The Power of Ideas

I received an email yesterday for a precursor meet to The Power of Ideas. The Economic Times is behind this initiative and they had organized today’s meet with the focus on “Capital Idea” – How entrepreneurs can access and bring their business ideas to life.

If not for the fact that it was rush-rush, with not much room for the supposedly free-flowing discussion, the whole thing turned out to be really good and informative. Or maybe, just that being an Entrepreneur, I just had this inkling feeling to ask lots of un-answered questions to VCs and alike.

The Speakers, the bloggers and the Panel moderator discussed about;

• How entrepreneurs can access capital.
• What should be the approach.
• The barriers & limitations that entrepreneurs face in accessing capital, and ways and means open to them to overcome these hurdles.
• The role of entrepreneurship in building a strong India.

The Speakers present were;

• Jitender Balakrishnan, Deputy Managing Director, IDBI
• Sandeep Singhal, Founder, Nexus Capital
• Gautam Patel, Partner, Battery Ventures
• Rahul Khanna, Clearstone Venture Advisors

The Power of Ideas

The Power of Ideas is a program to promote entrepreneurship and help people pursue their entrepreneurial dream. The program will be conducted across 8 Indian cities – Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkota, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Bangalore, Hyderabad & Chennai. The Program will have the following phases;

• Call for Ideas and Participation. Last date of Submission is the 20th Feb, 2009.
• A jury comprising of Economic Times editors and Indian Angel Network will shortlist candidates. All shortlisted candidates will be given group mentoring sessions to prepare them for an elevator pitch interview.
• One on one mentoring will be provided to candidates shorlisted from the elevator pitch.
• In the final phase, the selected candidates will present to investors.

DETAILS

• Visit The Power of Ideas for all the details on submission, eligibility, etc.
• Stay updated with the program via their blog.
• Follow them on Twitter.
• Photos of Today’s meetup.

What do you think?

Should there be more of such initiatives, if not for the funds, but also to garner and nurture entrepreneurial enthusiasms?

What I learnt from the Discussion.

I’ve been involved with many Entrepreneurs, many entrepreneurial events enough to come to some sort of a conclusion that Entrepreneurs and Investors are camping on opposite banks of the business river.

It’s a well known fact amongst entrepreneurs that it ain’t that easy to get hold of VCs or Investors to pitch their ideas, prototypes and betas.

On the other side of the VCs, they’re also asking a similar question – Why can’t we get good Entrepreneurs? Why isn’t there enough quality pitches?

Mr. Gautam Patel of Battery Ventures puts it, “I’ve funds set aside for investment but I’m not getting enough quality pitches.” He is thus planning to venture out more in Entrepreneurial gatherings and events, trying to socialize with the innovators, entrepreneurs.

So, what are the entrepreneurs waiting for? Find the right time, the right contacts, get your prototypes working and hit on these guys. They’re waiting to have breakfast with you, lunch with you and sometimes even dinner to listen to your ideas.