Nasscom's 10,000 Startup program now aims for innovators from smaller towns

In preparation for phase three of the 10,000 Startup Program beginning June 2014, National Association for Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) has tied up with two more outreach partners to channel into their database of startups and has launched the Great Indian Startup Carvnival this month.

Angel Hack and Lean Startup Machine, both Valley-based outfits with arms in India are outreach partners to the program taking the total count to ten. Angel Hack focuses on developer and designer community by organizing large scale hackathons in the form of the Global Hackathon competition, which happens twice a year (Spring and Fall), bringing together 10,000+ developers each time. NASSCOM is their prime partner for their five events in India - Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai and Kochi.

Lean Startup Machine help entrepreneurs build their operational capabilities to take them to the next level of growth through crash mentoring sessions. It organizes intensive three-day workshops that teach entrepreneurs and innovators how to build disruptive products based on the lean startup methodologies.

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“Before we get into round three of applications we want to increase our reach. These initiatives and partnerships we feel will generate 500 odd applications who will apply into the next round of the program. Our involvement is to channel into their events and get hold of startups to apply to us,” said Delhi-based Rajat Tandon, senior director, 10,000 Startup in a telephonic interview with FirstBiz.

[caption id=“attachment_85404” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Rajat Tandon. Image: Nasscom[/caption]

Since its launch early last year, the program has conducted over 220 events across 15 cities, with a majority of these being held in larger cities. Now, going forward Tandon said they want to increase the presence and reach of the program in tier 2 and 3 cities of India.

To facilitate the same the program has partnered with Pune-based Sparkpluggers, a group of volunteers who go to small towns and evangelize on entrepreneurship as a career choice. “Our goal was to reach smaller cities. In phase two we saw some nice applications from small towns though it comprised of only 5-7 percent of total applications received,” Tandon shared.

In November 2013, the second phase of applications, 197 startups were shortlisted from 3000 applications. “We were getting 1000 applications a week, and so we stopped in third week,” Tandon said highlighting the success of the program.

Talking of future plans for the program Tandon said that for third phase and beyond they plan to take the 10,000 Startup online to accelerate the cycle. “So we can roll in applications every quarter and not once in six months and our community partners can see them all the time. Six months is too long for a startup, they can pivot or build another product in that time,” Tandon pointed.

Between first two phases of the program 32 startups have undergone acceleration programs, 34 have been funded, and 65 mentored and connected with. “Some startups from the second phase are still being impacted,” said Tandon. To date, the program has 19 accelerators and incubators and 15 funding partners.