Partnering for Demo Day
We work with several partners for the annual event which we organise under Startups Club, in order to make the day possible. Since our objective is to work and reach out to early stage startups we try to work with those who specialise in this segment. I would like to talk about three of those partners who we are working with for this year's event.
GINSERV
Often times I come across a lot of startup entrepreneurs who have an idea and wish to start but need the initial money to get started. Due to various reasons they are not in a position to invest the sum that is needed initially for getting the business off the ground.
The initial sum that most of these startups require is to the tune of tens of lakhs and this is not a large sum of money. Further, it is also important for such startups to get access to a network of mentors that they may seek suggestions from and use as a sounding board.
There are very few entities that support startups at that stage of their venture. We found that Ginserv which is located in Bangalore has one of the best programs for the early stage startups. They have a seed fund, which deploys funding under the Business Incubation program setup by the Government of India. Not only do they provide funding but they also provide incubation support, in terms of office space and a mentor network that they have amassed over a period of years.
We decided to partner with Ginserv because they provide one of the most valuable offerings to startups in their early stages. They have been working with several startups helping them with their seeding stages and helping them move forward as they begin to grow. Their applications open once a year and it is highly recommended to early stage startups to apply for the program since it changes them up to reach the next level.
SIAM COMPUTING
Starting a business is about having a keen insight on human behaviour and exploiting the same for the purpose of building a business. It is most often those who spend large chunks of their time meeting people who tend to come up with these insights. Also, the people who are tasked with spending time with others tend to be marketing folks and they tend not to have the technical knowledge to build a platform that can serve as a solution. Since, Intuition has brought about the epiphany; these people have the conviction to follow the idea and build a business. Also, since they have been people who have been handling marketing and client interaction for a fair amount of time, they have the They nevertheless lack the technical skills required to build a product/platform.
Siam Computing is a company that has been working on delivering some of the best product solutions to various businesses and has been recently working with several startups to help develop tech products that they are looking to deploy. They have a startup product of their own called hisabing.com, which is a MicroERP solution and hence understand the requirements and time pressures that startups face.
For the kind of founders described in the earlier paragraph, Siam offers a great solution that makes it possible for them to build the tech end of the business without having to immediately look for a tech co-founder. The tech end of the company can be slowly built, simultaneously. Siam Computing also takes care of bringing the tech team up to speed and handing over the technology to the startup as well.
ECONOMY DECODED
What happens when a group of college kids come together to create a media business that is full of quirky posts which is meant for the youth. Economy Decoded is a blog meant for the youth which provides a different take on the things happening around the world and the experiences that are shaping the youth of today.
In a world as complex as media, it takes some guts and some stupidity to want to create a platform that offers content which is highly differentiated and highly niche. Despite this, the young team at ED has been able to push their plans along to build a media platform which is differentiated, curated and interesting.
We admire their entrepreneurial spirit and their positive attitude and we are partnering with them because some pursuits are worth being with for just the audacity involved.