IAN Mentors Kochi Startup Village At Its Delhi Office

Indian Angel Network (IAN), a leading network of angel investors in the country, has agreed to provide mentoring to budding IT entrepreneurs at the fledgling Startup Village, giving a massive boost to first telecom incubator in India.

The pact was firmed up at a meeting between IAN president Padmaja Ruparel and Startup Village CEO Sijo Kuruvilla George here yesterday.

"IAN has agreed to provide space in its Delhi office for the mentoring of budding entrepreneurs of Kochi-based Startup Village," Mr. George said. "The startups who are selected after the mentoring session will be provided expertise for raising funds and creating a judicious revenue model for their enterprises. They will also be given constant access to high-quality mentoring, vast networks and inputs on strategy and execution, thus equipping them with the ability to assess potential and risks at an early stage."

Mr. Sanjay Vijayakumar, chairperson of the Governing Board of Startup Village, said IAN is a large network of angel investors in the country and it has a number of mentors and investors on its panel.

"We are planning to have some collaborations or partnerships with IAN," he revealed. "This will help us in a significant manner. It will give a wider exposure to the nascent companies at the Startup Village."

Ms Ruparel started off her visit by addressing an evangelisation session, where she delivered a lecture on the topic, "Structuring a business plan to pitch to angel investors and angel funding".

During her lecture, she dwelt on various nuances of becoming a successful entrepreneur, the right time to scale up, procedures for business plans and investor pitches and the right time to consider funding.

"Entrepreneurship converts jobseekers into job creators. It creates employment, jobs, wealth, innovation and self-sustaining economic growth," she said."IAN is the country's first and largest business angel group with over 200 investor members who are successful entrepreneurs and dynamic CEOs," Ms Ruparel pointed out.IAN has members from across India and overseas and it holds entrepreneur pitch meetings in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune every month. "Our concept has found resonance with companies like Intel, Google, SIDBI, Sequoia, Nexus and RVCF," she said.

The IAN president also visited the Blackbery Rubus Labs, where she was introduced to the various technologies on display there. She was later introduced to the Kris wall in the training room. Ms Ruparel also visited the ‘Entrepreneur Garden', where she planted a sapling.

The Indian Angel Network serves as a platform for bringing together successful entrepreneurs and CEOs from India and abroad who are interested in investing in startup and early stage ventures having the potential of creating disproportionate value.

"We are intent on forging some arrangements with IAN whose multiple domain expertise will enable startups to exploit opportunities across sectors," said Mr. Kuruvilla.

Earlier this month, legendary angel investor Esther Dyson, instrumental in grooming over 150 startups like Flickr, and Google, had visited Startup Village, speaking highly of the telecom incubator. "India has a huge shortage of entrepreneurial or real business experience," she said, adding that incubators like Startup Village would fill that gap.