The Finance Minister’s recognition of software products as a distinctive category which can propel India forward as a product nation could well mark a new era in India’s industrial development. At the time of independence, we had very limited industrial capabilities. But, in the last 67 years, we have built a strong foundation across industries ranging from tractors to...
The fact that the Finance Minister specifically underscored the Software Product Industry (SPI) in his maiden budget speech is testimony enough of the Government’s resolve to make significant and dramatic changes to achieve rapid economic development. Here are two reasons why we believe the Government is moving in the right direction. One. Empowering the masses. There is no reason why software...
Disruption and disruptive innovation have been in the spotlight of late. The guru of disruptive innovation, Clayton Christensen, and his famous theory were put under the scanner in a highly critical if somewhat flippant recent piece by Jill Lepore in the New Yorker. Just a few weeks earlier, the New York Times carried a provocative article titled “Business School, Disrupted,” that examined the...
At the forefront of progress is change. iSPIRT continues to drive the process of change to Transform India as a Product Nation, using the engines of private initiative, policy and programs like Playbook Round Table and PNCamp. iSPIRT’s policy initiatives involve active dialogue with Government. Conclave for India as the Product Nation As part of this initiative, iSPIRT is hosting the...
Acquisition opportunities arise through design or by chance. As your company profile improves, bigger players may approach you if they perceive a complimentary relationship. That could be a large competitor, who has been losing key accounts to you. An OEM or strategic partner, who observes significant sales resulting from the partnership, may look for vertical integration. It is also possible to...
This blog is part a recollection of the events of the Pitch Day. And part a farewell post to those amazing 112 students who continued to surprise us till the last day at Innovate Delhi. This Sunday marked the culmination of the intense three weeks of action happening at IIIT Delhi as a part of Innovate Delhi Entrepreneurship Academy (IDEA). Where on one hand we have extended weekend based startup...
The papers are breathlessly reporting the arrival of “reforms 2.0” while the stock markets are doing what they always do – reacting to rumour, hyperbole, fears, uncertainties and doubts. But reforms 2.0 won’t impact the lives of citizens and won’t create jobs, that most crucial of determinants of the economic well- being of a people. “I’m moving my company to Singapore”, said the CEO of an...
I had the pleasure of speaking to a batch of about 130 students, startup aspirants, product developers last week at the Innovate Delhi event. I was teamed up with Rajat Garg, of SocialappsHQ, and a heavy-weight with facts, numbers, trends, valley companies and slides. We were to cover “opportunity hypothesis’ broadly – how does a startup get an idea; validate the idea; build a demo/prototype and...
India’s enterprise software industry has been slowly bubbling since the 1980s but has generally failed to deliver a large number of high impact, high value companies. We do have some companies that everybody talks about – iFlex, Tally, Zoho – but these are far and few between. I believe that we are seeing a new scalable wave of enterprise software companies coming out of India and there is a...
With a new government at the helm, this is the time for wish-lists and advice as to how it can make a major impact. Here’s my two pennies worth on what should be the government’s priorities if it wants to promote technology-driven innovation and entrepreneurship. Ease of Doing Business India routinely does badly on the World Bank’s survey on ease of doing business. But, from talking to...
