In Conversation

A Suryanarayanan	Vasudev Avadhani	Sagar Pruthi	Praneet Reddy Koppula
Hrishikesh Datar	Vinayak Rajanahally	Meenakshi Gairola

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A Suryanarayanan

Chief Operating Officer NSRCEL , Indian Institute of Management - Bangalore

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..few more Interesting Conversations

Bipin Chandran
Editor - Entrepreneur Magzine

Q. What do you think about the scope and viability of internet based Start-up ideas?

Binish - Internet based ideas have large appeal as compared to any other brick and mortar model, it can reach more people quickly and efficiently. The marketing cost also comes down heavily.

Q. What are primary causes of early death of these net based start-ups?

Binish – That is basically because they try to bite more than they can chew. They lack focus and the basic business fundamentals.

Q. How do you think will be the impact of 3G in India?

Binish – More and more avenues especially with mobile application based will open up the implementation of 3G. Start-ups based on mobile application will benefit the most.

Q. How did you find wikipaisa and discount portal ideas presented during iWeekend?

Binish – I found both the ideas strong and viable. But there are some fundamental issues that they need to take care specifically in identification the target customer. Lot of monitoring is required is required and competition also need to be taken care.

Q. Do you find any difference between Indian entrepreneur and foreign ones?

Binish – Entrepreneurs are basically same everywhere. Outside India the support system for entrepreneurship is more congenial.

Q. What do you think will be the next big thing in India?

Binish – I see a lot of opportunity in farming, energy especially green technology sectors.

Q. Why do think subscription (payment) based internet services aren't popular in India?

Binish – Indian consumers aren't willing to pay for the content on net. They primarily want it for free.

Q. What will be the impact of Kindle on entrepreneur magazine?

Binish – No adverse impact on our entrepreneur magazine in fact it will give us one more platform to sell our magazine.

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Shridhar Lolla
Managing Partner - CVMARK Consulting

Q. What do you think about the scope and viability of internet based Start-up ideas?

Shridhar: Internet is a technology, technology has huge amount of power, so I believe it is pretty well sustainable and will be able to solve the business problem .People can reached across the globe using internet within no time and low cost.

Q. What are primary causes of early death of these net based start-ups?

Shridhar : People try to impose internet solution on existing business. Today the business is running under certain limitation but internet can break those certain limitation so when you are implementing business solution you need to take care of those limitations and take advantage of internet to overcome them.

Q. How do you think will be the impact of 3G in India on the internet based companies?

Shridhar: It is going to break free the telephonic market especially in the value added services segment. This will change the entire rule of the game.

Q. Any recent business venture that you came across recently?

Shridhar: Green technology is what I have come across recently. Mobile application to track and locate taxi service especially while commuting from airport. It will reduce the unnecessary time and fuels spend and will encourage carpooling thus saving the environment.

Q. How did you find the wikipaisa and discount portal ideas?

Shridhar : I think it has the potential to be executed but it will on how they capture and deliver the value to the end user with decent profitability.

Q. Which is the next sector do you think will be the next big thing in India?

Shridhar: I think green technology and Nano technology will be the next big thing that is going to impact the Indians

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Mohan Sundaram
Executive Mentor, NSRCEL & Consultant

Q. What do you think about the scope of internet based start-ups in the current economic scenario?

Mohan -I will divide dot com based companies into two eras, one pre 2000 and other post 2000.Pre 2000 funding was easier but there were no good, time, effort or proper mechanism to find whether there was any value in the business or not. Post 2000, the dot companies busted and for almost 3 years thereafter there was hardly any new idea in that field.

The second reincarnation was in more realistic form where in the internet ventures had sustainability as their business objective. Business can be done both using brick and mortar or by using internet.

Post 2000 internet was no more looked as a value but as a vehicle to support the core business. Core business need to be sustainable. Pre 2000 intrinsic value of the business was low, but now the business has more intrinsic value and is more sustainable.

Q. Which sectors do you think will benefit the most from the internet in the coming years?

Mohan - I can't name any particular sector as such as I feel internet has now become a basic infrastructure .Internet is the basic infrastructure that will revolutionize every sector.

Q. Yours comments on how the Indian companies are using the power of internet?

Mohan – I feel Indians are using the power of internet very innovatively .today when we talk about internet we talk only about the reach of PC into a home. I am not talking only about PC into a home but making internet available on any device even on a mobile phone. Evening sending a SMS alert, internet is in the back end. Indians are more conservative, prudent and value conscious.

Q. How will implementation of 3G revolutionize the entire internet business?

Mohan - It will take some time in India for 3G to be successful as Indians are very value conscious. In Britain 3G was rolled back as customers were not willing to pay. In India the population is much higher so the penetration required for 3G's success is far lower than other countries hence it will be easy to get the numbers to make it viable. In India the video streaming will pick up with the launch of 3G

Q. How did you find Wikipaisa and Discount Portal ideas presented during iWeekend?

Mohan – They are good .Discount portal is good as they have no competition as of now similarly Wikipaisa is also good as it positioned as a unbiased financial information portal.

Q. Do you find any difference between Indian entrepreneur and foreign ones?

Mohan – there is a lot of difference between Indian entrepreneurs as they are very conservative in nature. The rate of saving is much higher in India than anywhere in the world. Indians are good with multitasking whereas in USA they are keen towards getting a expertise in a particular field.

Q. Yours comments on the recent entrepreneurial trend among IIMs grads.

Mohan - It is very difficult to expect somebody passing out of IIM to be an entrepreneur unless the entrepreneurial drive is very high. I feel the entrepreneurial drive is much higher in students not getting into IIMs. But the scene is changing as more and more students are now opting out of placements year on year.

Q. What do you think about the role of government in promoting entrepreneurship in the country?

Mohan - Entrepreneur does not depend on government. They just want the government to allow them to do business without any much hindrance.

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