The Hindu : National : IIM student gets mother as an investor

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IIM student gets mother as an investor

Special Correspondent

Kolkata: Ankur Gattani, a student of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, is not having to scout around for an angel investor or a venture capitalist who would pump in money for his start-up venture. His mother is loaning him the initial fund.

“I have not approached external investors as yet, mothers are angels anyway and my mom is my angel investor too” says Mr. Gattani who has earned the distinction of being the only student in the 2006-08 batch of IIM-C to opt out of the placement process. And instead of taking up a lucrative job, Mr. Gattani is floating a venture, launching a portal.

Called lifelines.com the portal will make it simple to record biography, small collections of anecdotes which can either be stored privately or shared with selected people, says Mr. Gattani.

“In today’s fast-paced life we tend to lose out on the little moments and little pleasures of life, tending to lose touch with not only those around us but also ourselves, the portal will help people record those special moments.” He intends to create a platform to simplify knowledge-creation by thought leaders from different walks of life who do not write too often and thus access to their knowledge is limited.

An alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Mr. Gattani had earlier opted out of the placement process there in 2006. He had interned with Educomp Solutions where he got initiated into the high-action Internet business world. He is confident that he will have launched his venture before his convocation on April 5. “It will give me a fulltime job before most of my friends on the campus join their jobs,” he said.

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