Connaught Place was one of the worst affected places due to the rains in Delhi. And yet, 55 souls braved a lot to attend the August edition of Startup Saturday Delhi.
Alok Mittal from Canaan Partners was the first one to speak and engaged in a Q&A session with the audience. Alok spent a good one and a half hours answering the audiences’ questions and clearly mentioning some of Canaan’s priorities–-focus upon the abilities of the founders rather than their educational backgrounds. He spoke at length on what kind of a startup might have higher chances to be profitable and that certainly has got nothing to do with the VC money. One or the other VC will eventually recognize them as well.
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Next up was Ashish Kumar, from “Tech-Services” company. His father is a doctor and that’s what got him thinking on how he could possibly club the technical knowledge that he possessed in order to do something which benefits the medical profession. Ashish was of the opinion that such services companies will succeed if the founding members brought in different skill sets, different thought processes to the table. Ashish also took up questions on the motivation and success parameters of being in such a business.
Abhishek Rungta kicked off the latest edition of Startup Saturday Kolkata. He found Kolkata to be most cost-effective HQ for his operations, and it has not restricted the growth of his web solutions company Indusnet across borders. His presentation was more of an inspiration and mentoring act. According to him, the time you are going to spend looking for funding, negotiating minute details of the investment and business plan, ensuring legal compliance and so on, is valuable time that could have been spent on more beneficial pursuits. He emphasised on the fact that a service-based startup company can be created best through bootstrapping with following factors for drastic cost reduction (attribution: Paul Graham):
- Reduced software cost (open source/freewares)
- Reduction in price of high-end hardware (as suggested by Moore’s Law)
- Marketing costs are in a downward spiral because of the Internet (social media, affiliate marketing, cheap SEO services)
- Fewer people can build a software due to improved languages.
The event ended with hot samosas and an engaging networking session, where some of us debated on the ways of evolving the Kolkata edition to bring out the lost Bengali entrepreneurial spirit.
This edition at Startup Saturday Mumbai showcased the theme - Outliers. The session was kick started by Pankaj Patel, of Logix Microsystems Limited. He presented in detail all the challenges he faced to create a completely new market which till date is untouched by many. The company today is mentioned in various reports from Capgemini and is considered among the leaders in its own niche. End of the day, Pankaj’s strong belief in himself and the solutions that he proposed for all the challenges he faced has today made him an outlier worth following.
Next was an interesting showcase by Vikas Mujumdar, founder of Surround School. We all learnt about Sine, Cos and Tan. But truth be told, no child is interested to know Math and Science. But how planes fly? How the galaxy actually works? And many such unanswered questions. Working on concept maps, it provides content delivery engine and visualization tool which can help a child with answers he is seeking and teach him without the pressure. Surround School targets to fill the gaps in the current education system.
Next was Ankit Mehta showcasing his company - IdeaForge. (Their quadraptor was featured in the movie 3 Idiots). Developed with DRDO, Netra – the unmanned aerial system can help in multiple areas and solve issues we never thought are solvable. It can be used to monitor and direct city traffic, help during emergencies, combat terrorist attacks, surveillance, security and many more emergencies.
Next showcase highlighted very complicated design and engineering solutions. Thanks to the wit and humor of Abhishek Jain from Zeus Numerix, attendants understood how precise science can be and why that matters for our survival. Zeus Numerix is in the simulation business. What Zeus Numerix does is that it provides real simulations through which one can calculate how the object will move, how the temperatures will change, how events will occur and how the subject will react to it. Just imagine the permutations that one can do and the speed in which the R&D can be done if we can simulate everything precisely without doing a trial in reality. Today Zeus Numerix is one of the very few companies that work in this niche and provide solutions that are precise to this level. Having such talented team and innovative startups flourishing in India, is definitely a boon and inspiration to the entrepreneur community.
Last was a business pitch. Five minutes of fame, where an entrepreneur presents his concept and the audience react, question, cross question and appreciate.
Naman and his team from FreeCharge.in presented a concept where you log in to their site. You recharge your mobile instantly and the coupons of same amount (currently McDonalds and Barista) are delivered free to you at your doorstep. Free recharge for the customer, more business for the telecom companies, more footfall for the retailers and more business for FreeCharge! Are you thinking why it didn’t click you?
Hope you enjoyed this brief roundup of the August Startup Saturday sessions. Do mark the second Saturday of every month (11 September as next) as your Startup Saturday day and be there to experience the inspiration, knowledge, breeding innovation and fun! Carpe Diem!
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Startup Saturday is an initiative by HeadStart to provide entrepreneurs in each city with a monthly community driven forum that is structured in agenda but open in discussions. A Startup Saturday provides a forum for entrepreneurs to discuss, present, network and learn from peers, prospective customers, adopters, partners and investors. Currently SSs are held in Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkata, and Mumbai, on the second saturday of every month. http://headstart.in/
Inputs from Amit (Bangalore), Ritesh (Delhi), Arpit (Pune), Mitesh (Kolkata) and Saptarshi (Mumbai)
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