Most Popular Entrepreneur Challenge ’09

Background:

Over the past few months, we have strived to provide the Indian entrepreneurial community a much needed media platform to communicate, reach out and network. As ‘we the nation’ celebrate our 62^nd Independence day this August, we believe that it is only befitting to celebrate in parallel, ‘we the entrepreneurs’ as we “redeem our pledge to build up a prosperous and progressive nation, and to create economic institutions that ensure fullness of life”

The notion that only the fortunate, skilled and financially sound can make it as successful entrepreneurs has spread like an epidemic among aspirants. But few know that many a successful ideas have failed because the entrepreneurs lack the craftiness of an able executor, one who can build a networked community of followers that support his vision. If it were so easy to become a pioneer and motivate and inspire the people around, industries would have had entrepreneurs galore, and none would have enjoyed the admiration and appreciation of people like they do now. But as we all know, it takes grit and unceasing mettle for one to touch the success skyline.

We think it’s time to test your entrepreneurial zeal and popularity among your peers, clients, vendors, friends and relatives. Sun Start-up Essentials in partnership with YourStory.in presents the — “Most Popular Entrepreneur Challenge ’09”, a litmus test that tests your ‘Appeal Quotient’ and brings to fore a biz mastermind, a consummate entrepreneur and a deserving winner.  

So what is the ‘Appeal Quotient’?

Enough said and done about your business model, your financial growth prospects, and the numerous “expert” views and comments on your business. We believe that its time to celebrate the very spirit of entrepreneurship, irrespective of the business outcome, and hence for the very first time we will evaluate you on an entirely different metric – what we call the ‘Appeal Quotient’. 

The Appeal Quotient will be determined on the basis of the popularity, following and rating of you and your venture as evinced on YourStory.in. The Appeal Quotient will be a sum total of the following set of parameters tracked through the month of Sep 2009: 

 • Pagehits from unique readers / IPs on your story page @YourStory.in

 • Comments and Testimonials on your story page from –

•  Clients,
• vendors
• Employees
•  Business associates
• Friends
• Well-wishers
• Yourstory readers

 • No. of votes received in your favour by our reader community 

Please note that all the IP addresses will be tracked to avoid duplicate voting. In addition, we will randomly check for authenticity of the person writing testimonials and comments on your profile page as testimonials and comments will be the decisive factor. 

Registration Process:

In keeping with our belief that “nothing is true, but that which is simple”, we have kept the registration procedure to a bare minimum. Follow the simple steps to register online for the Most Popular Entrepreneur Challenge ’09 on YourStory.in 

Step 1: To participate click on the 'Apply' button below or click here

Step 2: Your story must feature in YourStory.in as we take an in-depth profile view of your entrepreneurial journey. Ensure that your story is profiled on YourStory.in

• Incase your story is already profiled on YourStory.in, please provide the YourStory.in link to your profile / story webpage (incase you are unable to obtain the link please email us at [email protected] and we will revert promptly with your YourStory.in webpage address.

Step 3: Regularly send us your video, promotion clips and any update that will help step-up your popularity meter.

Contest Timelines:

·       Registration Starts: 15 August 2009

·       Registration Ends: 30 August 2009

·       Contest horizon: 2nd Sep 2009 to 29th Sep 2009. All metrics used to evaluate the Appeal Quotient will be monitored during this time-period.

·       Winner Declaration Day: 2 Oct 2009 

And the Grand Prize is –

Rs.50,000 Cash Mentoring of the top contestants by Times Private Treaties Mentoring and Support to top contestants by PlanetAikon Labs and Morpheus Venture Partners Close Mentoring by Mumbai Angel Network Complete Profile Coverage in Yuva Magazine SEO worth Rs. 25,000 by Clearpath Technology Membership of Sun Startup Essentials Programme for all the participants Web Development by Lexolution IT Services Software and Application Support for top contenders for 6 months by Startup Garage Publicity, Publicity and more Publicity Robust Profile and Testimonial Page for every Participant

For the readers –

• Interesting testimonials will get gift hampers

Terms and Conditions

1. Nobody working with Yourstory and its partners shall be eligible to participate
2. The registered entrepreneurs will be also registered for the free Sun Start up Essential Programme to support start ups
3. Organiser reserves all rights to make change(s) and/ or amendment(s) to the existing Rules, at its sole discretion, without any prior notice.
4. The outcome of the voting and/or the decision made by Yourstory regarding voting shall be final and binding on the Nominee(s) and in no event shall the Nominee(s) dispute the decision made by Your story and/or its employees in connection to the awards and/or otherwise.
5. The Nominee(s) of the awards agree that he/she shall indemnify and keep indemnified and hold harmless Yourstory, its employees, officers, contractors or any other person in relation to any injury/damage/harm/loss suffered by him/her, in any manner whatsoever in connection with the awards and shall also not file in person and/or through any family member and/or any third party applications, criminal and/or civil proceedings in any courts or forum in India against Yourstory to claim any damages and/ or reliefs and/ or otherwise.
6. The terms of these Rules shall be construed in accordance with the laws of India and in case of any dispute or any other matter arising in reference to the awards and/ or otherwise shall be referred to a sole arbitrator to be appointed by Yourstory and shall be governed by the provisions of Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, amended from time to time. The venue for arbitration shall be Mumbai and the same shall be conducted in English language. The costs, charges and expenses in connection to arbitration shall be solely borne by the Nominee(s) disputing the same.

About Sun Startup Essentials

The Sun Startup Essentials program is designed for startups that dream big. With funding assistance, deep discounts on power efficient servers and storage products, massively scalable Web hosting services, plus free training, technical advice, and co-marketing opportunities, Sun Startup Essentials can help you shine. Join Sun Startup Essentials today at in.sun.com/startup. http://in.sun.com/startupessentials/index.jsp?CID=929171

About Yourstory.in

Yourstory.in is committed to providing visibility and meaningful networking opportunities to entrepreneurs, start ups and all the self made professionals from across India. 

For any query please mail or call

Shradha Sharma 

[email protected] 

Gauravjeet Singh 

[email protected]