#NeedForSpeed — Acceleration for Startups in India
An e-Roundtable discussion on Creating Opportunities for Startups in India
The Indian Startup industry has had its share of Unicorns and not so. The thrust from Governments is there but, we have never been able to build a Y-Combinator in India. There are around 20+ private accelerators in India who are making the needle move. But there is not much heard or said.
Also Read: Presenting — “Chainbusters”
So, what will it take to make the startup economy even more exciting? Let us talk about how to shift the Indian blockchain startup ecosystem.
- What makes a good startup?
- What should as aspiring startup be planning at this point in time?
- Are there specific Blockchain Accelerators in India?
- What are accelerators looking out for in a startup?
- Differences between business incubators and accelerators
- Will there be a change in methodologies in the Post COVID world?
- Is accelerating different in the Blockchain and Crypto ecosystem?
Roundtable No. 2 in the #Chainbusters series will brainstorm about creating opportunities for startups in India, with a focus on crypto and blockchain based businesses.
The Roundtable #Knights
We invited the following people from our fraternity to discuss the issues.
- Abhimanyu Kashyap, Founder-CEO, Inblox Network, Gurgaon
- Akshay Aggarwal, Founder-CEO, Blocumen Studios, New Delhi
- Ajeet Khurana, Ex CEO, Zebpay, Mumbai
- Raghu Mohan, Founder-CEO, IBC Media, Bangalore
- Sandeep Nailwal, Co-Founder & COO, Matic Network, Bangalore
- Gaurav Dubey, Founder-CEO, 01ex | ITH Technologies, Lucknow
- Varun Sethi, Founder, Blockchain Lawyer, New Delhi
Salient points of the Roundtable discussion
What did we learn from this discussion
There are many problems:
- We are naturally risk averse to investments and hence investments in businesses are hard to come by.
- Angel investments are not as organized as it should be
- The government policies on start-ups as well as investments, are still draconian and a hindrance to the start-up ecosystem
- We need much better coordination between government departments.
- The methodologies we follow for investments in companies or businesses have not changed over the years. For an emerging technology, the methods of evaluation as well as investments should change.
- It is sometimes difficult to raise funds due to an air of elitism. If you are not from a reputed institution it is highly unlikely an Indian fund is going to invest in you, or at least you will not be priority.
- Many start-ups have brilliant developers but do not have a Go-to-market know-how or strategy.
Also Read: #Lockdown — An Opportunity or Threat
We have to do the following
- We have to improve our risk taking capabilities
- The industry must not emulate or follow the ways of the #Valley. Those do not apply to our culture and ethos.
- All startups can make good products as they have great engineers. However, they lack a marketing capabilities. Hence many startups need go-to-market mentors.
- The blockchain and crypto community needs to coordinate and collaborate better to ensure that the industry is heard on larger forums.
- This is the right time to aim to become digital companies first, in this new world order and become globally compliant from day 1.
- The country also lacks proper regulatory structures and hence startups need legal & jurisdiction support from mentors
- ALWAYS HAVE A PLAN!
Roundtable #2
We conducted this #Roundtable #Discussion: 7th April 2020, Tuesday on Airmeet between 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM. We received an overwhelming response and had 100+ registrations and attendance at this event from all over the country as well as from overseas.
Also Read: You are the sum of your network
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