“The second edition of Proto.in, a networking event for venture capitalists and technology start-ups, gets underway in Chennai on 21 July 2007. The event debuted in January this year and saw 27 startups showcase their ideas and product prototypes. The response from venture capitalists was muted though – just 7 or 8 VCs showed up at the event. This year there are 25 VCs.
Co-organizer Vijay Anand, who has been involved with Proto since its inception, spoke to Namitha Jagadeesh of Mint about the objective of the event, and what one can expect at the two-day show.”
An excellent read for those wanting to get a quick bird’s eye view of Proto.in.
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The 2nd edition of Proto.in will open in exactly 8 days. It’s the event where 20 of the best startups from India (& Malaysia), selected from over 100 contenders, will get exactly 6 minutes of stage time to present to an impressive line up of Venture Capitalists, Angel Investors, Media Professionals, CEOs & Technology Influencers.
Proto.in has grown impressively in its 2nd edition. I’m not saying this just because I’m part of the organizing team. Take a look for yourself.
* The line up of VCs & Angels is one of the best I’ve seen. You must take a look at the list. It’s almost the Who’s who. If you are an entrepreneur or technologist looking for connections, you should be brain-dead to miss this opportunity.
* The event saw over 100 nominations from startups…. and this within 6 months of Proto.in’s first edition earlier this year. Many said its too early and there may not be that many startups. We’ve proved otherwise. An indication of a strong entrepreneurial growth in India. Take a look at the breakup of the nominated companies by categories.
* The event has been sold out. We can accommodate about 200 members as audience and all the seats have been sold out at least a month before the event. We had to expand by opening up the adjacent halls with live video feed, a la TED. Guess what? We sold out those extra 100 seats as well.
* We hired a professional PR agency to help us with media and its paid off. Proto.in has been covered by Red Herring, Economic Times, Business Standard, The Hindu, The Financial Express, Business Line, MoneyControl.com, IT Magazine, EFY and BusinessWorld magazine.
* We held road shows in Bangalore and Delhi. Mumbai & Pune roadshows had to be called off due to the rains. Road shows take lots of effort, time and money but judging by the turn out of entrepreneurs and media, it was worth it.
* The event is supported by leading industry bodies : TiE, NASSCOM, TeNeT, IAMAI. They have been helpful in reaching out to influential members and that’s paid very well. Connections matter and how!
* There’s definitive signs Proto.in will be a Pan-Asian event in the coming years. This time, the Malaysian government had shown interest and there are over 15 Malaysian companies that were nominated for Proto. This will only get bigger.
* Proto.in’s progress has been very well documented at the Proto Blog by the lead man, Vijay Anand. A good way to know the turn of events leading to the big day.
* And oh, the Proto.in tshirts were put up on Myntra (a nominated company) on an experimental basis and the number of Tshirts sold surprised us. We bought a few ourselves. I put them on, not withstanding my shoulder pain, so you can take a look.
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A Nice Article in The Hindu Explaining Proto.in
The Hindu has a fantastic write-up about Proto.in, a startup showcase event that a bunch of us at The Knowledge Foundation are organizing. Prince Frederick has done a good job in explaining what Proto is all about.
Yesterday, while at the Web 2.0 Event in Mumbai, I had a chance to meet up with many entrepreneurs and a few VCs and there were quite a few who wanted to know what the event is about. This is exactly the sort of article that I would want to forward to them. If you wanted to know about Proto, the article recommended reading.
Quoting a para from the article.
Start-ups from across the Asia-Pacific region have been invited to participate. It is based on the concept called ‘elevator pitch’. “At Proto.in, you are in the same situation as when you run into Bill Gates on the elevator. Gates is squeezed for time and it is difficult to catch his attention once he gets out of the elevator. So, you can pitch your business idea at Gates only as long as both of you travel together on the elevator. At the most, you get a minute and a half with Gates. At Proto.in, you are definitely better off,” says Anand.
Here’s the photo that accompanied the article.
From left to right: (Me, Vicky, Vijay Anand, Ravi Shankar, Syed Razik, Aswin Anand & Jay)
Earlier, Red Herring, a prestigious biz magazine in the US & worldwide, had a wonderful coverage as well.
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Planning Proto.in Second Edition
Proto.in is clearly India’s biggest entrepreneurship showcase event. The planning for the second edition has already begun in earnest and the team met up today to brainstorm on how to raise the bar even higher. It was one of most productive meeting with a lot of ideas flowing in. It was also one of the most debated meetings with a lot of decisions contested and mulled over. The whole idea is to make the event a lot better than the first edition. The event is scheduled for July 21 & 22 at IIT Madras.
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