Tim Draper revisits India

Riskmaster Timothy C Draper revisits India in October 10-12 and will make pit-stops in Mumbai and Bangalore. The last time the maverick venture capitalist was here in late 2005 he set the ball rolling on Draper Fisher Jurvetson’s (DFJ) formal entry into India with the TiE Draper India Venture Challenge that gave away $150,000 as prize money to winning startups….

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Laura Parkin on why it is okay to rank startups

Last Saturday, Mint put out a half page interview with Laura A Parkin, executive director, National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) and Wadhwani Foundation, clarifying some of the issues/controversies around the Tata NEN Hottest Startups 2008 nominations — read Tata NEN Campaign Addresses Early Hiccups. Mint is a media partner for the startup ranking contest. As on September 20th the contest had…

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Venture capital is about investing in the right people

Markets change. Competitors change. Customers change. Regulations change. Suppliers change. But people rarely change. What differentiates a great venture capitalist from a good one is the ability to identify and invest in the right people or ‘Six Sigma’ entrepreneurs, as we like to call them at Nexus India Capital. Smart: High on common sense Passionate: Really believes in the idea…

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August Deal Roundup: VCs back play schools, hospitality

Venture capitalists invested over $30 million in August across seven reported deals. Investments

TATA NEN Hottest Startups: Nominations by force?

The Tata NEN Hottest Startups 2008 contest has whipped up a minor storm because it is allegedly “forcibly nominating startups”. Yusuf Motiwala, founder and CEO of Bangalore-based VoIP startup TringME, blogs that the company has turned up on the list of nominees despite emailing in a specific request to “withdraw” its nomination. Here’s an excerpt from his post on why…

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Respect Entrepreneurship

Is it fair or even right to rank startups? The ongoing Tata NEN Hottest Startup Awards 2008 contest seems to think so. Worse, the five winners will be picked via a public voting system that will be combined with an expert panel review. I don’t even know how that can work in a practical sense. NEN expects 800-1000 nominations, which…

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Guy Kawasaki at Mumbai Tweetup

Former Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki is in town this week and he’s squeezed in a Mumbai Tweetup into his itinerary on Wednesday at 7.00 pm at the Oberoi lobby. Who is Kawasaki? Apart from being a bestselling author on entrepreneurship — his most successful title is ‘The Art of the Start’ — he is also a venture capitalist at Garage…

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