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iAccelerator… the most promising startup incubation program yet in India

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iaccelerator-small1 If you are looking to join an incubation program for startups, check out iAccelerator. Modeled on YCombinator, this program is being conducted at IIM Amhedabad, India’s premier business school and kicks off in May for a 5 month period.

Who’s running the show there? iAccelerator is being conducted Freeman Murray, a technology professional with excellent credentials, in conjunction with IIMA’s CIIE (Centre for Innovation, Incubation & Entrepreneurship). Details are here.

How does it work? If you are working on a tech startup, you could apply for the program, the deadline for which is April 1st. Applicants will get to know their status by April 13th. The actual program starts on May 1st thru Sep 30th. iAccelerator will invest 3-5 lakhs INR in the selected companies in exchange for some amount of equity (between 5% and 15% depending on factors like the experience of the team, the nature of the opportunity etc) For details check out this section, whch lays down the expectations fairly clearly.

The selected startups will have to live and work in Ahmedabad out of an apartment for the 5 month period. Once the program ends, the teams will be free to move to other cities.

Is iAccelarator the same as a summer internship? Absolutely not. The program makes it clear that they are looking for teams of serious people with the technical and business acumen to successfully start a business, develop cutting edge technology, satisfy customers, and make money. This is not for students on summer break or people who just want to play with an idea.

I think IAccelarator is very promising.
Reason #1: Its being run by somebody who has first hand experience of the technology startup space (both in India & Silicon valley) and has good connections.
Reason #2: It is being held at IIM Ahmedabad, which adds a dash of credibility to the program straightaway.
Reason #3: 5 months is a good time frame to come up with the proof of concept of a tech product.
Reason #4: I think programs like these are far more useful than participating in one of the umpteen business plan competitions that are being held all around. You get to work on a prototype and not ideate on a powerpoint. And staying and working amidst a bunch of bright, smart motivated folks for 5 months will ensure you hit the ground running once the program is over.

So if you are in this game, go for it.

Good startup read… How Twitter was born?

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Twitter’s startup story is fascinating. It sprung up as a new business idea from the creators of Odeo, the audio/podcasting startup which was going nowhere.

From the 140characters.com blog

“The company had just contributed a major chunk of code to Rails 1.0 and had just shipped Odeo Studio, but we were facing tremendous competition from Apple and other heavyweights. Our board was not feeling optimistic, and we were forced to reinvent ourselves.

“Rebooting” or reinventing the company started with a daylong brainstorming session where we broke up into teams to talk about our best ideas. I was lucky enough to be in @Jack’s group, where he first described a service that uses SMS to tell small groups what you are doing. We happened to be on top of the slide on the north end of South Park. It was sunny and brisk. We were eating Mexican food. His idea made us stop eating and start talking.

I remember that @Jack’s first use case was city-related: telling people that the club he’s at is happening. “I want to have a dispatch service that connects us on our phones using text.” His idea was to make it so simple that you don’t even think about what you’re doing, you just type something and send it. Typing something on your phone in those days meant you were probably messing with T9 text input, unless you were sporting a relatively rare smartphone. Even so, everyone in our group got the idea instantly and wanted it.”

For the entire story, go here… this will teach you some valuable startup lessons…