken

Started again.....

2007-04-09T18:19:00.000+05:30

I guess after a pause of nearly an year....
we will be in the first phase of talks abt......

.............ahem!!!
.............................ahem!!!
Smoked Chicken

Being Copied (Paul Graham), Teery Gold , Bixee Blog

2006-04-18T12:04:00.000+05:30

Being Copied (Paul Graham): ...a startup founder who worried about competitors copying his idea. Was it worth starting a startup when competitors could easily copy him?

The answer in such cases is almost always yes. Startups worry far too much about people copying them.

First of all, it will take competitors a long time to realize that your idea is even a good thing to do. It seems obvious to you that your idea is good. You had it. Other people will take longer to see that.

Especially big companies-- as anyone can attest who has tried to convince a big company of something obvious. Often big companies don't want to see that an idea is good, because they already have a lot invested in some other plan.

Even when competitors realize your idea is good, (a) it will take them a long time to implement and (b) they'll probably screw up critical things.

And finally, working on your ideas will lead you on to new ideas. So you'll be a moving target; by the time competitors copy what you're doing now, you'll be doing more.

As a rule, startups shouldn't worry so much about competitors, especially big companies. Competitors are a second-order problem. Startups should worry more about making something worth copying and less about whether someone will.

Worry most about how to make something people want. If you're building anything good enough to copy, you're way ahead."

terrygold.com: Entrepreneurship: "The real fear doesn't come from starting your company. It comes later when you are running your company."

Well said there ,by the multi faceted Terry Gold ,nice to go through his post on entrepreneurship faqs ,and the stories regarding his own startup .

Bixee Blog » Seed funding is pointless?: "Thinking about all this, I dont see why there are not many times more “college entrepreneurs” targeting the internet space from India than from the US. Actually, who knows, college grads from the US might start coming to India to setup companies because it is much cheaper here.

The only reason I can see for seed funding for an internet company is if the equipment or bandwidth costs are very high. This holds if you are doing something like Google or Meebo. There are two other caveats I have heard from folks"

Focus on Fundamentals - FoF

2006-04-11T17:15:00.000+05:30

FoF ( Focus on Fundamentals) thats what i read from webvapors » FoF, where the Vaibhav Domkundwar believe's is really key to the success of startup businesses anywhere in the world, in any market segment any time of the day or night. He also goes on to say :

"All along, the only thing I would say made the biggest difference for me was the Focus on Fundamentals - a few simple questions that, I believe, can help every startup to think through the challenges and really work towards revenues, revenues, and revenues!

1. Do you know your exact target market and your target buyers?
2. Does your target buyer experience a pain point that is not solved right now? Or not solved optimally right now.
3. What do you think the customer will pay for your service? Is that enough to build your company and be profitable?
4. Do you know your competitors? Can they be your partners? How do you differentiate from them?
5. Do you have the right team in place? Do you know how best to build a team to deliver your product or service?"

Are Software Patents Evil?

2006-04-04T08:36:00.000+05:30

When Paul Graham speaks , you listen ! He wrties in Are Software Patents Evil?:

"We do advise the companies we fund to apply for patents, but not so they can sue competitors. Successful startups either get bought or grow into big companies. If a startup wants to grow into a big company, they should apply for patents to build up the patent portfolio they'll need to maintain an armed truce with other big companies. If they want to get bought, they should apply for patents because patents are part of the mating dance with acquirers.

Most startups that succeed do it by getting bought, and most acquirers care about patents. Startup acquisitions are usually a build-vs-buy decision for the acquirer. Should we buy this little startup or build our own? And two things, especially, make them decide not to build their own: if you already have a large and rapidly growing user base, and if you have a fairly solid patent application on critical parts of your software."

A nice article on the way patents and american companies view them .

fDi Magazine: ASIAN CITIES & REGIONS OF THE FUTURE 2005/06

2006-04-04T07:56:00.000+05:30

fDi Magazine: ASIAN CITIES & REGIONS OF THE FUTURE 2005/06: "ASIAN REGION OF THE FUTURE:

Winner: Tamil Nadu, India

Competition was closer and the playing field more level in the regions section of fDi’s contest, with the Indian state of Tamil Nadu edging ahead of Australia’s New South Wales to claim the title Asian Region of the Future 2005/06. Tamil Nadu took first place in the all-important category of best FDI potential.

As investors such as Ford, Hyundai, Nokia and, most recently, BMW have discovered to their delight, Tamil Nadu has managed to avoid or mitigate problems that dog other locations in India, such as infrastructure and energy failings. Through pro-active and business friendly government policies, the state has harmonious industrial relations, a matured business culture and abundant skilled manpower.

Things should only get better: several new fly-overs and by-passes are under construction that will ease traffic congestion in heaving Chennai, and an ‘IT Expressway’ project will widen the main access road to that city’s thriving software cluster. This hints at Tamil Nadu’s real secret weapon: Chennai’s IT corridor employs nearly 50,000 people, and this number is set to increase to as much as 90,000 when some of the major IT companies investing there get their operations up and running."

Good to see some international exposure on TN,and with its inherent infrastructural advantages over bangalore and other cities in the south of india,there's no surprise that you might find a lot more focus towards further investment and expansion plans in this region.

The Next Wave of Education : Grooming Entrepreneurs

2006-03-20T22:45:00.000+05:30

Abstract

Education systems worldwide have often been brought into the limelight by corporate and academic experts for not being to generate “ market-ready “ , or “employable “ candidates to join the already growing work force . This fact must be , and surely is being highlighted in the case of India where 50% of the population is under the age of 20 –21 . Neither will current curriculum nor companies knock your door to to bring out the entrepreneurs in students. It is up to us – the academia and more importantly - students to assess for the society and to realize what it is ,that is really the need of the hour in the years to come and generations to follow.

Main Body

Mark Twain had once said “I've never let my school interfere with my education.”

IT – Enabled Services (ITES) oriented firms , service oriented software companies , and cleverly classified outsourced delivery centers would rather not come to your institute or local learning center to bring out entrepreneurs. Multinational Software Vendors prefer to discuss selling deals rather than discussing how their students can develop the same software . You cannot expect this from them ,and that is not their intentions either but it not for our interest that this point is overlooked by the authorities running our institutions . There have been incentives such as Microsoft ‘s Imagine Cup , Novell ‘s Opensource project program ,and similar program by other companies which allow candidates to expand on more innovative projects that are on par with those rest of the world ,that encourage them to some day start an enterprise based on their idea’s . So I speak for the society , when I say that dual priorities being focused upon by administrative powers of universities country wide , will take some time to realize what it is that is really the need of the hour in the years to come .

The situation needs if not nothing a thought for the sake of generations to follow and an increased urgency to arrest the notion of graduates from Tier-II and lower cities that they cannot be innovative and build careers and business’s out of their towns . Let me confess on reasonable possibility that looms our educational hallrooms. However intense the industry – academic alliances being built, do not expect companies to nurture your students with all the skills required to run their own organization. How much ever investment goes into funding research or plugging in the latest software environments, students and institutions together need to understand that the product of education today is very vaguely defined . The reliability of succeeding today does not end with scoring marks alone .You could pass out ,and find your junior from English class two ranks above you . Topping a particular subject ,you could in all probability end up with a job in no way related to your studies . Your favourite past time could be a major post graduate topic of research abroad ,but in class is nothing but another “doodle”. You could be a artist ,but never be recognised until you move to a location or peer group that promotes such work . Which brings us to an interesting concept . Must all those who take the road less taken ,must those who want to break the shackles of conventional beurocracy work against their immediate society rather than work with it ? This could in a way explain why a lot of entrepreneurs over the years have had to migrate to bigger cities , and to other countries even in the name of “more opportunities” . If educational systems can identify it, and provide this vaccum of “opportunity” - then the road less taken could be very well be the one to their local school . Then , we no doubt would have shown more reasons to stay in India and help its micro - economy grow .And all this very well could start with exposure on alternate career paths, increased coverage by SISI and other groups by setting up Entrepreneurship Development Cells in colleges that would any case increase the odds of generating the next Dhirubai Ambani or the next big conglomerate where it belongs – right here among the people.

Speaking of explicit ways to develop and encourage these “entrepreneurship miracles of the society” , we should learn from the best ,just as we would in any other industry . History has shown the greatest product and research based companies being carved out garages and even from not highly educated groups of students worldwide. Other such statistics suggest to us that even though an average Indian student may have accumulated more so called “knowledge “ - their American counterparts have shown to be more street smart , ready to take risks and innovative in applying their inherent skills to empowering themselves in a knowledge based society. This is where our system in India has lost its direction , and thus making them neither capable job seekers ,nor potential job creators. And like I mentioned before , 95% of the companies that your institution eyes for the next boom of recruitment –would not bother about helping institutions generate job creators excepting a scarce few . After all , it is only the pure number games when it comes to salaries and human resources statistics that allows and provokes firms to aggressively recent years with startling number of campus and off campus recruitments . Why take it to the educational system , when infact most B-school graduates themselves are hunted to run the ‘operations’ game . While control carefully tucked away under the grips of the proprietors, it has become easier for companies to find more employees who would rather do first ,and ask assess the impact on their lives and goals later . Why let an able , talented ,but little short on self confidence candidate run his own shop, doing his own work when he could be ‘employed’ and thus restricted from making probably n-times the salary on his own doing the very same work . This makes extremely good sense in the view of the employers with sadly very less thought given by the students in retrospect .

While most of us can do little about the above said , where we can make a difference is making amends and prepare to “educating for the real world“ rather than face the consequences of context-free teaching . If it means throwing away age barriers for attending higher education , or allowing students to choose their subjects , or complete all his annual exams in flash of a week . Perhaps someday we will realize why we must not restrict the innovative with conventional sterotypes in education . This has to be one of the reasons why students from American Universities tend to develop and spring up innovations on a more larger and faster frequency that their counterparts in India . The difference being that it takes students thousands of miles and dollars to realise that they ought to be putting to use what they have learnt ,and this comes from two things – peer pressure and support .

Peer Pressure and Globalisation

The evolution of the reptile has a funny resemblance to the Indian ecosystem of educational institutions . Both acknowledged the need for change only for subsequent survival . And those that did not change , simply did not survive . This analogy brings to the table another reason why thoughts of building ‘job creators’ rather than ‘job seekers’ is coming at a time when globalisation is starting to embed its effects slowly yet distinctly . And what does globalisation bring with it . The Europeans know it , the Americans are starting to see it ,and rural India should as well before it is too late . The word is competition . And it is only when your peers sense an urgency to outperform , to improvise and to survive - that innovation is at its best . At the same time , this could spell opportunity for those who see the hints early . Those who move fast , will no doubt be able to capture huge regions of personal and material satisfaction unlike the assets joining the bandwagon would do . This could no better be manifested than through the dot com bust . It was only then they realized that by the time you join a bandwagon , it is already too late. Why the emphasis on globalisation is emphasized , is because students can now extend that very relation between what Indian companies do to outbid MNC’s with the very possibility that a group of student themselves could fill the vacuum needed to run and capture the markets at a more domestic level . Fortunately today ,we are seeing a change in acceptance of professions apart from an engineer ,a doctor and so on . Newer opportunities have always existed , and they are now being utililsed by ambitious students who believe in themselves and are willing to learn. But the true test, is by overcoming the same issues when it comes to venturing on your own ,and then true satisfaction and success will follow . All this needs groups of students who are not restricted in their dreams , who learn from the challenge conventional work in huge corporations offer ,and who prepare themselves and network the right ways to ease the flow of starting up on their own .

Internal and External Support

Help may come in many ways , from talking to your school’s oldest attendant on how the school was formed ,to interacting to network with alumni , other entrepreneurs and potential one all the same . Internal support could be in the form of setting up an EDC or Entrepreneurship Development Cell in affiliation with the university or External support via independent entities ,Venture Capitalists, etc .

Firstly a few terms that you need to be familiar with as well as a statistical information from Table1:

What is a Technology Business Incubator [3] ?
A Technology business incubator nurtures the development of technology based and knowledge driven companies helping them to survive and grow during the start up period (2-3 years) by providing an integrated package of work space, shared office services, access to specialized equipment and value added services like management assistance, business planning, access to finance, technical assistance and networking support.

What is Venture Capital [4] ?

Venture capital is money provided by professionals who invest alongside management in young, rapidly growing companies that have the potential to develop into significant economic contributors and is an important source of equity for start-up companies.

Year : # of VC firms

Before 1994 : 11

1998 : 18

2001: 40

2005 : More than 100

Table1 [1 ]

Phase I – Formation of Technology Development and Information Company of India (TDICI) in 1988 – formed by ICICI and UTI

Phase II – Entry of Foreign Venture Capital funds between 1995 and 1999

Phase III – Emergence of successful India-centric VC firms
Phase IV – US VC’s increasing appetite to invest in India

1. The National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB ). Established in 1982 by the Government of India under the aegis of Department of Science & Technology, is an institutional mechanism to help promote knowledge based and technology driven enterprises. ( More at http://dst.gov.in/scientific-programme/st-nstedb.htm ).Some of the programmes provided by the NSTEDB are :

Entrepreneurship Awareness Camp (EAC)
Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP)
Faculty Development Programme (FDP)
Open Learning Programme in Entrepreneurship (OLPE)
Skill Development Through Science & Technology (STST)
Technology Based EDP (TEDP)
Entrepreneurship Development Cell (EDC)
Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development (STED) Project
Science & Technology Entrepreneurs Park (STEP)
Technology Business Incubator (TBI)
Women Scientist Program ……………. and so on .

2. Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India ( EDI ) [2]

The Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI), an autonomous body and not-for-profit institution, set up in 1983, is sponsored by apex financial institutions, namely the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), the Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI), the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) and State Bank of India (SBI).

More info at (http://www.ediindia.org ) Interesting programmes include :

National Summer Camp on Entrepreneurial Stimulation for Children.( Every year usually in April – May 05)
Open Learning Diploma In Business Entrepreneurship (Through Correspondence & Personal Counselling)

3. The Internet has been the the ultimate knowledge house for seamless and boundary less information facilitation .Right from how to register a patent ,to training and funding your own startup . Experiences from successful entrepreneurs can provide the right blend of confidence and guidance that no training or certificate program can offer .Below are some interesting groups that help you in this endeavor :

For a list of Indian Business Incubators ,check out http://www.smallbusinessnotes.com/incubation/india.html
For a list of Incubators and tech parks ,EDC cells ,check : http://www.ciieindia.org/resources.php
For a list of Venture Capitalist in India ,check : http://www.nasscom.org/vc_list.asp
For Incubators in cities across India and the world ,check http://www.incubatorsnetwork.com/incubator/inc-centers/

It will take more than a little courage for educational institutions to acknowledge and assess their stance in this scenario ,and to encourage their own students to take the plunge . Life is hard work , and entrepreneurship is not an option for those who doubt their own ability to “learn” but those who can try anything twice ,who can compress the work of a lifetime in a few years ,and to dare to keep on learning . So I offer my wishes, and repeat with renewed conviction – the words of a crazy young lad when he said – “ I never let my school interfere with my education.”

Resources

Table 1 from "Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Environment in India Independent Study ",By Kumar Gounder OHSU/OGI Fall 2005 With Professor Jack Raiton
Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, http://www.ediindia.org
National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board , http://dst.gov.in/scientific-programme/st-nstedb.htm
IndiaInfoline Glossary , http://www.indiainfoline.com/bisc/veca/ch02.html

About the Author

Bhasker V K ,
http://www.TechEnclave.com
This author gratuated as a student of Information technology from Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering ( SVCE ), Sriperumbudur in 2006. He is an active Technologist and Reviewer of various applications and also blogs at Bosky Says. His interests include working with web based platforms like AJAX , actionscript and other end user oriented innovations , and currently works with TutorVista . He can be reached at bhaskervk@gmail.com

Technorati Tags: startup , entreprenurship, entrepreneur, startups, education, india,theStartupBlog

Happy newyear

2005-12-31T11:14:00.000+05:30

Happy and prosperous New Year to all Entrepreneurs aspiring to kick their own startup. Lets hope 2006 is a very good year for all the Vc's and Entrepreneurs.

Startups : Rajesh Jain ,on his blog about Entrepreneurship

2005-12-29T02:25:00.000+05:30

Good to hear that Rajesh Jain,has just completed 10 years as an entrepreneur in Mumbai, India. With 1 Hit, a few Flops, 1 Average. The Hit was IndiaWorld , India's first Internet portal which was launched in 1995, which was acquired by Sify in November 1999 for USD 115 million. He had also tried his hand unsuccefully with from 1992-1994 on: object/multimedia databases, image processing and some offshore software projects. The Average performer has been Netcore, a Linux-based messaging software company started in 1998. I also found the following quote of particular interest among his other articles on Entrepreneurship and life during the startup days.

E M E R G I C . o r g: TECH TALK: India Needs More Entrepreneurs: "First, salaries in India will rise faster than cost of living which would make it unattractive for employees working with the international majors to quit and create or join a start-up. Second, even the ones who are venturing out seem to be more focused on services than products. Third, the few in the products area seem content OEMing their creation to the market leaders rather than taking them on with full stacks. Finally, Indian companies lack vision to think big and global. I agreed with him on all four counts and added one of my own. It is well nigh impossible to do a tech, product-oriented start-up because angel and early-stage funding is simply not there."

Cheers to him ... and to his new ventures .

Announcements : Hello , World!

2005-12-27T20:20:00.000+05:30

Namaste,
This being the first post of the blog demands a little introduction to the initiative here at TheStartupBlog.I am Bhasker V Kode and along with two of my other colleagues ,who will be contributing to this weblog ;to track the proceedings of the startup and related information.

Among several ideas that we brainstormed - the project titled -"Smoked Chicken" , caught more serious momentum as we researched on the market feedback , attempts so far ,and areas for innovation in a segment in which three countries will have more than 200 million potential users in the world: India ,China , US; and the segment im talking bout is mobile and telephone users .

The Startup,has hence marked this as a strong area of growth ,and has assumed the following parameters for subsequent evolution:

We will not be a "do everything" services company-
Preferably moving away from a multi vertical organisation towards a end-to-end single vertical specialisation.PS: the worlds biggest companies being Product based ones did cross our minds.
Scouting for individuals
For the right individual ,stake in the company can be considered based on expertise and passion to join the management and operational team.
Talks dealing with Investment.
From Venture Capitalists,Angel Investors , individuals ,incubators ,etc
Research
We plan to invest heavily on research throughout.Hence our alpha and beta development phases ,deal with bleeding edge technology.
Want to Brainstorm?
Do you want to discuss ideas for your venture,or someone you know planning to startup or prepare for Business plan competitions. We were helped by several people,and it is only fair that we repay others the same way. Contact us to brainstorm ideas or for our take on starting up .

I hope this gives a gist of what we are setting up here.We should be rolling out someitme in 2006 . For more queries, or ways to help out or work with us,do contact us .Rest assured ,all development and news regarding the startup and related issues can be accesssed here ,so keep in touch with this space.

For the team,
Bhasker V Kode

Blog Developement Comments
- Finalised on Blogger,and managed getting a decent title from blogger :P
-hacked a a small script for searching category wise posts since this feature almost provoked us from not going for blogger.
- Added a background from a candian surfer pics edited with Adobe CS2.
- Removed the title ,enlarged width,edited misc font and formatting in the CSS .
- Adding members .