StartupCentral

This is probably a mere coincidence, but it is an interesting one. The Startup Guy, Vijay Anand, has just unveiled a new venture. He calls it The Startup Centre, an initiative that aims to create a physical community centre for entrepreneurs and the associated universe. Anand dubs it the ‘open incubation model’.

Some may recall that around June last year, Anand stepped back from his role as chief evangelist (he prefers the term ‘çurator’) of startup showcase forum Proto.in to work on a new project. The Startup Centre is the second initiative launched this month by a founding member of the startup unconferencing movement that kicked off in India just a few years ago. Last week we talked about the launch of HeadStart Ventures, started by HeadStart Network Foundation co-founder Kallol Borah. Proto.in and HeadStart Network Foundation are now established startup showcase forums here. Their success seems to have begun to spawn new initiatives, led (not surprisingly) by their alumni, to take the development of the startup ecosystem to the next level.

Chennai will be the venue for The Startup Centre’s launch Read the full story

Somebody please tell me what exactly happened at the three-day Bootcamp that preceded Proto.in Edition 6. The agenda note said that the Bootcamp would, among other things, “teach and groom (the showcase startups) with everything that goes into the mastery of delivering a pitch.” The results at the July 25 showcase in Pune were disastrous, to say the least. Not one startup that presented at the showcase (each was given six minutes) answered with precision or satisfaction the six essential questions that a good elevator pitch should address:

1. What does the product or service do? Guy Kawasaki recommends in ‘The Art Of The Start’ (recommended reading for every bootstrapped entrepreneur) that this question should be answered in less than a minute. Which means it has to be simple and precise.
2. Who are you selling to? The entrepreneur should be able to clearly identify the end user, which should automatically illustrate why that person would be using his product or service.
3. How will you make money? Most pitches at the showcase spent the least time on this one. Read the full story