Starting a blog on India's startups

This blog begins with a story. A story for a lot of the folks who, like me, have in some way or another been part of the startup community in India and have shared a similar journey over many years within the startup ecosystem in India.

Most certainly your story is a lot more interesting than mine and I would definitely need more than one blog post to tell that story. And all my posts in this blog will be about them! To set the context right for those who are reading this blog, allow me to explain what this blog will be about.

So, I wouldn't say I've been part of the startup industry from the early days, but I wouldn't say I have been that late to the party either. Whatever it is, it has been a fun ride so far. It started off in 2010 when I joined Social Wavelength, a startup social media agency with barely 25 members back then. It is is now a well funded social media agency and one of the largest in India by the volume of business and number of people it hires (around 150.) It feels good to be part of the team almost from the time of inception and understanding the nitty gritties of what goes into making a startup like this successful. It's been a great journey so far especially working with a company that's a two-time "Social Media Agency of the Year' (as recognized by the WAT Awards). 

During my three years here, I've had many opportunties to interact with other technology startups, especially in my role as a community evangelist for a couple of technology clients and from interacting with developers, startups and  product builders who in my view are probably some of the best talents across India and worldwide.

That was my first exposure to the startup community in India, so to speak. Since then I've enjoyed following the startup space in India. The Startup Saturdays, TiE SmashUps, hackathons, tweetups, speaking and interacting with startups at Barcamps as well as the simple meetups at coffee shops with interesting and talented developers in the country. These include folks from Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad, where I've met them most often.

Then came my stint with a different kind of startup which was named "The Social Media Blog of the Year" at the WAT Awards, Social Samosa. This experience was equally interesting and gave me a closer look at how one could start a publishing startup and kick it off within a year. The energy, the impetus, the insights--from small things to big--from GTD (getting things done) to actually getting things done and a lot more beyond just blogging. There were a lot of things that I learnt from that experience--something that would go down in my chronicles as truly valuable learning.

Recently when I was in Singapore for Social Media Week, Singapore (#SMWSG), I had the opportunity to interact with the ZDNet Asia team at their Singapore office. They were looking out for bloggers who would be able to offer insights on the startup scene in India, and believe you me, I was more than happy to take this up!

I've been blogging about social media for various blogs including my own, but I haven't really shared my views and experiences within the startup community in India. Being part of the startup ecosystem and having met so many interesting folks over the last three years, I certainly needed a platform to share stories which a lot of you from Indian startups have to tell.

So this came at the right time as I certainly look forward to sharing my news, views, reviews, critiques, experiences, and perspectives about India's startup ecosystem. Out to the world, out across boundaries of our own community, I hope to share a journey with the world through this blog of mine.

What exactly is it like being part of the startup community in India? How does the journey look like? What are the experiences like? What will make India the next big thing when it comes to the startup world? That's what I hope to share with my next blog post. A story about that experience with some titbits from the hackers, the entrepreneurs, founders and co-Founders, the angel investors, the VCs (venture capitalists), and so on--essentially the who's who of the startup community in India.

And if you're a startup in India or have something to share regarding startups, feel free to contact me on Twitter.