Entrepreneurship Resources : Free PR sites

Irrespective of the type of business you run, to succeed, you need to promote your business effectively.

Press release is one of the most underrated promotion tools. For success, make sure the press release you write is linked to a "news worthy" big story that can attract media attention.

Checkout following free media outlets that you can use to post your press releases, you never know, you may find your business on the front page and that too for free.

- Business portal 24 - Free press release outlet
- The Open Press - Free press release news wire http://www.theopenpress.com/
- PR distribution service PRCAI: http://www.prcai.org
- PR Web: http://www.prweb.com
- PR distribution service PRSI: http://www.prsi.in
- News Distribution Network - News Wire
- Ezine Articles - http://www.ezinearticles.com/

Go make that big impact!

----------------------------
India Entrepreneurship Resource Series

During my first two ventures, I always found it difficult to get information about sources that could help me overcome some of the common challenges that new entreprises face.

With Enrepreneurship Resource Series of posts, I plan to contribute to this need in whatever small way I can.

Drop me a note if you come across resources that you think can help entrepreneurs in India or new ventures in general. I would be happy to publish them here.

Access to all the resource that I post is easy. Click on the label, below this post, named "India Entrepreneurship Resources" and you can see all the resources in one place.

Incubation with a Difference

Incubators typically provide operating facility, at times provide part capital and help as a networking platform for very early stage ventures. The success of incubators has been at best hazy with valid arguments for and against their effectiveness.

According to a news snippet, Marc Benioff, the highly visible CEO of Salesforce.com has given incubation a new dimension.

Instead of providing funds or space, Salesforce incubator provides access to technology and know-how to startups who plan to develop complementary applications. A more powerful dimension is access to market. Complementary applications that supported companies plan to develop will find ready market in SalesForce customers.

Access to market is a far greater force when compared to subsidized space or funds that can sometime become crutches rather than helping hands. This is an interesting new success factor that other incubators can use to empower their mission.

Highways to Opportunity for Innovation

Highway development, including Golden Quadrilateral, in India is one of the most powerful change agents the country has ever seen. Rethinking geographic allocation of production, storage & manpower deployment can unleash sources of competitive advantage across sectors.

A powerful touch point ripe for innovation is locations of warehouses and locations of last mile value addition facilities.

Highway system has shrunk a distance of 250 kms from 10 hours to 4 hours. This time compression opens up an area of 500 sq kms around consumption hubs such as Bangalore for value addition processing and warehousing.

For example, goods for consumption in Bangalore can now be manufactured in Indore Industrial belt of MP, transported to a value addition processing center cum warehouse within 250 kms radius of Bangalore and packaged/labeled inline with to local needs and culture.

A fresh analysis and ensuing list of lowest cost locations is another area of opportunity for early birds. Well developed highway system gives interior areas of country and not just port cities opportunities to attract capital and generate employment. Capital gets opportunity to avail lower cost labor coupled with excellent transport connectivity to these locations.

Highways have opened up opportunities across sectors. A lot of these fall in the category of billion dollars opportunities. Web2.0 opportunity size in India is a mere change in comparison.

With core sectors flush with opportunities, going virtual is virtually not so exciting.

Small Business - Leads & Not Clicks That Matter

Typical small businessmen, for example, beauty-salons or dentists do not generally have a website. Apart from the fact that web search is ineffective in helping consumers find a local business, most of the small business owners are not tech savvy enough to take advantage of web search to get business.

Wharton Entrepreneurship and innovation research features NatPal, a business with an interesting twist to yellow pages and local search biz model. It's time Indian Entrepreneurs take notice. Here is the link, checkout!

Venture Fund Tax: Goverment Plays an Inefficient Big Daddy

Much has been said about why taxing VC funds is a bad idea. It inadvertently can choke-off risk capital and only puts domestic funds at disadvantage as foreign funds can always operate out of Mauritius to avoid govt domestic dictates.

What has not attracted press attention is the fact that govt is playing a macro-economic spoilsport by assuming it knows the best when it comes to efficient capital allocation.

By exempting nine sectors -- biotech, IT-ITES, seed research, nano tech, chemical research, dairy industry, poultry, bio fuels & hotel cum convention centers -- from tax net, govt is forcing capital to stay away from other sectors.

First of all, when it comes to new venture funding, I find the idea of sector specification itself as naive. Revolutionary ventures often end up creating new sectors. Secondly, specifying a sub segment such as bio fuels against broad sector such as alternative fuels amazes me. What about solar cells, what about water desalination and what about revolutions such as micro finance Mr. Finance Minister?

Govt must stay away from playing a short sighted & high headed big daddy who forces his intellectually capable super-kid to take up sports and turn into a mediocre sportsman, when the kid could have well become an Einstein.

NSRCEL Empowering Women Entrepreneurs

One of the prominent entrepreneurial hubs at Bangalore NSRCEL is offering an entrepreneurial management program exclusively for women entrepreneurs.

Women entrepreneurs are special and challenges they face are unique. Management program to assist them handle new business challenges, managerial functions & real world know how is a welcome visionary step. I have a woman entrepreneur at home and know first hand that it is not an easy path to take.

Vital statistics below

1. Dates of the program: Apr 16 - May 4 and again from May 21st to May 30th (Mon - Fri)
2. Details at NSRCEL website

Well done IIMB & NSRCEL, keep it up!

Indian VCs Return to Real Venture Funding

Some of the Indian VC funds are returning to real venture funding after an almost 5-6 years of pure private equity play.

According to a news snippet, Q1 2007, VCs invested $130 million across 20 deals in India. Out of these 20 investment deals, 14 deals amounted to $73 million in IT & ITES space. This compares well with the number Q1 last year, which stood at $125 million.

The good news is that couples of these deals are in the range of $1-$3 million. An indication that Indian VC community is now showing signs of opening up to early stage ventures.

Is it a trend? Need to dig a little deeper. Will write an update on this soon...

Only Way to Start Something - Start

I have been thinking about starting a blog dedicated to my experiences with venture ecosystem for about an year. As they say, only way to start something is to start & here I start!

Going by the statistics and my experience with other blogs, the most difficult part is not to start but to keep the momentum. I believe the trick is to blog around something that one is passionate about and something that one will remain passionate about for a good part of ones life.

For me, that core is entrepreneurship, I have always been amazed by ability of new enterprises to make a significant difference to the way we live & behave. After education, few would dispute, entrepreneurship is the most powerful value creation engine of the world.

I welcome you all to stories & my experience, with the entrepreneurial ecosystem, as it unfolds.

I request you to openly comment, give feedback & provide information that will make this place more useful, entertaining & vibrant.