They walked in with lots of hopes. With a vision to build cool products, about 6,000 technology enthusiasts walked into The SmartTechie Startup City at Nimhans Convention Center on Saturday 24 May. As they walked into the venue, 42 startup firms that had already laid the foundation for their million dollar dreams welcomed them to experience the culture of innovation. The attendees laid their hands on the best of the breed solutions. The presence of over 16 venture capitalists charged the aspiring entrepreneurs to put life into their innovative ideas.

The event created an ambience of a tiny technology city with stunning startup companies with live demonstration of cutting edge technologies. Well designed interiors decorated with balloons and the stalls of Arada Systems, Axiom, Crederity, Divitas Networks, Druvaa, Impel, Injoos, mChek, MetricStream, mobisy, My Duniya, netmagic, netCore, Netweb Technologies, Pramati, Seclore, Sloka, SonicWall, SOA Matrix, Soliton, SRA Systems, Starent Networks, Taroby, Vanu, Yodlee , Tabs, Tratum, MAIA intelligence, Soais, Quillpad, Sky Group, Akamai, Ngpay, MapmyIndia, Glopore, and RGV Telecom caught the attention of young techies. “It was truly excellent and inspiring,” noted Satish Hegde, a techie from Cisco.

The quiz, gifts, and product launch by the exhibitor companies created excitement and attracted the crowd to be more curious about their products. Riyaz Hyder, Director, Marketing and Stratergy, Mobisy, who was one of the exhibitors said, “We had chosen the event for unveiling our new addition to Mobisy, ZMO, which is considered to be Web application assimilator and packager for mobile phones.” Interestingly, the event helped Mobisy, Seclore, Trantum, and many more to win customers. Apart from the exhibitors, the supporting fraternity like BangaloreITpro, OpenCoffee Club, India Angel Network, IndiBlogger.in, National Entrepreneurship Network, Mobile Monday Bangalore, Startup Saturday, ITVidya.com, and businessgyan gained attention of the IT professionals. “At the Smart Techie Startup City, the kind of support towards our community really helped us to grow faster and groom the awareness within the society,” reckons S.Kaliyan of BangaloreITpro.

Moreover, it was a unique opportunity for over 6,000 technology enthusiasts to recharge their entrepreneurial spirits. Sandeep Lodha, Vice President, Netweb Technologies, an exhibitor said, “It is interesting to see so many techies looking forward to have a startup. Surely the entrepreneurial spirit has to be saluted, knowing that it’s not easy to start a company. I was particularly impressed as the SmartTechie had a vision to get the entire ecosystem in a single place.” The event also had an elite think-tank to share their experiences and give healthy encouragement to the startups.

The talk by Ashish Gupta, Managing Director - Investment Advisor, Helion Ventures was compelling and stimulating. His insights were well articulated in his address ‘Concept to Success: Milestones for startups’. “Our country India itself is a startup and it has a lot of vibrancy as there is plenty of talent and innovative ideas. One of the features of a startup is its tremendous energy and innovative ideas,” noted Gupta. But, Rajendra Mishra of Change India Movement and a serial entrepreneur was the cynosure of the event. His exciting entrepreneurial journey thrilled technocrats who were jam packed in the auditorium hall and on the balcony. Mishra advised the entrepreneurs to envision the future to be able to succeed. As a social entrepreneur and an agent of change Mishra opined, “The Indian middle class that forms a major chunk of the population is the main culprit responsible for bad politics in the country. Make use of your voting rights. Everyone hates politics and does not vote for anybody. By doing so one is helping the bad politics to become worse.”