Budding tech entrepreneurs line up for IIT contest

Friday, 08 November 2002, 20:30 IST
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Mumbai: The collapse of the dotcom bubble has not dimmed the entrepreneurial urge of India's best technical minds. The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Powai, here has announced an improved version of its Eureka! contest for the year 2003 and claims an enthusiastic response. The IIT and The IndUS Entrepreneurs (TiE), a group of dotcommers and venture capitalists of South Asian descent from Silicon Valley who exited with oodles of cash before the bubble burst, are looking to fund fresh business ideas from young Indian techies and students through the contest. Eureka! which turns five this year, will have a lot more handholding for young entrepreneurs than before, including a boot camp. "The boot camp is basically aimed at providing students with an interactive session with the stalwarts of the corporate community and academia," says Puneet Jain of IIT who is managing Eureka! Mahesh Murthy, a venture capitalist and representative of TiE said "Not all the participants understand the nuances of preparing a business plan and hence lose out on opportunities. The boot camp will serve as a platform for them. "Since the competition is at the international level, not only the idea but also the plan will play an imperative role in the finalization process, hence the workshops," he says. The organizers feel efforts like the boot camp are essential at the time of a downturn. "The slowdown has made entrepreneurs a little wary of venturing at this point of time," explains Murthy, adding however that TiE would soon begin mentoring program for young entrepreneurs across all its 31 chapters worldwide. Eureka! has also attracted a number of foreign participants after it went international this year. "We receive entries from over 50 colleges abroad, from the South Asian region and from American universities," says Jain, adding however that the contest's commitment is primarily to the Indian student entrepreneur. The success of Eureka! has prompted a number of proposals from institutions like the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad and others abroad for collaboration on the contest. The competition has spawned a number of successes, including MyZus and eInfinitus. In all, Eureka! has resulted in the inception of 10 companies since the business plan competition began. "It has become a platform for all those young entrepreneurs who have come up with new enterprises and those who want to invest in those ventures. Last year we received around 250 entries and expect a lot more this time. The response itself shows that Eureka! has given people what they aspire," says Jain. Among those who have been associated with the contest include Silicon Valley venture capitalist Kanwal Rekhi, Hotmail founder Sabeer Bhatia. Participants in the competition who attend the boot camps would have to submit an executive summary of their business plans by January. Selected teams would receive support from mentors in preparing a full business plan that would have to be submitted in February. Eight finalists will present their plans before a panel of judges in March.
Source: IANS