IT cos lack novel thinking, ideas
Although entrepreneurial fervour is intact, novel ideas are conspicuous by absence, feel VCs & entrepreneurial forums. Speed up your PC
By TNN |
BANGALORE: The muted sentiment in the Indian IT industry, given the gloomy economic outlook in the US, has in no way dampened the entrepreneurial fervour although there is a certain deficit of fresh and novel ideas. So, there could be a slump in terms of game-changing ideas, trackers of the startup ecosystem say.
A cross section of the venture capitalists (VCs) and entrepreneurial forums feel that while there is no dearth of proposals landing on their tables, majority of them show no significant differentiation or uniqueness. A good indicator of the start-up action can be guaged from the popularity and attendance at events like Barcamps and Headstart.
Aumega Networks MD and Association of Computing Machinery and Kickstart.in executive committee member Kallol Borah says, ���I feel there is a slowdown in the flow of completely new ideas or at least that sound very different as far as target market and technology applied is concerned. The mobile space is full of the usual suspects���local search, location based services, payments and transactional services, etc and so is the consumer web services space. We do not see too much innovation in the enterprise and semiconductor space probably since, payback time cycles on such investments is high and is not a hot favourite among VCs.���
A cross section of the venture capitalists (VCs) and entrepreneurial forums feel that while there is no dearth of proposals landing on their tables, majority of them show no significant differentiation or uniqueness. A good indicator of the start-up action can be guaged from the popularity and attendance at events like Barcamps and Headstart.
Aumega Networks MD and Association of Computing Machinery and Kickstart.in executive committee member Kallol Borah says, ���I feel there is a slowdown in the flow of completely new ideas or at least that sound very different as far as target market and technology applied is concerned. The mobile space is full of the usual suspects���local search, location based services, payments and transactional services, etc and so is the consumer web services space. We do not see too much innovation in the enterprise and semiconductor space probably since, payback time cycles on such investments is high and is not a hot favourite among VCs.���
| | | Also Read |
| | �� | |
| | �� | |
| | �� | |
| | �� | |
| | �� |
The VC community also feels that there are too many ���me-too��� kind of proposals lying around leading to more intense scrutiny by them.
Contrary to the cautious mood in the IT industry, there has been no dearth in the proposals. Sandalwood Partners MD Bob Kondamoori says they still get around 800 proposals per month though the investible ideas whittles down to a dozen. Ditto is the case with other early to mid-stage funds.
Mr Borah says, ���I do not see any slowdown as far as number of people aspiring to be entrepreneurs or experimenting with ideas is concerned. I say from my first hand experience at Mobile Mondays (held every month), Startup Saturdays (monthly), Barcamps (quarterly), the annual HeadStart technology showcase event and ACM Bangalore technology talks where a couple of hundred entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs attend every month. I think we hear about 3-5 new start-ups every month and see presentations from at least a couple of them.���
These events provide a platform for bouncing off ideas for startups and also help them connect with the venture community. KickStart.in, an association of young entrepreneurs, tied up with IIM Ahmedabad recently to promote iAccelerator, a programme where 20-odd entrepreneurs are provided office space, equipment, seed funding and even residence at IIM-A to build products.
Download
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
Download
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
ADVERTISEMENT
