SiliconIndia Startupcity event in Bangalore – Speeches
As usual I was late by about an hour or so. So, I totally missed the first speech by Sanjeev, CEO of Naukri.com and Ajit, CEO of Rediff.com (So much for professionalism 🙂 )
So, when I went in, there was a speech going on about Cloud Computing. It was a very brief introduction to Cloud Computing (By Amazon) and they focussed more on how Cloud Computing can help new technology startup’s to test their prototypes. Like, if someone develops a new application and that requires say, multiple servers and a lot of disk space, they could like rent the infrastructure with Amazon only for the time that they need to test them. Of course, the application could be hosted there, but the payment was on a hourly basis (They even gave out the tariff!)
The next speech was by Sun Microsystems on their Startup essentials programme. Here they told about how startup companies (At least having an SQL database and some other criteria as mentioned in their website) could register for their program for free and utilize their resources – technical (and even marketing) for free (For testing purpose, Co-marketing etc.). You could get more information in their link.
The next speech was by Nokia. They insisted on developing an ecosystem for a wide category of service providers in the mobile internet space. They asked the start up companies to look in to the end user needs in India’s niche segments and come up with models and services (on mobile) for these segments. It seems anyone (developers) can access their remote device access over the internet for testing the mobile applications on the Nokia mobile phones (existing and soon to be released). But no one was clear as to how the revenue is going to be generated via the mobile internet!
The last, and the most interesting speech was given by Mr. Sanjay Nayak – One of the Founders of Tejas Networks (who provide carrier class network and communication solutions for the Telecom Service providers across the globe. It is an Indian company, by the way). Some of the interesting highlights from his speech on that day:
“Win in India, you can win the world”
“When you have a good solution for the domestic market, a lot of partnerships wil open up in the world level”
“Take advantage of the lesser R&D costs offered by the Indian market”
“We always raised more money and we raised them when we didn’t need them. Create value with what you get, whenever you get it”
“Find a niche that big players are not concentrating on (There are always such niches) and concentrate on them. To get an idea of such a niche, just talk to the customers. They know better”
“We outsource almost all our hardware component manufacturing. The fact that China is making strides in hardware segment need not bother us. The differentiator and the heart of the technology is in the software. Not the hardware. And India is already a leader in that”
“Defence segment is the biggest spender in any market, during any time. So, even in India, a start-up ecosystem needs to be developed around the defence segment as that would fuel a lot of innovation and good returns. Most of the leading technologies are manufactured for the defence segment, and then adopted in other consumer/commercial streams”
That was a heart warming speech, to listen to an Indian company which is making global in-roads in a highly technical field with good success.
Then there were the product introductions by various start-up companies and I too visited their stalls to have a peek at the products they were showcasing. I am covering the technologies being developed by some companies specific to the IT networking technology domain in my other website – excITingIP.com – Blog section. Do visit there, if you are interested in them.
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VERY interesting 🙂
I just hope those statements weren't just morale-boosters and hold enuff truth in them too!
wish you hadn't missed out on the first two speeches!
loved the idea of Amazon and Sun helping lend infrastructure for start-ups ..even tho temporarily. that's a huge resource-base being available at one go and shud provide a good boost to new companies..
I didn't feel that way. After a long time, some one (a company which was already in the bigger league) is speaking positive things and I am glad for that itself. But starting a company, taking it to a level and all that does require a lot of efforts and will face a lot of challenges – no doubt. That is any day expected.
I was lazy as usual, I mean – who wakes up so early (9 AM) in Bangalore? But still so many people had filled up the hall before I went and I had to sit in another hall where they were live broadcasting that event.
Amazon and Sun are doing it, may be they would gain some thing by that too… But still the kind of resources that is available for today's techies is un-paralled. I guess the only thing that stops our techies from becoming entrepreneurs is their laziness and attitude.
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Thanks for sharing them. Was this an event with invitation ?
No, a lot of techies from Bangalore and also elsewhere came to attend. It was like a normal exhibition, but with speeches focussed on start-up companies. There was not even a entrance fee and it was open to all the public.
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Sounds like a really cool conference. Glad you had the opportunity to go. And I still think you're professional. 🙂
I like such comments, Thanks – 🙂
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Yup really high profile bunch there.
You did great in picking up the highlights.They sure sound promising.
Let me browse through your site. On first look, it looks elegant and well directed.
Cheers :).
It was an interesting event, I wish more start up companies on the technology sector come up from India. Nice initiative.
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Great info, DI! I wish I was there…was it only about startups in the IT field?
Most of the companies were from the IT field – Internet, Software, applications, wireless etc. The crowd was also tech!
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is software it ? I don't think so – a combination of both is required 🙂
What he said was, the real differentiator of any product lies in the software. In fact, he gave even a percentage – 90% of his employees are involved in software design and only 10% are involved in hardware design. They themselves outsource the hardware to other companies. Hardware manufacturing according to a given set of specifications is not really tough – but quality and the processes need to be maintained. Designing those specifications are the toughest thing. And secondly development of separate modules of software is not so tough. Planning all that, integrating all that, marketing that etc – The macro level stuff is what the most important – And India is certainly lagging behind in that.
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Actually I feel you have missed the heart of the event, it was not about Amazon or Nokia sharing their gyan. The startupcity event was to showcase some of the new and upcoming startups in and around bangalore. And all of them were out in the stalls and not inside the conference rooms. There were many good ones, including ours 🙂
I am covering the individual start ups, if they are from India, and if they fall in the IT networking category, in my other website and I have given the link to it at the end. But this being my personal blog, has readers who may not be interested in the individual stalls and the technology showcased by them. That's why I just represented the speeches, which was general and might interest some! No doubt, the spirit of the event was at the stalls…..
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