self.machine

After its resounding successes in its past four editions, Proto.in is back on 23 & 24 january at bangalore to further strengthen its position as India’s premier start-up event. Proto.in has built a reputation of being the one event the entire entrepreneurial ecosystem looks forward to, across the length and breadth of India. Having witnessed successful past editions in Delhi and Chennai and gearing up for the next one in Bangalore, Ravi Narayanan, a well known entrepreneur and an advisor to proto.in, believes “proto.in is poised to become a nationwide phenomenon.”

Proto.in – A Binding force within the Start-up Community

Over the last four editions, proto.in has showcased over 75 startups of whom many have leveraged the platform to close funding, develop new business opportunities, create media traction and even connect with potential hires.And as Alok Mittal, one of most successful internet entrepreneurs and a leading venture capitalist in india, says “Proto.in has emerged as an integral part of the Indian startup ecosystem.”

The last edition of Proto.in at India’s capital city played host to the 15 most exciting startups in the country amidst an audience that included the most prominent venture capital firms and angel investors to the who’s who in the technology and media circles. Amit Somani, Head of Mobile Products for Google APAC and a distinguished delegate at the last edition, believes that proto.in will be known as one of the pioneers for helping technology entrepreneurs get started in India in years to come.

The last event also saw a slew of new activities that churned out the most innovative ideas amidst a bunch of hyper enthusiastic entrepreneurs. Guess what, its only going to get better (and wackier) this edition.

What’s Special this proto.in?

Apart from the most anticipated Proto.in showcase of india’s top 15 product startups, the fifth edition of proto.in is breaking new ground by letting the audience experiment with entrepreneurship, through a set of globally unique activities for a technology conference under our exciting new initiative – Proto.in Labs.

Proto.in Labs will play host to a set of activities that will engage the crowd like no other indian conference has attempted before. Here’s a sneak peak into the exciting set of activities you’ll experience as an audience in this edition of proto.in:

Shotgun Startups – Teams of technologists, programmers, designers, and product architects compete with each other to build a product in 24 hours, and get them voted by the audience at Proto.in, with one emerging as the winner.

Pitchcamp! – The first pitch that you make, be it an investor, partner, employee or client about what you do, makes all the difference to that first impression. Pitchcamp will be a workshop for startups to help them sculpt their pitch that will sell every time.

Innovation Jam – Ideation is a simpler process. With the success of the process that started last time, at this proto.in, here’s a chance for the entire audience to participate, in chipping and brewing fresh ideas off of their head. If you have a creative block, this will ensure that its flushed out.

Proto.in Conversations – we are not alone. We are a community of entrepreneurs and some of us have tread this path before us, and have valuable experience to share. Listen from fellow entrepreneurs and get that dose of reality driven into yourself on everything from funding to hiring.

Startup Job board – Sometimes, old school works. If you are a startup and looking for people, put up a post. If you are a professional and looking for a job in an exciting startup, take a card and give them a call. Make it happen, when the entrepreneurial energy is flowing all around you.

Be There!

Add to that, an invite only dinner and a startup mixer on both nights to network and meet others in the space.Make no mistake, Proto.in 5th edition is ‘THE’ place to be, if you want to spruce up your entrepreneurship journey.

Startup nominations are closing on December 16. Hurry up!
Event registration opens on December 15.

Well, my name is Dipankar Sarkar. And Sarkar is hindi for goverment … so one my friends (specifically Varun Gulshan) would keep calling me that which to be honest is a fantastic nickname . Jokes apart, I guess i am a bit frustrated with how things work around me. As an individual who says “chop, chop” as he is in a perennial hurry, it kills me to see how things work. Lets analyze this scenario properly, so India as a nation is used to the so called “Hindu growth rate” (3-4% of GDP) for a very long time. The problem with such growth is that it goes no where neither can you be called a problem or something great, as of today we have started growing post-liberalization (7-8%). But the problem of *slow growth* withing our working populace still persists.

We can take the latest Singur example as one case where its clear that we have not made the jump from socialist to capitalist even if our intentions as a nation is very clear (Capitalist that is). To be firmly capitalist would require a complete revision of how we Indians view our *ego*, as it is never personal when it comes to business (well there are exceptions as usual). What we require more than the 10% growth is that we need a revision or social change which makes us capable of understanding our position in the global village. Are we inferior ? i doubt that. Do we lack resources ? i doubt that too. We should start utilizing the power we have worked so hard to gain, if we do not hold our heads high then all of this growth is not worth it.

This fundamental change has to come from the goverment and the way we do our foreign policy, we need to be stronger only then can we Indians hold our position in the Global village. Being a super power or for that matter any power requires a lot of diplomacy and good foreign policy, hope we make it to the next league. On that note … more ranting later .