Why UnPluggd? Why Another Startup Event? [The Concept]
Why UnPluggd? How is it different from other startup events in India?
Well, I have been asked these questions quite a few number of times – so here is sharing the core concept behind the UnPluggd event.
UnPluggd is not a startup showcase event where we are bringing in a few hot products and showcase them to you.
What triggered me to start this event is the real picture of the ecosystem (and that’s from my lens)
- Serious entrepreneurs have stopped attending startup events in India. Like it or not, serious guys who care about their business are happily building their business.
Infact, lately there is a strong negative correlation I have seen between success and garnering hype @startup events.Those (majority) who have built business have never attended any of the startup events – infact, they (majority) were not even showcased at any of the events. Not that I am undermining the importance of such events (we need 100s of them), but the reality is that serious folks needs a platform and that’s the gap we are filling.
- Focus on Business – Over the last three years, I have seen great products not going anywhere. Some of the companies who became the next hype, are now figuring out the survival route.
Ofcourse, that’s how startups evolve, but if you do not focus on business (rather, dhandha), your kickass product will not go anywhere. And that’s easier said than done. It’s time we bring in these dhandha companies and have them share their experience/insights.
The core philosophy behind the event has been that while there are a lot of product showcase events in India, lets get the guys who are building technology business from India and have them share their experience with the entrepreneurs.
* Note the word – ‘are building’.
There are folks who have built great product business in India – Tally/iFlex etc; the founders are now too media-savvy (I’d call them ‘celebrity entrepreneurs’) and have learned the art of gyaan. We aren’t inviting them (as speakers, though they are free to attend).
Instead the guys who are coming over to share their experience are the ones who are in the trenches – but ones who have built a small business.
To over simpligy things, think of the event as TED for startups – ofcourse, without E & D and in a completely different format.
UnPluggd Event Details
- Date: March 6th, 2010
- Venue: Honeywell Office, Outer Ring Road, Bangalore
- Total # of Seats – 200
- Ticket Price – Rs. 450/ if you book it before Valentine’s Day [500/ after the V-day]
- How to Book? You can book the tickets online [visit our ticketing partner site and you have multiple payment options]
- Contact Details: Got Questions, Want to sponsor? You can contact Ashish (98452 06443, ashish@pluggd.in).
[Reproduced from UnPluggd Blog]
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Related posts:
- UnPluggd – The Event for Entrepreneurs [Mar 6th, 2010]
- UnPluGGD – The Event for Entrepreneurs [Feb 27th, 2010] #teaser
- Winner of UnPluggd Tagline Contest
- The Wait is over – UnPluggd registration starts today. We have Valentine’s Day Offer as well
- UnpluGGd – The Event for Entrepreneurs [Presentation]
About the author - Ashish Sinha is a Startup Mentor/Product Strategy Coach, and the founder/chief editor of pluGGd.in.
He has launched/managed couple of products (consumer as well as enterprise) in US and India, and now consults with startups/small businesses on their product/media strategy. He can be reached at: ashish (at) pluGGd.in [+91 98452 06443]
Well said.
For a good business to come up we need
(a) Innovation – that creates something new, meet certain needs / wants of customers etc.. what we seem to be hyping around these days is more on the ‘idea’ or even worse ‘copying an idea’ and not innovation.
(b) Execution – this is completely missed out in many such events.. Great Idea need not mean a Great Business.
So who are the speakers at this event?
Can you share their identities or is that meant to be a surprise? Considering that this is a paid event, perhaps disclosing the identity of the speakers will help others judge whether it would be worth their time and money to attend? Your pontifications above notwithstanding, in the absence of the names of the speakers, I really don’t see the difference between this event and the other dime-a-dozen payola events being organized under the garb of community now a days…
Ofcourse we can..though there is no need to hide your name (we have received quite a few comments from your office IP address
)
We will share the speaker details very shortly, and the only reason we have not yet done so far is because some of the speakers haven’t yet confirmed their presence.
Nevertheless, here are a few of them (guess the names)
• Within 2 years of starting, one of the company owns ‘few’ % of web search in India (they aren’t a search engine).
• A 5-people company has created waves in International telecom space (so much so that their product architecture is being debated by Telecom gurus world over).
• You can’t build an Amazon in India? A young company has just done that (and is clocking substantial revenues within 1.5 years of launch).
• A student startup raised $0.5 mn in college and is now the preferred partner for Telecom operators
Let’s see…in order of your hints:
- Asklaila
- TringMe
- Flipkart
- Mobme
Close enough?
Now, assuming that this is right, what is the problem with this list?
Two of these companies – TringMe and Mobme – are regulars in the startup event circuit…as you are undoubtedly aware, they won the Nasscom product innovation award for the startup category in this and last year’s payolas respectively! Of course, this is not to say that they will not be able to provide useful gyaan at your event but it is moot to categorize these companies/speakers the way you have done in your blog preface (serious entrepreneurs who are too busy to attend startup events etc etc)!
Flipkart as you might be aware was started by folks who actually worked at Amazon previously – so if you imply by your description above that these are wet-behind-the-years entrepreneurs who emerged from the left field and managed to crack online book retailing in India miraculously, you are off base in more ways that you can imagine.
Finally Asklaila! This is a company that is aspiring to become the Indian version of Yelp by raising 10s of millions of dollars in VC funding (grossly overfunded if you ask me but that is just my 2 cents!) but has a long way to go before they reach the likes of JustDial far less the likes of Google! But hey, if they are going to talk about how to raise gobs of VC money with a me-too offering, then your event might be worthwhile after all!
Sorry if all of this sounds like a rant and I come across as being facetious…but I have seen far too many attempts like this event that you are organizing that claim to be different but add zero value along any meaningful dimension. That said, I applaud your attempt to try to get something going in the local startup scene…if you want to do something beyond paying lip services, do feel free to drop in to our office any time for some serious brain-storming over a cup of tea (don’t suppose you will have trouble finding our place since you know our office IP address!)
I hope its not like Proto. The last time i was there it was like watching unedited version of a senseless TV show that only makes you feel good that you have risen to the level that you can watch such shows and not fall asleep.
BTW, Half of the audience was dozing off by the time panel discussion started.
They were happy about showing a movie that is available on web for ages.
Looks like there is plenty in store for unpluggd already. Guys we are trying do something devoid of vaporware. Trust me, I am totally sick of vapors from Indian tech stable. Noobs here rule the game like nowhere else in the world.
Whenever I meet some bigwig, I largely see the vapors from a distance (there are exceptions of-course). Then I walk away to rely on Vodka & Pink Floyd. What pluggd.in is trying to do here is to provide me and you with a third solution – Unpluggd on a rather social and feedback oriented format. Let’s talk on business and nothing else on unpluggd.
Cheer with beer!
Arvind
sorry to say..but proto was quite a useless event atleast this time around.
i mean..why the fuck did i pay so much to watch some movies and stupid panel discussion?
i hope unpluggd doesnt follow that route..i sincerely hope
@Don – Seems you are too cynical about startups you mentioned.
Just because Flipkart founders were from Amazon doesnt mean that they had the ‘license’ to build Amazon of India.
Any given day, I’d like to know how did they build such a neat www consumer product in India.
TO me, thats the biggest challenge with ecosystem – ppl are way too cynical about other startups. everybdy wants to bring others down..and say ‘I am the best’..
I’ll look fwd to this event
I get your pt. Will connect with you (no..your answers aren’t all correct
.
Lets meet Thu (am in Delhi today/tomm). I’ll email you
Looking forward to attend the event.