Tag: startup

Nandan M. Nilekani- The Aadhaar Man

Nandan M. Nilekani, is the co-founder of Infosys. He is an Indian entrepreneur, bureaucrat and politician. Nicknamed as ‘Aadhaar Man‘, he was the chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). He is the tech magnate, who still has shares in Infosys, has backed Fundamentum, a $100 million venture capital fund aimed at technology companies.

Read more to know all about this legend.

Biography of Nandan M. Nilekani

Name	Nandan M. Nilekani
Born On	2 June, 1995
Nationality	Indian
Spouse	Rohini Nilekani
Profession	Non- Executive Chairman of Infosys
Political Party	INC
Compensation	$77,599
Net Worth	$ 200 crores

Childhood and Education
Family
Career
Books
Awards and Achievements

Nandan M. Nilekani- Childhood and Education

Nilekani was born on 2nd June, 1995 in Bangalore, Karnataka. His family belongs to KonkaniGoud Saraswat Brahmin community which is originally from Sirsi town in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka.

He did his schooling from Bishop Cotton Boys’ School and St. Joseph High School Dharwad. Because of his father’s frequent job transfers and subsequent relocation he had to change schools. After that he got his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai in 1978.

His first language is Konkani. In addition to Konkani, he speaks Kannada fluently along with English, Marathi, and Hindi

Nandan M. Nilekani- Family

His father, Mohan Rao Nilekani worked as a general manager of Mysore and Minerva. He had subscribed to Fabina Socialist ideals which influenced Nilekani in his early life.
His mother’s name is Durga Nilekani.
He also has an elder brother, Vijay Nilekani who works in the Nuclear Energy Institute in the USA.
He married to Rohini Nilekani. He meet her at a quizzing event at IIT. He along with his wife Rohini signed the Giving Pledge in November 2017.
He wards two children, Nihar and Janhavi, each of whom has received an undergraduate degree from Yale University.
His family has a 2.31 percent stake in Infosys as per the quarter ended March 2018.

Nandan M. Nilekani- Career

Infosys

After completion of his graduation, he joined Patni Computers under N. R. Narayan Murthy. Three years later, he along with Murthy and 5 others, founded Infosys Technologies Ltd, which went on to became an IT giant in India.

Nilekani became the chief executive officer of Infosys in March 2002 and served as CEO of the company through April 2007. But Nilekani left Infosys in 2009, to join the UIDAI as the chairman on request of the former Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.

But was brought back in 2017 after a boardroom shakeup at the company and the sudden departure of its CEO. After his return he changed power center from California back to its Bengaluru headquarters. During his five-year tenure as CEO, Infosys’ topline grew sixfold to $3 billion.

Politics

Nilekani joined Indian National Congress in March 2014. He contested from the Bangalore South constituency where he lost by 228,575 votes to BJP candidate Ananth Kumar in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

He joined a committee to investigate how people in India could use digital payments to a greater extent in December 2016.

Nandan M. Nilekani- Books

Not Just a Civil Servant 1 January- 2019
Imagining India: Ideas for the New Century- 2008
Rebooting India : Realizing a billion aspirations- 2015

Nandan M. Nilekani- Awards and Achievements

On 31 May 2011, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Law degree by the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.
In 2011, he received NDTV Indian of the Year’s Transformational Idea of the Year Award.
At the Asia Business Leaders Award (2004), he was named Corporate Citizen of the Year organised, by CNBC.
He also won Joseph Schumpeter Prize for innovative services in economy, economic sciences and politics in 2005.
In 2009, Nilekani was placed in the Time 100 list of ‘World’s Most Influential People’ in Time magazine.
In November 2009, he was presented the ‘Legend in Leadership Award’ by the Yale University . He is the first Indian to receive this top honour.
Nilekani became one of the youngest entrepreneurs to join 20 global leaders on the World Economic Forum (WEF) Foundation Board, in January 2006.
In 2006, Nilekani was awarded one of India’s highest civilian honours, the Padma Bhushan.
Also, he was named Businessman of the Year by Forbes Asia in 2006.
He was ranked 12th in India’s 50 most powerful people of 2017 list in India Today magazine.
He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from E & Y. CNBC- TV 18 conferred India Business leader award for outstanding contributor to the Indian Economy-2017.
In 2017, he received the 22nd Nikkei Asia Prize for Economic & Business Innovation 2017.
In 2019, awarded Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) by IIT Bombay during the Institute’s 57th Convocation.

September 2, 2020

How To Crowdfund Your Startup
3Doodler. A product that lets you create 3D structures using plastic. I’m quite certain you have come across an advertisement or at least heard from your friends about the company. This is one of the most successful way of crowdfunding for startups in India, raising over $2,344,134 in thirty-four days, and that’s no small feat. I hope that helps you realize the power of crowdfunding.

Back up. What is crowdfunding?

Crowdfunding is one of the more recently popular forms of funding your project or venture that lets you raise small amounts of money from a large audience through the internet. There are lot of best crowdfunding websites for startup available too.

Types of Crowdfunding

Donation-Based Crowdfunding

‘Help save flood victims’, ‘Help pay for Sarah’s cancer treatment’, and so on are a few examples. This is mostly utilized by not-for-profit campaigns to raise money for social causes. The campaign is launched on a crowdfunding platform and people donate to the cause without any questions asked and no rewards expected. The only reward is the satisfaction of doing something for the welfare of others and maybe getting a little credit publicly for that. If your venture is a non-profit one, say helping stray dogs in town or building shelter for the homeless, then this is the right fit for you.

Donation Based Crowdfunding

Equity-Based Crowdfunding

This form of crowdfunding declares a certain percentage of your company for sale in exchange for a certain amount. For example, you put up ten percent of your venture in exchange for raising an amount of $1,000,000, then contributing $10,000 will give the investor a one percent ownership of your company.

How crowdfunding works in India to raise funding for startup

The concept of crowdfunding has just started to gain momentum in India.‘Funding’ is the first problem new people, entering the world of business forfirst time, find it difficult. Startups have to turn to institutions and angelinvestors because there is lack of funds for bootstrapping or lack of h…

StartupTalkyAshwini

How is this different from an IPO (Initial Public Offering)?

An equity-based crowdfunding has a much lower minimum investment amount compared to an IPO. There are also eligibility criteria in place for an IPO. Crowdfunding is only restricted by the rules put in place by the platform, and those rules majorly affect the campaign goals rather than the product itself.

Reward-Based Crowdfunding

The counterpart of shares in equity-based crowdfunding here is rewards in the form of a product or service. The rewards can be anything; from something as simple as a shout-out to a limited edition of their product. Creative products such as jewelry or music have the most to gain from choosing this type because they are the most likely to attract a general audience and can easily appease them with simple rewards. Since the field is predominantly creative, you have to be careful not to give away any ideas while you create your campaign.

Reward Based Crowdfunding

Debt Based Crowdfunding

This is similar to taking a loan from the bank without the hassle of waiting for loan approval and needing to qualify loan eligibility criteria. The investors only have to trust your campaign. The interest rates are considerably lower compared to a bank. The assets are offered as collateral rather than putting them up for sale as in equity-based crowdfunding. The advantage is not having to sell your stock but you have to return the money with interest.

How to Raise Fund for Startup in India

Finance is the fuel needed to run any business. There are numerous stories ofentrepreneurial ventures which could not survive despite having great potentialtanking, due to shortage of funding [https://startuptalky.com/tag/funding/].Getting fund is especially challenging when a business is in the …

StartupTalkyParnas Ghosh

A crowdfunded campaign is a way to find your customers hidden as investors. People who invest in your product naturally have a desire to see you succeed. That leads to their suggesting what you can do to improve your product and if they find any faults with it ( hopefully you don’t ). These suggestions are feedback. Use them. And don’t hesitate to request feedback on future occasions as well, without giving away too many details ( strictly need-to-know ).

Before we start with the ‘how to crowdfund guide’, take a moment to think if crowdfunding is the way to raise funds for your startup. It may seem like an appealing way to make so-called easy-money but crowdfunding is as hard as you will realize when we discuss the factors behind a successful crowdfunding campaign in India.

How to Run a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign

Before Letters Come Numbers

Deciding the amount you want to raise is the first step. Your goal should be a guesstimate of what you need. Raising more than you need will require making promises or commitments you can’t deliver, and raising lesser will lead to…well you know what it leads to. Some platforms let you keep whatever amount you raised while some cancel the campaign altogether.

Your Target Audience

To whom are you going to sell the product? Take time to think about your target audience. Does your product/service cater to a certain age group, gender, demographic, or any such division? Or is it a little more sophisticated, catering to techies, artists, or any other profession? The only thing you should know better than your audience is your product.

List of 11 Best Crowdfunding Sites in India for Startups

Crowdfunding [/tag/crowdfunding/] is all about creating a community around yourproject. A community that funds the project and also helps in spreading the wordabout your project. It’s all about asking for small amounts of money from manypeople instead of finding that one or two people to cut you …

StartupTalkyAshwini

The Platform

Your target audience will decide the platform you launch your campaign in. “Gofundme” is known for its social causes and “Kickstarter” is known for its creative and technical ventures. And there are many more platforms available. Do your research on which platform has the largest reach of your target audience.

Your Marketing Campaign

Now it’s time to work on your campaign. It goes without saying and I’m saying it so you know how important it is – You need a kickass campaign. Humans are visual creatures. Creating a small video (90-120 seconds) of your journey or how your product is used can go miles in making an impression. You can use any channel which suits your requirements best- websites, social media, etc. And they should lead back to your crowdfunding page. Again, research marketing tactics suited to your product. Explore your competitors’ marketing campaigns.

Marketing Campaign

A Timeline

Apart from setting a funding goal, you need to create a timeline of smaller goals you mean to achieve periodically. While the initial days can be a gamechanger for a crowdfunded campaign, you should set realistic goals to recognize whether your campaign is working or not. Know when to accept defeat.

The Rewards

Any form of crowdfunding offers some sort of reward. Take the first type. The feeling of supporting a good cause is a reward in itself. In other types, however, the reward is more of an incentive, monetary, or goods form. Assuming you have spent enough time to understand your audience/ investors, you should have a clear understanding of what reward they might expect.

Logistics

As mentioned before, don’t over- or under-raise. Assess your capabilities to commit. Go over finances, forecast your demand, and calculate the demand you will be able to meet. Also, have a contingency plan in place for when you over- or under-raise.

Now you know what it takes to run a successful crowdfunding campaign.

Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Assuming people will throw money at you as soon as you launch the campaign.
- Not networking.
- Creating hype without ensuring value.
- Failing to keep in touch with your investors.
- Over-promising and under-delivering.
- Relying solely on crowdfunding
Crowdfunding for SaaS

If you’re a developer, you know how hard funding and traction are to come by.Most software startups try crowdfunding[https://startuptalky.com/tag/crowdfunding/]and fail — they’re doing it wrong!To crowdfund your app, and supercharge your business, let’s look at what works,what doesn’t, and get s…

StartupTalkyRishabh Rathi

The conclusion is research. Lots and lots of research. Enough for you to get a Ph.D. in it. Look at other successful crowdfunding campaigns for inspiration and continuously evaluate your own. Every campaign is unique so don’t compare the results of yours with another. Understand when to persevere and when to accept defeat. I wish you all the luck in the world for a successful crowdfunding campaign!
August 6, 2020
Best Web Marketing Strategy For Your Startup
There’s never been a better time for a startup. While many people out there are saying that the market is saturated, there are too many “fakers,” and that you can’t make money online, several individuals are out here killing it every day.
So, why is it that some people have no trouble making a ton of money online while many never make it out of the startup phase?

It has to do with your marketing strategy. The problem with online business is that it’s so easy and accessible. Back when you wanted to start a brick and mortar business, there was a lengthy process to go through. The steps of applying for loans, permits, licenses, getting a building, and all that weeded out the fakers.
In the digital world, anyone can call themselves an expert in something and start a business today.
What will give you a leg up over your competition is having the best startup marketing strategy for your startup. In this guide, I’m going to help you map out your strategy so you can achieve greatness.

What is a Web Marketing Strategy?

marketing strategy

Your web marketing strategy is the series of actions that you’ll take to help grow your company. You need to have everything figured out ahead of time, so you know what to do as each problem or issue arises.

You should have a firm understanding of all the following points before you ever spend a dime on marketing or start offering services of any kind. Let’s take a look.

Also read : Best Sales And Marketing books To Read

What are you trying to accomplish?

First, what are you doing with your business? Are you trying to generate leads? Do you want to bring attention to something? Do you already have clients, but are trying to bring better results for them?

Whatever it is that you’re trying to do, you need to give it a name and stick with it. Your ultimate goal should be to achieve a business that satisfies you spiritually, emotionally, and financially.

Think about it this way. If you’re dating and you’re trying to find the perfect partner, you likely have a few traits in mind of your ideal person. Maybe you’re looking for someone with brown hair, blue eyes, with a career-focused mindset, who likes to spend time outdoors.

You need to do this with your business, Take note of all the things you want your business to do for your life and how you envision getting up and going to work every day. Once you’ve done that, under each point you made, figure out how you’ll get to the desired goal.

Understand Your Audience

startup marketing strategy

One of the most powerful things you can do is create a buyer persona. This person is your ideal customer or client, and they need to have an exhaustive description. You’ll have a solid understanding of who your audience is, what they like, and what motivates them to buy something.

When you create a buyer persona, you want to keep some of the following things in mind:
- What motivates them?
- What discourages them?
- Pain points they might have.
- Why are they here?
- What excites them?
- What exhausts them?
You can go on and on with this, but you want to be as comprehensive as possible. When you understand your buyer, you’ll have an easier time writing copy, crafting emails, and building funnels that appeal to that specific person.

Here’s an example of a buyer person named Supermom, “My buyer persona is a stay-at-home mom between the age of 25-35. She has two kids under the age of 10, and she values her health and the health of her family. She tries to eat healthily and cook quality meals every night, but between wrestling her kids, yoga classes, her kid’s soccer practices, and volunteering at the church; she’s left with little time at the end of the day.”

That buyer persona might work for a company that sells pre-packaged healthy meal plans that you can purchase a week ahead of time and plan into the week. It allows the mom to feed her family a healthy dinner, and she can always have one available when the day drags on longer than planned.

Also read : Best Sales And Marketing Tools

Understanding the steps of a funnel

marketing strategy

In this section, let’s break down the four steps of every sales funnel. You’ll find a lot of variations, but these are the four primary steps you should always refer back to.
- Awareness
- Interest
- Desire
- Action
With Systeme.io, we focus on making it easy to create funnels using these four steps. Our funnel builder allows you to appeal to the psychological side of these steps.

Let’s work our way down from the top.

Awareness

Here is where you are teaching people about your brand. You’re introducing them to your company but not trying to sell them something. A lot of businesses skip this step, and they wonder why they aren’t having success. Think of this as going up and introducing yourself to someone you’ve never met before.

Interest

At this step of the funnel, the customer has seen your brand, and they are opening their ears to listen a little. They may even show that they’re interested in the company and they want to learn more about what you can do for them. Here is where you want to start preaching the benefits of your product or service.

Also read : A Perfect Market Selection Guide

Desire

At the desired stage, the customer is now interested in doing business with you. They’ve decided that your product or service is useful and they want to purchase it. Now you don’t have to sell anymore, you need to provide them with the information they need to buy. Here is where upsells will occur as well.

Action

Finally, the customer is taking action, and you might even be up selling them on something else. At this stage is where retargeting occurs as well. Many people, even though they seemed interested at first, will back out.

Where are your buyers?

marketing strategy

Okay, so now you know who your buyer is, and you have an awesome funnel that is bound to convert traffic. Now you need to get people into that funnel.

To do this, you need to find your buyers. Let’s go back to our buyer persona to do this. So, we have a stay-at-home mom who values her health, loves her family, does yoga, and is young enough to be on the cutting edge of technology.

Where do you think she might hang out online?
- She might be on Pinterest, checking out design ideas for her home.
- Maybe she’s on Facebook during her short period of free time when the kids are running around
- Or she could be googling information about cheap and healthy weeknight recipes for children
If you’re trying to build a web marketing strategy around this buyer persona, you need to know where she is and what she is doing there. Understanding this will not only help you create the right ads and copy, but it will help with your funnel as well.

Remember that personalization is key with your sales funnel, so the individual needs to think that this funnel was explicitly made for them.

You hear it all the time on platforms like Click funnels; they talk about funnel hacking. With Systeme.io, we like to call it “customer research.”

It’s important to know where you find your audience because each platform has a different intent.
- People on Google are usually there to find information or buy something
- People on Facebook are there for entertainment
- People on Youtube are often there for information or entertainment
- People on Pinterest are there for ideas and inspiration.
You get the point!

Also read : How To Use Instagram for Business

Have The Right Tools At Your Disposal

marketing strategy

Your startup will perish if you don’t have the right web marketing strategy. But, in addition to strategy, you need the right platform to run your business. In 2020 and beyond, it’s essential that you have a highly functioning and well-converting sales funnel as well as the best landing pages.

You also need email marketing tools, customization options, a blog, a place to sell your stuff, and automation that take some of the grunt work out of your hands.

For that, you have two options.
You can scour the internet to find five or six different marketing platforms and see if they work well together.
Or, you could get a 14-day free trial of Systeme.io and get everything you need in one place.

Systeme.io provides easy to use funnel building tools, email marketing, automation, and more. Best of all, you can get started for free and take your business from a startup to wild success in no time.

Be sure to keep all the points outlined in this article in your mind while you’re building your funnel. Remember,
- Know what you want to accomplish
- Understand your audience and create a buyer persona
- Build your funnel with the four steps in mind
- Go where your buyers are
May 4, 2020
10 ways Startups should be Prepared for the Coronavirus Crisis

The COVID-19 or Coronavirus outbreak has turned into a global emergency. It has no left no choice to entire nations but go into lockdown mode and economies prepare for impact. Many businesses across the world have already paused their operations as the pandemic requires social distancing, the closing down of services, offices and cancellation of events. Emergency preparedness plans have never been more in focus than this situation which has devasted many businesses.

It’s true, we can’t neglect the fact that the Coronavirus hasn’t spared the startup communities. Just the opposite, many startup founders are worried about the consequences of sweeping lockdowns and restrictions and difficulty in managing to stay afloat and keep their staff onboard. In such situations, startups are more vulnerable than established corporations because of limited access to services & capital. So startups are understandably more worried. Many startups are calling for hiring slowdowns as well as spending curbs, cutting out travel and preparing for a very tough time ahead. For startups, funding seems to be the first casualty and those that are in the middle of a fund-raise or have small reserves of cash are looking for solutions. Those that have already raised funds and have at least six months of operating capital should be fine too. According to reports, though overall funding has slowed down, the best companies will still get funded with delays.

However, pre-seed and seed-stage startups might find the going tough as burn rates rise and sales fall. It will be tougher for these startups to gain customers, find potential new business and scale-up. This, in turn, would make it more difficult to raise the next round of funding. Although we don’t know how the pandemic will play out over the rest of the year, it has many lessons on crisis preparation and management.

This includes taking care of and preparing for impacts upstream and downstream as well as for potential impacts within the organization. Don’t forget that many of these ideas could also help lead generation and getting people to know about your company and your expertise, so the effort you invest in these good deeds will your company and help you too. Here are ten steps to keep top of mind while dealing with this crisis.

Employees’ Safety first

Your staff should always be your first priority. Make sure they are safe. That may mean rethinking some work practices – you may need to restrict travel and switch to meetings via video or audio conference calls. Some offices may need to temporarily shut and employees be asked to work from home; most companies have already implemented this for desk workers.

Offer products and services free of cost

During this coronavirus crisis, many messaging platforms,video conferencing companies, online learning platforms are free offering services and removing the limits on their services to help the students and employees working from home. Some startups have been wholeheartedly offering free or substantially discounted services and products to help. If your brand offers anything that can support either people hugely affected by the pandemic or those who are staying at home in a need of a boost to keep up with their lives, this is the right time to give a hand. This will leave a long lasting impression on people’s minds which will surely help in future.

Also Read: Coronavirus Impact on Digital Payments Startups

Work on innovative tech solutions to fight the Coronavirus

What else could be better solution than finding the tool or technology that helps in containing the spread of Corona virus. If you have an idea for developing a tool that could in any way be of help in the fight of the COVID-19 virus, then start working on it right away. Even Government of India has also arranged COVID-19 Solution Challenge to encourage entrepreneurs to find a technology that helps find the coronavirus. The entrepreneur or startup providing the best solution will receive the money prize. So startups can see this as a good opportunity to earn funding during this crisis. Just act quickly and remember that even a simple app that would encourage the citizens to adapt more easily to the changed conditions can take your organization ahead.
To know more about this challenge, visit the Official Website –
https://innovate.mygov.in/covid19/

Connect with the startup community

Coronavirus outbreak has just started affecting the Indian market but it has affected Chinese and American market many weeks ago. So their experiences & mistakes in dealing the crisis can be used as guidelines on how to survive in the crisis. So it is advisable start connecting with the startup community not just in India but communities worldwide. Some ways and solutions can definitely hey be found be found by interacting with these tech and start up communities. Just take Estonia, for example, whose tech community has already been tackling the coronavirus through various activities. Portugal has also put together a page for collaboration. There are many ways to help in the quick and smart development and implementation of the necessary measures. So, get as involved as you can and encourage others in your community to do so as well.

Companies are organizing Hackathons for others to Participate remotely

Organise or attend hackathons

Many companies & startups have organised hackathon. This has paved the way and many innovative solutions that arose as a result of the to-date organised hackathons aimed against the Coronavirus are now on their way to be developed and implemented. So this can be done in India too. Many revolutionary products emerged exactly at these events and we now desperately need more of them to combat not only the emergency circumstances but effectively manage the post-crisis period and prevent further isolation and loneliness.

Host free online webinars, podcasts or Q&A sessions

In light of the latest developments, many event organisers are shifting their conferences online. It’s uncertain until when we’ll all be at home. So, people have enough time. This is the right time to stay connected. This can be done in many ways. One can go live – whether it’s alone, with your team or maybe with professionals from other startups. Online event, webinar, podcast, YouTube video, Q&A and what not available to keep in touch & increase the network. These platforms can be used to give advice based on your expertise and help people to stay motivated.

Offer your advice on remote working

Majority of the companies have asked their employees to work from home. As a member of a startup, you are probably very well acquainted with the ‘working from home’ concept. But, bear in mind that millions of people have just had their first day working remotely. The newly-created situation has given thousands of managers no other choice but to lead their teams online, completely unprepared. This situation can be used to help them with tips in a blog, LinkedIn post, webinar to encourage people to get in touch by recommending them video conference tools & software.

Also Read: 8 Tips to Stay Productive while Working Remotely

Just Keep Marketing even in Crisis

One of the biggest mistakes companies make in times like these is to cut back on marketing. It will be the end of you. At best, a slow death. Although, it is difficult to sell products & services in this time but it is a good opportunity to market your services & products. Do demand a better ROI on your marketing. This may be the right moment to expand and pick up the slack from your competitors and seized their market share.

Check your coverage

Business interruption coverage covers income lost when you close down your business due to a disaster. However, it typically doesn’t pay out unless there is physical damage to the business. Talk to your insurance agent to see what, if any, coverage you would have if coronavirus forces temporary closure. If got, this can be used to keep the money flow going.

Have Patience

This is the time wherein many entrepreneurs can lose their hope due to things not going well. It is hard to predict how long this is going to last. However, it is the most important to not give up. Though it may look difficult to put the things back on track, it is essential to have patience because like any other time, “ This too shall Pass.” Have faith.

March 25, 2020
How is Narendra Modi helping Startups Fight against the Coronavirus Outbreak?

Due to Coronavirus outbreak, every aspect of business is suffering through many problems and challenges. Flight, hotel booking firms are the worst hit. There is stupendous drop in demand of gig economy. Whereas, at the same time, video conferencing providers and online education companies, messaging platforms and of course healthcare & pharmaceutical companies are witnessing a boom in demand but the situation has become for worse for the startups & small scale businesses as they have limited sources and capital.

Effect of COVID-19 on Startups

With reduced revenue and uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, various tech startups not just in India but across the globe are temporarily letting go of workers to help keep their businesses survive during this collapsing economic period. In the past couple of weeks, the situation has become more extreme with a ‘State of Emergency’ being called in some countries, leaving other regions unsure of what’s to come next. Social distancing mandates are forcing businesses to shut down and heavily reduce staff during COVID-19 outbreak. The labour department is facing a rush of unemployment insurance claims which is likely to increase in the next few weeks.

Coronavirus crisis is also affecting many aspects related to startups. For instance, postponing the EU-Startups Summit to April 2021. The EU-Startups Summit gathers over 1,500 founders, startup enthusiasts, corporates, angel investors, VCs, and media from across Europe. The two-day event is a great opportunity for networking, and a meeting point for aspiring entrepreneurs and investors who are aiming to build international tech companies. This summit was planned to take place on May 28-29 this year but now it is postponed to April 2021.

Government’s Aid to Startups

Today, the world is collectively dealing with the spread of Covid-19 and taking emergency measures to contain and eventually eliminate the virus. One such measure was taken by Indian government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi saw the power of the digital medium that can be utilised to serve the country and encouraged many of us to go all out to build a nationwide digital infrastructure. Modi’s ‘Digital India’ mission enabled India to build a robust mobile broadband infrastructure which accelerated the rise of technology startups in a short span of time. This is now coming to play a very vital role in supporting the PM’s call on social distancing while keeping the country moving during coronavirus pandemic.

According to reports, a mega exercise to increase Indian startups’ visibility globally is in the works. For this, the government planning to hire a consulting firm to evaluate the progress of the Startup India programme to chalk out an action plan to attract investment and identify bottlenecks which prevent businesses and high-net-worth individuals from investing in them. The consultant will identify challenges in\ regulatory approvals, taxation, ease of doing business, global expansion and facilitate startups in getting access to markets such as in private and public procurement, both in India and abroad.

COVID-19 Solution Challenge

The government of India has realised the need to open up the search for solutions to the startup ecosystem with the ‘Covid-19 Solution Challenge’. On March 16,2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the launch of the challenge on the Twitter and urged startups and entrepreneurs to come up with their technology-backed solution to curb the coronavirus outbreak. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appealed to public to share any technology-driven solutions for strengthening the fight against COVID-19, saying such efforts can help the government and make public join the mission against the virus.

PM Narendra Modi announced the Challenge on Twitter on March 16

PM Modi said, “Harnessing innovation for a healthier planet. A lot of people have been sharing technology-driven solutions for Covid-19. I would urge them to share them on the government-citizen engagement platform MyGov.in.”

According to the MyGov platform, startups and individuals can send their ideas to help the government in fighting the coronavirus outbreak. Suggestions sent in will be evaluated by the government and some of the ideas will be adopted. The last date of submission of ideas for the Covid-19 Solution Challenge is on March 31. Participants can either send a document or a YouTube video of the idea using the MyGov Platform. The solutions that are deployed by the government will also receive rewards. INR 1 Lakh, INR 50K and INR 25K have been promised to the top three ideas respectively. This amount can be used as funding in startups. So it’s a good opportunity to earn funding just by pitching the idea.

The government said that it has already started to get inputs from individuals and startups that have developed technologies and innovative solutions in areas such as bioinformatics, datasets, applications for diagnostics and more. These technologies are expected to soon become part of the government’s efforts in the fight against the coronavirus.

Also Read: These Brands will Generate Massive Revenue During the Coronavirus Outbreak

With increasing cases of people getting infected by the novel coronavirus, a group of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggesting a lockdown starting as early as March 20 across the impacted cities for two to three weeks; to which PM Modi has taken action by implementing Section 144 on account of which only allowed shops can remain open till March 31. So, it has become almost ceased all the operations for startup till March 31.

According to experts, there are still ways to keep the operations going during lockdown too. According to top venture capitalists and entrepreneurs from India and China, overcommunication, keeping a cash runway and having a fixed routine despite working from home are some of the keys for startups to deal with the fallout from the novel coronavirus. While China is returning to normalcy and business as usual, the experiences of Chinese firms and entrepreneurs can serve as a reference point for Indian founders, where cases of the virus are still rising rapidly.

March 24, 2020
10 Reasons Why Israel is Well Ahead in Startup Race
Israel spends about 4.4% of its GDP on research and development. The country is a startup on its own. Almost every family has an entrepreneur in them as their culture is developed on entrepreneurship. It often termed as a startup nation. Various startups are coming up in various domains, especially dominated by tech-driven startups. This tiny nation has built what we call a perfect startup ecosystem, with the government, defense forces, investors and people joining hands in building up this. We as a developing nation should pick up some positive points from them.

According to Statista, the number of startups founded in Israel between 2014 and 2017. In 2017, the number of startups founded in the country was 700, a decline compared to the previous year’s 932. In 2019, the ease of doing business score in Israel reached 73.23. During the period of consideration, the ease of doing business in Israel was 49 in worldwide comparison.

So, in this post we’ve shared some insights why Israel is well ahead in startup race. Here are some reasons why Israel is a hub for entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship

Reasons Why Israel is Well Ahead in Startup Race

Why Israel is Well Ahead in Startup Race?

Support from Government

Israeli government started building the startup ecosystem from 1974, by commissioning OCS for Research and Development. Currently, it supports around 30 incubation centres and provides various grants ranging in millions of dollars for startups in tech sectors. The focus is more on tech, biotech and medical technology. Government has also reduced Corporation tax for tech companies from 25% to 6-7% ( depending upon the business ) and AHS removed bureaucratic obstacles to encourage hi-tech mergers. Also in In 1993, the Israeli government initiated a plan called Yozma (Hebrew for “initiative”) offering attractive tax incentives to foreign venture-capital investments in Israel and promising to double any investment with funds from the government.

The Large Pool of Venture Capital

With the highest number of venture capital investment in this tiny country, investments per startup have exponentially increased within a few years. The countries have around 75+ active venture capitals, out of which around 20% VCs are international ones with local offices. Some many other VCs do not have a physical presence yet invest heavily in the startup of this nation. Also, the International business person comes back to the country to share their knowledge and money. Some of them became angel investors to back up startups.

Buzzing Startup Culture

People are quite enthusiastic about starting their venture. Meetups at coffee shops and people discussing new ideas and innovations are quite common. Israeli startups are more focussed on cybersecurity, edtech, medical technologies and SaaS(Software as a service). Since the population of Israel is less so their target audience is from other big countries like USA, India etc.

Also Read:
- Click Here to Know How You Can Raise Fund for Startup in India
- Here’s How You Can Build Best Company Culture
Co-Working Spaces

There has been tremendous growth in coworking spaces and accelerators. These help people with the same passion to interact and grow together. Many great and revolutionary ideas came out of these spaces. The startup city of Israel, Tel Aviv has about 80 accelerators and incubators. These have also helped many potential ideas to turn into successful ventures.

Israel Defense Forces

Innovations and building technology for IDF have resulted in big startups sprouting up in technological and defence domain. They have helped in solving complex military problems and exporting defence technologies to improve their GDP. Due to the compulsory military training for both men and women makes them relevant and displaced, which eventually helps in their entrepreneurial skills.

Culture and Community

Israel is a country of refugee and immigrant, making it a very diverse country. The two-thirds percentage of people in the country are willing to take the risk of entrepreneurship. The culture of the country is made on entrepreneurship. Also, since it is a very small country, there is no local or regional. market, hence forcing the entrepreneurs to think globally. Also, they have tricks and ways to cooperate with funding for themselves.

Survival Leads to Innovation

As mentioned above Israel is the country of migrants, they have survived through a lot of suffering. This has to lead to a lot of innovations in Israel as it said survival leads to innovation. This innovation has indulged the spirit of entrepreneurship in the Israelis. They gave then continued this process and keep on building entrepreneurship in their country.

Also Read:
- How to grow a Bootstrapped Startup | Everything about Bootstrapping a Startup in 2019
- Here Are Some Uncommon Startup Marketing Ideas you Must Try
Discipline Towards Business

Israel’s entrepreneurs both men and women, due to their military training are the reason behind their discipline nature and approach towards their business. These are why they are dedicated to their business. They focus on their work ethic and how it’s going to compete in the markets of the world.

Silicon Wadi

It is the Silicon Valley of Israel. Situated in the coastal plains of Israel. It is an area with a high concentration of high- technology companies. It is the reason behind the name of Israel as the “startup nation of the world “. It covers much of the country’s High tech industry. Many international technology companies along with ahem their research and development sector situated in here. Example are Intel, IBM, GOOGLE, Facebook, Microsoft etc.

It is also the home of popular Israel is companies like Zoran Corporation, CEA Inc. Redware etc. It is the perfect place for having a startup and making it a successful one.

Easy Procedure of Starting a Startup

It is not very tough to start a startup in Israel. Starting a startup is easy in the startup nation. If someone is willing to, do so, then read the market ecosystem, gather a team of own, form an idea, join a incubator or accelerator if details like pitching, licensing is wanted to be avoided or someone wants to go independent and have the resources, few bucks a relevant idea then Israelis go for it.

Also Read:
- Click Here To Know How You Can Choose the Best Cloud platforms for Startups
- Here’s The Ultimate Guide On Finding The Right CTO For Your Startup
Conclusion

Israel is a small country with a population of mere 8 million but the development it’s doing in the field of a startup is commendable. From government to investors everyone is backing the startups. Even though there is risk there but that risk is worth taking for Israelis and they are taking it. Also, there is no end of startups there but each startup is different from the other and has something to offer which is new and needy. They believe in world domination with their products and hence they are working toward it through their startups.
March 9, 2020