Start-up Ideas We Would Like to Fund

Ashwin Raghuraman

Vice President,
India Innovation Fund

Ideas which are great candidates for funding also those that will seed other businesses. Take for instance Apple's I-store or Twitter. The number of applications and businesses developed by third parties that have sprung to life on account of these are testimony to the power of these offerings.

We are also still searching for that elusive B2C model that would propel India on to the world map. The reason is simple - B2C is typically synonymous with scale.

Execution-ability

The execution-ability of an idea is contingent on several factors including the ability of the team to execute in as much as whether the business environment will allow the idea to flourish e.g telemedicine with a rural focus cannot be an executable proposition until the telecommunication and end device ecosystem in rural areas is developed. Many a great technology has failed to be monetized successfully. The gap between a great idea and a commercial success is a wide chasm, bridged by the ability to execute.

It is the successful confluence of the above enablers that brings an idea to success and if even one of these is outstanding, the idea could eventually be a gamechanger. We therefore invest, not merely in the idea, but in the potency of these enablers.

The India Innovation Fund is, of course, governed by a mandate. In line with the areas in which the promoters of the fund viz. NASSCOM and IKP Knowledge Park operate in, ideas in the ICT and the Healthcare spaces are where we see ourselves equipped with the ability to provide value to an entrepreneur. Further, while in most cases, a funds fiduciary responsibility is to its investors, we carry the additional expectations of our promoters – a strategic role towards the development of the ecosystem. Ideas that we would like to fund, would therefore revolve around the development or advancement of technology and hence, creation of intellectual property.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge". What Albert Einstein stated in the early 19th Century holds true to the day. The power of imagination must however not be viewed in a limited sense, to a great idea alone, but also, to its application towards the execution. It is the potent combination of a technology idea with an imaginative business model - and a top class team to deliver - that will rule the day.

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