Delhi EMERGEOUT Conclave brings experts to inspire emerging IT companies Part 2

Read Part 1 of the coverage here.

If a lifecycle of a business is considered, it is starting up, scaling, consolidating and growing big. Or sell and startup again. Arjun Malhotra, Chairman Emeritus of Headstrong, a veteran in the IT space who started up several times again and again, gave insightful lessons on how to startup again. His conversation with Prasanto Roy, President and Chief Editor, ICT Publications, Cyber Media, was well received by the audience. The secrets to successful startups and steering it through its lifecycle such as growth phase and finding a strategic partner all figured in the conversation. The benefit of such conversations is that startup entrepreneurs learn many a tricks without going through the learning curve themselves.

Mukund Mohan’s energizing workshop on how to hire the right sales force could score as the most popular session of the day. In a highly interactive session, Mukund threw several new lessons on what is wrong with the sales force and what kind of sales people should be hired at each stage of growth. Hustlers or storytellers work best at the startup stage, as they can tell convincing stories to the customers. Process experts and process experts take over once the company’s process are firmed up. Relationship sealers would work for big deals. His numbers-based demo elicited questions from several entrepreneurs and he infused a few points in the entrepreneur’s mind as to what is right sales and what is not.

To bring in the impact of new technologies ruling the IT landscape right now, a panel discussion on How Cloud, Mobile and Apps will change Software and Services landscape moderated by Sunil Singh, MD, Global Logic occupied the post-lunch session. Sahil Parikh, founder of Synage, which provides DeskAway, a project management tracking system to provide a dashboard of all important tasks when a remote workforce is employed, explained the cost and technology benefits of the SaaS model, which has come to stay. Bhanu Chopra, CEO and MD, RateGain and Suresh Chari, founder and CEO of 8k Miles, explained how Cloud could alter the landscape, taking cue from their own Cloud offerings.

Lakshman Gugulothu, CEO of BSE Stock Exchange, in a workshop on upcoming BSE SME Exchange, provided a breather for companies looking to raise funds. Instead of the Rs. 100 crore turnover need to list on the stock exchange, a mere Rs. 25 lakhs turnover is sufficient to list on the SME Exchange. The SME Exchange is aimed at benefitting MSME companies, which form the majority of the company profile in India.

AppFAME

Mobile apps are becoming the nextgen IT applications and the apps industry is likely to grow in the coming years thanks to smart phone proliferation and some apps are built for all phones and not just smart phones alone. The seven mobile/tablet apps showcased in the AppFAME—MobiSiteGalore, FieldEZ, iFitnessPedia, PlanHound, Jim and Frank Mysteries, Tuk Tuk Meter, NewsHunt—were fascinating in their spread and depth. Jim and Frank Mysteries, a puzzle-based game involving comics and classics, won the popular app by audience poll powered by ZipDial. (YourStory will bring an exclusive coverage on these apps in a separate story soon.)

Ankur Lal and Arvind Jha had an absorbing concluding session on creating an innovative ecosystem between Big IT companies and small IT companies, which saw an active participation from Rajendra Pawar, Chairman, NASSCOM. In this highly interactive session, several issues that small companies face in forging a tie-up with Big IT companies were explored and a solution was sought to be provided.

As the sessions were in progress, the networking outside the halls got a bit too louder, showing energy of the event, which saw 500 plus registrations. The small players are evincing keen interest to hook on to opportunities and the EMERGEOUT Forum has been keeping them up-to-date with emerging trends. This EMERGEOUT Conclave provided a comprehensive view of the startup issues and handed out valuable lessons from many dimensions.

—Venkatesh Krishnamoorthy, chief evangelist