At the risk of being accosted on my way home tomorrow, and also risking it all on my first post on this blog. I have a question, Why are/do people find startup’s of no interest in India?
The question is probably not that straight forward, simply because they maybe of no interest because no one knows about them. But here’s the scenario, A new idea launches in the valley, it suddenly breaks into the blogsphere, users start to us, users in India get attracted pass the word word, and voila we all start using myspace, orkut whatever.
Now assume this happened down in Bangalore, budding entrepreneurs risk life and limb , build it and then…wait, emails, calls, tell a few friends, still who cares, who knows..no one, how will they, the people who talk, don’t want to talk, why should they?
You can ask all the journos in the world (bloggers excused :-)), but they are not interested unless they can recognize a name, or you can include the word Crores in your budget or revenue stream…why is that?
In a startup the entrepreneur takes a risk, the VC takes a risk…I guess we need a few more risk takers in the mass media. Correction, we need alot more risk takers in the mass media…just maybe someone will realize that some people want to read stories other that Reliance, Tata and Bharti.
To me the ecosystem is not just money + startups, PR is crucial. Example in point Proto been doing alot top get coverage…how many people know about it.
- Building a startup in 30 mins (well 41ish) – Iqbal Gandham - December 3, 2009
- Should Facebook and Twitter bother to make money? (Iqbal Gandham) - February 17, 2009
- How we got Nivio to Davos (WEF)…and won - February 5, 2009
Hi,
I completely agree with you. I am an example of venture capitalists and banks shying away from funding my start up. Touch Wireless (thats my company) has been in existance for the past one year, after 4 clients and still no investment, we are desperatly looking for investment to scale up our infrastructure and business as a whole.
Well, I hope the trend changes soon for the better.
Thanks
I do agree that PR plays a major role in startups but it all depends on when you should do the PR. The timing for a PR investment is very critical. Imagine a startup working on products. There is no point doing a PR exercise unless the core product is ready.
I graduated from BITS and was working with a top telecom firm till I quit to join a startup. I am getting exposed to roles which I couldnt have dreamt of in a huge company. The brand and the company needs time to be established. Patience is the key.
I am not sure I would completely agree. I believe the media will cover startups in India (and does), but the startups also need to know how to work the media. I’ve seen a strong belief in our Indian eco-system that just because we build a good product, the media should write about it based on a press release.
It’s not as simple IMHO. Similar to how Sales/Revenues don’t come automatically simply because one builds a good product, media coverage takes work. And it’s not just a PR agency that gets a company coverage – in my experience, if a startup wants to be covered in the mass media, they have to plan for it, and include it as part of the core strategy.
Our company – techTribe is a India focused startup (a year old). We’ve gotten about 60 pieces of coverage in the last 6 months in India because we focused on it. Every newspaper/major TV channel has covered it. But it took work.
I partially agree to what has been discussed till now.
I would say there are quite a number of blogs doing the PR job for start-ups. Like Webyantra, Startups.in, Pluggd.in etc.
What if TechCrunch doesnt feature any Indian start-up? Its mainly{NOT all} coz Indian start-ups to an extent are restricted to India only.
We have Entrepreneurs like Amit Ranjan doing good job in spreading awareness.
I feel bloggers in India should become powerful medium to make the voice heard.
What say guys?
I disagree with title of the blog.
If i try to peep into the intent with which the initial blog was written, there are certain conclusions I am able to draw. The author seems to be cynical about the Entrepreneurial activities taking shape in India, and probably highlighted with sighting instances like, lack of idea in the indian market to create a google of our own and volatile relationship between Entrepreneurs and VCs which further fuels the sad state as projected. Inspite of all of this, I disagree that startups are boring.
I have worked in Oracle for about 2 years and have been a part of a startup wherein we manage to exit out of the business by selling our stakes to a VC. Furthermore, I am charged for another round of fighthing odds and trying o find a gold mine for myself and I do believe that its time that I can share my experiences with others.
I often compare Entrepreneurship to “White water rafting”. If there are people who are reading this and havent ever tried there hands at rafting,my suggestion give it a shot.Like rafting Entrepreneurship is more about the journey rather than destination. Anyone taking to entrepreneurship consciously should be aware of the hiccups on route, though when one manages to hit the shore, there is nothing more satisfying than the feeling of creating something. I would again like to think aloud in everyones presence that startups arent boring though they might take more out of us than anyother job for that matter. Though the returns at times are equivalent to the efforts put during the tougher times.
abhinav