The Kiruba Show: Primed for PROTO

08:55 | Kiruba Shankar | Oct 3rd, 2006 5:26pm |

Entreprenuership is increasingly becoming big in India. However, there aren’t many events that allow entrepreneurs to showcase the working prototypes for the world. Here comes PROTO to fill that void. In this episode, we learn more about the event that aims to bring entreprenuers, VCs and technology folks together on a single platform. It’s planned for December 9-10, 2006. The website, www.proto.in, is still under construction.

The event is from the stable of The Knowlege Foundation, a non-for-profit group run by a set of very enthusiastic and passionate technology folks. One amongst them is Vijay Anand and we will be speaking with him about PROTO.

An entrepreneur from India, Vijay has extensive experience in kickstarting companies. He has been the founder of CompuWorld Software Solutions, NullScape Softwares and Ottawa-based LeadStep Technologies.

With a background in software engineering and interests in technology and business, he carries with himself the passion to help drive companies that are entering the technological domain here in India and around the world.

Transcript:

What is PROTO all about?

To put it in a very visionary way, Proto is more than a one man show, and ‘just an event’. It’s a spirit, a spirit of technological innovation, inspiration and the strength that we as a community draw from each other. I could add that, The unique aspect of this event is that, in a way it signifies the spirit of the new age India, one that is coming to maturity, gaining strength on its feet and rising to compete in the global marketplace. There is a lot of talk about india being over-invested, and there are also a lot of companies, especially startups that are struggling to capture the interest of VCs, since they have to juggle between working on their prototypes and building market awareness and building contacts. The Idea of Proto is to give them that intial push to make it a bit easier, by bringing all the components together.

Why is such an event important, to the community, to India (and to Chennai)? There are more than enough people who say that India is almost a decade behind innovation compared to the silicon valley. Then there are people who claim that the world is flat. Which one of this is true? I am not sure sometimes, cause it is very much a relative subject. There are equally smart entrepreneurs, technologists and very wise investors here in India, and what is lacking is the proper channel to put them all together, and give them a bird’s eye perspective of each other’s world, to engage with each other in mutually beneficial ways. This event will also, in a way, open entrepreneurs to the worlds of each other, to understand where the market is evolving and to understand where the strenghths lie, and where they can distinctly compete.

What and who is the event catering to? We are looking at three major groups that we are targetting and planning everything around. The Entrepreneurial community, who are the lifeline of any growing economy, the VC Community who are very much required for any entrepreneural activity to grow and scale, and for the Technological community who are looking for up and coming, high potential companies and want to get involved in it. Talent is one of the big hurdles for startups, and if we can help in anyway, we are definitely for that. Amongst the third group of technologists, we are also expecting a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs who are looking for inspiration and for a growing and enthusiastic culture of entrepreneurs who are already in it, to make the big leap.

Who should attend this event? All three of the major groups. Plus, the public, if they want to know what the next generation of lifestyle, technology and innovation is going to look like. It will almost be a time portal into the future.

When is this event planned for? We are looking at the second week of December, on the 9th and 10th. Most companies are going to want sometime to want to put their prototypes together and 60 days from now is a fair and decent amount of time to give to the VC communities and others to block off their calendars.

What is the selection Criteria? Very Simple. Ground breaking, innovative companies. We are willing to look at companies that are based on a very well known idea, but do have something very significantly built on top of it to more than enhance that experience. In simple terms, Patentable technology. Something innovative, that would inspire people to head in that direction. And also, we don’t put ideas on the stage, we will require atleast a working prototype, so that everyone can easily grasp what it is about.

How different is it from the TiE events? Will it be done in assosciation wiht them as well? TIE is a great organization that is built around the VC community, and there are a lot of organizations that house the technologists and entrepreneurs together. This event is just a bridge for the both of them to meet. We will be working with all the associations in making this event a success.

Will this be in an unconference mode? Unfortunately not. “Uncoferencing” has gained a lot of momentum, but an event like this is going to require some level of discretion, and controlled organization as we are very much striving to substantially raise the standards of the event, and especially when we will be working with a lot of passionate entrepreneurs in listening to their ideas as such. But that said, we are not any group of organized folks who run this as a profession. The very idea that we are enthusiastic technologists and some from the VC community will make sure that the passion that you find in unconferences, will be very much present there. It will definitely be the best of both worlds.

Tags: PROTO, Vijay Anand

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 3rd, 2006 at 5:26 pm and is filed under Enterprise 2.0, India. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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