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Have an idea?

Here’s a platform to link entrepreneurs and venture capitalists

Building the bridge Sharing business propositions

Have a great business idea? Proto.in links men who have a business vision with those who have the money. Once in six months, it conducts a closed-door, two-day event that brings together

The next edition of Proto.in takes place on July 21 and 22. With NASSCOM, IAMAI, TiE and TeNet being behind Proto.in, the July edition promises to be a big one. The chief organiser of Proto.in Vijay Anand says, “Venture capital firms Sequoia Capital, Canaan Partners, Matrix Partners, Greylock Partners, Mentor Partners, Clearstone Ventures and Band of Angels have confirmed participation.”

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.

At Proto.in, an entrepreneur is provided six minutes to present his case. As the number of participants is high, a grace time of just one minute is conceded. “We’ll pull the plug after the extra sixty seconds,” says Anand.

The presenter can’t resort to power-points. And he has to have a working prototype. VCs don’t throw their money around. They will back a product or a start-up only if they are clear what they are getting into. So, Proto.in conducts rehearsals for these embryonic entrepreneurs on the first day at IIT. The rest of the event will take place at a star hotel. Anand and his team (called ‘The Knowledge Foundation’) have been sifting through applications.

Proto.in is weighed towards technology start-ups and innovative products. The last edition (also the first one) had 120 nominations, but only 27 made it to the event. Several products were connected with telecom, automobile and IT industries.

Participants of the last edition are invited to the July event. “A start-up needs to be in touch with start-ups for forging alliances or networking.”

Participation in Proto.in is not free. A fee of Rs.10,000 has to be paid. Anand says, “Proto.in has been inspired by Demo.com. But Demo.com is out of bounds for most. To participate in it, one has to pay a whopping $24,000.”

For details, log on to Proto.in or call 9444923443/ 9894101373.

PRINCE FREDERICK

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