Articles by Anjana Vivek

It is a pleasure to bring you another founder perspective, from an entrepreneur, who was one of the few handful of investors in India some years ago. He has shared some key some insights into running a business as an entrepreneur, as opposed to being an investor who is partnering in a venture. This is one that may interest investors as well as entrepreneurs. Who is this entrepreneur... he is K.Ganapathy Subramanian, the founder of MyDuniya Networks, a company that has a vision to facilitate "Beyond Voice" services for the mobile pervasive world. He has been part of the innovation…

Hi All, I am pleased to introduce and interview Manjula Sridhar, a high energy entrepreneur.  She is co-founder and Chief Technology officer of Aujas Networks, a pure-play digital security services company. Manjula co-founded Aujas Networks in February 2008, after a decade of experience in the telecom industry and several awards to her credit. Prior to founding Aujas, Manjula served as "Entrepreneur-in-Residence" at IDG Ventures India, a US$150 Million early-stage technology venture capital fund backed by IDG, the world's largest IT-focused media company. Question:  We have heard of entrepreneurs - you started as an entrepreneur in residence. Can you please tell…

In recent times, many Indians have left their comfort zones to start their own venture. What was a trickle a couple of years ago is slowly but surely turning into a steady stream. In the past few months, I have seen a variety of professionals, including inter-alia alumni of the premier technology and management institutes in the country, erstwhile employees of the big four audit and consulting firms, chartered accountants, lawyers, engineers, doctors, scientists with a PhD and many more starting their own venture, attempting to raise venture capital for this. All this in Namma Bengaluru ... so imagine ...…

There has been an unusually long gap between my last post and this one. Many reasons, the main being indifferent health, thanks due to the Bangalore weather and the road repair in my locality leading to dust allergy caused on this account. We see many persons sniffing and sneezing in our Ooru. Well these are some of the pains of living in this vibrant city. The infrastructure makes one want to cry. The sheer entrepreneurial energy makes one want to celebrate! Do check an earlier post : Networking in this city of contrasts. Just this weekend we celebrated with an…

I have recently come across a couple of organizations where it has been felt that a fraud may have taken place. The management is not sure and is trying to take stock of current positions in these matters.There are a couple of points of action - one is to actually investigate and find out if there has been misappropriation and then to take the necessary steps to tackle this. The next step is more forward looking - to tighten current processes and put in place controls and systems to prevent or reduce the chances of such problems in the future.…

Entrepreneurs are often strapped of cash. Sreekrishna Sankar, who has just completed his Post Graduate Diploma in Management at IIM Bangalore, has come up with a list of tools that entrepreneurs can use in such times; most of this is free and freely available for use. Incidentally, Sreekrishna, and a couple of his batchmates at IIMB, Ajith Pai and Sahil Barua, have floated a firm Catalyst Ventures, which worked with a few start ups. Thanks for sharing this info, Sreekrishna.1. Business Plan developer for developing professional business plan templates which can be a starting point(free)2. Open Office - a free…

Dear readers, this post is the first in a series with investors, to provide a platform where entrepreneurs in Bengaluru can engage with investors. I am pleased to start this series with Subrata Mitra, General Partner, Erasmic Venture Fund, an early-stage fund based in the city. Read on to know more about the fund and get some insights into what they are looking for when they invert in companies. Subrata also shares some of his thoughts on the entrepreneurship scene in this city.Question: How did Erasmic get started and why did you decide to fund early stage ventures? Answer: We…

Bengaluru - the city conjures different images to different persons. For those of us long term residents of namma uru*... Bengaluru... the city today is very different from what it was even a couple of years ago. The chaos, the confusion, as we step out on the roads, the streets, the pavements, the footpaths, the bye lanes... the infrastructure woes, the traffic jams, the pollution are a part of the tangible problems and difficulties we face in our daily lives. The list of these woes is endless... And then the latest in this brimming cup of woes...the inflation. Then there…

It gives me great pleasure to start the interviews on this blog with Kiran Nadkarni. Kiran is Founder & Director at Kaati Zone, a chain of quick service restaurants specializing in Indian foods. Kiran was among the early VCs in the country. Prior to starting Kaati Zone, he has held positions such as President, ICICI Ventures, and Managing Director, Jumpstartup Ventures. He has been an entrepreneur for over three years now and has raised funds for this venture.Read on to know more about why he turned to entrepreneurship and his experiences in running his venture started in Namma Bengaluru with…

As an entrepreneur you may have prepared a business plan or may be in the process of preparing one. What about an action plan? What about the results of your actions? Have you reviewed the results of your actions on a regular basis? In fact, many times, start ups miss out on this aspect, thus missing out on signals, that something that has been planned is not working out. Regular capturing, monitoring and analysis of data can help. In my first post in this blog "Thinking about the how and why of costs" I had mentioned one Bangalore Company in…