After a successful five-city run, last weekend, TechSparks 2013 made its penultimate stop in Pune. The meeting point was Hotel Aurora Towers, in the heart of the cultural capital of Maharashtra. The bright and cheerful weather made sure everybody who came to the event was already in the mood to sweat it out – intellectually. Murali D, managing editor, YourStory.in welcomed everyone to the event, setting the tone for the proceedings of the day.
The event kicked off with a story-telling session by Raghava KK who wears many a hat – that of a painter, an artist, a cartoonist, a father and an entrepreneur. Raghava’s story of success, failure and success again, was very inspirational to say the least. Abinash Tripathy, the second speaker of the day has been quietly working to build his empire from Pune, and a majority of the startups and entrepreneurs who came to TechSparks, were in awe of what he had built – Helpshift. With more US than Indian customers, Abinash and his team are working with some of the biggest Fortune 500 companies to help support customers of these companies, using their company app.
After both the entrepreneurs had narrated their individual stories, it was time for a thought-provoking discussion by the power panel. The panel comprised Raghava KK, Abinash Tripathy of Helpshift, Shailesh Lakhani of Sequoia Capital, Mukund Mudras of Heckyl Technologies, and Manoj Joshi of Cisco. The theme of panel discussion at TechSparks was ‘Inside Information’ and all the panelists shared valuable insights ranging from how recruitment is done to product development, to how entrepreneurs need to watch out for each other in the absence of any big daddy.
Last on the agenda for the day was the presentation by 3 city sparks from Pune. Appacitive, Camplace and Intouch Rewards from Pune join the other city sparks from Kochi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai for a chance to be in the Tech 30 group this year. The Tech 30 will be revealed on October 5, this year at the Grand Finale of TechSparks 2013 in Bangalore. So, if you have a promising tech product, then apply now to stand a chance to make it to the Tech 30 league.
Taxeeta, a startup that is in the business of aggregating cars rounded off the proceedings of the day with a one-minute pitch about their venture. After the closing remarks, it was time for some coffee and conversations – and Punekars took advantage of the opportunity to meet new entrepreneurs; many were also seen having deeper discussions with the panelists. While the event may have come to an end, our relation with the city of Pune continues to grow – as it promises to be one of the most vibrant startup cities in India. On the one hand we had Taxeeta, and on the other hand we also met a gentleman who has plans to start an incubator in the city. We are sure the action in Pune will continue to heat up in the days to come, and you can be sure YourStory will keep you updated with all important developments.
