The Śūnyatā (Openness) Blog

A good discussion is developing on the 'need for more incubators in India' at Sramana Mitra's blog . I thought I will post my take on it here first and then add a comment there. Ok..going by all the reports, more and more VC money is coming to India. But as we all have been told umpteen times, there are too few deals.I guess deals here refer to high tech and internet deals, and not non-technology deals. So, what does the eco system need really? Let us identify the issues first. 1.Experienced industry professionals prefer to work in IT service provider companies than working in Startps. Reason: Some of them did try to join startps around 2000 or so, but then the dot com bust made them get back to IT SPs, licking the wounds so to speak. 2.There are very few startups where the team is strong and has trust, a proper vision is in place, and they are backed by some able and experienced ('adult supervision' according to Sramana Mitra) grey heads. 3.Leave alone senior heads...

We have been planning to meet a friend and his family for almost 3 months now. Over the weekend, we finally managed it. This friend stays in a place called Bilekahalli, off Bannerughatta Road in Bangalore. I have never been to any of these residential areas developing on either side of Bannerughatta Road. Like the rest of the city, even Bilekahalli has literally scores of apartment complexes coming up. The talk soon turned to real estate, as it does between most IT professionals these days.But since neither of us are really looking for a real estate investment, it was more a general discussion on the boom than any thing else. And then, a third friend came by, carrying a bunch of glossy brochures of various residential ventures. This guy is actively looking for an apartment to buy, and is totally confused about the choices on offer. And guess what, there is no one trying to help him make what is probably one of the most important investment decisions he will ever make. And this is where...

Hello, and welcome back ! After my last post, I had to rush to UK again to work with a valued customer for 3 weeks.Came back in December, and then went off on a vacation. Must write a post on Maravanthe beach this weekend:-) Thought I will start posting here again (During my hiatus, I posted couple of times at TWIN ) . Especially after reading this post on Venturewoods . If you are still here, or have come back after reading the great post and the comments on Venturewoods, read on for my take: 1.Firstly, I don't think one needs an MBA to be an analyst at a VC firm. It is a different matter that majority of the VC crowd seem to think that way. It is more a question of being able to do basic math and demonstrating a lot of common sense, networking skills, interpersonal skills, etc etc. And of course, decent amount of domain knowledge in one or more areas, and yes, the ability to be an 'aggressive learner'. Some one who can read up on a new domain for a week or so, apply exi...