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New age startups bring in the latest ‘cool’ trend

Let’s begin with a coolness test. What do you think is cooler—Indian Premier League cheerleaders or a company that hires four people per minute? Shahrukh Khan’s six-pack or a startup that lets you design your own products? Kareena Kapoor’s size zero or software that lets you record your life minute-by-minute?

The advertising world may not have been able to shed their Bollywood hang-ups when it comes to defining ‘cool’, but Gen-E is showing signs that it has moved on.

Observe these recent developments. Three years ago, only 2% of the graduates of Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) joined startups. Today, over 20% of its graduating batch is planning to join startups.

Campuses are also witnessing a phenomenal increase in entrepreneurial activities and participation by students. National Entrepreneurship Network, India’s largest catalyst of entrepreneurship education, recently conducted its NEN Semi-Annual Campus Survey to measure entrepreneurship activity levels on NEN campuses. The results were astounding. Since five years ago, NEN’s survey findings show a combined increase in activity of over 12,000%.

Ankur Gulati, a student of Indian Institute of Management-Kolkata, who recently founded his own Internet company Life in Lines, feels that more and more youngsters today are getting excited about being associated with startups. “Startups represent passion, power and learning. Working closely with the company’s founders makes you share their enthusiasm too, which makes your job far more meaningful. That’s cool,” he says.

Ankur feels this change in attitude is being driven partly by the realization that careers are not solely about money. “If your startup is successful, you can earn several times more than if you were working for someone. If it fails, you may not be rich but it leaves you with a wealth of learning. So you gain both ways. That’s the kick,” he explains.

At the heart, however, it’s the changing nature of startups that is creating the change in perception. Ten years ago, new companies were generally associated with the small scale industry. Five years ago, they weren’t regarded as innovative. Today, startup companies are seen as high-impact, interesting places that allow self expression while building value for society.

And Gen-E has decided that is cool.

However, Gen-E does not assign the “cool” label to just any startup. When young entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and bloggers talk about why they are excited about a company, they refer to very specific aspects of a startup. These specifics sometimes reflect personal values, but many resonate across individuals.

So, what makes a startup cool?

Be world-centric
Any practice that makes the world a better place is cool. Achieving world-class excellence and becoming global thought leaders are important goals for an ambitious startup, feels R Sriram, CEO of Crossword Bookstore.

Cut new ground
“The startup should have the vision to change the way human beings behave. If you look at history, Microsoft Excel was such a huge success just because it was able to change the way human beings behave... the transition from paper to software was an amazing change,” feels Vaibhav Pandey, techno blogger and co-founder of Open Coffee Club.

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