Anand Daniel

SaaS Tools Aimed At Startups

I just got back home after the unpluggd event here in Bangalore. Checked out some really cool demos. I want to highlight some that are trying to solve problems that startups run into and can't afford expensive solutions. Here are a few such cool SaaS based offerings (in no particular order):

  • interviewstreet.com - if you are looking to hire programmers this is a cool SaaS company that helps automate testing the programming aptitude of your applicants. Customers: Facebook, Google, Flipkart, etc
  • 99tests.com - crowdsourced QA testing for startups. Customers: Flipkart, etc
  • freshdesk.com - SaaS customer support system started by ex-Zoho guys. Customers: 30+
  • unbxd.com - search tool for ecomerce sites. Customers: 6
  • recruiterbox.com - SaaS based company for startups to manage the job application process end to end. Customers: 50+
  • Exotel.in - SaaS based unified voice SMS solutions. Customers: 8

All these companies made a compelling case about solving real issues that startups face, in a cost effective fashion. Most of them have a free one month trial or freemium offer. If you are a startup and want to help your fellow entrepreneurs, please try out some of these tools. 

I have added these companies under the Tools section of EntrepreneursToolBox. If you are a startup and use any other such cool tools/products created by entrepreneurs in your ecosystem, please drop me a note or leave a comment. I will collate all the feedback and do a more detailed post if enough responses/interest in this topic.

Startup Competitions - How Do They Help?

Recently, I had the chance to be one of the judges at a startup competition. After the event, I was thinking through whether these competitions are helpful to the participating startups and if so how. Overall, my conclusion is that these competitions are indeed helpful but the startups need to be strategic about picking the right competitions and not overdoing it by entering too many of these. Here's my reasoning.

How startup competitions help

  • Free marketing - This is self explanatory. For a cash strapped startup, getting free publicity through the right competition could be hugely helpful. To pick an example from my Boston days, the MIT 100K competition has led to the creation of about 150 companies over the years including successful ones like Akamai Technologies. The startups in this competition get reasonable amount of recognition/free marketing through various media circles.
  • Exposure to investors and mentors - Through these competitions, a startup can also get exposure to investors and mentors in a lower risk setting. If an investor gets exposure to your startup through the competition and likes you he/she will most probably follow-up to take the conversation forward. Also, through these competitions a startup could meet experienced entrepreneurs who could mentor your startup to success. 
  • Firming up the business plan and pitch - The structure around these competitions forces you to think through your business plan and helps you shape it better. Also, your pitching skills (either the short elevator pitch or longer version) will definitely get exercised and refined through the various stages of these competitions. 
  • Answering tough questions - If the competition has the right set of judges, the startup will be asked some tough questions around their business plan. This would be a great way for the startup to prepare for answering such questions and thereby refining their business plan in a lower risk environment. 

Things to watch out for

  • Picking the right competitions - I think this is something that startups don't necessarily think about. I would encourage the startups to think whether the competition serves the above mentioned benefits (and anything else specific to your company). In addition, is the competition in the right domain/industry for your startup (e.g. consumer startups vs enterprise vs medical technology, etc.)
  • Over exposure - This is one thing that I find a common issue. When I look at some of the competitions over the past year that I have judged or attended, I see some startups that have entered almost all the competitions (and some have not won any of them). So much so, that someone called a startup a "professional competitor". This might be ok if you are winning these competitions. For example, I know a startup in the US that won every business plan competition they entered and ended up using that as seed money. But, if you entered a couple and didn't win, its obviously not the end of the world. After all, I'm assuming your goal is to build a successful startup and not necessarily winning competitions. Please think about this. If anything, entering too many competitions might hurt your chances of getting funded by an investor (if raising outside capital is in your plans) since they would wonder why so many other investors who looked at the company through these competitions not invest.
  • Premature exposure - This is also something to watch out for. If your business plan is very premature and you will not be able to do a good job pitching/answering questions, you are better of refining your pitch before entering a competition. After all, the saying that "First impression is the best impression" is very true for startups as well. You want to put your best foot forward in these competitions and for that you need to be really well prepared.

Those are my quick thoughts on this very important topic for startups as they consider entering various competitions. Would love to hear your perspectives on this.

Note: Published by yourstory.in here

Investing in Education - MIT Enterprise Forum Event

I had the pleasure of participating in the MIT Enterprise Forum Bangalore's kick-off event last night. The topic for the night was "Education". The event was well attended and it was great to see the entrepreneurial energy and excitement among the participants around this sector.

I was asked to share my perspective on investing in education and so I put together a few slides on the topic. Post the event, I have received a handful of requests to share the presentation. And so, here it is (a cleaned up and shortened version). Obviously, without the verbal commentary this presentation only tells a partial story. But, happy to engage with entrepreneurs who share a mutual interest in improving the education ecosystem in India.

Investing in Indian Education Ecosystem

Employee Equity Allocation

Employee Equity Allocation I get this question often (and was asked again today). I wanted to include links to two really good posts (that I point entrepreneurs too) on this topic that are relevant to startups around the globe.

The first is by Fred Wilson who is a VC and a prolific blogger (one of my favorite VC bloggers):
http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2010/11/employee-equity-how-much.html

The second is by a Sillicon Valley based entrepreneur Evan Reas who seems to have done a lot of research on this topic:
http://startuphoodlum.com/2011/01/03/equity-grant-averages-to-startup-employees/

After reading these blogs, let me know if there are any unanswered questions, especially in the Indian context and I’ll be happy to address them.

Amazing Indian Entrepreneurs

Now that India has reached the top of the rankings in all forms of cricket (One day, Test and T20) after the splendid cricket world-cup victory last Saturday, I'm sufferring from acute CWS (cricket withdrawal syndrome). To take my mind off cricket, I went to Instapaper and was catching up on my reading. I came across this article in Forbes claiming that BRIC countries surge in Billionaires list this year. As I was browsing through the list of Indians billionaires, I was wondering how many of these were self-made or entrepreneurs. Of the $246.5B in net worth amongst these 55 people, $80B (32% by networth) belongs to the 26 (47% by number) self-made/entrepreneur billionaires.

Couple of quick observations:

  • In terms of count: Software tops the list with 6 billionaires (5 from Infosys) followed by Real Estate (4), Pharma (3), Media (2) & Commodities (2)
  • In terms of NetWorth: Software ($13.3B), Real Estate ($10.5B), Pharma ($9.7B), Telco ($8.3B), Media ($6.4B), Mining ($6.4B)
  • The youngest entrepreneur on this list is 45 and the oldest is 87
  • Even though people like Azim Premji, Ajay Piramal, Cyrus Poonawalla, etc. have built great companies in new industries they did not inherit, they are still not counted on this list as self-made since they started out inheriting companies in some shape or form (this is how Forbes has classified them)
  • I browsed through the stories behind these amazing Indians and many of them are highly inspiring. I have provided links to their Wikipedia pages (if available) in case you want to browse as well.

Here's the original listing from Forbes. And below you can find the list I curated of self-made/entrepreneurs from the original Forbes list:

As I was browsing the above list, I couldn't help but notice that it is missing a whole slew of highly successful Indian entrepreneurs around the globe. Here are a few names at the top of my head that I know off and admire:

I'm sure there are many more amazing Indian entrepreneurs. Who did I miss? Which Indian entrepreneur do you admire? 

The following are additions based on suggestions from readers:

Note: Published by yourstory.in here

In case you are interested here's a snapshot from the spreadsheet I created (click on the link below to see a larger version)

Indian Billionaires and Entrepreneurs