How should you plan for hardware while launching ?
Say you bootstrap your Internet startup and are on the verge of either making a public announcement or pitch media-bloggers about the impending launch of your startup.
My question is - how do you anticipate the traffic load and how do you plan accordingly for any contingency? Assuming that the pitch was successful and you get a moderate to sizeable amount of traffic, if you are on a shared hosting plan, chances are that the site may cripple under the load.That would be a nightmare for any Internet entrepreneur - getting all the coveted user traffic, but hardware resources fail to keep up.
On the flip side, you might be faced with the scenario that you opted for a dedicated hosting plan and the traffic just never came. And now the 100-300$ + monthly costs for the dedicated server are a strain on your pocket - at least till the traffic to the site builds up.
Probably, this isnt as big an issue –and more so, I’m just curious to find out what others think about the same. If you’ve already been through such a scenario, what decision did you finally opt for ? Did it work out to be the better decision ?
TiE-ISB Connect 2008, TiE-Canaan Entrepreneurial Challenge 2008
TiE-ISB Connect is back with its highly successful business plan presentation opportunity. Entrepreneurs are invited to submit a maximum of 5 page abstract of their business idea to TiE-ISB Connect Committee to get the opportunity to meet and interact with leading Capitalist’s of the world on November 5-7 as they seek to fund bright ideas and cool start ups. Participants for the 2008 Business Plan Presentations can register at http://www.tie-isbconnect.com. The last date for submission of Business Plans closes on 15th June 2008.
Over the last 3 years the event attracted over 1000 business plans and over 50 Venture Capitalists.
The second edition of the TiE-Canaan Entrepreneurial Challenge is planned for this year. The contest invites applications from entrepreneurs (startups and early stage companies). Interested participants need to download and submit their applications from the contest website. The deadline for submission of applications is May 12, 2008. Eight teams will be shortlisted and invited to present in front of a jury.
Benefits to the participants include mentoring sessions, access to investors, profiling in media and invitation to an exclusive ISB program.
Fostering Entrepreneurship does not translate to handholding or babysitting
Since the startup-entrepreneurship ecosystem in India hasnt fully developed, folks are bound to have questions - genuine questions related to VC funding, entrepreneurship, technical questions, operational questions etc.
However, I’ve noticed a somewhat disturbing trend amongst the younger, college going demographic, who are aspiring to become entrepreneurs. They’re looking for way too much hand holding and probably misinterpreting what entrepreneurship really means. Let me elaborate. I frequently get emails (generalized below) of the type
- “Have a Web 2.0 idea. How do I go about implenting it ?”
- “Want to start a social networking company. How to do it ?”
- “Interested in starting gaming company. How to proceed ?”
I thought these were one-off occurrences and ignored them. However, I started noticing more of such questions pop up else where. For instance, check the “Ask the expert” section on the NEN website. There are a lot of open-ended questions and it seems as if several of them are looking for like the procedural guide to starting a business.
Exit strategy and revenue model for Indian startups
Startups and the startup ecosystem in India are making impressive strides. Just going by the number and quality of startups that launched in 2007 as compared to 2006, I can vouch for the fact that both are getting progressively much better.
But there’s one thing that I’m trying hard to find an answer to - how these startups intend to sustain / are sustaining themselves. Most of the the Indian startups follow either a transactional model for revenue generation or rely on the advertising model (pimped by the Web 2.0 world) or have no business model at the time of launching. While revenue generation isnt an issue in the former, its the latter two that baffle me somewhat.
Startups need a means to sustain themselves till they find an exit strategy. A successful exit strategy would normally translate into either an IPO or getting acquired by a bigger player. But till that happens, the startup needs money - to keep the servers running, pay bills etc. Most of the current breed of Indian startups seem to be bootstrapped. A few lucky ones might have secured angel - VC funding. But for the others, how long would the bootstrapping work ? Would an advertising supported business model work for them ?
The trend for ad supported business models has originated from Silicon Valley, but the dynamics in the Valley have been quite different. Buoyed by the number of successful M&A/IPO exits, VC’s have been pumping money into Internet startups. Others have found success through the advertising model and can independently sustain themselves.
Naming your Internet startup
“Whats in a name ?” So thought Shakespeare in his play “Romeo and Juliet”.
If only he were alive today to see how woefully wrong he is.
Finding a suitable, appropriate and catchy name for your Internet startup can be an immensely challenging task. Unlike brick & mortar stores, a startup name means everything in the Internet world - the Internet address, the brand, the email - everything. Screw it up and it may be very difficult to change it later.
Getting the right idea is a big challenge - no doubts about it. However, once the idea has been conceived, you’re faced with the next hurdle - naming your startup. You can spend as much time or as little time as you want on this task.
Here are a few guidelines that you’ll need to consider while searching and deciding a name for your startup:
- Is this name simple and unambiguous ? Is there a good chance that the name can be spelled differently ?
I say this from my own experience. A lot of folks mistakingly spell my blog as “Startup Duniya” and search for the same in Google. When I bought my domain, I hadnt put a lot of thought to this possible ambiguity. In hindsight, I might have probably opted for an alternative. To an Internet startup, this can very well mean difference between survival and death.
- Is the domain name available ?
This is by far one of the biggest factors that impacts the naming process and makes it so challenging and often times, frustrating. As soon as you think of a name, odds are 50 to 1 that the domain name has already been taken.
Foreign returned Indians partly fueling the Indian Internet entrepreneurship scene
Over the weekend, I was reviewing the wave of Internet startups emerging in the Indian market. There seemed to be a common thread across a lot of these startups, which I couldnt exactly pinpoint in the first glance. On a second follow through, I was kind of able to put a handle on it.
It seems that a lot of the new Indian Internet startups have a foreign connection. Either one or all the founders have been based in a foreign country at some point of time. Pursuing either higher education or a professional career. And then returned to India to pursue their entrepreneurial dream.
Consider the following list I was able to compile in a few minutes:
MarketHero, BookEazy, FirstPhera, SadakMap, Nunook, Criticat, Kyazoonga, IndyaRocks, Komli, Burrp, Picsquare, Ixigo, Cleartrip etc.
In context of the Indian Internet entrepreneurial scene, the list above is one which you cant ignore. They do constitute a moderate size of the overall Indian Internet startup space. Of course, by no means should this be interpreted in the wrong sense - that the Indian entrepreneurship scene is fueled solely by these breed of foreign returned entrepreneurs.
But as this trend became apparent, I was more curious to explore it further - why is it that so many foreign returned Indians are taking to entrepreneurship ? Was it something during their stay abroad that triggered the entrepreneurial bug ? Has their experience abroad broadened their outlook and appetite for risks ? Would they have had the same outlook if they’d stayed in India all along ?
I’d love to hear what you have to say - so take a moment and let me know your perspective.
Frugality tenets for Startups
March 10, 2008 · Posted in Entrepreneurship · 4 CommentsJason Calacanis started a great debate over the weekend by offering 17 free tips to startups.
The gist of the 17 tips can be summarized in two words - “Be Frugal“.
Some quotes and posts that I liked from other blogs:
From Mark Cuban’s blog:
- Don’t start a company unless its an obsession and something you love. (my $0.02 - even if you are passionate about your idea - startup, if there isnt a market need for it, chances are you might fail)
- If you have an exit strategy, its not an obsession.
- Know your core competencies and focus on being great at them. Pay up for people in your core competencies. Get the best. Outside the core competencies, hire people that fit your culture but are cheap
From Fred Wilson’s blog:
- I encourage our portfolio companies to hire a person inside the company to be an “evangelist”. That job includes blogging actively, reading and commenting and linking to other blogs, reaching out to the media and industry analysts and gurus, going to conferences and events, and generally getting the word out. (Google communicates primarily and frequently via blogs. Scoble did some great evangelism at M’soft)
Finally, I loved this from Tony Wright’s blog:
Human beings love formulas. Human beings who succeed naturally think that they’ve stumbled onto a magical step-by-step guide on how other people can succeed, too. They blog about it, speak about it, and generally spread their wisdom far and wide.
The funny thing is that when you read/hear enough of this stuff, you start hearing brilliant and successful people presenting advice that directly conflicts with the advice from other brilliant and successful people.
All of the advice that you read and hear is incredibly valuable– but it’s very situational. Add it to your “startup utility belt†and whip it out when you hit a bump in the road that looks familiar.
As an aside, I’m in serious awe of Jason’s marketing savvy and his ability to generate these blogosphere firestorms.
Indian tech entrepreneurs - I want to hear from you
March 5, 2008 · Posted in Entrepreneurship · 15 CommentsWe keep discussing about issues like broadband penetration in India, attracting good talent, early stage funding problems etc..
However, at this time, I’d like to take a moment and solicit input from Indian startups and entrepreneurs.
- What are some of the pain points you are witnessing (have witnessed) related to the Indian startup scene ?
- What are the top 3 things you wish were different / can be improved in the Indian ecosystem ?
- What sort of response are you seeing from the online Indian audience ?
- Do you have any advice - tips for other aspiring Indian tech entrepreneurs ?
I hope these questions generate some healthy discussions, which will be useful to the entire community. Feel free to address any other topic, which you think might be relevant and useful.
I request all of you Indian entrepreneurs to provide your input - I know you’re busy, but your perspective is really important.
Yes Vijay, I agree. Startups do Fail
Vijay Anand, key Proto organizer, wonders why Indian tech blogs are creating a fuss about failed startups. In a post over at VentureWoods, he writes:
“I am seeing a flurry of activity among the tech blogs who’ve caught on a interesting topic to latch onto. Failed startups. If you ask me, I am not sure what the big fuss in this is about.
Birds fly. Fishes Swim. Deals Fall through and Startups Fail. This is the natural order of things. The only thing we can do is alleviate the chances of success for a startup by a small degree. We do not, neither can anyone assure anyone of success and failures totally. Heck, the Silicon valley, which is considered to be this rich ecosystem, has its fair share of failures. What are we going to do about that? ”
In my response below, I speak for myself and not other tech bloggers - so please interpret it as such.
Vijay, no one is making a ‘fuss’ about failed startups. As a tech blogger, who reports on new startup launches, I only see it as fair to cover about startup failures as well. After all - failures are part of the ecosystem. Else, we’d end up covering only one end of the spectrum, which would be unfair. Silicon Valley failures dont go unnoticed either (TC deadpool).
Talking about startup failures is also good in a way for young, recent college grads,entrepreneur wannabes. They shouldnt get the impression that entrepreneurship is all hunky dory and sexy. Its a risky, challenging affair, with high probability for failure. Educating them about such failures would help them to make the assessment if entrepreneurship is their cup of tea.
Glorifying failure would be wrong - and I have tried to stay away from it.
Finally, I’d also like to add this - when a company like ByIndia, which made audacious claims like being the fastest growing search engine and SocNet site for Indians & which started the (in)famous $5 million sweepstakes fails, you cant help feeling a devilish pleasure reporting about it. I maybe guilty of that and I’m totally fine with it.
Commuter Feed - broadcast traffic reports using Twitter
CommuterFeed is a new startup that uses Twitter to receive and broadcast traffic updates.
Now, why does this sound so familiar ?
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