Vishal, 100 crores is do-able from the govt. I can help you on that one, but yes the managing of the funds is where the trick comes in. Right now the govt trusts their established incubators to play this part, but we’ll have to find a way.

These mentors would have to be part of some forum where they can be vetted, let a mentor AND entrepreneur disappear with the taxpayers’ money.

The educated people of today are taking lesser risks. We just passed an industry boom - lucrative jobs for almost everyone (from IIT/IIM).

There are a lot more startups than we can imagine. And most formal panels would only reflect a very small percentage of these startups. Most of my class mates who never went to a business school or engineering college run very successful businesses with a turnover over $1mn.

I doubt funding is ever a starting problem. In a country like india starting up, getting business from your social circle and ability to bootstrap is fairly easy. I would say it is easy to beg/borrow/steal in India rather than convincing someone that your Idea will give returns.

awsm idea dis is...i’d like 2b a part as i hav quite a few ideas...within a yr i’ll b equipped i think!

Dear Vishal,

Don’t you think there are 200 startups coming per year. I think the quantity is there. Only the quality is missing. Quality ecosystem is required to take these startup’s to bigger level.

You should never look for a Startup in B-School, especially from IIM and IIT. Why should they leave 7 digit salary per year and take risk. We should not force them to change. Create the startup where people hungry to prove themselves.


With Regards
Kesava Reddy.M

I think creating fund pools and organizing a local angel or VC network is not really going to help. The basic reason why India doesn’t have enough startups or for that matter even businesses is that Indian Culture has traditionally never encouraged them. The perception towards businesses and businessmen who take the plunge must change. There is also the tendency among graduates to go for a safer option of going with on campus placements. A lot of my friends are pursuing MBA right now and each of them have only one motive and that is to get placed in a high paying position at a big MNC.

100 crore is not a big amount and I dont think we even need govt. help in this. It is completely doable by the entrepreneurs and the VC’s alone. The thing still remains that Indian youth doesn’t want to take risks and starting a venture is not even encouraged by our society.

More than the money, I feel that we need more Mentors. Like Vijay, Sameer and You, who can encourage as well as make startups get real.

I guess, a hundred guys like you will make your idea real!

You hit the nail hard, Vishal.

I agree with Kesav, we have 200+ startups coming up every year but what really lacks is the quality of the business models so most of these startups either fail at prototype stage or early product stage. I was one of those techno entrepreneur who failed in bootstrapping my first startup.

While venture capital/angels play’s an important role (from capital & mentoring perspective) apart from funding needs we need to focus on building a strong ecosystem (we certainly have many players working at the grass root levels like OCC, Headstart, Proto.in, TiE, NEN etc) that helps entrepreneurs in converting their products to strong businesses.

You hit the nail hard, Vishal.

I agree with Kesav, we have 200+ startups coming up every year but what really lacks is the quality of the business models so most of these startups either fail at prototype stage or early product stage. I was one of those techno entrepreneur who failed in bootstrapping my first startup.

While venture capital/angels play’s an important role (from capital & mentoring perspective) apart from funding needs we need to focus on building a strong ecosystem (we certainly have many players working at the grass root levels like OCC, Headstart, Proto.in, TiE, NEN etc) that helps entrepreneurs in converting their products to strong businesses.

Hey Vishal,

I agree. I’m sure India can easily churn out 200 startups a year. What I think is lacking is the right kind of marketing skills, and as Vijay rightly said, a proper guidance for creation of business models. I think forums like Proto.in need to provide boosters to struggling start-ups.

Keep up the wonderful writing!

Regards,
Shachii

We profile startup companies of India, we have already profiled more than 325+ start-up companies in one year of operations.

All these companies have been started up not earlier than 2007. So it might be that you are lacking the statistics, more than 200 start-ups are already happening in India per year.

The idea of 200 startups/year is a very simple thing to accomplish with the current resources in terms of quantity. But what lacks is quality. I see lot of startup profiling sites do a profiling of even some small ”discussion forums” as a startup. If those are called startups , then every general store (for that matter a barber shop) is also called a startup. So according to me, the real ”startups” have to be encouraged. The startups with that mind of entrepreneurship, great goals, plans, strategies etc.

I would all the more be happy to take part in your initiative if you would start one. Please (yeah please), don’t leave this idea just as an idea. With help from people like you, Vijay etc., we sure can make it a revolution of sorts.

Hi
I also agree with Kesav that statistics are focusing only on IIM’s and B schools. But there are many startups flourishing from other sectors as well. Quality is definetly an issue, along with mindset of people, most customers want references, strong client list. Instead of instead of trusting their ability people rely on ability of others, i.e if funded by strong VC or angel, and good client base from start.
These are some of issues faced by startups today. We should try and find possible ways to tackle them as well.

Hi

This is a good idea. While we wait for the government to get its act together and other investors to get in the market in their own small way, we should also work towards fostering the entrepreneurial spirit. Lot many people go for the safe job route.

Gentlemen, there are possibly 200+ something coming out of India every year, but most of them are not businesses. Mashups and every portal out there is defined as a startup.

200 quality startups. Still a problem.

And i wouldnt give up on the IITs and IIMs totally. If we are to expect some level of quality then we have to be agnostic to where they come from. But these folks also have better exposure to quality products and the means to deliver. The other option are the returning NRIs. I am still yearning to see a startup with a business model, a quality product, and a mentor and team to drive it. Thats a winning combination.

Very interesting discussion here. I would agree that 200+ quality startups is a good starting point. Aside from a foundation for angel investors there need to first be a number of well publicized startups that are successful. That will motivate others who have a drive and a passion for proving themselves. They’ll say ”Hey, I can do that too”. It’s a question of motivation as well as risk taking.

What a great info, thanks a lot.

Hi all,

According to me , 200 + quality startups are fairly good..!!
But there are few points I would love to pin point.

A.Well established IT companies doesn’t encourage employees for R&D
B.Educational Institutes are lame in trying new Projects and they always lacking in covering industrial aspects to students.
C.IT sector of India is overwhelmed by the income they are generating in OutSourcing and don’t want to risk there fucking single penny
D.Ideas of the students are not getting platforms
E.Many of the ideas are not given a tilt of Entrepreneur aspects
F. Country is fucking very busy in politics.

Great article Vishal,

What is also missing is the information on the investors. The commonly known ones are (IAN, MA etc). But largely the information and accessibility is the issue.

We have a startup idea and want to explore the funding options. But we dont seem to be getting anywhere apart from the obvious ones listed above.

Wish there were a common forum where people such as us could explore synergies.