10,000 Startups boosts entrepreneurship in India. Director Rajat Tandon explains how

Nasscom’s 10,000 Startups programme is aimed at angel funding and accelerating technology startups in the country. The software industry body recently said that it has devised strategy toincrease the programme’s presence and reach in tier-2 and -3 cities in the country. Launched early last year, the programme has conducted over 220 events across 15 cities, with a majority of these being held in larger cities.Senior director Rajat Tandon spoke to Firstbiz about the lessons Nasscom has learnt from the first year of the programme and how it intends to work with the new government to encourage India’s nascent but promising entrepreneurial scene.

What has the response been like to the 10,000 Startups initiative in the first year?

Tandon: The programme over the last one year has significantly scaled up the start-up ecosystem in the country through multi-fold activities, aimed at fostering entrepreneurship and providing robust early stage support. The programme has organised over 200+ events in more than 15 cities and over 10,000 participants have attended these events. Some of the bigger events have been under the aegis of the “In Conversation with” series where startups get the opportunity to interact with global icons like Eric Schmidt, Michael Dell, Vinod Khosla, Nandan Nilekani, Rajendra Pawar, Vivek Wadhwa, Uday Kotak and Rahul Sood. We are overwhelmed with the response received for the programme so far; having achieved numerous milestones in this journey.~
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What lessons has Nasscom 10,000 Startup Program learnt? What will it change/do differently this year?

**Tandon:**Concept validation is a huge opportunity area to support a vibrant ecosystem and if in India we can create more platforms to help startups validate their ideas/concepts/prototypes, we would be taking care of a number of questions/issues which startups face. There is need for more platforms that can help people find co-founders and more platforms like Hackathons etc where individuals with ideas can find techies to support it.

Many startups are chasing the same set of problems which are already being solved by other players. We need both kinds of problem solvers - one who would chase the ‘solved’ problems more innovatively than the existing market and another who would chase problems which have not been attempted. The investor ecosystem also needs to be prepared to take more risks in the 2nd category. The Nasscom 10,000 Startup programme is undertaking various initiatives to evangelise awareness on the latter and encourage aspiring entrepreneurs to focus on the next wave of technological solutions like Internet of Things, Aadhaar, 3D printing etc.

The funding cycle is largely dependent upon VCs which usually invest in upwards of $500,000. However, there is a huge gap in the Rs 10-20 lakh seed stage funding ecosystem to fund early stage prototypes and hence there is a need to encourage a culture of experimentation. We also need to build a robust mentoring network at the prototype stage level so that entrepreneurs can gain from the experience and connections of senior people from the industry.

Hiring the right resources is a tremendous challenge for tech startups and particularly for early stage bootstrapped companies. The skills required in startups are significantly different from the one required in large companies and currently there is a very small (almost negligible pool) of fresh talent that can take up these roles. We need to lay emphasis on creating a talent pool from mainstream education that can meet the skillsets required by startups so that more startup ready talent is readily available.

What does Nasscom look for when culling out potentials from so many applicants?

Tandon: In the first round, we do a hygiene check on whether the idea is an innovative tech venture and is in line with the 10,000 Startups initiative. Pure play services, web and mobile development services are kept out and so are the applications received from ideas about non-tech ventures.

As part of the evaluation process, we also prune startups which are similar to existing startups and do not showcase a differentiating factor. In the subsequent round, every application is reviewed by at least two evaluators who are part of the evaluation panel comprising of accelerators, investors and VCs.

What sectors, in terms of startups, do you see booming in India in the near future?

Tandon: Drawing from the flavour of the application received by the programme in phase I and II (7,000 in all) we saw tremendous interest in education, retail, e-commerce, media and communication and healthcare. From a technology platform point of view SMAC (social, mobile, analytics, cloud) are the top technologies which startups are working on these days. In our subsequent phases the focus would be on identifying and fostering startups who are building on new upcoming technologies.

What expectations does Nasscom have from the next government?

Tandon: The Indian IT-BPM sector is a key enabler for India’s economy - driving exports and employment; having demonstrated robust performance over the past two decades. The emergence of a rapidly growing ecosystem for innovation driven by young, tech savvy entrepreneurs is a powerful new complement to the existing global reach of the industry. These strengths should be used strategically to achieve many of the critical national goals for the country.

There is a need for policy measures to create an ecosystem that nurtures young businesses and accelerates their growth. Nasscom recommends setting up a National Entrepreneurship Mission aimed at offering simpler rules for smaller companies to set-up and reduce the compliance & regulatory burden.

The government needs to draft policies to encourage IP creation and protection for effective monetisation, providing hassle-free patents registration. Nasscom has also suggested changes in taxation on investments by slashing taxation rate of 30 percent on angel investment. We are positive that such initiatives will enable thousands of entrepreneurs to set up and grow their businesses, propelling India’s economy.