Gurgaon-based India Accelerator will soon launch an incubation program and offer early-stage technology startups benefits from its newly-acquired membership of the Global Accelerator Network (GAN). The GAN is a consortium of 70 leading accelerators in the world including H-Farm in Italy, NXTP Labs in Argentina, SparkLabs in South Korea and Techstars in the United States. In an interview with Enterprise Innovation, Ashish Bhatia, Managing Director, India Accelerator explains that despite the challenges, there couldn’t be a better time than now to be a startup entrepreneur in India.
Do tell us the story behind India Accelerator
We have been working as a technology service provider for a while now and several startups have approached us to help build their platform. They have invited us to come on board their organisation as technology partners. We have been pretty selective about which startups to partner with. After a while, I realised that this is a de facto model of an incubator/accelerator as well. So we decided to take the next logical step and become a full-fledged accelerator.
As a founder of startups, I used to look around for mentors, for people who have ‘been there, done it’. When we chose to set up the accelerator, the same rule applied. The Indian startup ecosystem is still nascent so we selected our partners carefully to ensure that we do the right things from Day One and offer valuable feedback for startups to accelerate and be successful.
For us, becoming part of the Global Accelerator Network (GAN) is not so much about being a brand. We see it as a significant asset to pursue our goals. We want to be major contributors to the fledgling startup ecosystem in India. It is growing rapidly with all the associated chaos that comes with fast paced growth – so the startup ecosystem itself is following the typical lifecycle of a startup. While we want to become the Accelerator of Choice for the startup community, we also want to learn from other successful models so that we don’t reinvent the wheel.
The startup ecosystem in the United States is quite mature but the situation in India is different. The success or failure of current crop of startups would have a bearing on what happens over the next few years. There are a few self-proclaimed Incubators here but sadly, in reality, they are nothing more than co-working spaces or at best, a mediocre ecosystem that can be detrimental to startups. We want to change all that. There is so much we can use from being part of GAN – Industry data, best practices to run an accelerator, community, connections and network for instance. GAN’s numbers speak for itself.
Your analysis of India’s startup ecosystem and Gurgaon as an emerging startup hub
India is truly on its way to become a startup nation. If people like us with over twenty years of corporate experience decide to trade in their well-paying cushy, comfortable jobs for the bumpy ride of the startup world, it clearly reflects the change in priorities and landscape. Indian startups are at a crossroads. There have been success stories and despite challenges, we strongly believe there couldn’t be a better time than now to be a startup entrepreneur.
Our startup ecosystem is still at a very nascent stage. There are hardly any exceptional incubator/accelerators to provide mentoring & support to newbies. Seed funding is a major concern. In fact, there is a problem at both ends of the scale – from access to early stage capital to hardly having any decent exits. Building great companies takes years. Unfortunately, there is a tendency for many investors to have a short-term mindset. There is also the herd-mentality of investing in ‘hot’ areas, and thus missing out on larger, longer-term opportunities. Big boys of Indian Industry have to get involved and drive growth with their resources and innovation.
While Bengaluru, Delhi/NCR and Mumbai are the three star hubs in the country for startups, Gurgaon is becoming exceedingly popular within Delhi NCR. The Millennium City has seen more than a billion dollars’ worth of investments last year. Grofers, Oyo, ShopClues, Delhivery, PolicyBazaar are some of the examples. There is a growing demand for commercial space from startups in India, growing list of angel investors, growing number of co-working spaces and incubators, massive urban population that is receptive to startups, big conglomeration of MNCs, proximity to educational institutes. All of these factors point towards Gurgaon becoming a significant player in the years to come.
Plans in store for the future and any other trends you would like to throw light on.
We are working on making India Accelerator ‘The Accelerator of Choice’ for startups.
Once we have IA’s first batch up and running, we want to focus on some of the other problems of the startup world. We are trying to add value at multiple levels in this ecosystem.
While the Indian startup ecosystem is thriving, talent scarcity is a challenge. Startup academies are next on our radar. We are working with colleges and universities to train the next generation of entrepreneurs and place them with promising startups.
We are also working towards being the bridge between external innovation and corporations.
The Indian startup ecosystem needs course correction. There is too much focus on funding, valuation and scaling up. We need to do the basics right. Focus on solving the right problem, the right way. Focus on customers, their experience and retention.
The math needs to make sense. Right now, there is an emphasis on displaying how startups can scale and be the next unicorn. In my opinion, one should start small and show that there can be a paying customer for your offering. Scalability is a relatively easier problem to solve, survival isn’t. Rapid, unadulterated growth can hide several faults in a business, and that’s what happened in a number of startups. Unit economics has to work.
Having said that, we have come a long way in last few years. This ecosystem is only going to become stronger and more successful as we move forward.
Credit – Enterpriseinnovation
