IAN concludes it's first multicity Boot Camp!

Smoking, drinking and drugs are not the biggest addictions in the world. The two biggest addictions are carbohydrates and a monthly pay cheque.

Scores of participants at the Indian Angel Network's Boot Camp entrepreneurship program gathered here today had shunned the monthly pay cheque addiction route to present innovative business ideas ranging from free calls anywhere in India, robots to clean homes and offices to a speech recognition software for intelligence agencies.

Kicking off the 2nd day of the Indian Angel Network's boot camp here today celebrated entrepreneur and co-founder of the Indian Angel Network Saurabh Srivastava said that the success of the entrepreneurs in the IT industry in the last two decades has rekindled the DNA of innovation among young Indians. By nurturing these innovative ideas these young professionals are becoming job providers rather than being job seekers.

Alluding to the success of the Indian IT industry Srivastava who also serves on the Prime Minister's National Innovation Council said that the Indian IT industry is a fine example of innovation that helped it grow from a mere USD 60 million to USD 60 billion in just twenty years. Interestingly, with the exception of TCS and Wipro, a vast majority of the IT firms were started by first generation entrepreneurs.

Using the plank of business innovation and entrepreneurship, the Indian IT Industry now aspires to be the IT hub of the world by 2020 with revenues of USD 245 billion much the same way as China aspires to be the manufacturing hub of the world.

Nine out of ten innovative entrepreneurial ideas die even before take off stage due to lack of funding. Funding by family and friends can offer only financial support but little expertise and experience of entrepreneurs who have successfully built businesses. This is where groups of angel investors like IAN play a role by providing funding as well as valuable feedback, mentoring and leveraging networks of its members.

Good business ideas must cater to a real customer need, entrepreneurs need to evolve business plans to meet changing needs, identify business risks and evolve a de-risking strategy. Indian Angel Network Co Founder Mohit Goyal shared these success mantras with aspiring entrepreneurs while kicking off a Boot Camp for enterprising Delhi NCR citizens On June 4.

IIT Chennai alumnus Goyal said that the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country has evolved well in this "decade of entrepreneurship' thanks to efforts of successful entrepreneurs who willingly share their experiences and mentor aspiring Indians.

Growth of first generation entrepreneurs in India is no longer constrained by lack of funds with bodies like Indian Angel Network funding early stage projects. In addition to funding ideas, the IAN members also mentor them in their early phases.

Goyal advocated that said the entrepreneurs must find a co promoter with complimentary skills so that they can challenge each other's ideas and improve business plan as also to share the joys and pains of growing it.

At the same time the Indian Angel Network co-founder advised entrepreneurs to shun ribbons and frills and imbibe frugality.

The Indian Angel Network's Boot Camp stirred a wave of entrepreneurship multi 13000 young men and women participating in multi-city Boot Camp in the 8 week period helping young men and women explore the world of entrepreneurship by bringing them face to face with angel investors and addressing their queries and mentoring those with differentiated ideas.

Answering a question on when to start a venture Mr. Ankur Sharma, of TAXSpanner, a tax returns filing platform funded by IAN, said some work experience in industry is essential for those focusing on business applications.

IAN incuabtee Aniruddha Motwani and Founder, India College Search shared his experiences and the advantages of starting a venture straight out of college because of the insight that 97 per cent of students don't get admission to a college of their choice.

An engaging panel discussion on "Triggers of Innovation" on June 5 included Angel investors and entrepreneurs like Sunil Kalra, IAN Member; Sunil Goyal, IAN Member; Avinash Singh, IAN Member and CEO, Healthji.com, and Navyug Manhot, IAN Incubator Mentor and Founder & Managing Director, QAI. The panel shared their experiences on how to embed innovation gene into start ups. They were joined by IAN members Sanjeev Kakar, founding promoter of RT Outsourcing Services and Mr Yogesh Bansal, CEO ApnaCircle to be the jury.

In a keenly contested national competition for Start Ups most ready for angel funding 8 sets of entrepreneurs presented their start up plans where Mumbai based Heckyl, provider of real-time financial information, news analysis and heatmaps was declared the national winner. Two Delhi based start ups--Flo2go, providers of new age mobile VAS services company and Cooljunk, providers of Do It Yourself kits as an aid to science teaching were declared the two runners ups.

The other finalists were BookmyMedicine, Burgeon Systems, GermiClean, PhokatCall and SPREC.

Springboard Ventures is the organizing partner for Indian Angel Network Boot Camp, India's first ever multi city start-up event.

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