Even after all these years of the so-called IT revolution, India is still struggling for a business/company that has created intellectual capital and has thus created a true enterprise with roots in research and development. I think its about time to take stock and figure out why.
No one would dispute that India has all it takes to create sustainable, world-class IP businesses. We have the requisite manpower. We have the intellectual prowess. We have the infrastructure (at least at few places). And we have people who can be effective leaders and mentors. All the pieces of jigsaw puzzles are there. Someone just needs to put all of them at one place at the same time.
This is where the story becomes interesting. People are scattered across geography and time. And these pieces don’t know that they are parts of something bigger and they all can play a role. Even if they realize that they can take their ideas to fruition, they don’t know where and how to find complementary skill-sets. We need something, a system probably to help these people come together.
Reminds me of classical markets. Every buyer knows that they will find the best sellers at the market place and every seller knows that they will find the most generous and knowledgeable buyers at the market. Everyone converges to the market and everyone goes back happy.
A look at all great places to work would reveal that people thrive in presence of great minds around them. Everyone learns off each other and collectively the tribe becomes stronger. Starting with Microsoft, moving on to Google and now Facebook, most technology people want to be at a place where they can be pushed and challenged by their peers and they can enrich their experiences. Microsoft, Google and Facebook are like above-mentioned markets. Programmers, Coders, Managers and even Chefs are jumping the gun and looking for better place. A place where all great minds converge and learn off each other and grow individually (and obviously to a place that gives them stock options).
India today needs someone to create such markets that enables people with complementary skills to come together and get them start talking to each other. Events like barCamps, OCC, MOMO and websites like VentureWoods, pluggd.In are doing it to some extent.
And now the questions. Are they really sufficient? Are they enabling people spread across geographies to come together? More importantly so these people have complementary skill sets? Any critics? Thoughts? Opinions?
P.S.: The title might be an misnomer … Originally posted here.
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Hi Guys,
I think I agree with Vijay. We talk and its about time we did. Can we replicate the model of Entrepreneurship centers in every city?
In my opinion, although un-conferences tend to be great for promoting openness but they dont really end up in great collaborative environments. Lets create a setup where things would be regulated. People would pitch in saying that “want a programmer”, “want a finance guy” and people who can contribute can say “5 years of exp with mrketing”. Something like venturetalent but moderated. And localized.
We can have monthly/weekly meetings and people can some there to talk about something specific. Please note, this is not an effort to create another OCC or MOMO or any other un-conference format. This would be regulated. And voluntary.
Keywords here are moderated and localized. Please give more feedback. May be TiE or someone can be mentors?
I am willing to speak with people and do this in Mumbai. Please write in if someone wants to contribute. And for a change yes, lets do it.
Thanks,
SG
P.S.: I know someone who already has started something like what Vijay mentioned – http://venturesprings.ning.com/
Heh. I am hearing more of ‘Let’s talk more, Lets write more’. Seriously, Bah!
Do more people!. It can be the simplest of efforts.
Sign up for a ning account, get a couple of local entrepreneurs to sign up, and meet up once a while, figure out what your collective problems are, and find the ways and means to solve them – maybe even use the group as a sounding board for ideas. That’s how the Chennai OpenCoffee Club came in (Hats off to Sid).
How much effort does that take?
Hi,
A group of friends is doing our little bit by tracking interesting Indian inventions, innovations and ideas at http://www.indyvation.com. You are welcome to contribute in it by writing articles or just sending news updates at indyvation a-t gmail dot com.
Regards,
Hasit
Saurabh,
Unless you know who these guys are, its not going to be that simple. Actually, I think I know what you are talking about. While In Canada, a very similar issue came up and the solution that was suggested was the creation of “entrepreneurship centres” [http://www.entrepreneurship.com/] across the country, one in every city so that anyone who is interested in starting their own business can walk in, have access to resources, and there was always someone from the industry who was there – they allocated atleast one or two hours every week to be there.
Now, can we do something like that here in India? I am not too sure. Given that it will have to be run by the government, it will probably not be effective at all. The only other option is to point them towards a local TiE Chapter, and unfortunately there isnt a TiE Chapter in every city across the country yet.
I dont know. I feel like you are asking for a whole lot for a group which might or might not start an enterprise. If we want to reach someone who isnt even sure about entrepreneurship, wherever he is… that almost sounds like a definition for God. 🙂
Question is are we doing enough to attract the brightest minds to give it a shot. No. Wehave have to stopp looking at Wipro,Infosys or TCS and beyond the service providers. Whay don’t you do a series on companies doing real development, I would be happy to chime in