A Heady Mix for Entrepreneurs

Nuggets from the TiE-ISB Connect.

Imagine being in the same room rubbing shoulders with venture capitals managing more than 1.5 Billion Dollars of funds. That is the kind of opportunity that TiE-ISB Connect gave to entrepreneurs in the 3 day event at ISB Hyderabad. Everywhere you went you heard elevator pitches and saw a high level of energy that brought to focus the new Eco-system being created for entrepren-eurship. That this is the right time to be an Entrepreneur was evident.

The Three day event TiE-ISB Connect had also brought together successful entrepreneurs and industry experts to share their success stories, share their perspectives on industry trends with aspiring entrepreneurs. In all, this was a heady entrepreneurial cocktail and here are some glimpses into what was shared at the event.

JA Choudhary, President TiE- Hyderabad commented that the quality of the business plans were really very good this year. A sentiment that I heard from several venture capitalists I interacted with.

Recalling the genesis of this event. Dr.V. Chandrashekar, Co-convener at TiE-ISB connect said that Entrepreneurship happens in the real world not in the classroom. The challenge was to connect the Academia with the industry and that is how the idea of TiE-ISB Connect came about.  Dr. M Rammohan Rao, Dean of ISB mentioned how ISB was unique in having Entrepreneurship as a required course in the 1year MBA programme.

Dr. Top Campbell Dean, Hass School of Business, UC Berkley, talked about the spirit of Entrepreneurship and Silicon valley, saying that in a culture of innovation you are valued "Not because of who you are but what you do." This culture of Innovation creates opportunities for a lot of people. The 5 terms congressman from Silicon Valley commented that Silicon Valley is not possible without the Indians, their contribution is very important. Silicon Valley and Hyderabad is interconnected in multiple ways, and in fact the companies which are doing well in the US during the downturn are the ones who have operations in India.

One of the Interesting aspects of the UC Berkley is that they have a student run Investment Fund, the reason is making investments cannot be taught but experienced. However the fund has one condition, the companies need to follow a triple bottom line, success then is economic, social and environmental.

Dr. C. Rangarajan Chairman, 12th Finance Commission, observed that Indian Economy is a long way from the famines during the Pre-Independence days. For instance a child born today is likely to live 25 years longer than a child born at the time of Independence. The challenge today is to sustain if not accelerate growth so that the poor can benefit from the growth in the economy. The market forces and competition need to come into fuller play, the economic reforms are on the right track, it is because of these reforms that India shifted to a higher growth trajectory. Agricultural growth, Infrastructure specially Power, Social Infrastructure specially primary education & health and good governance are the areas that need attention.

On the question "Is high growth sustainable, is the economy overheated?" Dr. Rangarajan said that at the domestic savings rate being 32% the conditions for a 9% growth rate is already there. In the first quarter of this year perhaps there were signs of overheating, which is when demand is much more than supply, however these trends have abated, and today the growth is both consumption and investment driven. However there is a need to remove structural constraints so that sectors which are slowing down, grow again and overall the growth is buoyant.

Dr. Anji Reddy, founder & Chairman of Dr.Reddy's Laboratories narrating his own entrepreneurial journey, had the message, "Don't think we cannot be equal to them (developed countries) we can be even better." 

Speaking in the Internet & Mobile track, Anil Raj of PacketMobile, observed that the telecom sector is witnessing an problem with revenues from voice coming down but the revenues from data services not taking off. The digital generation has grown up with Instant Messengers and so on, yet the people who are in key positions in the Telecom companies are not from this generation. Something good that has happened in the Telecom sector is that the centre of gravity of control is shifting away from the Operators and moving towards the consumers and the device operators. However there is device fragmentation in the mobile market, which causes a lot of issues that one does not face in the Internet or when using voice on the telicom networks. For instance there are numerous Operating systems used on mobile phones, so sharing of new applications across mobile phones becomes tough. There is also a lack of standards in the UI ( User Interface) framework. Some standardization needs to happen so independent vendors of software can develop applications useful across mobile phones.

The other observation that he made was that the kind of value being created on the Internet, in terms of Social Networks like Space Book, does not translate into the mobile space. There might not be much opportunity for a mobile space book. However Security is better in mobile, the SIM card is very secure, and SMS could be a good way to enable mobile payment. There is also opportunity in Search Results which are relevant in terms on location based search (restaurants in the area where you currently are). The other value is "Presence," would it not be great to know that one of your friends is close to where you are? "Location" is another high value aspect of the mobile, for instance would it not be great to know if your daughter has left school or if your mother in law is approaching?" While designing products for the mobile "less is so much more" so focus on less.

GV Kumar of MegaSoft said that what will change the game is Wifi, when carriers can no more control how the mobile is used. Basic content was free in the Internet, that is how the Internet became popular, same happened in TV, you pay a monthly charge the rest is free. Mobile advertisements will rapidly develop.

AR Vishwanath of IMI Mobile cautioned that it would be a mistake to equate the Mobile to a PC while designing products, since the Mobile is not standardized.

Mahesh Murthy of SeedFund said that at one of the lowest cost for data transfer on the mobile phone, the Indian markets are perhaps poised to show the world what is possible with the mobile. Some of the most interesting applications are likely to be first developed for the Indian Markets. Mobile Portability will open up the market and force operators to introduce value added services and this will give a big boost to application developers.

Sameer, Sood of Google commented that it is important for people to spend a lot of time with kids to get ideas for the mobile phone industry.

There is a lot more that happened and more nuggets from TiE-ISB Connect will be shared in the next issue of Businessgyan. 

Balaji Pasumarthy

Issue BG81 Dec07