self.machine

Amidst much excitement that is bubbling up at the Proto.in camp, we are happy to announce that the nominations for the upcoming edition are now open! The nominations will stay open till June 15th, and that is just a short stint away. Do race to it, and if you are a startup in the Indian landscape and absolutely believe that you have something to share, then this is the platform you’ve been waiting for. Nominations for Proto.in Pune

Date: July 25th, 2009
Venue: Devang Mehta Auditorium, Persistent Systems, Pune

We are doing quite a few things new this time.

1. Proto.in Pune will be a one day Extravaganza.
We are making Proto.in Pune as a one day event, but it goes on from 9am till 8pm in the evening. The day will be split into two moods. The first half of the day from 9am till 4:30pm will carry talks, sessions and interactive sessions  especially aimed at educating, nurturing and supporting the startup landscape of India. There are prominent speakers such as the likes of Bharat Goenka of Tally, Pravin Gandhi of SeedFund, etc who will be talking during the event. Post 5pm, the event will take on a tone of the Oscars. 20 of the best startups – and we mean, absolutely, mindblowingly, best technology startups (includes biotech, healthcare, robotics etc), will take on the stage to deliver a world-class pitch to woo the audience with what they have been working on. Sounds exciting? Read on..

2. Three Day Bootcamp.
For the presenting companies of Proto.in Pune, there will be a three day bootcamp prepped. Day one will focus on diving into the business plan you have for the company, and combing through all the fine details. We are determined to ensure that your focus for the next one year of operations, clients and the market is set during this day. Day two, we teach you and groom you with everything that goes into the mastery of delivering a pitch. We will be bringing in some of the gurus of the advertising world, to make you create words that can sway the hardest of clients, and the toughest of journalists in buying into your story. Don’t forget to add the investors into that list. Day three, is all about the stage. We have  had the priviledge of working with one of the country’s Best Event management company “BuzzWorks”. They, along with a team of stage directors will teach you how to handle yourself in front of the camera, what to do and what not to do when in a public forum – and these will help you make the most out of every speaking and forum opportunity you might get in the future – Starting with Proto.in

3. What about those who dont make the Shortlist.
We are a Startup Support platform remember? We get flooded with highly enthusiastic entrepreneurs every year, but apart from those who make it to the stage, what do we do for those who dont? Well, Every year, we ensure that we provide some feedback, especially to those who dont make it. This time and going forward, we want to ensure that we make it mandatory. All the folks who are helping us with the shortlisting are explicitly requested to spend more time with companies that arent quite there to ensure that they are helped in some way to help find the way. In our books, there are no bad companies – just companies that arent ready yet.

And thats just half the story. We already have some nominations from companies that are in the medical space, companies working on hardcore engineering solutions, companies in the defense sector, and they are all lead to just one conclusion – Its going to be one hell of a rocking event, in Pune. You simply cant afford to not be part of it.

There is a team of delegates, including high network individuals, investors, and startups coming in from abroad as well. And this will be the moment to make your mark.

The question now is quite simple. Are you going to let it pass? I surely hope not. Then Why wait. Go ahead, Nominate!

Note: Companies on being shortlisted for selection, have a Rs. 10,000 fee applicable. Nomination is free.

Proto has been taking place for sometime, but Jan 2009 is my first proto.in attendance and it was worth the trip to Bangalore. I went in with some expectations and yes, they were fulfilled. The highlights of the event is given below.

• Awesome talks – There was one talk by Bob Young(founder of redhat) which was simply awesome. There were others as well which were informative and fun sessions.
• Great audience – People from all walks of professional life, met a lawyer, a HR guy, a finance guy and so on … with so much variety one can only choose to get bored of such company.
• Neat theme / tshirt - The paper plane theme was awesome and in one session where Kiruba got everyone to throw airplanes onto the podium was especially lots of fun.
• Techies – Special mention to Sheryas , Aswin , Moyeen , Vijay who made it clear to me that B’lore + Chennai is still very much ahead on the super nerd density index. Clever engineers to hang out with is the least i can say about these guys.
• Startups – Last but not the least, a great bunch of startups were there promoting their stuff. It was cool to see some interesting revenue models and different ideas. Shotgun startup was one fun event to take part in (this deserves a complete post by itself).

All in all, I had a lot of fun. Thanks to Vijay and the proto team for making me a part of something awesome. Looking forward to making proto a bigger and better event going ahead.

Inspired by http://twistori.com/. I wrote a generic tool which will allow people to setup a simple wall where people can post and it will automatically refresh. I built this tool specifically because it was needed at proto.in. I am very sure it will be useful to a lot of people out there.

Uses JQuery and a Queues for javascript library. Maybe someone can do some transition magic with it, i am still a javascript n00b .

Here is the complete source code and demo. Please forgive the lack of documentation.

I am looking forward to attending proto @ blore, there are a lot of reasons to do so.

• Great set of people, will get to meet the very best entrepreneurs in India. In addition, to understanding the challenges people are trying to solve.
• Shotgun Startup – amazing concept and i really want to be a part of it. The feeling of implementing something in a very short time is exhilarating to say the least.
• Product release – will also be the part of some cool products which will hopefully get showcased at proto. This is an awesome platform for people to show what they can do with code.
• Last but not the least a good place to learn things about technology, people and enterprises. A good mix of people in all phases of their careers.

I am very sure i left out some of the bigger reasons that we all want to be a part of proto , feel free to state yours ….

How many times have you had a cool idea that never saw the light? Or that amazing conversation you had with your best friends which resulted to nothing? It can be that amazing facebook application to solve all the problems of your single friends, or that Iphone game that will rock the world, or an android application, or that robot which will help elderly people remember their pill times. Whatever it is, this is a time to build it and ride the wave with the support of the entire startup community. Surprised?

Well, we hear ya! We call this Shotgun Startup and its your way to huddle together for 48 hours and work on something which will change the world.

How do YOU participate you ask?

Step1 : Get those scribble books out and start going through all those ideas. Once you have decided on the idea you want to implement go here and submit it. This is where the fun begins, The ShotGun Team will go through all your proposals and pick 20 ideas which have the most potential – In other words, that which sounds uber cool and useful.

Step 2: Now that your idea is shortlisted, you need to put together a team which helps you realize this idea. All shortlisted projects can publish list of open roles and participants can apply to be part of this team. You get to pick the ones you like! Use your blogs, twitters, facebooks to find these people and get them as part of the team.

Step 3: Its 22nd January evening and there are 20 teams eager to make it happen. We have experts on various platforms like Android, Iphone, Php, ROR etc, Just in case you need some expert advice. This is where we give you plenty of wifi, coffee (maybe food) and get out of your way. For the next 48 hours its you, your team and your product. Make it happen, and breathe life into your idea.

The Proto.in attendees will start voting for your ideas on the 24th, The top 5 teams will then move to Innovation Jam where they get 5 minutes to present the idea and then the audience can suggest enhancements to the product so it can move towards being a full fledged product.

As the adage goes “Let the Startups win”, sharpen your pencils now! and for more information head to http://shotgun.proto.in Now!

PS: Have you registered for the event yet? if not, head to www.proto.in/register

Proto.in January edition is in the dates of January 23, 24 2009 in the Nimhan’s Convention Centre in Bangalore.